The intimate mind body connection has been translated through medical texts for over 3000 years in both China and up 5000 years in India. This theory is becoming more accepted here in the West, the two are indeed not two seperate entities, rather a fusion of thoughts, feelings, emotions, signs and symptoms.
The body and mind are a team and they work together with many factors influencing them. What one perceives as stressful is one of the biggest repercussions in the connection.
Thoughts, emotions, and feelings in the mind signal neurotransmitters which can either positively or negatively impact the physical body by sending a cascade of messengers.
The body will listen to what ever the mind is telling it. If the mind says, “we are in danger” the body acts accordingly: heart rate increases, adrenaline starts pumping, a flood of stress hormones are released that make us feel hyper-alert. In- fact we are the only animal on this planet that can create this experience through thought alone. Could you image a sheep just freaking out in a paddock because it thought about a wolf that could potentially harm it? No, it just doesn’t happen, we are the only ones that have the capacity to create an adrenaline response through thinking.
The factors affecting our stress perception are greatly affected by our environments, more than anyone has ever given credit for. These include: socioeconomic standing, physical environment, interpersonal relationships, cultural influences, and self esteem.
As a TCM practitioner we know that the key to preventing illness is in looking at the big picture – this includes looking at all the external factors in your environment that could be affecting your health.
Do you find yourself doing all the right things: eating your veggies, plenty of exercise and getting 8 hours of sleep – but you still get that niggling feeling that something’s not right? Take a moment to look at your surroundings and you quite possibly might find that the imbalance isn’t what you’re doing, but something entirely outside of yourself in your environment.
We can help you workshop your own personal environment and provide you with some suggestions on where, what and how to change it.