Mind, Body, Spirit: The Inter-Connected & Important Trio.

So, it has been a while since I have been trying to publish my first post. Picked several topics, dropped some and saved others as possible topics for future posts. I just was not able to finalize my first, power packed topic. Yes! I wanted my first blog post to be “Different” and “Packing – a – Punch”. Well, who doesn’t, after all my favorite character from Criminal Minds quoting Shakespeare, always said, “Nothing is as common as the wish to be remarkable”.

And then after a lot of thought, I decided to first touch upon why I wanted this blog to be about mind, body, and spirit. Why I wanted to touch upon health from all these perspectives. Being a health care professional practicing modern nutrition science, I sometimes feel the inadequacy and limitations of this stream to help my patients. There was a time when modern science treated health as only physical health with mental health or emotions or I must say, emotional health of the people, as having no implications upon it. Over the decades, research has dashed this notion spectacularly. We now know that in fact mental health of the individual suffering any disease goes a long way in determining not only the length and speed of recovery but also effectiveness of the treatment. And good mental health is rooted in spiritual backing and stimulation.

So, what do I mean when I mention health from the perspectives of mind, body, and spirit?

I am going to take you through this with the help of a real-world case scenario. I most often get people who want to manage their weight well. This let us say is the “Body” aspect. When I begin with them, it is from understanding their current health and lifestyle. During conversations to understand them and their goals better, what often stands out to me is that how strongly everyone is conditioned to think of weight as an all-important number and food as calories and something to just “burn” to achieve their goals. In the initial period it is difficult to make them understand the importance of the fact that how they are placed emotionally or even the fact that whether they are inclined spiritually, to help them tackle their emotions or stressors. Which brings in the “Mind” aspect. The most common response I get from my patients is – skepticism, they may not verbalize it, but their body language communicates this very effectively to me. And the fact that they still want to only discuss why their weighing scale number is not moving or why do they need to consume balanced meals and not fewer calories, just reinforces the fact that such thought processes are very deep rooted in our psyche. It is a slow task to counsel them towards the fact that “fitness” and “health” are not just numbers. They are long term requirements or rather “Needs” of our lives. To be healthy and fit, one does not just need to tackle “Weight”, but we need to reset our lifestyles.

And lifestyles don’t function exclusively. A lifestyle involves every aspect that make our lives worth living. That makes us feel alive and connected.

There are tons of research to show the connection between how physical and mental health are connected. In simple words, every emotion we feel, for example anger, sadness, stress etc. triggers a chemical change in our bodies which in turn lead to hormonal imbalances. Most often weight fluctuations are a result of these imbalanced hormones. If measures are not taken to balance the hormones, it can lead to various diseases such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, hypothyroidism etc. therefore it becomes particularly important to achieve hormonal balance. In fact, in several alternative healing practices, it is believed that every unresolved emotion takes a seat in a specific organ. And if these feelings are left unresolved for a longer period, diseases arise. To manage emotions mindfulness and meditation can play a significant role. Therein enters the “Spirit” part and hence the question to know whether someone is spiritually inclined or even open to practices of mindfulness towards which I can guide them.

Did you know? The mind, gut, and heart are considered as the three “Brains” of our body? Yes, that feeling “Butterflies in the stomach” or making decisions following “My heart” are because all these three areas of our body have their own “Minds” so to speak. There is a complex neural pathway not only in our “Head” brain but also in our stomach and heart. In fact, research shows us that there are more messages passed from the stomach to the brain than the other way around.

Now, if physiologically our brain, gut and heart are connected then don’t you think that in the so-called intangible or abstract arena, so are our Mind, Body and Spirit?

The connections between our mind, body and spirit are complex and vast and not something that can be covered in one article. This post and in fact this blog were established to delve deeper and gain more understanding on all these various aspects of our lives that makes us whole. That make us who we are. One post cannot do justice to the complexity of the connections and its implications on our health and lives. My effort is going to be to bring you a better understanding of how to gently guide yourself towards good health and more importantly how to maintain it.

Watch this space!!