How the Mind will Heal the Body

The Effects of healing Inward to heal outward

Our body is a living, breathing organism with its own personal ecosystem that is keeping us alive. This ecosystem is a carefully constructed world that has evolved over the centuries. This means that although you may be X age, your body functions from thousands of years of learning and evolving. And why our carefully constructed system deserves our full attention and, most importantly, our unconditional love. For weeks now, our spiritual conversation has focused on the power of our mind—and the power we hold to change it. Imagine what we could do with that knowledge when we drive our focus on healing the mind to heal the body as well. The mind will heal the body as a therapeutic response to changing your habitual thought patterns; this is how we do it.

We’re Out-of-Balance from Dis-ease

Before we get into the how, let’s travel back to the why. Why do our bodies become “unhealthy” in response to our thoughts? First, let’s clarify what unhealthy means. I am not a doctor, nor do I have a degree in medicine. However, I have not only done extensive research on this topic, but I’ve experienced firsthand how the mind will help heal your body. For the purpose of this post, we are collectively defining unhealthy as whatever feels out-of-balance to you. So if you suffer from constant anxiety, this is an imbalance. If you have joint issues, this is an imbalance. If you have chronic migraines, this is an imbalance. First, decide what does not physically feel right to you, and you’ll discover what is out of balance in your body. In just the last twenty years, modern science has discovered something quite fascinating about our brains.

Did you know that there are very specific parts of our brains that correspond to very specific body parts? Your pre-frontal cortex is in charge of your pain response. Our pre-frontal cortex registers pain or dis-ease and sends pain receptors to our hypothalamus, the region of our brain that pushes out stress hormones like cortisol. So, if you think of a negative thought, like “This workout is really going to hurt my back,” your body will produce a stress response to that potential discomfort, manifesting the discomfort which you were fearing. See the loop? Our thoughts create our reality. And in this week’s Do the Damn Thing Podcast, I’m sharing my story with you about my personal health and journey with chronic knee pain. But, as always, on this blog, I want to focus on you.

The Mindset of Dis-Ease

In the book Mind Change by Heather McKean, she talks about the difference between what she calls disease and dis-ease. Separating the words creates a different definition. When we’re in a state of dis-ease, it implies that there was a state of ease previously. So how have we moved from ease to dis-ease? Simple: your mind. When I say your mind, I’m not just talking about your conscious mind; I’m talking about everything that contributes to your thought: the subconscious mind, your environment, the people you interact with, etc. Just as your body is an ecosystem for life, your mind is an ecosystem for thought. When this ecosystem becomes disrupted, we move to a state of disease. And this is where issues like heartburn, headaches, anxiety, minor joint pain, and more begin to manifest to let us know our body is out-of-balance because our mind is out-of-balance.

How Your Mind will Heal the Body

So if we can change our thoughts to change our reality, can we change our thoughts to change our health? Yes. Your mind is one of the most powerful sources of energy on this planet. Our brains have evolved over millions of years of evolution on this planet. The moment we move from a state of ease to dis-ease, our subconscious mind is aware before our conscious mind and body. This is also where the evolutionary protection instinct of fight-or-flight has developed. When we become first aware of the thoughts affecting our body, then in control of them, we have the power to move back to our original state of being: ease. Several practices will help you create ease in your body, including EFT and EMDR therapy, naturopathic doctors, hypnotherapy, and more.

Here’s the thing about healing your mind to heal your body: we believe what our bodies are telling us. When my knee hurts, I believe I’m in pain. When my head hurts, I believe my body when it tells me I have a headache. So when my body is triggering a pain mechanism, I believe what it’s telling me: something is out of balance. It can be very hard to create distance between the two thoughts of “I hurt right now” and “I want to heal my body.” It creates a separation between what we physically feel and what we want to be true. To heal the body with the mind, we have to bridge that distance.

Bridging the Distance between the Mind and Body

Once we bridge this distance, the rest will fall into place on its own. Doing this takes more than trying new therapeutic techniques with a doctor or practitioner. It requires trust within yourself and a change in your path of conscious thought. But it’s about truly believing that your mind can and will heal whatever dis-ease you’re facing. You must stop prescribing to thoughts of dis-ease and reprogram your neural pathways to heal the dis-ease. When we tap into our conscious thought and take note of environmental factors and events of the day that occur when we feel the dis-ease, we can begin to prune away at old neural pathways that associate those events with dis-ease. When you change your mindset around the stressors, you change your body’s response to said stressors, therefore healing your dis-ease.

**Please note: This form of mind-body healing does not replace the care of a doctor or mental health professional. If you are feeling or in pain, I encourage you to see a medical professional while continuing the practice of healing your mind.