Formosa Neijia

This article in the NYT lays out the connection by discussing migraines and how one man learned to deal with his.

The truth is that separating neurological from psychiatric problems is often artificial, as is the old and stubborn distinction between psyche and soma. All human states, including anger, fear, sadness, and joy are of the body. They have neurobiological correlates, as researchers in the field would say. What we often think of as purely psychological, how we regard an illness, for example, is important. Our thoughts, attitudes, even our metaphors create physiological changes in us, which in the case of headaches can mean the difference between misery and managing. Research has shown that psychotherapy can create therapeutic brain changes, an increase of activity in the pre-frontal cortex, the “executive” part of our mind organ. Yes, just talking and listening can make you better.

It’s a good thing that others are catching on to the mind-body connection. Treating one without treating the other may not lead to healing. This perspective also opens up possibilities for the IMA to be used as a type of medicine.
For example, people often ask how xingyi’s five elements correspond to the body internally. The second sentence in the quote above gives a strong hint about what those elements mean in terms of neigong. Those emotions manifest themselves physically, and the five elements help dissolve those emotions.

There’s a ghost in the machine. It’s about time those of us in the West woke up to this.