What is Mind-Body Health?

Mind and Body

You are a triune being created with three separate parts that work as one (mind, body, and spirit). Each one of these is different from the other. If these three aspects of who you are are not balanced and functioning properly, it creates turmoil. One of the most important organs of your physical body is your brain. *Please note that the brain and mind are two separate things. Your brain influences the rest of your body and is designed to detect danger or threat. The brain’s main purpose is to keep you alive, not happy or comfortable. Throughout life, the brain learns and encodes threat, or what it perceives as threat. This threat could be an immediate danger, a physical injury, emotional upset, or trauma. When this threat is experienced (whether in the present or by thoughts), the brain can send pain signals to the body or other types of symptoms. This can occur even in the absence of a physical injury or physical disease. Did you get that? Pain and/or chronic symptoms can happen when the psyche feels threatened whether it be from emotional pain, thoughts, suppressed emotions, or real danger. A challenging boss, a hard situation, or even thinking about a future or past experience can trigger this! That’s because, at times, pent up emotions and stress activate the exact same neural pathways or “danger signal” in the brain as a physical injury would! This part of the brain is called the ACC (anterior cingulate cortex).

When you encounter stress, trauma, or suppress emotions, your body can become stuck in a dysregulated state of fight, flight, or freeze. This state affects you all the way down to the cell, which then goes into what’s known as “cell danger response.” This exceeds a cell's ability to maintain homeostasis (or balance). While in this stress state much can occur. Your organs don’t function well, the immune system shuts off, digestion slows down, your nervous system becomes dysregulated, muscles tense up, and pain signals are sent to certain parts of the body. Some people will have reactions to environmental triggers like allergies, mold, food, smells, viruses, parasites, etc. You may also develop chronic symptoms. This is currently labeled as Mind-Body disorder/syndrome. However, the body isn’t necessarily broken, it is doing what it is supposed to do when under stress, you just have to become aware of how to respond.

Mind-Body Syndrome (MBS) has had many different terms over the years such as: Psychophysiologic Disorder (PPD), Psychosomatic Disorder, Limbic System impairment, Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), and Neuroplastic Pain. This happens because stress, trauma, and repressed emotions are capable of causing persistent pain and other types of physical symptoms. All humans experience mind-body symptoms to some degree. Have you ever had tension headaches when you were under stress? Or perhaps your face started blushing when feeling embarrassed? Some may feel sick to their stomach or even vomit at the news of a devastating occurrence like a loved one’s death. Mind-body reactions are happening every day, but most of the time you just aren’t aware of it. Your mind and body are supposed to experience the stress or emotion, have it pass through, and then move on. But when the stress and emotions don’t pass through, they become stuck causing a dysregulated nervous system. Your psyche will speak through the body, just as it does through dreams or creativity. It does this typically through symptoms of the body. For example; someone with chronic headaches may be dealing with suppressed anger that needs to flow through.

Modern medical treatments and medications (like SSRIs or natural supplements) often give very limited relief or only initial relief that eventually fades away if taken off the medication. Did you know that if your mind accepts a doctor's positive word on a particular medication, then that belief can manifest the effect you are expecting? This is called the Placebo effect. This typically happens when starting something new, like a different medication or physical therapy, but over time the positive effect wears off. People can also experience the opposite—a nocebo effect—from doctors or other information they perceived as true. If a doctor informs you that you have a certain condition that will manifest harmful symptoms, and you accept that belief, then your mind and body will expect that to happen and your body may begin the shut down process (cell danger response). Some people will even believe they will die if a doctor declares it. Belief is more powerful than people realize!

Thinking/Present Moment

A very effective aspect for healing has to do with your thinking. The brain is neuroplastic. This means that the neural circuits (thoughts and memories) can change over time. These neural circuits have been programmed to activate a stress response for certain situations, emotions, memories, symptoms, and environmental triggers (like people, weather, mold, scents, etc.). This programming is called a conditioned response or automatic response. The more you reinforce and think about something mentally, the stronger the response will become, whether it’s good or bad. The saying goes “Neurons that fire together, wire together!” Your thoughts will go down the path of least resistance and what’s most familiar. In order to effectively help chronic symptoms, it is important to think about what is happening in the present moment. Thoughts flow through the mind like air flows through our lungs. You can’t stop it, and it is a natural occurrence. But is it necessary to entertain a thought? Especially when it doesn’t serve you well? When you entertain thoughts about the past or future, you are not in the present moment and you are now wrapped up in a "narrative or story” that doesn’t even exist in the moment. This can trigger the danger response signal numerous times without you even realizing it!

Have you ever noticed the word “human being”? The second part “being” suggests that we exist in the present. When you focus on thoughts that are not part of the present moment, you are no longer “being” in the now, which can be very overwhelming!

Thoughts are not reality and they only have power over what you allow them to. Establishing new and healthy thought patterns/ beliefs that become familiar creates peace. The first step in this is awareness of your thought life—metacognition.

Epigenetics

Some doctors will state that you have chronic illness, disease, or symptoms because of your genetics. You were just born with it and have to learn how to cope. But recent studies have proven that is not typically the case. Your genetics CAN change according to your environment. This is known as epigenetics, which means control above genetics. Environmental influences, including nutrition, stress, and emotions, can modify your genes without changing their basic blueprint. Not only that, but those modified genes can be passed onto future generations. So, you are not destined to what your family’s past may have encountered; you truly have the ability to drastically change your health. Dr. Bruce Lipton stated, “Organisms always match their environment (mental and physical), and as the environment changes the organisms change to adapt to those environments (your genes adapt to your beliefs).” So if you see yourself as sick and not capable of healing, your body responds physiologically to adapt to those beliefs.

Heart-Brain Coherence

One amazing tool from within is your heart. The human heart operates not only as a vital organ but also a high-energy magnetic center. The heart and the brain are in constant communication, just like the brain and the gut. The heart sends more signals to the brain than vice versa. When your heart-brain-body communication is working well, you are able to enter a state of balance or coherence. This is called heart-brain coherence (also known as heart alignment). The benefits of this heart coherence include mental clarity, positive emotions, resilience, intuition, connection with others, and a healthier autonomic nervous system. Routinely engaging in heart-brain coherence can create a powerful shift to support a better place for healing.

Spiritual/Emotional

You’ve probably learned from a young age to hide “negative” emotions, especially anger and sadness, because it is considered unacceptable to display in front of others. So parts of your subconscious mind, and the ego, do whatever they can to hold back unacceptable and painful emotions in order to “survive” in your environment and with society. The ego does its best to protect you from what it views as dangerous. But unfortunately , it typically has a dysfunctional view. When these unconscious emotions come close to resurfacing to the conscious mind we experience symptoms. Some research says it is the way of the unconscious emotions trying to get our attention through the body (in order to be felt and integrated). Other research says it is the ego trying to distract from feeling the unconscious emotions (like anger) since they are seen as a threat and unacceptable. Whatever the reason, suppressing emotions holds in excess energy. Emotions are literally energy IN motion. This is why when a child is excited, they jump up and down with tight fists. This is also why when we are grieving we may scream and shake. Emotions are meant to flow and move, not be held in.

A crucial part in recovery is allowing and feeling emotions as they rise up. This has to be a natural process, not a forced one. When you have a physical symptom (fatigue, headache, back pain, etc.), there is an emotion ready to be felt and processed. The ultimate goal is to reach a place where you feel enough safety and have the capacity to feel suppressed emotions, in order for balance to be restored. The more we foster a positive mood and safety, the more emotions will fall in alignment with it.

I love the following wise words from Exposing the Spiritual Roots of Disease by Henry Wright:

“Your bodies are designed to serve you and they should fulfill that function correctly unless something interferes with their design. Your minds are designed to function with healthy integration. When your minds become dis-integrated (due to suppressed emotions, trauma, fear, etc.) then your nervous system and bodies follow in line with becoming imbalanced and produce symptoms and dis-ease. This correlates to the scriptural language of sin and fear. Living in peace and acceptance fosters a whole new outcome.”

This idea from Henry Wright is also the same concept of thinking and renewing your mind, also found in many parts of the Bible.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

If you are living in an unbalanced and dysregulated state, then you will not have the capacity to experience your spiritual part that connects with a higher source. Emotional disconnect also happens because you are not aware of how and why your emotions are working and why you are emotionally triggered so strongly in certain circumstances. Your mind and body become hypersensitive. Feeling emotions and allowing them to move through is crucial.

Seeking God and His ways will naturally allow you to let go and experience His peace and guidance back to your true self.

Proverbs 4:20–22: “…turn your ears to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.”

God designed you to be a communal being. Healthy relationships and meaningful interactions are essential to your well-being. You are meant to be known by others and to know others deeply. Just as importantly, you are called to know God and to rediscover your true self—often hidden beneath fear and ego. Though your Creator originally designed your body to function perfectly, sin and the brokenness of this world have brought interference. Yet there is hope: when you are connected with God, your true self, and others, amazing things can unfold.

The mind-body approach isn’t necessarily about ridding yourself of symptoms and pain, although that naturally will come in time. The goal of the mind-body method is being able to operate from your true self-- your spirit. That is true healing.

• List of symptoms/conditions that you can overcome.

Anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain conditions (e.g. fibromyalgia, migraine, back pain, herniated disk), chronic fatigue (ME/CFS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), autoimmune disorders, digestive issues (IBS), hormone imbalances, viral/bacterial/parasitic infections like chronic Lyme disease, skin conditions like rosacea and psoriasis. Environmental sensitivities: multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), mast cell/mold illness/chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS, MCAS), food sensitivities and allergies, environmental allergies, etc.

List of Resources

All the Rage, saved by Sarno. Rent or buy online at Rumur.com or Amazon This Might Hurt film @ This Might Hurt

Pain Brain Boulder Back Pain study documentary Click Here

Videos:

Howard Schubiner videos What is Pain? There are many, on YouTube Click Here

Curable App

TMS forum on FaceBook

FreedomfromChronicPain.com

Dr. Lipton Reprogramming belief videos on YouTube

PODCAST/YouTube; Tell Me About your Pain, The Cure For Chronic Pain, The Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Dan Buglio “Pain Free You” Channel Dan Buglio

Dr. Ragan Chatterjee "Nervous System Expert" Click Here

Books by:

Dr. Sarno “The MindBody Prescription”

Dr. Howard Schubiner “Unlearn Your Pain”

Alan Gordan “The Way Out”

Steve O “The Great Pain Deception”

Dan Buglio“Pain Free You”

The Secret to Mental Health: An Operating Manual for the Human Mind

by George S Pransky Ph D

Craig Groeschel “Winning the War in your Mind”