10 Debunking The Healing Myth 

I felt helpless as if my wellbeing had been hijacked by my own body. I no longer felt safe within my body. I lost trust in my body because I didn’t understand what it was trying to tell me. I didn’t know, at that time, that symptoms are sacred messages from our wise body. In order to heal, I had to listen to my body, not silence my symptoms. In this post, I debunk some of the widely-accepted myths that hold back healing and prevent a loving, trusting relationship with your body. When we break through these myths, we rekindle trust with our bodies.  This trust feels like a relief, and like a homecoming.

These emotions of distrust and hopelessness stemmed from the fact that I did not truly understand the hidden messages my body was trying to convey to me. My symptoms were nothing less than sacred messages guiding me to concentrate on listening to my body’s needs rather than focusing on silencing the symptoms themselves. I also realized that numerous baseless and unfounded myths were influencing the way I approached the healing process. Through this blog, I would like to debunk commonly accepted myths that hold us back from healing the right way, and prevent us from developing a loving and trusting relationship with our body. When we break through these myths, we rekindle trust with our bodies.

Myth- 1: The Human Body Is A Machine That Makes Mistakes

The Western medicine has become so amazing in so many areas but it still perceives the body as a machine with wheels and cogs of interlocking cells, running ceaselessly fueled by multiple chemical reactions. Walkthrough the corridors of a hospital and you will notice how this approach works. Medicines, surgeries are designed to fix one broken cog of the machinery and not to get rid of the root cause. It’s important to understand that our body is not just a machine chugging along mechanically, but an intelligent ecosystem embedded with the knowledge to heal itself efficiently. How do you think a simple mass of cell conceived in utero would develop to become the most beautiful and complex organism? It’s because our body possesses the blueprint for growth, development and repair processes. Observe how efficiently a cut in the skin heals or broken bones fuse together even without external intervention. Likewise, the immune system understands the nuances of fighting pathogens like bacteria, and the digestive system knows how to break down food into nutrients. All these phenomena can be attributed to the inherent knowledge of construction and reconstruction that is present within the body. Just as our body’s development is informed by itself, so is the healing process. This internal programing is an inner compass that always points toward balance. Modern day demanding needs, nutrient-stripped food, stress, chemicals and toxins in the environment, all contribute in disrupting our relationship with this inner compass. Thus, leading to imbalance and disorders in the body.

Illnesses occur only when the body loses touch with its innate intelligence. The practitioner is just a guide, clarifying to the body’s inner intelligence. It’s in our hands to maintain this balance and listen to the call of our body.

Myth- 2: Depressed, Anxious, Or Addicted, It’s Your Fault

We can only be as healthy as the Earth is healthy. This may sound weird to you but the fact of the matter is that we are made of the Earth! In recent times, the world has changed drastically. We are living in a world polluted indiscriminately with effluents and noxious debris. The fluorides in water, pesticides in the soil, preservatives in shampoo, and heavy metals in the food, all accumulate into the bones, muscles, skin, and cells as toxic agents which eventually influence the development of several disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and autoimmune diseases to name a few.

The dependency on processed food from a young age has given rise to disturbed eating patterns, food addictions, behavioral disorders and chronic illnesses that last all through adulthood to the old age. When these changes in lifestyle are combined with toxic elements such as antibiotics and medicines, it’s a recipe for disaster. The poisonous effects get exponentially magnified wreaking havoc on our health.

As we are born out of sick earth, we are not at fault for having a chronic illness. Surely, the fault must belong to someone or something else. The governments? Corporations? “Who’s at fault?” is an enormous question, but a question often asked to remove the responsibility of change from our own shoulders.  It matters less who is at fault. What matters more is healing your body, so that you can play your part in healing the Earth. It’s always your responsibility, and no one else’s, to heal yourself.

Myth No 3: Healing Means Getting Better

The journey to heal is an archetypal path which affirms that “what matters most” is within you. It’s a path to self-discovery, definitely not smooth, straight highway to perfect health. Healing is not about going from an unhealthy state to a healthy one. It’s not just becoming “better” . There is much more than that. It is a sacred initiation into your strengths. You are on a mission to discover who you truly are, understand the subtle messages your body gives you and heal yourself from within. Physical healing is just a side-effect of the journey, not your primary goal, or the measurement of progress. Sometimes you have to feel worse before you can feel better.

Myth No 4: Disease Is My Enemy And Want To Get Rid Of It

Down with fever? or stomach cramps? Or a runny nose? Feeling annoyed as it is disturbing your busy routine? Fret not. You would be surprised to know that the whole point of illness is to disrupt your life! This is the body signaling to you that “you are doing something wrong“. Maybe you’re using unsafe products or eating adulterated food or living in an abusive relationship or struggling in a toxic workplace. It could be either of these or anything else that would put your mind and body in unwarranted amounts of stress and suffering. For the body to get back to its balanced state and set rights its internal compass, it needs to first stop you in your tracks. Illness is the roadblock that the body place in your path to wake you up to the reality.

The truth is that disease is just a survival mechanism in the body. The body is calling out to you to slow down, listen and learn your lessons. Getting sick is the body’s way of getting your attention, trying to make you understand that you are “a human being, not a machine”. The symptoms are the different voices in which the body converses with you. It tells you to change how you live, so that you can be happier and healthier.

Trying to get rid of just the disease symptoms without learning the lessons can never give you permanent healing. Likewise, the pace, productivity, and perfectionism demanded by the 21st century lifestyle is unsustainable. We’ve been forcing our bodies to be machines.

We often ignore the symptoms and get along with other things in life as we believe focusing on these symptoms would cause interruptions in our busy life. We might be successful in mitigating the symptoms with medications or mental denial for a short period of time but when this attitude continues for extended time, chronic illnesses manifest. Our ignorance leads to the rise of a much worse and painful condition. Chronic illnesses are the “emergency brakes” the body uses to make you reflect on changing your lifestyle, which you should have done at an early stage of the problem but you did not do so. As the body knows what’s best for you, it forces you to change right from today.

The formula is simple. Take care of your body, the body will in turn take care of you. Hence, spend  the time with  your body and take care of  the most wise and faithful companion you will ever know. Loving and trusting your body is like coming home!!

Happy Healing….

Dr.Disha