The Mind-Body Connection
Mind-Body Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques are becoming popular as science increasingly proves that the mind and body are connected. In short, when we feel stress--good or bad, our body reacts in a physiological way. Since ancient times, we have been wired to constantly scan our surroundings for danger. Whether it be to maintain an awareness of what's around us, such as an encroaching predator, or to simply be attuned to the slightest frown from our boss as he or she reviews our work, we are scanning for danger. When we sense danger, our reptilian brain or R-complex (informally known as the "lizard brain") is activated. This is the part of the brain that neuroscientists in the 1960s described to be responsible for the most basic of behaviors, including one's instinctual response to danger: "fight or flight" (or for some of us, the freeze-and-play-dead-and-hope-the-danger-goes-away-on-its-own response). They called it the lizard brain, because lizards and other animals below us in the food chain exhibit rather basic emotions and behaviors in the act of survival.[1] Others today simply refer to it as the primitive brain. No matter what you call it, this part of the brain has kept us safe over time, allowing us to respond quickly in dangerous situations in ways that keep us alive. Unfortunately, a sneering boss isn't quite as catastrophic a reason for an adrenaline rush compared to a tiger ready to pounce, so this response is somewhat outdated except in situations where our "gut" instinct is right in telling us to be vigilant.
Despite our rather infrequent need for the fight or flight response, it is not easy to turn off our lizard brain. Instead, we have, over the years, learned to suppress our lizard brain's reaction to perceived danger. We can suppress our fears and some of the innate but rather blind irrationality that can come out of our lizard brain. In many ways, we have trained ourselves to "behave" in a more "socially acceptable" way using the other parts of the brain, including the limbic system and neocortex. The limbic brain handles the more tempered emotions we exhibit, such as reproductive and parenting behavior, while the neocortex brings rational thought into the mix, allowing us to plan ahead and strategize. This has had its benefits--for instance, income, security, and promotion promote our survival. But, it has also had its repercussions, one of which is idiopathic pain. This type of pain is not immediate, but rather is often an outcome of chronically ignoring what our lizard brain is trying to tell us. In some ways, this does us good as previously mentioned. It prevents us from engaging in a full-blown fistfight with our boss and subsequently losing our job or going to jail. It allows us to get through that presentation we were so nauseatingly afraid to make. It can be good, allowing us to overcome some of the fears that hold us back, ultimately strengthening our weaknesses and helping us grow into stronger people. On the other hand, repeatedly ignoring what our lizard brain is trying to tell us means we are ignoring something deep inside of us that is trying to keep us safe--sometimes spawned from an inner wisdom about what our body needs to stay healthy. If we keep suppressing our most basic emotions and smothering our innate fears, we are ignoring a growing tension within--which for many of us creates ongoing tension. This tension leads to a series of physiological issues, ultimately resulting in pain--for instance, vulvodynia. Part of stopping this vicious cycle is learning to listen to our lizard brain.
By listening to our lizard brain, I do not mean we should fight, flee or freeze at any moment our safety and security are threatened. Instead, I mean that there is a reason we are sensing danger in the first place. There is a root cause to the activation of our lizard brain. MBSR techniques, along with many forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR and newer forms of therapy like life coaching, help us get closer to understanding the root cause of our innate fear(s) by helping us identify when our lizard brain is activated and recognize how our body responds (e.g., shallow breath, tense jaw, tongue or neck or heaviness in the abdomen or pelvic region). Once we notice our body responding--using the powers of our neocortex and its more rational thought, we can then learn to take a step back and let the lizard brain have a moment to feel what it's feeling but with the understanding that it cannot dictate our actions. In other fields, you may have heard practitioners talk about opening up the meridians in your body, the chi, the chakras, or energy channels. In my humble interpretation, this is the same thing as allowing ourselves to feel the emotions that arise in response to "danger" in our environment (as well as other emotions from the paleomammalian brain), even if that danger is just a fearful, dwelling thought in our mind. Otherwise, we are just blocking the channel by continually leaving unresolved (suppressed) emotions in its path. Once we begin to notice our physiological changes emerging, we may want to excuse ourselves from the "danger" before we lose control, perhaps by taking a break from our sneering boss or crazy in-laws by resting in the restroom. We should allow our lizard brain the freedom to speak without judgement, but also without letting it completely override all the sense that helps us keep our job, relationships or freedom! Sometimes this is easier to do when we remember that our reactions are wired into us as a feature that has allowed us to survive over time. But, like any other behavior, it can be refined. The key is to allow yourself to react in a safe space without immediately engaging the desire to fight, flee or freeze. One simple practice in doing this is to, first and foremost, take a breath to slow down this reaction. This literally will stop the lizard in its tracks and bring the rational part of the brain online and into the conversation. Next, the key is to avoid silencing the lizard brain; instead, allow it a voice, allow it to speak to you about why you want to fight or flee. One way to do this is to keep a mini notebook with you at all times and jot down what you are feeling or thinking in these moments. If you do this, over time, you will not only find it easier to recognize when your lizard brain is trying to take over and cause tension, but you will see patterns in how you react. You will notice similar thoughts arising, which some have called "stories". What story (or stories) is your lizard brain trying to tell you? What phrase or thought do you keep thinking? What thoughts come up time and time again across different situations in your life? What is your greatest fear at this moment?
Once you realize what your story is, you can start to tweak it by consulting the more rational parts of your brain--the parts that don't rely merely on intuition and emotion but know that sometimes social mores must be followed and discomforts overcome in order to pay the rent or avoid alienating those around you. Perhaps you can't stop thinking that you will never get better or that you are defective, which makes you want to flee. Allow yourself a moment to really hear what your lizard brain is saying, to really confront your fear. Then, take a breath and start engaging in a conversation with your lizard brain. Is this thought true? Is it absolutely true? What evidence do you have to support this? What additional evidence do you have? By identifying your thought(s) and questioning its validity, often you will realize that it is not true, or at least can be rephrased to something more palatable, a thought that gives you greater control over your life, such as, "Okay, okay. Maybe I should 'never say never.' There is a chance I will someday get better or at least find some relief. And, maybe I won't 'always' be alone; maybe I will meet a nice partner or surround myself with lots of great friends and family." By allowing yourself to identify your thoughts and by engaging your lizard brain in a discussion, you start to activate the other parts of the brain that are more rational and truly begin to allow your emotions to be experienced and, over time, resolved. Some have called this finding your North Star, a nice way of summarizing the act of getting in touch with your "essential" or "authentic" self, which is merely the person you are supposed to be heading in a direction that aligns well with your life plan. (See, for example, Martha Beck.) The point is that you are getting your life back on track by getting in touch with what you need by listening to your body, which uses the lizard brain to act out what your mind is really trying to tell you. By engaging in conversation with yourself, you are then able to meet your own needs, to get what you were lacking--be it what the lizard brain wanted, or what your rational mind and lizard brain settled upon as closer to reality.
MBSR is not a silver bullet, nor an easy pill to pop. It is a change you must make for the rest of your life to move towards and eventually achieve and maintain wellness.
Many people go through life without ever truly allowing themselves to feel. Instead, they feel "fine" (and, if you've seen The Italian Job, you know what this means). And, oftentimes we even seem to succeed and be content. But, with increasing longevity and abundant chronic disease, perhaps we should question whether or not, despite our contentedness, we may be able to find even greater happiness, and, in the process, improve our health. Science increasingly shows that Western medicine, as miraculous as it can be in offering us ways to deal with pain and disease, oftentimes is only part of the solution. In the case of vulvodynia and other idiopathic pain, rarely is pain purely a result of genetics or some biochemical imbalance in the body; the mind, if not a primary cause, is almost always brought on as a secondary cause of the problem by way of the lizard brain. Our pain may start out as a gnawing, throbbing or sharp pain in the nether regions, but without getting control of our lizard brain, it grows into something bigger that threatens our ability to maintain balance in our lives and any semblance of happiness. Our pain brings on life-consuming thoughts like: "This pain will never go away." "I will always be alone." "God hates me." These thoughts cause increased stress, which we may hold in our pelvic region, constantly contracting our pelvic muscles. This contraction may cut off blood flow to the region and pinch some of our nerves, resulting in more pain; our pain has grown because our fears have grown. We may not be able to treat this pain or any other disease with more physical activity, better nutrition, oral and topical medication, or excisions. To heal, we may instead need to pay greater attention to the mind-body connection as a cause or exacerbating factor of disease and figure out if we are suppressing our emotions. Maybe FDR was right: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
[1] The triune brain theory describes the human brain as having evolved over time, starting with the reptilian brain but growing to eventually include the paleomammalian complex (limbic system) and the neomammalian complex (the neocortex). Although the evolutionary nature of this theory is controversial, the fact that a portion of the brain is responsible for one's natural instinct is not.
Article Last Updated 1/13/14
Mind-Body Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques are becoming popular as science increasingly proves that the mind and body are connected. In short, when we feel stress--good or bad, our body reacts in a physiological way. Since ancient times, we have been wired to constantly scan our surroundings for danger. Whether it be to maintain an awareness of what's around us, such as an encroaching predator, or to simply be attuned to the slightest frown from our boss as he or she reviews our work, we are scanning for danger. When we sense danger, our reptilian brain or R-complex (informally known as the "lizard brain") is activated. This is the part of the brain that neuroscientists in the 1960s described to be responsible for the most basic of behaviors, including one's instinctual response to danger: "fight or flight" (or for some of us, the freeze-and-play-dead-and-hope-the-danger-goes-away-on-its-own response). They called it the lizard brain, because lizards and other animals below us in the food chain exhibit rather basic emotions and behaviors in the act of survival.[1] Others today simply refer to it as the primitive brain. No matter what you call it, this part of the brain has kept us safe over time, allowing us to respond quickly in dangerous situations in ways that keep us alive. Unfortunately, a sneering boss isn't quite as catastrophic a reason for an adrenaline rush compared to a tiger ready to pounce, so this response is somewhat outdated except in situations where our "gut" instinct is right in telling us to be vigilant.
Despite our rather infrequent need for the fight or flight response, it is not easy to turn off our lizard brain. Instead, we have, over the years, learned to suppress our lizard brain's reaction to perceived danger. We can suppress our fears and some of the innate but rather blind irrationality that can come out of our lizard brain. In many ways, we have trained ourselves to "behave" in a more "socially acceptable" way using the other parts of the brain, including the limbic system and neocortex. The limbic brain handles the more tempered emotions we exhibit, such as reproductive and parenting behavior, while the neocortex brings rational thought into the mix, allowing us to plan ahead and strategize. This has had its benefits--for instance, income, security, and promotion promote our survival. But, it has also had its repercussions, one of which is idiopathic pain. This type of pain is not immediate, but rather is often an outcome of chronically ignoring what our lizard brain is trying to tell us. In some ways, this does us good as previously mentioned. It prevents us from engaging in a full-blown fistfight with our boss and subsequently losing our job or going to jail. It allows us to get through that presentation we were so nauseatingly afraid to make. It can be good, allowing us to overcome some of the fears that hold us back, ultimately strengthening our weaknesses and helping us grow into stronger people. On the other hand, repeatedly ignoring what our lizard brain is trying to tell us means we are ignoring something deep inside of us that is trying to keep us safe--sometimes spawned from an inner wisdom about what our body needs to stay healthy. If we keep suppressing our most basic emotions and smothering our innate fears, we are ignoring a growing tension within--which for many of us creates ongoing tension. This tension leads to a series of physiological issues, ultimately resulting in pain--for instance, vulvodynia. Part of stopping this vicious cycle is learning to listen to our lizard brain.
By listening to our lizard brain, I do not mean we should fight, flee or freeze at any moment our safety and security are threatened. Instead, I mean that there is a reason we are sensing danger in the first place. There is a root cause to the activation of our lizard brain. MBSR techniques, along with many forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR and newer forms of therapy like life coaching, help us get closer to understanding the root cause of our innate fear(s) by helping us identify when our lizard brain is activated and recognize how our body responds (e.g., shallow breath, tense jaw, tongue or neck or heaviness in the abdomen or pelvic region). Once we notice our body responding--using the powers of our neocortex and its more rational thought, we can then learn to take a step back and let the lizard brain have a moment to feel what it's feeling but with the understanding that it cannot dictate our actions. In other fields, you may have heard practitioners talk about opening up the meridians in your body, the chi, the chakras, or energy channels. In my humble interpretation, this is the same thing as allowing ourselves to feel the emotions that arise in response to "danger" in our environment (as well as other emotions from the paleomammalian brain), even if that danger is just a fearful, dwelling thought in our mind. Otherwise, we are just blocking the channel by continually leaving unresolved (suppressed) emotions in its path. Once we begin to notice our physiological changes emerging, we may want to excuse ourselves from the "danger" before we lose control, perhaps by taking a break from our sneering boss or crazy in-laws by resting in the restroom. We should allow our lizard brain the freedom to speak without judgement, but also without letting it completely override all the sense that helps us keep our job, relationships or freedom! Sometimes this is easier to do when we remember that our reactions are wired into us as a feature that has allowed us to survive over time. But, like any other behavior, it can be refined. The key is to allow yourself to react in a safe space without immediately engaging the desire to fight, flee or freeze. One simple practice in doing this is to, first and foremost, take a breath to slow down this reaction. This literally will stop the lizard in its tracks and bring the rational part of the brain online and into the conversation. Next, the key is to avoid silencing the lizard brain; instead, allow it a voice, allow it to speak to you about why you want to fight or flee. One way to do this is to keep a mini notebook with you at all times and jot down what you are feeling or thinking in these moments. If you do this, over time, you will not only find it easier to recognize when your lizard brain is trying to take over and cause tension, but you will see patterns in how you react. You will notice similar thoughts arising, which some have called "stories". What story (or stories) is your lizard brain trying to tell you? What phrase or thought do you keep thinking? What thoughts come up time and time again across different situations in your life? What is your greatest fear at this moment?
Once you realize what your story is, you can start to tweak it by consulting the more rational parts of your brain--the parts that don't rely merely on intuition and emotion but know that sometimes social mores must be followed and discomforts overcome in order to pay the rent or avoid alienating those around you. Perhaps you can't stop thinking that you will never get better or that you are defective, which makes you want to flee. Allow yourself a moment to really hear what your lizard brain is saying, to really confront your fear. Then, take a breath and start engaging in a conversation with your lizard brain. Is this thought true? Is it absolutely true? What evidence do you have to support this? What additional evidence do you have? By identifying your thought(s) and questioning its validity, often you will realize that it is not true, or at least can be rephrased to something more palatable, a thought that gives you greater control over your life, such as, "Okay, okay. Maybe I should 'never say never.' There is a chance I will someday get better or at least find some relief. And, maybe I won't 'always' be alone; maybe I will meet a nice partner or surround myself with lots of great friends and family." By allowing yourself to identify your thoughts and by engaging your lizard brain in a discussion, you start to activate the other parts of the brain that are more rational and truly begin to allow your emotions to be experienced and, over time, resolved. Some have called this finding your North Star, a nice way of summarizing the act of getting in touch with your "essential" or "authentic" self, which is merely the person you are supposed to be heading in a direction that aligns well with your life plan. (See, for example, Martha Beck.) The point is that you are getting your life back on track by getting in touch with what you need by listening to your body, which uses the lizard brain to act out what your mind is really trying to tell you. By engaging in conversation with yourself, you are then able to meet your own needs, to get what you were lacking--be it what the lizard brain wanted, or what your rational mind and lizard brain settled upon as closer to reality.
MBSR is not a silver bullet, nor an easy pill to pop. It is a change you must make for the rest of your life to move towards and eventually achieve and maintain wellness.
Many people go through life without ever truly allowing themselves to feel. Instead, they feel "fine" (and, if you've seen The Italian Job, you know what this means). And, oftentimes we even seem to succeed and be content. But, with increasing longevity and abundant chronic disease, perhaps we should question whether or not, despite our contentedness, we may be able to find even greater happiness, and, in the process, improve our health. Science increasingly shows that Western medicine, as miraculous as it can be in offering us ways to deal with pain and disease, oftentimes is only part of the solution. In the case of vulvodynia and other idiopathic pain, rarely is pain purely a result of genetics or some biochemical imbalance in the body; the mind, if not a primary cause, is almost always brought on as a secondary cause of the problem by way of the lizard brain. Our pain may start out as a gnawing, throbbing or sharp pain in the nether regions, but without getting control of our lizard brain, it grows into something bigger that threatens our ability to maintain balance in our lives and any semblance of happiness. Our pain brings on life-consuming thoughts like: "This pain will never go away." "I will always be alone." "God hates me." These thoughts cause increased stress, which we may hold in our pelvic region, constantly contracting our pelvic muscles. This contraction may cut off blood flow to the region and pinch some of our nerves, resulting in more pain; our pain has grown because our fears have grown. We may not be able to treat this pain or any other disease with more physical activity, better nutrition, oral and topical medication, or excisions. To heal, we may instead need to pay greater attention to the mind-body connection as a cause or exacerbating factor of disease and figure out if we are suppressing our emotions. Maybe FDR was right: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
[1] The triune brain theory describes the human brain as having evolved over time, starting with the reptilian brain but growing to eventually include the paleomammalian complex (limbic system) and the neomammalian complex (the neocortex). Although the evolutionary nature of this theory is controversial, the fact that a portion of the brain is responsible for one's natural instinct is not.
Article Last Updated 1/13/14