The Bigger Picture: Despite the evidence - sometimes subtle, often disregarded, but unarguably present - the mind-body connection is usually treated as a "personal belief" rather than a respected fact.
This makes it difficult to build knowledge around it and apply that knowledge to generating health.
However, two things happened to me recently that brought home for me a connection between how we're functioning deep inside our bodies and our emotional state.
It left me wondering why we doubt this connection at all. The first event was the completion of a cleansing fast. It was my second annual fast. This time I followed it with a herbal cleanse of the major organ systems (for more information, check my website).
There is a value in clearing out the digestive tract. Something like one-third of our metabolic energy is spent in digestion. Giving that digestive system a break gives the body an opportunity to spend that energy cleansing and repairing other systems.
Furthermore, with our society's processed foods and hectic lifestyle, the digestive system isn't always functioning to its best.
Most of us, even those of us with very healthy lifestyles, carry around old, undigested food in there. Given that our colon is a mini "ecosystem" in and of itself, it deserves our attention.
The majority of our immune system is in our digestive system. This is well demonstrated by our appendix - an organ filled with a higher concentration of lymph nodes than anywhere else in the body (definitely not an evolutionarily obsolete organ).
The digestive system is an open door for any object from the outside. It's only protection is our discretion of what we put into our mouth and its own immunity.
Sugar and insufficient nutrients and stress weaken our immune system. It's no wonder, then, that stress affects our digestion: diarrhoea, constipation and irritable bowel are common struggles. With a breakdown of immunity and tissue functioning, all kinds of things can grow in that ecosystem.
I never realised how much energy it might take to protect myself after repeated experiences of stress. Not only did my cleanse leave me feeling lighter and more energised than ever, I most notably felt emotionally unburdened. It was as though an organ-level irritation - a "cellular anxiety" - that didn't register at a conceptual level of symptoms, lifted.
This confirmed for me how our physically state, even if impeded at a level beyond our conscious awareness, affects us emotionally. The mind and body are intricately communicating and interacting with each other.
My second experience made me aware of nerves and muscles lying quite deep within the body, such that we might not notice if they were in distress. I was at an advance course for Bowen practitioners - a technique that facilitates the body to bring muscles out of spasm, realign posture, drain lymph, improve circulation and, most notably, restart an internal healing mechanism.
Alongside learning moves to have an impact on these deeper structures, we were being taught to recognise the symptoms of their difficulty. In order to learn, we practise on each other. As a result, while we are having far more work done on ourselves than is recommended for a consistent healing process, we also experienced the effects of the various moves. Thus, most of us left the training in far better shape than when we walked in.
For me, again, I experienced a profound emotional uplift. While I would have considered myself in good health before, I was quite simply fundamentally happier afterwards. The resolution of physical problems - that hadn't yet registered for me at a conscious level in terms of pain or disease - was noticed at a level of emotional wellbeing.
But what influences our emotions? I am getting to understand more and more how the physical condition of our organs and tissues makes a difference. Although we tend to ignore the facts, food and lifestyle play their part. Not only does the quality of our food intake matter, but also the health of our physical frame.
So, why is anyone over weight? What comes out repeatedly when I work with people is how there is something they are struggling with emotionally: self-esteem, self-value or fear. Many people carry a left-over "need" to protect themselves from others or use food to numb out certain feelings.
Food is a drug, as much as smoking, alcohol or others. It makes sense then that food can be mobilised to promote healing in one instance but, if used incorrectly, can kill.
Why does our posture have such an impact on our confidence and wellbeing? Is it possible that our ability to hold our self up is felt in our emotions?
It's easy to underestimate how much our physical bodies might affect mental health.
However, new awareness brings with it the opportunity to make changes in how we think and behave, even if it seems to defy accepted medical perspective.