How Healing Your Mind and Spirit Can Prevent Chronic Disease

Almost half of all Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease.¹ What’s worse is that number keeps growing. More than two-thirds of all deaths caused by one or more chronic diseases are bound to touch our lives in one way or another.¹

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Healing your mind and spirit should be your first focus when trying to prevent chronic disease. 

When heart disease, diabetes, or cancer show up, it’s normal to seek treatment from medical doctors. But by then, your energy is so focused on healing the body that there’s little left for the mind and spirit. 

So I recommend you focus on the mind-body-soul connection before illness creeps in – which you can do with ancient healing techniques like:

• Depth hypnosis
• Applied shamanic counseling
• Shamanic healing practices

As a spiritual counselor, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of these practices – calming your conscious mind, working through specific emotions or events, and releasing negative energy. I can also reassure you – the power of healing is within you. 

But if that’s the case, why do so many of us struggle with chronic disease? The answer lies with understanding chronic disease and why it persists in our bodies.

Chronic Disease and the Relationship With Our Whole Self

Chronic disease is a health condition that requires continuous medical care or limits your normal activities. It usually lasts beyond three months – and includes conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, eczema, arthritis, or asthma.

Chronic disease is long-lasting and often progressive. It also tends to develop when you engage in repeated, risky, and unhealthy behaviors like:

• Tobacco Use – Smoking harms nearly every organ in your body. Exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to an increased risk of certain illnesses like lung cancer, heart disease, or asthma attacks.
• Poor Nutrition – When your diet is high in processed foods and low in whole foods (like fruits or vegetables), your body gets less nutritional value. This can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. 
• Sedentary Lifestyles – When you’re daily physical activity and movement are low, this can lead to unhealthy weight gain, decreased bone and muscular health, and a higher risk of chronic disease. 
• Excessive Alcohol Use – Consuming alcohol regularly or binge drinking can lead to violence, injuries, and poisonings in the short term. Over time, this can lead to mental health problems, high blood pressure, and liver disease.²

These behaviors revolve and focus on your physical self. And you may experience subsequent symptoms (like pain or fatigue) related to your body. 

So it’s easy to assume chronic disease – and its persistence in your body – is purely a physical problem. But this simply isn’t true. 

Why Does Chronic Disease Persist in Your Body? 

Chronic disease often persists in your body because you’re focused on the physical aspect of your health. You might be unaware or ignore the mental, emotional, or spiritual parts of your being. 

There’s a disconnect between your mind, body, and spirit – and you’ve been trained to think of your mind, body, and spirit as separate entities. As one of my favorite doctors once said:

“Chronic disease is completely unnecessary. The reason we have it is because we have not placed importance on the emotions, the energy, and the spirit of our health and healing.” 

In the last 300 years, Western medicine has moved away from treating people as whole beings. Medical professionals began to separate healing for the mind and body. With this way of thinking, the body was viewed as a machine that just needed to be “fixed.”³

While this view has started to reverse in the last few decades, it’s still a long journey for Western medicine professionals to regain the collective belief that the mind, body, and spirit are interconnected. 

But on an individual level, you can change your view about chronic disease, health, and healing – and understand the four layers that exist within your being.

The Four Layers of Your Being

Your being is made up of four layers: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I like to compare these layers to a ladder.

1. Physical: At the top of the ladder is the physical layer, where you experience sensations and symptoms related to your body, like pain or fatigue. 
2. Mental: The next level down is the mental layer, where you experience negative self-talk, mental disorders, or stress.
3. Emotional: One layer below is the emotional layer, where all your emotions – like joy or anxiety – live. 
4. Spiritual: At the bottom of the ladder (or the deepest part of your being) is the spiritual layer, where your soul resides and soul work occurs.

All of these layers make up your whole being – and all of them are critical during the healing process. Because when a problem manifests on one layer (i.e., the emotional), it can resonate up or down the ladder to the other layers (i.e., the physical).

When you have a chronic disease, the cause of that illness isn’t simply physical. Those unhealthy behaviors I mentioned often stem from mental, emotional, or spiritual wounds. Because all parts of your being are connected.

So preventing chronic disease and healing yourself means you have to address all layers of your being – by taking care of your body, nurturing your mind, and lancing any spiritual wounds.

But if chronic disease is preventable, why are a growing number of Americans still affected?

Numbing Yourself to Chronic Disease

It’s human nature to avoid uncomfortable things. It’s why you seek shelter from the elements, put off difficult tasks, or stay too long in situations that don’t serve you. 

These same avoidance techniques can occur when you encounter health issues. Sometimes, it’s easier to numb yourself to chronic disease, illness, or suffering for reasons such as:

1. The fear of facing your emotions – Emotions can unlock memories that lead to even more difficult emotions like pain, hurt, or anger. You might be afraid to embrace your feelings because it could cause you to feel overwhelmed and unable to cope.
2. A protective response – Emotional numbness can be a defensive response to a traumatic event like being diagnosed with a chronic disease. When your brain is emotionally overloaded, it may shut down intense feelings, resulting in emotional numbness.
3. A desire for control – When you feel as if you can’t “fix” an ongoing problem (like a chronic disease), numbing yourself can be a way of exerting control. When you feel anxious or overwhelmed, it’s common to try to control everything around you, even your emotional response or reactions. 
4. The avoidance of pain – You may numb yourself because you think it’s the best way to avoid pain. If you don’t feel pain, you can trick your mind into thinking there’s no problem you need to “deal with.”

While avoiding your chronic disease may work for some time, this isn’t a healthy long-term solution. If you neglect your pain and suffering for too long, it can rot and manifest in unexpected ways that may cause more harm. (I’ve seen this too many times with my clients.)

But if you can take care of all layers of your being – using mental, emotional, and spiritual healing – you can prevent chronic disease and heal yourself. 

Prevent Chronic Disease With Alternate Healing Methods 

In the last few decades, scientific evidence from Western medicine professionals suggests that regularly engaging in spiritual practices and activities tend to help you feel healthier and heal faster.

Many research studies have found connections between spirituality and lower rates of chronic diseases like stroke, cancer, heart problems, and high blood pressure. Some experts even think spirituality is good for health because it encourages healthy habits.⁴

Studies also show that caring for your whole being is linked to better mental health. A deep connection to yourself decreases sadness and uncertainty – and when you’re less stressed, your body heals faster.⁵

So, taking care of your spiritual layer positively affects the other layers of your being. This means that the best way to prevent chronic disease is to focus on healing spiritual wounds in the deepest layer of your being.

How can you do this? By working with a spiritual counselor (like me) who can help you strengthen the connections between your mind, body, spirit, and emotions. 

You Can Heal and Prevent Chronic Disease

While chronic disease primarily manifests in our physical selves, it’s also connected to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Focusing on your mind-body-spirit connection is the key to preventing it and healing yourself. 

The power to heal chronic disease lives within you – and I can help you discover it. We can work together to heal all parts of your being using ancient healing techniques like: 

• Depth Hypnosis
• Applied Shamanic Counseling
• Shamanic Healing Techniques

I can guide you on your health journey and teach you to trust your inner wisdom – so you feel empowered to take an active role in healing yourself.

Sources

1. Raghupathi, Wullianallur, and Viju Raghupathi. “An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health.” National Library of Medicine, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 1 Mar. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876976/. 
2. “About Chronic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 July 2022, www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm. 
3. Hart, Patricia. “What Is the Mind-Body Connection?” Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing, University of Minnesota, www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-is-the-mind-body-connection. Accessed 1 Sept. 2023. 
4. Udermann, Brian E. “The Effect of Spirituality on Health and Healing: A Critical Review for Athletic Trainers.” National Library of Medicine, Journal of Athletic Training, 2000, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323417/. 
5. “How Spirituality Can Improve Heart Health For Patients.” Intermountain Health, SCL Health, www.sclhealth.org/blog/2022/07/how-spirituality-can-improve-heart-health-for-patients/. Accessed 1 Sept. 2023.