- james morgan
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
The healing process in the human body is largely unconscious. It happens without our needing to think about it—cells regenerate, wounds close, inflammation rises and falls, and the immune system works silently in the background. But this raises a compelling question:
Can we make the healing process conscious?
The answer is both yes and no.
The Unconscious Nature of Healing
Most of the body’s healing mechanisms operate under the control of the autonomic nervous system, which manages processes like:
Tissue repair
Hormonal balance
Immune responses
Pain modulation
Inflammation resolution
These actions happen automatically, without our conscious awareness. In that sense, healing is involuntary. But just because it happens automatically doesn’t mean we’re powerless in the process.
Conscious Participation in Healing
While we can’t command our cells to divide or our tissues to regenerate on demand, we can consciously influence the environment in which healing occurs. Here are four ways this happens:
1. Developing Interoceptive Awareness
Interoception is our ability to feel and sense what’s happening inside the body. Through mindful practices like:
John F. Barnes Myofascial Release (JFB-MFR)
Somatic meditation
Yoga or breathwork
Body scanning and tracking sensations
we begin to notice where we hold tension, pain, or restriction. As we bring these sensations into consciousness, we create space for release and reorganization. This is where unconscious holding patterns can begin to shift.
“What is unconscious can begin to heal the moment it is brought into awareness.”
2. Regulating the Nervous System
Healing thrives in a parasympathetic state—the “rest, digest, and repair” mode. Yet many of us live chronically in “fight or flight,” driven by stress, trauma, and modern lifestyles.
By consciously engaging in calming practices—like deep breathing, grounding, or therapeutic touch—we can shift the nervous system into a healing state. This invites the body to repair more deeply and efficiently.
3. Harnessing the Power of Intention and Belief
The placebo effect isn’t just “in your head”—it’s a real demonstration of how belief affects physiology. Our thoughts and emotions impact:
Immune function
Hormonal levels
Pain perception
Inflammatory markers
Visualization, affirmation, and focused intention activate pathways in the brain that influence bodily responses. In this way, conscious thought becomes a partner to unconscious biology.
4. Releasing Somatic Memory
Fascia—the body’s connective tissue matrix—is believed to store unconscious emotional and physical trauma. Through approaches like JFB-MFR, these stored patterns can rise to the surface, often accompanied by memory, emotion, or insight.
Once we become conscious of these patterns, we can process and release them—allowing the body to reorganize itself more freely and completely.
Conscious Healing Is Co-Creation
To make healing conscious is not to control it, but to collaborate with it. It's a process of listening, observing, feeling, and trusting.
“The body speaks what the mind cannot. When we listen deeply, healing becomes not just something that happens to us, but something we co-create.”
At Key City Myofascial Release, we create space for this co-creation to happen—where unconscious tension becomes conscious awareness, and healing is allowed to unfold with presence, trust, and compassion.
Begin participating in your healing by booking your first session at Key City Myofascial Release today!!
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