Healing the Mind Through Movement, Essay Example

Introduction

Exercise can be viewed as a new but old means to spiritually heal the body’s aches, pains and other stress related syndromes. Using body movements can help decrease disassociations and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) symptoms by healing the brain. The rhythm of the natural world (nature) can help patients who have experienced some sort of neglect or traumatic experience through the process of semantic movements incorporated with the belief of a higher powers presence in one’s life. “Eco-therapists point out that human beings have evolved in synchrony with nature for millions of years and that we are hard-wired to interact with our environment — with the air, water, plants, other animals.” (Walsh, 2009).  We will discuss later the implications of how nature can help the healing of depression with relation to eco-therapy.
The objectives of my work are to discover new ways to heal anxiety, depression, trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) thorough natural means of exercising intertwined with spirituality. The significance of my work is to aid people who prefer the traditional way of healing versus the medicated way. Medication is often seen as a ‘band aid to the true fix’ of what the underlying problem of an ailment is. Natural healing goes to the core of the issue and heals a person forever and proposes no damage to the brain and other bodily organs of a human being. Natural healing further promotes a health psyche and makes a person’s emotional well-being very sturdy and confident from within. The body goes back to ‘healing itself from its own natural resources’.

I possess the skill and education to conduct this research because I have previous psychology courses, previous spirituality experiences including personal experiences that I will share in this paper and I possess the ability to research the needed analytical data for the purposes of this project. This project will be essentially useful to those who choose natural healing as an alternative to medications or for those who want a ‘natural healing’ due to not being able to take medications. Some people that take medications for emotional experiences prefer spiritual healing to help make the mind strong. The methodological approach I will use to research this paper will be through various doctors and other academia professionals that gave reference to papers and explanations on the subject such as Indira Gandhi and Professor Robert Benson. Even universities such as Texas Tech University have thought so high of natural healing they have incorporated such syllabus’ into their medical school teachings.

Literature Review

“The Texas Tech University has great reviews for spiritual healing, so great they recently received a grant for $30,000 to incorporate the syllabus into the medical school’s annual teachings.” (Duncan, 2006). Spirituality is said to give the natural essence of meaning to a person’s life and with that healing comes an enormous healing power, much stronger than any man-made medication could ever deliver over a prolonged period of time. Since residents of the school are from a variety of religions they can appreciate the sanctity that this new grant has brought to Texas Tech Medical School.

“An exploration of the theory and practice of healing in the Eastern spiritual traditions reveals the centrality of the idealizing transference in the patient-seeker’s interaction with the spiritual teacher or the guru although the aim and development of the idealizing transference in the spiritual traditions are quite different from those of self psychology.” (Kakar, 2003). The psychology behind this article goes way beyond the typical Eastern traditional thinking of meditative practices and peers into “communication to the patient through channels other than a verbal one, a spiritual one.” (Kakar, 2003). Psychologists state that we are facing depression because of a break from nature.  Learning again that we are part of nature is the key to healing depression.

It has been found that “depressed people sometimes need to hug a tree or they sometimes may just need to sometimes transform themselves into a form of nature that of a tree.” (Walsh, 2009). “Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and many people barely ever get a glimpse of green. At the same time, human beings appear to be doing their best to destroy what remains of the earth by contributing to climate change — a problem that in itself causes some people deep anxiety. But what the average person feels as stress or depression, eco-therapists suggest, is a longing for our natural home. ‘People were embedded in nature once,” says Buzzell-Saltzman. “We’ve lost that, and we’re paying the price.’” (Walsh, 2009).

Is eco-therapy the alternative means to connect with nature and the best means to find happiness and healing? This healing process through nature is not a new one for even “Florence Nightingale even pressured those to go into the forest to convalesce.” (Haq, 2010).

Methodology

Through the process and analytical methods of exploring relationships with wild nature people can heal themselves from physical and emotional illnesses. As stated by Cohen (1997) and Adams (2002) people can often feel rejuvenated and inspired simply by walking through a forest or looking out the window at trees from a hospital bed. These methodologies are being incorporated into outreach programs across America to help the neglected and the mentally ill to determine its impact on a person’s biology. (Greenway, 1995 & Montes, 1999).

Research and Results Discussed

“Some patients find they spend less than 15 to 30 minutes a day outside, other than walking to and from their cars,” she says. Eco-therapists counsel patients to slow down and reconnect with nature by hiking, gardening or simply taking walks outdoors. Therapy sessions may also take place outdoors — in a park, for example — rather than inside yet another office. “We can use the natural world to be part of the healing process,” says Chalquist. “We have to acknowledge that we’re part of this, not the master of it.” (Walsh, 2009).

Studies have shown a ‘restorative environment’ enhances the natural healing power of the body. A study was conducted at a local prison and those who were imprisoned in a prison overlooking a farm dairy land had 24% fewer ailments than those who were incarcerated in the city limits. “Another study showed “those people who took part in the Mind Green Activities Program had 90% less reaction to depression and stress related traumas. According to the same study this represented a positive change of 33% of people who added walking to their daily regiment and 22% who experienced no change at all.” (Haq, 2010).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Living in a Westernized and industrialized culture has pushed us to believing we are separate from our body and mind but this cannot be further from the truth. We should learn the true impact of what causes our physical and mental/emotional ailments by going to the root of the issue. In order to get to the root of the issue to heal it forever we must first establish a ‘connectedness with nature’. Eco-therapy provides a natural way of healing as well as helping us to conjugate a true meaning of finding our true selves again in the process. It is through finding our ecological roots that we re-discover ourselves and enable our body to heal itself, naturally.

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