How Your Mind Works
You may have heard about the mind-body connection, and that your mind has an effect on everything you experience in your life; but what is “the power of the mind” and how does it work? Rather than being an intangible idea, there is solid science behind the effect of the mind on the body and on the results we experience in all areas of our lives.
What is the Mind?
“The mind is the brain in action. The mind is what the brain does.”
– Dr. Joe Dispenza, neuroscientist.
When you use your mind, as you think thoughts, connections are made in nerve cells in the neocortex of your brain. In fact, every single thought is a connection between these nerve cells. When you have the same thought repeatedly, the connection between those nerve cells (or neurons) is strengthened – causing it to become “wired” or more permanent. This is how we learn intellectually.
Thoughts that are connected to each other form neural networks – groups of neurons structured together – allowing more complex thought patterns and understanding. Each time neurons fire (each time you have a thought) that connection causes a response in the limbic part of the brain, that produces matching chemicals; and these chemicals cause sensations in the body that we recognize as feelings, impulses and emotions.
How the Mind Affects the Body
When you are under stress, your brain triggers your major organs to produce the chemicals that cause the body to go into the “fight-freeze-or-flight” state. Since this emergency state was originally designed for survival – to fight, run away, or to avoid being detected by predators – certain functions that are not essential for these options are reduced:
- Blood is pumped away from your organs to your extremities (to allow for fighting or running faster)
- Your digestion shuts down (it’s not necessary for running away or fighting)
- The body stops healing since all resources are needed in the emergency state to escape the threat
- Your immune system is compromised
- The prefrontal cortex of your brain (the part of the brain responsible for cognitive thinking) shuts down. This means your ability to think logically and reasonably, your problem-solving ability, your communication skills, and your ability to see solutions and opportunities (in addition to many others) are greatly reduced and compromised.
As you can see, while you are in a state of stress, you are not in an optimal state for promoting a healthy body. This emergency state was designed as a short-term survival mechanism. The idea would be that when the physical threat of a predator has passed, the body would return to its normal state: blood would return to the organs, cells would begin absorbing nutrition again, digestion would continue, healing would resume, the immune system would return to normal, and the prefrontal cortex of the brain would get back online – allowing full function of cognitive thinking.
The first problem is that the brain and body do not know the difference between a real physical threat, and thoughts. In other words, feeling upset or angry because of something that happened in the past will cause your brain to respond as if you are in current danger. Your brain will trigger your body to go into the emergency fight-freeze-or-flight state – just as if you were being threatened by a predator.
The second problem is that this happens consistently for most people. The majority of people spend a great deal of their time either thinking about the bad things that happened in the past or about what may happen in the future. This means that the body is constantly in the emergency state – and as a result: digestion is not working properly; the organs are not receiving the blood and nutrition they need; the cells of the body are not absorbing the nutrients they need; healing is slowed; the immune system is compromised; and the person is unable to think clearly and problem-solve as they would if they were in a calm state.
The Answer
Considering this connection between the mind and the body, it means that feeling good is an absolute top priority. Nelly can help you to change the programming in your subconscious that is preventing you from feeling good most of the time. Using a powerful combination of FasterEFTand intuitive coaching, Nelly will guide you through any challenges you may have, and help you to transform all areas of your life.
The Truth About Stress
Although stress is felt in the body, the stress state is controlled (like every other bodily function) by the brain. When you are feeling stressed about anything, your body is in a state of the emergency “fight-or-flight” response. The truth is that you have a lot more control over this physical state than you may realize.
What is stress and how is it created?
Stress it the physical response in the body to perception. When the brain perceives a threat, it triggers the major organs to produce chemicals that cause specific responses in the body – all aimed at surviving physical danger. Since the brain and body cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination, simply thinking about something can trigger the stress response. In other words, if you’re worried about a deadline you feel you may not meet, simply thinking about the possibility of missing it will cause your body to go into fight-freeze-or-flight.
How does it work?
When you have a thought, a connection is made between neurons (nerve cells) in your brain. Every single thought is a neural connection. When these connections are made, the limbic part of the brain is triggered to produce matching chemicals. To put it simplistically for clarity – when you think a sad thought, as that connection is made in the neocortex of your brain, the limbic part of your brain is triggered to produce chemicals that cause the sensations of sadness. When you think a happy thought, a different connection is made in your neocortex, and the limbic part of your brain is triggered to produce endorphins and other “feel-good” chemicals.
When you think of something stressful, the chemicals that are produced in your limbic brain and major organs are specifically designed to cause the body to go into an emergency state. When this happens, your body is responding in exactly the same way it would if you were being threatened by a lion:
- Blood is pumped away from your organs, to your extremities (to optimize fighting and running away)
- Systems that are not necessary for running away or fighting reduce or shut down completely. These include: digestion and healing.
- The prefrontal cortex of your brain shuts down. This is the part of the brain that is responsible for cognitive thinking. It is for this reason that you shouldn’t make significant decisions while you are feeling stressed, angry, upset, sad, or any other negative emotion. All negative emotions are stress – all negative emotions the results of some degree of the fight-freeze-or-flight response. And while you’re in those states, the cognitive thinking part of your brain is literally not working properly. This is why you’ll see things differently when you’re feeling bad, than when you’re feeling good.
- Different genes are activated during the stress response, to those that are activated during a normal calm state.
All of these effects on the body are fine if the period of stress is short. The body was designed to survive, and even thrive, during a short period of emergency. However, when the body and brain remain in this fight-freeze-or-flight state for longer periods of time, you can see how these physiological effects would cause serious damage. Whenever you’re feeling negative emotions, your organs are not getting the blood they need; your digestion is not working properly; your cells are not receiving the nutrition they need; your body is not healing; and you are not thinking clearly and effectively since that part of your brain is literally offline for the “emergency”.
What causes stress?
Stress is the body’s response to perception; and perception is caused by subconscious programming. Although we think we are consciously seeing things exactly as they are, the truth is – we are seeing things through the filters of what the subconscious holds.
Clearing Stress
As you can see, being in a state of stress (which includes any and all negative emotional states) is not just unpleasant; it causes physical damage to your body as well as hindering your ability to use cognitive thinking effectively. This makes clearing stress from your life a top priority – since it affects absolutely everything else. The most effective way to free yourself from stress is to change the subconscious records that are causing the “fight-freeze-or-flight” response.
What is FasterEFT?
FasterEFT works with the subconscious to allow changes to the core programming that is causing your current challenges. Whatever your problems may be, the reason they exist is the fact that your subconscious contains the information that supports them.
Think of an iPod. While you are listening to your iPod, you will only hear the music that is loaded onto it. If you are hearing a particular song, it’s because it’s been loaded onto the iPod – you cannot hear music that hasn’t been loaded onto it. In the same way, if you are experiencing a problem it is because the data that supports that problem – the information that provides the structure for it – has been “loaded” into your subconscious. Change the music on your iPod, and you’ll hear different songs; change the data in your subconscious, and you’ll experience different results. And the great news is: It’s all automatic!
Using FasterEFT to change the core programming in your subconscious will result in automatic results. In other words, no more struggling with will-power; no more trying to force yourself to do things you don’t want to do – you will find that things change naturally and automatically, because you’ve changed the original source.
What to Expect from a FasterEFT Session
Nelly is a Certified Level 3 Practitioner of FasterEFT, with extensive experience in helping clients through a range of different issues and problems. The process is painless and safe. Nelly will guide you, asking you simple questions (there are no right or wrong answers – these are purely to determine how your problems are structured), and then she will use the FasterEFT tapping process to guide your subconscious in making the changes – automatically and naturally.
For even more information on FasterEFT, head over to http://www.fastereft.com/