Mind, Body, Soul & Spirit - YLAM240012

SPEAKER A This programme presents ways to optimise health and wellbeing when considering lifestyle changes. Please consult with your health care provider to ensure they are suitable for you. SPEAKER B Hello and welcome. I'm Kaysie Vokurka. Whole person health means to care for every aspect of our being. Greater healing is possible from this approach due to the synergy of these aspects. Stay with us as we look at the connection between mind, body, soul and spirit. SPEAKER A This is your lifestyle as medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television. SPEAKER B It's great that you've joined us as we learn more about how you can shape your lifestyle as medicine. Today we'll be talking about the relationship between mind, body, soul and spirit. There are many perspectives from which we could approach this topic, but we'll be looking at it from a biblical reference point. And once more we have health psychologist Jenifer Skues joining us. Welcome, Jenifer. So glad you could be with us once more. SPEAKER C Thanks, Kaysie. I love being here and it's a great topic to discuss. SPEAKER B Absolutely. And you were with us in some previous programmes and we talked all about the mind body connection and just wondering if we can review that a little bit before we move into the element of the spirit as well. SPEAKER C Okay, well, let's start with the body because there's a few important points there and you can see it comes into contact with the material world. So it's the physical presence. It gives conscious awareness of the world around us. And this is where the mind comes into it. You've got that conscious awareness, but the body picks up whatever's happening around us in the five senses. They're the gateway to the body's experience. So the body is physical, it's visible, it interacts with our environment, it receives and sends information. So we need to look after our body. SPEAKER B I think that's very interesting because probably of all of the aspects of our being, the body would be something that we are most comfortable with and we can relate to the most, just because it's so tangible for us. And it's. Yeah, it's an integral part of our experience, because of the five senses. And so how does the mind play into that in our experience? SPEAKER C Okay, well, when you talk about the mind, you're also talking about the brain. And I have an excellent quote. This was from 1872, before the science we know was really put together. It describes it beautifully and it says, the brain is a capital of the body, the seat of all nervous forces and of mental action. And the author says, the nerves proceeding from the brain control the body by the brain nerves. Mental impressions are conveyed to all of the nerves in the body, as by telegraph wires. And I think that gives a good visual image for people, and they control the vital action of every part of the system. So all the organs of motion are governed by the communications they receive from the brain. And of course, that is where the mind and the brain are together. The mind is how we interpret what the brain is wired with, and then the brain. And we did this in one of the previous sessions we did, where we looked at the nervous system. So now science understands and has mapped out all of the nervous system from the brain through to the tips of our fingers, right through every part of the body to the tips of our toes. And that is important because that's where all the information interacts between the brain, the mind and the body. So we need to look after our nervous system. SPEAKER B Yes, that's very interesting. And I love that illustration of the telegraph pole and the wires, because that just makes so much sense, because if you think of the nerves being like, the hard wiring, and then the electricity is like the functioning part of how our mind is working, which we can't see it, but we know it happens. And, yeah, that's a really good way of thinking about it. SPEAKER C It is. Well, the other important connection from the brain and the mind to the body is the heart, because the brain picks up every movement, every beat, whether the heart's even or whether it's spiking or uneven. And that signals the brain balance, which means the mind can be in balance and thinking rationally. Or if the heart's not coping and something gets it going, it sends signals to the brain and we get too much adrenaline and cortisol. You can see how the interaction with the telegraph wires works. And then the brain goes into stress and the mind will become more emotional and misinterpret things. SPEAKER B Wow, that's very interesting how those two are so connected. And obviously, in our everyday life experience, we see this connection playing out a lot. And it has, as you mentioned there before, the health of, like, even the heart. That's like a physical functioning, but that influenced the mind, which then influenced the body again. So tell us a bit more about how close and integrated this connection is. SPEAKER C Well, it creates balance. So if everything's out of balance, that's where we get disease and degeneration of the body and the organs. When things are in balance, we get regeneration and the energy picks up, which we're going to explore more as we go. But it's important. And another interesting quote, and this is again, from the late 18 hundreds. The same author says, the Lord would have our minds clear and sharp. So how clear and sharp is your mind? A lot of people say, oh, I can't think straight. It's able to see points in his word and service. We can do God's will depending on his grace, bringing into his work a clear conscience and a thankful mind. So this is where the mind is being positive. This kind of joy promotes the circulation of the blood. So now we're looking at how that mind influences the whole system. Vital energy is imparted to the mind through the brain bone. The brain, bone and muscle are to be brought into harmonious action. That all may work as well regulated machines, each part acting in harmony, not one being overtaxed. So how many people would say, yes, that's me. SPEAKER B This is true. I think we might have moments of that, but to have that habitually is quite something, isn't it? SPEAKER C Yeah. And this is where science does show these things, that when the body and the brain's not working well, then it's out of balance. That's where you get mental health problems, physical pain, nervous problems. It's all connected to either we're in balance, working well, or we're out of balance. It's only those two options. It says degrees between. So the body does tell us when something is wrong and we need to listen to it. SPEAKER B Yes. And from what you were saying just before then, that even the state of mind has a powerful impact on the way the body functions in even things that we can't control, like how the blood is circulating, like we can't say, go faster, go smoother, whatever, but it's going to happen in response to what's happening in our minds. That's very interesting. SPEAKER C We need to be careful what we actually think, because every thought resonates with every cell of the body. So if I have a negative thought, then that cell can lose energy, it can become quite toxic, acidic. It affects the actual hormonal balance or the cellular balance, that biochemical balance within the cell. But every positive thought does the opposite. So if we want vital energy and we want positive brain power and work with the body and the brain and the mind, then we have to really monitor our thinking, which is what I often help people do. SPEAKER B Yeah, yeah. And that's such an interesting fact, how closely the functioning is integrated, one influencing the other, and highlights how important this subject is, you know, to understand this and really draw those connections in order for us to experience our best health. SPEAKER C Absolutely. And it takes nanoseconds. It's not like, you have to have a thought and wait. It happens instantaneously. The body responds. It's amazing. SPEAKER B That is. Yeah. So incredible. So how can we actually define this relationship between the mind body? And we're going to introduce the spirit element as well. Can you teach us a bit more about that and what that means with. SPEAKER C That sort of question? I'd like to look at Genesis two seven, because that gives you the description of how we were created. So that comes back to the original blueprint, and it says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and man became a living soul. I did look at other Bible versions because they sometimes give a different interpretation. And the living soul was called person, being, creature, came to life, began to live will, desire and appetite. So it's got quite a range of meaning. But what we're going to do is take each part of that and have a look at it, because the first was from the dust, was the body. So what is the body made of? And this is where, if you have a look at what the body is made of, dust is an incredible chemical mixture. So I did a bit of research and I had a look to see what is the composition of dust, which we're made of. And it's got a chemical and mineral composition. I'll just read out what I found. It's got phosphorus, magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, copper, zinc, lead, calcite, quartz, dolomite, clay, which then has specific minerals within the clay. And it depends on the area, apparently in pollutants today as to the quality of the dust. But when God created man, it would have been perfect. It would have been a perfect chemical balance within the dust. So we can see how the body is made up of all those chemicals, which is a really interesting perspective. So when we look at the body, we need the chemical balance. And you have a look today, how many people's bodies are out of balance? SPEAKER B Absolutely. SPEAKER C You work with nutrition and you have a look at. And you have a look at the way people live their lifestyle, stress levels, which means if the brain's out of balance, they're in a negative cycle. They've got too much adrenaline and cortisol. Then we use a lot of those chemicals and that content that we're made of. And unfortunately, when you look at it, the actual soil that things are grown in is very depleted of minerals and things like that. So this is where we have to be, really take a good look, I think, at what our lifestyle is, what we're doing with our brain and our body and our mind and how we live. And it's important people go and have a blood test and they're told they're low on iron, they're low on this. And sure, the medical system can help, but we've got all of that in nature. God created all of the ingredients we need and if we buy quality and don't, unfortunately, today we live on a lot of junk food or a lot of people do. I'm not saying went through that one. It depletes your health. You know, you've got no energy and you have a look at the lifestyle we're under and particularly the stress levels, then the body suffers greatly. So I don't know what your thoughts are on that because you have experience with that nutritional side. SPEAKER B Yeah, I was just thinking about that. Because when you're highlighting the different minerals in the dust, anyone who studied nutrition knows immediately, wow, they're all the key nutrients you cheque when you're looking at someone's health and what needs to be corrected, the things that go out of balance. And so it's so fascinating what you're drawing there, the connections, because that relates to so many different things. I mean, it relates, yes, to what we eat, but it relates to where we get the food from the soil naturally, where it's grown, and there's just so many elements there that obviously are very important for the health of our body, given that our body is composed originally from dust. So very interesting. SPEAKER C The fact that, and there were only some of the minerals is a lot more today. So you know that they find in dust, but they're key ones that we can relate to. And some of them the body makes, and some of them the body doesn't make, like magnesium, the body doesn't make it. We're dependent on it in our diet and our health. And once you put food on the shelf, you lose lots of magnesium. And if you're magnesium depleted, it's a key element in reducing inflammation, in being able to actually relax and heal the nerves and the muscles. Every cell needs magnesium, so that's one I recommend. People actually add in, particularly under stress, you can lose several, three, four, five times your daily dose. So things like that, we need to add in to have a healthy body, we have to take charge of it and we have to find out and do things to make it healthy. If not, it'll let us down. And if the body's not right, that means because the brain is part of the body, which means the mind won't function, magnesium is a key element in treating depression. And it helps the brain. Yeah, it helps that chemical cascade and balance in the brain. So just one element like that can impact a lot of things. SPEAKER B Absolutely. And that's, again, it's just from another angle, highlighting how important it is to look at the body's needs from a whole picture, just because of how integrated it is. So what else can we learn from this verse about how our body is made? SPEAKER C Okay, the other thing, we look at the next one. If you look at the verse, it says in the Lord God formed man of the dust and the ground. Well, we knew that. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, which is an interesting one, because the spirit gives life if we don't have the spirit. And I know in the Bible it says when we die, the spirit goes back to God. So God gives us a spirit. And that's what he did with Adam. So it was breathed in. And interesting, when you look at it, he breathed it in through the nostrils. Well, what's the closest organ to the nostrils is the brain, which is an interesting concept. And once the brain's activated, that's where the life force, the body, responds, and then you've got that interaction happening. So that's a. The spirit is vital. And we're going to look more in our next session at what is our spirit? You know, God gives us spirit, but what is it really? And what is that, as they put it, the life force that is in it? And how can we maximise it and make the most of it? How can we do things that actually disconnect the spirit? So these are all questions that we have that, because it's one, because spirit is invisible, the body is visible, the spirit is invisible. Therefore people struggle to understand it. But we do think people talk about, say, oh, I'm in good spirits today, you know, so we, people have a reference to it, but they don't really understand it. And I think if we understand what our spirit is and what we can do to enhance the spirit, which gives life vital force and energy to the body and to the brain and to our well being, our emotions, everything. And when the spirit is flat or, you know, the spirit is down, it equals depression. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And so this is when people are depressed. Have a look at what's happening to the spirit. You know, if people are anxious, then the spirit's very agitated. So, you know, if you look at from that perspective, it's certainly an important aspect. And that was like the second component in that verse. So when that life was breathed into Adam, it gave him that force and that energy that he needed then. And that meant the third part, when we look at it, says, and man became a living soul, and we did look at the term being and that. And when you look at living soul, because I like to explore, particularly the Bible from the Hebrew perspective, because that's the original language that's been interpreted. And when you go back to the hebrew word, the word for soul is nephesh, and it means soul, life, person, mind, heart, creature. So it's the total being of that person. So when we become a living soul, which is the combination of the body, which is the dust of the ground, and the spirit. Once a spirit is in us and we start life in the womb, then the spirit has to be part of that. We have a life force then that can exist once we're born. And that's where the other parts of that the soul develops over our lifespan. It's not just something that is. We're born with a. Well, we're not born like Adam. He was a total man and had everything, every faculty in place, and so did Eve. But we're born as a baby, and we then have to grow and develop. So that means all of those three aspects have to be nurtured and looked after. And, of course, love is a key element in some of that, being loved and being able to love. But the living soul then has to develop. Okay. The soul is the conscious awareness of God as well as our self and others. So our soul. And that's where then the body's interaction with our environment helps us to make sense of it and determine it. Okay. The soul can reason at using the mind and processing information. So it's. And this is where, when you look at physiologically, the soul is connected in the frontal lobe of the brain, that third of the brain at the front, near the forehead. There is crucial in that development because that is the conscious awareness of everything around us. It's a third of the brain that has that capacity. It's like our computer. So that's the part of us that where the soul can reason, process information, be irrational, rational, you know, make decisions. And the soul, the character then develops because the soul is part of our character. To develop the character, we then have to learn and grow and experience things and learn from it, learn those lessons in life, as they say. So I don't know what your perspective is on. We all have that experience. SPEAKER B Yeah, it's very interesting. As I've been hearing you explain all of these different aspects, it seems to me like the soul, as you mentioned, it's like the whole person covering everything, the body and the spirit all together. It's kind of like what makes you you, really? Because we're talking about you as an individual. It's your soul. Like it's who you are type thing. Whereas the spirit, I was interested in how it's linked with that breath aspect, because even the root words of spirit, if you go back to. You were talking about Hebrew before, but if you go back to the Greek and the Latin, we're talking about, the word for spirit is linked with breath in the language itself, isn't it? Yeah, just the way it's all connected. And to have that history of the origin that we've just looked at from that verse is quite important to have a clear understanding about this, isn't it? SPEAKER C Oh, absolutely. Because it is the breath of life. If we want life and we want to develop the soul, we have to have a strong spirit. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C And this is where if we don't have a strong spirit, then people languish. They don't survive. Well, the spirit can be broken. We can talk about someone's got a broken spirit or a broken heart. So we often refer to those terms, the spirit and the body when we're trying to understand things in life. It's an important aspect, but as far as the soul's concerned, that is where with the way we think and the experience we have is relevant to the development of character. So do we have a good character or a bad character? And when we're born, we have the potential for both aspects because in the genes they're flawed, we're a flawed body. The Bible does talk about that, that we have parts in us that will do wrong. It's like leave a child to go its own way, it'll go the wrong way. That's partly what we're born with. And same with adults, will go the wrong way. So I find it's a real battle of the mind to actually stay focused and go the right way. You know, it's choices we make every day, how we treat the body, what we do with it, is powerful in that divine developmental process. SPEAKER B Yeah, absolutely. Now, it's very interesting. We've been talking about how the spirit aspect is linked with life because that came originally. The breath of life was what gave kind of the spirit to the person. From your experience of working with people, how much do you see that, that spirit aspect of nurturing the spirit is really an important part for overall quality of life and health in a person. How do you see that in your experience? SPEAKER C Definitely true. When you've got mental, emotional health problems and you're really down and you can't focus, the brain's not working well, you're out of balance. Then the spirit languishes. And I find getting people to do things that will pick up the spirit, things like being in nature, get out in their garden. When we have animals and pets and things, it seems to revive the spirit in the person because their brain has taken over and it's thinking negatively, so it's not enhancing that factor. There's lots of things we can do that will help the spirit revive. Even just going to the beach, swimming in saltwater, having good interaction with friends, going to church, praying, reading the word, all those things revive the spirit. When you're not well, you neglect all those things. SPEAKER B Yes, this is true. It often happens that way. That's very interesting because the kind of examples you just shared there, some of them were very, very practical. There were things you would consider doing for your physical health. If you're sort of suggesting that these things will have a flow on effect to lift your spirit and revive your spirit. SPEAKER C Absolutely. Beauty, anything. Beautiful music is another one. When we listen to beautiful music, that is uplifting, and there is a lot of it around, and I am not talking about the worldly music. It goes the other way. This is where we got those two opposing factors or forces. But when we listen to music, because music goes straight to the soul, basically, and it uplifts the spirit if it's the right music. So. And again. And I find when people would come back for help again, they would relapse was often when they actually, when neglecting, they stopped their plan to revive the spirit. SPEAKER B Hmm. That's so interesting. Wow. Yeah. So, again, it's. Everything is just so integrated, like you cannot really treat or do something for one aspect without it affecting the other, because it just. Yeah, it all comes together. SPEAKER C Yes, absolutely. And this is what's reflected in that verse in Genesis two seven. Right. Because it's looking at how God created us and put us together, and it's in that sequence. And we have to have all three aspects. That means we need the body, we need the spirit, and we need the soul. And it's when they get damaged or divided that we struggle. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C So one of the things we'll do is have a look more fully at these three aspects, because I find a lot of people don't understand these. Well, they know the body, as you said, but when it comes to the spirit and the soul there's often a lot of confusion. Yes. And they don't look at it. So it's important that we look after our health, what we call holistically, and that means we have to treat body, soul and spirit. And, of course, that includes the mind as well as the emotions as well as our spiritual wellbeing. So it's a whole approach. SPEAKER B Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of that with us today, Jenifer. It's been a real interesting and I think, a very foundational approach to starting to this topic. Obviously, in the next few programmes, we're going to elaborate on this further. But, yeah, just to have that background understanding of origins and how we are created to be put together is, I think, really, really important. Thank you so much for sharing with us. Thank you for your time and we look forward to seeing you. On our next programme. We've been discussing the biblical perspective of the body, soul and spirit with health psychologist Jenifer Skues. In the next programme, we're going to explore the soul and spirit in more detail to gain a fuller understanding of these important but often misunderstood aspects of our being. So stay tuned. If you have questions or comments about this programme, or if there is a topic you'd like us to discuss, then contact us on [email protected]. And remember to shape your life as medicine. SPEAKER A You've been listening to Your Lifestyle as Medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television.