The body will not assimilate anything unhelpful. If anything in your body is detected as unhelpful, then the body is considered infected. Infection always leads to inflammation, because inflammation is the first reaction the cells in your body are taught to process an infection. The body is considered in a "diseased" state of being when there is inflammation, regardless of the initial type of infection. All disease is inflammation.
The inflammatory response can be local or systemic and has a variety of manifestations which depend completely on the unique adaptation processes of the cells in each body. Local inflammation can manifest as pain or abnormal growth like a tumor. Systemic inflammation has a wider spectrum of possible disease outcomes and symptoms that may not be easily identified. Examples of systemic inflammation include autoimmune, muscular, nervous, respiratory/circulatory, digestive, and mental/emotional.
Inflammation can be detected by swelling and heat. Both swelling and heat can be signs (easily observed by others) or symptoms (observed only by the host, sometimes felt as other forms of symptoms or sensations). Signs of inflammation are commonly atributed to local sites of infection or affection, such as from an injury or allergy or abnormal growth, but they can also be a part of systemic inflammation. Symptoms of inflammation are the sensations that are abnormal for the host but may not be easily tested or compared with what is healthy, such as fatigue or spasms or a change in bowel movement. Because the signs and symptoms of inflammation are experienced differently, they are used to give titles to the different status of disease. This is why diabetes, cancer, and schizophrenia are conceived as separate and completely different diseases, though each of them is caused by an inflammatory response of the body.
Inflammation may seem like the evil problem, but actually inflammation is a sign of life, not death! The cells of your body are doing exactly what they know to do when something unhelpful tries to interfere with their role in the flow of your health. All the cells of your body work together and are affected by the infection, but the lymphatic system gets most of the credit as the main immune system since the lymph fluid and White Blood Cells are the initial waste removal team. The health of your immune system depends on the health of your entire body. Everything you think, eat, and do is processed by the body and will be judged as helpful or unhelpful depending on your unique immune response team, which develops over the course of your life as experiences are added. Each body's immune system produces a different response because each body has a different set of experiences given to them from their own life and from their ancestry.
So how does one move past the inflammatory state of disease? By moving the body! Movement is life and determines health. Stagnation is disease and it gives opportunity for other life to flourish. Swelling is an accumulation of fluid and cells stuck together and holding the unhelpful infection in custody. The accumulation of cells stuck in one place generates heat. The cells and fluid must be moved to disperse the unhelpful collection and guide the body to release the infectious material completely from the body. Think of the difference between covering up a spill and cleaning the spill. The body reacts in short term solutions in attempts to clear infection fast and get back to its normal routine. Cells need support in continuing to move the infection completely with proper movement of all the functions of the body.
This means you have control over your health! You can't control your cells' immediate reactions, but you can control how long you are in a state of disease. Breathe unpolluted air, eat nutritiously, move your body and mind through stregthening, massage, and learning exercises. Even during rest and relaxation, your body is moving automatically and filters out what is unhelpful. This is why Thai Yoga helps to remove disease and promote health, because the relaxation and movement of the body is balanced.