Your Body Speaks Your Mind

Your Body Speaks Your Mind, Deb Shapiro, Sounds True, 2006

This book asserts that there is a very close relationship between physical illness and the mind or emotional state. After all, the human body is a giant chemistry set; thoughts and feelings are translated into chemicals that are sent throughout the body, altering cells in a positive (or negative) way.

Stress is a part of daily life, but it needs to be released in some fashion. It's like squeezing a tube of toothpaste with the cap still on; the toothpaste will come out somewhere else. Unresolved stress will come out through headaches, anxiety problems or messed-up speech patterns. The fight-or-flight mechanism is meant to be temporary; the body is supposed to return to normal function. If high stress is constant, that could lead to a weakened immune system and physical illness.

The author provides a number of exercises to help the reader to listen to their bodymind; it's probably trying to say something. She also explores each part of the body, and gives the reader things to consider if that is the source of the pain. A stiff neck implies resistance, usually to other ways of thinking, like you are wearing blinders. It could also indicate an inability to reach a decision; literally not knowing which way to turn. A sprained ankle indicates a lack of flexibility for the direction you are going. Osteoporosis implies a thinning of the life force, due to a sense of feeling hopeless or helpless. A hernia indicates that an inner longing to explode is being repressed. The resulting muscle strain causes it to implode, rather than explode. Are you resisting someone else's control?

Among the causes of headaches are: a rigid personality, repressed feelings, pushing yourself to achieve, avoidance behavior, and too much time spent in the head. A sore throat implies that something you want to say is not getting said, or that some reality is making you feel sore or inflamed.

The author does not mean to imply at all that the reader should ignore the physical aspect of their pain, and treat it as purely an emotional or psychological problem. By all means, see your family doctor. But, it certainly won't hurt to take a look inside yourself, and see if something else is going on that has to do with your illness. This book looks at the human body in a very different way, and is well worth reading.