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The Energy of You Volume XX Issue #25

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Hi Reader,

A few years ago, I sat in a doctor’s office explaining a mix of fatigue, swelling in my feet, unexpected weight gain, and a vague but persistent sense that something was “off.” . My vitals were fine, my overall health was good and I was approaching fifty.

I remember the doctor sitting on her stool tilting her head and saying, “Well, eat better and get more exercise.”

My mouth dropped open. I had just told her I walked three miles a day, did HIIT training three times a week and ate healthy. “What? These symptoms aren't normal. You aren't even going to order labs?”

She smiled at me “Sure I can order some labs and if you want a diuretic I can order that but you are getting older and these things are part of aging.”

Maybe, but maybe not and didn't it warrant some investigation into the root cause?

If you’ve ever felt like your symptoms were dismissed, your gut instincts ignored, or your emotional experience was treated as irrelevant to your physical health, you’re not imagining things. You’re feeling the ripple effects of a very old story.

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The Legacy of Separation

In the 1600s, philosopher René Descartes proposed an idea that would shape Western medicine for centuries: the mind and the body are separate. His theory, now known as Cartesian dualism, helped scientists study the human body without interference from religious authorities who viewed the soul as sacred and untouchable.

It was a helpful move at the time. But this mind-body split became deeply embedded in how we approach healthcare today.

The body became a machine. Something to be fixed. Symptoms became mechanical malfunctions. Emotions, energy, and intuition? Not relevant.

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When the Body Is Treated Like a Car

This approach still lives on in Western medicine. You have a symptom, and it’s met with:

• A pill to suppress it,(and then another to suppress the side effects of that one)
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• An attribution to aging if your over fifty or unknown hormonal influences if you're a woman
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• A polite dismissal if nothing shows up in the labs.
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There’s rarely space for questions like:

• What might your body be processing?
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• Is there unspoken grief in your chest pain?
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• Could chronic fatigue be a signal, not a failure?
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We don’t ask these questions because we’re taught to see the body in isolation from the rest of us.

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Why This Hits Women Hardest

Women’s bodies have long been pathologized. Branded as too emotional, too complicated, too mysterious. Let’s not forget the diagnosis of “hysteria,” which persisted in medical texts well into the 20th century. Couple that with the lack of deep understanding of hormonal influences and it’s a recipe for disaster.

Even now, studies show:

• Women wait longer for pain medication in ERs.
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• They’re more likely to be told their symptoms are psychological.
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• And they’re less likely to be referred to specialists, even when presenting the same symptoms as men.
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If you’ve ever walked out of an appointment feeling unseen, unheard, or doubting yourself, you’re not alone.

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The Science (and Spirit) of Reconnection

Here’s what excites me: we now have research that supports what many of us have felt all along.

Mind-body approaches are no longer fringe:

• Epigenetics shows that our beliefs, environment, and stressors influence gene expression.
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• Psychoneuroimmunology explores how the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems talk to each other.
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• Placebo research proves that the expectation of healing can trigger real physiological changes or what I refer to as the innate healing response.
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And emerging research on biofield science and energy healing is beginning to map what ancient systems have long understood,that energy, intention, and awareness shape our health.

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Healing as Wholeness

Aging in a disconnected system often feels like a slow fade, less energy, less relevance, less control. But what if aging could be a reconnection?

A return to wholeness, rather than a falling apart.

Your body isn’t separate from your beliefs. Your energy isn’t irrelevant. Your intuition isn’t a side note. You are one holistic, wise, complex integrated system.

Healing begins when you listen to what’s been whispering underneath the noise. Often the place to start is in the quiet of those moments, that are increasingly rare in this busy noisy life we live.

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Reflection

Here is a good place to start.

Where have you felt a disconnect between your body and the care you’ve received?
What would it look like to reconnect, to treat your body as part of the whole rather than an isolated symptom machine?

Reply and share, or sit with the questions in your journal. This is the work of reconnecting with your own wisdom, body, mind, and spirit.

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Be Inspired,

Cathy

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P.S. I've been working on a course on longevity for women to start in the fall (click here if you want to be on the early notification list).

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