
The Mind / Body Connection
"We shall never find the clue to the riddle of life until we realize that man is a spiritual being and that mind and body are the garments of his manifestation." Dion Fortune
Many times we think of ourselves solely as the physical bodies we see everyday. We benefit greatly being in touch with the organs in our body, the blood rushing through our veins, awareness of our muscle tone, etc. That awareness reminds us that we need to care for the physical vehicles we inhabit. Usually that means we begin to pay more attention to diet & exercise. Even greater benefit can be found, in the awareness of the energetic pathways in and around our bodies. Unlocking that mystery allows us to understand how every thought, action, & emotion affects not only our mental state, but also our physical bodies.
The following is my interpretation of the energy systems of the body from what I have observed as a Medical Intuitive and Usui & Karuna Reiki Master. It may agree with or may contradict what you may have heard from other teachers. The best I can offer you in all of these essays are my opinions based on my experience. None of these things can be learned in a book, but experienced. I hope that you can take my words as a framework to help you in your own awareness based on experience.
Take your arm and wave it in the air. You, of course, can see your arm, but imagine that your arm is much thicker… maybe a foot thicker in every direction. Now wave your arm again with this same visual image. Now imagine your whole body a foot thicker in every direction. Every move you make, this entire system follows along with you. Not just when you are meditating & thinking about it, but at the grocery store, at the office, at ball games, etc. All of this is you whether you see it or not. You are like a big Michelin Man.
In actuality, the energy system in and around your body is not a foot thick. There are numerous models available giving different names & size dimensions to the levels of energy around your body. From what I see, there are varying densities of energy around the body that grow and constrict through out the day depending on your environment, mental state, emotions, energy level, etc. Also, I absolutely disagree with models that depict definitive levels corresponding to different topics such as mental, emotional & spiritual. What I see is varying densities of energy belonging to a person with the densest being close to the body and radiating out becoming less dense. I will, however, use the word "level" in my explanation as it makes for a simple visual.
The densest level, of course, is the human body. The next level is the etheric double. If you saw the movie "Ghost", recall what Patrick Swayze looked like… identical to him while alive, but gray & see through. Your etheric double is the go between of your body & corresponding energy fields. It is an exact replica of you. Energy is conducted through the outside energy field into the human body through the etheric double. The energy manifests in the human body in the form of disease, for example, by passing through ectoplasm.
Ectoplasm is active living matter that exists between the realms. Everyone has ectoplasm around him or her, and it is often visible in times of paranormal phenomenon. It is also used by mediums in seances to build a bridge between the worlds for the spirits to communicate. Because it is matter existing between the worlds, it seems to disappear quickly when in light or touched.
Radiating outward and less dense, we have the mental / emotional energy field. As a Medical Intuitive, this is where I search for issues someone needs to deal with to avoid physical disease or pain, or to help heal a chronically ill patient. Then at the farthest end of the aura is the spiritual energy field. I must point out that I do not see these fields as independent of each other. I see the spiritual energy radiating inwards through the mental / emotional, the etheric double & the physical. But I do not see them radiating outward. Likewise, I see the mental / emotional energy field radiating inwards through the etheric body & physical body, but it does not go out into the spiritual energy field.
So now that we are aware of these varying densities of the energy field, what do we do with the knowledge? Just like the awareness of the internal organs make us watch our diet & exercise, awareness of the energy fields makes us pay attention to how our thought patterns & emotions affect our body. The easiest way to explain this is through examples:
From what I have seen, cancer is a disease of the etheric double that may eventually manifest in the physical body. In case after case I have seen what looks like numerous little beige clusters of energetic golf balls lodged in the mental / emotional energy field radiating down into the etheric body. The clusters become smaller & denser as they approach the physical body. If the "golf balls" are not dealt with in time, they will manifest in the physical body as cancer. What are the "golf balls"? They are thought forms which begin to take shape when we have mental / emotional issues which we cease to deal with or attempt to ignore. Even though we try to ignore an issue, many times it continues to nag our thoughts. All the while, we are still feeding the issue energy. As it is fed energy, it becomes more & more dense. As it becomes denser, it starts moving inward towards the body. It also begins to more or less take on a life of its own. By the time it hits the physical body, we have living, multiplying cells, or cancer.
I have seen cancer develop for a host of reasons. Many times the reasons can be figured out by looking where the cancer develops. For example, cancer in the reproductive region may have to do with issues about creation... the artist who did not make time to do art, the woman who desperately wanted to become a mother, someone ashamed of their sexuality.
Cancer is just one example of the many diseases that begin in the energy field. Basically, any unresolved issue may result in the creation of thought forms that grow denser in the energy field & may manifest in the physical body. So it is just as important to pay attention to diet & exercise as it is to watch our mental / emotional health.
I must point out a trap that any student of this philosophy may fall into… New Age Guilt. I believe author Carolyn Myss coined that phrase. Many times people will feel guilty for having a disease or not recovering. They feel they are sick out of mental weakness. Many have been grossly mislead to believe that we can simply think our way healthy. Yes that is true to some degree, but it is not as easy as it sounds. If disease has manifested in the physical, it has taken a very long time to get there. If it took years to get sick, it is ridiculous to assume with a snap of the fingers & a happy thought, we can get better. These unresolved issues which manifested as disease have many layers and take time to resolve. By dealing with the trigger issue, developing a healthy frame of mind, and taking care of our bodies, we can see an increase in vitality and a reduction of ailments. Many people will have a full recovery if the core issues are addressed. If they are not addressed, we may see one ailment treated & cured by medical doctors, only to have a new ailment develop.
The mind / body connection is a vast topic which deserves an in-depth scientific explanation which goes beyond the scope of what I can cover in these short essays. I wish to give you an introduction for use in understanding the remaining essays. If you wish to explore the topic further, I recommend books or tapes by Carolyn Myss, Ph.D., Deepak Chopra, and Norman Cousins, Ph.D.
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