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By Bella Dodds of Higher Mind Health

There have been great posts written on adrenal fatigue so I thought we could expand on this topic and look more closely into the body’s bio-logical purpose and response to stress… which then leads to symptoms like anxiety and adrenal fatigue.

But before we jump right into looking for the bio-logical purpose, we first need to address the nebulous mind-body-emotion connection. At this point in 2013 we are finally starting to make the slow and steady mass migration away from the 1600’s Descartes belief system that the human body and mind are separate – to the present day scientific understanding that yes in fact, the brain is actually inside the body affecting the physiology, (rocket science here!) and that emotions are neuropeptides – biochemical messengers communicating with every cell. You cannot separate the mind-body-emotion complex because they are one unit, intricately interconnected. Essentially, breakthroughs in neuroscience are debunking the 400+ year belief system that western medicine has been running under for centuries – that the body and mind are separate, and that disease is a mistake of the body completely separate from the influence of mental and emotional stress. In the past several decades accumulating research now proves the exact opposite to be true. Today we now know that 85% or more of all diseases are linked to stress, and as Matt Stone’s research shows here on 180D – stress can also be equally created by a poor diet and/or extremely taxing workout regimes – among many other triggers.

Actually, I find it quite humorous that our modern day society has taken so damn long to make this obvious connection. Seriously! Did we really need the invention of the microscope to grasp this incredibly logical connection that thoughts and emotions impact disease?! We preach to be the most intelligent creatures on the planet, but how disconnected and unintelligent did we have to be to believe that emotions, thoughts and stress weren’t related to severe health problems? When we experience everyday feelings like nervousness – where do we feel it? In our guts. If we experience mental overwhelm – we can get headaches or tension in our shoulders. If we experience joy and love – we feel this powerful energy in our hearts. If we are happy we smile. If we are sad our spine slumps over and we cry. We don’t experience thoughts and emotions as ?concepts? floating next to ourselves like some 3D projected image of Princess Leia by the ever epic R2D2. So how then could disease within the body be completely separate from emotions, thoughts and stress? Could a highly stressful event or events cause a greater lasting physical impact on the body than say a passing nervous stomach?

This?brings us to the focus of today’s post: What is the bio-logical purpose behind anxiety, adrenal fatigue and all other diseases for that matter? How does the body respond to the cascade of thoughts and emotions and extremely stressful events? Could there be meaning within disease? For centuries we viewed disease as a mistake, but what if the human body having survived a rigorous evolutionary journey spanning millions and millions of years is actually a highly intelligent organism? What if the body is doing all that it can to respond and meet the demands of the perceived environment?

Depending on the level of questions we ask ourselves, will effect the quality of answers we can awaken to and discover. For a moment can we ask ourselves – based on the evidence that the human body is a 70 trillion-celled organism carrying out immeasurable functions every second to keep us alive -?if we have?a high level of intelligence in order’to be able to?orchestrate such a complex and grand design? If the human body is intelligent, then is it possible that disease can also be intelligent and have meaning. Further, could disease be a part of a meaningful healing process in which the body is trying to recover from the stress put on it? META-Health (formally known as META-Medicine) is an international association dedicated to the research and scientific understanding of answering these very questions.

META-Health is an integrative approach to understand the stress, psychological, and the biological purpose of any illness. It looks at disease as a meaningful process with the goal of adaptation, evolution, self-healing and survival of the organism. It recognizes that disease is not a mistake of the body, rather a program that originates from a very stressful event or events. Through understanding the science behind the body’s biological survival programming, META-Health maps physical symptoms, via the brain, back to the primary cause of the disease. And the way you react and perceive a conflict determines how your body will respond and absorb the stress (ie. which area of the brain will register the stress and how the organ corresponding to that area of the brain will respond to meet the demand).

For those who have wondered (like I had for years!) what was the CAUSE behind symptoms in the body – a breakthrough in the mind-body-emotion connection was discovered through CT scans that were able to pick up measurable ring patterns in the brain. Through the study and application of this system, research discovered (using over 40,000 case studies) each brain area is linked to a different organ and tissue in the body, and these associated organs respond to and react to specific stressful environmental situations. We now have an in-depth map of the brain-organ relay, the brain germ layers, and bio-logical response of the organs that correspond to specific forms of stress. This now allows you to know which stress you need to address in order to aid in your body’s natural healing process.

In the case of anxiety, Rob van Overburggen Ph.D, shared with me a CT scan of an anxiety constellation. (Note you do not need to have a CT scan to to address your symptoms – your symptoms tell your META-Health Coach exactly where you need to look and what stress needs to be resolved.)

In this CT scan if you look in the front portion (the pre-fontal cortex) you can see a small light grayish colored ring pattern in the upper left darker area, and a slightly larger, fainter ring in the the upper right hemisphere (behind the forehead).

This dual ring pattern on both the right and left hemispheres of the brain show up in individuals who have anxiety.

How are these ring patterns linked to a bio-logical purpose of disease in the body? In the case of anxiety, these ring patterns correspond to organ functions that increase the sympathetic fight or flight response. The common conflict shocks associated with this pattern are:

Right Hemisphere Stress: Fear of Attack or Fear of a Future Attack or Problem

Emotions and Thoughts Associated: Something or someone is coming right at me and I cannot protect myself from them, nor do anything. Seeing a car coming right at me in an accident. Being verbally or physically attacked. Seeing someone else who is being verbally or physically attacked. I am afraid of them. ?They might lose it on me. ?They are going to attack me. I am not safe. ?Something bad might happen. ?The future is unsafe or unsure. (Note often times these patterns have origins in childhood when we are more vulnerable and dis-empowered)

Bio-logical Response: Amplifies the sympathetic fight, flight or freeze response to fight back and protect the organism.

Left Hemisphere Stress: Feeling Powerless

Emotions and Thoughts: Helplessness, fear of losing control, wanting to be in control, vulnerability. Feeling unfit, ineffectual, helpless, impotent or weak. ?I’m incapable. ?What can I do?? ?It is too much to handle. I can’t do anything. I am overwhelmed. (Again common origins begin in childhood)

Bio-logical Response: The body releases thyroxine increasing metabolic rate, oxygen intake and the body’s sensitivity to adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine. The body gives the organism extra energy to overcome the powerlessness conflict to survive.

Symptoms from these Meaningful Bio-logical Responses: Anxiety, nervousness, panic, difficulty sleeping, light-headedness, adrenal fatigue, scattered and disassociated behavior, etc.

You want to treat the CAUSE not the SYMPTOM. If you focus on the symptoms you are forever cutting the top of the weed without getting to the root. The emotions, thoughts, and inner panicky feelings of anxiety are linked to these two bio-logical conflicts of Fear of Attack or Powerlessness (there are others as well that can easily be involved but these two are very common). Unresolved stress from the past and present will keep the body responding biologically with an increased sympathetic response to meet the demands of the perceived environment (even if there is no threat in the current situation – the body is locked in an unresolved program from the past biologically). To get to the root cause of anxiety or any other health problem or disease, you want to investigate the underlying stress pattern that caused the symptom to exist in the first place. When you know the stress that your body is responding to, you can isolate the inner conflict causing the symptoms and assist the body to heal itself through dissolving the mental and emotional strain associated with it.

You may have heard health professionals say, ?You need to rest. You are suffering from stress. But this is a very generalized approach that does not pinpoint the exact issue you need to address to help your body to heal. META-Health moves away from masking symptoms with expensive medications that do not offer long term healing, and toward finding the reason behind disease and treating the cause.

If you are interested in learning more about META-Health specifically for anxiety or insomnia I have two free ebook downloads on my website on the right hand side of the home page: http://highermindhealth.com/ that offer a more in-depth explanation than what I can go into here. If you suffer from generalized stress and you are curious to understand more about your emotions, negative repetitive thought patterns, conflict in relationships , personal/professional, etc. I have a Free 7 Steps to Dissolve Stress ebook that you can find on my About page.

Perhaps in the 21st Century, maybe in 10-20 years, we will begin to transform our perception and understanding of disease and view it in a much more meaningful, comprehensive way. Just as Galileo changed a belief system of the earth not being the center of the universe, but actually being a planet within a larger, more beautiful whole – so too might our society shift in its belief about disease… One away from an an unfortunate stroke of bad luck, to an opportunity that presents a profound level of growth and healing on all levels of our being. Because in truth our bodies cannot lie to us. They are a perfect map reflecting unresolved stress in our lives that is holding us back. Many physiological symptoms actually have their root origin of stress taken on from unhealthy behaviors in our childhood, which means we are all acting a lot out of our childhood pain, rather than responding to life from a sense of inner power and confidence as an adult.

Your body can become one of your greatest teachers and allies if you let it. Instead of resisting your health problems and just wanting to get rid of them, you get curious about them. The approach to Integrative Health is not as easy as taking a pill, I am not going to lie or sugar coat this for you. It requires your total commitment to yourself, your life and your path from illness to wellness. It doesn’t happen in one week to work out patterns that you have been running from for 30-50+ years. It may take a month or several months to resolve a stress that has deeply affected your life, but the gift is that when you do resolve your stress, you come through your process as a much more integrated, empowered, and evolved person knowing more of who you really are, and how you want to act and interact with others in healthier, more fulfilling ways. When you get the lesson your body is teaching you and you fully resolve the stress, you allow your body to shift and find a new state of equilibrium to self-correct and self-heal from the inside out.