INTEGRATING SELF LOVE WITH THE MIND, BODY, SPIRIT CONNECTION
I first started exploring the Body, Mind & Spirit connection 6 years ago after I endured an accident whilst travelling to New York. I remember that night so vividly. It was the 31st of December, 2014. I was with one of my closest friends in a nightclub in Manhattan, and we were there to welcome the new year with style! Champagne was flowing, music was lighting up my ears and I was in one of my favourite cities in the whole world. And yet, as I recall the memory of the moments right before I slipped and fell down the stairs and injured my coccyx, I can’t help but feel sad. Because if I was being really honest, I wasn’t feeling so good. I was feeling the sting of rejection, the pain of abandonment, had very low self worth and doing my best to fill my life with things such as travel, socializing and partying to deal with the lack I felt deep down.
It all happened so quickly, one minute I was dancing and the next I fell smack down on my ass. Our tailbones sit right at the bottom of the last of our vertebrae, so any direct impact on it is excruciatingly painful.
I grew up with a very limited view of what affects our health. Like most, I was raised with the understanding that if something causes us pain in the body, then we must go to the doctor and find a physical solution. The problem was physical so why wouldn’t we just focus on finding repair within the body? It’s not that this is the wrong approach, it’s simply an incomplete approach. We’re not taught about the Body, Mind, Spirit connection in conventional medicine, so we don’t approach problems with this lens. Instead of looking at each problem from all angles, we often only address the physical side of things. The truth is that our emotional and mental states prior to any injury or accident also have a huge part to play in the physical manifestation of what we’re feeling. Especially if we’re wanting to heal the root cause of our pain and want to return to well being, physical pain is just the tip of the iceberg.
When I got injured, I had little to no support from doctors. Living in New Zealand, I simply did not have access to doctors who understood the coccyx. So, the pain kept lingering, and because I had no guidance around how to deal with this pain and was already predisposed to feeling like a victim emotionally, it turned chronic and spread down into my feet as well.
It was at this point, once I realized that the pain had turned chronic, that I experienced extreme emotional turbulence. Despair was a common state for me. I felt helpless to the pain, and the familiar state of feeling like a victim that I knew all too well was amplified through this injury. I loved reading and I was desperate to heal. My curious mind came across a book by Deepak Chopra. Then, Joe Dispenza. I started to utilize the tools in these books. I started to meditate and experienced the mind-body connection. This was the same time I took psychedelics and as a result of this, my whole world blew wide open, and I started to see how EVERYTHING was connected, especially my body, mind and spirit. I saw for the very first time that the way I perceived myself prior to this accident had led to this pain turning chronic.
As I delved into the Body, Mind and Spirit connection and started exploring this trendy topic, I realized that there was a fourth element missing from this holy trinity that no one spoke about. This fourth element was Emotions.
Below, I’ve broken down what each element entails:
THE BODY
We all have a body. It’s our physical structure; the vessel holding our brains, body parts, muscle and fat. Our body consists of roughly 50 trillion cells, which collectively organise our tissues, nerves, bones, and organs into our outward physical form. Our body usually communicates to us through symptoms and physical sensations.
THE MIND
The mind governs our mental and emotional aspects. It houses our consciousness – and is made up of our Superconscious, Subconscious and Conscious psyches. Our mind allows us to be aware of the world, and powers our ability to think.
EMOTIONS
Our feelings are ethereal, they can’t be seen, they can only be felt. Each of them carry their own unique signature. Through our emotions we’re able determine our likes and dislikes, wants and desires and go after what we want. Our emotions ask nothing of us, except to acknowledge and validate them, including the whole spectrum of emotions from ‘negative’ to ‘positive’ as this is the language our Soul chooses to express itself here on Earth.
THE SPIRIT OR SOUL
Our Spirit is invisible to us, and to others. Its eternal nature doesn’t need a physical body or need to conform to space and time. Instead, it expresses life’s creator– a Divinity, Source, God, or The Universe - through the creative expressions of each and every one of us. Our Spirit/Soul can connect us to something much bigger than ourselves and our five senses. Our spirit is whole, untouched and cannot be in a negative state. It comprises three aspects – Body, Mind & Emotions. In truth, our soul is innately healthy and cannot be in an unhealthy state. Any problem that occurs in our lives will exist in either the Body, Mind or Emotional plane, the Spirit is a silent witness, and an observer, guiding us through life, and bringing the challenges and the desires that are chosen by us, in front of us so we can experience more of who we are.
I encountered these realizations about the Body, Mind, Spirit & Emotions whilst working with multiple healers, guides and teachers. Each professional I worked with, helped me explore a different aspect. I was driven to find the root cause of this pain, and knowing that suppressed emotions create blockages in the body, I was guided to work with individuals whose training helped me return to the emotions I had been suppressing the night of the accident, and prior to the accident.
Through my healing journey, I realised that I was so disconnected from my body prior to the accident, and this injury, which I now clearly see as guidance from my Soul, was brought into my life to bring me back into my body where I held all of my childhood trauma. I knew that all 4 elements, Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit, would have a part to play in my healing. When I started to connect to the sensations in my body, I felt immense pain. The physical sensations led me directly into the emotional pain. So many heavy emotions rose to the surface, and I felt the deepest sorrow I’ve ever experienced. In time, I started to see how my ability to feel the sorrow was directly proportionate to the level of happiness I started to feel. It all started to come together for me. I realized that the chronic pain was simply an amplification of my emotional pain. At the root of it, I realized that this pain was linked to a deep lack of self love for myself. I didn’t value myself growing up, and all of this dialogue was silently and subconsciously running the show in the background. This injury brought everything out to the surface and I finally saw that this injury gave me a chance to love and value myself for the very first time.
Rock bottom is a great place to be, because there’s literally nowhere to go from there but up.
Once I started to address the root cause of this pain (lack of self love), incredible things started to happen: I increased my capacity for discomfort. I felt more fulfilled than ever more. I felt happier than ever before. And I found my calling. I knew that it took me a long time to get here, and that if I had the right guidance at the very beginning, I wouldn’t have suffered as much. This is when I made the decision to dedicate my life to helping individuals learn radical Self Love and transform their relationship to themselves, from the root up. The connection between the Body, Mind & Emotions has been so essential in helping me heal, and it drives me to assist human beings such as yourself, to identify and address the root cause of any issues so they no longer show up in your life. My experience has led me to believe that Self Love is the answer. Self Love is the antidote. Today, I have the honour of using the Holistic approach that has so greatly aided me in my own healing to guide individuals such as yourself through a process of self discovery and transformation.
Here is what I’ve learnt about the Body, Mind, Spirit & Emotions so far:
We’re three part beings and we consist of Body, Mind & Emotions. Our Spirit or Soul aspect does not belong in the triad. It encompasses and holds all three aspects together.
Feelings are an expression of our Soul. When we explore the Body-Mind-Spirit connection (or disconnection), what we’re really discovering is that our Body and Mind are either connected or disconnected from our feelings and emotions. And since feelings are the language of the soul, if we suppress our emotions, they will find another outlet: anxiety/physical pain/illness in the body.
Our body is our soul projecting itself physically, our mind is our soul projecting itself mentally, and feelings are our Soul’s way of consciously perceiving itself.
Body, Mind & Emotions = Soul or Spirit’s expression in human form.
Living a life of ease and fulfillment means our Body, Mind and Emotions are all in alignment and our inner self is congruent with our outer self. When all three aspects are internally aligned, externally, we show up authentically in our relationships, our careers and in all aspects of our lives. We’re simply moving to the beat of our own drum.
Self Love lies at the center of this holy trinity. When any one of these three aspects goes out of alignment, it’s usually due to a lack of Self Love. When we’re unaware of our magnificence and our power, we identify with our negative thoughts, fail to look after our body and feel disconnected from our emotions.
To return our body, mind and emotions to a state of balance, we must look at redefining our relationship to ourselves.
When we learn how to cultivate Self Love for ourselves, we experience healing and profound change in all areas of our lives. Our body thrives, our mental health improves and we’re more connected to our emotions.
