Developing and supporting the mind-body connection has benefits for our physical health and our mental well-being. Mindfulness practices have been shown to lower blood pressure, improve digestion, reduce pain and improve immune responses.

In short this means that our thoughts and feelings can effect our physiology. The same is true in reverse. What we do with our bodies effects our mind. How we eat, sleep and exercise, even posture have clear influence on our mental state.

     “the brain and peripheral nervous system, the endocrine and immune systems, and indeed, all the organs of our body and all the emotional responses we have, share a common chemical language and are constantly communicating with one another.”

     Dr. James Gordon (founder of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine)

Here researchers refer to the mind as our set of perceptions, feelings, thoughts and beliefs. The brain is seen more as the processor for our mind to experience the world and access our mental states.

These states of being can be conscious or unconscious. Often mindfulness techniques are aimed at improving our awareness of both the thoughts and feelings coming from our mind, as well as the perceptions and sensations from our bodies.

For thousands of years people have used various physical techniques in order to deepen the mind-body connection. Practices such as yoga, t’ai chi, various forms of breathing, chanting and dance to name a few.

Recent innovations in mental health care have also begun to introduce physical techniques in their practices. For example; EMDR, breath work and cold water swimming. The results are very encouraging.

We all have emotional blockages of different degrees. Our bodies have physical reactions to stress that are deeply embedded within our evolution as a species. These physiological reactions to stress can be measured in a number of ways. To name a few; blood pressure, pupil dilation, sweat, as well as activation of specific hormones and neuroreceptors.