A Toxic Body

Your body may be toxic if you frequently experience aches and pains in different parts of your body.

Your body may be toxic if you don’t have natural sleep, which is the capability to fall asleep within half an hour or so without the aid of any sleep medication.

Your body may be toxic if you don’t have regular bowel movements. “Regular” means you have at least 2 to 3 bowels a day; having once a day or every other day is “irregular.”

Your body may be toxic if you have chronic fatigue, that is, feeling tired and listless day in and day out even without any strenuous physical exertion.

Your body may be toxic if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels.

Your body may be toxic if you are excessively overweight or underweight.

Your body may be toxic if you have difficulty with breathing, or you are short of breath after some physical activity.

Your body is toxic if you are a regular smoker or an alcohol drinker.

Your body is toxic if you have been on several prescription drugs for some time.

Your body is toxic if you have a chronic disease, such as cancer, diabetes, or an autoimmune diseas

Your body lives in the physical world, and thus it plays a pivotal role in your overall being, including your mind and your soul. Science has already attested to the close connection between the body and the mind: the body affects the mind as much as the mind affects the body.

Human emotions, in particular, affect the physical body. In Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall, Diane Keaton would like to know why he wasn’t angry. "I don't get angry," he humorously replied, "I grow a tumor instead." Indeed, toxic emotions can lead to a toxic body.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), human emotions are the major underlying causes of disease because Chinese physicians believe that certain body organs are related to emotional activities; for example, the heart is related to joy, the liver to anger, the spleen to obsessive thoughts, the lungs to anxiety, and the kidneys to fear. Therefore, excessive emotions disrupt the free flow of qi, the life-giving energy that flows through the body, and thus causing imbalance and disharmony that may lead to disease and disorder.

In addition, human behaviors—often a byproduct of human emotions—affect the mind, just as emotions of the mind affect the body. According to a study at Ohio State University in 2003, physical behavior, such as enhanced body language of nodding in agreement or shaking head in disagreement, may significantly affect how we think without our knowing it. According to that study, even posture, such as sitting up straight, may be conducive to remembering positive memories or thinking positively, because posture changes the production of human hormones.

The interconnection between the body and the mind is further evidenced by the indisputable notion that a healthy heart produces a healthy brain by pumping sufficient oxygen and nutrients to nourish the brain through its bloodstream.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau