Beyond Mind-Body: Remembering Ourselves as Living Systems

The Season of Sickness (and Resistance)

It’s fall in the Northern Hemisphere – and everywhere I look, people are getting sick.

Clients, colleagues, friends – all describing the same tug-of-war:

“I’m trying to keep it at bay.”

“I can’t believe I got sick again.”

“You seem to take good care of yourself – any ideas on how to shorten the half-life of this thing?”

These words carry a familiar subtext: I don’t want to slow down. I don’t want to need rest.

And I get it.

In a culture that rewards constancy and output, illness feels like failure.

But here’s the paradox: if you want to heal, you have to let yourself be sick. Healing is not the absence of sickness – it’s the process born through it.

Your body isn’t broken; it’s initiating an upgrade.

When You’re Sick – Be Sick

Real talk: your body cannot heal if you don’t fully acknowledge and act in accordance with the very neutral reality that it’s sick.

Healing is growth. Growth is a response to sickness. The two go hand in hand.

First, you have to stop.

Get your butt in bed.

Be still.

You may be physically and emotionally uncomfortable – but that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong, and it certainly doesn’t make you less worthy.

When you let yourself be sick, something shifts. Your system stops fighting against reality and starts working with it. Now, the growth begins.

Biological Genius: What’s Really Happening When You Rest

When you surrender to rest, your body reassigns resources toward immune function – building antibodies, clearing waste, and strengthening your long-term resilience.

In that quiet space, the non-physical elements of healing happen. You start to feel what you actually need, and make the choices your body knows are right.

Maybe it’s deep hydration, lymphatic massage, or simply saying no to screens… the key is less about which choice but more about what is the energy driving your exploration. Is it trusting the information of your direct experience, or battling with your body? 

That difference changes everything - in illness, and after.

The Emotional, Intuitive and Relational Medicine of Illness

When you stop resisting your body, you start to resource connection in new, generative ways.

You might notice:

“Oh crap, I feel lousy. I really need help.”

And in reaching out – to a friend, a neighbor, a colleague – you create new pathways of vulnerability, care, and mutual support.

You might set a boundary at work instead of overcommitting and falling behind, setting a precedent for human-centered action and accountability.

Illness teaches interdependence. It shows us where we need others, and where systems around us need to evolve to honor the cycles of life.

What may take shape as clarity on your physical and emotional needs - later, integrate as deepened connection to your inner vision. 

The Cost of Pushing Through

Life is long, and cyclical by design.

You were made to be robust and vital all the way to the end – and that includes the downtempo phases:illness in the cold seasons, grief after death, postpartum after birth.

These aren’t interruptions to your productivity – they are the wisdom embedded in your biology.

The invitation is to stop treating rest, illness, or recovery as something to “get through.” Instead, see them as medicine. As teachers. As seasons that expand your capacity to lead and live with integrity.

Every time you surrender to the body’s intelligence – when you rest instead of resist – you expand your ability to hold life, to listen, and to grow.

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If you’re a leader navigating the balance between output and regeneration – between drive and surrender – this is your reminder: wholeness, not endurance, is the true mark of vitality.

Ready to learn how to partner with your embodied intelligence in new ways – in illness, and beyond? Let’s explore how I can support your Awakening Leadership Journey.

Schedule a discovery call today