Your Body Speaks Your Mind: How Your Mind and Body Work Together
In Woody Allen's movie, Annie Hall, Diane Keaton wants to know why he isn't angry. "I don't get angry," Allen replies, "I grow a tumor instead."
I recently had a burst appendix and I am immensely grateful for medical intervention that saved my life. I know that illness is real, that accidents happen, and how medicine can help. So I am not writing this to try and convince you that the sole reason for your illness is in your mind, and that you must have done something wrong or are to blame for being ill. Nor I am not saying that simply by understanding how the mind and body work together that you will be able to miraculously cure yourself of whatever it is that ails you.
What I am saying is that the role of the mind and emotions in your state of health is a vital one. It is only a part of the overall picture, but it is the part that is invariably overlooked. By understanding this relationship you can understand yourself more deeply and can claim a greater role in your own wellbeing. I remember having an upset stomach when I was a child and my grandmother asking me if I was having a problem at school. What she knew instinctively we are at last beginning to prove scientifically: that there is an intimate and dynamic relationship between what is going on in your life, with your feelings and thoughts, and what happens in your body. In January 2005, a Time Magazine special showed that happiness, hopefulness, optimism and contentment, "appear to reduce the risk or limit the severity of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension, colds and upper-respiratory infections, while "depression--the extreme opposite of happiness --can worsen heart disease, diabetes and a host of other illnesses."
If we separate an organism into its component parts it cannot function. Each piece has a role to play, even if it is a very small role, so if only one component part is malfunctioning it will affect the whole. Recently our car broke down. After it was fixed, we were told that it had been just one small wire that had caused the problem yet the engine could not function properly without it. In the same way, if you ignore the role your feelings and thoughts play you are ignoring one of the most important component parts that make up your whole being. And it may be the one that needs to get fixed.
Generally speaking, we tend to think of our bodies and minds as separate systems and believe they function, for the most part, independently. We feed and water the body, take it for walks or give it exercise, and enjoy its sensory capabilities. Likewise we feed the mind with ideas and intellectual pursuits and amuse it with various sorts of entertainment, while also experiencing all sorts of emotions that we usually attribute to the way we treat ourselves or how other people treat us, making us feel either good or bad. When anything goes wrong in any of these systems we go to someone to sort it out, such as a doctor to treat the body or a psychotherapist to treat the mind.
Yet instinctively we know that is not the whole story. For instance, can you remember the last time you had an interview for a job? Or went on a first date with someone you were really trying to impress? In either case, no doubt you wanted to appear calm and collected but at the same time you were feeling quite self-conscious and nervous. Can you recall how your body felt? Self-consciousness will tighten your buttock muscles (so you are literally sitting on your tension), you will sweat more than usual, may feel slightly nauseous, and you will probably fluff your words, just when you want to appear suave and confident. In other words, your emotions affect you physically. However, it might be easy to understand that a scary thought gets our heart beating faster, but it is harder to realize that loneliness, sadness or depression can also affect us physically, and when it comes to more complex emotions or illnesses few of us consider our emotions to have any relevance. As there are obvious physical causes for illness, such as viruses or accidents, how can states of mind have anything to do with it? Emotions may influence the nerves but how can that have any relevance when faced with a disease?
In this blog I want to show you how the mind and body are not two but one--a single bodymind--and how every part of the body is the mind expressing itself through that part. When something goes wrong it is invariably a combination of both physical and psycho/emotional causes. I am not saying that by understanding the bodymind relationship you will be able to cure all your physical difficulties but what I am saying is that such an understanding adds an essential, and invariably overlooked, component to your healing process. By learning the bodymind language of symptoms and illness you can learn what is being repressed or ignored in your psyche and emotions and the affect this is having on your physical body. From this vantage point you will soon discover that there is an extraordinarily intimate two-way communication going on that affects both your physical state and your mental and emotional health.
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It's amazing how many people still are unaware of the mind/body connection. I'm looking forward to reading the book that you and Ed are writing on meditation that's mentioned in your bio - that is quite an impressive list of contributors!
Deb has such a refreshing and lucid attitude and what she says makes such sense. How can our bodies stay healthy if we are full of toxic thoughts? Thank you for your clarity Deb and for keeping it all so simple and so positive too!
The bodymind relationship is magic to my ears. The understanding Deb has is sane and logical. Th emore I learn about Debs work the more connected I feel. Deb is a volume of compassion . we have so much to larn from her. I go deeper and deeper the more I grasp what she is saying. Dive into the wealth of Deb Shapiro her bestselling book is a treasure.
I definitely agree. I'm a personal trainer and a nutritional consultant, and have seen 90% of people's success with increased fitness levels, for the most part healthy weight loss, linked to their attitudes. Also, conversely, weight gain and decrease in fitness levels linked to dark or negative or toxic attitudes about themselves.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, this has been known for a long time. Alcoholism is an obseesion of the mind and a physical addiction. One can easily get rid of the physical addiction with a week or so in detox units, but it is the mind that is harder to rid of obsession with the drug. So in turn, they drastically affect one another.
Some people don't quite believe in a soul, but a spirit, or THE spirit is quite observeable. It's simply like saying....
What a beautiful way to perceive life.
It is so extraordinary that there are so few brilliant minds like Deb Shapiro, Deb you go to the cause like all great practitioners, we are not made up of parts that operate independently, the wholistic approach is surely the only real way for deep and meanigful growth and wellness. I am looking forward to hearing more from you Deb. Ah is that the sound of many footsteps running to your door for help! Love Geoff
Really looking forward to reading more from Deb Shapiro! She is someone who has really gone deep into the mind-body-spirit connection. I know she and her husband have studied with some of the great spiritual masters so looking forward to hearing more from them both. I was just reading something Dr. Dean Ornish said his teacher, Sri Swami Satchidananda told him about mind-body wellness: the difference between illness and wellness is I/llness and we/llness or "I" and "we." When we focus solely on "I" we have illness but, when we live our lives focused on "we"-- inclusivity, community, how we can do good to others, living a larger life than soley focused on self-serving, then we experience wellness. I love that!
Thanks go to the Huffington Post for recognizing the powerful message Deb Shapiro brings to light.
I too am appreciative of Deb's recognition that not all maladies are curable through positive thinking. It shows her willingness and ability to understand the big picture. It's a shame so many are closed minded and unable to see the positive relationship between body and mind.
Can't wait to read Deb's next passage.
Thanks for speaking about the mind body connection. Take a look at the work of Ida P Rolf, Moshe Feldenkreis, Joseph Pilates and Joseph Alexander (and many others). Their work in the 1920s through the 1970s clarifies the mind body connection through biochemistry and other hard sciences. Unfortunately, insurance companies and big pharma make no money off these modalities of healing, so there is no emphasis on alternative ways of evoking innate health. Each of these researchers/healers started a school, and there are pracitioners around the country (and world) who are available to facilitate the innate health of their clients, from a wholistic approach.
Thanks for highlighting these important ideas!
Excellent article. I'm delighted to see this new addition to the Living Section.
I agree with your idea of "bodymind," and wonder whether there is a distinction between the two at all.
As a psychotherapist, I am so pleased that the huffingtonpost is addressing the vital issue of the body mind connection. Deb Shapiro's important writing will truly benefit all who read her work. Thank you Deb and thank you huffingtonpost for bringing this important subject to light.
The relationship between body and mind is so important for us to understand and acknowledge. It will truly assist in the our investigation of the healing process. Deb Shapiro's wonderful writing is clear and concise and fun to read. I am grateful that such an important subject is now available for discussions such as this on the huffingtonpost. I look forward to the further input which Deb Shapiro is able to share.
Let us go deeper by investigating. We have been commenting on the numerous meditation posted in "Living". Almost all agree some degree of meditation results in both better mental and physical well being. Which part of the meditation process gives the most benefit? Why?
Body and mind? Which part is the mind?
Mind is thought and memory. It's not an organ. You completely left out spirit as well. It's a triad.
How about feeling? Without feeling can there be thought? How about recognition without that how can thought link with memory? Thought is the creative part. There is something else which allow you to choose, for example how you perceive a person; which road to take; what do you call that?
Spirit, yes I left that one out , "my body fails me but my spirit is with you" other then "feelings are with you" I don't have a better explaination. Game anyone?
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