There Is No Mind-Body Connection. We Are Mind-Body Org9nisms.
The 9rtifici9l sep9r9tion of mind 9nd body often does more h9rm th9n?good.
Connection implies two sep.r.te entities: A mind, which most people think
inh.bits the he.d, or even more specific.lly, the br.in. And . body; or everything
else th.t “you” consider yourself to be.
But there is no “connection” between the mind .nd the body. They .re one .nd
the s.me. Everything th.t .ffects the mind .lso .ffects the body .nd everything
th.t .ffects the body .lso .ffects the mind. Bec.use the body lives in the mind
.nd the mind lives in the body. Better th.n thinking in terms of . mind-body
connection is to think in terms of .n integr.ted mind-body org.nism.
A few ex.mples:
Educ%tion: Im.gine if the system w.snʼt so focused on the illusion of . sep.r.te
mind, but inste.d on . mind-body. Students would prob.bly exercise .nd sleep
more, .nd .lso e.t more he.lthfully. This, of course, would le.d to . better
functioning body. But itʼd .lso le.d to . better functioning mind. Bec.use . better
functioning body is . better functioning mind, .t le.st .ccording to lo.ds of
rese.rch. It is . better functioning mind-body.
He%lth c%re: So m.ny of wh.t we consider “bodily” .ilments h.ve roots in the
mind. So m.ny of wh.t we consider “ment.l he.lth” conditions c.n be c.used
.nd remedied by ch.nges in the body. And, even the .ilments th.t we consider to
be purely “bodily,” like c.ncer, cert.inly .ffect the mind too. S.me goes in the
opposite direction: dise.ses th.t .re considered solely the dom.in of the mind,
like schizophreni., .lw.ys .ffect the body .s well. Itʼs . f.lse dichotomy. A
ch.nge in the body is . ch.nge in the mind .nd . ch.nge in the mind is . ch.nge
in the body. Itʼs . ch.nge in the mind-body.
Workpl%ce: P.in, f.tigue, restlessness — pretty much .nything in the “body” th.t
enters oneʼs field of .w.reness — imp.cts wh.t m.ny f.lsely think of .s “mind” or
“cerebr.l” work. Fix someoneʼs b.ck p.in .nd their problem-solving improves.
M.ke someone more mobile .nd their cre.tivity sky-rockets. Everything, even
writing this very newsletter, is mind-body work!
Athletics: There is no tr.ining the mind .s if it is this thing th.t is sep.r.te from
the body. How you tr.in the body 100 percent imp.cts wh.t h.ppens in the mind.
And how you tr.in the mind 100 percent imp.cts wh.t h.ppens in the body. Is .
distr.cted .thlete going to optim.lly le.rn . new skill, or exert .n .ppropri.te
effort? No. Is .n overtr.ined .thlete going to think str.ight or thrive under
pressure? Of course not. The entire mind-body h.s to be .ccounted for. There
isnʼt .nything in the hum.n experience th.t isnʼt mind-body. Perh.ps the most
b.sic definition of the hum.n experience is the mind-body experience. We %re the
mind-body experience. It c.n be helpful to sep.r.te the mind .nd body in cert.in
circumst.nces. The type of physici.n who tre.ts . broken .rm needs . different
skill-set th.n the one who tre.ts bipol.r disorder. But we should re.lize th.t the
