The Mind and Body Connection and Mental Health

by Dr. Deryck Pattron

Introduction

Many medical professionals, scientists and researchers are now devoting much more attention to the mind and body connection with relation to restoration of health. It is now believed that as many as 90% of health problems have psychological roots. It is estimated that about 9 out of 10 illnesses are psychosomatic. Psychosomatic means the PSYCHE (mind) wrongly influencing the SOMA (body), or a disorder having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes. The mind and body work closely together. They regularly influence each other. Understanding this process can be very helpful in improving our mental and physical health.

Psychosomatic problems can result from many reasons, which are interrelated. Many are related to the way we think, to the way we react to certain situations, to prior programming and to our belief systems.

Negative Thinking

This negative thinking develops from previous programming, which normally occurs at a young age. For example, if a person thinks negative and believes that he is going to get a sore throat because he steps on the cold floor with bare feet chances are that it will happen. This person will create a mental image of getting a sore throat after stepping on the cold floor and his brain will instruct the body to comply with what the person is imaging, believing or thinking.

Traumatic Experiences

Traumatic experiences can create problems rooted at deep levels of the mind such as a threat. When this happens the survival mechanism takes over to protect the person from experiencing serious pain or injury. The traumatic situation could be physical or mental; however, it may take years to manifest as a psychosomatic health problem. The brain records all the conditions present at the time of the experience and in the future if several of these conditions such as sound, temperature, smell, place, time and other circumstances are present this could trigger the same reaction. The reaction could be in the form of a seizure if that is the way the survival mechanism responded to the traumatic experience.

One of the best ways to correct an experience like this is by getting help from an experience hypnotherapist that can regress the person to the time the experience took place and make the necessary corrective actions from there.

Fear

Fear exerts a great influence on our bodies and can create many different health problems. Some people break out in hives, or have stomach problems, headaches or other problems simply because of fear of doing something like public speaking or anything else that they fear.

Endocrinologists are now finding out that negative emotions and feelings can have serious effects on our bodies. Our emotions create mental images of fear, sadness, etc., that cause the release of stress hormones that when prolonged cause a person to get sick.

Similarly, if our mind can cause our brain to instruct our bodies to get sick, then it can also help us to get well. Many scientists and researchers use placebos to treat people when they don't really know what is causing the health problem.

If a person has faith in the doctor by the time they get the medication they are on there way to recovery simply because the doctor said the medication or placebo will get them well.

What Can We Do To Help Ourselves? 

It is worthy to remember that we are what we think, what we say, what we hear and what we do. So if we think, talk, hear and do negative things we are going to end up with negative results. The best way to cancel negative situations is to immediately clear the negative situations from the mind and replace it with a positive image that corrects the negative one. Learn to always be positive, happy and lovable and you will attract those things to you. Learn to and practice the importance of relaxation, which can serve to help neutralize stress. Controlled relaxation that uses imagination at the correct levels of mind could help guide the brain to stimulate the body to correct health problems.

Meditation can be done with the eyes opened or closed, or even as a focused walking meditation in nature once it has become familiar. It can help reduce stress, connect you to healing energies in the natural world and increase energy and magnetism. Mediation done a few minutes every day could improve your state of being and health. It could be practiced anytime and almost anywhere. Breathing is an important component of meditation and should be slow, gentle and focused.

Meditation With The Elements On The Breath Earth

1. Breathe in through the nose and out through the nose. 
2. Bring your attention to the bottom of your feet if you are standing or sitting on a chair. 
3. Visualize the molten core deep within the Earth. 
4. As you inhale, draw the magnetism from within the earth up through your feet into the cells of the entire body. 
5. As you exhale, radiate the energy out through the pores of your body in all four directions as well as above and below. 
6. Repeat four times.

Water

1. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. 
2. As you do, imagine a clear stream of pure water gently pouring from above over the crown of your head and washing over your entire body. Cleansing you of environmental toxins, internal negativities, and tension. 
3. Repeat four times.

Fire

1. Breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose.
2. Imagine a pure white flame burning in the solar plexus (three or four inches below the navel). 
3. Breathing in through the mouth fan the flames into a burning fire. 
4. Allow the white fire to rise and ignite the heart centre. 
5. Breathing out through the nose, radiate the fire's energy from the heart centre out through your upper back and shoulder bes. 
6. Wrap the energy like a cosy blanket around your shoulders, upper back and over your head. Inhale fire. Exhale light.
7. Repeat four times.

Air

1. Breathe in through the mouth and out through the mouth. 
2. Imagine a warm breeze caressing your body and penetrating through the spaces between the molecules of your body like a soothing balm. 
3. Repeat four times.

References

• Pattron, D.D. Recent Research in Public Health. Scientific Publishers, New York, 2004
• Solberg, S. Will Your Way To Better Health. APLA Positive Living Newsletter, L.A., 2002.