Dallas County Living Well Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 29
Mind, Body,
and Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP)
T
here has always been a difference between eastern vs. western medicine. Eastern thinks mind and
body are connected while western believes there is
a separation. Even with lots of medical and scientific research about the topic, no one can really understand its entirety. One thing is for sure, mind and body
communicate between each other in extraordinary ways!
Hippocrates once said, “Men ought to know that from the
brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy,
laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pain, griefs, and
tears. The brain is part of the neurological system and deals
with all our emotions.
NeuroPower
Many think the brain is the most powerful organ in the human body. Neurologists and psychiatrists have to deal with
patients that had entered into deep levels of unconsciousness. Even though the brain is an organ, it internalizes all
our mental functions. Pandya (2011) help us understand
the correlation of brain, mind, and soul explaining that
mental functions are part of our minds and the structure
that produces them is the brain. Neurons are deployed and
connected in infinite variations that result in complex neural networks with chemical and electrical reactions that are
contained in the mind. If we understand this concept, we
can understand when Pandya (2011) states, “Even though
the mind cannot be localized in a specific area in the brain,
abnormalities attributed to the mind are consequences of
chemical processes within different parts of the brain.” The
University of Maryland Medical Center have done research
among psychiatrists and other physicians that had studied
the impact of emotions on different body systems concluding that you can train the mind to focus on what you want
to achieve, even controlling your health. Are there methodologies that can help us understand and apply the correlation between thoughts, emotions, behavior, and language?
There are many answers but one that encompasses all variables is NLP (Neuro- Linguistic Programming).
By Julie Alvira, MD, MBA