There is a massive culprit in Gut Health and its STRESS.
But stress alone is often too simple. Stress is a state not a root issue. The roots connected to a state of stress are often complicated and misunderstood. One exact situation, such as missing a plane, could affect two individual people quite differently. Person A may feel upset but quickly accept the situation and move on to re-schedule for the next option. While they wait, they may enjoy coffee and a book and re-arrange their itinerary. Person B may be completely distraught, panicked even. They may feel totally helpless or angry. They may spend the remaining wait time on the phone unloading to a friend or relative and foresee all the plans that will need to change or be missed upon their later departure. It isn’t that one person is more “optimistic” or “lax” than the other, those are states.
The root is likely what is associated with the experience.
Person A may see no real threat or danger in the situation, merely inconvenience or some disappointment. This may fade quickly from the mind and from the body.
Person B may tie this experience to a time where they were neglected or helpless. They may feel that this is quite catastrophic or they may feel cursed like “Of course, this always happens to me.”
These two different people just experienced the same thing however their bodies did not.
The first body likely went through the wave of stress and transcended into acceptance and maybe even humor or relaxation. I mean, why not make the most of a couple of personal hours?
The second body received the information that there had been a catastrophe. That there was something horrible, something to fear and potentially additional dread regarding the arrival.
You see, we can’t judge a person for how they react or feel but rather wage curiosity over WHY they react or feel how they do. We can also understand that within ourselves and others, the body believes whatever we tell it. If we tell it that there is catastrophe, it will respond as such. It will increase heart rate, circulation and most importantly, rob blood flow to the gut, causing stagnation, permeability and dysbiosis.
In the years that I have spent working in Gut Health, I am now understanding more than ever, that we must preserve our MIND in order to protect and even heal our Gut Biome. Diet alone won’t protect the body from this catastrophe communication nor will exercise. While movement can help the overall stress response, it can’t touch an individual’s ability to perceive day to day interactions as incredible threats. This is especially true of relationships.
So, what do we do when we don’t do alone? How to we preserve our mind-body when we aren’t the only ones in the room/situation/family? How do we become the calm in the storm?
This brings me to the topic of codependency or the obsessive need or habit of inserting ourselves as a beneficiary of everyone else’s problems.
That voice or urge to “fix” things or people and do “do it for them or it will never happen.” That same voice that causes us to jump for the needs of others while we eventually lose our joy. That voice that communicates constant stress to our bodies, contributing to our own autoimmune conditions and sickness. Codependency tells us to tend to every wound we see, while we bleed out.
Tackling an issue like this may just be the first step to turning around our own health and stepping into our own life. Learning boundaries, actual responsibilities vs. self-imposed ones and developing a sure sense of self.
To heal is to work deeply, first from the soul and outward through the body.
Coach Britt