Emotions. They can be pretty complicated, negative ones getting under your skin right? Oh, and what even is an emotion?
To my mind, an emotion is a feeling connected to a thought which can be either pleasant or unpleasant. Feelings are felt in the body whereas thoughts originate in the mind. The two are intrinsically linked and entwined creating what we label as emotion.
Working as a coach I have often found the Abraham-Hicks emotional guidance scale useful to gauge where my clients are at. It lists a range of common emotions from joy to depression in order of those that are pleasant to feel to those which aren’t. The point being when we experience pleasant emotions we are closer to joy and when we experience negative emotions we are closer to depression. The intention is that we always want to be moving up the emotional scale. As humans pretty much we want to feel better. Even destructive behaviours such as addictions are because we wish to feel better. Why do we want to feel better? Quite simply, it feels like our thoughts and perceptions have robbed our joy, which is our natural state. The truth is it is always there just hiding beneath the surface.
When I decided to become a coach one of the first modalities I learned was, Emotional Freedom Techniques, (EFT) sometimes known as tapping. This is because the facilitator gently taps on the meridian points of the body used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture. Gary Craig the creator of EFT developed an underpinning discovery statement:
“The cause of all negative emotion is a disruption in the body’s energy system.”
What could “disrupt” the body to cause negative emotion? Well, I’ve already partially answered that! Do you remember? It’s our thoughts, and EFT is brilliant if you want to zap negative thoughts. As the discovery statement says the body is energy and emotions are really transient – e-motion, energy in motion. Even when we’re really mad and angry the feeling always subsides and when we’re feeling extremely positive and optimistic sooner or later something takes us out of flow. It’s all part of being alive. I recommend checking out the movie ‘E-Motion’ for more on this. See https://www.emotionthemovie.com.
I was excited and inspired by EFT and its possibilities. A door was opened in my mind and being an inquisitive being I needed to know more… more than just EFT. I was now on a journey and ravenous for more…
What I discovered next changed my life course forever!
META-Heath Analysis
I found out that very traumatic life experiences and prolonged stressful negative emotions cause dis-ease. The brilliant system I learned and continue to learn is called, META-Health®. It blows my mind! For the sake of this being a blog I will try to explain briefly and clearly. Wellness is understood from a bio-psycho-social viewpoint – all approaches thoroughly and neatly wrapped up in one methodology transcending all other approaches I know off. Specific perceptions and thoughts create different dis-ease processes originating from an event considered unexpected, dramatic, isolating and for which the individual has no strategy to deal with it. We term this a bio-logical conflict shock.
Anyone experiencing a conflict shock, will understand it as a moment of, ‘freeze,’ and being unable to make a decision about how to re-act to the trauma. Following such an event the individual will usually obsess about what happened, playing the disturbing scenario over and over in their mind searching for resolution. Much empirical evidence and research indicates that many dis-ease processes begin once the stressful issue is resolved either cognitively, through a real life intervention, or by letting go. So, often physical symptoms manifest after a period of intense stress is resolved. Therefore, what is labelled allopathically as illness is actually a partial aspect of a longer process.
For health coaches this is invaluable information. If we know what illnesses a client has we also know how to work out the root cause trigger and what emotions are likely to be involved. It’s super –efficient and highly empowering for the client and practitioner because strategies can be employed quickly to alleviate symptoms. This is what we do with LIFESTYLE PRESCRIPTIONS®.
Watch a FREE WEBINAR to learn more about Lifestyle Prescriptions® and META-Health!
Skin Issues
For much of my life I have experienced skin issues, so when I learned the META-Health® analysis process I was keen to understand how I had manifested these. I experienced a particularly aggressive flare-up of psoriasis in 2003.
Psoriasis is truly a horrible repulsive condition whereby either the skin is angry, hot and inflamed or dry, scaly and flaky. Psoriasis is not to be taken lightly. My condition was severe and I was actually hospitalised with a rare form of psoriasis known as pustular psoriasis which can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention in 2004.
The META-Health® Organ-Stress-Emotion-Belief Directory states that epidermis skin issues which include eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo are connected to loss of touch, separation or wanting to be separated. They can also be about a fear of being left alone.
In eczema the person has experienced one conflict of this nature and in psoriasis two. Vitiligo is about a brutal separation from a loved person.
Note: Skin conditions such as spots, acne and boils are created in the dermis deeper skin layer and follow a different pattern not discussed in this blog.
In 2009 The Daily Telegraph reported that there had been a 40% increase in eczema in four years and cited use of soaps and detergents as a possible reason why. Most of use soaps and detergents but not everyone who uses them develops eczema. Maybe they are looking in the wrong places. If you have a skin condition then of course soaps and detergents can be irritants, but are they really the trigger?
Eczema is more prevalent in children than adults. Could the increase be due to changes in society? With rising divorce rates and households where both parents go out to work there is certainly greater opportunities for children to feel separated from their parents. Imagine a young baby left at a day nursery for the first time. He or she doesn’t fully understand the situation and after spending the first few months of life at home mainly with mom’s full attention may well become stressed and agitated and feel separated that mom is not going to return.
In META-Health® we understand that the mind and body go through two distinct phases as a dis-ease is processed from start to end. First there is a stress phase immediately following the traumatic event, and then once the trauma is resolved a period of repair and regeneration. Rashes of the epidermis layer such as eczema, psoriasis and vitiligo indicate that the mind and body are in the repair process.
In epidermis layer rashes the skin thins in the first phase as the stressful thoughts regarding the separation or loss of touch run through the person’s mind. The thinning is not usually that noticeable but the skin will be cool to the touch. Once the conflict is resolved it is only then that the skin becomes itchy and the rash develops.
Rash location is also interesting and can give clues to the content of the preceding separation conflict. I heard of a child who developed eczema around the mouth and ear after speaking to his father on the phone for the first time in several weeks; the eczema forming where the phone was held against his face. As a teenager I developed a rash on the inside of both arms and around my eyes after unexpectedly being dumped by a boyfriend. I could no longer see or hug him.
My diagnosis was psoriatic arthritis, originally diagnosed twenty seven years ago. This is where psoriasis and arthritis occur together. I visited my hospital consultant last week and received some great news. “That’s not psoriasis, that’s eczema!” she said, rather baffled. Why is this great? It’s still a skin condition you might say. I wrote earlier that in psoriasis there are two conflicts around separation but in eczema one. This means I had successfully fully resolved one conflict.
Photo 1 – Psoriasis (October 2016) — Photo 2 – Eczema (November 2016)
I did not take any prescribed skin medications during this time. So, how did I do it?
Firstly my META-Health® training has been invaluable in helping me de-code, and understand my symptoms signposting where my thoughts and emotions are. Secondly, taking conscious action by working on clearing out the associated conflicts and associated emotions helped my mind and body process and fully release the trauma.
Although I’m a coach myself (www.freeyourmindsolutions.com) I still consider it important to get support from others as sometimes we just can’t see the wood from the trees when it’s our own stuff. In this case, I had a brilliant one-off half-day session with Yvette Taylor (www.yvette-taylor.com) creator of the Energy Alignment Method (EAM) as my guide and mentor.
My hope is by reading this that you’ve gained valuable insight into how emotions and life situations play a huge part in creating or hampering our health and well-being. If you know right now that you have obsessive thought patterns take steps to clear and resolve them straight away. You may even prevent or shorten a dis-ease process. There are many wonderful and innovative ways in which you can do this including EFT and EAM®.
If you are a healthcare provider please don’t delay in making contact and getting in-touch (puns intended) to discover more about the revolutionary META-Health® Analysis process and how Lifestyle Prescriptions® can hugely enhance and benefit your practice.
A final thought…
Often when an issue is cleared and clients are getting fully back into life they notice that the problem getting under the skin and plaguing their heart and mind wasn’t such a big deal after all – just superficial, and kind of skin-deep!
Inspired Wellbeing With Jo, Health and Wellness Facilitator and Trainer.
www.freeyourmindsolutions.com