Scientific developments in the field of medicine shed little light on the consciousness of the body itself. Since it’s inception in the late 1700’s, modern medicine consists of mechanical points of view that perpetuate a separation between the patient and her body. For many people health depends on what the doctor does to or for the patient.
The United States spends more than $2 trillion annually on healthcare. The United States rank 37th among healthy nations with an infant mortality ranking of 30. In 2005, the death rate for African Americans was higher than Whites for heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and homicide. Simon Senzon writes in “Seeds of Meaning, Transformations of Health Care and the Future”, the most preventable and deadliest chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, mental disorders, and heart disease are costing the U.S. economy $1 trillion yearly. He proposes a shift from the focus of restorative therapeutics to prevention and health promotion.
The restoration of a connection with the body along with an increase in awareness of what is actually nurturing for your own body can create remarkable changes. What if the body were a source of pleasure that gifts to the being in unimaginable ways? What contribution could communion with the body be to increasing happiness?
Prevention can be more than seeing the doctor for a yearly check up. Many people use complementary and alternative medicine. Herbal medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic, traditional healers and energetic bodywork are all ways people can invite balance into their bodies, restore harmony or create a totally different reality with their body. What would happen if we were to go beyond being healthy but into the contribution our bodies could be to our lives? What judgments and conclusion’s do we have about our bodies based on the current medical model?
There are some things everyone can do to increase their awareness of a connection to their body. Dr. Dain Heer, writer of Embodiment: The Manual You Should Have Been Given When You Were Born encourages the reader to do one thing a day to nurture acknowledge and appreciate the body. Coming out of judgment of your body’s parts and features can allow you to receive the communication of your body in a totally different way. Don’t forget to have fun with your body and maintain it just as you would a fun car.
Acknowledge you know what’s right for your body and ask what it would take to create the body you desire. Diet fads and trends rarely work for so many people because each body is unique. What points of view do you have about your body that inhibits you from receiving its’ communication? Become aware of how many points of view you have bought from the media about your body, medicine, and health. The majority of us have been taught we have to struggle to create any lasting change in our bodies and our lives. What if a different possibility is available?
Heer, Dain (2011). Embodiment: The Manual You Should Have Been Given When You Were Born
Publisher: Lulu.com.
Senzon, Simon (2010). Seeds of Meaning, Transformations of Health Care and the Future.
Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine; 16 (12), 1239
