How does a healthy body function?

There is very little focus on how a healthy body functions.  We tend to only focus on how our body is functioning when it is in a state of “dysfunction” or what we label disease.   This means we are very familiar with how an unhealthy body functions, but not so much with a healthy one.

Most people think that if they are not experiencing a symptom that means that their body is healthy.  When asked “are you healthy” I’ve heard many people state “yes I’m healthy” and they were also taking medications to suppress symptoms and had a list of diagnoses.

So does lack of a symptom (whether absent or suppressed by some means) really indicate healthy body functioning?  I ask you to ponder this for a moment.  How you know if your body is really functioning in a healthy way if your only indication is lack of a symptom? What that then means is LACK=HEALTH.  I don’t know about you, but that just doesn’t compute for me.

Some people may say things like well I I know my body is healthy  because “I exercise and eat right” or “I make sure I do all of my preventive tests each year and they’re always negative”.  How many people do you know who eat right, exercise and do their preventive tests and end up with cancer, heart disease or have a stroke?  I’ve personally known several.  So what is really going on here?

From lack based health to presence based health 

Knowing your body is healthy

When was the last time (if ever) you had the thought, “my body just did xyz, wow it is so healthy!”? You do not need a white coat or a medical degree to know how a healthy body functions, but you do need to know how to shift your focus (which most 3 year olds can do).

Let’s start with some basic functions your body does to let you know its working well.  Sweating, chewing and digesting food, urinating, shedding skin cells, hunger, growing hair and nails, moving, breathing, and sleeping.  Now lets get a little more advanced. We all know about the mind-body connection.  Mind-body connection means what happens in our mind effects our body (and how it functions).  So other indications that your body is working well include feeling and processing emotions (as unfelt feelings get stored in the body as tension) and having empowering and uplifting thoughts.  If you aren’t feeling your emotions and you have crappy thoughts about yourself or life you can guarantee your body is not functioning well.

The key here is focus, and where you place it.  Are you acknowledging daily how well your stomach is working, or your bladder or your skin cells?  If not you will continue to measure your state of health by what is lacking instead of what is present.

Having a healthy functioning body is easier than most of us think, we’ve just complicated it out the wazoo!  First focus on what works well, and do it frequently.  Second gently support or change what’s not working well.  That is it.  If you start doing this immediately and stay with this practice, you will begin to know (not just hope and guess) that your body is healthy and functioning well.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC