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them as part of yourself |
The autonomic nervous system is composed of motor neurons that send messages to |
involuntary muscles and glands It was long described as functioning below the level of |
consciousness This is why medical researchers believed there was no way to deliberately calm |
these organs Thankfully recent biofeedback research has shown that we can gain some |
voluntary control over autonomic governance It has also shown that merely sensing these |
pains is key to relaxing them At first you will find that many of the sensations am describing |
are impenetrable to introspection This is because they are preverbal and nondeclarative |
Chapter Listen to Your Heart and Gut |
You dont yet have words for them and how they affect you But just because you cannot |
articulate how they make you feel doesnt mean you cant feel them if you concentrate |
Think about the aspect of you that is shocked when you are immersed in frigid water or |
woken up by an alarm clock set too loud It should run down the midline of your body from |
your neck to your lower spine by way of your chest and gut When you locate the physical |
borders of this sensation you will have found your trauma core the cause of internal agitation |
that makes you feel panicky unbalanced and demoralized Once you have found it console it |
Usually you try to rise above the pain pretending that it is not there Dive down into it |
Incorporate the meditative and mindfulness practices from Chapter into this search |
While alone with your pain you will experience boredom and impatience It will make this |
exercise frustrating until you realize that the boredom is restlessness stemming from the same |
visceral unease you are trying to dispel Meditating on your bodily pain can be mundane or it |
can be an exciting adventure if you approach it with shoshin Shoshin is a concept in Zen |
Buddhism meaning beginners mind It denotes an openness curiosity eagerness and a lack |
of preconceptions when exposed to something familiar Imagine yourself as a psychonaut a |
sailor of the soul exploring your mind and body The more you map the territory and |
understand the lay of the land the better you will control your emotions |
Scientists know babies to be experts at selfsoothing They listen attentively to their |
sympathetic nervous system We forgot how because as we grew up we realized that paying |
attention to our internal milieu demands attentive resources And attention is limited Babies |
cannot change their environment so they are forced to change their response to it They have |
no recourse but to calm themselves Children and adults on the other hand learn to change |
their environment and manipulate people to fix a situation Unfortunately by age five we think |
that the best way to selfsoothe is to bring about an increase in our social standing You can |
however revert to infancy bypass the ego and the social machinations and take a shortcut |
straight to the center of the problem by confronting the tumultuous activity within your body at |
its source |
Cats often sit close to a wall and stare at it for minutes at a time used to think this was |
absurd However since expanded my interoceptive senses find myself doing this sort of |
thing frequentlystaring blankly at nothing It is not boring to stare at a wall if you are also |
gazing into your visceral milieu The more time you spend surveying and relaxing the activity in |
your spine stomach heart face vocal tract intestines and genitals the more you can cleanse |
them with peace |
Myofascial Release for the Gut |
used to get regular pangs in my stomach during social confrontations These felt like electrical |
shocks a few inches behind the belly button Such pangs are caused by the clenching of the |
abdominals along with smooth muscle of the gastrointestinal tract They are responsible for the |
sinking sensation in the pit of the stomach resulting in a strong predilection to submit You lose |
all will to fight when intense gut pain kicks in |
This visceral pain is due to the activation of latent trigger points resulting in the |
stimulation of pain receptors in and around the digestive pathway These receptors span the |
thorax abdomen and pelvis They respond to stretching swelling and oxygen deprivation |
The areas are in chronic pain because they have been braced for so long Some experts believe |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
that irritable bowel syndrome and a host of other gastrointestinal problems are exacerbated by |
bracing In the next exercise we will use compression to massage these bracing patterns away |
Interoception Exercise Compressing the Internal Organs |
Lay over a large firm ball and press it gently into your stomach A soccer ball volleyball or |
basketball work well You can do this lying on the floor or in bed The easiest way is to stand |
or kneel by the corner of a bed Place the basketball on that corner of the mattress and drape |
the upper half of your body over it Either way you want to have good control of how deeply |
you press the ball into your abdominal cavity It is important to be stable and comfortable |
The discomfort that this causes in your stomach may be very intense at first Proceed gently |
and focus on applying firm pressure to the abdomen from the bottom of the ribs to the |
pelvis Pressure applied to the lower ribs will also help stretch and manipulate the |
diaphragm You should notice that the tension in your stomach will not give in to the ball |
unless you are breathing slow smooth breaths Relax pace your breaths and use abdominal |
compression to unwind the vice clenching your innards |
This practice pulls stress out of your body by its roots Once you use a basketball to rid your |
midsection of the aching you will vastly reduce your potential for experiencing gutwrenching |
pain The first time deeply compressed my abdomen was immediately reminded of the long |
forgotten feeling of being kicked in the stomach in second grade This indicated that was |
finding and releasing points of tension that had been harboring since early childhood As |
continued the searing discomfort in my stomach caused me to have flashbacks to other long |
forgotten traumatic episodes My brain was asking Hey are you sure its okay to relax the |
abdomen to this extent given these memories When your brain asks you this question |
reassure it that it is aokay This gut compression technique is powerful because if you can get |
rid of the pain in your gut you will become far less susceptible to intimidation |
The gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus is feet long It is lined by a vast network |
of neurons which form a regional administrative center This amounts to a miniature brain with |
over million neurons This is more than the brain of a mouse which has around million |
neurons This miniature brain is needed to perform various digestive behaviors with which your |
mind cannot be bothered Chances are your guts brain has an anxiety disorder and it braces |
the muscles it controls endlessly Compressing away its bracing patterns may be the best way to |
communicate to this entity that there is no reason for it to be anxious |
Heart Rate |
The heart is another entity within your body that you need to convince to loosen up and |
simmer down Like the gut the heart has its own neural network containing over |
neurons This is less than a fruit fly but more than a snail This minibrain |
allows the heart to perceive and process information make decisions and even demonstrate a |
form of learning and memory More than likely your hearts brain like your guts brain has |
become convinced that your environment is lifethreatening We need to trick our hearts into |
believing the opposite |
Chapter Listen to Your Heart and Gut |
The heart is a hollow muscular organ that uses repetitive rhythmic contractions to keep |
blood pumping through the bodys blood vessels Even some of the simplest invertebrate |
animals have hearts Mollusks like clams arthropods like insects and even many types of |
worms have them Some animals even have multiple hearts The human heart beats slightly |
more than once every second about times per day as many as billion times over |
ones lifetime Each beat is powerful enough to send blood spurting up to three meters if |
the aorta is severed Every hour it dispenses around gallons of blood Thats gallons |
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