The link between mind, body and emotions has long been understood to be the cause of disease and good health. This connection was routinely included in diagnoses by Ayurvedic practitioners, traditional Chinese practitioners, some ancient civilisations as well as medieval European doctors.
The link between mind, body and emotions has long been understood to be the cause of disease and good health. This connection was routinely included in diagnoses by Ayurvedic practitioners, traditional Chinese practitioners, some ancient civilisations as well as medieval European doctors.
In Ayurvedic medicine, which originates more than 6 000 years ago in India, the different body and temperament types are known as Pitta, Vata and Kapha.
A Vata type is inspired and creative, but suffers acutely from anxiety and stress. A Pitta type, although disciplined and logical, is hypercritical and perfectionistic. Sweet, nurturing Kaphas suffer dreadfully from depression, lack of motivation and exhaustion.
Traditional Chinese medicine, only a mere 1 000 years younger than Ayurvedic medicine, explains the links between emotions and illness in a much more direct fashion.
Chinese medicine is based on the five elements theory and the equilibrium of complements – the concept that all the world, including us, is made up of and influenced by the five elements – and that for each part, substance or property of the body and mind there is an opposite helping to maintain the balance.
The element of Fire affects the health of the heart and small intestine, and the emotions that are associated with their health are those associated with joy and happiness. Excesses or deficiencies in these will affect the health and functioning of these organs.
So, also, is fearful Water responsible for changes in the bladder and kidneys, melancholy Earth for the health of the stomach, spleen and pancreas, angry Wood for problems in the liver and gall bladder and sad Metal for issues in the colon and lungs.
Other ancient civilisations put forward the theory of the four humours of the body, each affecting a different system and emotion. Hippocrates formalised this into the four temperaments theory, each temperament associated with a certain pathology type and emotional make-up.
Your Sanguine temperament was seen as sociable and hopeful, Choleric was ambitious but easily angered, Melancholic introverted and despondent and the Phlegmatic as relaxed, calm and unemotional.
This historical view across different civilisations, cultures, times and places has as its meeting point the idea that the body cannot be separated from the mind, the emotions and the spirit. The understanding that illness can originate in a non-physical sphere is central to understanding why one person survives an illness and another doesn't and is slowly being understood as the way forward in healing and medicine.
Forward any queries to Dr Marianne Baasch (Grahamstown Homoeopath) 073 997 7286.
