Did you know your ability to digest food and to process thoughts are linked?

Last week I shared a video of HUMMING to clear your head, great for when you’ve got so much going on you can’t think straight.

Well, there’s a second part to this story and it involves your DIGESTION.

As you know, your gut needs to be working properly to physically digest the food you eat, which essentially means extracting the nutrients needed to keep your body healthy and eliminating any waste products.

But what you might not know is that, due of the Mind-Body connection, your digestion is also responsible for how you mentally digest and process ideas, thoughts and new information.

This is super important to know both for yourself AND if you have children because, whilst we live in a time of unprecedented access to information and mental stimulation, there’s actually a limit to how much your system can process before it gets overwhelmed.

You can think of this like eating food. There’s only so many mouthfuls you can eat before you get full. If you keep eating, your digestive system is going to have a blow out! You’ll feel heavy, bloated and sluggish. Bleh.

In the same way, there’s only so many mouthfuls of MENTAL STIMULATION or ‘food for thought’ your system can handle before it gets full. At this point you can’t take in any more and you start to vague out, or lose concentration or get brain fog and can’t think straight.

According to Chinese Medicine,  the ability to digest life both physically AND psychically is a function of healthy Spleen & Stomach Organs and corresponds to the Solar Plexus Chakra, aka Manipura. 

This explains why ADHD and other learning difficulties are so common these days. The human body hasn’t evolved to digest the vast quantities of mental stimulation that the average person is now exposed to on a day to day basis in this Information Age of technology.

It’s also a contributing factor to why digestive issues are so common. In the same way that over-eating weakens your digestion, too much mental stimulation weakens your Spleen & Stomach Organs because Mind-Body are connected.

And when it comes to growing children, their digestion is still immature. Just like a child can only digest smaller meals than an adult, they can only consume smaller amounts of information at a time before getting full.

Signs your ability to DIGEST LIFE might be impaired include:

• food sensitivities
• feel sluggish and bloated after eating
• get really sleepy in the afternoon
• find it hard to concentrate or brain fog
• ruminate or have difficulty letting thoughts go, like getting a song stuck in your head or reading the same sentence over and over without comprehending the words
• always feel tired
• Crave sugar or carbs (or coffee!) to give you an energy hit?

Anyhow, enough of the problem. Here’s the action you can take to make difference.

Check out the video below where I share a simple 5 minute practice designed to strengthen your Solar Plexus Chakra and benefit your ability to digest life. The Ancient Taoists referred to this one as an Immortality Practice!

To get the most benefit it’s best to REPEAT DAILY FOR 5 MINUTES. Give it 10 days and you’ll definitely feel the difference.

If you’d like additional support with Spleen Qi Deficiency, digestive function and mental wellbeing, Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture can help! Use this link to book an appointment online.