Rediscovering the mind-body connection
Our minds and bodies are in constant conversation. Thoughts can influence our feelings, emotions and behaviour. They can also manifest themselves physically in the form of pain, tiredness, and poor digestion, to name a few. Our body is made up of the physical and emotional. While these are two separate ideas, the holistic health approach treats them as one overarching theme. It is known as the mind-body connection and it is something that we often overlook.
What is the mind-body connection?
The mind-body connection involves healing the mental and physical simultaneously. It treats the body as a whole rather than a series of individual entities. Just as diet is linked to particular feelings, mood and behavioural patterns, movement and the body also affect our mind and vice versa.
Many of us have grown up to suppress our feelings and emotions. It is a cultural thing and is passed down through generations. By not exploring our true feelings and recognising when and why we experience certain emotions, we are becoming disconnected from ourselves, from our mind and our body. This disembodiment ends up becoming all that we know and the only way that we can handle pain. We can go through our entire life in this way. Such a disconnect and imbalance ends up having a long lasting impact on our overall health. Unfortunately, many of us wait until the physical symptoms appear before we recognise, understand or explore this mind-body connection.
Bio-individuality
Cultivating a mind-body connection is essential to heal. Studies have shown that mindful movement and breathwork can activate the parasympathetic nervous system to move the body out of the ‘fight or flight’ response and into a ‘rest and digest’ function - think the ‘‘runner’s high’’ feeling. This helps to relax the mind, body, and spirit, which supports our immune system and improves our overall emotional and physical wellbeing. It has the ability to reduce inflammation and protect against anxiety and depression in the long run.
Physical activity doesn’t have to involve a high impact workout everyday. There are so many different ways to reconnect with our body, including dance, swimming, breathwork or engaging in simple movements, like yoga or tai chi. Sometimes these movements don’t have to require a name or precise position - there is no one way, right way or wrong way of reigniting the mind-body connection. It’s all about bio-individuality. Whatever your preferred activity is, the important thing is to find what works best for you to really feel some kind of connection.
Reconnect to revitalise
When we start to perform these movements, we start to listen to our bodies and understand how we feel. We reconnect and, in a way, are able to find our way home. After all, we live in our bodies. This reconnection of the mind-body, empowers us as individuals and allows us to fully express ourselves. We begin to understand what we really want and can make decisions that suit our individual needs.
Tapping into the mind-body connection is a powerful tool. It has the power to impact our wellbeing on every level. By setting aside a few minutes each day to practice mindful movement and/or breathing exercises, we can harness the power of the mind-body connection in order to optimise our health and happiness in our own lives.
P.S. If you’re in need of some inspiration, be sure to check out our series of mindful movement and breathing exercises with Elina Pavlidis. Members can access them free via the ‘My Ora’ library.