Hello and welcome to the Bridgetown Daily from Monday, March 8th.

I'm Tristan Collins and if we haven't met yet, I'm a therapist, life coach and adjunct

professor at Mollome University.

Over the past 15 years, I have been working with adults who want to heal from trauma.

Here's one thing I've noticed that often gets overlooked.

When people are dealing with psychological and or spiritual problems, the important role

of our physical bodies often gets ignored.

While emotions and thoughts might feel disconnected from our bodies, in reality, they are interconnected

and can't be separated.

If you have been around Bridgetown for a while, you have likely heard from the leadership

that you don't just have a body, you are a body.

This means that we aren't merely souls trapped in a body waiting to be released.

Scripture reveals that our body is a crucial part of being human.

God designed us as embodied creatures and views it as good.

Here's what I've learned from Hebrew scholar Tim Mackey.

The Hebrew word nefesh is often translated as soul.

In modern English, the word soul is often loaded with meaning that comes from ancient Greek

philosophy.

The ancient Greeks viewed the soul as a non-physical entity trapped in a human body.

In contrast, the Hebrew word nefesh doesn't imply a separation from our soul and body.

Rather, the word nefesh is a way to talk about the whole person as the center of our embodied

existence.

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