The Real Medicine of Life

Part 2 of 3: Healing the Frame of Reference

When we talk about disease, most people want to talk about symptoms.

The diagnosis.

The label.

But the body isn’t just expressing itself in physical symptoms.

It’s revealing information.

For example, in Zhineng Qigong, qi is considered information. And in your shoulder pain, this ‘information’ can be transformed from painful to not painful (or less painful).

For that to shift to happen, we have to understand at a very deep level that a) every thought, every feeling, every belief has an impact on our body and b) other bodies around us.

Thoughts are felt in the body. This isn’t an abstract notion.

An Exercise

Let’s test it out with a simple two-part exercise:

Part 1:

For the next minute, think about a situation that you find really troublesome, personally or professionally. Think about the people involved, what they’re saying, where are they, the sound of their voice. Got someone? Now, write down what you notice about your body as you think about these details. Write down where you feel it, i.e. my chest feels heavy, or I’m feeling tightness in my abdomen.

Part 2:

Now, think about a person or a place you absolutely adore. Think of their face, where you last saw them, what did you talk about, were you laughing, etc. Write down how your body feels now. Are the symptoms in the part 1 exercise still there? What sensations do you feel and where? Do you feel a bit or a lot more spacious, less tightness in the shoulder or abdomen?

How did you create the first body in Part 1?

And then, shift from that body into the second body in Part 2?

From the upset body to the ‘adoration body’?

You did that. With your thoughts. Amazing!

When we learn deeply (beyond this simple exercise) that the part of the information in our illness, our pain, can be shifted in being more aware of how we think, we are able to change the information of the pain.

Mediation cultures practice this.

And eventually, the issue that always arises is this: You can’t spend one hour a day doing meditation or qigong (or acupuncture or any of the ancient arts) then spend the next sixteen hours in argument, anxiety, or resentment, and expect root level, deep change.

Your body can’t heal at the root level while thinking thoughts filled with distrust, fear or hate.

That’s not alignment. That’s contradiction.

And in contradiction, the best you can do is manage the symptoms.

When I work with clients, I often see that the disease state isn’t in the physical body. It’s in what we (in Zhieng qigong) call their frame of reference.

Our minds…tell stories:

I can’t trust my body.

I can’t trust life.

Someone else knows more than me.

And there are people we should have in our community to support us!

Over-reliance on others, that’s when the separation begins. We hand over our power to authority and forget that we are life itself. That we are the key on how to heal.

Western medicine helps us stay alive. But to truly recover, I say we have to transform the information that created the imbalance in the first place.

And because our culture often reduces deep work to slogans, this can get mistaken for positive thinking or bypassing.

This is not that.

Recovery asks for honest engagement with how you think about your life and your body. Ignoring this truth blocks real recovery.

Our conditioning pushes us toward either spiritual bypass or emotional rehashing. Neither creates change.

Talking about what is wrong and replaying old pain keeps the same information circulating through the body.

New patterns arise through presence, curiosity, and steadiness.

Your body responds to the quality of your attention.

Your system reorganizes through truthful awareness and consistent choice.

Qi flows where attention goes.

What you focus on expands.

In other indigenous cultures, i.e., Tzʼutujil Mayan before colonization knew in their initiation ceremonies that the mind was incredibly powerful and needed to be strengthened and honed, not just for their health but for the health and ongoing existence of their community.

Expanding the Conversation
We need to also engage with what’s good. What’s working. What excites us. What makes us feel alive.

Healing requires consistency, not intensity.

You don’t have to abandon western treatments or stop taking western medication. Always keep what you trust.

But commit to not identifying with the disease. See the story and be curious, which means give yourself room speculate what else could be going on.

This is what real transformation looks like. You begin to see that you are not your pain, disease, or your feelings. You’re not the trauma.

As you quiet the mind, take your focus off what’s bothering you, qi starts to move again. Then the body is able to receive new information. The story shifts.

When the frame of reference changes, so does the health of your body, your business, and your relationships.
The flow of qi is the flow of life.

In Part 3, we’ll look at how to work with reactivity and discomfort in real time, using them as doorways to deeper intelligence rather than proof that something’s wrong.