Emotions, Healing, and Truly Getting Better
We think that our emotions have nothing to do with healing, and that any given medication will do its work. But without loving emotions doing “their work” we have a hard time healing. It’s said that 75 to 80 percent of our wellness is connected to lifestyle and mindset, but I feel it is actually about 99 percent.
Diseases like autoimmune disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, shingles, cancer, and many more processes are connected to what we do every day, and our thoughts. A lot of healing starts in the mind, and without a good outlook on life it is almost impossible to heal.
I have known people with terrible rashes who learn meditation and their rashes disappear. People with cancer may have a breakthrough epiphany about being happy, and suddenly their cancer either disappears or goes into remission. Hypnosis used on people who have warts may make those lesions disappear suddenly.
There have been many articles showing that depression is directly connected to disease, and can make symptoms worse. One person who went through terrible abuse as a child and as an adult. Because of this abuse every time they get close to healing something terrible happens. It is as though this person’s unconscious mind is saying “I don’t deserve to heal.”
Also there are those who smoke, and they know that smoking is one of the worst things that a person can do for their health. Of course, smoking is addictive, but there is also the mindset of the person that will not allow them to break free of the addiction. In one way or another, we are all addicted to something; be it good things like exercise, meditation, eating right, doing loving self-talk, and taking care of our bodies; or, negative things like berating ourselves all the time, not allowing ourselves to get up and going, and sabotaging everything, either consciously or unconsciously.
It is not the fault of the person. It is what he or she learns from life.
There can be life-changing breakthroughs that create a 180-degree turn around, which make things totally better. Dr. Dean Ornish also talks about the spiritual dimension of healing, “I want to talk about the spiritual dimensions of health and healing. It’s not enough to focus on behaviors or to give patients information; we need to work at a deeper level. If information were enough to change diet and lifestyle nobody would smoke. We have to think about why people eat too much and abuse substances. When we address that level, patients are much more likely to retain and adhere to the changes that they need to make.”
When I had my treadmill stress test, about a year after my father passed away from a stress induce heart attack, the doctor said, “You are healthier than I am. I think you have some stress going on.” That was a powerful epiphany for me, which opened up everything and made me change my life. I did not want to go down the same path as my father. This is what it takes for some people to make powerful changes in their thinking and lifestyle.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Qigong, it is thought that the mind is within the heart, and that all healing starts within the heart. The heart is the supreme organ, and is also the place of virtue and cognition.
The heart/mind is a place of grounding and where calmness and harmony can be attained. In “Zifa Qigong,” or the “Qigong of Spontaneous Movement,” there is powerful healing for all kinds of illnesses associated with problems with QI (or life energy), including emotions. This kind of qigong includes large movements, spontaneous movements, and expression of emotions, along with spontaneous sounds like crying and yelling, which are very important.
Cancer has been effectively cured using qigong practices, and these are directly related to emotional healing. Negative emotions create stress, and stress changes our physiology so we are not able to heal. In the presence of adrenalin and cortisol, tissues find it difficult to heal–if they heal at all. Russell Fox, a Shen Therapist and Instructor, writes:
“Emotions become trapped in our bodies by a process called ‘Auto-Contractile Pain Reflex’ – the body’s natural tendency to involuntarily contract around sites of pain. When these contractions are held for long periods, they eventually begin depriving the affected tissues of much needed nutrients, as well as interrupting the normal elimination of toxic, metabolic waste. In this way, painful emotions can gradually convert into such disruptive physio-emotional disorders as digestive and bowel irregularities, debilitating migraines, elevated premenstrual distress, ulcers, non-biological chronic back pain, and psychogenic sexual dysfunction, just to name a few.”
In this day and age, we have forgotten how to express our emotions. We hold emotions in from childhood, adolescence, and our younger adult years thinking they will go away. Yet those emotions never go away. Emotions stays trapped in our being the rest of our life causing stress which creates havoc with our immune system, and thus causing diseases.
From the conscious mind, thoughts occur that create emotions in the unconscious mind. These emotions create feelings that cause our heart to beat faster, blood pressure to go up, digestive system to go into hyperactive overdrive, immune system to be disrupted, and on and on.
Meditation is great for stress arising from the conscious and unconscious mind. It calms the mind/body, and allows the natural state of harmony and calm to take over so healing takes place. TM, or transcendental meditation, is great for this short-term process of healing and works wonders. Vipassana meditation also works great, and helps to bring to the forefront the underlying cause of whatever wall or blockage that is not allowing healing to take place. In this way, it heals the conscious and unconscious mind at the same time.
The Buddha talked about the fact that feelings should arise, linger for a few moments, and then be allowed to flow away.
Emotional, traumatic experiences throughout life shut down this normal process of dealing with feelings. The whole process of allowing emotions to arise is cut short, so all feelings are numbed; and that creates the inability to heal. The disorganization of feelings leads to a disorganization of expression of those feelings in the body that would normally allow healing to take place.
Anger is shut down and those feelings of anger and are suppressed. Thus flashbacks, anxiety, a constant feeling of being on edge, and the inability to feel anything starts to take over. This is where a mind/body approach to healing is necessary because the mind/body created this process… and only healing via the mind/body can remedy it.
Thus, using cognitive therapy together with Yoga, Feldenkrais, Qigong, Tai Chi, Biofeedback, EFT, and many other forms of bodily therapy can help to reintegrate the mind/body back to a normal state of health.
There is a huge, constant need to feel safe, grounded, supported, and to know in a deep way that the person survived the situation and that “NO” action is needed. However, most of us grow up thinking that actions causes harm, and that harm came about as abuse. This is where vipassana meditation also helps to understand feelings, and allows them to flow and know that there is no action needed for those feelings. Feelings come, they go, they arise, and they dissipate… and disappear. Over time, sooner or later, we come to see that there is no need for bodily changes or actions to take place.
The inner child starts to heal and find deep peace, learning to finally be at rest. This may be the first time in a person’s life that they feel at peace consciously and unconsciously. With this peace, a renewed sense of self arises, and takes over, where before there was just a void, awareness, and surroundings. Then feelings finally move naturally, and the rebirthing of the whole person takes place.
The whole process takes time, but it is well worth it. One step at a time…. One day at a time.
Feel Free to Share – This information is meant to get you started, so you can do more research on your own. Dig a little deeper and find what works for you. This article is for educational purposes only. I strongly recommend that you seek advice from your own GP, private doctor, or medical specialist for any ailment, illness, or medical condition. This article not meant to be a scientific analysis in any way, shape, or form.
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About the Author
Dr. Paul Haider – Master Herbalist and Spiritual Teacher for over 20 years, helping people to recover and feel healthy. You can also find Dr. Haider on Facebook under Dr. Paul Haider, Healing Herbs, and at: www.paulhaider.com
