Many of us are terrified when our body starts to act up, running to our doctor or gobbling medicine. Most of modern medicine is focused on hiding symptoms, so we can successfully pretend nothing’s wrong. When we engage in this pretense, we’re missing an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and promote deeper healing. In the last 100 years, life has gotten pretty complicated, and we’ve gone further and further away from being in touch with our bodies. We worship doctors as high priests, praying they can help us “cure” whatever is going on inside ourselves.
We have given away power over our bodies and how to live with them. As knowledge has increased, we have drifted away from our intuitive understanding of what is happening with our bodies at any given moment. As we dig deeper into cells and genes, we get farther away from a holistic understanding of our health. Life has gotten more complex and more frightening. We want someone else to take responsibility for what is wrong with us, and fix it.
Dick was so afraid to feel his body that he got a ruptured appendix. One day he felt a little ill. Afterwards he was constipated for eight days. Each day he called me to discuss it but couldn’t describe specific symptoms, he just felt “wrong.” He lived in Hawaii and I was in California so I wasn’t able to actually examine him. Eventually he developed a fever. I suggested he go to an emergency room for a diagnosis, and it turned out that he had a ruptured appendix. After emergency surgery and a month on antibiotics, he felt better.
Joe is 31 years old. He has been a firefighter for 10 years. About three years ago, he began having pain in his knees, which began to interfere with his ability to do his job. He saw several doctors, who did lots of tests, including X-rays, MRIs, and physical exams. All of which turned out normal. He came for acupuncture as a last resort. I probed the emotional connection with his pain and he said, “Nothing is wrong with my life. I’m married and have two kids and my wife is a jerk sometimes but she’s getting therapy. I have no problems with my parents.”
I questioned Joe more deeply and he continued to say that everything was fine. He mentioned that his dad was an alcoholic, and I asked him to read a book about adult children of alcoholics. The next week he when he came in, he admitted that about 80 percent of what was in the book could be applied to him. As he opened up to his inner self, the pain in his knees began to recede.
These are not magical stories of faith healing, and they are not isolated incidents. All over the world, people are seeking healing that goes beyond a pill or a test. Teach yourself to be in tune with your body. You can use what it is telling you to fine-tune your awareness. Your body is inseparable from your soul. By learning to listen closely to your body, you can be more connected to your essence. We often say that everything that happens in a person’s life has some other significance. That is also true for your body.
Your body is your very own school. Sometimes it is hard to see things happening in life and connect them to your true self, but when facing illness and pain, there is no other option. When your physical self is giving you a hard time, it is helping you learn. Use it as a guide to look deep within yourself, and when you do, examine your attitudes about life and health.
