Mind Body Connection – Putting it All Together

This is Part VI of a six-part series on the topic of Mind Body Connection.

The mind body connection is always at work whether we are aware of it or not. Whatever you are feeling is a result of what you are thinking and whatever you are thinking will manifest itself in terms of what you are feeling.

Always remember that in the mind body connection, THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS!

The famous philosopher John Locke put it best when he said, “A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”

What you think about most will lead you to not only feel what you think about most, but will be created in terms of something you can see and experience.

Just think about stress for a moment… how stressed are you on a daily or weekly basis?

Is stress running your life? It is interesting how much credence we pay to stress and stress management. Have you ever wondered why? Well, stress is the most readily identifiable feeling we can feel and see! It is all too real when it manifests itself in sickness and disease in both the mind and the body. Did you know that modern scientific evidence claims that over 90 percent of all the sickness and disease we experience is the result of stress? Wow! And where do these stresses originate?

In our minds!

What would you say constitute the bulk of your thoughts on any given day? Do you tend to have happy and joyful thoughts? If not, are your thoughts more on the sad or angry side of the coin?

Well, for starters whatever thoughts you have first start out in the mind. You choose whatever it is you want to feel. And whatever it is that you choose to think you will feel and these feelings will alter and/or manifest themselves in your body whether they are good or bad!

The famous neurophysiologist Dr. Candace Pert examined the mind body connection and their relation to emotions in her popular and best-selling book Molecules of Emotion.

In her book, Pert discusses the chemicals in our brains which come alive when we think leading to our experiencing of emotions. When we are happy, our bodies come alive with positive chemicals and neurotransmitters which make us feel great! Each second of our lives, over 100,000 chemical reactions go on in our brains and bodies which are extremely powerful “substances” which can make us feel vibrant or depressed.

Try these “brain drugs” on for size…Our brains produce serotonin which relieves us of depression and anxiety. Our brains produce dopamine, which creates joy and alertness in our minds. Our brains also produce a host of endorphins which are like “mood altering happy drugs” which also relieve pain.

Guess what? All of these “happy drugs” which our brain produces naturally are readily available to you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week when you focus on happy thoughts!

Now doesn’t that want to make you think happy thoughts?

Now that you know the happy, what about the sad/depressed side of the coin? Dr. Israel Waynbaum, a physiologist demonstrated that being sad and frowning causes creates its own cycle of hormonal release in the body.

When you are sad, chemicals in the body such as noradrenalin, cortisol and adrenaline get released into your blood stream and have some not so good affects on the body. The longer you experience sadness; you are more likely to shift into mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, you are also more like to increase your body’s blood pressure (non essential hypertension) as well as weakening your body’s immune system.

What this means is you are more likely to develop both physical and psychological illnesses and diseases. In a nutshell, being sad and depressed but your body out of ease and into a state of “dis-ease”!

Think about this for a moment.

When are you most likely to catch a cold or the flu? Well, most likely when you are run down. And what are you most likely feeling when you are run down? You are probably feeling stressed out, frustrated, hopeless and even sad. Now, look at the flip side —Happiness! When you are happy and joyful, how do you feel? When you are smiling, laughing, exercising or having sex, what do those feeling states do for you? They make you feel excited, euphoric and powerful. They are promoting your entire state of well-being — your health!

There is a lot to be said of the famous concept, “healthy mind, healthy body and healthy body, healthy mind.”

But what about when you are feeling run down, tired or irritable? Do you notice little aches and pains in your body that you didn’t know were there before? And if you did have “minor” aches and pains in your body, do they seem to be ramped up in terms of the discomfort or pain they are causing you?

This is all part of the mind body connection.

Your body is constantly giving you feedback in terms of what is going on inside of it and what changes it wants made or fixed. When we’re happy, we are less likely to notice what needs to be fixed and as a matter of fact, the body has the ability to mend itself because you are releasing good chemicals and hormones into your body.

Here is an example you can probably all relate too. You wake up in the morning to the sound of your clock radio blaring at you. It annoys you to all hell! You spank the button down and just want to snooze for a little bit.

Before you know it, you’ve slept in and you are running late for work. You jump out of bed and start to scramble. Along the way you stub your toe and this causes your morning to further spiral downward in terms of your day becoming the nightmare from hell. You start to ask yourself, “Why me?” Why is your day becoming a nightmare?

As you drive to work in “rush” mode, you notice to hit every single stop light and traffic is brutal. And to top it all off, you get stuck in a line for a long train. This has to be the icing on the cake! No matter how much you punch the steering wheel or kick and scream, you are not moving — you are stuck.

Finally, you start moving and you are on your way to work. Sweat is now pouring off of your brow, down your cheeks and you can feel your clothing sticking to you. The feeling is grossly uncomfortable.

This makes you feel even more irate!

By the time you get to work and bolt into your office, you feel like you have just run the Boston Marathon. You literally need to take a nap and re-group! Wait a minute! Didn’t you just climb out of bed less than an hour ago? You even had that extra sleep! Why are you feeling the way you are? Why does it feel as if your body is going into a horrific feeling of shock? And the more you try not to think about it, the more worst it gets! You start to make your anger and frustration brew. Through out the day you feel as co-ordinated as an elephant. You are constantly dropping things, tripping over things, forgetting things, etc.

This is not you!

Normally you are very well organized and things go a lot smoother. What in the world happened? You’ve just gotten an active dose of the mind body connection! Your mind set a series of wheels in motion for your body to respond too!

Have you ever tried meditation or self-hypnosis on yourself? It’s easy if you haven’t. Here is your chance to actively see how the mind body connection works.

Now find a quiet spot in a nice comfy chair and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. Try to totally let your mind relax and flow freely. Now focus on something that really frightens you.

You might be afraid of spiders or snakes. You might be afraid of flying on airplanes or heights. Now focus on your fear and put yourself into that situation in your mind. So, let’s say it is heights. Imagine standing on a tall building. There are no railings around the top of the roof. You slowly walk toward the ledge.

Picture the hot sun beating down on you. You look up and see a huge, lazy white cloud floating over you. Its close enough you can almost touch it. You see a bird land on the ledge you are walking too. As you approach the ledge, you can hear the distant traffic sounds below you. It must be a heck of a ways down. Notice how you feel as you are approaching the ledge in your mind. Are you getting sweaty and clammy? Are you feeling light-headed and is your heart racing a mile a minute yet?

As you continue your journey, how are you feeling sitting there in the relaxed chair?

Now open your eyes and look around. You are safe and sound in a room in a comfy chair. Did you notice your instant feeling was one of relief? Notice how your body slowly starts to calm down as your mind reassures it that all is safe and sound.

This is an example of how we use the mind body connection in a negative way each and every day of our lives. We focus on negatives and let our minds run rampant even though they are untrue.

Now let’s look at the opposite.

Go back to your chair again with eyes closed and a few deep breaths. Now focus on the most beautiful and relaxing place you have ever been too. Wherever that is, go there in your mind. See how great and relaxed you feel. Notice how the peace flows in, around and through you. Notice how light and happy your body feels. Observe your breathing and heart rate. Everything seems in complete synchronicity and harmony.

How is that possible?

You are not really there. Well, the mind tells the body what it wants it to see and experience and the body follows the lead. If you go there in the mind you go there in the body. You start to experience the situation as if it were really happening. The body cannot tell the difference. Furthermore, if you use the same negative or faulty thinking patterns over and over, the mind gets caught in the same trap. It can no longer discern between truth and irrational thinking.

How long have you lived you life on over-drive or by proxy?

When referring to by proxy, that is just letting things happen or letting the pieces fall into place without truly actively engaging them? Don’t you think that being an active participant in your life would make things so much more satisfying?

There are some really good books on the subject.

You might want to check out Magical Mind, Magical Body : Mastering the Mind/Body Connection for Perfect Health and Total Well-Being by Deepak Chopra or Peace, Love and Healing Bodymind Communication and the Path to Self Healing by Bernie Siegel.

You might also want to purchase CDs/DVDs on hypnosis, meditation and NLP training. There are some really great products which help you become the pilot of your own mind body connection.

Most people only believe in what they can see. In fact, some people still believe in the “magic pill” formula. Anything and everything they feel or expect in this world has to come from outside of them.

Interestingly, drugs and magic pills only work because you expect them to work. You have faith in their abilities to heal. If people would put the same faith in their thoughts and censor what they are thinking, they would realize they possess the magic pill within themselves… the key to their own mind body connection!

Here at Free At Last Hypnosis we recognize and understand the mind body connection is real. We see the strong connection in evidence almost every day with our clients we help with our weight loss service or various stop smoking hypnosis programs. So learn more about the connection in the articles below as we get into more detail.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER OTHER RESOURCES:

Read Part I of series Mind Body Connection – Introduction here.

Read Part II of series Mind Body Connection – Mind Over Matter here.

Read Part III of series Mind Body Connection – Thinking, Feeling, and Becoming here.

Read Part IV of series Mind Body Connection – Seeing is Believing here.

Read Part V of series Mind Body Connection – The Power of Suggestion here.

 

Peter Andrew Sacco Ph.D.
Staff Editor
Free At Last Hypnosis