JO HADLEY

SEP 11, 2024 on Substack

A missing link in health and healing is that many people attach their outcome to the technique or health modality they have chosen. Often these people have the presumption when they present to a practitioner, ‘I need you to fix me with your technique/pill/surgery etc’ It may work, true, but often it does not and these same people are often shopping around for another technique that will fix their issue. It is similar with many dieting plans…people think the diet will fix their issue, it may, that’s true, but often it is temporary only because the root cause of the issue is not addressed. The root cause being addressed often requires US to change something.

Many people want to be rid of the symptom or pain but not change anything. The outcome is dependent on the technique working…..doesn’t this sound exhausting? The idea that, ‘I must find the right technique to fix me.I just have to find it. There is something wrong with me and I need to fix it.’

What if there is nothing wrong with you? What if your symptoms or pain were just trying to alert you that something within your body is out of balance. The body is meant to be in balance/homeostasis. Maybe we have to change something that we are doing/being/thinking????? to restore the body’s inner balance? When we are in homeostasis/balance we are usually in health. So doesn’t it make sense if we have a symptom or pain it is alerting us we are out of balance and need to change something?

Often many people find the symptoms or pain inconvenient and cover it up with band aid solutions. (I am not meaning to sound like I am laying blame or guilt. We have been taught this our society. I also have gone through this process and still catch myself at times wanting someone or something to do the work for me.To take away my pain or issue. What I describe is a process and the first step is always increased awareness of what we have been doing that is not working.) This can be adequate for the short term but if the root cause isn’t addressed then often the proverbial can is just kicked down the road and later an even bigger issue may pop up, in the same place or somewhere else in the body. We have been trained to ‘think’ the mind is the boss……but ignore the body and you will soon learn what runs the show of your life. Our unconscious programs run our life until we bring them into conscious awareness.

Einstein has a great quote, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift"

We tend to believe everything the mind says to us…..but is it actually true?

Every memory is stored in our body as a feeling/sensation. In fact before we have a thought our body registers a feeling/sensation. Dr David Hawkins, a psychiatrist and pioneer in consciousness research wrote, that to address our body by sitting with our feelings/sensations (with non-judgement and curiosity) can lead to thousands of thoughts associated with the feelings and memories to dissipate. No or minimum work required on the thoughts.

Most of our thinking mind is made from defences & patterns created by ourselves, or picked up from our parents and environment when we were too young to be able to discern how true these ideas were. As children we are like computers we download the software programs we are fed by those around us. Unless our parents and those around us have done some deep inner work and released their faulty patterns, we are likely to have been programmed with faulty information too, as those before us did not know how the mind-body works together. So we are in effect operating from our child mind’s perceptions, faulty software, unless we address the root cause. Like software, we can rewrite our programs. It just takes a bit of practice to re-write.

Sitting with our inner feelings can be unpleasant and may require professional assistance to ensure it doesn’t get too overwhelming (the mind loves to stay in control and can trick us with fear patterns) but mostly we can do this for ourselves or with anyone who can sit with us without judgement and hold us in our pain with their support.

Einstein also was quoted saying, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’

So back to the techniques. The techniques are helpful tools for healing but they are not the answer. They can be catalysts for healing. Now how do we know if we are attached to the outcome of the healing technique or if we re using it as a catalyst?

It depends on our intention for using the technique/tool. It also depends on if we are using the tool/technique based on our body’s wisdom/intuition, or if we are reacting from fear; or wanting to be rid to the symptom or pain. Does one way seem easier to you? Does one way seem more tense and resistant? I hope so. If you can tell then you are ready to make a decision based on your body wisdom, your intuition.

First you need to calm you body the best you can to access the innate healing tools within the body- we all have it, it comes with us at birth, we just don’t get taught how to activate it….you can calm (regulate the nervous system) the body with some slow deeper breaths, hum, meditate, or anything that helps makes you calm and think less. This allows you to be in the present - in the moment- present.

Tune into your body and its sensations, as long as it is not overwhelming, even a tiny bit is enough. Even 10 seconds is enough to start the process. Have some loving self talk. (Self criticism and judgement is a fast track back to the stress response. If someone judges or criticises you, how do you respond? Your body responds the same when you criticise yourself.How do you respond when someone talks to you with love and compassion?) Ask your body in a caring, compassionate way, ‘hey body what do you need right now to be able to be more vibrant, alive, so you can do whatever it is you would do without the symptom.”

It is important to ask the body what it needs to be able to do what you wish to do…your wish may be to to run a marathon, to dance, to sit for 30minutes, to feel free and expansive etc. The point is NOT to want to get rid of the symptom or pain…that just keeps us stuck..of course we wish it to go, but fighting it just ensures it stays. Befriending it and seeing it as an (unpleasant and unwanted) friend stops resistance. What we resist persists.

Remember the symptom would not be there if your body was in balance. In this state try to imagine with your whole body, feel what it feel like to be doing what you would be doing if you no longer were held back by the symptoms. Enjoy these feelings. Then relax and wait, maybe an insight will occur immediately, or maybe later…just wait and be open to receive the message. Maybe a bus will pass by with a sign that gives you a message of your next step. (this happened to me recently…a few times…I cannot see a bus the same way now:) They are all potential message bearers.:)) Maybe someone will tell you about a practitioner that resonates with you…see what appears. Be open. Let your intuition and body wisdom guide you…..be patient and try to be aware of your pesky mind trying to wrestle back control and force a solution. If it does, relax, we all need time to cultivate a new skills and habit. Next time see if you can go longer before the mind takes back control.I still struggle with this at times.

Thomas Edison quote, ‘I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.’

The more you practice you may find that you are lead to a certain tool or technique. It is not the tool or technique. They are just catalysts for your healing….catalysts are important but they are not the healer…you are. The practitioner is not a healer but a catalyst for your healing, to the depth of their ability to be present with you. By listening to your body’s wisdom, you are choosing a healing modality from your innate healing system and not from fear and the need to fix. Trying to fix feels heavy and dense. A sign that you are in the mind. Feeling lighter, more open and expansive are signs you are on the path that allows the potential for healing/transformation.

So, it is not the symptoms or pain that is wrong, we merely have to alter our perception of them. For our perception alters our ability to open or shut down our inner body wisdom/intuition.If we access a technique with the perception, this is what the body needs to feel more vital/alive/free…whatever you wish….it is more likely to activate our inner healing system.

Try it out…like any skill it takes practice.