Happiness and Healing Go Hand in Hand

At Epoch Lincoln you may have seen we put a big emphasis on mindset with regards to your healing.

All the way from the open plan adjusting area within the centre, to the frequent ‘headspace’ app recommendations, and regular breath workshops. Even the 80’s and Country Music (yes that’s my choice) are all designed to increase our positive outlook, improve our mindset, and ultimately our happiness.

So why is happiness key to healing? Surely unhappy people can heal, right?

Well I suppose yes they can, given enough time, however happiness can speed that process up because it helps to move your body into it’s natural healing state, and the longer we are there, the quicker we will heal.

Imagine we go to the gym, it’s been a little while, so our bodies are not used to it and we get a little carried away, and pretty soon we pull our calf muscle. This is an injury to the body that we need to heal. Instead of stopping and allowing our body to do that, because we had it in our minds’ that we would do 20 minutes on the treadmill, we go ahead and start running anyway.

Now it is obvious to see that running after the calf injury is NOT going to help, if anything it may cause more harm and slow our healing time. And the faster I turn the treadmill up, the worse it will become.

I want you to think of your physiology (how your body works inside) just like this treadmill and instead of a faster and slower switch, there is a ‘happier’ and ‘sadder’ switch!

The happier you are the slower the machine (you) work, and the sadder you are the faster the machine works. This is because when we are sad we tend to become defensive, and as such our body works harder because innately we prime for attack. This is something that has not evolved since our prehistoric caveman days. And in this state, we will not worry about healing, we focus on survival.

The good news! If we can move into a happiness state, our bodies slow down. We relax and move into a state of rest, recuperation, and healing.

So if you want to heal quicker, you need to be happier. And I know sometimes that is easier said than done so I want you to start here:

1. Think about 3 things that you are truly grateful for EVERY morning and evening. Don’t just think, but really imagine them and enjoy the moment.

2. Watch this interview I did with a laughter coach, the bonus exercise is at the end of the recording. Laughter is simply a breath, so if you are breathing this can be done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gG-8Fsmpg&t=351s

Have a happy and healthy week.

With Love

Tom