Connecting the Dots

Greetings everyone,
This Memorial Day weekend thus far for me has been about connection. Connecting with friends and family in lengthy conversations, spending time in my own beautiful backyard connecting to my own environment and re-connecting to my own need to not be scheduled for 3-consecutive days. Through this current experience I have also been connecting the dots, not so much for myself but in assisting a friend of mine view her health from a broader perspective.

My thought for this week is based around a conversation with her as she has been experiencing many seemingly different and unrelated health challenges. She has seen many different doctors to deal with a perceived endless list of issues and as a result, she has been frustrated that “one more thing has been added onto the list of what’s ailing me. How is it through all this medical testing and research that they keep finding different things and how can they possibly be related?” She expressed her frustration at feeling as though she was treating one issue and then another one seemed to be appear. How would she ever get better and get on top of her treatment without losing her mind through fatigue and exhaustion?”

Having been friends with her for coming up to 30 years, I easily put on my yoga therapist hat and suggested that they weren’t separate challenges, but that perhaps they all stemmed from a single source that has, over the years, created a cascade of health issues. I suggested that she focus on healing the thoughts around her heart center. If you think about it, our heart is the center of our being…both physically and emotionally. If we’ve had issue or trauma, then we need to “be” with ourselves in a nurturing, grounded and loving way. If we address the emotional issues around our heart center in a healing, supportive and positive way, then that too, can have a cascading effect on the rest of the body and it’s intertwined systems.

Yoga is about unity. Recognizing that our Being is about the interlaced threads of our bodies, minds and spirits. With the advancement of medical technology and research, it’s easy to forget that we are whole beings…rather than a bunch of unrelated symptoms.

As you go through this week, spend a moment tuning into the energy around your own heart. What does it feel like? If it could speak, what would it say to you? Are you listening?