THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
ITS SIGNIFICANT LINK TO VITAL HEALTH
There’s no question that the mind impacts the body. A feeling of embarrassment can flush our cheeks, a thought of biting into a lemon is enough to make you actually begin to salivate and the experience of public speaking can cause butterflies in your tummy. These are all examples of physiological adaptations to your thoughts. All of these things occur because thoughts, feelings, ideas, beliefs and expectations in a persons mind produce a series of chemical and biological changes that result in a physical effect. The latest scientific discoveries are revealing that stress and negative thinking causes long term changes and disease in our body. A recent scientific study by Pennebaker demonstrated that individuals who repress their emotions also suppress their body’s immunity, making them far more vulnerable to a variety of illnesses ranging from a simple common cold to cancer. Molecules known as neuropeptides link our thoughts and emotions to every single part of our bodies. The mind-body connection is not spiritual fallacy. It is now scientific fact. It confirms what the ancients have already known for a long time that disease often starts on an emotional or energetic level before physical manifestation appears. When you have spent your entire life avoiding your body’s messages you can’t be too surprised when sooner or later you are consumed by a variety of symptoms.
Sadly, as chronic illness becomes more prevalent, people don’t understand the origins of chronic pain or health issues and are looking for answers in all of the wrong places. The amount of chronic issues is growing and becoming all too common. In Australia, at least 1 in every 10 children under the age of 14 has a chronic health condition and these figures are continuing to trend upwards. We are over stressed, under nourished, completely cut off from nature and living in the most toxic conditions ever seen by generations past. We have created a world that our nervous system wasn’t designed to live in and cannot keep up with. In the past century, modern life has accelerated at rates not yet witnessed in human history. The result: we’ve created a world full of disconnect, from self, others and nature. We are overwhelmed, overstimulated, overworked and completely and totally dysregulated right down to the cell. We are full of toxins from our food and our environment making us inflamed and we bury our emotions alive. Our biology is no longer able to sustain us because it just cant adapt quick enough. So what can we do? We need to slow down and invite in more calm, safety, nourishment, rest, connection and nature to our daily lives.
Chronic pain, illness and disease are the result of a body in chronic stress pathology. Pinpointing where that stress is/has come from is key in healing. The reason for this is that a body in a chronic stress response doesn’t put energy toward healing or regeneration. Its only concern is survival. This is often times why fertility is greatly effected as well, the body just isn’t focused on procreation when its worried about survival. Rest is a key ingredient in the recipe to good health. It’s during rest that the body heals, repairs and rejuvenates itself. The inclination towards seeking pharmaceutical relief over a cure often stems from the fact that finding a quick fix doesn’t demand the same level of introspection and deep healing work that pursuing a genuine cure does. Opting for relief allows one to bypass the need for significant personal change. Popping a pill is easy. Uncovering true healing requires a willingness to step back and acknowledge the profound connection between one’s own thoughts, emotions, traumas, behaviours and their impact on both their mental and physical health. Repressed emotions are one of the most common reasons people get sick, stay sick or never achieve optimal health. This is because they trigger the body’s fight or flight response which over time causes nervous system dysregulation. When it remains in this mode chronically, your body is literally breaking down faster than it can repair itself which makes healing nearly impossible. Slowing down, learning to rest and processing your emotions accelerates healing.
“The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep”
Physical Symptoms Carry Emotional Messages
Do you ever stop to listen?“Unexpressed emotions will never die, they are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
When unexpressed emotions get stuffed down the body will express this disharmony through uncomfortable symptoms. The current allopathic healthcare model encourages suppression which is the opposite of what the body is actually trying to do to bring back balance. When we suppress these natural functions the imbalance often gets driven deeper into a persons pathology creating a worsening of symptoms or illness over time. With this oppositional force it’s no wonder we’re facing a crisis of chronic health issues. When fever strikes you give pain relief to stop the fever. Anti-inflammatories to stop swelling if you sprain your ankle or if you experience hayfever you are given antihistamines to stop the sneezing. These processes however uncomfortable or inconvenient are your body’s natural way of healing. Fever is your body’s way of burning off the invaders trying to take over leading to faster healing and an improved immune system, swelling to an injury site brings an increase in white blood cells, nutrients and platelets to repair the tissue itself and sneezing helps to clear out the allergens with the mucous as a means to purge out irritants. The body is wise and knows exactly what it needs to do to heal but sadly it’s something we’ve come to forget. We are not carelessly designed creatures. Everything about us has purpose, logic and intelligence built into it including how and why we become ill. You never have to think about healing a cut on your hand as the wisdom of your body takes over and does the repair process for you. Symptoms are much like this however can sometimes become stuck and chronic when there is toxicity, trauma or imbalance on a deeper level in the mind or body.
Modern medicine when taken in times of true necessity can be incredibly helpful however we’ve come to live in a way so that whenever a symptom arises we pop a pill and silence the language of our body almost immediately before reaching for anything else. I like to liken this effect to your body being like a fire alarm and modern medicine is like taking the batteries out of the alarm while sitting amongst the flames. While you can get relief from symptoms temporarily you have done nothing to address the reason or cause for the fire in the first place. You can do this for a little while but if the symptoms remain chronic the body will almost always turn those whispers of discomfort into loud screams begging for your care and attention and this is where chronic conditions show up. Up to 80% of children that have eczema for example will go on to develop allergies and asthma. Through a homeopathic lens this is because the eczema was suppressed with steroids therefore drove the imbalance deeper into the body taking up residence in the lungs. For many, the screams of our body appear like chronic fatigue that leaves you unable to get out of bed, the fibromyalgia that causes you to stop everything or it’s the cancer diagnosis that strikes completely out of the blue forcing you to finally listen.
Does this mean you need to put up with awful symptoms the next time you get hayfever? Absolutely not. Homeopathy is a wonderful system of medicine as it doesn’t suppress, it supports, restores and recalibrates.
My Approach
For my clients that have chronic symptoms and more complex health challenges I incorporate nervous system regulation techniques alongside their homeopathic prescription to help them in their recovery. When navigating chronic illness it can become trapped in an activated state increasing pain signalling, effecting sleep quality, reducing immune function and reducing gut function. There is now extensive research in its value in the realms of mind-body medicine and in particular psychoneuroimmunology. Nervous system regulation restores balance to the ANS shifting the body into a more optimal state for healing.
Simple ideas
Lowered cortisol and stress hormones, reduced inflammation, better gastrointestinal function, reduced pain signals, better sleep and increased energy will improve your ability to heal.
Lasting impact
When we can address the underlying reason why the body got stuck in this state in the first place we can shift even the deepest or most chronic symptoms.