Bodymind: Love Your Immune System

Spring is a time when we can easily catch a cold. Your immune system is one of the most complex and important systems in your body as it recognizes foreign substances, such as viruses or bacteria, and prevents them from doing you any harm. But it is also highly subject to being influenced by your emotional state. For instance, when you are feeling good, happy, cheerful, you’ve got a new job or fallen in love, then you usually feel invincible and it is very hard for you to get sick. But when things are not going so well, when you may be feeling sad or depressed, then you can get a cold or a cough quite easily. Your immune system responds to whatever is happening and will be strengthened or weakened accordingly. When Irene’s husband died their three sons all acted very stoic and never shed a tear. But at the funeral, all three of them had bad colds and runny noses. When we have a bad cold our eyes water; when we cry our noses run. The son’s unexpressed tears were finding expression through their noses. Perhaps where you work there are 4-5 people working together. One person gets sick, followed by 2 or 3 others in the office getting sick, but 2 do not. What is the difference? All are exposed to the same germs or virus, but only a few succumb to it. Why do the other 2 stay healthy? Lifestyle and a good diet definitely help, but look more closely at the emotional state of those who get sick versus those who do not. Invariably, there will be a correlation. Another example is seen in couples who have had a long relationship when one of them dies. At New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, tests showed that immune functioning in the partners of people who were sick was fine prior to their partner dying, but after the death their immune functioning dropped alarmingly and could not be raised. The immune cells, although normal in number, were simply not working. We usually say that the remaining partner ‘died of grief’ but it appears the immune cells were greatly affected by that grief. As the main job of immune cells is to identify and destroy foreign substances they have to be able to distinguish between what is harmful to you and what is harmless. In bodymind language, this reflects your ability to discriminate between what is you or is not you—or between self and other than self. This is seen in your ability to determine your own thoughts and feelings as opposed to being influenced by those of someone else: when you believe another person more than you believe in yourself then you are giving away your sense of individuality and personal power. This only makes you more vulnerable and liable to be affected—or infected—by someone or something outside of yourself. The word tolerance is used to describe this distinction between self and other than self, so that the immune cells only attack the non-self. Intolerance is the inability to distinguish between these, so that the non-self actually appears as self and is not destroyed. Here the bodymind connection is clear. Just as external toxins or substances can put such a strain on the immune system that it loses its tolerance, so times of excessive stress, grief, trauma, loss or loneliness can push you beyond your coping or tolerance capacity to a place of incapacity or intolerance. If your immune system is being adversely affected by stress, grief, depression or repressed feelings, or through a loss of a sense of self, if you get a cold or cough quite often, or if you are dealing with immune issues, you can ask yourself: *Are there feelings I am repressing or denying and can I find constructive ways to release them? *Have I lost my sense of individuality or confidence in my own beliefs? What is needed to for me to feel re-empowered? * Is there a psycho/emotional battle going on inside me? And what can I do to bring a deeper level of healing? You can reinforce your immune system through your attitudes and affirmations, such as: * I am healthy and I am happy * I am strong, joyful and delighted to be alive! * My body is at ease, my breath is my friend, my mind is at peace, my heart is open and loving In joy Ed and Deb authors: Your Body Speaks Your Mind www.EdandDebShapiro.com