Body Mind: Holistic Healing

The body-mind connection is the basis for holistic healing. Less stress creates better health.

For a long time the medical profession has looked at disease as something that comes from outside, such as germs, and attacks the body. According to the scientific, materialistic point of view, the body is who we are and the world is a dangerous place. Drugs have been created to take care of the body, to prevent or to eradicate diseases. However, such methods always contain side effects. There is a cost, besides the high monetary one, to relying on drugs. The greatest cost is believing that we have no control of these outside and inside forces. That we are all victims. Fix one thing and another will come about. More drugs, more operations. Great business for the medical profession as there will always be repeat customers, unless, of course, when the customer dies.

Today, however, the healing paradigm is shifting. Slowly in some areas, and faster (like here in California) in others. Many doctors, such as Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, and Bernie Siegal, have come to the understanding that the body's health is not independent of the mind. There is a body-mind connection that cannot be denied. And now with quantum physics becoming accessible to the layperson, there is a growing belief that our minds create our experience. What we believe, we perceive.

If we see ourselves as alone in the universe, ready to be attacked by forces outside, we are living in fear. Living in fear is highly destructive to the body, as the body will be subjected constantly to adrenaline into the nervous system. And this is exhausting. Usually to combat that exhaustion outside means are needed to relax the system or to combat the exhaustion. Some examples are caffeine, alcohol, amphetamines or anti-depressants, "recreational" drugs), television (with its mind-numbing effects), shopping and sex .

On the other hand, when we are seeing that we are part of a cosmic design, that we are given the power of the Creator through the use of our mind, then we become co-creators. We can either create heaven in our lives or hell. If we can see our bodies as a vehicle or a canvas that reflects what we believe we can then thank the body for its messages. Louise Hay has done a lot of work looking at illnesses as symbols of what the subconscious is trying to tell us. For instance, I was plagued by lower back pains for many years. According to Hay's work that represents not feeling supported, nobody "having my back." Instead of just having surgery, I took responsibility and worked with that idea and did a lot of loving breathing into my back. Today my back is strong. I feel supported.

Personally, I have avoided traditional western doctors and all forms of drugs whenever I can. I prefer to work with alternative healers who realize that they or what they give are not the real healers, but it is the patient that must ultimately heal themselves. Ramakrishna said that one of the times God laughs is when a doctor tells the patient that he will cure him. As he said, it is God who decides who is healed or not. And where does God reside? God resides within.

A Course in Miracles says the body is neutral. If it was needed it could last a thousand years. However, the ego, or the thought that we are separate from All That Is, uses the body as the manifestation of this belief in separation; and to keep that belief as real as possible it uses guilt and suffering. This belief is found in many world myths such as The Bible, where due to sin, humans are now plagued with death and illness.

Yet if one came to the realization that one's innate Spirit is untouched by time then fear disappears. When fear is gone there is no stress, because there is no more worries. All is well. The timeless cannot be touched. The present is provided for. The body can just be. There is no judgment about how it looks or how it performs. It becomes a blessed vehicle expressing the love within.

This is the true miracle. This is holistic healing. To remember one's holiness. To be whole. The result on the body follow the beliefs of the mind.

Nothing is needed to come from outside to heal, when one's true being is already whole. However, we often feel we need something to help us. It could be as subtle as taking homeopathic medicine or drinking blessed water, or as gross as taking strong drugs and having surgery. It's all fine. No judgment. At times I have to take aspirin for bodily pains if I can't breathe them away, or I don't have the time to sit and meditate on the pain. No worries. Or I may need a massage, which is not just for my benefit, it benefits the masseuse as well. There is a reason for everything. The important thing is not to stress, to get ensnared by judgment and guilt.

If you incorporate meditation into a daily practice you will feel more relaxed, less stressful, more joyous, and the body will respond in kind. Also, the more you incorporate holistic health)into your lifestyle, such as eating natural foods, spending more time in nature, slowing down, helping others, reading and watching inspirational stories, etc. the better your well-being.

Should you abandon the care of your doctor or eliminate your drugs? Everyone is different. Always consult with your doctor or a qualified health practitioner before doing something like that. Holistic healing is usually slower than modern medicine. But what you can do, no matter what line of treatment you are doing, is meditate, so you can remember who you really are, independent of your body and its treatments. And the more you meditate you will realize the body-mind connection.

Janaka Stagnaro
www.mindfulness-meditation-techniques.com