Today is another travel day, which is becoming one of the redundant phrases in this blog. I’m flying cross-country from Florida to Phoenix today, so I’m going to use this occasion to finish up some thoughts about my weekend in Oklahoma City.

One of nice things that happened was getting to spend some time with Victory Christian’s pastor, Mark Crow, and his wife, Jennifer, who are becoming fast friends. I met Mark and Jennifer at the Integrity Leadership Ministries meeting last year in Scottsdale, Arizona. Every year, Integrity Leadership Ministries brings together a group of pastors for renewal and refreshment in the Arizona desert. I was one of four speakers at the event last year; one of the other speakers was Joel Osteen, pastor the mega-mega Lakewood Church in Houston as well as author of several best-selling books, including Your Best Life Now. I enjoyed meeting Joel and his wife, Victoria, but I digress.

In Scottsdale, Jennifer described her battled with autoimmune thyroiditis (AT), also known as Hashimoto’s disease. This affliction is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the thyroid gland that is caused by abnormal blood antibodies and white blood cells that mistakenly attack and damage healthy thyroid cells. It is a progressive disease that may destroy the thyroid gland, causing thyroid hormone deficiency. Autoimmune thyroiditis presents with various combinations of symptoms, making diagnosis difficult. This disease can occur at any age, but is most often seen in middle-aged women.

Jennifer said that with being involved so much in a growing, thriving church along with raising five kids, this was a tough disease to deal with. What restored her health was prayer and using an emotional health system called “The Healing Codes” that was created by Alex Loyd, Ph.D., and Ben Johnson, M.D.
Intrigued, I was determined to learn more about the Healing Codes, so I contacted Alex Loyd, who told me more about this area of emotional health as well as how the Healing Codes exercise was performed. The mind-body connection has always fascinated me.

Dr. Loyd believes that the area of emotional health could be the missing link to helping  you reach your perfect weight. Many overweight people think something has gone haywire in their bodies, or that something’s not working the way it is supposed to work, or they are reacting to foods in ways that they shouldn’t react. They are looking for the one magical diet.

I asked Dr. Loyd if he could share “The Healing Codes” exercise with readers of Perfect Weight America. He quickly agreed, and in an introduction, he wrote, “If you ask anybody who has a weight problem, ‘Is this an issue for you?’ every one of them will reply, ‘Absolutely.’ A vast majority will confide that it’s the biggest issue of their lives. Well, according to Solomon, issues of the heart are the source of 100 percent of our problems. Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.”

In other words, your issue with being overweight does not originate with your body’s thyroid or the health of your endocrine system or how fast your body metabolizes fat—they originate with issues of the heart. If we can fix the issues of the heart, we can fix just about any problem we have. “Very often, when you heal the underlying issues of the heart, not only do you feel better emotionally, but your physical systems also start to work the way they should,” said Dr. Loyd. “The Healing Codes can help you deal with the issues of the heart, and when that happens, the hypothalamus will turn off the stress switch. The immune system will come back up, the systems of the body will start doing what they were designed to do, and the cells will start functioning properly the way nutrition and metabolism are concerned.”

Drs. Loyd and Johnson created the following Healing Codes exercise to help you work on and improve the issues of the heart. They recommend that you try this exercise early in the morning before you start your day. They allowed me to publish the Healing Codes exercise in Perfect Weight America, which I’m reprinting here. If you have emotional issues that need working on—and who doesn’t—give the following exercise a try.

The Healing Codes Exercise

1. Focus on your overall stress level related to your weight, and rate it from 0 to 10, with 10 being highest. Your first thought should be: “How much does this [the issue in your life] bother me?” When you think about this stressful situation, what feelings, emotions, or thoughts do you feel? Are they anger, frustration, irritation, or a feeling that life is never going to change? When you think about this issue, where do you feel it in your body? What do you feel—pain, heaviness, flutter, or pressure?
2. Place your hands one on top of the other, with your right palm over your belly button and your left palm over the back of your right hand.
3. Focus on the stress you want to leave your body—physical, emotional, or spiritual.
4. Do power breathing for ten seconds. Breathe rapid and powerful “belly breaths” in and out. Forcefully blow out and suck in through your mouth, using your diaphragm so your belly moves out as you breathe in and moves in as you breathe out. If you feel a little lightheaded, breathe the same way, but reduce the intensity.
5. Leave your right hand over your belly button and move your left hand over your heart as you relax for fifty seconds. Think or say “stress out” while you focus on the stress leaving your body. If you like, you can also visualize stress leaving your body as you relax and think or say “stress out.”
6. Move your left hand back on top of your right hand over your belly button.
7. Focus on physical, emotional, or spiritual peace.
8. Do power breathing for ten seconds. Breathe rapid and powerful “belly breaths” in and out. Forcefully blow out and suck in through your mouth, using your diaphragm so your belly moves out as you breathe in and moves in as you breathe out. If you feel a little lightheaded, breathe the same way, but reduce the intensity.
9. Leave your right hand over your belly button and move your left hand over your heart as you relax for fifty seconds. Think or say “peace” while you focus on peace entering your body. If you like, while you say “peace,” imagine peace flowing into your body from God or visualize a peaceful scene that calms and strengthens you.
10. Re-rate your overall stress level from 0 to 10, as you did in step 1.
11. Re-rate your overall stress level ten minutes later.
12. Do another Healing Codes exercise if your stress level is still at 4 or above.