Did you know that almost every sickness is psychosomatic – meaning a disease caused and/or aggravated by physical reasons as well as the mind and emotions like stress, anger, fear, sadness, grief etc?
When you are facing a health issue, it means that something in your body is not in harmony or your whole body is feeling out of balance and harmony. Initially this concept didn’t make any sense to me. It seemed like a lot of jargon being thrown at me. How you understand harmony and energy and balance when you cant see it?
But then it dawned on me that we also have a sense other than visual, the sense of feeling. What we feel within us is as real as what we see.
For example, close your eyes and imagine taking a lemon in your hand. Now imagine cutting it into half and really notice the knife slicing through it. You can already begin to smell its sour aroma. Touch the lemon to your lips, noticing the sensations. Now open your mouth and BITE into the lemon. Notice the lemon drops rolling on your tongue.
Notice what happened. Did you start to salivate?
Mind-Body Connection
This is the mind-body connection. The mind and body are intricately connected. The mind cannot differentiate between imagination and reality. What you imagine, the body starts reacting to it in ways known and unknown to you in the form of changes in your body temperature, blood pressure, skin colour-tone (have you ever blushed or seen someone blushing thinking of a loved one?), even changes in the blood chemistry.
When we have negative or dense emotions and thoughts, it brings about changes in the neurochemistry in our body. When we cannot express these thoughts and emotions, they have nowhere to go, so they get lodged in some part of the body (especially one that is most vulnerable for you).
According to Chinese Acupuncture, every part and organ of the body can be the seat of a particular emotion, for example Liver is known to be the seat of Anger, Lungs are known to be the seat of Sadness, Kidneys are known as the seat of Fear. This means that when you are sick, a part or multiple parts of your body hold the emotion that is the reason behind your sickness.
So when someone says that the body is not in balance or in harmony, in simple terms it means – a part or organ or organs of your body are feeling an emotion or out of sync with the rest of the body.
How do you use the mind-body connection?
Our bodies are insanely intelligent. They are the barometers of truth about what is going on within us. Your body will tell you what is going on with it without mincing any words. It will tell you openly, clearly and with laser-like precision about what is going on and what does it need.
Learn to trust the body. It tells you when it feels the pain or hunger or sleep, it tell you what to eat and what to avoid, it tells you where does it need the healing, it even tells you who to trust and whom not to trust.
This activity may sound bizarre but go along with me for now – whatever part of your body is feeling sick or is in “dis-ease”, imagine that body part in front of you in a chair. If you don’t know what it looks like, google it or use your wildest imagination (remember whats true for the mind is true for the body) so it will work.
If you don’t know which body part is feeling sick or the feeling of sickness is generalised in the whole body, close your eyes and ask yourself – “If this sickness was somewhere in my body, where would it be?”
Guessing is OKAY. Remember that you cannot go wrong with this process no matter what. Now imagine that body part in a chair in front of you.
Now comes the fun part!!
Communication is the key to healing.
Communicate with this organ or body part. Notice what it looks like and what it is feeling. Trust the responses you get.
Communicate with this body part or organ. Ask it – how are you doing, what are you feeling, whats happening with you?
Be gentle and open about receiving answers. Remember there are no wrong answers. Sometimes it may take time for the body to start responding or for you to be able to know what the body is trying to tell you. Have patience, keep at it and gradually you will receive answers. Staying open is important.
When you do receive the guidance from the body, follow it. At times all the body needs is attention or for you to follow a particular diet or lifestyle or a behaviour or simply a shift in perspective. It’s never too late or too difficult to do what the body asks for.
I once had a stomach upset for no reason. So I asked my stomach whats wrong with you. It actually said I am fine, but it’s the intestines that need attention. When I spoke to the intestines, they were pouting like a little girl telling me that I have not been paying attention to what they are saying and I have been feeding them stuff that they don’t want right now. So I asked them what do you want? They answered!! All they needed was me to listen and pay attention to what they wanted and they wanted more fruits for some days and less of wheat. I did that and it eased up my stomach aches and upsets.
Communicate with your body, all it needs is you to listen to it. Try this and let me know how it goes for you.
Originally published at Meetu Sehgal’s Blog
