Mind and Body~Connection

Your mind and body are closely linked, and their relationship can exert a positive influence on health and quality of life. How you think can affect how you feel and how you feel will change your thinking.

Characters, feelings and emotional states ranging from love and compassion to fear and anger can trigger chain reactions that affect blood chemistry, heart rate and the activity of every cell and organ in the body,  from the stomach and digestive tract to the immune system.

The mind-body connection is how your body responds to stress. Persistent worry and stress over jobs, finances, or other problems can cause tense muscles, pain, headaches, and stomach problems. It may also lead to high blood pressure, stroke or other serious issues. Constant pain or a health problem like heart disease or diabetes can affect your emotions. You might become depressed, anxious, and stressed, which could affect how well you treat, manage, or cope with your illness.

Your mind can have a positive effect on your health, too. Having a positive outlook on life might help you better handle pain or stress and stay healthier than someone who is less hopeful.

When we nurture and refine the strength of our bodies, we can enhance the capacity of our minds for creativity, productivity, and happiness all good qualities we need for the body and mind.  Learning to create a positive lifestyle that is safe and nourishing for you is the best way to understand your body and mind.

Any practice that adds to your senses of compassion, connection, empathy, gratitude, happiness, mindfulness, optimism, resilience, and self-compassion fits into this mind-body of life-enhancing strategies.

Understanding the body-mind relationship may not cure your physical difficulties, but by learning the language of symptoms and illness, you can discover what is being repressed or ignored in your psyche and emotions, and how this is influencing your well-being. From this vantage point, you can find that there is an extraordinarily intimate two-way communication going on between body and mind that affects your physical and mental state and your spiritual and emotional health.

Mind and body are one, whatever happens, it happens to both. With proper care, you can improve your mind and body. We will feature mind and body articles that will enhance your lifestyle, change your perspective and bring alternative options to practice.

~Diadel Kimberlee