The language of my body

“The language of my body” stands, at the Kyborg Institute, for an interpreting view: we sometimes read bodily symptoms also symbolically – as a possible hint that something in life is burdening or has come out of balance. This is expressly a personal, worldview-based view and always only a supplement to medicine.

Important beforehand: no claim about causes or healing

We do not claim that thoughts cause or heal illnesses. Illnesses have medical causes that belong to be clarified and treated by a doctor. No one is “to blame” for an illness, and there is no “right thought” that replaces a treatment. Earlier, absolute statements (“there are no incurable illnesses”) we have deliberately removed.

Symptoms as an invitation to self-perception

For many people it helps, alongside medical treatment, also to ask: what is doing me good right now, what is burdening me? In our reading, a symptom can be a spur to look at stress, overload, fear or unfulfilled needs – and to provide for more rest, self-care and a mindful dealing with one’s own energy. This is self-perception, no self-therapy.

Such readings we understand as pictorial, never as a diagnosis: they replace no medical assessment and no treatment.

A model of order: the division of the body

As an aid to interpretation – expressly a pictorial model, no medical statement – we order the body, in our reading, along time and along right and left.

Above/below as an axis of time. We read the body roughly from top to bottom as present → past: what we take in (food, breath, speech) belongs to the present and lies rather in the upper body; what is already digested and used up lies in the lower body and stands, pictorially, for the past. Even in the brain this order is to be found again – planning for the future is connected with the front frontal lobes, memory with rear areas. In this interpreting view it can help some people to bring present themes rather into connection with the upper body and things longer past rather with the lower body. This is a suggestion for self-perception, no claim about causes: complaints have medical causes and belong to be clarified by a doctor.

Right/left. Traditionally – also in Far Eastern conceptions (yin/yang) – one side of the body is ascribed rather to the rational, outward-directed pole, the other rather to the feeling, intuitive one. Anatomically, one cerebral hemisphere in each case steers the opposite side of the body. We use this polarity as an image for the interplay of intellect and feeling – not as a fixed ascription of “male” and “female” to persons; these terms mean here two inner qualities that every human being carries within them.

What does that mean in practice?

• Always have symptoms clarified and treated by a doctor.
• Use the soul-related view as a supplement – as a suggestion for self-perception.
• Do not let yourself be put under pressure by readings; they are an offer, no duty.

Note: This article renders a personal, worldview-based view and is not medical advice. It replaces no medical diagnosis or treatment. For health questions please turn to a doctor or pharmacy; do not discontinue prescribed medication on your own initiative.

Autor: D. Harald Alke