In order to feel my best I find it helpful to think of my healthcare not in terms of medical science, but as my natural state of being.
My philosophy of natural health involves not just the body, but both mind and body operating together at their peak capacities.
Philosophy means the love and pursuit of wisdom. My philosophy of mind-body health also entails the wisdom of a little known and essential element within us that automatically heals illness and injury.
I know this is a controversial position to take. For one thing, many people just don’t buy the idea of a meaningful connection between the mind and the body. This may be due in part to the fact that western medical schools do not teach mind-body concepts.
For years, these schools taught their students that the mind has little or no effect at all on our physical health. They believed that something as nebulous as stress, a mental state which we now know impacts the physical body, couldn’t possibly influence the complex anatomy and chemistry of a human being.
Many prominent medical professionals have admitted that they just didn’t see how it could be that simple.
Now, many practitioners are changing their beliefs and practices to include mind-body protocols for stress relief as they recognize the healing benefits of these powerful techniques.
It is interesting to note that when we speak of healing, we’re talking about something that can’t be accurately quantified by scientific control groups and empirical data. Statistics for it are uncertain and variable; our practitioners are at best able to state the probabilities for a particular outcome.
Healing is a concept rarely if ever discussed in western medicine. Instead, they focus on treatment. They study the physical sciences that govern matter and molecules, the tissues they can observe with the tools of technology. They discover ways to interact with those materials and then translate their findings into methods of treatment.
Healing on the other hand, is what you do. You own the healing essence free and clear; the doctor doesn’t prescribe it and nobody can sell it to you. As such, healing is something that ultimately depends on the individual.
If you cut your finger, a healing essence within you repairs the wound naturally without you having to get involved, manage the process, or apply will power in any way. The power of healing is with you now and it will never leave until you die and your body no longer needs it.
Cut the finger on a cadaver and it simply will not heal. How come? The natural healing essence has departed the body along with the life force. At this point, no amount of medical treatment will make any difference.
This means that the healing essence in living tissue is linked to the source of life within us. It has never been conclusively defined by medical science or agreed upon by world religions, and the essence that heals our bodies hasn’t been seen under a microscope. That’s why mechanical medicine can’t focus on it directly.
To maximize healing, we must be willing to incorporate the linear left-brain treatments of modern science with the right-brain mind-body functions of attitude and philosophy. In so doing, we can recognize far-reaching results that rise above and succeed beyond the expectations of either option alone.
Next time we’ll discuss your healing essence and how your beliefs actually affect it.
– Peter
