The movie The King’s Speech depicts the Duke of York’s suffering as a result of a deeply embarrassing stutter.
Mistakenly believing that it was a physical condition, the Duke went from doctor to doctor, but none was able to cure it. Interestingly, one of the doctors advised him to smoke to calm his nerves, but that ultimately caused him even more turmoil.
Finally, he went to a speech therapist with no credentials at all, but who forced him to get to the root of what caused the stutter. At first the Duke resisted with a flaring temper, but gradually he saw that the only way he was going to cure it was to undergo a painful process of facing his demons.
In yoga class this past week, the teacher asked, “If you dated your mind, how long would you be in that relationship?”
The sad fact for most of us is that we probably wouldn’t last very long. This disharmony within us is causing us to live in unfulfilling relationships, abuse our bodies, make poor decisions (and/or live in indecisiveness) and undergo physical illnesses.
Sadly, we prefer to live with the “familiarity” of the painful patterns we’ve developed than to undergo the difficult process of freeing ourselves from our hurtful pasts.
The key is to find the space and develop mindfulness whether it be through a yoga and/or meditation practice, therapy, walks in the woods or on the beach, writing and/or doing a cleanse.
Perhaps getting to the emotional root of the illness can help alleviate the illness.
