By Dr. Karen Norum, Ph.D.,

Certified BodyTalk Practitioner

Bhakti Wellness Center July 2013 Newsletter – Short Article

“Your body just is never going to be the same,” said my doctor. It was four months after three surgeries in three weeks. It started with a routine surgery for appendicitis. Unfortunately, complications lead to a 21-­‐day stay in the hospital with two more surgeries for abscesses. The appendicitis was cured but I was still healing.

We are taught that “health” is the absence of illness, injury, or disease. When we are ill, injured, or have a disease, we generally seek out care. We have a condition that is abnormal or a disorder. There are usually specific signs or symptoms or a specific location is effected. We seek a cure, solution, or remedy. That was the case with my appendicitis and it was cured by surgically removing the inflamed organ. However,  I still experienced dis-­‐ease: the natural state of “ease” was out of balance or disrupted. There was too much or too little of something. My body was still trying to find balance. I was cured but not completely healed. This is the distinction between being “cured” and “healed.”

When we are sick or injured, it is natural to want the body to get back to the state it was in before we became ill or injured. I wanted my body to act the way it did before the three surgeries. I sought a cure. However, many times, the truth is, our body will never be the same as it was before the disease or injury. Yet we can still heal. It is still possible to restore balance and harmony in the body, mind, and spirit. We can still become sound and whole. We simply need to keep in mind “health” may not look the same as before we had the illness or injury. And the amazing thing is that no matter how out of balance our bodies may have become, the body still retains the information necessary to return to balance. It is stored at the cellular level. Our body knows how to heal itself! We have all witnessed this: we’ve all had a cut that healed itself. And I experienced this as well when I came to realize my body would find a new balance. It would never be the same as before the surgeries, but it did return to balance.

I have learned while the body is capable of healing itself, it certainly sometimes needs help. That help can come in the form of a cure. More often, it comes in the form of restoring balance and harmony. Dis-­‐ease seems to be a common condition. There are many ways our bodies become out of balance or disrupted. And the good news is our bodies have a miraculous way of adjusting and returning to a sense of balance. While we may not always experience health as in the absence of disease or dis-­‐ease, we all are capable of experiencing healing!