Refining Our Forms…all of them
“To heal illness, begin by restoring balance.”
Holistic. It is a word thrown out there A LOT these days. What exactly does that mean? What does it look like in this setting?
A core value in the creation of Refined Form is an awareness of the importance of “refining our forms,” all of them. This value is held in the belief that we all come into this world with different forms: mind, body, spirit and emotion. (Yes, more words we hear thrown out there a lot these days.)
Some of us are naturally drawn to more of the spiritual side (meditation, prayer, connection with other realms, anchored in the spiritual), while others are naturally drawn to more of the physical aspects of living (exercise, nutrition, in touch with your body, grounded in the physical), or perhaps we are more anchored in our emotional energies (empath, deep heart connections, compassionate, highly sensitive people, trauma), or we can lean heavier towards the mental forms in life (planning, list making, overthinking, analytical, possibly stuck in our head, power of thoughts).
Each of these forms has different ways of communicating with us throughout all seasons of life. However, sometimes we have not refined our listening skills to tune into the different languages with which each of these forms speaks to us. While one form may monopolize and run the show of our life, the other form(s) can become deprived of attention and left to find a way to let their voice be heard! Hello, aches and pains, autoimmune disorders, skin issues, injuries. We hear you loud and clear. Though we may not always see the all of the colors of ink creating the whole picture.
The reality is that all these forms are a gift to our presence here in this world; as integral as our 5 senses. Our goal is to refine these forms, to see all of them as interconnected, and to find a balance point where we learn to listen and communicate with all these forms, taking to heart what they have to offer us in our journey through this world.
The interconnected nature of our forms:
The mental form, physical form, spiritual form, and emotional form at the center. The emotional form has the ability to connect with, rise up within, and play into each of the other forms. Emotion is energy in motion from our heart center. Are you centered more in one of the red circle, biased towards spirit, mind, or body? Do you let your emotions control you without “consulting” the other forms? Or are you someone who can find their center, the heart, really listening to and respecting the emotional body?
You may be thinking, “okay, now what do these ‘forms’ have to do with physical therapy, fitness and wellness?”
Treating the body, the physical form, is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to physical therapy, or even fitness. But how are mind, spirit and emotion factored into your individualized care at Refined Form? Well, in addition to evaluating and assessing your physical body - strength, joints, muscles, bones, alignment, functional impairments and imbalances - we may also look into what you put into your body. Nutrition and hydration, thoughts and self-talk, life stressors and management of that stress, for example, all become very important when it comes to healing the physical body and optimizing physical health.
It is my opinion and observation, that feeding, focusing, or relying too much on any one of the forms can throw our life out of balance. When things get out of balance and we lack awareness to steer back and correct course, then our physical body can manifest this imbalance by starting to “talk” to us. Perhaps we feel physically out of balance, or we lose our balance easily, maybe we go through phases of being very accident prone, maybe we have persistent pain, or even autoimmune issues. Pause, breathe, and listen to what messages our body is sending us.
We may need to respond by addressing:
the physical form (movement awareness, exercise, diet, sleep, breath)
the mental form (thoughts and beliefs about our symptoms, self talk, stress, fear)
the spiritual form (your spiritual journey, life/soul trajectory, ancestral healing, deeper rooted lessons you are meant to experience)
the emotional form (How does the situation at hand make you feel? Does it bring up any feelings or traumas? Life stressors and fears?)
Certainly nothing is black and white, and rarely can one single factor be solely to blame as the cause of our physical status. The multifactorial nature of health and wellness means that there can be biological or physiological sources of our symptoms, but also mental, emotional or even spiritual contributions to our physical states. When acknowledged and addressed as a whole, we can optimize our health and wellness.
I believe one of our purposes as human beings is to listen to and learn from all forms that make our whole being, finding the balancing point between mind, body and spirit with the guidance of our emotions (the center of us, our heart space, intuition). Developing awareness of what our heart and our emotions are telling us is truly our superpower as human beings. These vital messages become a signal about how our physical body, mental mind, and core spirit are getting along in this world.
Which forms could you listen to better?
Which forms might you over-rely on?
Which forms are exhausted vs. ignored?
