As a doctor something that I can readily appreciate is how the body Is intrinsically linked with the mind and nowhere more so demonstrates this than the fight or flight response. This physiological reaction to a perceived threat is overseen by the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which activates the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) - we see a threat and certain physical actions start to happen in our body, our energy goes into running away and shuts down digestion and prioritise supplying the systems of the body, which are the most immediate life saving for us. Consequently when we are under emotional stress these same things can occur which is great for short periods of action but not the long term or chronic stress so many of us are in as this has such a detrimental effect on our physical health.
This stress can affect every system in the body. Typically we think of the digestive system but it affects all our systems in the body and as our digestive system is essentially the doorway to everywhere else - we are what we eat or how we digest.
By balancing our emotions and keeping them in check to regulate them we can really improve our general well-being and it's quite amazing the power our mind has on our physical health.
This is something I've experienced myself in my early twenties, I had a lot of pain in my knees and ankles it was very debilitating I couldn't sit at a table to eat I couldn't go to the cinema without pain I struggled to drive, struggled to walk, couldn't run, couldn't do a lot of the things that I really enjoyed doing because of chronic pain and I was told I had to do a sedentary job, I would never be able to run again and it was pretty depressing. I didn't know any of the stuff I know now but I just realized that actually if I ran and walked I was in exactly the same pain as if I didn't do anything so it made sense to me to just carry on doing those things that made me happy and what actually happened was I started to have less pain my body - endorphins are a powerful thing and I found a lot of different coping strategies.
A few years later I ran the London Marathon and I am still running!
This power of our mind always really interested me and before I became a doctor I was actually flight attendant for seven years (a job I was told I should not do as a sedentary job was more suitable) and I met some amazing people and film stars, pop stars, you name it but the most incredible person I ever met was a man called
Tony Bullimore who you may not be familiar with but he was a gentleman competing in the Around The World yacht race and he capsized in the Southern Ocean just off the coast of Antartica which is a very inhospitable place to get into trouble, he was single-handed and a massive search operation was commenced.
He was missing for 5 days before his yacht was found which was obviously upside down and no one expected him to survive but when he heard a tap on the hull from a search vessel he actually swam under the hull and popped up and it was absolutely amazing. He survived through shear bloody mindedness. The power of the mind to survive in horrendously cold freezing cold aters upside down with no food and water for 5 days is absolutely incredible.
I see people at work who have been injured or have some really debilitating conditions and it's really interesting the ones who actually do well with their health conditions stem largely from how they manage their emotions. I know that probably sounds a little bit Pollyanna and it's not something you can just click your fingers and do but this is how important our emotions are to our health and essential oils can help give us a tool box to assist. Essential oils can shift our emotions and move us from one state to another, that is powerful and it all starts with literally just you know sniff in front of the other.
I started to learn more about how our emotions could affect our physical health when I read the Louise Hay book
How To Heal Your Life, if you're not familiar with the book it's very worth reading and it literally has in there different ailments and what the emotional context is to it and some affirmations. I read it all and I was like oh yeah that's interesting but you know I thought of loads of objections to it but I went into work and I saw different patients and I started to just chat with them a little bit more and find out a little bit more that was going on and I'd go back every night and I'd read the book and I found that there was a correlation with everything. I don't want to dismiss anyone's health concerns because it isn't just a case of how wouldn't it be lovely if we could just recite some positive affirmations and we'd all be well. And it's not going to magically make everything disappear but if you can manage your chronic health conditions in some way to make it more livable to improve your quality of life and in some cases those conditions may completely disappear that's really powerful and you know we can do that with our emotions and utilizing our beautiful oils to support that as well.
I just want to share with you another little story that I've always really found amazing I met this lady who had chronic pain she told me how she had spent five years on the sofa unable to leave the house because of all the pain meds she was on and started using crystals she was amazed that she could have a conversation like this with a doctor and it was absolutely inspiring because she weaned herself off all her meds and regained her life.
My grandma always used to say there is more in Heaven and Earth than we could ever know, and if it could help why not try something other than convention. As a medical doctor I feel passionately that managing our emotions for our physical health is not addressed enough and it can be a massive game-changer for us.
If you would like more help drop me a
message and find out how I could help you.
Information given here is not intended as a substitute for medical or veterinary consultation - the author has no liability nor responsibility with respect to any issues occurring out of use such as damage, loss, injury.