We are our own body architects...

Do you ‘think’ that what you are thinking can change your body? Do you ‘think’ what you are feeling can alter your posture? Maybe not if the thought or feeling are once off's but if we are repeatedly thinking or feeling the same thing over and over - it can. How so? And it works this way whether we are ‘thinking’/feeling regenerate or destructive emotions/thoughts.Also our posture can change our thinking and feelings. Try it. It’s how actors convey character and emotion.

When you think of someone who is unhappy or angry what does their body posture look like? Now if that person stays unhappy or angry what do you think will happen to his/her body over time? Conversely, what does a happy person look like and how do they hold their body? What if they stayed in this state with this posture for a long period of time? Which posture type would you prefer to be? I often wonder what happens within stage actors who have to ‘inhabit’ a character for weeks or months at a time….especially if the character has unpleasant traits…I often wonder if the actors (depending on many other variables of course) playing the angry/depressed characters long term become angry or depressed? I think there is a pHd in that:).

Lesser known is the fact that FEELINGS within the body register PRIOR to a thought. The body stores every memory in a feeling tone. The feeling tone then generates a thought…so if repeated enough, a feeling can create many different thoughts…maybe this explains why we can have many different triggers all created from the one source feeling….Dr David Hawkins taught that to release the feeling can erase a thousand thoughts….

Thoughts create emotions and vice versa. Thoughts are bio-electrical and bio-chemical. Emotions have their own distinctive neuropeptide which is a protein chemical that communicates with every cell within the body - every cell. When we feel an emotion e.g. anger the neuropeptide travels via blood stream and nervous system to every cell. If you are angry- notice your face change, your body tense- it changes the whole body….it is not kept just in your head as a thought. Emotions and thoughts change our biochemistry and change it too much for too long in the chronic stress range and the potential for chronic pain and illness increase a lot, depending on other variables of course.

Our body even has receptor cells that can detect the frequency of vibrations around us and convert them into neuropeptides that can become emotions.(You usually can tell if a place is dangerous or if the room has a ‘bad’energy’ to it - then you are using these receptors.) Our body is made up of trillions of cells which band together to form systems e.g the circulatory system or digestive system. If we think or feel toxic thoughts or emotions we change our body chemistry via the Autonomic Nervous System and HPA axis in the brain(stress area- hormones). These two areas work together but for simplicity I will talk only about the Autonomic Nervous System.

Our Autonomic Nervous System consists of the Sympathetic Nervous System (our fight/flight system) and the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest/digest /healing system- or often we talk about Vagal Nerve tone) if we stay in the Flight or fight mode for too long then we release neurochemicals/hormones like cortisol & adrenaline. These are good for short term release when in danger mode to help us overcome our present challenge but if these chemicals stay circulating for prolonged periods it decreases our ability to heal, digest food and impairs sleep. Our immune system is tuned down and thus is not as effective helping us overcome injury or illness. Our blood pressure may rise and our heart rate increases. Our ability to digest food is diminished and our reproductive system is less effective also. Our Vagal Nerve tone is often dysregulated and creates a small Heart Rate Variability.Not good.

Unhealthy or toxic thoughts and emotions if kept circulating too long and not allowed to resolve naturally tend to increase the Sympathetic Nervous System/flight or fight responses and thus these chemicals cause our cells to live in a toxic environment. (Freeze is different, it is more an activation of the primitive nervous system, associated with the Dorsal Vagus Nerve. This reaction shuts down everything.)

Try to imagine this scenario as an analogy - which person do you think will be more productive? The person who is yelled at and told they are stupid or wrong or the person who is given constructive feedback with praise when warranted? Or this analogy - which child responds better? The one yelled at or the one treated with kindness and love when they have made a mistake? The flight or fight system is increased if you yell at someone, as it is our danger protective system. Which system would you prefer to spend most of your time in? Personally, I want my Parasympathetic System(the Freeze response is actually a part of the Parasympathetic response but I use Parasympathetic Nervous System here to represent the healing, regulating aspect of it) to be the go to system and save my flight or fight energy for times when I need protection and not from my own thoughts and feelings. The monkey mind….

How do we switch on our Parasympathetic - rest and digest system more or improve our Vagal Tone? By treating ourselves and others with kindness & love, by laughing, by doing activities that bring us joy, being in awe of something beautiful whether it be nature or a piece of art, by surrounding ourselves with a supportive network or friends and family; doing work we are passionate about; finding a purpose and meaning to our lives; a hobby we love doing, diaphragmatic breathing, meditating or doing yoga or a host of other activities that bring us joy and love.

One way to help yourself heal is to focus in your imagination on FEELING what gives you joy and happiness and meaning - it will stimulate the healing chemicals/hormones like oxytocin & endorphins etc and this will help turn down the sympathetic fight or flight responses.The brain cannot tell the difference between real or imagined. This is like the visualisation athletes do before a performance.

I do a short mindfulness activation during my podcast: Talking to mySELF.

Many forms of body work can help, as can yoga or a somatic/trauma therapist.

Becoming aware of our repetitive unhelpful thoughts is the most important and first step to changing. Research is showing somatic therapies that allow a person to be able to sit with their unpleasant feelings and sensations in the body, safely in a regulated nervous system environment can assist in releasing faulty patterns. Because the feeling precedes the thought, so these therapies are like gardening for the mind, they take out the ‘root’ cause- the unpleasant feeling/sensation. Our body is our subconscious, as it is where all our memories are stored- implicitly not explicitly i.e. they are stored not as actual memories as we think of them but as feeling tones…often these are created when we are too young to have words to describe them. From the final 3 months in the womb to 7 years of age we have more sensations and feelings as we are undeveloped in talking and expressing…..just because we cannot talk about it does not mean it is not being encoded and stored in the body or felt. These stored impact memories then can be sabotaging our lives as they are the root of thoughts and beliefs that may have created a non optimal way of behaving and responding. For example if you are an adult and your internet connection gets cut off and you find yourself having a temper tantrum like a 2 year old. It may very well be because your inner 2 year old has unresolved emotions and this fact of the internet being stopped unexpectedly may trigger an old memory-maybe a toy was taken away when 2years old???? The result may be an adult tantrum. It may seem silly but it is how we behave until we integrate the unresolved emotions…..of course in theory it is simple but in practice it is tricky as we have developed short cuts in our neurobiology (just like with any habit) that by-pass our conscious mind until integrated with awareness. But becoming aware of how our mind and body work as one is an important first step in changing and healing ourselves.