In Korean Medicine, it is said that an illness is caused by three influences.

And one of the influences is the mind. Of course, this is not a new concept.

We all agree that the body is connected with the mind somehow. There is

even a saying; "Healthy body, healthy mind". However, only a few people are

aware of how powerful influence the mind is. Just as a healthy body makes a

healthy mind, a healthy mind can make a healthy body. The two influence

each other so heavily that the two are almost one.

For most of us, the mind is something ethereal and abstract. It is something

that seems to be 'floating' in our head so the mind can't do anything to affect

the body. However, we should be aware that the mind is also a process

controled by the body. Just like we digest food and get nutritions out from

them, our body makes us 'think' so that we make better decisions and choices.

In other words, the mind should be considered as an extension of our body.

And although it can't be seen in work like the other parts of our body, we can

all see where it resides; the brain. Needless to say, if we take MRI while we

think, particular areas of the brain lights up according to the thoughts,

showing that the mind is hidden somewhere in the brain.

There are many examples of the mind affecting the body. The most famous

example would be stress. Also known as the 'most common disease of the

modernity', stress brings you numerous symptoms such as; insomnia, chronic

weariness and etc. When you face a difficult situation, which may not be

difficult for others, adrenaline and other hormones surge to face the challange.

But the hormones are useless when the challange is not a physical one. And

the hormones become toxic excess. So, if you have a negative attitude about

your life and think of every challanges in your life as 'unbearably hard' or 'too

difficult to solve', you will be left with an unhealthy body.

Just as the mind affects the body, the body can also affect the mind. For

example, depression, commonly known as a mental disease, can also be

physical disease. Normally, we think depression is caused by a weak mind or

lack of will power. However, it can also be caused by an absence of certain

hormones in the brain. To put it differently, it can also happen to a strong

minded, forceful person. This is why psychologists nowadays prescribe

medicines, and not do the psychotherapies only. The body can't be ignored

when curing the mind, for it can be the very cause of the disease

Sometimes, the body and the mind gets complicated and brings up a whole

new problem. My mother was once very sick and had to be hospitalized for a

month. The left side of her body was paralyzed and she had a severe pain on

her neck. She couldn't even sit up straight to eat. Luckily, as time went by,

the paralyzation faded away. But the pain was still there. Numerous tests wer

done to find the cause of the pain but to no avail.

One day, a doctor came and told my mother why she was sick. Pain, unlike

how we think of it, is actually a defense mechanism. It alerts us when we are

sick so that it can be taken care of. When my mother first had the

paralyzation, pain arised to alert her about the illness. Later, the paralyzation

died down but the mind still remembered the pain due to its severeness. So,

even after the paralyzation had died down, the mind kept sending the 'pain

signal'. The body, in turn, got confused and actually became sick. I have

heard that such cases do exist in Western Medicine as well.

The body and the mind should not be thought of seperately. They are actually

an extension of one another. They affect each other and they are even

connected somewhere. When a disease is to be cured completely, both the

mind and the body should be taken care of. To be short, the body and the

mind are one; they are so one.