Love is the best medicine

Jefferson Breland

(7/2021) Ah, July… the second month of summer when I really wish it was November already.

In the Taoist philosophy that informs Chinese medicine, summer is the season of the element or energetic movement of Fire. That makes a certain amount of sense since it can be so bloody hot this time of year. The philosophy also associates certain bodily organs and energetic pathways called meridians with the season. One of these organs/meridians is the heart.

According to Chinese medicine, the Heart is the emperor (the word in Chinese is non-gendered) of the body. It is charged with the responsibility to ensure the other organ/meridians are doing their jobs in order that our spirit and our destiny can shine and manifest in our lives. The emotion associated with Fire and summer is love. This makes sense in our culture because summer is a time when friends and family get together to enjoy the warmth of the weather and each other’s company.

The "love angle" got me thinking about why there are so many weddings in June. My sources cite Roman mythology (Greek mythology with the names changed to Latin equivalents) as the reason for June weddings. June is named for Juno, the wife of Jupiter. For those of you keeping score at home, the Greek names are Hera and her husband, Zeus. According to the mythology, Jupiter and Juno were the king and queen of the gods who make their home on Mount Olympus.

Juno is the goddess of marriage and marriage, ironic since her husband is a legendary philanderer to put it kindly. I guess he thought morality didn’t apply to him. As such, their relationship was very contentious and would have filled the pages of every tabloid on the planet had they had them. I digress. So June has been thought to be an auspicious month to get hitched not only for the Juno/love/marriage connection, but also, Juno was associated with fertility. Well, that makes sense as well.

So summer is the season of Love. What does this have to do with health and healing? Everything. Studies show that people in relationships live longer. I use the word relationship in order to include all types of significant others in our lives like friends, partners, lovers, spouses, buddies, pals etc. And, there is the whole self-love angle or is it angel…?

It is said by many wise people and songwriters, that the greatest love is the love we have for ourselves. It is also said that we cannot truly love others until we love ourselves. There are people who consider loving themselves to be the most challenging thing in their life. Whether or not this is your circumstance, I offer a work-around. I offer you two ways to trick yourself into feeling the experience of love you have stored in your body.

First, let me introduce you to the Heart Math Institute. Their mission according to their website is "to help people bring their physical, mental and emotional systems into balanced alignment with their heart’s intuitive guidance." They "research and develop reliable, scientifically based tools that bridge the connection between heart and mind and deepen people’s connection with the hearts of others."

Our hearts emit an electromagnetic energy field that is perceptible by other beings. The Heart Math Institute has developed an exercise called the Quick Coherence Technique. This method of breath and mental focus can calm a person quickly (hence the quick of the title) as well as help a group of people align their emotional energies to a more peaceful state. It is a great way to start a class or a meeting to help the group settle down and be attentive.

Here are the instructions from the Heart Math Institute.

Step 1 - Heart Focused Breathing: Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual. Suggestion: Inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds (or whatever rhythm is comfortable).

Step 2 - Activate a positive or renewing feeling: Make a sincere attempt to experience a regenerative feeling such as appreciation, compassion or care for someone or something in your life. Suggestion: Try to re-experience the feeling you have for someone you love, a pet, a special place, an accomplishment, etc. or focus on a feeling of calm or ease.

Communication Application

Coherence enables us to hear more clearly and intuitively understand how to respond appropriately and with care to any situation.

By simply remembering this feeling, you activate the healing frequency or energy of love.

I believe any time we connect to our heart’s energy it is an act of healing. The more we practicing this connection, we will align with this healing energy more quickly. Who knows. maybe, love could become our first response to everything in life?

Another way we can we use love to heal ourselves is memory. I invite you sit quietly for a few minutes. Think back to your childhood. Hopefully, there was a time in your childhood when you were happy and did all sorts of things to have fun, pure fun. Childhood is a time when we more easily connected to our intuition.

An example from my life is my memory of riding in a kid’s seat on the back of my mother’s bicycle. I remember feeling the wind on my face, the color of the trees on each side of the path we rode, as well as the glee of moving so fast. I also remember the joy and freedom of riding my bike around town when I was a bit older, out of sight of parental supervision. Other examples might be climbing trees, wedding days, graduations, holding your baby for the first time, reading a favorite book, making art, playing with toys, playing games with friends… really and truly the list is almost endless since each of us may find joy in a different place.

Imagine a moment of pure joy or doing something you became so absorbed by that you lost track of time. Now close your eyes and imagine as many details as possible; the who, what, where, when, how of it. Now connect to the feelings and emotions of the experience. As you remember and imagine these moments, do you notice any feelings or sensations in your body? If you do, and you notice your body relaxing, your breath becoming slower, this is your body’s memory of that moment. This is your body’s wisdom. This is the energy of love stored in the cells of your body.

You can recreate this feeling of love whenever you need by simply slowing down and remembering these loving, carefree moments no matter how rarely they occurred or how brief they might have been. It is this feeling of love that will help you connect to your body’s innate healing capability.

To take your healing to a higher level while in this state of loving memory direct your attention to a part of your body that you would like to heal. This could be an injury, an ailment, or a location of emotional pain. Focus your intention on any part of you that you would like to heal with love. It is vital that you focus on your body’s healing, not the diagnosis or any negative connotation around what you want to heal. You might even say, "I am grateful for my healing" or "Love heals everything." It also important you believe you are healing in this present moment and you have faith in your body’s self-healing ability.

Rumi, a 13th-century poet, wrote: "Through love, all pain will turn to medicine." I define medicine as anything that helps. So when you choose love as the medicine for healing, you can’t go wrong. At the very least, you have more love in your life. I might even shift Rumi’s poetry to say, "Through love, miracles happen."

 Jefferson Breland is a board-certified acupuncturist, he can be reached at 410-336-5876. Their office in Gettysburg is located at 249B York Street.