Mind-Body-Flow Theory invites us to think of ourselves as flowing water. When flowing water takes a particular form or pattern–an example of which is ice–the water becomes more dense and recognizable. This dense, recognizable form is what we call the body. The body is not fundamentally different from the mind. It is the flow of the patterned mind.
Let’s take this further. If you are a flow of water, like a river, then what are the inputs that are entering your stream? We know that a river can become polluted when toxic chemicals enter the water. And we know that such toxicity has downstream effects. We know that whatever that water touches downstream, including crops, will be influenced by the toxicity. On the other hand, we know that natural spring water or glacial water is high in minerals and highly nourishing to the land it touches.
What are the inputs into your stream of experience? What are you taking in? How are the elements from the environment–including the food we eat, the stories we hear, the physical environment we are in, the conversations we have, the products we use, and more–shaping the river that you are? And how is the body reflecting that, given that the body is the river in a patterned, apparently-definite form?
And think about the outputs. What is coming out of this river that you are? How is it expressing and functioning? If it brings a sense of purpose and clarity, then it is likely that the inputs are nutritive. If we find the outputs to be causing confusion or consistently causing pain, then it is likely that the inputs and the river itself has elements that need to be addressed.
This is where the Four Engines of health and healing play a part. They gave us four ways to look at the river that we are. We can choose the lens of Nutrition, choose the lens of Movement, choose the lens of Connection, and choose the lens of Rest. Each one helps us to see the water differently. We might think of it as four different sieves, or perhaps goggles, with which we can look under the water and act on what is happening. With each lens, we are able to modify our stream by modifying the inputs, contents, and downstream effects, including that of the body and how it presents itself. This is the power of Mind-Body-Flow Theory and the Four Engines of health and healing.
In an emergency, pills, surgery, and IV medications can function within this framework to influence the contents of the river that have been unaddressed for a long time, but they cannot replace the Four Engines. Once such measures have been employed, the essential work of the Four Engines remains as the foundation of healing and human potential. We can kill bacteria, but our own cells still need to be nourished and flourish.
When you watch the stories of healing on our Healing Is Possible podcast, you will see that every story is evidence for Mind-Body-Flow Theory. None of the people who healed restricted themselves to only the body or only the mind. They did not set out on a philosophical quest or spiritual quest, although these factors became involved at some point. Rather, they had one goal: to heal in a way meaningful to them. When this becomes the singular goal, Mind-Body-Flow Theory becomes inevitable because it draws connections between all aspects of our lives and channels that forgotten power into meaningful levers we can all access to heal.
