Reconnecting BodyMind to Heal Disease
In his book When the Body Says No, Gabor Mate outlines the various personality characteristics and coping styles of people who are prone to stress related illnesses. He also notes that some of these stress related illnesses are neurodegenerative in nature, like ALS and Multiple Sclerosis. This is hugely important information!
This alone tells us that we DO have plenty of control over our health, more than we think...that
a medical doctor has discovered the stress related link to health, and that body/mind are one..but the inclusion of neurodegenerative diseases under the umbrella of stress related illnesses illustrates how
stress affects the brain...and how illness really IS top down...if you think of stress-related illness as a malfunction of the mid-brain centers...caused by repressed emotion. I like to think of stress causing a "back-up" in HPA-axis...the stress response center of the brain..and the corresponding illnesses are a result of an HPA -Axis stuck on overdrive.
An emotion is physical in nature. It originates in the body. Our mind is NOT the master of our emotions...they are seemingly irrational to our thinking mind, and oftentimes, the smarter we are, the more we think, the more likely we are to "override" our emotions. As Dr. Mate points out, emotions are electrical, chemical and hormonal in nature...they are filled with energy. They need expression. I was raised in a household where emotions were mistrusted, and considered unseemly, especially a negative display of emotion. I learned to repress my emotions, especially my negative ones. I wasn't taught how to feel, and how to respond, how to build a relationship with my emotional self, and to trust my emotional self. In my home, the intellect ruled. And as Dr. Mate so eloquently suggests, this atmosphere of repression is fertile ground for stress related illnesses.
But what Dr Mate doesn't offer is a solution or a treatment for stress related disease. And here is what is so hopeful. There IS a treatment. It involves simply listening to your body, and making small adjustments in how you relate to your environment, to your outer world, using the language of the body as your guide. It is simple, eloquent and counter-intuitive to healing a physical dis-ease. But it is truly empowering, life changing, and healing. You do NOT have to suffer with stress related illnesses. You also don't have to meditate and hour a day, make huge dietary adjustments and cumbersome lifestyle changes...because although those things can help, that is not what your body is asking for. Your body just wants you to listen to it...your soul is calling you. If you answer the call, you will have a happy and healthy body, and a new way of "being" in the world.
This alone tells us that we DO have plenty of control over our health, more than we think...that
a medical doctor has discovered the stress related link to health, and that body/mind are one..but the inclusion of neurodegenerative diseases under the umbrella of stress related illnesses illustrates how
stress affects the brain...and how illness really IS top down...if you think of stress-related illness as a malfunction of the mid-brain centers...caused by repressed emotion. I like to think of stress causing a "back-up" in HPA-axis...the stress response center of the brain..and the corresponding illnesses are a result of an HPA -Axis stuck on overdrive.
An emotion is physical in nature. It originates in the body. Our mind is NOT the master of our emotions...they are seemingly irrational to our thinking mind, and oftentimes, the smarter we are, the more we think, the more likely we are to "override" our emotions. As Dr. Mate points out, emotions are electrical, chemical and hormonal in nature...they are filled with energy. They need expression. I was raised in a household where emotions were mistrusted, and considered unseemly, especially a negative display of emotion. I learned to repress my emotions, especially my negative ones. I wasn't taught how to feel, and how to respond, how to build a relationship with my emotional self, and to trust my emotional self. In my home, the intellect ruled. And as Dr. Mate so eloquently suggests, this atmosphere of repression is fertile ground for stress related illnesses.
But what Dr Mate doesn't offer is a solution or a treatment for stress related disease. And here is what is so hopeful. There IS a treatment. It involves simply listening to your body, and making small adjustments in how you relate to your environment, to your outer world, using the language of the body as your guide. It is simple, eloquent and counter-intuitive to healing a physical dis-ease. But it is truly empowering, life changing, and healing. You do NOT have to suffer with stress related illnesses. You also don't have to meditate and hour a day, make huge dietary adjustments and cumbersome lifestyle changes...because although those things can help, that is not what your body is asking for. Your body just wants you to listen to it...your soul is calling you. If you answer the call, you will have a happy and healthy body, and a new way of "being" in the world.
music to my ears!
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