Body, Mind, Spirit - The Key is What's In-Between

If you have a health problem with your body, go to a doctor. With your mind, go see a psychologist. With your spirit, see your pastor, priest or rabbi.

What could be wrong with that?

Do you know when most heart attacks occur in American society? Mondays between 6am and 8am. Why is that? Well, of course, it's because we wake up after our happy weekend and we think "Ugh, Work." And that bothers some of us so much, we just die. Literally.

Is there a physical cause to this heart attack? Of course. Maybe the person was overweight, or maybe they had too much cholesterol in their blood. But why did they kick off on a Monday?

Most health problems have a mental aspect as well as physical. Remember Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son? Everytime his son would aggrevate him, he would fake having a heart attack. "I'm coming, Elizabeth!!" Obviously, he was just pretending, but it is true that an emotional event can bring on all kinds of physical problems.

So, what happens when you go to a doctor about your heart, or your elbow, or your sore throat? He can only inspect the physical. He doesn't feel qualified to delve into the emotional, mental or even spiritual aspects of your problems. And yet, you know those things are there, and you know they're contributing to your problem.

Your doctor might refer you to a psychologist if he suspects that your problem includes something mental, but that's usually only after he's exhausted all his "physical options." It used to be doctors would say "Don't worry, it's all in your head." Now that's not considered very good manners. But what a strange thing to say! What disease isn't at least partially in your head?

Cancer has been proven to be a problem with the immune system. If your immune system is operating at full power, it fights and beats the cancer cells before they have a chance. And it's also proven that your immune system takes a dive whenever you feel bad emotionally.

Can you imagine? Depression could be linked to cancer?

Most doctors would not admit that. They say cancer is linked to genetics and possibly to diet. That's it. Physical causes only.

But there's so much more we can do.

For our example of a better approach, let's look at Traditional Chinese Medicine. Chinese Medicine is a very interesting combination of therapies that address body, mind and spirit.

They also focus on the "in-between." These therapies recognize, not only body, mind and spirit, but the intangible "something" that sits in-between each of these. They even have a word for it. They call it "chi." This is a kind of life force that regulates all the parts of "you:" body, mind and spirit. If your chi is good, then your health is good.

Chinese therapies include acupuncture, where tiny needles are put into the skin in certain parts of the body. The focus? To improve chi. It also includes chi gong, which is a set of exercises and meditations to improve, you guessed it, chi. Chinese massage, tai chi, herbs, and many other therapies are all focused on the "in-between," the "chi."

Many ancient health systems have a similar concept to chi. With the medicine practiced in India, called ayurveda, there is a concept called "prana." It means the same thing. It's a life energy, and all Indian therapies focus on improving that life energy, bringing it up to full force so your body, mind and spirit can thrive.

In America, we tend to want medications that will mask over the symptoms of our problems, not those that go after the root cause. In fact, the top five selling pharmaceutical drugs were all symptom-fixers, including Lipitor, a cholesterol-reducing drug, and Zoloft, an anti-depressant. Does this really seem like the best way to combat illness? To throw a blanket over the problem so we can't see it?

Next time you have a health problem, no matter how small, I'd like you to think about how it might be your "chi." It might be a problem, not with your throat, or your butt or your head, but it might be something that a qualified Chinese medical doctor could help you with, and, in the process, help your overall health in every way.

Daryl Kulak is the author of Health Insurance Off the Grid, a book to help you be able to afford your holistic lifestyle.