011 // Your Brain's Connection to Health

You can't exercise your way to the perfect body. You can't diet for the rest of your life. You can't pick a one-off health tactic and expect transformation.

We are not here to simply lose weight or to look good in the mirror.

We are here to be transformed. To show up in our everyday life ALIVE, buzzing with energy, clarity and purpose.

This transformation starts with learning how to align yourself with your highly responsive and interconnected body.

---

Mind - Body Connection

Your nervous system can't tell the difference between a mental experience and a physical one. ​
​This phenomenon is crucial to understand because your nervous system manages your entire body.

An easy way to understand this is the heart racing and palm sweating response you get just before walking on stage or confronting your boss. You have imagined the experience in your mind and your body is responding like you are physically in the experience.

Studies show that chronic stress weakens your immune system, leading to all kinds of sickness and disease.

Think about that. Stress is intangible yet it can make you physically sick.

The weakened immune system and subsequent sickness happens because your mind produces thoughts in your brain that send neurotransmitters throughout your body, telling it what to do. In the case of stress, your thoughts are worried and anxiety ridden telling the body to release the hormone cortisol, increase blood pressure, increase muscular tension, slow digestion, trigger inflammation and more.

​

Your thoughts tell your brain what messages to send to your body, and your body responds accordingly.

​

If your motivation for exercising is coming from a negative place - fear of gaining weight or shame in how you look, for example - those thoughts trigger the "fight or flight" response in the nervous system.

The result?

Your body goes into survival mode. One result of this is that your body will hold on to fat as a means to protect itself. The very opposite of what you are striving to achieve.

Here's the good news: it works the other way around. Shifting your thoughts towards gratitude for your body releases neurotransmitters that promote alignment, health and healing.

​

TAKEAWAY:

The science shows that you can't be healthy if your mind and body are not working in unison. Without the right operating system and motivation, our health practices are in vain.

Become an observer of your thoughts. What kind of messages are being sent to your body? Most thoughts go undetected because you have repeated them so often they have turned into an automatic response.

Disrupt your scheduled programming. Retrain your mind with new thoughts, rooted in an identity of who you want to become. Let love and gratitude drive your pursuit of health.
Do that, and watch your body respond.

​

"As a man thinks, so he is."
- Proverbs 23:7

______

​

See you next week,

TOMMY

// Hit reply to give feedback, ask questions, or request a topic

---

Email Archive:

​001 // Step 1 to a Healthy Life​

​002 // Your Body Runs on Clocks [Circadian Health]​

​003 // Sleep's Connection to Eating Healthy​

​004 // Make Movement A Movement​

​005 // What Mice Taught Us About Eating Healthy​

​006 // The story of a 61-yr-old Farmer Ultra Marathoner​

​007 // Redefining Health for a Meaningful Life​

​008 // A Guide To Cardio Training​

​009 // What's the Best Form of Exercise?​

​010 // Take Care of Yourself to Take Care of Others