 I consider my role as counselor in
mind-body therapy similar to being a
coach. I provide a safe, secure
environment where I teach people to
communicate and align with their
body and unconscious mind on a
conscious level. This process allows
people to quickly move to the core
of their being and change their
limiting behaviors into helping
behaviors, thereby allowing for
deep, meaningful, personal
transformation.
Mind-Body Psychotherapy operates
with the understanding that we
create much of our own experience by
the specific ways that we see, hear,
and feel things in our mind and
body. Some people call this
experience thinking. Actually what
we do is a complicated interaction
between our conscious and
unconscious mind.
My approaches
have helped people with: Anxiety,
Depression, Trauma, Eating
Disorders, Relationships, Loss,
Health Crisis, Addictions, Stress,
Children, Self Confidence, Immune
System, and more.
Most of us greatly underestimate
the scope of the unconscious mind,
which is sometimes referred to as
the “old brain”. The old brain is
concerned with self-preservation, it
constantly questions “is it safe”?
Since pre-historic times the old
brain has attempted to insure our
safety, although it appears to have
no awareness of time and only a
vague awareness of the outside
world.
Dr. Harville Hendrix explains it in
this way: In the daytime, we can’t
see the stars. We talk as if they
“come out” at night, even though
they are there all the time. We also
underestimate the sheer number of
stars. We look up at the sky, see a
smattering of dim stars, and assume
that’s all there is. When we travel
away from city lights, we see a sky
strewn with stars and are surprised
by the brilliance of them. When we
look into a telescope we become
aware that the thousands of stars
seen at night are only a fraction of
stars in the universe, and some of
those lights are really complete
galaxies. So it is with the
unconscious mind: the orderly,
logical thoughts of our conscious
mind are like a thin veil over the
unconscious, which is active and
constantly functioning.
While the instinctual old brain is
aware of what’s beyond its borders
only through sensation and feeling,
the new brain takes in and processes
the data of the external world. The
old brain is simple and primitive,
and makes wide distinctions
regarding its safety and survival
primarily by the symbols, images and
thoughts relayed to it by the new
brain. Eternally concerned with
survival, the old brain identifies
particular patterns that it has
learned to relate with “anger,”
“fear,” “rejection,” or “love.” The
old brain cannot make subtle
distinctions according to the
circumstances and it’s over
reactions are deeply ingrained, and
exaggerated in comparison to the
stimulus. To the old brain, all
threats are life threatening. Even
the slightest frown could be
interpreted as a total rejection.
Both old and new brains are
considerably different, but somehow
manage to constantly exchange and
interpret information outside our
awareness. Actually in most cases
our conscious mind is practically
powerless to permanently change
behaviors, feelings and responses
that are automatic and unconscious.
One example of old and new brain
(unconscious and conscious)
interaction would be if a child was
in a play at school and forgot his
lines. If the audience laughs at
him, he may feel shame and
embarrassment, but is forced to
remain on stage until the end of the
play. The old brain may register
this experience as “unsafe” and
therefore connect being unsafe with
speaking in public. Although the
conscious brain knows as an adult,
that logically, public speaking is
not really dangerous, however the
unconscious has imprinted the unsafe
feeling with the act of public
speaking. Consequently this event
may cause some adults to become
afraid of a simple task like
speaking in front of a group, while
other adults are pleasantly
stimulated by it. Sometimes this
causes us to reach a dead end in our
life.
Dr. Bernie Siegel’s best selling
book Love, Medicine and Miracles is
based on what he learned from his
exceptional patients who suffered
from “terminal illness” who lived
much longer than expected, or who
even became completely free of
illnesses. Dr. Siegel learned that
some people were able to transform
their lives and become disease free.
In the same way, mind-body therapies
have evolved from the study of the
mental processes of those who have
dissolved trauma, changed behaviors
or who have completely recovered
from difficulties.
Some of us may think of mind-body
therapy as unconventional or that
change can only be achieved if the
client has special awareness or
talents. Actually, the process is
about connecting with various
“parts” of the self, which is really
connecting the unconscious/old brain
with the conscious/new brain. At
times we refer to a “part” of
ourselves that controls our
behaviors and make us act out
inappropriately. We eat food
indulgently, work in excess, become
unmotivated, or act impulsively.
Actually when we make references to
these kinds of “loss of control”
actions we are admitting we don’t
have conscious control over our
behavior. It appears that we have
many “parts” that control our
behaviors, when actually it is the
unconscious/old brain that controls
these parts, and limits our
functioning.
Because the conscious part of our
thinking is not in charge of running
the behavior, feeling or response we
don’t want, the first step in
changing the behavior is learning to
access the part of ourselves that is
responsible for running it. When we
learn to communicate with our mind
and body they become allies and we
achieve a sense of wholeness and an
awareness about ourselves that is
necessary to make lasting changes in
our lives. By learning to work with
the unconscious parts that hold us
back, we can transform our inner
parts into inner allies, who
communicate with us on the deepest
levels of our being and then
communicate with our conscious mind
to make life changes. |
