The Mind Body Connection
Is taking care of your mind an area of YOUR health that needs your attention? If your answer is “YES”, you are in the majority! In fact, we are called to be in persuit of transformation by the renewing of our minds! (Romans 12)
Until approximately 300 years ago, virtually every system of medicine throughout the world treated the mind and body as a whole. But during the 17th century, the Western world started to see the mind and body as two different entities. In this view, the body was kind of like a machine, complete with replaceable, independent parts, with no connection whatsoever to the mind. This belief greatly reduced scientific research into humans' emotional and spiritual life, which downplayed their innate ability to heal. The mind CAN aid in the speed of the body’s healing!!
Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. In other words, our minds can affect how healthy our bodies are!
On the other hand, what we do with our physical body (what we eat, how much we exercise, even our posture) can impact our mental state (again positively or negatively). This results in a complex interrelationship between our minds and bodies.
All of our body systems, organs (including the brain, plus our emotional responses all share a common chemical language and are in constant communication with one another!
The “mind" is not the same thing as your brain. The mind consists of mental states such as thoughts, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and images. The brain is the hardware that allows us to experience these mental states. Mental states can be fully conscious or unconscious. We can have emotional reactions to situations without being aware of why we are reacting. Each mental state has a chemical response associated with it—a positive or negative effect felt in the physical body. For example, the mental state of anxiety causes you to produce stress hormones which can be felt in the body (butterflies in belly, increased body temperature, heart rate increases).
Crazy but amazing, right? Our bodies have an incredible Creator!
How do YOU connect your mind & body? A few things that help are:
prayer
mediation
coaching with a certified health coach who specializes in holistic WHOLE body wellness
creative arts
journaling
behavioral therapy
life coaching
emotion code sessions
aromatherapy
relaxation
I would love to help you manage your mind. It’s a beautiful place to dive into & your whole body will thank you!
(Check out my stories for more examples of mind body connection!)
*facts from university of Minnesota
