Mind-Body Connection

Dear all seekers of healing...

The other day, I had a profound encounter with Caroline Myss' teachings that I would like to share with you, because for me it all seemed very deeply significant.... She is on a lecture tour around the world in connection with her latest book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Defy-Gravity-Be ... 492&sr=1-2) - which I have not read, yet... - and this week she was here in Oslo... I went and listened to her talk for three hours, and she really shook my boat with some of the deep truth she conveyed... the night after, I did not sleep well, I had very significant dreams, and I woke up with stomach pain....

the one thing she said that hit me the hardest as a significant truth, was this: "the single most harmful thing you can do to your health is to carry a deep and significant intuitive insight inside of you, but invent instead a different "truth" to be able to live on without changing according to your truth"... as simple example she said: "if you know in your gut that your partner is cheating on you, but to act on that scares you so you invent a false truth like "it is probably just too much work and worry" and continue to live with the person as if nothing happens, then you are committing severe harm yo your health...."

In my case it is not about cheating partners, but failing to live according to what deep down I have known to be the right way...

Seeing and feeling this so clearly was really tough for me, even if partly I have reached that insight already some time ago...... but I really feel that healing this, is the way to heal my body, too.

I will be very happy to learn from you guys out there, about other valuable insights you may have drawn from Myss' work...

All the very best to all of you in healing life and body,


Bjørn, Oslo

Maybe my reply to the ms abbreviations also applies here.

hi aldabwoods and everybody else,

thank you very much aldabwoods for the link to Lipton's book...! It seems highly interesting, and I have ordered a copy... am looking forward to exploring the wisdom on its pages and to possibly discuss with others here...

for now, I also want to share a bit on my experience with working thoroughly through "Defy Gravity" by Caroline Myss... which I bought after listening to her talk...

I found her book opened up many new paths inside of me - paths to knowing my true self, respecting that true self, needs boundaries and all, and gently inviting my intuition back to center where it belongs... Never having been an actively religious man, I have started using her prayers - for the seven graces - reverence, piety, understanding, fortitude, counsel, knowledge and wisdom... I find that slowly, gently, it works, in ever so hidden ways.

I find that her work really gives me yet another way to strengthen my intuition and to invite forgiveness into my life, making it easier to focus my energies where I need them, that is healing...


Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone,

Bjørn, Oslo

Bjørn I don't know if you listened to the Interview series that the Professor took part in recently (as noted in the Website forum) - Bruce Lipton 'The Biology of Belief' was part of the interview series and he makes very good listening. The series is finished but you can purchase the all the interviews as MP3's, if you are interested the link is in the Website forum.

thanks Lisa, that sounds great!

b

dear every one of you who might be interested in Myss' work, medical intuition, spiritual awakening and healing....

I found this podcast with deep interview with her, which I found very interesting, and wanted to share with you: http://www.soundstrue.com/podcast/?p=1531#bottom

have a wonderful Sunday,

Bjørn

It shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology, that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell

On the molecular biology front, it's a little from column A and a little from column B - hardly anything is clear-cut either "nature" or "nurture" - it's almost all a complex mixture of both. The biological pathways of our bodies are very complicated and interlinked and affected by the external and internal environment - our thought processes being part of that internal environment. In school what we are taught is an extremely simplified version (the genes control the cell) just like in school physics classes we use force = mass x acceleration without any consideration of direction or of opposing forces such as those due to friction with a surface.
The easiest way to think of it is that our genes predispose us to certain things, but almost all can be influenced by our thoughts and behaviour.

I'm not arguing against the mind:body link - it makes a lot of sense - I just wanted to say that it's not a case of conventional science vs spiritualism - the truth is a combination of both.

I read Myss over the holidays. I like how she stimulates new perspectives but I have to agree with Catriona that "hardly anything is clear-cut."

In 'Defy Gravity' she writes with total conviction (and without any elaboration, i.e. presented as fact) that thought proceeds matter. On a metaphysical level, this is not so difficult to swallow, but when mixed with the microcosm of humans it seems premature to not even allow for discussion as to the complexity of the subject.
A few years ago I read the neuroscientist Antonio Demasio's book "Looking for Spinosa." He differentiates between the processes of "emoting" and "feeling" and seeks to discover which proceeds the other:

an episode of emoting begins with an emotionally "competent" stimulus (such as an attractive person or a scary house) that the organism automatically appraises as conducive to survival or well-being (a good thing) or not conducive (bad). This appraisal takes the form of a complex array of physiological reactions (e.g., quickening heartbeat, tensing facial muscles), which is mapped in the brain. From that map, a feeling arises as "an idea of the body when it is perturbed by the emoting process." Because they "bear witness to the state of life deep within," feelings are a vital guide to decision-making.
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Spinoza-S ... 682&sr=8-1

So it has been a long time since I read this book, but at this level of stimulus-response it is the body that, in the emoting process, "knows" ...with no distinction between thought and matter (from Demasio). This is followed by the body signaling (as captured by the body map) to the brain the idea or thought, which is interpreted as a feeling. It is extremely complex and my point is simply that conviction is fine, but please allow for a discussion.

I also read "Anatomy of the Spirit" and was struck with how she assigned, for example, neurological problems as related to a spiritual crisis. This stuck with me and I mulled over it for a while. I mentioned in another post that I went to a cranio-sacral therapist and I asked her at the time what she thought about neurological problems being spiritual dillemas. She said that that type of thinking is to her much to black and white.

Like I said, I enjoyed hearing Myss' ideas, and on a metaphysical (and physical) level it is not a problem to me to talk about responsibility in disease, I am just wary of guilt-inducing conclusions.

hi copeching and others following this thread...

I just wanted to pick up on the guilt issue... I find that very interesting... I rhave ead in so many posts about the fear of guilt feelings from looking at how our problems may in part result from the way we have lived our lives.... I feel that is a question of where we put our focus and attention, and would like to turn it around.... why is this not instead a source of hope and empowerment?
if I had a role in causing my condition by living out of touch with my inner true self, then I see great opportunity for healing in finally becoming more true to myself.... so I like to focus on the opportunity, the possibility, rather than blame andguilt from the past.... that is also what several thinkers in mind-body medicine keep pointing out --- blame and guilt and the quest for justice and revenge can make us sick, forgiveness of self and others has healing power...
so, what I find so powerful in what she writes, is how she points very clearly at the value of living in the now and letting the past go, in forgiveness and in finally being more true to oneself and giving up the quest for control... instead being humble enough to leave certain things to a higher power while still doing one's best...

to me it just rings true, and I am happy to read it spelled out so directly - long arguments for and against that interpretation would take most of the energy out of the message... at least for me...

and if I want to read more fully argued versions of this message, I can go to people like Bernie Siegel, Bruce Lipton, etc....

how can we support each other in drawing hope and empowerment from these texts, rather than guilt and self-blame?


hope you all have a beautiful day!

Bjørn, Oslo