Humans are a totally interconnected reality which Ken Wilber would call a Morphogenetic field or consciousness.
Our bodies are then one dimension to our reality which is capable of reflecting and expressing the other dimensions of our reality. In modern medicine we now find a class of disease and study which is known as Psychogenic medicine or how mental based issues manifest and express through the body as conditions or illness. Likewise the field of psychosomatic medicine is the recognition of how our emotions, especially when repressed, can likewise trigger bodily illness and conditions.
When the bodymind system becomes out of balance it will seek to signal that reality through one of its pathways or channels. We have these channels in both somatic or bodily directions as well as in our emotional, mental and energetic planes of existence. Our bodies give us vital clues as to the unresolved emotional and mental issues we carry.
There appears to be a logic, a system, or an operating system in our subconscious being, or possibly at the genetic level, which has a set or ordering principles by which certain issues manifest in certain ways and in certain parts of the body according to these rules.
For instance it can be said broadly but definitely that the right side of the body manifests issues to do with the masculine principle. This may be related to our own self beliefs around our masculine parts of our self identity, or it could be woundings, hurts and traumas inflicted upon us throughout our childhood by male caregivers. Our back is the outwardly projecting masculine defensive covering that protected us when we were hunching and loping in our evolution and serves to hold and express rage, anger, and other masculine feelings.
Likewise the left side of the body contains and holds the same but from the feminine aspect of ourself, and from the feminine caregivers who raised and influenced us. Likewise the front of the body being exposed and vulnerable from us having stood upright in our evolution now exposes our receptive vulnerable feminine feelings of love, eros, grief and tenderness through our chest, abdomen and frontal belly/groin region.
This primary map starts to show where there may lie subconscious beliefs, conclusions, attitudes and feelings about the Self, whether that be self-forgiveness, self-hatred, or self acceptance/love. We know that the body is often covered up by clothing as a form of defence but we can also through anxiety also start to put on weight to form a protective blanket around ourself.
We find this protective putting on weight has two primary drivers emanating from the subconscious which creates this outcome. Firstly there are those who were not held and nurtured enough as children who have unresolved needs of nurturance and being held. This abandonment and deprivation issue can be compensated by the body putting on a soft puppy fat covering around the trunk and limbs of the body which creates a form of self-nurturance.
Certain muscular and postural conditions can also develop which serve as blocks to the formation and flowing discharge of painful or unacceptable emotions.
Chronic tensions in musculature in the back and neck will often see the resulting formation of migraine headaches where the referred pain emanates in the frontalis muscle or front forehead area, or behind the eyes, or across the face or in the head. Chronic muscular holdings in the oral Masseter and TMJ muscles are associated with bruxism or grinding of the teeth at night.
The cause of bruxism is often found to be a block against speaking up, or speaking the truth, or releasing anger verbally, for the fear of punishment or rejection that is held as a belief in the subconscious.
Given we are more than just a body as we have feelings and emotions which cannot just be ascribed to our bodies then other forces may also cause us illness in the body. Many people feel within themselves the movement of what they describe as spirit. This is cross-cultural and has been reported in all ages by people of all walks of life.
This aspect of the human condition cannot be empirically measured nor found but the clinical effects of a spiritual based intervention as a remedy to such illness has long been observed as a real and tangible solution for those afflicted in this way. This is a contentious area as psychology relegates religion and spirituality to the domain of false belief.
While doing so psychological studies all point to the authentic adoption of a spiritual path or religious adherence as being a strong creator of resilience and positive mental, physical and emotional health in believers. It is often denounced as a sort of placebo effect but whatever the cause its effect is very real in the body of those who suffer spiritual emptiness, guilt or value conflicts.
Depression is one of those bodymind illnesses which can reflect the inner emptiness of the person who has lost meaning and purpose in their life and now suffers bodily as a result.
The overall issue is how we express, suppress or have repressed our emotional life into our bodies. In our society we yet do not fully understand the significant role of emotional toxicity to our physical, mental and emotional health. It is not uncommon for clients to abandon therapy at the thought of working with their emotions despite the fact they have tried everything else as therapy, or they face significant illness or life relationship issue.
Our bodies are story boards of our life journey from the moment of conception till this moment. This ongoing process of storyboarding occurs through the agency of our emotions mediated through our nervous systems, brain, and other pathways. We each are the artist and the canvas to our own story.
Emotions are the colour in the palette which bring our story alive. We are a drab and grey picture when we lose or disown that emotional part of ourself. Worse still this choice or outcome invites illness and issues into the canvas of our body that may create serious life issues if not dealt with at an emotional level.
At the end of the day it is our choice. There is an emerging body of statistics that finds correlation between lifestyle choices and the formation of certain illness types as a result of those choices, and what those choices represent as compensations for the other disowned or neglected part of the self.
Working on the relationship you are having with yourself via your emotional states and its expression via the belief systems that you have taken on over time, is a valuable gift of self love that you can give yourself. People with major illness or minor recurring illnesses would be recommended to investigate the possible emotional and mental cause of their symptoms.
Click the following link to view the full version of the article When Your Body Speaks Your Mind.
“Richard Boyd is a Body Psychotherapist, counselor, author, and the CEO of Energetics Institute and Corporate Energetics”
MBA,BBus,AdvDipCEBPsych,Cert Coaching AICE,AIFM,ExtDISC Certified
Visit him at http://www.energeticsinstitute.com.au/
Richard is an experienced fully qualified Body Mind Psychotherapist who has both a private practice and a Corporate practice in Perth, Western Australia. Richard is the Director of Energetics Institute and Corporate Energetics and Conscious Business Australia in Perth, Western Australia. He works with individuals, couples and groups and offers a discreet, supportive counselling, coaching and psychotherapy service from Inglewood, Perth, Western Australia. He also works onsite in organisations, as well as phone, skype and email counselling for remotely situated clients. He is an inspirational and insightful speaker on topics related to Body Mind Psychology and Conscious Business.
