Utilizing the Mind-Body Connection

We find that our state of physical health clearly impacts our minds. In cases of severe pain, the mind may actually be fixated on the pain signals and be unable, for that period of time, to focus on virtually anything else. But the connection is more subtle than simply reacting to acute pain. We find that as we experience some kind of discomfort, we begin to worry, to speculate, to research causes of the symptoms we are experiencing and then, to begin to ‘self-diagnose’ and create scenarios in our minds about what is taking place and what the impact will be. We turn specific bodily signals into a cause for creation of an entire structure of gloom and doom in many cases. The mind’s action creates stress which impacts the body in a ‘negative feedback loop’.

If we then visit a doctor and undergo some review and testing by experts in the field of physical health (recognising that they don’t necessarily have all the answers, and may themselves wind up speculating to some degree), in many cases we learn that what we feared has not come to pass. In the meantime, our mind has been sending signals of fear and uncertainty back to the body consciousness. Even supposing that our speculation and fear was based in the reality of the body’s actual experience, the reaction is generally not helpful and may actually set back the process of restoring health or recovering.

On the other side, the mind can be a powerful aid to healing in a number of ways, if it is properly utilized. Its action can be subtle or overt, internal or external. The mind can, first of all, refrain from jumping to conclusions or imagining what the cause of the concern in the body happens to be. This alone represents a shift from a “negative” feedback loop to the body to a ‘neutral’ status. It can send positive affirmations or suggestions to the body, such as indicating that this is likely a short-term issue that will soon be resolved; or that support or assistance will be acquired to aid the body in its restoration of balance and health. The mind can organise a response including consultation and advice that may be able to determine the actual situation and begin a course of treatment as may be required. The mind may send a signal to the body that a particular food, herb, drug, therapy or other action will fix the situation. The ‘placebo effect’ represents the mind telling the body that it is getting supported! This creates a ‘positive feedback loop’.

Beyond that, the mind can take steps to provide the body with healing vibrations, such as immersion in healing sounds, visiting nature sites that refresh and uplift the body and mind, and positive thoughts of support to the body. Calming and soothing activities can have a wonderful effect on the body!

It is easy for the mind to move into a state of stress and communicate this to the body. The mind may, through its own mode of action, actually create imbalances in the body. In most cases, it may be best to simply listen to the body and let it heal itself. We see this phenomenon with animals. When they are feeling out of sorts they may simply find a quiet spot and sleep, allowing their body to restore itself. Or they may seek out a particular herb or food which they instinctively know will help them. The body consciousness has a tremendous power to heal itself if we don’t try to apply our partial mental understanding and solutions to its action!

The Mother provides yet another option, and that is to open oneself to the higher force of the Divine, to be receptive and to allow that force to set things in order.

The Mother writes: “There are people — as soon as the least thing happens to their body, their mind is completely upset. There are others still who may be very ill and yet keep their mind clear. It is rarer and more difficult to see a mind that’s upset and the body remaining healthy — it is not impossible but it is much rarer, for the body depends a great deal on the state of the mind. The mind (I have written it there in the book) is the master of the physical being. And I have said the latter was a very docile and obedient servant. Only one doesn’t know how to use one’s mind, rather the opposite. Not only does one not know how to use it, but one uses it ill — as badly as possible. The mind has a considerable power of formation and a direct action on the body, and usually one uses this power to make oneself ill. For as soon as the least thing goes wrong, the mind begins to shape and build all the catastrophes possible, to ask itself whether it could be this, whether it could be that, if it is going to be like that, and how it will all end. Well, if instead of letting the mind do this disastrous work, one used the same capacity to make favourable formations — simply, for example, to give confidence to the body, to tell it that it is just a passing disturbance and that it is nothing, and if it enters a real state of receptivity, the disorder will disappear as easily as it has come, and one can cure oneself in a few seconds — if one knows how to do that, one gets wonderful results.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XVIII Mind, pp. 139-140