A strange as it sounds, we only have a vague idea of what we look like on the outside. Many of us can’t bear looking at self-photographs and work hard to keep cameras away. Of course not everyone is the same. Even if we like the way we look, and view photographs of ourselves, what we get to see is only a momentary image caught by the lens, now seen through our own perception and inner judging program. For certain, we do remain a mystery, both outside and inside!
A very large percentage of what resides inside of us, physical or emotional, tends to remain mysterious for most of our lives, mainly because we’re not attentive to the clues sent up by the body departments. Sometimes we awaken if the body part screams loud enough, but even then, little is done about the underlying cause. We may turn to medication to obliterate the symptom, or to another substance to mask the truths. If the family history pulls towards addiction, these symptoms then become the hooks, and an unhealthy pattern of behavior is etched into the subconscious mind.
KNOWLEDGE HOOK – WORKING WITH MOMENTS
The practice of interactive awareness helps us to work where the action is, right in the middle of the moment. It will be important to have a working image tool, representative of an actual moment. The reason for this is that moments are difficult to catch, especially in the beginning of your mind-body work. Most of us tend to auto-pilot through life. As you learn to catch moments, you will be practicing the techniques of releasing or letting go. Then, you will be able to add subconscious mind re-programming for managing the many facets of all problems or issues.
In my practice, students and patients work with dry lentils, keeping a jar of them on their desk. I suggest you do the same. Some patients have two jars, one symbolizing moments that are left in life, the other representing those that were missed because of inattentiveness. Of course, we cannot catch all moments. It is ridiculous to think that we would even want to, but we certainly do want to catch the key moments. Those will be different for everyone, but as you learn to work with the tools of interactive awareness and self-hypnosis, you will become aware of the areas where you need to wake up, then change. Your subconscious mind librarian will assist you.
READER QUESTION
"I’ve noticed that when I am eating lots of sugar foods or involved in disorderly eating, my body is filled with tension. I’m a runner and areas of old injury hurt more on these days. Perhaps the most frightening part is that I have an underlying anxiety that doesn’t seem to be connected to anything that is going on in my life. I just feel awful. I would like to understand what is happening and why. Knowledge is definitely motivational for me."
In this chapter you will begin to understand more about listening to your body communications. This reader is ahead of the game. She has already noticed that her body speaks a different language when her diet is inferior. More than likely, the underling general anxiety represents reactive hypoglycemia. In Chapter One you learned how food stress changes your biochemistry. Now you will begin to see those Knowledge Hooks as they appear in your own body and mind. Remember that it is not enough just to know something. You must go the next step, joining in the action.
KNOWLEDGE HOOK –MENTAL BIOFEEDBACK AND BODY SCANNING
Most of us are familiar with the term "biofeedback". Individuals are hooked up to a special machine, then taught relaxation techniques that help the body to maintain a healthy blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, etc. The person can see the special screen that shows their progress. This type of training can be very empowering, as the mind and body connection is personally experienced. This is especially important for individuals caught up in stress reaction that can be dangerous to health outcomes.
Body scanning is mental biofeedback. There is no need to be hooked up to a machine to change the way your body functions. This mind-tool holds a big advantage because in any moment in time, the person practicing mental biofeedback can change a mind or body outcome. There are also other advantages. As one learns to observe the momentary body sensations over a period of time, the body sensation patterns become clear. One can see how they are attached to particular emotional states, or perhaps other triggers such as situations or even relationships. Another advantage is the feeling of self-confidence in being able to change an unpleasant or frightening sensation, right there in the moment, whether it be peaking or just beginning to build. As one becomes more practiced in the skills of mental biofeedback, it becomes easier to catch the body sensations at earlier moments, when it is much easier to diminish or release them. This is extremely empowering. Later on you will learn many applications for doing this.
CONTAINMENTS AND RELEASE
Containments are invaluable because they allows us to work in big areas of our lives without feeling overwhelmed. Body sensations can be overwhelming, especially if they are not contained or released. In that circumstance, the body and mind will produce even more sensations to deal with. A good example of this is anxiety and panic disorder. Anyone experiencing this problem can certainly attest to this. It’s simple to set up a mind-container. Let me show you how. Take a moment to relax deeply. On your mind screen label a special container for body sensations. Later on you may decide to have several containers for different kinds of sensations, but for now we will work with one container. Notice a particular sensation in your body. Focus or pay special attention to that sensation. Now move it into the mind container. Pay attention. Keep the focus. You can now change the sensation. Practice diminishing it; making it smaller. Dim it, just with the power of your mind. Change the color to one that is pale or uninteresting.
We all have tons of body sensations, but sense very few of them, as they build through our daily physical, mental and emotional stress. The stressors do not have to be big. Low level or chronic stress is responsible for much of our illness. If you are addicted to sugar, practice disorderly eating, or partake in other addictions, you will tend to have even higher levels.
Through body scanning you will have a glimpse at more of them. Just this small peak will act like the lens of your camera. The sensation will be caught and now you can change it through the mind and body communication system provided by Interactive Self-Hypnosis tools.
SELF-EXPLORATION – TRAINING YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
The results you get will equal the amount of work you are willing to do. Mind training is no different from any other training. As you train with the tool of mental biofeedback, you can either become excellent or mediocre. The choice is yours.
You already know that it is not possible to catch and examine each moment. Your true purpose is to engage your subconscious mind in assisting you to release stress throughout the day. It is rather like hiring a highly skilled personal assistant whose job it is to check the body continuously, releasing as much stored stress as possible. The personal assistant will also bring to your attention any body sensations that are too big for it to handle. These you must release, as you did in the above exercise.
As your Therapeutic Self becomes highly trained, you will find yourself spending more time at the slow brain, or alpha level. You will be producing less stress chemicals at this level. In addition, when you are at the alpha level, you are also at the door of the subconscious mind. In this position you have all the freedom to practice many different Interactive Self-Hypnosis applications. You will be learning more about this later in this book.
MIND EXERCISE
You will want to practice body scanning or mental biofeedback several times during the day. It doesn’t take long to do this once you get the idea. You can also train with audio I’ve designed for this purpose, but you will still want to be practicing right in the moment as well. You already have a “mind container” and now I’ll help you design a body container. Please read through this exercise and then close your eyes to practice.
Sit up straight in your chair with your feet flat on the floor. Take a big yawn breath and hold it in your mouth for the count of four. Let it release slowly, taking time to do this. Place your fingertips gently on your lower abdomen, allowing it to rise and fall, just like a merry-go-round horse goes up and down. Next, image magnets pulling your body down into your chair, under your buttocks and behind your back, almost as if you were the chair and the air of the room was sitting on you. Tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees and on your mind screen image the number four coming in slowly from a distance. Allow the four to enter your forehead and now focus on the number three coming in slowly, noticing it entering your heart. The two is making it’s way in and entering your lower body and now the number one is coming towards you and outlining your body in white paint, just like a big cookie cutter. Notice you can take the cookie cutter image off and put it back on.
The cookie cutter is your containment. When you are wearing it, all body sensations are contained and you can read them easily. Start reading and inner communicating from the top of your head. Simply visit the areas and notice if there are any sensations. Place an image of a flower on each visited part and allow the flower to open. This is instructing your subconscious mind to open and release this area. Go slowly as you are currently building a mind program for this skill that will be carried on in the future by your own subconscious mind. Your etching is very important, so do take your time. Visit your eyes right and left, noticing they are different. And now, your nose, inner and outer, sinuses right and left, ears, mouth outside and in. Going down systematically visit your neck, both front and back. Go inwards and visit the inner structures placing flowers as you go. Downward now and into the upper chest looking into your heart, lungs right and left and further down into your esophagus, stomach, spleen, pancreas and liver. Now enter your lower abdomen, visiting your intestinal areas, kidneys and connecting tubes, urinary bladder and sexual organs, placing and opening flowers as you go. I suggest you do all bones and muscles systematically from the top to the bottom with special attention to your spinal column, just as if it were a long train and you were inspecting each car as if it were different.
Now bring your attention back to your cookie cutter and have it in place over your body. With your mind allow the cutter to sparkle and invite the sparkling to enter all visited areas holding opened flowers. There you have it….. you have build your first communication with your body and now you will be able to work further with this gigantic and powerful tool.
READER COMMENT
"When I relax deeply some of body parts, like my neck, are extremely painful. I thought they would feel better in deep relaxation, but instead I’m having the opposite experience. Am I doing something wrong?"
It’s not uncommon for certain areas of the body to communicate increased pain or discomfort during mental biofeedback. You are now in direct contact with your body. Earlier on you were on automatic pilot and the body part could not get your full attention. So it’s not that the area is having more tension, it is simply able to have your attention now and is communicating it’s truth to you. When this happens utilize an image of a flower. Place the flower on the body part and open it slowly. This will place a suggestion in your subconscious mind to release the tension in that area. Move on to the next area in your body scanning, and if the objecting part calls you back, gently return and place another flower or apply some mental light to the area. The following paragraphs will give you more insight, as well as suggestions in releasing sensations.
Continued in next blog
A NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.
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