Intuitive Healing with Glenna

Welcome to this series called WTF Is… where we identify what the fuck a particular wellness phrase or concept is.

First up is the oft-touted and elusive mind-body connection.

This little chestnut tends to get tossed around quite a bit in yoga studios and trauma healing circles. It is a straight forward concept, simply the connection between your mind and your body. Not difficult to wrap your brain around except in those same trauma healing circles, because…

So many traumatized individuals cope with trauma by dissociating, or separating mental function from conscious awareness.

I did not think I was the dissociating type. If anything, for most of my life I felt too aware, and physically overwhelmed by emotion. If we only think of dissociation as a numbed fugue state, we are overlooking a number of ways the mind-body connection can rupture. Toxic positivity is a dissociation, selectively acknowledging only the feelings, sensations, and experiences we deem to be “good.” Spiritual bypass is a dissociation, over-exercising is a dissociation, aspects of eating disorders are dissociation. Though these examples are categorically mental in nature, they all have implications on our body (part and parcel of the mind-body connection). I’ve done all of the above and more, and did not realize what I was doing until years (actual years) into both therapy and recovery.

I am sharing these more personal details with you because there is no true way to understand the mind-body connection from the outside in. If there are aspects of personal history or present conditions that block this understanding, it may be a rockier journey, but there are absolutely ways to both understand and repair where there is disconnect. Here is what I wish my journey to understanding the mind-body connection began with:

Every experience, even the emotional, psychological, and even spiritual ones, are part of a physical experience.

The mind is part of the physical body. Awareness is part of the physical body. Emotions are part of the physical body. The brain is an organ made of matter, as are the eyes, ears, etc. We have neurological and chemical responses to both internal and external stimuli. The Police once sang a song about being spirits in a material world, but all the same we are matter, as long as we are alive. Our physical body experiences our spiritual, emotional, and psychological realities; the mind-body connection is the integration of these things.

When our awareness is fully integrated with our experience, we are nice and cozy with the mind-body connection, but it is broadly speaking happening even if when when we are not noticing. Our nervous system connects our sense organs to our internal organs in a way that allows us to react to stimuli; it controls our heart rate, our breathing, even our digestion. It’s usually obvious to us when our “heart is racing”, but it’s just as literal when we are “shitting ourselves” in anxiety or even anger. Our language is full of examples of the mind body connection that might have become cliche but have very visceral roots.

One of the reasons we hear about the mind-body connection so much in yoga settings is because a huge portion of yoga is dedicated to tuning into the breath. Interestingly, one of the few parts of our nervous system that we have control over is our breathing; we can’t stop our heart from beating, but we can hold our breath. Our inhales and exhales have a massive impact on our psychological and emotional states. In all spiritual traditions, breathing plays a crucial role; it is even the root of our word “inspiration.” Breathing is one of the first ways we tune into our mind-body connection.

Mind-body connection is also acknowledged in how other physical activities impact our emotional and psychological wellbeing. Exercise, sleep, nourishment, and recreation greatly affect how we feel not just in our physical body but our hearts and minds (both, again, material organs). Understanding the mind-body connection also gives context to the often repeated wellness advice like breathing exercises, meditation, and journaling. These tools are to help increase self-awareness, but without mind-body connection it can be difficult to know what we are looking for.

Just like physical injuries or illnesses impact us, emotional wounds (trauma) and mental illnesses also play a role in our physical well-being, and our physical well-being plays a role in our emotional and mental health. Through the mind-body connection, reconnecting to senses helps to process trauma and heal the body on all levels. This is the basis of works like Bessel Van Der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score.

Why I include the mind-body connection in this series is: when we really sink into the mind-body connection and come to know ourselves, our bodies, what we like, what we need, and what we don’t, we are less susceptible to the predatory practices of consumerism, especially wellness influencers. Just sticking to the examples we have been using, ‘yoga’ is not the blocks, mats, matching outfits, and expensive retreats; yoga is tuning inward to the breath, the body, the heart, and the mind for some release, strength, and support. Healing, also, is not something we can necessarily bottle up or package and sell; we can receive vital aid and support with professionals, but their role is to hold space for us to connect internally, occasionally offering support, guidance, or information. In the most severe of traumatic ruptures, intervention can be necessary for safety, but anyone offering a particular, universal protocol on the internet is an immediate red flag. At the very least, having this understanding can save you from buying another $15 wellness journal without knowing what it’s supposed to “do.”

TL;DR: The mind-body connection is simply the connection between your mind and your body. The mind is part of the physical body. Our physical body experiences our spiritual, emotional, and psychological realities; the mind-body connection is the integration of these things. Just like physical injuries or illnesses impact us, emotional wounds (trauma) and mental illnesses also play a role in our physical well-being, and our physical well-being plays a role in our emotional and mental health.