The Mind-Body Phenomenon

Picture this…

You’re sitting in my outdoor office in a big comfy chair. It’s a warm day, the bamboo trees are swaying in the breeze, you have your shoes off, your feet up and you have your favourite (non-alcoholic) drink in your hand (I am a responsible coach) . You’ve come to see me for a mentoring session. I’m sitting a few feet away and we’re chatting easily; no stress or drama. You’re not really over-the-top happy but you’re not sad either; you’re more contemplative and thoughtful. You’re considering our conversation, the issues at hand and my words. As we know each other reasonably well, you’re pretty comfortable and relaxed. As part of the session, I suggest that I take you through a visualisation activity. You agree.

Before we get under way, I hook you up to a bunch of harmless and painless gizmos and gadgets (don’t you love that tech talk?) to monitor your physiological responses (if any) to the visualisation process. This will provide us with feedback on things like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, hormonal responses and a few other variables.   

The activity is divided into two parts.

Part One

For the first part of the visualisation I ask you to get comfortable, to relax and to close your eyes. I then describe, in some detail, a situation you’re ‘currently’ finding yourself in. I take you on a journey right there in the chair. Fortunately, you are a good subject and you totally buy into the visualisation process; emotionally and psychologically (necessary for the process to be effective). It’s like you’re literally there (in the story). For the first part of the process, I take you into an undesirable and stressful situation. A place you really don’t want to be. At this point, you are fully immersed in the story and it seems totally real to you. The moment you enter your new self-created reality (the journey I’m taking you on), the physiological changes begin and some of them become apparent to me as an observer. Although your body is right there in the comfy chair in front of me, it’s fair to say that the rest of you – some might say, the real you – is somewhere else.

Within seconds you are shifting uneasily in your chair. I can sense anxiety and I can hear your breathing become faster. A red rash begins to appear on your neck and upper chest. I look at your hands. Your fists are clenched, your knuckles white and the veins in your arms look like garden hoses. Before too long, you begin tapping your feet nervously on the ground. Within a couple of minutes, considerable sweat appears on your forehead. Your previously relaxed body has become a picture of tension complete with fidgeting, shifting in the chair, foot tapping and taut muscles. Your posture has changed and your relaxed face is now contorted. I look to the monitors and they tell the story. Elevated heart rate, respiration and blood pressure, increased production of cortisol and adrenaline (two hormones produced in stressful situations), increased sweating and even a decline in the strength of your immune system (yes, we can measure that too).

Within minutes, the calm has been replaced with chaos. Relaxation has morphed into tension. Not theoretical tension, literal tension. There has been an internal (psychological) and external (physiological) transformation right there in the comfy chair. As far as your body ‘knows’, the experience is totally real, so it responds accordingly. Your mind has created a physical reality because the two – your mind and body – are inseparable. They are constantly working in unison. Consciously or not.

Even though the ‘journey’ I took you on never happened, in many ways, it did. On a level, it was actually real because you created your own reality. Consciously or not. Intentionally or not. If your body did not ‘believe’ the story (consider it to be genuine), we would not have seen the physiological changes.

After a while, I bring you out of the visualisation and you’re somewhat relieved to find yourself sitting safe and sound in my comfy chair. And maybe a little pissed at me for taking you somewhere you really didn’t want to visit. So to speak. Sorry about that. We talk about nothing in particular for a few minutes, you re-group and I promise you that the next ‘trip’ will be a more enjoyable one.

Part Two

Now that you’re familiar with the process and assured that your next journey will be a more enjoyable one, you find yourself ‘in state’ (immersed in the visualisation) quite quickly. True to my word, the second trip is a pleasure-fest. I take you to the best place you’ve ever been. It’s like heaven on earth. Or maybe just… heaven. In this place, you are not thinking, rationalising or judging; you are just experiencing. You are being in the moment and loving every second of it. I look at your face and it’s calm, relaxed, content and happy. From time to time, you smile and at one stage, you actually laugh out loud. I look at your hands. They are relaxed. No veins, no clenching, no tension and no foot tapping. I analyse your overall physiology and if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were a little bit drunk. You now have a goofy look on your face. Goofy but happy. I want to be where you are. It looks like fun.

I look at the computer monitoring your physiological responses and as expected, the data reflects my observations: lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, slower breathing (respiration), no stress hormones, no abnormal sweating, no decline in immune system function and now I can see the presence of some happy hormones -  including endorphins (a natural opiate).

A few minutes later, you’re back with me. The trip (so to speak) is over and you still look a little goofy. Apparently, you had a good time. Just like the first journey, in many ways, your second experience was real. Your mind told your body what to do. How to adapt. Without even moving, your mind determined (adjusted, changed, transformed) your physiology. Sitting right there in the comfy chair, your mind caused your body to elevate and lower, increase and decrease a wide range of physical markers. Elevated (or lowered) blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and stress responses were simply the physical result of your cerebral journey.

Your mind determined your body.

Think about that for a moment.

What can we learn from the above story?

Does it excite you even a little bit to consider what doors this type of understanding (of the relationship between our mind and our body) might open for us? Especially when we don’t allow ‘logic’ (fear, ignorance) to get in the way of our amazing potential? Can you begin to imagine the incredible scope for change? For healing? For doing the unthinkable? If a person sitting in a chair can change their physiology in a significant and measurable way (and they can) through thought alone, then what else might be possible when we come to further understand the mind-body dynamic and the potential therein?

What most excites me about our ability to manipulate our physiology is the potential for physical healing. And I mean healing for everything from colds to cancers. Lately I have immersed myself in the study of this subject and I’m excited to keep exploring what my mind and body can do when I don’t allow my ignorance and self-limiting beliefs to stand in the way of my body’s enormous and untapped potential. 

I’ll keep you posted.

As always, love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

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