A Converging Landscape

From Irritable Bowel Syndrome to Spiritual Insight - a Converging Landscape

I think Maslow had a point. It is hard to focus on self-realization when you can’t sleep well because of bloating and discomfort. And yet, pain and struggle often lead us to the spiritual path as we seek to understand the nature of our own suffering and look for relief from it. From my experience, however, in many cases, the path to baseline health itself meanders through the field of spiritual growth.

There are tens of millions of people just in the USA with some form of chronic illness, whether that is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Fibromyalgia, chronic migraines, or a host of other functional and chronic ailments. In most cases, they have been suffering for many years and have hit a dead end with traditional healthcare. Many are discouraged, but then reclaim their destiny from the hands of the doctors. They start to take matters into their own hands, doing their own research and seeking wisdom from others who have had similar struggles and from non-traditional healers and practitioners.

One specific aspect of this phenomena that is fascinating is that some of what ends up helping many people with chronic illness ends up being the same type of channel or tool we also use to pursue deeper spiritual connection. They end up focusing on self-care and compassion and the fundamentals of sleep, exercise, and nutrition. But it goes further. They start to understand inflammation in the body and mind. They may even become aware of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system and tune in to how to stay in the latter as long as possible. So soon enough, they may end up in yoga class or developing a mindfulness based practice. Many end up examining the psycho-somatic relationship, perhaps digging in with a somatic based mental health therapist or incorporating breath work or other methods to address hidden trauma in the body.

Before long, the connection between body, mind, and spirit becomes part of the lived experience, the only frame of reference that led them to feel better. The journey leads them to increased self-awareness and pursuit of the spiritual inner dimension - the “patient” becomes the “Yogi.”

Being embodied - having an experiential sense of being in our own bodies, having the energy and awareness reside primarily in the body and in the heart- as it turns out, is both a portal for awareness and also a portal for health.

I just came back from the Integrated Healthcare Symposium conference in NYC where I am starting to notice the mix of topics and vendors shift to include some of the same ones that we may explore at my yoga ashram - from Ayurvedic wisdom to reduction of inflammation and irritation.

Here at Manifestations, we partner with companies that are somewhere on this body/mind/spirit inner healing continuum. Some are more in integrative medicine, some in holistic “mind” health, and some in spiritual services - and we are discovering that some are in all of these areas simultaneously. Feel free to reach out with any questions or curiosities.

May we all be present peacefully in our bodies, in full health, calm and alert in our nervous system, and joyful in our hearts.

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