Interconnected: The Bridge Between Mind ● Body ● Spirit

When looking through the lenses of holistic health, we are asked to look at the whole entity as an entirety that is our experience: the mind-body-spirit connect, as they are all interdependent & correspond as one.

Over the years of my own healing journey, I have seen so much improvement in my life through incorporating different modalities that target each of these areas, such as working out/yoga, meditation, plant medicines, & therapy, to name a few. However, recently, I had an experience post-wisdom tooth removal that highlighted even more so for me the significance between each part's relation to the other & how strongly they are intertwined. To give a little background: for whatever reason, my surgery & recovery experience was not a good one & in many ways traumatizing. Between being put to sleep, fighting an infection during recovery, & reacting negatively to the antibiotics, I was well aware of what my body, mind & spirit were experiencing simultaneously, but it has taken some time for me to process that back into normalcy now & make sense of it altogether.

One of the major take aways from this experience was the effect that antibiotics can have on the nervous system, especially those that may be more sensitive. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this until going through it myself & having such a severe reaction. Throughout the course of taking them, I began having tremor spells, intense headaches, my left arm went numb, and my vision was distorted. On a mental level, I was having sporadic anxiety attacks, my thoughts felt circular, I was excessively tired, & I couldn't think clearly. My emotions were also very turbulent & changing rapidly. On what I would call a "spiritual" level, it felt as though I was floating on top of my body & time seemed to be suspended. There were also moments of what I understood as "realizations" & what seemed to be insight from a higher wisdom, & I began having what I can only describe now as visions. For those who have experimented with them, this state felt very similar to me as one would be on psychedelics. In Western medicine, this would be described as a ‘psychosis.’ By the time I figured out what was triggering what & got some answers, I realized I had to get them out of my system & begin the detoxification process. Since then, the symptoms have subsided for the most part, but I felt very unprepared & blind sighted by the potential side effects these medications could create & am still dealing with the abrupt disruptions they caused.

From this experience, it has led me towards a few questions concerning our perception of reality, conscious awareness & the role that our bodies & minds play as its' filter. Through-out the week, there had been several moments that I had felt as if I was dying & like I was fighting to return to myself. While that may sound extreme, I feel as though people who have had near-death experiences can relate to the sense of choosing to stay & return 'here.' After speaking with someone who does distance Reiki energy work, I was also alerted that I was not in my body on an energetic level as well. Could it be that trauma, surgery or illness to our vessels can cause our spirits to flee if it's environment feels unsafe enough? There were many times that I felt to be in an "in between" state of reality- this can also be viewed as disassociation from a psychological stand point, which is the disconnect between body & mind to avoid facing whatever is overwhelming the system in order to protect itself. When we look at this from all of the different angles, it all points to a lack of grounding within ourselves. Where does one end & the next begin? To me, they are all synonymous, & when one area is out of balance, the rest will follow suit.

Since doing my own research, I understand how antibiotics can effect your gut health, & being that our gut flora holds around 90% of our serotonin receptors in it, this in turn can effect our physical and mental health as well. My own understanding has been that the antibiotics can kill off both good & bad bacteria completely, which can not only cause excretion of serotonin at abnormal levels, but it can also then can throw other parts of your body chemistry off & effect your nervous system as well. This creates an imbalance in the body, spirit & mind, manifesting in its own ways as mental illness & physical symptoms. What has also been interesting is seeing the link between the excretion of neurochemicals such as serotonin & DMT that naturally resides in the body, which has been said to be produced in birth, death & while we are sleeping, & how accessing higher consciousness states can be attributed to the release of these chemicals & brain waves. (This can also be done through meditation).

I am aware now more than ever of how crucial it is to integrate every part of ourselves into healthy wellbeing. When one area is lacking, it will often create disharmony in others as well. As what some religions would refer to the "holy trinity", I would say that this is the link between our psyches, temples & spirits coexisting in harmony. Management of our emotional, physical, & mental bodies allows for equilibrium on all levels & improves every aspect of our life: more happiness, energy, clarity, joy to create a fulfilling life for ourselves :)

Have you ever experienced any weird symptoms from medications that felt like an out-of-body-experience or altered your conscious awareness? Or, have you ever noticed a shift in one area of yourself as the others were cared for? Please feel free to message me or comment below & share your own experiences! Be happy, healthy & blessed ♥