In the Flow with Healing Waters

What is the mind-body connection?  It is the link between our thoughts, feelings/emotions and physical symptoms.  Here are some simple examples to help you start understanding this link:

Let’s say you think of a project you may need to get done soon.  You may have been procrastinating and now the deadline is here.  When you think of this project, you have an emotion/feeling that goes along with it.  Let’s say you feel overwhelmed or worried you may not finish in time.  This then can affect the body in many ways.  You may feel nervous in your stomach, get a headache, can’t breathe well, or anxiety.  

Another example might be;  You talk to someone who says something that makes you angry.  From your perception, they are not listening to you. You get defensive or frustrated.  This then affects the body so your face may get red, shoulders may ache, tight neck/throat, or a headache.  

Have you had a time when you are trying to go to sleep?  Your mind is racing on what happened today, or maybe what is coming up tomorrow.  You may feel overwhelmed, irritated as it has now been 2 hours unable to sleep.  You feel it in your body by tossing and turning most of the night.  

This is how the mind-body is connected. 

Think——Emotion/Feel—— Body responds

It’s that simple.  However, in those moments, it does not feel simple.  

Thoughts happen.  Experts estimate that the mind thinks between 60,000-80,000 thoughts in a single day.  That is 2500-3,300 thoughts per hour.  That is a lot of thoughts! 

Those thoughts cause emotions.  Emotions can pull us in ways we are not proud of. Emotions can control us, just show up, we try to push down, we blame others, we feel ashamed, we feel guilty, sad, mad….whatever may show up.  

These emotions can cause body aches and pains which affect us as well.  Being in pain can be frustrating, very limiting, not to mention exhausting.     

Most of us take notice when we have pain in the body.  When in pain, what do we want to do?  GET RID OF IT right?  RIGHT… What do you do when you are in pain?  Medications?  That typically seems to be the first thing/quick fix many of us do.  If we get a headache once in a while, pills will probably take away the pain and you go on with your life.  However when pain does not clear up and continues to exist, your body is trying to get you to listen with your mind.  

The body has an amazing way of healing itself.  Just think of getting a cut on your finger.  It just heals itself- maybe you put a little bandaid on it, but it just gets better.  Or you get a bruise, it typically heals itself.  Because the body has an innate way to heal on its own, we only need to pay attention if our bodies don’t heal.  That is the time where you need to start looking at what else is going on?  What is going on with my mind?  Or emotions?  Start connecting your mind/emotions with your body.  

How do you get more connected with your mind and body?   Society has put a lot of emphasis on what we can do with our minds.  We want to climb up the corporate ladder, we want to learn more and more, we are more in front of computers and electronics, we are in our minds A LOT.  When our body starts to talk (by way of symptoms), it’s time to listen.  

First thing is to become more aware of the connection between the two.  Start listening to your mind and body. 

1)  Take care of your mind.  

If you get stressed, take a break of the thing that is causing your stress.  Too much of one thing is not healthy.  Too much news can cause anxiety,  too much work is not healthy, too much of being bored is not good.  The mind needs to be taken care of.  Listen to it.   Do something fun.  Laugh with friends/family, start a puzzle, read a book, watch a bird, watch leaves move on the tree, watch snow or rain fall.  Start taking little breaks through your day (even if just for a minute).  Take care of your mind.  

2)  Take care of the body

When your body feels stressed, take a break.  Get up and move it. Get up and put music on and dance, go for a brisk walk, and get more in your body.  

There is no right or wrong way to do it here.  This article is meant for you to start listening to your OWN mind and body.  No one can do it for you.  Want to feel better?  Just take one action and notice how you feel.  This is the beginning for healing the mind and body for better flow.  

‘If you wish to see why your body is the way it is, look at how you’ve been thinking for the past 10 years. If you wish to see how your body will be in 10 years time, look at how you are thinking now.’

Buddha 550 BC

Next we will continue talking about mind-body flow and how electricity is involved.

-Be in the Flow!  

Written by Susan Schultz, co-owner of Healing Waters Health Center