Gastritis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, which comes into direct contact with what we eat.

Burning is generally the perceived symptom. An internal fire that often weakens us so much that we can't even drink a glass of water.

The fire we have inside is precisely the symbol that can illuminate us about the meaning of gastritis and why it occurs.

Read also Chronic gastritis, what to eat >>

The Stomach, the great alchemist

In our stomach physiologically a very important process of food digestion, splitting and selection of nutrients takes place which are then absorbed and directed to other systems.

The stomach then carries out an alchemical separation operation, of the heavy from the light, of the small from the big, of the necessary from the waste.

Let's think about a complete meal consisting of appetizer, first course, side dish, fruit, dessert, drinks ... help! Our stomach must activate all its energies to sort out, synthesize, select, digest different kinds of foods, with principles, nutritious enzymes that have different times and combinations. It is a job that requires a lot of effort, which draws blood, which is why after such rich meals we feel tired and feel a slight decrease in body temperature.

Analogously, what we introject to a more subtle level, such as worries, emotions, anxieties, anger, disappointment, stress, finds the stomach as its own target organ and if we have not integrated, accepted, digested what we have experienced or suffered, they can manifest themselves disorders at this level of a psychosomatic nature.

So the discomforts of the stomach, the great alchemist of our organism, generally indicate a condition of repression of an emotion, something not expressed, not said, not allowed to flow freely. This condition of "non-digestion" of emotion leads to a psychophysical conflict: our mind mirrors the disagreement on the body and lights up a symptom in the reference organ.

Gastritis: a fatuous fire

Heartburn, gastric reflux, difficulty digesting can be generated by a tendency to brood thoughts, not to express explicitly what one feels. Even the difficulties of adaptation, of acceptance, as a bitter pill that goes neither up nor down are sources of irritation. And gastritis is a fire that burns in our stomach, closes it, prevents us from eating, from digesting.

Excessive acid production is a way to try to burn, to eliminate the problem, but in reality it is an increase in a sort of vicious circle of the sense of repression and discomfort.

So how can we get out of this closed path? We are looking for an outlet valve, a way to dampen the fire we have inside, an activity that interrupts the flow of brooding, which directs thought elsewhere.

Physical activity can be a channel of modulation : running, walking, dedicating time to outdoor exercises renews tissue oxygenation, opens the mind, distracts thought, and gives free rein to repressed, restrained emotions. In fact, in the case of anxiety gastritis, some buffer remedies are ineffective and different reading keys must be found to deal with the discomfort, which can work in an integrated and synergistic manner.

Let us always remember that man is a harmonious whole of body, mind and emotion, and these elements are linked at a chemical, physical and spiritual level.

Where a trauma arises a disharmony is created that affects the other levels and manifests itself over time. We have many tools at our disposal to activate our well-being, we just have to learn to listen to our being in its complexity.