Body n Mind

Emotion Is Your Body's Reaction To Your Mind

The Body Will Always Reflect The Truth Of Your State Of Mind

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There is a very powerful connection between "body n mind".

Our minds are the repositories of all of our pre-programmed reactions and response patterns.

Our bodies are the vehicles through which our emotional reactions arise and are expressed.

Emotion is your body's reaction to your mind.

Emotion is the felt response to a thought, so for those of us who tend to identify very strongly with our thinking (which is to say most of us most of the time) there is a corresponding emotional response of equal or greater strength.

When we go through tough times we generate a lot of emotion and the "body n mind" effect of this can be quite overwhelming.

I know from my own personal experience that learning how to anticipate and manage my own responses to difficult situations is hard work.

In the article "my experience of mindfulness" I have shared an anecdote about how I learned to deal with a particularly stressful business on a large project I was involved with about 12 years ago.

These were the key lessons I learned:

(1) A strong 'body n mind' response to tough times is always predictable and should be fully anticipated

(2) Don't ignore or attempt to suppress the feelings that arise, and do not allow yourself to become identified with them

(3) Regularly remind yourself that: "This too will pass". Realise that these angry and defensive states arise automatically but if you just sit with them and observe them, without engaging with them for about 24 hours, they will pass.

I learned this three-fold lesson fairly quickly, not because of any great insight or spiritual maturity on my part, but, as a matter of simple personal survival!

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh summarises this beautifully:

"A feeling or an emotion arises, persists, and then disappears. Mindfulness enables us to be calm throughout the appearance and disappearance of feelings.

To acknowledge feelings with an even mind is the very best way; while we are acknowledging them in mindfulness, slowly, slowly we come to a deep realisation of their nature.

It is that insight which will enable us to be free and at ease as we face each feeling."

[The Blooming of a Lotus]

As you explore this site you will see that the practise of mindfulness is referred to on many occasions and this is because mindfulnes really is one of the simplest and most powerful ways of managing the "mind n body" relationship.

Managing The Body n Mind Responses

Look at your emotions - your body's reaction to your mind.

Make it a habit to "check in" with yourself regularly and ask "how am i feeling right now?".

If you are feeling anything less than completely present and peaceful, there is something going on within you that needs your focused mindful attention.

Many of us have a tendency to "over-think" things and create additional emotional reactions in the form of stress. In my experience this is particularly true when we are experiencing tough times.

It becomes a habit to carry all this stuff around with us, for many of us it as though there is (what we have come to regard as) an acceptable of "internal static".

In fact many of us are quite disconnected from our true feelings. This is where the practise of mindfulness provides deep insight and clarity as to what is actually going on inside of us.

The "body n mind" connection can be extremely useful in determining what our true feelings are in a particular situation or with a difficult decision that we have to make.

"If you really want to know your mind, the body will always give you a truthful reflection, so look at the emotion, or rather feel it in your body.

If there is an apparent conflict between them, the thought will be the lie, the emotion will be the truth.

Not the ultimate truth of who you are, but the relative truth of your state of mind at that time.

[Eckhart Tolle]

Mindfulness Is The Key To Managing Body n Mind Responses

If you are new to mindfulness practise and you are struggling to bring your unconscious mental activity into conscious awareness as thoughts, pay very close attention to your emotions.

Your (unconscious) thoughts are always reflected in your body as emotions. This is a very beneficial aspect of the "body n mind" connection.

Mindfulness practise will enable you to watch and observe your emotions and emotional states as they arise, and will empower you to not become totally immersed and identified with them.