Our body and mind are interconnected. If you get a hug, it affects your mind by making you feel warm and fuzzy inside. If you think about a disgusting image, it can make you shudder. However, mainstream society tends to forget this amazing connection. We tend to think that people with a physical problem go to a general practitioner and people with a mental problem go to a psychiatrist. But what if your emotional issue is causing your physical problem or if your physical problem is causing your emotional issue? If you are in chronic pain all of the time and unable to do the things you love, wouldn’t that make you depressed? If you are always stressed out, couldn’t that be causing your headaches? Of course this makes sense. But it goes deeper than that. A well-known scientist named Candice Pert has dedicated her whole life to learning how emotions manifest in our physical body. For example, when you think happy thoughts, you release endorphins, when you think sad thoughts you release the stress hormone CRF (cortical releasing factor). When you have high self-esteem, you make neurotransmitter called VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide) which helps fight the aids virus. When you suppress anger, you are less likely to fight cancer cells in your body.
Basically there is real science behind what we all innately know, you are a healthier happier human being if you are more in touch with your emotions. However, this doesn’t mean that you should only think happy thoughts. It means that you should express your emotions. If you are angry and just try to repress it, the molecules are still made in your body and are usually made more chronically because you did not have an emotion, express it, and then let it go. You left it unattended in your subconscious ready to reap havoc on your body. Candice Pert goes on to describe that emotions (or the molecules of emotions) can be stored in separate parts of both your physical body tissues and your autonomic nervous system. This is why some people have emotional releases while getting a chiropractic adjustment or while getting a massage. The beauty about body work, such as chiropractic, is that we release blockages in your body that may be caused by physical stresses, chemical stresses and even emotional stresses! So next time you are getting adjusted and feel a wave of emotion come up, embrace it, express it, and let it go!
“…The body can and must be healed through the mind, and the mind can and must be healed through the body” –Dr. Candice Pert
-Laine Morales D.C., C.M.T.
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