There is a difitite correspondence between the functioning of the mind and the body, and the mind has the dominant role. Conscious life has it’s beginnings within our own feelings; and emotions within our make up and within what we make up; through what we imagine; what we hold in thought; what we perceive and conceive.

Psychosmatic Disease - The term“Psychosmatic” comes from the Greek word Psyche, meaning ‘mind’ and Soma meaning ‘body’, and represents conditions in the body which have originated in the mind.

We all know that disease makes a person feel terrible, and it’s not so suprising that western medicine has begun to understand that the reverse can also be true; feeling terrible can lead to disease.

Ulcers and Colitis are obvious examples of the body altering power of worry. Many other diseases, including cancer and arthritis, are believed now to have psychosmatic aspects.

Hate, fear, resentment, worry, anxiety, jealousy, anger, rage, and other powerful negative emotions disrupt the glandular system and stimulate chemical changes in the body which may act exactly the same as toxins. Much has been written about stress as a factor in the development of disease. Modern living and working conditions are filled with stress producing factors of all kinds. But, I believe it is not stress, but our response to it that determines whether it exerts a harmful or beneficial psychosmatic effect.

It is the hypothalamus of the brain where nerves stimulate the neurohormones which travel to the pituitary, the master gland of the body, and stimulate it to release other hormones which, in turn, affect other endocrine glands in the body. We can say, in a sense, that the hypothalamus is the “stomach” of the brain and what we put into it has a direct relationship to our mental and physical health and level of well-being.

Just as stasis in the body creates conditions for dis-ease, so do bottled up emotions. Everything in the body must move, everything in the mind must move : that is the law of well-being. The old must make way for the new. Compulsions, uncontrollable passions, for example, bring injury to the spleen. Worry and grief affect the functioning of the lungs, altering breathing rate and depth of inhalation. Fear is hard on the kidneys and adrenals. Sadness weakens the heart tissue. The thyroid, called the “emotional gland”, is also responsive to feelings, and can be overtaxed by strong emotions. We find that anger and hate have effects on the liver.

When an organ is under emotional stress, it’s primary chemical elements are depleted very quickly. We know for example, that B complex vitamins are rapidly depleted under stress conditions, and, since B vitamins mainly act as catylists for metabolic processes, it is clear that nutrients and chemical elements are being used up much faster than usual. We must learn to digest, assimilate and excrete the “waste” of our mental experiences just as we process our food. All the best foods in the world cannot help a person whose digestive system is disturbed by mental turmoil.

All the years of built up negative thought processes manifest in the body as a physical build up of matter in the bowel. Whilst massaging the abdomen during a colonic one can often feel a predominant congested area in the bowel and reference to the emotional connections chart can facilitate joining the negative stored emotion to the physical congestion and thereby allowing a release of them both together.
Colon Hydrotherapy can assist in the release of “the past”, literally releasing “old shit”.

Bear in mind that if the mind created the above mentioned build-up that the colonic may clear, the mind can also re-create it back again unless we stop this process. The mind is really our spirit which is ruled by emotions, so if we want to be free of the disease creating imbalances that the mind can create we need to live from the heart and soul.

How do we do this? Firstly it is important to understand the difference between the spirit and the soul/mind and heart. You can find this information in the Q&A section of this website. From this point to connect and live from the inner heart it is important to live with gentleness and self-love. To initiate this process we can do the ‘Gentle Breath’ meditation, then live by the impulses of the inner heart and not be driven by the lower mind. More info on this can be found in the articles on self-love and meditation as well as at the ‘Life Force’ retreats.

Here & Now Magazine February 2003 (last two paragraphs added April 2009)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 1st, 2003 at 10:00 am and is filed under Articles.