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THE MIND AND BODY CONNECTION (Alexo)
Posted: 2:20:42 pm on 7/16/2008 Modified: Never
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THE MIND AND BODY CONNECTION
By Dennis Rockwell, PhD
Throughout the ages man and woman alike have been amazed and confused as to the true connections and abilities that the mind and body have. Every year the Ripleyís ìBelieve It or Notî publication documents bizarre abilities and miraculous acts that have occurred where Gurus from India have walked on burning hot coals and performed feats that astonish the average person. In addition, they have reported how a young frail mother of only 100 pounds is able to right an overturned car and pull the metal door off of its frame, so as to save her child from the burning wreckage. These are only a few of the extraordinary exploits that are fully explored and published every year in Ripleyísí book that lists the almost inexplicable events of human abilities. Are these abilities only able to be performed by a limited few, or is the average person able to also reach these heights of amazing mind and body powers?Ý
Eastern culture vs. western culture
To answer these questions we need to further explore how we view the incidences in our lives and where we gain our perspectives. Our belief systems are predicated on how our culture has taught us to view our environment and ourselves Kaplan & Saddock, 1998). For example, eastern culture views life from a perspective that not only are all parts of the body functioning as one, but also that we as an individual are one with our world and all within it (Kit, 1996). In contrast, western philosophy deems that each system of the human physique is a separate entity unto itself and that it works in a give and take way with the other parts of itself (Rossi, 1993). This view also is shown in the way our society has us look at the individual as unique and independent of the rest of society, but working together and attempting a harmonious exchange. These two philosophies dictate our laws and our sciences and this is why we have had difficulty in relating with the eastern mind. It is also why they have always viewed our belief system as inferior. Which is right and which is wrong? If we step outside of both belief systems and look in with an objective view, without preconceived notions, we see that both philosophies have genuine wisdom. Therefore, we need to not discount either view but incorporate both as one, so that we might understand more about this amazing machine we call MAN.
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So, let us look first at the individual parts, the mind and the body, and then look at them as one entity. One science that helps us to explore the mind is hypnosis. Hypnosis is a natural state of being, it is the area we enter when we are in between being awake and being asleep. This ìNo Mans Landî is the relaxed but semi-coherent place we enter as we bed down every night and when we awake every day. For most we slip right through this state of being from awake to sleep and back without even being aware of its existence. However, if we focus on learning how to stay in this land of connection between our conscious and subconscious mind we can explore our mindís abilities on all levels to a much greater degree. Access to this area allows us to consciously delve into the subconscious mindís actions and reflexive responses (Rhodes, 1998).
Hypnosis and meditation benefits
There possibly are no other more amazing stunts performed on stage then when the entertaining hypnotist takes an audience member and has them believe and act out subconscious suggestions that are planted into the member by the hypnotist. This unwitting person can be made to experience hot or cold and have his or her body react to these suggestions with blisters, swelling, and/or bruising when nothing has truly occurred to induce these experiences but the suggestion planted by the hypnotist. In addition, the subject can also endure placing darning needles through the hand or tongue without bleeding or pain. When this stage skill is taken into the operating room of hospitals we see patients having surgery without anesthesia and feeling no pain and also limiting bleeding at the point of entry into the body (OíHanlon & Martin, 1992).ÝÝ
Staying calm and relaxed, along with repetitive exercise can increase your mind-body connection
Eastern cultures have a similar skill as the hypnotist, which is called meditation. While in a deep meditative state the individual can slow breathing and heart rate to almost imperceptible levels. They can experience incidences, which would leave the average person totally debilitated with pain and agony, but all they feel is a peace and harmonious experience that they are envisioning and thereby planting in their subconscious mind while enduring the harmful event. By visualizing a place of peace and solitude they feel only emotions that are exuded by this imagined experience. Therefore, even if they are standing on hot coals or having a long needle pushed through their tongue all they feel is tranquility and a sense of being with God. ÝBy visualizing these serene experiences the guru or monk controls what his body experiences and therefore reacts to, similar to the suggestive experiences the hypnotist supplies to his subject. Both the guru and the subject are in what is called an ìAlpha stateî. This state of mind and body causes the body to become totally and completely relaxed which allows the mind to follow and also become serene and tranquil. Heart rate slows, breathing becomes relaxed and shallow, and the galvanic skin response is also lessened while this person is in repose (Frantzis, 1998).Ý
Whether the individual is in a hypnotic or a meditative state they are both equally susceptible to supplying their subconscious with suggestions that will lead their bodies to respond to these suggestions rather than what their body is in reality experiencing. This shows how influential the mind is over the body, no matter what the body is truly undergoing. The reverse is also true.Ý
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Re: THE MIND AND BODY CONNECTION (Alexo)
Posted: 2:22:08 pm on 7/16/2008 Modified: Never
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The bodies influence over the mind
Most of us have experienced the amusement park rides that use simulators to fool the mind into believing that it is really having a spaceship ride or a plane ride. An example of this is the Disney World ride ìStar Warsî, where the participant is led to believe they are riding in a spaceship through dangerous situations, or the Universal amusement park ride ìBack to the Futureî, where the individual is in a time car and going through similar experiences. Even though the participant is safe sitting in the rideís car they feel and thereby react as if they are actually experiencing this fantasy. Their bodies react to the ride as if they really were riding in a spaceship or time-car, by getting nauseous, dizzy, and sometimes even vomiting.ÝÝ
Using our understanding of the mind/body connection
Now that we can see the influences the mind can have over the body and vice versa, how do we use this to understand the interconnectedness and apply this knowledge? If we look at the mind and body as individual parts that are negotiating communication together, as western science would have us believe, and (instead of or) as one unit that gets too much or too little energy (Chi) in either one and thereby attempts to compensate in the other, eastern philosophy (Chow & Spangler, 1977), then we can see a harmonious unit that works together with sub-parts that have their own particular factors that affect one another.
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If we look at this as a holistic system that integrates its various parts, which can become separate and thereby experience diversely which will affect the other parts of the system, then we see that to reach our ultimate and full potentials we need to integrate these two parts (the mind and the body) by using meditative and/or self-hypnosis to expand into areas that have only been experienced by few. By exercising our minds and bodies together while in an ìAlpha stateî we can achieve goals that we could never have reached or even attempted in the past.Ý
One such exercise is called Tai-Chi Chuan. This exercise is performed by: first meditating into an ìAlpha stateî and then performing a ritualized, very slow, set of movements over and over again. The typical Tai-Chi exercise uses 108 repetitive movements, after achieving a hypnotic trance state, with slow breathing as the movements are performed. After doing this exercise the individual can access areas of the subconscious, after mastering the intricacies of this form, which would otherwise be inaccessible to them (Fai-Wong & Hallander, 1991). Any other type of repetitive exercise where the participant has achieved an ìAlpha stateî first will work in the same way.Ý
By combining physical relaxed exercise and a trance, mental relaxed exercise, state the two parts of the human existence can more easily work as one, flowing together in an unrepressed holistic manner. No matter whether the mind and body are separate parts or parts that are the same, they will work together by allowing them to integrate in this way. It has been shown that the person who stays calm and relaxed and exercises regularly lives a life of peace and serenity, with a high quality of life (McWilliams, 1995). These aspects and being able to reach our full potential as human beings in this lifetime is what allows us to become all of who we can be. Therefore, when we only do one or the other, think but donít do or do but donít think, we are never able to reach our full potentials. Life is too precious not to allow ourselves to become all we can be!Ý
Dr. Rockwell holds two PhDs one in Theocentric Counseling Psychology and the other in Clinical Psychology, along with a Masters in Social Work. He holds a rating of Diplomate with the APA and has a fulltime practice as a counseling therapist in the state of Florida.
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References
Chow, D. & Spangler, R. 1977. ìKung Fu History, Philosophy and Techniqueî. Burbank: :Unique Publications.
Fai-Wong, D. & Hallander, J. 1991. ìTai Chi ChuanísInternal Secrets. Burbank: Unique Publishing.
Frantzis, B.K. 1998. ìThe Power of Internal Martial Arts. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Kaplan, H. & Saddock, B. 1998. ìSynopsis of Psychiatry. MD.: Williams &Wilkins.
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Kit, W.K. 1996. ìThe Art of Shaolin Kung Fuî. Boston: Element Books.
McWilliams, P. 1995. ìYou Canít Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thoughtî. Los Angeles: Prelude Press.
OíHanlon, W.H. & Martin, M. 1992. ìSolution-OrientedHypnosisî. N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company Inc.Rhodes, R. 1998. ìHypnosis: Theory, Practice, and Applicationî. N.J.: Citadel Press.2001. ìRipleyís Believe It Or Notî.Ý Discovery ChannelRossi, E. 1993. ìThe Psychiobiology of Mind-Body Healingî. N.Y.: W.W.Norton & Co.Ý
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