Most of us live fast paced, high stress lifestyles with near constant stimulation from cellphones and other electronic devices. Invisible stress shows up as tension somewhere in the body; for example, a tight back, neck or shoulders. The mind exerts a powerful influence on the physical body. The invisible governs the visible. From DNA to thoughts and emotions. Body and mind are inseparable.
Psychological stress activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight survival response. Stress also changes your biochemistry releasing stress hormones which create inflammation, a root cause of disease. Because the body-mind does not know the difference between something that we perceive to be a psychological threat and an actual life or death situation, the survival response may be chronically activated. This negatively impacts physical health and mental-emotional wellbeing.
Therefore, one of the best ways to help your body heal is to work with the energy of thoughts and emotions. Thoughts and emotions are a movement of powerful energies. The body is like a river of patterned energy. If you are stuck emotionally or mentally fixated (on an idea, identification, attachment or on a story from your past, etc.), the lack of movement in the thought and emotional process creates stagnation at the energetic level which can result in unhealthy physiology and inflammation in the body. It is important to disrupt the mind’s spell and to release emotion. When you surrender, it opens up space, so energy can flow.
Many years ago, when I began doing in-person energy healing sessions, I soon recognized that, for clients who presented with an emotional issue to have a lasting result, the client had to be willing to change his/her/their perspective and release emotional attachments. Otherwise, they would feel better after the session, but could not maintain the higher vibration for very long because of the frequency of their mental-emotional state.
Strong identifications and attachments can be sticky like superglue. So, it is very important to be loving, kind and gentle with yourself as you notice and wish to be free of them. I love a story on this topic that, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher and author, Tsoknyi Rinpoche tells. Rinpoche was drinking six or seven bottles of Coca-Cola a day and eating lots of rice. Someone told him to stop because this was a very unhealthy diet. Although it was a relatively recent addition to his diet, Rinpoche said it took him seven years to cut out Coca-Cola because he enjoyed it so much. So, he could sympathize with people whose patterns and attachments were formed at an early age. “In other words, it’s one thing to give up Coca-Cola. It’s quite another to begin to let go of who you think you are.” (Tsoknyi Rinpoche)
But with that said, to move with the flow of life, it is important to let go. Life is like a river. It is a movement. Unhealthy energy is stagnant, stuck, frozen and characterized by negative emotions. Healthy energy is flowing, flexible, soft and characterized by positive emotions.
Kind and loving thoughts and emotions exert a powerful healing influence on the body, too. They cause the body to release feel good, relaxation response hormones and balance the nervous system. Love is truly healing. It can melt stuck emotions allowing vital energy to flow. Be more loving to improve your health and wellbeing.
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Know that the energy flows in both directions so that calming the mind supports the body’s natural healing ability. And, conversely, resting the body, helps to calm the mind. Some calming practices that make space for energy to flow and cool inflammation include: time in nature, meditation, gardening or other meditative activities, daily grounding and centering practices, prayer, mindfulness, gentle movement practices (such as qi gong, yoga, taiji) that coordinate attention and breath with movement, breathwork, yoga nidra and rest.