Healing the self: Healing the environment

The human body is a great teacher in healing. Its incredibly complex mechanisms work so efficiently that for the most part we dont think of them. Several crucial functions like breathing and the pulsation of the heart are not even in our control. Given time and appropriate nourishment, the body can heal from most diseases confess naturopaths and alternative healers.

And yet it doesnt always heal.

The body comes with an expiry date and even if one can extend the life span of the individual through artificial means , this still has a limit.

As I entered my early forties, my body began to change and started to ask for my attention. Thus far I had been pretty unaware of it, even if I hadnt damaged it in any serious way – I had still used all its services fully and pushed its limits with no concern. All this changed the year I turned 42, and for the last five years I have learnt to be more patient and respectful of its promptings.

In our work at eCoexist, we have been focusing externally on the deteriorating health of the natural environment, but few environmentalists are themselves healthy people. They are burnt out from exhaustion, ridden with anxiety about the future and often depressed by what seems to be a futile battle.

In the mean time, Time is running out.

Recently I watched my dog – my friend of fourteen years – die. She had been ailing for a few months and at sixteen years of age, we decided what she needed more than surgeries and medications , was our love and presence. And patience. Most animal species are very comfortable with the process of death and intuitively know how to go easefully. They retreat from social interaction and some may seek out a quiet secluded spot to leave.

My friend died on my lap in the early hours of the morning. The actual moment of death was as peaceful and natural as it could be and I was just very grateful to have been awake and present with her.

Healing is not a race against death. It is a reinforcement of connection.

As we get more and more disconnected from Nature, we also are unable to listen to the body keenly. Illnesses are on the rise and the mind becomes agitated. Fear enters our hearts and begins to rule our lives. Very few medical facilities are in natural environments and a visit to the hospital can be more stressful than healing in fact. Unaware of what we should or should not eat, food becomes more of a gratification than a nourishment.

And yet if we find ways of tuning in to the natural rhythms again, very quickly the body finds its natural alignment. Healing the self and healing the environment are two sides of the same coin.

And death is not the enemy in both cases.

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