Letting go of resistance to what is
A Deeper Path to a Healthier Life
I have noticed how many people complain about injuries or health issues in their body, as if there is a ‘quick fix’ and 5-step solution to move from injury to full vitality. And sure, sometimes there is a dietary adjustment, or a bit of rehabilitation that may resolve the issue. But I personally have found that getting to the core of our health issues is intricately linked to the lens we are living our life through. In other words – addressing physical issues mean addressing our mindset.
How does the mind inform the body?
They are one, and the same thing. “As our mind perceives, so our body feels.” The mind is influencing and informing how the body should respond. If our mind is in a mild state of anxiety, distress, fear or disharmony, we are constantly messaging our body that we should be worried about some pending doom. We are telling our body there is potential threat coming our way, because our brain is telling us so.
Dr Andrew Weil, founder and director of the the Arizona Centre for Integrative Medicine (the combination of alternative medicine and conventional evidence–based medicine) explains that there is a two-way conversation going on between the body and the mind. His approach addresses how many diseases of modern life seem to be the result of an overactive sympathetic nervous system (the system that gets us ready for fight or flight). He integrates breathwork, meditation, muscle relaxation, and strategies to neutralise stress, including emotional work such as hypnosis. He states that one of the most important things he can tell his patients is that it is possible to get better.
“Your beliefs can heal you, and harm you”
Resistance creates inflammation
If our mind is saying “things are not the way they should be”, we are saying that there’s something wrong with me, with others around me, and with life itself. This is looking through the lens of judgement, and this lens creates resistance. Peter Crone, a life coach in human potential and performance, explains that resistance is the precursor to physiological inflammation.
When our mind is in a state of fight or flight, we get health conditions and sleeplessness. This tension is able to dissolve when the brain can look through the lens of freedom. Many of us carry a psychological weight - where we look through the lens of not enoughness, scarcity, and fear (stories we carry from our childhood). This prevents us from living fully and taking risks and reaching our full potential. These constraints, or limiting beliefs, hold us back, create fear and ultimately cause us to live from a state of un-ease. We have resistance, and therefore tension in the body and the mind.
In the absence of fear, our body softens
Whatever is going on with you physically starts to dissolve when your brain looks through the lens of freedom. And how do we experience freedom? True acceptance.
True acceptance means embracing all our imperfections, flaws and shining the light of awareness on our stories we have created about not being enough as we are, and always needing more.
Once we realise that nothing is actually in our control, we accept that difficulties will inevitably happen in life. This is part of life (whether we like it or not!). Srikumar Rao explains how we can radically accept this – that the world is beyond our control. We can choose to accept what is or resist what is. Resisting will make us pathologically sick. Accepting means we say “this is not what I want to happen but nevertheless it did. I’m going to do my best to change things around.” We accept gracefully and change it from an emotional space of acceptance and gratitude.
Fear unexamined grows, fear examined diminishes. In the absence of resistance, we are no longer fighting life. We accept that things are the way they are.
“We have a very rigid idea of how the universe should be. We can eliminate stress by thinking differently” – Srikumar Rao, MBA lecturer Columbia University and The London Business School.
Acceptance doesn’t mean you don’t care about anything
Some people misunderstand acceptance and contentment as being passive and not caring. This is not the real essence of true acceptance.
True acceptance means you can still have a real sense of commitment to living an extraordinary life while simultaneously fully accepting where you are, and the way things are. It is possible to be content with how things are, and still have a creative mindset. We still pursue our goals, while at the same time we are grateful for what we have.
This is real inner peace. If we are not in resistance to any aspect of our life, we are in a state of peace. And this is the absence of un-ease. We are not fighting what is. Even in a moment of struggle we can ask ourselves – “Can I be with this?” Can I stay still, centred and at peace…? There is real power in this practice.
Make your life about the people you touch
We recognise that even in the worst-case scenarios it is possible to have a deep sense of wellbeing. Srikumar Rao says that if we have a deep sense of meaning and purpose in our life, we can find wellbeing despite external suffering in the world. He explains the importance of finding a cause that’s bigger than you are, so that your life becomes less about you, and more about the people you touch. We are less likely to create fearful stories in our head, and react to imagined scenarios, when we have a broader vision for our life that’s based on giving meaningfully to others.
When you’re in a state of freedom, vitality is able to come to the surface
Physically you will be upgraded when your mind is set free. It is possible to free your mind from stress and have a more peaceful fulfilling experience of life. Yoga helps us ground in the present moment. By anchoring our awareness in the breath (pranayama) and the body (asanas) we move from a state of ‘doing’ to ‘being’, where we find inner peace. Once we realise that we create our own stress by thinking something outside of us is causing us stress, we are able to find a greater sense of inner contentment – like an inner sanctuary.
The ancient wisdom and values of yoga help us understand that there is actually nothing wrong in your life. Shakespeare says, “Nothing is good or bad, only thinking makes it so.” This is freeing and liberating to realise. It’s not dismissing that there will be challenges in our life. We are simply accepting things fully as they are, even the imperfect parts of our life experience.
This is what it means to be truly at peace – in our body and mind. Your physical vitality can flourish when your mind is free.
Some final questions to help free your mind and cultivate inner peace
How comfortable am I with the idea that the true nature of life is uncertain?
Can I be at peace with uncertainty? Or do I need to know and predict everything to feel secure.
How comfortable am I with not needing to know exactly how things will pan out?
Can I incorporate relaxing and fun into my life now, rather than waiting for a future time when I can be happy?
Can I be comfortable in my own skin, regardless of what’s going on around me?
Can I be happy no matter what my job status, what my partner looks like, and what my bank account says?
Can I redefine what it means to be a successful human being?
What was the magic in my day? What is going well in my life?
Learn more at the following offerings facilitated by Jo Jarden, Heart and Mind Yoga:
Relaxation techniques for better sleep - a 5 week course, 2nd November
Beachside Retreat, 4 December
Work one-on-one with Jo
Book a workplace yoga session
Beginners yoga course, starts 21 October
Book a yoga or fitness class
Jo Jarden is a certified personal trainer and yoga teacher in Christchurch New Zealand and the founder of Heart and Mind Yoga studio. She has 10 years experience in health promotion in New Zealand and Australia including management and promotion of national chronic disease prevention programs. She now helps people one on one with their wellbeing through yoga teaching, personal training, workplace yoga and wellbeing workshops.
Qualifications include: Certified Yoga Teacher Santosha Yoga Institute, Registered Australian Yoga Alliance 2017
Certificate in Advanced Personal Training, Fit College New Zealand, 2016
Bachelor of Science with Honours Public Health. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2006
Bachelor of Arts Mass Communication and Psychology. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2005