Use the Mind-Body Connection for Healing

What I'm about to explain is simply amazing, motivating, and essential for every person to know!

First, ever had that feeling when you are anxious and you get butterflies in your stomach? This is a great example of the very direct connection between the mind and body. 

So here's the coolest thing... The mind has been proven to heal the body. This is because the body is always responding to the way the mind is thinking and feeling. In fact, the immune cells that fight disease are triggered by multiple neurotransmitters in the brain. So your brain can send your cells messages to help you heal! 

The implications of this are fascinating to me. Could this mean that focusing your mind on healing a certain area of your body could actually increase the immune response to that area and help it heal? This would certainly make sense! And some research supports this too. In fact, this helps explain why some people experience improvements from placebo treatment (fake medicine that they may think is real). Of course, in no way am I suggesting modern medicine is not needed to help cure disease; I believe that it is. What this information is meant to provide is an added tool in the toolbox of healing. Whether healing physical or mental problems, the mind can help get you there. Here's one way as to how...

Learning to manage how we react to situations is the most powerful thing we can do in order to combat stress and potential health problems that can result. Mindfulness slows the brain’s reaction and teaches it to wait… this can help the mind and body not activate the stress response unnecessarily.

Meditation can help create calm which can combat the stress response and help reverse the negative effects. Quiet your mind to help interrupt the fears and the threat response. Meditation helps to block the negative thoughts that pop into mind throughout the day. It gives you a mental break and allows time and space to be mindful- in the here and now.

To take this a step further, when meditating, imagine yourself healing in whatever way that means to you. Focus on your breath, feel thankful, be in the here and now without judgment, and think about what you want to heal in the moment. 

Breathe....

Thanks for reading!