THIS IS THE FINAL PART OF A CONTINUATION OF THE 3-PART ARTICLE “THE BIOCHEMICALS OF EMOTIONS” as it appears at www.debadler.com:
Although most of our bodymind attentional shifts are what Dr. Pert calls “subconscious” she states that we do have the possibility of bringing some of these decisions into consciousness, and advocates doing so through use of various types of intentional training or disciplines, such as meditation, breathing techniques, etc., that have been developed specifically for the goal of increasing our consciousness.In describing the role of peptides, Dr. Pert paints a wonderfully vivid picture: “Peptides serve to weave the body’s organs and systems into a single web that reacts to both internal and external environment changes with complex, subtly orchestrated responses. Peptides are the sheet music containing the notes, phrases, and rhythms that allow the orchestra – your body – to play as an integrated entity. And the music that results is the tone or feeling that you experience subjectively as your emotions.”
Dr. Pert speculates that the mind is in actuality the flow of information as it moves among the cells, organs, and systems of the body. Since one of the qualities of information flow is that is can be unconscious, occurring below the level of awareness, we see it in operation at the autonomic, or involuntary, level of our physiology. Thus the mind as we experience it may be considered immaterial, yet it has a physical substrate, which is both the body and the brain. On the other hand, it may also be said to have a nonmaterial, nonphysical substrate that has to do with the flow of that information. Therefore the mind is that which holds the network together, often acting below our consciousness, “linking and coordinating the major systems and their organs and cells in an intelligently orchestrated symphony of life. Thus, we might refer to the whole system as a psychosomatic information network, linking psyche, which comprises all that is of an ostensibly nonmaterial nature, such as mind, emotion, and soul to soma, which is the material world of molecules, cells, and organs. Mind and body, psyche and soma.”She refers to an intelligence that can be seen “running things,” and references that intelligence, in the form of information running all the systems and creating behaviors, something certain manipulative healers such as chiropractors relate to as the body’s wisdom, or “innate intelligence.”
“Emotions are a key element in self-care because they allow us to enter into the bodymind’s conversation. By getting in touch with our emotions, both by listening to them and by directing them through the psychosomatic network, we gain access to the healing wisdom that is everyone’s natural biological right.”
How do we achieve this? First we must acknowledge and claim all our feelings – not just the “so-called positive ones.” Anger, grief and fear are experiences that are actually vital for our survival. Anger helps us define boundaries; grief helps us deal with losses; and fear protects us from danger. These only become toxic when we deny these feelings, so that they cannot be easily and rapidly processed through the system to be released. Ultimately, the more we deny, the greater toxicity we allow, often setting up an explosive release that can be harmful to ourselves or others.
“The goal is to keep information flowing, feedback systems working, and natural balance maintained, all of which we can help to achieve by a conscious decision to enter into the bodymind’s conversation.”
Dr. Pert offers the following ways to use awareness and intention to tap into the psychosomatic network, “in order to prevent disease and maximize health.” The real key is taking responsibility for the way we feel. It is time to recognize that our external world is simply a reflection of our beliefs and expectations.
ONE: Becoming Conscious
To be fully conscious involves awareness of our mental, emotional and even basic physical experiences. The more conscious we are, the more we can tune into the conversation going on at the autonomic or subconscious levels of our bodymind. When we can enter into these levels where basic functions such as breathing, digestion, pain control, immunity and blood flow are carried out, then we can use our awareness to enhance the effectiveness of the autonomic system by dialoging with it. For it is in this system “where health and disease are being determined minute by minute.”
TWO: Accessing the Psychosomatic Network
It is possible to access the psychosomatic network and enter the bodymind’s conversation to redirect it. “By learning to bring your awareness to past experiences and conditioning – memories stored in the very receptors of your cells – you can release yourself from these blocks.” She suggests using assistance for long-term blockages including hypnotherapy, touch therapies, personal –growth seminars, meditation and prayer. The goal is to learn to respond to what is actually occurring in the present, which is “what consciousness is all about.”
THREE: Tapping Into Your Dreams
“Develop the daily habit of recalling and transcribing your dreams. Dreams are direct messages from your bodymind…Becoming aware of your dreams is a way of eavesdropping on the conversation that is going on between your psyche and soma, body and mind.” This facilitates obtaining valuable information and also gives us the ability to intervene, if needed, in order to make appropriate changes in our behavior and psychology.
FOUR: Getting in Touch With Your Body
The skin, the spinal cord, the organs, are all nodal points of entry into the psychosomatic network. Some great methods? Take a walk. Run. Get a massage, a spinal adjustment, or lots of good hugs!
FIVE: Reducing Stress
Dr. Pert recommends meditation, “because it allows us, even without conscious awareness, to release emotions that are stuck in modes that subvert a healthy mind-body flow of biochemicals.
SIX: Exercising
The value of exercise is not so much muscle building or burning calories, as it has to do with getting the heart to pump faster and more efficiently, thus increasing blood flow to nourish and cleanse the brain and all our organs.
Ways to help enhance the communication flow throughout bodymind while walking: “I let the opposite hand swing forward with each step as I walk, without music. Somehow this sets left-brain-right-brain information flowing, breaking up old patterns of worry and rumination.”
SEVEN: Eating Wisely
Because of its survival value, eating “has been wisely designed by evolution to be a highly emotional event….There are at least twenty different emotion-laden peptides released by the pancreas to regulate the assimilation and storage of nutrients, all carrying information about satiety and hunger.” Ignoring this information can lead to using food to bury emotions resulting in nervous eating, depression eating and other behaviors.
We can develop the ability to know what our body needs in the way of nourishment, and when, by tuning into our emotions as information about the digestive process.
Environment can influence the emotional experience of eating. Dr. Pert recommends a peaceful stress-free environment.
Eating in full consciousness of the tastes and textures; acknowledging the gift of the food through a prayer or blessing is seen as an act of consciousness rather than a religious ritual.
(In many indigenous cultures people acknowledge and express appreciation and respect for the sacrifice that has been made by the food. Eating is regarded as nurturing and loving the physical body, or “altar,” which is also an act of appreciation.)
She advises to avoid Sugar, which Dr. Pert considers to be “a drug, a highly purified plant product that can become addictive.” We need to look at sugar as a drug whose chronic effects rank right in there with more acknowledged “drugs of abuse.” When sucrose is converted into glucose, “a key metabolic regulator of your bodymind,” it acts upon the glucose receptors which regulate the release of insulin and other neuropeptides from the pancreas. This chemical reaction can drastically alter how we feel as well as how we metabolize our food.
EIGHT: Avoiding Substance Abuse
All drugs can alter the natural flow of our body’s own “feel-good” peptides. “What causes people to consume legal and illegal drugs …I believe – is emotions that are unhealed, cut off, not processed and integrated or released.” Rather than process and heal the unwanted “stuck” feelings, we reach for a way to anesthetize ourselves. Self-dialoging to find the source of the emotions, finding ways to process them, some form of exercise can shift our mood and give us time to make different choices.
Finally, we want to live in such as way that promotes a feeling of “belonging, loving kindness and forgiveness.” In order for us to be healthy we have to cultivate the proper paradigm. We can achieve wellness by trusting our bodymind’s ability and desire to heal and be whole.
