Use Your Brain to Heal Rheumatoid Arthritis

I do this all the time: wake up in the middle of the night with ideas in my head. I’ve gotten used to it and now keep a notebook and pen on my bedside table. Great ideas come to us when we are in a relaxed state, and that happens when we sleep. It can also happen when we get very relaxed as in meditation.

One night recently, during the middle of the night, I turned on my light and wrote this in my notebook: “You are stronger than your circumstances and more powerful than you know.”

I really love that statement. I love it so much I added it to my website. The thing is that many people think that that they are powerless when they get an illness or that they have to accept decline as they get older. Simply not true! We are incredibly powerful creators. We just need to BE creators!

How do we do that? This is something I am going to be teaching in an upcoming course.

For now, let’s do a little primer on brain states, shall we?

The brain is an electrochemical organ. When nerve cells, or neurons, fire there is an exchange of charged elements that produce an electromagnetic field. This can be measured with an electroencephalograph (EEG) and the unit of measurement is Hertz (Hz) which is one cycle per second. For example, an EEG reading of 10 Hz means that neurons are firing at a rate of 10 changes per second.

There are is a wide range in brain stages with age and throughout the day and night. The four common brain states are:

• Beta: 14-21 Hz

• Alpha: 7-14 Hz

• Theta: 4-7 HZ

• Delta: < 4 Hz

The everyday waking state is Beta, which is divided into low-, mid- and high-range Beta. It’s also possible to be in Alpha while awake. When your brain relaxes, perhaps when staring off into space, your brain slips into Alpha.

During sleep, the brain normally moves through different brain states. The early stages of sleep are an Alpha state, then with deeper sleep comes Theta, and the deepest sleep is in the Delta range. While dreaming, characterized by REM (Rapid Eye Movements) the brain waves are similar to a waking state, however the body has no voluntary muscle movement. We normally move through many of these cycles during the night.

I probably was in an Alpha or Theta state when my idea popped into my head during the night.

Meditation is another way to achieve more relaxed brain states. Initially, as thoughts settle, a person can move into the Alpha state. With practice Theta can be achieved and very practiced yogis can achieve the Delta state during meditation.

Alpha is a very creative and imaginative state. Many creative people have had great ideas or insights when in the Alpha state. In fact, some people use the Alpha state in meditation to allow ideas and creative solutions to bubble up.

Theta is an interesting state. In Theta, the conscious mind takes a backseat allowing the subconscious mind to be accessed. This state can be achieved through deep meditation, hypnosis and through entrainment with music or other rhythms to “entrain” the brain to match the theta wave frequency.

In my Wonderful Fine anti-inflammatory living membership program for women, I host a workshop each month. Recently we hosted a Healing with Sounds workshop for our members. Specially designed music with binaural beats to induce theta waves while silently asked the subconscious mind for answers on a particular issue. Quite interesting and healing!

Another great thing about slowing the brain down to Alpha or slower is that it allows the autonomic nervous system to switch to the parasympathetic rest-digest-rejuvenate state. This is a much healthier state to be in.

When the parasympathetic state is active, all body systems move toward optimal function. In other words the immune system, endocrine system, digestive system, cardio-vascular system, lymphatic system, to name a few, all work better. When these systems are working better, we have more energy, we sleep better, inflammation calms down and we heal.

For me, making the time to slow my brain down was critical in healing from rheumatoid arthritis and remains an important part of my daily self-care. It’s also once of the tools I use to help my clients calm pain and inflammation.

Making the time to slow down and let your brain help you heal is absolutely worth it and in my opinion, necessary to healing.

Let me know in the comments if you find that slowing your brain down helps you heal too.

Do you have pain and inflammation? Your thoughts about these can actually lessen or intensify your physical symptoms. Your thoughts can have a big impact on how you feel. I have a great free resource for you to implement TODAY to help you change your thoughts and lessen the intensity of your pain. Click on the image below to receive it.