The Body as a Temple: What Guatemala Taught Me About Rest and Renewal
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” — Mark 6:31 (NIV)
When the Body Speaks
I returned from Guatemala in the early hours of Monday morning, just before sunrise in Virginia, after three incredible days in Antigua. The trip was nothing short of life-changing. I did not go merely as a tourist but to minister and serve others, sharing hope and encouragement through my own story. The experience was beautiful, restorative, and full of awe. Yet when I came home, I felt more fatigued than I ever have in my life. It was not the kind of tired that sleep alone could fix. My body was sore and heavy, but my mind also felt foggy, unbalanced, and disconnected from its usual rhythm.
I allowed myself to rest completely. This morning in therapy, I told my therapist how strange that exhaustion felt, and she reminded me that mental and physical fatigue often overlap. When the mind and body fall out of sync, we lose our natural rhythm. She suggested I visit Dr. Amarildo Spirollari, my chiropractor, one of the trusted tools in my healing toolbox, built over time through experience, prayer, and guidance.
This was not my first visit, but it served as a powerful reminder that the body truly is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the one vessel God gives us to carry His purpose. Part of my ongoing work is bridging the gap between science and faith because many still see them as opposites. To me, they are inseparable. Understanding how the body works only deepens my awe of the Creator who designed it.
The Hidden Fatigue Behind Doing Good
Even when we are serving God, walking in our calling, and pouring into others, we can still find ourselves completely exhausted. I experienced this firsthand during my trip to Guatemala, where I went to minister and serve. Sometimes that fatigue is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. Sometimes it is spiritual. Wherever it begins, that kind of depletion can cloud the heart and mind if we do not pause to realign. When our hearts run on empty, even love can lose its gentleness. We begin giving from strain instead of overflow.
In Mark 6:31, Jesus said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Even those who walked closest to Him needed time to pause and recover. Rest is not weakness; it is obedience. It allows God to refill what has been poured out. During times of stress, the body releases adrenaline and cortisol to help us focus and endure, but when we live in that state too long, those same hormones begin to drain creativity, dull focus, and heighten irritability. That is why we sometimes find ourselves frustrated, not because we have stopped caring, but because we have been giving without refilling.
Rest is how we reset the body, the heart, and the spirit. God entrusted each of us with one vehicle: the body. It is not a car we can trade in but the vessel that carries His purpose throughout our lifetime. Our bodies grow with us, shelter us in youth, and sustain us with age. God invested His power and creativity into this design, but He can only work through us as long as our vehicle is cared for. When we ignore the warning lights of fatigue, frustration, and pain, we risk cutting short what He wants to do through us. Caring for the body is not vanity. It is stewardship. We cannot pour from an empty cup, and we cannot drive on an empty tank.
A Journey That Pushed Me to My Limits
I spent only three days in Antigua, Guatemala, but I made every hour count. From the moment I landed, I went nonstop. I had arranged my flights to maximize time there, not rest, which meant my body never truly caught up. Sleep was scarce, and between the Houston layover, the constant walking through airports, and the mental fatigue of travel, I arrived already running on fumes. Still, I pushed through. I wandered the cobblestone streets beneath the Arco de Santa Catalina, climbed to Cerro de la Cruz for sweeping views of the city and surrounding volcanoes, and explored hauntingly beautiful ruins like the Catedral de Santiago and the Convento de Santa Clara. Every turn felt like stepping into another century, alive with history, color, and faith.
The most exhilarating and exhausting part of the trip was Altamira. I hiked the entire trail and rode the Bicicable Antigua, a bike cable suspended nearly one thousand feet above the ground. The Altamira Route, about 1.37 miles long, wound through rugged hills, steep climbs, and uneven paths that tested every muscle in my body. The heat and humidity were intense, especially after leaving Virginia, where the temperatures had been nearly half of what they were in Guatemala. The sudden change made the physical strain even greater. The mix of heat, altitude, and adrenaline made the route feel twice as long, yet the views were so breathtaking it was impossible to stop.
By the end of those seventy-two hours, I was drained in every way. My body had nothing left to give. When I returned home, I needed nearly a full day of uninterrupted rest, and even then, the fatigue lingered in every muscle. A visit to my chiropractor finally helped me reset. It was more than a trip. It was a test of endurance, faith, and balance. Antigua reminded me that beauty often requires effort and that sometimes the body must rest before the soul can take it all in.
Divine Alignment
Science calls it the circadian rhythm, the 24-hour clock tied to sunlight and rest. When morning light reaches our eyes, the brain releases cortisol for energy. When darkness comes, it releases melatonin for repair. God designed the human body to follow His creation: day and night, work and rest. When we ignore that rhythm, we confuse our systems. When we honor it, we align with divine order. He did not just tell us to rest; He programmed rest into our design.
During my trip to Guatemala, that rhythm was completely thrown off. Long flights, layovers, and constant movement left little time for sleep. Normally, I wake up around 6 a.m. and wind down by 10 p.m., a routine that anchors my mental clarity and emotional balance. Without it, my brain felt foggy and disoriented. That is what happens when the body loses its cues. In therapy this morning, I shared how deeply that exhaustion lingered, and my therapist reminded me that sometimes the best way to realign the mind is to reset the body. She suggested I visit my chiropractor, and she was right. Chiropractic care is not only about bones; it is about restoring the body’s communication system. When the spine is misaligned, the signals between brain and body are disrupted. An adjustment helps release blocked energy, reduce tension, and restore natural flow.
I first turned to chiropractic care as a complement to trauma and energy-based therapy, and I was skeptical at first. My experience with Dr. A at Chiropractic Solutions completely changed that. Thankfully, he was able to see me this morning. After the adjustment, my focus sharpened, my energy lifted, and it felt as though my body and spirit had synced again with God’s rhythm. For anyone dealing with stress, trauma, or nervous system dysregulation, Dr. A sees the whole person, not just the spine. His care integrates mind, body, and spirit, grounded in empathy and faith. He listens without judgment and treats every story with respect. His approach is holistic, compassionate, and quietly spiritual. Dr. A is not just a chiropractor; he is a healer in every sense of the word.
The Science and the Energy
The spine protects the central nervous system, the communication highway between brain and body. When alignment is off, those neural messages are disrupted, creating tension, inflammation, or emotional stress. A chiropractic adjustment helps restore balance and flow, both electrical and spiritual. From a medical standpoint, the energy flowing through the body is the electrical signaling of the nervous system, constantly sending and receiving messages that regulate everything from heartbeat to hormone balance. For someone living with bipolar disorder, those signals can become especially sensitive. The body’s stress response, energy cycles, and sleep rhythms are all closely tied to brain chemistry, which means exhaustion can hit harder and recovery can take longer.
This trip to Guatemala was the most ambitious I have ever taken, both physically and emotionally. Traveling alone, shifting from one culture and rhythm to another, and constantly being in motion placed my mind and body under a level of stimulation that most people might simply call tired, but for me it felt much deeper. My body was not just fatigued; it was dysregulated. My brain chemistry was trying to recalibrate while my nervous system struggled to find balance.
That is why, when I feel that foggy disconnection, I have learned to see it not as failure but as information, a message from my body that I need to realign. The adjustment today was more than a physical treatment. It was a reset. By releasing the tension that builds along the spine, the chiropractic work helped my nervous system communicate more freely with my brain, allowing both my mood and my focus to stabilize again. From a faith standpoint, that same energy is the breath of life that animates us, the divine current God placed within every cell. Each time I leave Dr. A’s office, I feel lighter, my thoughts clearer, and my spirit re-centered, as though my internal vehicle has been tuned back to factory settings. Science explains how my body finds balance. Faith reminds me who designed it to heal in the first place.
Faith and Science: A Both-And Journey
Some believers feel uneasy when science or energy enter the same conversation as faith, but they are not opposites. They are partners. Scripture teaches that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, fearfully and wonderfully made. Every neuron and hormone reflects divine design. Caring for our mental and physical health does not deny faith; it honors it. Medicine, therapy, and chiropractic care are all tools God provides for wholeness. When I hear the soft pops and shifts during an adjustment, I am reminded that every joint and neuron works in harmony, a living testimony of God’s engineering. Science explains how. Faith reminds me why.
Over time, I have learned that this conversation can make people uncomfortable. My work, now shared in twenty-four countries, has shown me how divided people can be on this topic. Some say healing comes only through prayer. Others insist it comes only through science, therapy, or energy. The truth is that it is both. For my generation especially, I want to make this clear: embracing the science behind how our bodies and minds work does not replace God. It reveals His brilliance. For those rooted in traditional faith, integrating medical understanding does not weaken prayer; it deepens it. The more I grow in this journey, the more convinced I am that God works through both the natural and the supernatural. Faith opens the heart. Science helps us understand the masterpiece. Together, they bring healing that lasts.
This truth connects deeply with Mark 6:31, where Jesus said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” When our hearts and minds are aligned with God’s design, we recognize that rest is not a pause from purpose but part of it. In stillness, we make space for renewal, clarity, and the restoration that allows us to keep giving from a place of overflow rather than exhaustion.
Holistic Health: Think Well, Move Well, Eat Well, Sleep Well
Dr. A’s office walls display four guiding principles that mirror the wholeness God designed into us. They are more than acronyms. They are daily rhythms for living intentionally.
(I will expand on these four guiding principles in a later Pillar Post.)
Think Well — S.M.I.L.E.
S – Substitute control for cooperation
M – Make someone else’s day
I – Imagine the impossible and create it
L – Live and let live
E – Expect to be happy
Move Well — D.A.N.C.E.
D – Develop an active lifestyle
A – Alignment improves structure and performance
N – Nature offers plenty of opportunities to move
C – Cure a bad mood with a workout
E – Exercise daily
Eat Well — E.N.J.O.Y.
E – Eat lots of vegetables
N – Nuts and seeds are your friends
J – Just say no to sugar
O – Order essential supplements
Y – Yearn for the health you deserve
Sleep Well — D.R.E.A.M.
D – Dark, quiet rooms work the best
R – Replace your mattress every five years
E – Eat early in the evening
A – Allow for seven hours of sleep
M – Maintain a regular sleep schedule
These four rhythms, S.M.I.L.E., D.A.N.C.E., E.N.J.O.Y., and D.R.E.A.M., remind us that healing happens when we cooperate with God’s design and honor the vehicle He has entrusted to us. They are more than simple acronyms. They represent a lifestyle of alignment with how God created the human body to function. Each one touches a different area of wellness, including mental, physical, nutritional, and restorative health. Together they form a balanced approach to healing that reflects both science and faith in motion.
These principles are very important to me, and I plan to share more about how they connect directly to my own healing journey in a future post. For now, I wanted to introduce them because the credit belongs to Dr. A, whose practice and teaching continue to shape how I understand holistic health through both a medical and spiritual lens.
The Four Pillars Model
This reflection is part of my Four Pillars Model, which includes psychiatry, therapy, family, and faith community. Together, they have guided my twelve-year journey with bipolar disorder. Within those pillars sits a toolbox that includes scripture, EFT tapping, mindfulness, movement, and chiropractic care. Visiting Dr. A feels like getting an oil change for my mind and body so the engine does not overheat. It does not replace medical care. It supports alignment so that I can live fully in every part of life.
We only get one body, one divine vehicle to carry us through this life. Caring for it is not vanity. It is stewardship. When we align heart, mind, and body with God’s rhythm, we invite healing that extends beyond ourselves into the legacy of love, peace, and renewal we leave behind. This trip to Guatemala was incredible and filled with beauty, color, and history. It also reminded me what happens when the mind and body fall out of rhythm. The long flights, changing altitudes, and lack of sleep left me completely drained both physically and mentally. Even now, as I write this, I am still recovering.
After some much-needed rest and quiet reflection, I feel renewed this evening. I have been going to the chiropractor with Dr. A for a while now, and I wanted to take this reflection on being tired to highlight how much his care has helped me. His work has always gone beyond physical alignment. It helps restore balance to my nervous system and brings calm to my mind. Especially during times like this, when my body feels worn down, his holistic approach reminds me that true healing is both science and grace.
Healing is not a single moment. It is a rhythm of returning, back to God, back to rest, and back to balance. Every adjustment, every prayer, and every moment of stillness becomes part of that divine alignment. My hope is that this journey, from Guatemala to reflection, reminds each of us to listen when the body speaks. Sometimes the whisper of fatigue is not failure. It is an invitation from God to slow down, breathe, and let Him restore what only He can.
**If you would like to learn more about Dr. A and the holistic care offered at Chiropractic Solutions, visit here.
View from Cerro de la Cruz overlooking Antigua, Guatemala, with Volcán de Agua rising in the distance.