Shaking the Blues Away

            I went to the acupuncturist today. He asked me what was going on. I said, “You tell me.”

            After checking my pulse on both wrists, he said, “What are you anxious about?”

            I replied, “Absolutely nothing. I couldn’t be more carefree today.” And I was being completely honest. But what my body was saying may not have been what my mind was saying. In fact, he said that my blood pressure was way up.

            You know your body is always speaking to you. In fact, there are psychological tools that can help you identify what you’re feeling by listening to the problems in your body, not your mind.

            For instance, you have a neck and shoulder ache that is giving you a migraine. You may feel as if psychologically your world is ok, but your body is communicating something completely different. What is correct, your mind or your body?

            In the case of the shoulder and neck pain, you may be experiencing that you are taking on too much responsibility and your head can’t hold all the information it needs to shoulder it. This is a case where your body might be giving you some insight to a problem that is hiding and may be revealed soon if you don’t listen and take heed.

            Holistic medicine is a look at the entire picture of the body and mind and spirit. In this discovery, you must try to find a mixture of psychology, practical medicine, exercise or stretches (like yoga) and spirituality, including visualization. So, to accomplish healing in a holistic way, you have to integrate body, mind and spirit. Yes?

            How does one do that? The title of my blog today is “Shake the blues away.” In the title we are using action to move a psychological problem through the body. I believe that dance was the cure here in the song. Do you remember a time when you were at college? The weekend was coming, classes were ending, and you had one thing on your mind— a stiff drink and dancing till way past midnight. But do you remember why you wanted that experience?

            I do. It was because you could get lost in the music and release all the tensions of school and studying. For three hours you played like a kid and literally shook the anxiety away from your body. We sweated and laughed. The room looked as if it were spinning. Nothing mattered. Our young minds were taking time to heal in a young way.

            Today, that probably wouldn’t work for me. I’m way too sensory defensive for that much sound and too many people to make me feel comfortable. I would be more apt to find a calm water feature with amazing flowers bursting into blood, and a hypnotherapy session on my mp3 player taking me to a far off heavenly place to get my peace. I guess this is the difference between 20 and 50. And I’m way okay with that.

            There is no recommended daily amount of listening to what your body and mind and spirit need to move forward and be at peace. You have to decide for yourself what you need. For me, it’s about 12 hours a day of peace. I want to be at peace, healing, laughing or making love—one of those four at all times. To do that, I have to be in constant communication with my mind, body and spirit. And that, my friends, takes practice, daily practice.

            My practice is yoga in the morning. Writing after that (reflecting). Getting together with friends and clients for either work or play and using my body and mind as a channel for spirit to communicate love and compassion and joy. I then spend time with family. Eat good food. And at the end of the day, take more time to reflect and meditate. I begin and end the day with connection to my highest self and to God. And when I find that I am out of touch with my emotions during the day, I retreat until and discover why.

            When you find true peace, my friends, there is not other place to be. Peace is home. There is not much that can shake a person who has found true peace in his or her heart. So, the key to a long life with great health is to find this special gift from God.

            Start now! If you need some help, you know whom to call.