Symptoms as Clues to Your Heart Issues
ByEver since I first heard about The Healing Codes, I’ve been fascinated by the correlation between “heart issues” and physical symptoms.
Understanding that bodily symptoms can be clues to the underlying emotional issues that are the real cause of the physical problems has helped me pinpoint and heal the true source in a much more efficient way.
Recently, I woke with unexplained, sudden heel pain. Knowing what I know about how symptoms can actually be metaphoric clues to the heart issues, I prayed for wisdom about this symptom. The phrase “dragging your heels” came to mind.
Was there any area of my life in which I was “dragging my heels”?
Yes, in fact there was!
I started addressing that with Healing Codes and my other tools I’ve developed. I also started wearing some insoles, at the suggestion of a friend.
Within three days, the pain was just about gone.
It came back once, and I continued to work on the “dragging my heels” issue. Again, within three days the pain was gone, without doing much else except keep wearing the insoles.
Another example. For several years, I have had headaches that came and went, sharp pains in various places in my head. I did see a doctor and have an MRI of my brain, just to rule out anything serious.
I again prayed for wisdom as to what this symptom might mean. What I got was that I was “too much in my head.”
In fact, that was true. As I’ve been seeking healing for my complex trauma from childhood, I’ve learned that the “bottom up” approach works much better for trauma than the typical “top down” approaches like talk therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. With complex trauma, what works best is somatic therapy, where you learn to signal safety to the body, because that’s where the trauma is stored. Dr. Gabor Maté says trauma is not what happened, it’s what the body stored in your nervous system from what happened.
So the nervous system is the real target for healing. The “language” of the nervous system is sensation. Learning to feel safe in the body happens when you can signal safety through bodily sensations.
I had learned to escape the trauma by cutting off my awareness of my body and living in my head.
Since I’ve been doing somatic exercises, mostly through the Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) from Dr. Elizabeth Stanley, the headaches have largely been healed! (For a wonderful explanation of how the nervous system and MMFT work, go here for an interview Elizabeth Stanley did with Tami Simon from Sounds True.)
I believe The Healing Codes somehow calm the nervous system, possibly by activating the vagus nerve, which is one of the most important nerves in your body. It helps your brain and body stay in touch—especially your gut, heart, and lungs. It plays a big role in calming the nervous system, supporting digestion, and helping you feel safe and balanced. When your vagus nerve is strong and working well (called ‘good vagal tone’), your body can heal better, stress less, and stay more in balance. You can support your vagus nerve through things such as deep breathing, humming, gentle movement, feeling connected with others.
I believe The Healing Codes also support the vagus nerve, in a very efficient and pleasant way.
Another thing The Healing Codes do is replace the negative feeling/belief/memory (which you target briefly in the prayer of intention), with something positive, which may well be another way you “signal safety” to the nervous system. For someone like me with a long habit of suppressing emotions, this balance has proved very effective.
So I combine all these things—Healing Codes, prayer, somatic exercises, chiropractic, and physical therapy—in a multi-pronged approach to heal what needs to be healed.
If I start with prayer and what my body is trying to tell me, the process goes much faster. I believe the body and spirit are connected on a level that bypasses the conscious mind, and tapping into this wisdom can lead to breakthroughs in healing. Once you are aware of what the body-spirit’s wisdom is telling you, you can take conscious steps to speed the healing process of anything, whether it’s a physical, emotional, relational or even vocational issue.
Because heart issues are at the root of all issues in life. Always, always ask yourself about heart issues. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
Use this interrelated feedback system to help yourself identify your true issues, and heal them at the source. Then you’ll feel better physically AND emotionally.
And if you need any help with this process, feel free to email me for current options on how to heal at this heart level.
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