Mind Body Process To Reduce Inflammation
Recipe Key
More and more I recognize how the mind and body are intimately connected. When we learn to shift our emotions, we change our frequency and we unlock healing from within. Here is a simple breathing process I use to calm my nervous system,ย reduce inflammation and and allow healing to occur naturally. Give it a try.
When we have symptoms in our body, especially for a long period of time, it can be very frustrating. I know because I have been dealing with digestive issues for a long time.
I have discovered for myself and with my clients most of the symptoms we experience have a big emotional component. Often thereโs an emotional cause at the root of the symptoms.
Emotions are Energy in MOTION
Stressful emotions that get stuck in our body create distress in our nervous system, inflammation in our immune system, weaken our digestive system and can even create an autoimmune illness because of this imbalance.
When we have symptoms,ย we usually see them as a problem. We feel we have to get rid of them. We have fight them and work hard to figure out how to get rid of the problem. This is very stressful, right?ย But what if there is a different way.
Instead of looking at our symptoms as a problem, feeling like there is something wrong with us, letโs see it as something that is guiding us. Our body is working correctly. Itโs how our bodyโs wisdom is communicating with us.
When we begin to see our symptoms from this new perspective we can move the stuck energy and the symptoms decline and can even go away.
Recently I stopped making my symptoms be what was wrong with me and started to accept that there was something right about this that I wasnโt getting. I began to ask how could I embrace this experience instead of fighting against it? When we fight against it, we make our body more inflamed by producing excess cortisol.
The stress of fighting against our symptoms depletes our nervous and immune systems. It actually diverts blood away from the gut, the digestive system, and it decreases our ability to break down food.ย ย Getting out of that โfight or flightโ state changes what is going on in our body.
All right, so letโs not make our symptoms whatโs wrong with us, letโs have them be whatโs right with us.
Instead of looking at a symptom as the problem weโre trying to solve we can ask โwhat is my bodyโs wisdom trying to tell meโ? How is your bodyโs wisdom communicating to you with your digestive distress, or pains in your joints, fatigue or whatever symptoms you are experiencing?
When we accept and embrace our symptoms we have a different relationship with our body.
It makes all the difference in the world when we allow ourselves to accept the state weโre in. I have been doing this myself when I experience pains in my joints resulting from digestive issues. My symptoms are improving tremendously.
When we settle into allowing what is, embracing what is, embracing our symptoms and the emotions that we feel about them, the anger, the frustration, the fear, our body calms down.
We experience what is called the relaxation response.
It basically allows our GI system to function normally. We secrete blood so that we can absorb nutrients easily. We secrete enzymes so we can break our foods down and they no longer create inflammation in our body. We no longer have food allergies or imbalances in the immune system thatโs causing the symptoms.
What is Acceptance?
Now embracing and accepting your symptoms doesnโt mean, โOkay, Iโm going to always feel like this, I guess Iโll have to just get over it.โ That is resignation. Iโm not suggesting you do that.
Acceptance means…
โThis is how I feel right now, so Iโm going to breathe in and breathe outโ and allow myself to feel all of it fully. Just breathe in fully.ย Thank you for this awareness. I open my heart to myself.
โWow, this pain is so intense,โ actually, appreciating the magnitude of what youโre experiencing.
โI honor myself fullyโ Accepting this is the state Iโm in right now and even though I have no idea how doing this will make it better, Iโm going to embrace that in this moment, thereโs pain and the emotions I feel.
โIn this moment Iโm frustrated. In this moment I feel powerless or afraidย ‘ย and experience all of it instead of trying to fight it, suppress it or make it go away.
Take deep breaths and say ‘I love and accept myself and my experience fully.โ
ย Iโm not saying this is easy especially if you are in a lot of pain. I understand your frustration.
What is Self-Healing?
For a long time I was trying to fight my symptoms saying things like โI can overcome this by being more positive,โ and that created more stress in my body. I was judging myself when I was being โnegativeโ and when the symptoms appeared. I felt like I am supposed to heal myself which is a lot of pressure.
Now I am beginning to see even though it is called self-healing, we actually donโt heal ourselves with our mind and will. What we do is open up to something that allows healing. This is the source energy that keeps us alive. It is the source energy that if you sprain your ankle, is going to repair it. You donโt do that with your mind.
Your wisdom knows how to allow the healing to occur. Source energy knows how to actually create that and repair those cells. The way to heal our body by letting go and allow the healing to occur.
The first step is to calm down your nervous system so you can connect with whatโs happening within you.
There are many tools to calm yourself down. Deep breathing, tapping, meditation and yoga are the ones I use. Here is
ABC Breathing Process
I invite you to do this simple breathing exercise adapted from Dr Kim DโEramo who is my inspiration for the article.
A – Awareness
This means awareness on every level: physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
- Sit comfortably and notice your body. Become aware of how you’re feeling in your body.
- Notice your physical sensations and/or any emotions.
- Nothing to do, just awareness of your body and feelings.
- Welcome the feelings, no fixing or judging just noticing.
- Observe yourself from the perspective of your Inner Being with curiosity and kindness.
Observing yourself from the perspective of your Inner Being enables you to feel your emotions and sensations without getting overwhelmed by them.
Becoming aware of whatโs going on in your body increases your brainโs ability to pay attention to this kind of information.
B โ Breathe
- Relax your shoulders breathe in and let the breath come all the way into your belly,ย ballooning out your belly with the inhale.
- Breath out, lower your shoulders, let your belly come back in with a long, slow exhale or if you prefer a forceful exhale letting everything go.
- Repeat this 3-10 times.
This turns off the โfight-or-flightโ breathing pattern, and establishes the โrelaxation responseโ which reduces inflammation and allows health to occur naturally. This breathing changes activity in your brain so you have access to more expanded information, easily find solutions, and restore wellbeing and balance.
C โ Choose
Choose to communicate a new message to your body. Say to yourself, I choose to welcome peace now. I choose to relax and let my body heal.
Here are a few other things you can say to yourselfย (Use EFT Tapping to make it even more powerful):
Body, I accept you as you are.
Itโs OK.
We are in this together.
All is well.
I am open to the messages you are sending me.
I accept myself with kindness and understanding.
All is well.
I love and accept myself fully.
Wrap your arms around your body and give yourself a hug โ that will increase oxytocin and settle down your nervous system.
If you tap as you say these statements you will calm down your amygdala the โfight or flightโ response even more.ย ย Click here for a picture of the Tapping Points
Coming into an expanded state means your cells immediately stop secreting damaging stress chemicals and start the process of healing.
This simple process allows you to let go, move into the parasympathetic nervous system, reduce inflammation and allow health healing to occur naturally.
Changing your energy will impact your whole life.ย Your energy field has been measured up to 8-10 feet beyond your physical body, and it correlates with your emotions. That means your emotional state impacts others around you energetically. You literally create the results in your life through your energy, and your emotions are the key to what your energetic state is.
Putting your attention in your body, and putting your intention peace, acceptance and love for yourself retrains your brain, rewires your body, and become a generator of a Joyful, Peaceful, Blissful world.
Set your time to do it a few times a day and see how much better you feel.
In Conclusion:ย Fighting your symptoms doesnโt work. Settling your body down, turning off those โfight or flightโ patterns that are causing the symptoms opens you up to allow healing. Sometimes that means being willing to feel 100% of your pain fully and completely without trying to fix it, without trying to suppress it, without trying to escape it. When you do that the energy and symptoms will move.
As we go through our day noticing how we feel and calming our body and mind, we are healing on a deep level. I am truly grateful for this experience.
Please let me know what you think about this by leaving me a comment below.ย I truly hope it helps you has much as it is helping me.
Much love and healing,
Ingrid