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I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into when I started my naturopathic practice. I opened my doors full of hope and optimism, ecstatic that I would have the opportunity to interact with people in a positive way every single day.
Throughout my education, I was constantly and repeatedly mesmerized by how easily the body could shift from the simple changes: drinking enough water, getting adequate sleep, and changing the diet. And yes, sometimes you would need to deploy stronger tactics like detox protocols and supplements, but for the most part, health is easy. And now I get to share everything I learned.
But the reality was vastly different from my naive assumptions.
I was taught that health is divided into 3 equal parts: the physical, the mental/emotional, and the spiritual. Each part is just as important as the next, and you have to address all three for an optimal outcome.
While I don’t entirely disagree with this, I will say now, after several years in practice, that they are NOT equal.
What I have found is that there is a much deeper story beneath every physical condition, and that story must be told in order for the condition to resolve.
I found that trying to alleviate physical discomfort, even naturally, was completely useless if there was emotional trauma left unresolved. In short: addressing the physical was the least efficient way to heal.
You see, there is quiet belief that many of us carry: that something has gone “wrong” with our bodies.
When symptoms appear – pain, inflammation, fatigue, skin flares, digestive trouble—we are often taught to see the body as a problem to be fixed, managed, or silenced. But what if the body is simply asking for attention?
Imagine the body as a faithful friend and messenger. It doesn’t shout at first. It whispers—through tension, discomfort, or subtle changes. When those whispers go unheard, the messages grow louder.
This is not a radical idea. It’s not “new age” and it’s certainly not hippy dippy.
The Body and Mind are Roommates
For a long time, we’ve spoken about the body and the mind as if they live in different houses. But in truth, they are more like rooms in the same home—connected by open doorways, sharing the same air.
When the mind experiences prolonged stress, fear, grief, or suppression, the body doesn’t stay neutral. It responds.
Through the scientific field of psychoneuroimmunology, we know how thoughts and emotions influence inflammation, immune function, and disease progression. But you don’t need science to tell you this because you’ve felt it:
- A tight chest during grief
- A stomach ache before difficult conversations
- Exhaustion after prolonged emotional strain
You experience physical symptoms as a result of changing emotions daily, even if you don’t always realize it.
The Nervous System: The Bridge Between Experience and Symptoms
If the body were a landscape, the nervous system would be the river running through it—carrying information everywhere it goes.
This system takes external stimuli that you perceive through your five senses and transports them throughout the body, dictating how it should respond. When you perceive a safe environment, the river flows gently. Digestion works. Sleep deepens. Healing happens naturally.
When life feels unsafe—emotionally, mentally, or spiritually—the river speeds up. The body enters survival mode. Resources shift away from long-term repair and toward short-term protection. And when survival becomes a long-term state, the body begins to show signs of strain through unpleasant symptoms.
The important part to remember here is that your nervous system records information from past repeated stressors, so that it can “predict” future stress. External information that you perceive now, especially if it shares qualities with past trauma, causes your nervous system to react as if that trauma is happening now. Over time, this constant “watchfulness” affects digestion, immunity, hormones, sleep, and pain perception.
Patterns Matter More Than Events
One stressful day rarely makes us ill. But years of unresolved patterns do.
Think of emotional experiences like weather. A single storm passes. But a climate shapes the land.
Repeated emotional themes — like chronic self-silencing, unresolved grief, resentment, fear, or the need to stay strong—create an internal climate the body must adapt to. Over time, that adaptation can look like inflammation, tension, hormonal disruption, or autoimmune response.
Basically, the “river” of the nervous system carved out a certain type of path from repeated emotional experience and the only way to resolve the symptoms is to make the water flow back on a calmer, less stressful path.
This is why symptoms often return even after treatment. The surface symptoms were addressed, but the climate beneath remains unchanged.
How The Body Speaks
The body’s only communication system is through sensations and nothing gets our attention faster than pain and discomfort. Think of your body not as your enemy, but a loving friend who is trying to get your attention.
Every emotion that you felt unsafe to express, gets placed somewhere in the body. It shows up as:
- Tightness where holding is required
- Inflammation where boundaries are overwhelmed
- Fatigue where endurance has been stretched too long
Look at your symptoms as your body’s way of saying, “hey, I really need you to address this”.
Symptoms are not random and they certainly are not punishments. Symptoms are a cry for help from your very dear friend.
A Spiritual Perspective: The Body as a Sacred Companion
Spiritually speaking, the body is not an obstacle to faith—it is a vessel of it.
Scripture speaks of the body as a temple, not because it must be perfect, but because it is inhabited. When emotional pain is ignored or overridden in the name of strength, productivity, or even spirituality, the body carries the weight.
True spiritual healing does not bypass the body. It moves through it.
Healing, in this sense, is not about fixing what is wrong. It is about restoring relationship—with truth, with self, and with God.
As you browse the library you’ll find that, within each article, I’ve included a special emotional healing prayer that is condition-specific. These prayers are designed to be used throughout the healing process to remind you that God never just solely removes, he replaces with what is good, beautiful, and true.
What’s Next
If you are feeling moved by the idea that your physical conditions could be rooted in suppressed emotions, I encourage you to stick around. Browse this space.
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If you have any questions or a request that a specific condition be added to the library, please contact me.
Much Love,
Dawn
