Useful Questions About "Healing Mind"?

What is "Healing Mind"?

Mind is generally defined as "The total of conscious and unconscious mental processes and activities". Within the definition we can consider the brain as a part of mind since many mental processes and activities begin in the brain. Some of the mind processes begin, not in our brains, but in our senses. The eyes, for example, have receptors which receive light energy within a narrow range of all the possible frequencies of the known electromagnetic spectrum. This light energy triggers the receptors to send specific information to the brain for further processing. The other four physical senses also have receptors and, similarly, send their sensory information to the brain to be processed and made "sense" of. Thus mind can also be considered to include the sense organs. Our body can also be considered as a part of our mind. Our skin is the largest organ of our body. It actually breathes and in the process sends information to our brain about what it experiences. Thus the brain is alerted when we are too hot or cold for comfort. The brain communicates with the skin and other body structures and organs directing them to normalise our body temperature and other factors such as blood pressure, heart rate, and brain activity. This two way conversation is going on all the time in order to maintain our bodies within a normalised range of functioning. This range will vary depending on our level of activity and on various brain and body processes. The point is our body is a major contributor to this information process. Thus our body can be considered as part of our mind. Since our mental processes, our brains, our senses and our bodies are all seen as part of our minds, when considered in this way, we might prefer to use a more inclusive term - "mind-body" - (or mind-body system) to better describe our mental processes and activities. There is another part which I believe must be taken into account if we are to consider this mind - body system as a healing mind. This is the subtle energy system of our bodies and includes the chakras, the nadis or meridians and the energy vessels (in the Chinese approach to the body's energy system). I will talk more about this in future articles and posts. For now, consider the idea that illness or "dis-ease" in a person is a result of a disruption in the smooth and regulated flow of the subtle energies in the mind - body.

In order to restore our bodies to wellness and "ease" we rejuvenate these energies to their optimal flow and functioning. We can interact with these energies with our thinking and our physical actions. As with the other parts of the mind - body the interaction goes both directions. Our thoughts and actions affect our energy and our energy affects our thoughts and actions. Each part of the mind - body system is constantly interacting with every other part and with our environment, both local and global, to create our unique experience of reality. So, if we wish to change our experience of reality, we have some choices. We can change our mind - body system, or we can change our environment. Of course, we can change both to move toward the changes we want. While environment is an important factor in our experience of health, the major focus of this website will be on using our mind - body to achieve our optimum health.