**\#️⃣ Tags:** #Wisdom #Holism > **🌱 Planted:** Wed 2 April 2025 --- [[Collective Trauma]] which raises us to be chronically disconnected and dissociated from our bodies and the wellspring of wisdom it has to offer. This split between mind and body is almost encouraged by the way our society operates and [[Our current way of being is hurting us|our current way of being]], yet deep down and although our Parts can disconnect us, we all still seem to have this fundamental knowing that the mind and the body are indeed inseparable. The division between the mind and the body was brought into existence by the dualistic philosophy of René Descartes—"I think, therefore I am"—which is known as Cartesian dualism or mind-body dualism. This philosophy has long since been dismantled and disproven with our advances in neuropsychiatry and psychoneuroimmunology, yet it still holds a huge influence over our lives today. > [!quote] > "Dualism—cleaving into two that which is one—colours all our beliefs on health and illness. We attempt to understand the body in isolation from the mind." — [[Gabor Maté]] [^1] Think about all the areas in our lives this affects: - Our education system is solely focused on the accumulation of knowledge and its utility in academic achievement. - Our healthcare system focuses on the treatment of individual symptoms without consideration of us as a whole being. - Our bodily needs are ignored in the workplace as we're implicitly expected to ignore any pain or discomfort in favour of getting stuff done, ticking boxes and pushing through. - We're glued and addicted to the digital and cold blue light glow of all of the technology we're surrounded with on a daily basis. We're incredibly identified with our mind and our thoughts to the point where we mistake ourselves for our thoughts. On the whole, our society values knowledge and thinking over wisdom and feeling, even though [[Knowledge means nothing unless it's embodied]]. This split between mind and body in our society, daily practices and society is the polar opposite of what's been emerging in the healing professions over the past few decades of which new modalities and next-generation methods (see: [[Aletheia Coaching]]) have been born through direct experience of working with people. In [[Hakomi Method|Hakomi]]'s approach to psychotherapy, there's a principle called "Mind-Body Holism" which is the belief that the deepest healing takes place when we consider both the mind and body simultaneously, whilst treating the human being as a whole organism. Similarly, [[Gabor Maté]] speaks extensively on the topic of "Mind-Body Unity". > [!quote] > "Even to speak about links between mind and body is to imply that two discrete entities are somehow connected to each other. Yet in life there is no such separation; there is no body that is not mind, no mind that is not body. The word mindbody has been suggested to convey the real state of things." — [[Gabor Maté]] [^1] This perspective shift doesn't need to be taken on with blind faith, and it's not exactly rocket science either. You can verify the unity of the mind and body through your own direct experience in this very moment. For example, notice how: - Your mood shifts if you're standing or sitting upright, and then you slouch and hunch over with your head down toward your chest. - Your heart races, your body sweats, or digestive issues flare when you're stressed or anxious. - Intentionally regulating your breath through [[Breathwork]] practices like [[Regulating with Cyclic Sighing|Cyclic Sighing]] can help to calm your nervous system and soothe racing thoughts. On top of this, think about how: - A thought is simultaneously meaning and also an electrochemical impulse in the brain. - A feeling comes with meaning and is also implicated in neuromuscular tension and hormonal balance. - A sensation is the translation of physical change (for example, you suddenly become hot or cold) into a neural impulse which is interpreted as meaning. These aren't coincidences or just cause and effect correlations. They're expressions of the same system operating as a unified whole rather than separate parts that are merely communicating with each other. A human being then, could be seen as a unified bodymind system made up of mind (thought and perception) and body (energy and matter). Whatever affects the mind also affects the body. Whatever affects the body also affects the mind. The body is the mind, and the mind is the body. Rather than experiencing ourselves as fixed beings made up of mechanical parts, we are a fluid ever-changing and ever-unfolding organism that experiences life as process, and we experience this through consciousness. Consciousness isn't in the mind, and it isn't in the body. Our consciousness is made up of all thought and perception (our five senses) that's possible for us as humans to experience. [[Consciousness is everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time|It's everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time]]. So then, there can't be any split between mind and body, or any separation. In reality, there is therefore no such thing as the "mind-body connection" because it's all taking place in one interconnected, self-organising field of Being—and that's the field of [[Presence|✦ Consciousness]] itself. --- **➡️ Next:** [[]] [^1]: [[When the Body Says No — Gabor Maté]]