It is rightly said that our brain is our own inhabitant physician - gifted with the ability to 'write' prescriptions for our mind and body in health and illness. This is, first and foremost, the reason why scientists, and not just philosophers, observe that when we understand the power of our mind and its colossal talent to work for us, or against us, one would no longer fritter away precious time, or point the accusing finger on superfluous factors, such as a colleague, boss, genes, microbes, pollution, excess stress, illness, disease, lack of good physique, or compromised immunity. Our mind not only functions through our brain and nervous system, but also creates and propels thoughts and converts them into electrical impulses. Such impulses travel through countless nerves distributed to every organ and tissue of our body, just like electricity through wires that lights up our home. Our electrical impulses, likewise, stimulate specific nerves to 'direct' the muscles in our arm - for example, to move, or contract. This sequence relates to our voluntary nervous system, because the movement is of our own accord brought into action by our own conscious thinking. There's yet another aspect of our nervous system, called the involuntary nervous system, or autonomic nervous system. This is more extensive in its distribution and powerful in its authority over our body's internal environment. It regulates a host of key biological functions, viz., heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, digestive processes, sweating, vision, and elimination of waste products, among others. The autonomic nervous system encompasses the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. The former is responsible for the 'fight-or-flight' response, which is triggered by thoughts of fear, worry, anxiety, anger, and panic. It helps you to tide over crises and also 'restrains' certain activities of our healing system. Prolonged periods of anxiety, stress, and fear can harm our mind and body, especially when our healing system is overloaded with negativity. The parasympathetic framework is endowed with balance - you may call it 'counter-balance' too to offset the 'fight-or-flight' response and bring about a relaxing effect on our body. You may connect the parasympathetic scaffold to rest, relaxation, repair, regeneration, and healing. Just thinking of relaxation, meditation, peace, love, serenity, harmony, and tranquillity, can activate the parasympathetic system - this illustrates yet another exemplar of the impact of the mind and positive thinking on our body. Research suggests that our brain can process 700-800 thoughts each minute - just think of the enormous impact your thinking and mental activity can have on your mind and the health of your body. It suggests, no less, that your mind and body are connected and 'swing' each other. This relationship also affects our health. When you are happy, emotionally balanced, and socially well-adjusted, you have better inner and outer health. Research at Washington University School of Medicine suggests that our brain and our body are not separate. As senior author Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, explained, 'What we've found is that an immune molecule - IL-17 -produced by immune cells, residing in areas around the brain, could affect brain function through interactions with neurons and influence anxiety-like behaviours in mice. We're now looking into whether too much, or too little, of IL-17 could be linked to anxiety in people.' Picture this. When you are depressed, you will not be able to eat well, relax, or exercise - it affects your cardiovascular system. It also leads to weight gain as a result of indolence and illness, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and so on. In other words, when negative energy envelops our mind, it has a cascading 'downbeat' effect on our internal healing systems. Your mind is to your body what your body is to your mind. When you feel physically fit, consume nutritious food, get adequate sleep, or rest, and feel relaxed, your mental and emotional faculties will be at their peak - you wear your positive attitude, and your outlook to life, as a result, is vibrant, motivated and animated. The effect is just the opposite when you have illness, such as depression, thyroid dysfunction, nutritional imbalance, and insomnia, or sleeplessness, for whatever reason. You are, as a result, prone to recurrent allergies too. What's more, just an odd, infrequent flu can make you feel 'stumpy.' This could affect your mind-set. It goes without saying that our healing and immune systems are decidedly different, and they also have certain similarities. One similarity is that they are affected by your thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and activities of your mind. One major myth that has gone bust is 'what goes on in the mind' has absolutely nothing to do with 'what goes on in the body' - a legacy that had dominated medical teachings for hundreds of years. There was also, for another, the much-believed, erroneous belief that the immune system functioned entirely autonomous of the brain. There is now indisputable corroboration that our mind 'speaks' directly to our immune system in the following manner: 1) specialised receptor sites for neurotransmitters exist on specific white blood cells (WBCs), or 'soldiers of health;' 2) tiny nerves connected to lymph nodes provide tangible evidence that the immune system and lymph nodes that contain white blood cells are directly connected to the nervous system and the brain; and, 3) powerful hormones are produced and secreted by specific white blood cells. This substantiates the principle that our immune system 'speaks' to the endocrine system and directly participates in one's emotional experience. This lends credible, also tangible, scientific weight to what our legendary physicians, viz., Susruta, Hippocrates, Samuel Hahnemann, and several others, had observed - that a positive mental and emotional state holds the key to our mind-body's ability, and vice versa, and to healing itself from the inside out. Nidamboor is a wellness physician, independent researcher and author