Mind/Body Connection

My predecessor, Karianne, wrote some interesting posts on the mind/body connection as it relates to fertility. That got me thinking about the mind/body connection and how big a role that the mind plays in being able to conceive.

Generally speaking, I see a big connection between the mind and the body. For example, when I was repressing my emotions from a traumatic childhood, I had a very poor immune system. Now that I have dealt with my past, my immune system has become much stronger. Sports fans have known for decades that a team can be less talented but "want the win" more, propelling the underdog to win the championship. People used to believe that it was not physically possible to run a… [more]

Yesterday I read the June 2007 issue of Body And Soul Magazine. On the last page, they had a list written by Terri Trespicio about "Ten Thoughts on Whole Living". (By looking up this link, I just found out that this magazine, that I love is published by Martha Stewart's company. You learn something new everyday! ) A lot of the list were things that I have heard of before, such as, the first item, "Your home is more than the sum of it's walls. Make is a sacred space". And the last item, "Find your direction in life by looking where you want to go, not where you don't." I actually heard this concept for the first time in driver's education if… [more]

A New Fertility Factor by Alice D. Domar Ph.D. Although the above article isn't new as the title would suggest, I read a statistic that I hadn't seen before that made so much sense. The article was written in 2004. What do we really know about fertility and the mind? For starters, we know that infertility is stressful. Women who have difficulty conceiving suffer as much anxiety and depression as women with heart disease or cancer. A recent study found that 40 percent of them were anxious or depressed. This shouldn't be surprising. Procreation is one of the strongest instincts in the animal kingdom. Males will die fighting for a chance to mate, and females will die to protect their young. Moreover, most people assume they are fertile. When you've spent… [more]

It is crucial to know when it is appropriate to withdraw our attention from things that disturb our mind. However, if the only way we know how to deal with certain objects is to avoid them, there will be a severe limit as to how far our spiritual practice can take us. -Lama Thubten Yeshe, "Introduction to Tantra" I read this above quote and my mind started to give attention to all of the things that I probably shouldn't give attention to. Just like when someone tells you to "Don't look" and then you immediately turn to see what they are talking about. I have admitted before that I am a worrier by birth, genetics and circumstance. It has taken me so much time, energy and effort to accomplish a stable… [more]

My beautiful cousin in law, Jenn sent this to me this weekend. It was so touching and so beautifully told, I thought that you guys might like to check out the story and the site Storypeople. After reading the story, there are places for people to comment so be sure to read those as well. You can spend quite a bit of time browsing the site and getting lost in other people's stories. If you like what you see, they also offer a story of the day that can be emailed to you daily. In describing their site they say, Who We Are We're a diverse group of people, artists, activists, healers, tinkerers. We… [more]