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I want you to know this- there is a difference between “healing” and getting “cured” and it is important that you understand this difference. Knowing this difference can help you go from feeling

disempowered, helpless, and frustrated to feeling

empowered, optimistic, and confident in your body’s own healing powers.

And this is no small matter!

Healing is a natural process and within the reach of everyone no matter what stage of illness they are in.

In this respect, healing is quite different from being “cured” of a health condition. Getting “cured” of a disease is an external process that needs external treatment in the form of symptom management, surgeries, medications.

Healing begins with a willingness to address any underlying imbalances by making changes in all the three areas that make us who we are – mind, body, and spirit.

The silent global pandemic

This means that the creation of health (as opposed to treating a disease) is at the same time emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological. Unfortunately, conventional medicine addresses mostly the physical aspect of healing by treating the symptoms since it developed mostly at a time when infectious diseases were largely at play.

However, in today’s world where we are grappling with non communicable, chronic diseases which are linked to our lifestyle, our environment including our diet, stress levels and toxicity exposure, it fails to provide a long term solution for chronic diseases like autoimmune conditions.

As humans, we are multidimensional beings and it is only when we start addressing the various aspects of our health that we can truly “heal” ourselves. Even if a condition is “incurable” like many progressive chronic conditions for terminally ill patients, at the very least one can change their experience of living with that disease and see improvements in different areas of their life. This can be in the form of having more peace of mind, more clarity and meaning and better and improved relationships for the time which remains. 

Why it’s not working for you

If you have been diagnosed with any chronic condition, you most certainly would have already been put on different medications and treatments which may have helped you to some extent. Or maybe you are still going from doctor to doctor to get the exact diagnosis of your medical condition. In many cases though for complex multifactorial chronic conditions like autoimmune diseases, getting an accurate diagnosis can take years! And unfortunately, even after getting the correct diagnosis, most people are unable to get a long lasting solution for their health problems. 

I find that there are 3 main reasons why this is the case-

1. You are not shown how to connect the dots between your lifestyle, diet and your environment
2. You are not taught how to see the bigger picture and ask yourself- WHY do you have this problem in the first place? What is at the ROOT which needs to be addressed?
3. You are at WAR with your body- we are taught to use combative languages like “killing the virus” , “destroying the cancer”, “attack the pathogen”

The first point is about understanding the interconnectedness between various factors like our lifestyle, diet, genes, stress levels, toxicity, relationships, career, and chronic autoimmune activation. Once we become more aware of the mismatch between how our bodies are designed to work and the circumstances in which we ask it to exist, we usually find it easier to be more forgiving and compassionate towards our own body and support it without judgment.

The second point is about the fact that we are not really made aware of the importance of trying to find out and address the root causes of our chronic conditions. On the contrary, we are led to believe that our choices do not have any effect on our health and wellbeing. This leads us to feel disappointed, disempowered and overwhelmed with all the different directions our diagnosis (or a lack of it) leads us towards.

The third point is really the one that I find that is often completely ignored. It is the notion that our bodies have turned against us or betrayed us in some way. This leads us to believe that we are at “war” with our bodies and need to fight/kill/attack some part of our body that has gone rogue. 

Your immune system is NOT your enemy

In the case of chronic autoimmune activation, the conventional approach is to deal with only the specific body part being affected without making it clear to you the interconnectedness that is at play here. This single minded focus on disease diagnosis and subsequently symptom management makes it feel like many different areas need to be addressed simultaneously.

This can lead to many people feeling overwhelmed with the number of different things which need to be addressed but without being guided about how to hone on what is really important and then prioritise and simplify the action steps.

You see, there is a very logical and specific reason why your immune system has become dysregulated over time whether it is something like molecular mimicry, toxin exposure, or a microbe. Over time your immune system can develop a strong reaction to the tissue itself along with the threat that it is trying to counter. Unless you find and address the root causes which tend to keep the immune system activated and dysregulated, chronic autoimmune activation can carry on irrespective of the medications and the treatments. 

In working with clients with autoimmune conditions, I help them to understand that the progression of their autoimmune activation has taken place over years and give them an insight into how their bodies give them early warning signs of imbalance, dysfunction, and blockages.

More importantly, I help them to reframe the way that they think of their body’s healing process so that they can become empowered and motivated to take the necessary steps to start addressing the root causes.

Stop being at “WAR” with your body

One of the most empowering things that you can do for yourself in the face of a chronic disease diagnosis (or even if you are trying to prevent one) is to stop being at “WAR” with your body.

We are often led to believe that our immune system has gone berserk and that our body has turned against us and this is particularly true in the case of autoimmune diseases. However, by treating our immune system (and our bodies) as our enemy, we are in fact shooting the messenger!

If we want to start addressing the root causes of our health issues we need to start paying attention to the following

• What is the kind of language that we use when talking about our bodies?
• What would it feel like to stop fighting our bodies and start paying attention to it?
• How would we feel if we treated our symptoms as “messages” and adapted a more compassionate stance towards our bodies?

And the best part?

You do NOT have to wait for a diagnosis to start working towards creating health by supporting your body’s healing process.

As Stephen Levine had said-

To heal is to touch with love that which we previously touched with fear

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SCHEDULE AN APPLICATION CALL FOR “HEALING FROM WITHIN”

This is a 6 month health coaching programme for women with autoimmune conditions.

If you are waiting for an exact diagnosis or have recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and are unsure of what you can do to support your body’s healing process, then this is for you.

Find out more about the coaching programme and schedule a free 30 min APPLICATION CALL today by clicking on the link.