Mind body connection. Terms we throw around a lot but lets break it down.
We hold all our mind’s thoughts in our body. Our body’s experiences of tension and relaxation are influenced by these thoughts.
When we are tense in our minds, we hold tension in our bodies. When we are tense in our body, we can create injury in our body, muscle pain, discomfort, etc. This injury translates to pain which causes anxiety to the mind. And it circles back around to tension in our minds. A vicious cycle.
To escape this vicious cycle, we can look to recreate the connection to our bodies and minds.
Trying to think our way out of a difficult cycle of tension usually ends up in the creation of greater tension. So if we cannot use our mind to escape this vicious cycle, we can use our body to access healing.
Take 10 minutes out of your day to sit with yourself, move your body in organic playful ways that feel good. It may feel awkward to start off, especially if you are not used to moving the body. That’s okay, be with the discomfort for a while and continue. Feel the discomfort, that is part of awakening the connection to the body.

Turn this into a daily practice. Practice is being with that discomfort and continuing anyways. Some moments feel different than others, but dedication and discipline are necessary for a sustained practice. To continue doing something even when it feels uncomfortable or awkward. Trusting that over time it will feel less so. Trusting that in time it will start to feel nice, it may even become a naturally, necessary part of your day.
Practice kicking a ball and you may be terrible to start, but over time and practice, one improves. This improvement feels good and stimulates a surge of encouraging endorphins. Practice connecting to the body, practice opening the body, practice listening to the body’s subtle clues.
If you don’t know how, yoga is a good tool to at least start the journey.
Do a quick google search on beginner 5 minute yoga, there are many options available to develop ideas of how one can move the body and begin to create connection.

At some point connection to the body is established, like finally getting your computer to connect to a server, a whole new world opens up and information will start to flood the body. New parts of the body will ask to be stretched or moved, opened in different ways. The key is learning to listen to the body’s subtle messaging, like developing a technique, we have to learn to listen to what the body is communicating.
The body is often easier to make initial connection with and it can facilitate the connection to the mind.
By connection I mean attention, deep awareness, feeling and understanding in a calm manner.

Once connection is established, we can begin following the clues from the body.
Say you have a lower spine injury and your back is always in pain, that is a manifestation of tension in the body. Our thoughts, perhaps anxiety, depression, work challenges, relationship challenges, whatever it may be from the mind has, over time, created tension that has led to injury. The first step is realizing that the injury is just a manifestation of the mind, there is something unprocessed that must be processed.
Often trying to think through anxiety leads to more anxiety. Trying to think through depression leads to us feeling hopeless or sad. The mind is a big complicated world and its not always the easiest way to access healing. Whatever the injury is, there is a point of access in the mind and in the body. We can access the injury from either directly. The mind is just a less tangible and more elusive space to access the injury from. The body is tangible, we can point to the lower back and say that is where the injury is. So to use the body to access the injury and work on healing is less complicated.

Coming back to the example of an injury in the lower back, there are many ways we can begin to strengthen and exercise this part of the body. If you feel confused, find a physiotherapist or a yoga teacher that can teach you a ten minute home exercise you can do on a daily basis to begin to strengthen this part of the body. Lower back pain can often be healed by pelvic alignment exercises and core strengthening exercises. Begin to practice, this is the key to success. Practice the strengthening movements while also feeling what is happening emotionally.

Over extended time with dedicated practice, the body begins to heal and strengthen. This healing acts as a gateway to healing the mind. As the body strengthens and heals, so does the mind.
You may notice old thought patterns rising to the surface, dropping away and new thought patterns forming.
Where before you would say, “I am not strong, I cannot do this,” now you may begin saying, “Look at what I have done with my dedicated practice, I suppose I must be strong.”
You may notice that old worries, anxiety, depression, start to drop away as the body is strengthened .

When I was 18 I struggled with a lower spine injury. Doctors told me that the injury was caused by overuse in sports, but I realize today that the injury was caused by a deep seeded anxiety. That injury and lower back pain persisted for many years until I began a meditation practice, which helped quell my anxiety, and I saw a physiotherapist who gave me a ten minute daily routine to strengthen my lower back. That year as I practiced meditation and strengthened my body, I felt the anxiety held in my mind begin to soften and slip away. Confidence began to grow where once lived insecurities and worries. Strength began to grow where once I was in chronic lower back pain. I knew that the two were intrinsically linked.
To this day I experience pain in my lower back when I feel overwhelmed by anxiety. It is a message from my mind through my body that I need to calm down.
Since then I have made it my goal to study the mind-body connection and help people heal from physical chronic pain and mental agitation through a combination of exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness.

We cannot always think our way to a solution.
So when we are stuck, movement can be our medicine and our key to healing.