Tag Archives: mind body control

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Attending To The Ultimate Relationship of Self Love

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This is an interactive blog. Read it to yourself or listen to it. Do not listen to it while driving. This is also my last blog post until Tuesday July 9, 2024. Listen to it as often as you like, and each time you do, you will go deeper.

I safely close my eyes and withdraw my attention from the outside world. My conscious mind observes passively the effects on my body of  suggestions I give to my subconscious mind. I stress: my mind and body are completely passive, they needn’t make anything happen. They are present to experience the magic and independent ability of my subconscious mind to manifest my suggestions.

Before I knock on the door to my subconscious with my requests I remind myself that I, as ego architect, must initiate through suggestion, then get out of the way, as my subconscious mysteriously fulfills my suggestions. I am confident and direct as I deliver my suggestions.

I speak to you, my subconscious. You are the master of my body’s functioning. With love and gratitude I firmly present to you my  intentions. As I state them I passively observe their fulfillment.

My feet feel deeply relaxed.*

My ankles, my knees and my hips feel relaxed and comfortable.

My solar plexus and the whole central part of my body feel relaxed and quiet.

My hands, my arms and my shoulders feel relaxed and comfortable.

My neck, my jaw and my tongue feel relaxed and comfortable.

My forehead feels relaxed and smooth.

My eyes are quiet and relaxed.

My entire body feels quiet, comfortable and relaxed.

I am quite relaxed.

I feel quite quiet.

My mind is calm and quiet.

I feel serene and still.

I trust my body, it will never let me down.

I notice now the impact of these suggestions upon my body and mind. I am deeply calm and relaxed. I know that I have been delivered to a resting place that will deepen every time I repeat these suggestions.

I realize that I am in the presence of creation. My conscious spirit  stimulated my subconscious soul body to manifest the calm I now feel. Their sacred union gave birth to my present state of being. This is the loving relationship that brings forth new possibilities of me.

I am grateful and I am thankful for this loving relationship as it delivers me to new life.

If I am ready to launch into rejuvenative sleep, off I go.

If I am ready to return to outer focus and activity, I suggest that my subconscious restore me to fully engage waking life.

Having attended to the ultimate relationship of self love, I launch.

*These Autogenic Phrases are abstracted from the work of Elmer and Alyce Green while at the Menninger Foundation. I am grateful to the late Dr. Eleanor Eggers for her documentation of these phrases on her website Help For Stress Disorders.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Belly Breath Beta Blocker

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There’s nothing like a calm belly breath…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Beta brainwaves are active when we think, hence, they are the dominant brainwave of waking life. Typically, our consciousness is preoccupied  with an internal dialogue that operates semi-consciously, as it judges, categorizes, projects possibilities, and relives lived experiences.

The subconscious mind treats the mental scenarios generated by the internal dialogue as actual facts and prepares the body to cope with their impact. Hence, the mere anticipation of an upcoming performance might generate a fear, which triggers the release of adrenalin to gear up for the challenge, as if it were happening now.

The resulting constriction in the body is accompanied by shallow breath. In fact, if one observes one’s breath when engaged with the internal dialogue, one is likely to notice both shallow upper-chest breathing and modestly long periods of holding of the breath.

These breathing patterns reinforce to the subconscious mind the presence of a danger that requires a sustained state of anxiety. The subconscious does not think rationally, it acts, based upon the body sensations and mental imaginings it is presented with.

Cognitive behavioral therapy capitalizes on this dynamic of thought-generating feeling and behavior by encouraging one to consciously control one’s thoughts. Mainstream medicine may prescribe beta blockers, a class of drugs that control the impact of adrenaline on the body, particularly the heart.

Abdominal breathing shuts down the internal dialogue, as it introduces alpha brainwaves to the body. Alpha is a restful, calm, relaxed brainwave. When in meditation, alpha is experienced as a mindful state of presence that does not attach to sensations, feelings, or mental meanderings. In alpha, one consciously removes attention from the internal dialogue.

To consciously introduce alpha brainwaves via the breath, focus on the belly for the entire breath. Allow the chest and upper chest to remain completely dormant. Imagine the belly to be a balloon that you slowly fill up to capacity, hold, and then release. Abdominal breathing is also called diaphragmatic breathing, as the diaphragm pushes downward as the balloon fills up.

Specifically, count to the count of 8 during the inhalation, hold for the count of 8, then exhale fully to the count of 8. When you complete the exhalation hold the breath for a count of 4, then repeat the pattern, beginning with an inhalation to the count of 8.

This pattern of 8-8-8-4 can be repeated for as long as one feels comfortable. Notice the resulting shift in mental, emotional, and physical states. Of course, feel free to modify the count as needed to fit your comfortability.

In fact, just practice taking a deep abdominal breath or two at any time, and notice how it breaks one’s fixation upon an anxiety-generating thought, feeling, and mental state. Achieving this calm with the introduction of alpha waves can allow for a more useful contemplation than the unnerving mental activity of the internal dialogue.

8-8-8-4,

Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Mature Heart

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A Mature Heart…
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel

So much emphasis is placed upon the heart as the spiritual center that guides right action. This can seem extremely confusing when compared to popular renditions of the heart as the center for romantic love and longing. After all, how often do romantic projections result in right action?

It is true that the heart is connected to loving attachments. A broken heart, through loss of a loved one, is indeed an informal diagnosis known to many a cardiologist. It is equally true that the heart is the meeting place with one’s High Self, the spirit center of one’s being. In the quiet of the heart, the High Self tells the truth to ego consciousness, regardless of the ego’s wish for a different answer.

Thus, the heart can be said to function on many levels: from the immature cravings of the desire body, to the vicissitudes of love and attachment in relationships, to a highly refined impartiality that lovingly accepts everything, without personal resistance; this is the position of the mature heart.

Humans are multidimensional beings living many simultaneous lives. Even in the single dimension of waking life one may be dominated by the cravings of the desire body at the breakfast table, the stirrings of romantic interest in the afternoon, and deep communion with High Self in the evening.

A mature heart is not necessarily achieved via a linear developmental progression. One can be working on different dimensions of heart issues, literally, depending upon the time of day. Ultimately, however, a connection to the mature heart is necessary to resolve the clouded entanglements of need, desire, and attachment.

The mental plane immediately impacts the central nervous system, which greatly affects the heart. Thus, if one has the thought that there is a problem, messages are immediately delivered through the nerves to various glands and organs to respond to the abstract thought. A thus-activated body might stir the heart to heated action, even though there is actually no real crisis.

To promote the conditions to access the mature heart it is a good practice to engage in control of the fickle mind. Any meditation practice trains the ego to still its activity, as consciousness learns to be mindfully present to a single focus, such as the breath. Control of the mind promotes the inner silence that allows one to hear the voice of the High Self in the quiet of the heart.

Autogenic phrases, self-hypnosis, deep relaxation, biofeedback, as well as neurofeedback, are Western technological tools that promote thought control and calm the heart. In essence, all these practices introduce new programs to the subconscious mind that regulate the central nervous system, giving the ego control over automatic reactions to stray thoughts.

Recapitulation, the reliving and releasing of split-off parts of life experiences, frees the central nervous system of random activation by associative triggers in one’s daily life encounters. Once the ego has fully squared with a suppressed or repressed experience, the heart is freed of invasive shocks that preclude the quiet of spiritual connection.

Yogic science has produced pranayama breathing techniques that directly influence the balance of positive and negative electrical energy that flows through the central nervous system. Alternate nostril breathing (sukh purvak) directly addresses the rebalancing of these forces. Any physical practice that brings deep calm to the body gives the ego an opportunity to control the mind and the body, and to open to the spiritual dimension of the heart.

Upon reaching the position of the mature heart, one is guided to successfully navigate the many lives one lives. Most importantly, in the place of the mature heart, one receives and expresses the fullness of loving compassion, with equanimity. Furthermore, one is empowered to act upon right action without sentimental restraint. For the mature heart loves, most of all, the truth.

With love from the mature heart,

Chuck