Written by: Anna Letitia Cook, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“The mind and body are not separate units, but one integrated system. How we act and what we think, eat, and feel are all related to our health. Physicians should be capable of teaching this behaviour to patients.” ‒ Bernie Siegel MD
Unfortunately, I am not entirely convinced that all physicians can in fact teach the above-mentioned behaviour to patients and yet this is so important to know and to manage – using our mind-body connection well, and understanding we have a multidimensional body can change our life! How the link between body and mind can affect us can be dramatic both positively and negatively…
Potential Problems caused by the mind-body connection
Do you know some of the problems that we can have when our body and mind connection is out of sync?
Stress, anxiety, fear
Over/under eating so weight gain/loss
Depression
Lack of motivation
Blood sugar peaks and troughs (potentially leading to diabetes issues)
Loss of creativity
Fatigue and lethargy
Will power, self-discipline, and drive – reduction or complete absence of…
Sleep disturbances
Chronic physical conditions which are unexplainable such as:
IBS,
breathing problems,
backache,
headache,
fibromyalgia,
dizziness,
skin conditions
… to name but a few!
Balancing the mind-body connection
Our emotions (and minds) can provoke physical problems as well as mental ones. And, our body, particularly when fit and healthy and ACTIVE, can help mend or positively strengthen the signals and connectors from our mind.
The mind-body connection can be a vicious or a virtuous circle! And guess what, we can choose how we influence this for the better… This is why we really can boost our career and life using the mind-body connection in our multidimensional body! Don’t we all want to live a happier, healthier, bouncier life?
What you think about yourself, your beliefs about yourself and what is around you, your emotions, habits and even memories are things which can affect physical and mental health. The connection between mind and emotion, and what happens in your body, form what is called the psycho-emotional root of health and/or disease. This connection is both physical and chemical. Your brain, and its mental state, can positively or negatively affect your biological function. This is because of the chemical bond between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems which are continuously communicating through neurotransmitters and hormones. These neurological pathways link the emotion-processing part of the mind with the cardiovascular system, spinal system, digestive system and muscles amongst others… So, emotions, stress, events, activities, can trigger physical symptoms – both negative and positive.
I will give you some examples:
Physical - As the mind has an influence on our endocrine system it can have an impact on diabetes, insulin sensitivity and management within the body.
Psychological – The impact of the brain’s serotonin production (serotonin is known as the feel-good chemical). It is a mood stabilizer and so influences our feelings of stress, anxiety etc, or happiness and positivity.
Other examples – butterflies when you are nervous; feeling physically sick/nauseous when you are scared; your heart pounding overly fast when you are majorly stressed; headaches when you are tense.
Another main problem can be the impact that these can cause on our resilience and immune system. An increase in stress hormones can suppress the immune system and open the body to infections developing, or cancer or other diseases…
Our body feels our emotions. Whether fear, anger, guilt, depression, anxiety, sadness, or jealousy, these can all be felt within your body and cause more imbalance and disease. Just think of the example I gave of fear and digestive upset, tension and headaches…
When we develop the habit of reacting or thinking negatively about something, we are creating more and more messages from our mind to our body that increase the imbalance and provoke more and more possibilities of problems and illness.
Changing for the positive
But it is not a one-way street! When used positively it can help considerably. It can reverse the negative influence. Our body and its activity can improve our emotions, our mindset, our bodily functions, our physical reactions.
When we are physically active not only does it make our body fitter, our muscles better toned, increase our energy levels, but it also sends positive signals to our brain which can then neutralise the negative and improve the positive feedback, boost the balance and overall give our brain some very good and positive communication which produces the ‘good’ chemicals, increases resilience, strengthens the immune system and overall makes us healthier and also happier!
Our brain controls everything…
“Happier thoughts lead to essentially a happier biochemistry. A happier, healthier body. Negative thoughts and stress have been shown to seriously degrade the body and the functioning of the brain, because it's our thoughts and emotions that are continuously reassembling, reorganizing, re-creating our body.” ‒ Dr John Hagelin
So, what can we do to optimise this mind body connection?
We can help ourselves by remaining ‘present’, being aware of our emotions and processing them as they arise, and actively choosing our reactions.
We can have a range of go-to actions that we know help us feel better. (For me it is walking in nature, communing with pets/animals and chatting to friends who have a sense of humour and can humorously relativise situations).
We can meditate. A regular meditation practice has enormous benefits. It is particularly effective for helping the body regulate emotional responses and in turn the attendant neurochemical flow that otherwise can send out damaging stress hormones and communications to our body.
We can practise mindful breathing exercises and pranayama.
We can practise Yoga or Tai Chi. (Yoga saved me from a lot of health problems, both mental and physical, but I’ll save that story for another day).
We can listen to relaxations and positively visualise using guided imagery…
For me, a main motivator is yoga, and all that surrounds yoga. Why yoga? Apart from the fact that I enjoy doing it, also more scientifically because it has the techniques necessary for achieving greater physical and mental, as well as spiritual, balance. (**There are some very interesting developments in the yoga and neuroscience connection – see references below). This, supplemented with meditation/breathing and the right nutrition are a great step towards a successful and positively interactive mind-body connection.
Feeding our brain well, and exercising well, keeps our body and mind energised and working smoothly. When you harness all the 4Fs correctly (fuel, fitness, freedom and fulfilment) all functions have the opportunity to work at their holistic absolute best.
If you want to start moving towards a better mind-body connection, why not start by downloading my personalised Wheel of Life exercise to see your current level of balance.
And… Don’t miss more about harnessing the 4Fs in my next article which will be published in a couple of weeks.
Anna Letitia Cook, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Anna Letitia Cook is an international career development and wellness coach, author, speaker, radio/tv presenter, passionate about helping clients find clarity, energy and fulfilment in their life choices ‒ their holistic success.
She created her first company in the entertainment industry at age 32 before switching industry and moving into international real estate. Midlife approaching, hungry for a dynamic change, she refocused her experience, founding her current business to help professionals shape and energise their own future.
Creator of the 'SCOPE' and '4Fs' processes for career, fulfilment and holistic success and author of ‘Unstoppable Goddess: Every Women’s Guide to Freedom, Fulfilment and Success’, Anna was awarded United Nations Women's 2016-2017 Global Champion for Change @ Empower Women.
Anna is the presenter of the radio tv shows WomenUP 'Inspired Women' and 'Beyond the Bottomline.
Her motto: Living life holistically – Career and wellness together!
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