The Mind-Body Connection:
Are You Blocking Your Pathway to Success and Fulfillment?
For many people, this connection between mind and body is a mystery. After all, to those raised in a western culture, this holistic perspective is a very different look at our bodies. We probably grew up with or bodies treated in separate units, as has been the case in traditional western medicine for centuries. A separation of the mind and body is the mindset many of us still have in looking at our lives and our health.
Holistic health practitioners see the connection between mind, body and spirit and treat their client's physical and emotional ailments as a whole. They acknowledge that all of these aspects of being are interconnected. Modern medicine is beginning to acknowledge this connection and more and more doctors are prescribing supplements, exercise and stress reduction techniques. In some cases, massage, acupuncture and other alternative therapies are recommended as supplemental care.
This body mind connection occurs through vehicles called meridians. We have thousands of meridians, which are energy channels that run throughout the body and are associated with our organs. In eastern medicine, this energy flow is referred to as chi or prana in Indian traditions. Prana means life force.
If this life force becomes blocked from trauma and/or from life's demands (popularly know as stress), illness can occur. Illness can manifest in many forms. Stiffness in the body to acute pain, a weak immune system, or organ problems.
These blocks in our life force can slow one's progress toward creating a satisfying life. For example, one can be too ill or in too much pain to try new things. Illness often causes depression, which can inhibit one's ability to create the relationships one needs to succeed. Also, one's creativity can be blocked by the stress in one's life. When our creativity is blocked, we will never truly be able to assess what it is that moves us to a place of fulfillment and bliss.
Instead, we want to bring our bodies to a place where our life force energy flows freely. This flow can occur only with a dedicated mind. A mind committed to health and well being. The first step is to pay attention to our breathing. If we fill our body with oxygen, we become energized and at the same time relaxed and our life force grows stronger. It is essential for optimal health that we bring oxygen into all of our cells. Is your breathing deep and relaxed?
A larger concept, called Self-Care, is new to many of us led to believe our bodies are invincible, until we are faced with a severe illness or injury. The loss of health happens to the best of us when we stop paying attention to what our body needs.
I once believed I was one of those invincible people. I grew up a very athletic person and a very good student. Both attributes highly rewarded in our culture, I had many opportunities presented to me. I chose this path, full steam ahead, volunteering much of my free time, while studying and/or working many hours. Soon I had a child, still determined to keep this pace. My mind and body craved it. I was a "doer", driven by the rewards and recognition I received for working so hard. Too hard.
My first message from my body was a back injury caused by a car accident. Very soon after the injury, while receiving my first holistic treatments of acupressure and neuromuscular therapy, I continued to attend dance classes and rode my bike almost everyday. As you may expect, the pain persisted. Finally, enough people came into my life (my Earth plane angels) to explain to me how they healed from their back injuries. A common message was to stop any physical activity that involved use of my back, aside from the simple yoga stretches recommended by my practitioners. This concept was quite foreign to me at the time. After all, I was young and strong. How was I to stay in the physical shape I was used to maintaining? How was I to do the activities I loved and that fed my soul? Despite my concerns about living this new life, I took their advice and it worked. But as soon as I could, I got back on my horse and rode hard. I required one more lesson before I would fully listen to my body, mind and spirit.
An ongoing chemical exposure in my new home was this life-changing wake up call. Healing from multiple chemical sensitivity, which in my case caused extreme fatigue, flu like symptoms and headache,s required me to reexamine every aspect of my life. This condition taught me to finally slow down and take care of myself in a more holistic manner. Some of us require such harsh lessons. Perhaps after reading my story, you will avoid such a lesson in your life.
Several years have elapsed since this illness was diagnosed. As a result of my personal healing process, I have learned the art of balance in my life by tuning into the body mind connection. I have slowed down enough to listen to my body, mind and spirit and I was able to heal.
My body continues to remind me to slow down, listen, get enough exercise, sleep, eat consciously and devote significant time to joyful, playful and pleasurable activities. Not to mention, avoiding toxic environments, but that's another article in itself. Quieting my mind through meditation and practicing therapeutic dance and yoga has allowed my mind to hear what my body and spirit need.
It has been my life experience of getting in touch with the Mind Body Connection that has led me to develop the methodology for my Lifestyle Enhancement Coaching practice. Over the years, I have accumulated a wealth of tools and techniques that one can use on a daily basis to stay centered, clear, focused and healthy. This lifestyle will ultimately lead to achieving ones fullest potential.
Lifestyle Enhancement Coaching has a core system which begins with clearing old relationships with people and things. The clutter from years and projects gone by fall into this category, as do holding grudges, resentments and passing judgments. These outmoded behaviors and objects zap the energy we can instead be devoting to creating supportive relationships and environments that will carry us toward our dreams.
Creating a solid foundation for one's personal growth is another part of the core system of Lifestyle Enhancement Coaching. This foundation includes organizing your life so that it supports you to move to the next level. This may involve taking care of unfinished business, like old debts, creating a bookkeeping system or designing one's office or home for the new life one is choosing to lead. Another component of the foundation is to maintain a balanced life that includes mindful eating, physical activity and some form of spiritual practice. Being centered, balanced, healthy, strong and flexible create the self-esteem, confidence, strength and stamina for being successful in life. Spirituality helps one to trust and let go of fear.
The maintenance of a mind body and spirit connection is woven throughout Lifestyle Enhancement Coaching. With this holistic awareness, one begins to detect when one is off balance and how to make the necessary corrections to get back into balance. For example, one learns when one needs more sleep or exercise, what foods to eat to refuel, and how to discern healthy/supportive relationships from those that drain energy and hold one back from accomplishing ones dreams. In time, one can live a life of balance abundance and bliss. All one needs to begin is desire, willingness and trust in the process.