A lot is written about the mind-body connection but I think much of it misses the boat. This article from Deepak Chopra sums up the essence of what this connection is all about. I especially picked on the point he makes about how "Every event in the mind matches a corresponding event in the body." If we want to take control of our physical health, fitness and weight we must start reeling in our emotions and thoughts. Read on and enjoy!
The Future of the Body
by Deepak Chopra
Western medicine has proceeded on the assumption that the mind is
intelligent but that the body isn't. In effect the body is a machine
made of meat. This machine needs fixing at times, and being
deviously complicated, with billions of interconnected parts, it has
innumerable ways to break down. Medical research doesn't so much
deny the body's intelligence as ignore it.
The next new drug and surgical procedure is pursued independent of
anything resembling the mind-body connection. The fact that millions
of patients have objections to this approach is scientifically and
commercially irrelevant. In the face of this opposition, it's
amazing how far mind-body medicine has gotten. How far the mind-body
revolution can go is uncertain, but it seems clear that each of us
as individuals must reconnect to the body's wisdom on our own -- on
that point all of alternative medicine agrees.
How do you know if the connection was broken in the first place?
Look at your basic attitudes and beliefs about your body. If you are
connected to your body, the following beliefs would be present.
1. You respect and trust your body. In a state of disconnection, the
body is seen as inert, subject to constant threats, and capable of
betraying you by falling sick at any moment.
2. You rely on inner healing and know how to help it when needed. In
a state of disconnection, you are baffled and alarmed when something
goes wrong and feel that only doctors know what to do.
3. You see the body as a balanced organism living in a balanced
ecology. In a state of disconnection the body is seen as totally
isolated, with hostile germs attacking it at random.
4. You listen for signals of imbalance before they turn into
symptoms of disease. In a state of disconnection, the body is
ignored unless it cries out with pain or a sudden breakdown of
function.
5. You realize that emotions, stress, depression, anger, and anxiety
aren't just psychological but have physical consequences. Every
event in the mind matches a corresponding event in the body. In a
state of disconnection, the mind operates independently of the body;
neither speaks to the other.
Changing your old, worn out beliefs is a personal project. You don't
have to renounce mainstream medicine or deny yourself any treatment
necessary as various problems arise. Alternative medicine, in my
view, isn't the enemy of mainstream medicine, nor is it simply an
adjunct. Instead, it's the practical side of a new way of life, one
based on a vision of wholeness. "Wholeness" has become rather empty
from overuse, but it means that you are a totality, not the sum of
countless moving parts.
Wholeness has already won a notable victory without fighting any
battles, simply by a change of beliefs. That victory came in the so-
called new old age. In the past, old age was feared, and rightly so,
because seniors lost their value to society and were put on the
shelf, both mentally and physically. When attitudes shifted, thanks
to better health and longer life spans, old age shifted with it.
People began to expect the opposite of previous generations. They
expected old age to be as vigorous, alert, and useful as any other
time of life. Quietly, the body cooperated with this new vision.
I consider this a victory for wholeness because a segment of life
that had been cut off and detached has been reconnected with the
entire human life cycle. Old age is no longer a useless leftover.
But that's only the beginning. Nobody knows how much more potential
the body contains that is yet untapped. It would seem reasonable to
expect more rather than less, however. Once you begin to trust the
body and listen to it, an intimate relationship gets established on
the basis of loving regard rather than anxious mistrust. Medical
school will probably never teach a course on that (with the possible
exception of the psychiatry department), but it could be the most
valuable medical breakthrough for coming generations.
Posted by Deepak Chopra
December 03, 2007