The Body Mind Connection - what does this even mean?

“As our mind perceives, so our body feels” – Peter Crone

This term ‘the body-mind connection’ gets thrown around a lot in the yoga and health scene. But what does it actually mean? And are they actually separate?

Here’s the thing, there is in fact no body mind connection.  They are one and the same thing.

The only way you can separate the mind and body is verbally. Dr Andrew Weil , the founder of integrative medicine, states that there is a two-way conversation going on between the body and mind. The mind is influencing and informing how the body should respond.

This is pretty powerful to embrace. I just love that we can get a deeper understanding of this and utilise this knowledge and awareness to start taking some practical steps to become a healthier happier version of ourself.

Here’s 5 science and evidence-based insights to help unpack the complexity of the body-mind connection:

1.      Our physiology reflects what’s going on internally

If we are overly fearful and anxious, this leads to unease, distress, and disharmony. We are constantly messaging the mind/body that it should be worried of some impending threat. We believe there is some real threat to our safety because our mind is telling us so.

When we look at life through a lens of freedom (eg letting go of the need to look good, social status, having to have someone else make us happy, being overly controlling), fear starts to lessen. Many physical niggles may dissolve when the  brain looks at life through the lens of freedom.

Your beliefs can heal you, and they can make you very sick – Marissa Peer

2.      The non-physical can cause physical events

According to Dr Weil, in traditional Chinese medicine all disease is visible and invisible. Disease begins as a disturbance in the energy of the body and shows up in the physical.  The correcting is done at the invisible stage, which is much less effort to correct. The imbalance wouldn’t have been seen in earlier stages with diagnostic devices.

Western medicine, while making huge advances in many areas, does not deal so well with some of the more chronic health problems we see in modern society.  In this materialistic paradigm the body and mind are not one and the same thing (Happy Mind Happy Life Podcast) . According to this approach all that is real is that which can be touched or measured, or ‘taken out’. In other words, if you can observe a change in the physical system, the cause has to be physical. Non-physical causation of physical events is not allowed for. So, mind-body practices, such as hypnosis, meditation, or mindsets have never been fully accepted. However, this is now slowly changing with Harvard finding research on the benefits of things like yoga.

3.      The body has a natural healing potential

Health is more than the absence of disease. A common understanding of health in our Western culture is that ‘health is the absence of disease.’ This is defining our health in the negative sense. Dr Andrew Weil explains that this is a great disservice to define health in this way, for something that’s so important to us.

A better approach to thinking about our health is to start from it’s  positive attributes. Weil explains that we can think of our health in terms of ‘finding balance.’ Just like a roly-poly doll with a weighted bottom, when it’s knocked over it has the ability to rock itself back upright.

In the same way, our level of ‘good health’ can be likened to our ability to return back to our centre when we get off balance. Toxins, stress, germs, and emotional turmoil knock us off balance but we have an internal quality to move through the world and not get too hurt by their  potential dangers. Having ‘good health’ means we don’t get knocked down very long. This speaks to the resilience and natural healing power of the human body.

4.      Your mindset matters

The most important thing you can do when you are sick, is to tell yourself with conviction that you can get better. Dr Andrew Weil states that the main thing that he can do for his patients is to instil in them greater confidence about their bodies own ability and resilience.

Most of us know the importance of healthy food, exercise, and good sleep as essential pillars of health. However, many of us forget to acknowledge the power of the mind, and that our mindset matters when we think of our overall state of health.

You may have heard of the ‘placebo effect.’ Recent science has shown that this can be more powerful than medications, but without the side effects.

Dr Weil calls the placebo effect a pure healing responses from within. Western medicine is catching up with how the power of our mindsets affect our health

“The ideal medicine is to produce the maximum healing response with the minimal intervention” Dr Andrew Weil

 5. You can make use of your bodies healing potential

The reality is, most of us are mostly healthy most of the time – and that’s remarkable! We rely on our body to bounce back to health even after all the glasses of wine and all the sitting we do all day at work (!). Its amazing how resilient our body is, especially given how many things could go wrong inside our body, and how many things out there in the world have the potential to harm us. It’s miraculous that most of us are mostly healthy most of the time – and this is an attribute to the intrinsic healing mechanisms of the human body.

“Health is not just the absence of disease. It’s an inner joyfulness that should be ours all the time: a state of positive well-being” Deepak Chopra

My 3 favourite mind body practices for better health:

1. Yoga  - Yoga creates unity in our body and mind. The poses help us get out of our head and into our body so we feel more at peace, more joy and less stress

2. Pranayama - or yogic breathing relaxes the nervous system, and reduces anxious tendencies

3. A walk in nature - elevates positive emotions, improves fitness, and can help us sleep better. And it’s uplifting when we simply pay attention and get curious about the beauty and wonder around us.

Learn more about how to make use of the mind-body connection for healing in my next retreat or workshop

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

Jo JardenHeart and Mind Yoga