Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?

I would encourage anyone to watch this TED talk- it's extremely worth the 18 minutes. 
Lissa addresses the power of the placebo effect in addition to the influence our (and others) words can have over our health. I've personally witnessed this effect in my own life. At 11 years old, being diagnosed with IBD, the doctor's words at the time were, 'ulcerative colitis is an incurable disease'. Those are potent words for anyone to hear and it took many years living under those words before realising they didn't have to dictate my future.

Growing up with a chronic illness and navigating sickness and pain often, I quickly became aware of the power my own words had over my health. I'm a big believer that the body listens to what comes out of our mouth and can align our physiology in accordance to those messages. Some of the sickest people I know are those that are continually expecting sickness with words like, 'I always get sick', 'Every winter I get the flu', 'I'm always the first person to catch something'. The immune system listens to those words and I would argue the body is robbed of some of it's power to fight illness when only sickness and weakness is expected.    

I also love that Lissa highlights the importance of the healthcare practitioner in this picture- patients who feel nurtured and supported by the practitioner, generally have better health outcomes then those who feel unheard and unsupported. What I love about Naturopathic principles is the belief the practitioner is there as teacher, to partnership and guide patients back to health.