Daily Aikido

One of my favourite bloggers recently posted an article titled Are You Ready for the Unexpected. A great post for us bloggers but it did get me thinking.

Chris mentions that his family is suffering from some sort of illness and he even states that there is a good chance he will get that same illness. Wrong kind of thinking Chris! The mind controls the body just as the body controls the mind. How can we use this knowledge to bolster our defences?

The Mind Controls the Body

The mind and body are so intrinsically linked that one cannot exist without the other. Nowhere is this more evident than in body movement itself, but how many know that they have a separate nervous system which regulates things like body temperature, heart rate etc. This autonomous nervous system is mostly outside of your control, which is a good thing, just imagine having to think about breathing!

Just how far out of our control is it though? Whilst we don’t need to think about breathing we can hold our breath and we can control certain things like heart rate through our breathing. Indeed breath control is a means of combating anxiety or asthma attacks and is itself a core principle of Aikido.

It stands to reason then that the mind also controls the immune system and we can also affect that with concious thought.

Think Your Way to a Healthier Life

make the decision that you won’t be infected

Instead of thinking that he’s going to catch the same illness as his family, Chris should be telling himself that he will not catch it.

Instead of worrying about that cold going around your office and how it might affect you, make the decision that you won’t be infected.

Yeah but…

Stop. Don’t finish that sentence, banish it from your thoughts. Just as Neo had to accept that there is no spoon or Luke had to accept that there is no why, you have to accept that this does work. You are in more control of your life than you realise.