Heal Your Emotions, Heal Your Body.

In Western medicine doctors are taught to treat the illness.  They know all about disease and dysfunction and how to treat it, but are taught nothing about being well and how to maintain it.  The body is not a time bomb waiting to go off, it is a magical place which can heal and regenerate in truly amazing ways.  In some cases drugs actually suppress disease by pushing it back down into the system and doctors rarely address the lifestyle issues which causes the disorder to surface e.g. stress, diet, lifestyle.


I have recently been reading a book called 'Women's bodies Women's Wisdom by Dr Chrsitiane Northrup. It interests me that a medical doctor has turned her back on the orthodox approach to medicine and put a  lot of time and research into producing a book about the effect of emotions on Women's health (there is no reason why her theories and observations cannot be applied to men too, but her area of medicine for 20 years was woman's health so that is where are interest lies)

She suggests that: "To improve our lives and our health, we must acknowledge the seamless unity between our beliefs, behaviour and our physical bodies."

This powerful quote summarises neatly what a lot of people are missing in their approach to good health.  She believes that by loving ourselves and accepting our bodies we give our physical body the right environment to heal.  If we are angry and resentful and hold on to negative emotions, then our whole system will be affected.  This can be seen in a physical way through the stress response.  If we become stressed then our body produces powerful hormones which start a domino effect of reactions in the body including a raise in blood sugar - to run from the threat!  If over time we are stressed daily and do not address it, our high blood sugar may lead to diabetes or  metabolic syndrome.  The stress response can be triggered by something as simple as reliving a stressful event, such as an argument with a friend.  The heart starts to race, the shoulders hunch and the body begins to react negatively by shutting down certain systems such as our digestive secretions.  

Our mind and our thoughts are part of our bodies and until we address them together and respect their connection, we will find it very hard to heal.  Recently doctors have been given the power to recommend certain self help titles on the NHS system such as 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' by Susan Jeffers.  This acceptance of mindset on health in mainstream healthcare is a fabulous thing and a sign that we are perhaps on our way to a more holistic approach to being well.

The most useful advice is simply to think good thoughts about yourself and others.

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