Your body responds to every word that you say. You can experience it for yourself right now if you wish.

You can explore this by saying aloud a positive statement, and then noticing how your body responds. Notice how it feels. Then, say aloud a negative statement and notice how your body feels in response to those words. You may notice that your body contracts or tightens in response to the negative statement, while it expands and feels lighter in response to the positive statement.

This philosophy is explored in depth in Barbara Levine’s book, “Your Body Believes Every Word That You Say.” Levine explores the link that language has between our mind and body, and shares her own personal experience in having and healing from a brain tumor. Neuro-lingusistics is also a growing healing field that explores such relationship between our words and our bodies.

“The Language of Healing” (LOH) is one of the founding principles of Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy, a holistic bodywork modality with an emphasis on joints and energy field. LOH, in essence, is the practice of being conscious of what you think and say. With new awareness, we naturally choose to think and speak in a way that opens up the possibilities for the desired outcome, rather than the undesired outcome.

Without an awareness of the LOH, we tend to speak in a way that brings consciousness to our pain. For example, “my shoulder always hurts,” or “that’s my bad knee.” The LOH would take that into perspective, and bring forth awareness that the words being used are quite possibly anchoring the experience of the shoulder “always” hurting, and the knee being “bad.”

The idea is to speak about the unwanted condition by referring to it in the past. When referring to the present and the future, we want to use words that illustrate the desired condition. For example, a new way of saying, “my shoulder always hurts” would be, “my shoulder was hurting in the past. Right now, I would like to experience relief. In the future I would like full range of motion that feels good in my shoulder.”

By using thoughts and language to tell a story of constant pain, it propels that story and experience to take place in the future. When we choose to speak differently, it opens us up to much more possibility, and the desired outcome will likely be found there. It becomes almost impossible to experience the healing we want when we continually affirm how much pain we are in.

The point here is not to ignore your pain. It is to shift into a forward thinking approach to your pain and healing. Recognize your pain, as it is part of the pathway for your healing, and, refer to it in the past. Be conscious of what you are thinking and saying in relation to your body, and all areas of your life. Once you get your mind and words on board with the direction you’re wanting to head in, the desired outcome is much more likely to be on its way to you.

Rooting For You,

Erin Ann Barcellos, ATP, MBW, HLC, is founder of Supported By Angels Center for Holistic Healing and can be reached at 530-318-4964 or erin809@supportedbyangels.com.