What I hoped to illustrate in this class was the power with which the mind can influence and change the body. With our knowledge of the body, we can create healing if we chose to direct our positive attention to our bodies. The commands from the Alexander Technique similarly allow for a better use of the body. We are also at the mercy of our thoughts if they are negative in nature.
Each of you had a different response to this class. Some felt lighter, some heavier. Most felt some imbalance or change, perhaps some did not. Each response is equally as valid as it is your experiences. In your comments for this class, please speak to the relationship between words or thoughts and the way they can manifest in the body. Most particularly, what were your experiences in this class.
26 comments:
My experience in this class was with the fewest words: Our thoughts and focus affect our physical and emotional selves. Wow. I didn't think I believed my parents and teachers when they told me thinking positively makes positive outcomes and that if you smile it will signal your brain to be happy. Maybe this power of suggestion works both ways. I feel like maybe I could move more on my right side and bring inspiration and oxygen into my left hemisphere or visa versa, but maybe my mental focus better influences my body, than trying to get my body to influence my brain.
My right side definately felt heavier as we focused on it. I wasnted to do the movements but I fought the urge and sat still, increasing my heaviness. I felt my upper leg making more of a connection to the chair and my right foot pushed into the floor. My hip felt like it moved back toward the chair and my right arm tensed. As we walked I felt as if my right foot made more of a molded contact with the floor and my left foot only seems to make contact at the heel and ball of the foot. i didn't feel a limping sensation, but a definate lopsided-ness that I consciously felt and knew that noone could see.
When we began thinking of te left side and then both sides, I felt less of a heaviness on one side and more balance.
Tuesday's class was enjoyable at the least. Allowing the mind to listen to the words of Louie and realizing how much of an impact out body reacts is amazing.
As we focused on the right side of the body, i initially didn't feel that my body had any response to his words but when we rose up to our feets and began to move freely and observe our surrounding, my right leg felt heavy and walked almost limp-like as i made my way around the room. we started walking faster and breathing much quicker, that enabled more air access to my muscles and to the brain which allowed the balance of the heavy right side of the body slowly subside.
When we focused on the left side of the body, i initially still had the heavyness on the right side of the body but as i listened to the words and allowed the mind to process it, the weight began to shift and immediately upon getting up to walk, my entire left side of the body felt like a rock and i actually struggled as i scattered myself around the room. With the concentration less on the mind and with free movements, my body started to balance itself out and within a couple minutes i believe i was
i think my left side took more of a toll than my right side, though i'm right handed and predominately a right-sided person. ehh who knows.
I read the Neurospeak article and followed the directions. I had my laptop on the table infront of the chair that I was sitting on. I tried my best to relax my body and mind as it asked me to do so. Once I got relaxed I started to read and followed the article. I had my foots touching thorougly on the floor. As I was following the article, I was wondering why it only address the right foot but not left foot but I just followed it with curiosity for the surprise. After all, I was amazed by the reactions that I was experiencing. My body was leaning towards the right side and I was only thinking about right side. I felt like my whole body weights were heavily put onto the right foot and also I could feel the every nerve system in my right foot. I started to walk around the room. I felt the same. My left foot felt very light and almost nothing. I felt like I was walking only with the right foot. Right foot felt very heavy. I was very interested on my reaction so I followed the direction for my left foot after about 2 hours but I did not had that dramatic reaction that I experienced when I have done it in the first time. It was very interesting and I think I know better about the Neurospeak not only with the writing but with my body.
I think I am having a hard time stepping out of the thick-of-the-quarter at the moment. A 24-hour fast and a 6 hour meditation is probably called for. Unfortunately, this practice did not resonate with me. I didn't understand why we were doing it, or at least I couldn't really connect with the experience. I LOVED the Alexander Technique section because it gave me a firm practice. I have been quite successful at catching myself adopting the "turtle pose" and correcting it. Of course it will take years, but I "get it" and it is working. However, this practice felt annoying to me (not to mention I got so naseaus during class). Which is somewhat interesting because I acknowledge there is a relationship between my thoughts and my body, but there is also a relationship between my body and my thoughts. If something hurts, should I turn my attention toward it, or away from it. Clearly I need to learn more....Suzanne Wilson
It was strange how the words in his book had at least some kind of influence on almost all of us, whether or not it was the author’s intended response. It’s kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy – if you say something enough times, it is likely to happen. He made us focus on our right sides so all of our attention and energy was directed there, causing differing effects on each individual. Although I always feel a little uneven, I felt even more so in that exercise. I was limping around the room, trying to straighten myself out. When the book attempted to even us out again, I didn’t feel completely symmetrical, again because I am not, but I felt more than before. I also seemed to feel taller after this part of the exercise. The breathing portion made me feel drowsy and heavy, which I don’t think was supposed to happen. I did feel relaxed, but it didn’t give me energy.
~Marcee Wickline
Tuesdays class was hard for me to relate to, which is strange because usually I really enjoy listening to words about the body and trying to meditate on them. I really think it was the way we were sitting. I just feel so uncomfortable when I'm sitting in a chair. And I know it had to do with keeping our rights and left straight, but it just made it hard for me to focus. It was definatly an interesting practice focusing on different sides of our bodies and letting them dominate the other. It made me think about how sometimes I feel so larthargic and don't want to move at all and how at different times I feel light and ready to move. There have been many cases when I have been able to talk myself out of feeling lazy, but also times when I havn't been able to get away from it.
I felt a significant feeling of sensitivity and awareness in my right side while sitting in the chair during the first Neurospeak exercise. The ore things we were read to imagine tranferred into those specific areas of my body while I maintained complete stillness. This connection with my right side left my left side somewhat numb to my inner senses. It wasn't as though my left side couldn't function but just that y mind was more intently focused on my right side. When we stood I felt a feeling of asymmetry but as I walked, the sense of unbalance seemed to level out by the time I sat back down in my seat.
However, when reseated my right side did still have a heavier presence than my left. When being read the second part of the exercise A shift occured. It felt like the invisible weight along my right side was starting to push down from the top of my head as opposed to primarily the entire right side of my body. So I began to feel an equal sense of balance as my head was distributing the weight I was feeling evenly through both sides of my body. Walking was not difficult because a feeling of asymmetry no longer concerned me.
DUring the second Neurospeak exercise, each area that was articulated in the reading was what captured most of my attention. A peculiar sense that I continued to notice was my focus. Although I did the exercise with my eyes closed I could feel my eyes under my eyelids moing to "look" toward the area I was focusing my breathing in. It was very peculiar how the breath felt when ocusing it in one area of the body, feeling as though the flow of air was passing through some sort of permeable membrane. The most distinct area in which I noticed a change was the head. It was amazing how I had a sense o light headedness mixed with the feeling that my head was an expanding chamber, never quite reaching full capacity but still quite large.
This is yet another example of the power of suggestion. It was interesting to experience this particular author's way of practicing this. I felt a tremendous heaviness on the right side the first time. We took so long and such care to go through each part of our right side that I felt I was soft and melting on that side. When we stood I was limping and dragging the right side. But as I remember, as you read further as we walked around, the author was suggesting that the right side feel light. So this conflicting info confused me. As we went on, I saw how he was trying to connect the right to the left side, but it didn't have the same affect on me. Since we spent less time on the left side while also addressing the right with the crossings, I didn't feel balanced at all when we stood until we started walking and the book was suggesting that I was balanced and therefore I allowed myself to be talked into being balanced.
It was a little irritating at first because I felt like I was being manipulated, but then later realized that this was in fact the point. That we have the capability and power to change our bodies with our mind. That we can feel better just by thinking and focusing on feeling better. The same is true with feeling sick or sad. I think a majority of the time we are feeling sick or sad it is more a state of mind rather than physiology.
Even though we all related to this exercise in different ways, I think it was very beneficial and point well taken.
I had never heard of Neurospeak before, and when it was first introduced in this class, I have to admit that I was a little bit skeptical. I didn’t think my mind and my nerves were so connected to a point where I was able to physically experience the change that your words caused. After the first exercise, I was very surprised to feel my right side to be heavier than my left. My right foot felt to be extremely grounded, whereas my left one felt like it was floating. As I walked around, I noticed that I was limping. I thought I was just imagining it, but when I told my friend what I was feeling, she agreed that I was really limping. During the second exercise, I was able to feel the transfer from my right side to my left side. It was cool to sense the energy moving through my nerves! However, even after this transfer, my right side still seemed to be more connected to the ground than my left. As I mentioned in class, I am right dominant, but I carry a heavy handbag for hours almost every day on my left shoulder. Because of that, my left side is higher than my right, and this was confirmed when we did the exercise where we imitated each other’s walk.
I definitely do believe in the power of the mind. It’s something that I have been using to make myself feel better whenever I have a bad day, and I do think we have the ability to heal ourselves if we remain positive.
- F. Widjaja
I actually felt my right leg was swollen and numb for the first assignment. When I stood up and started to walk around, I felt like my right feet was stepping on a pillow. I lost a bit of my balance during the walk. As for the second part of trying to balance out, I felt that I was more balanced then and the numbness was gone and it felt normal. I got my balance back again too. It was really interesting! :)
~Afsoon Fazeli
In class on Tuesday I was extremely tired and therefore I had a hard time staying awake, yet I still felt the effect of the reading. While sitting in the chair with my eyes closed trying to listen and pay attention to what Louis was saying, I found myself repeatedly slipping into sleep. I was very disappointed with myself when we were told to stand the first time because I didn’t think I would be able to notice any difference in my body seeing as I did not really even know what was said, yet when I moved about the room there was a definite heaviness to my right side and a “limpness” to my left side. I felt, as someone stated in class, that my left side was being drug along. My left toe kept dragging and my left foot never felt steady on the ground; meanwhile, my right foot felt stable and consistent with every step. I was not really sure why this was until we sat back down and I realized that all of what was said while I had been slipping in and out of sleep had been about the right side of my body. I found this very interesting and worked much harder to stay awake when we went on to transfer everything to the left side and balance out our bodies. Immediately I felt the rush of energy go to my left side, but it seemed at first to leave my right side empty. As I continued to listen, the energy balanced out and I felt very good inside. Then when we got up and moved around again I could feel the difference, how both feet met the ground equally stable and both sides of my body moved with purpose. I find it particularly interesting that while I didn’t recall what was being said for most of the activity I still experienced a very definite change in my body as if my body was listening without my mind or I was listening unconsciously and the message was still being relayed to my body. This makes me think that we possibly are affected by our environment and the attitudes of those around us more than we are consciously aware of. This class has really made me think…
I felt very imbalanced after focusing on the right side of my body. I
felt that when walking I was leading with that side, and the other side
was just following allong. When we balanced out, I did not feel that the
energy was the same as before the exercize, but I tend to carry my weight
slightly to the left, so it was actually a good thing.
Mairi Holtzner
It surprised me that through just listening to a simple description I could feel a physical change within my body. When class started and we were sitting in the chairs I wasn’t even paying extremely close attention to what was being said. However, I consciously remember the words “right side” being repeated over and over. And by the time we stood up my right side felt significantly lower. It was almost as if someone was pushing down on my right shoulder. When we began to walk around the classroom this feeling became even more pronounced and I felt as though it took a lot more effort to lift my right leg. It also seemed heavier when I set it down and it felt as if a heavy weight was thudding against the floor. Yet, the most surprising part of this entire exercise was how quickly it took to undo this lopsided feeling. It seemed as if after just a few words we were up and walking around again, this time feeling much more symmetrical. It amazed me at how quickly the body can reach equilibrium or revert back to its normal form. I noticed this especially since it took such a long time to create the asymmetry within the body at the beginning of class.
-Emily Stromme
I found both of these exercises very intriguing. I was very skeptical that reading about the right side of our bodies and hearing things that we already knew about our limbs would impact me so significantly. I paid close attention and was very focused on what Louis was reading. I focused on the things that Louis indicated that we should focus on. I really did feel that the right side of my body became heavy and weighted down. When we got up and walked around, I felt that I almost had two distinct bodies, one right and one left. I had so much asymmetrical movement that I felt like I was limping a lot. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself symmetrical and this was somewhat frustrating to me. So it was equally surprising (and relieving) to me that when Louis continued on in the reading to re-focus our bodies so that we were more even. This time when we walked around, I was able to get to a symmetrical position fairly quickly although not entirely. It made me realize that in my everyday life, because I am so right side dominant, that I most likely am using this side more and am, in fact asymetrical without realizing it.
I did the brain to foot exercise just a little while ago. I have to admit, it is not as easy for me to follow instructions reading them as it was for Louis to read them to us. However, I discovered a few interesting things. First, I could not keep my feet still no matter how hard I tried. I was automatically emulating the actions of my right foot as I was reading the about them. I tried to slow down but that didn't seem to work. I just went with it so I could complete the article. Also, I didn't allow for the full 1-2 minutes of sitting and focusing on my right foot to happen - I think I short changed that part and just did the focus part for about 30 seconds. Secondly, I did not get nearly as lopsided and heavy on my right side as I did on Tuesday. Perhaps I was trying harder to control the outcome (I do have this tendancy and am working on not trying to be such a control freak). What did happen as I started to walk around was that I lost my balance and stumbled a bit and perhaps this caused me to become less asymmetrical? Who knows. I think I will need to try this exercise again when I am more relaxed.
Tuesday's class allowed me to realize how much control your mind has over your entire body. In today's exercises, I was really able to notice this. The first reading exercise we did, I did sitting up. I noticed that by sitting up while focusing so hardly with my mind, that I was left feeling very nauseated. yet at the same time, was able to really connect with my right side when we walked around the class room. My right side felt very heavy and my body was led by my right side. It was hard for me to re-gain balance and have all the attention on my right side.
I was very excited when I learned we were working with our mind body connection again. I like figuring out the mind over matter stuff. I often find myself telling myself to pull my head forward and up and finding it help.
In this class we experienced feeling our bodies in and out of symmetry. We started by feeling how symmetrical our body’s naturally are. Then we sat and thought only about the right side of our bodies. Then we again we felt the symmetry. I noticed the right side of my body felt bigger than the left. It felt full of life. My left side on the other hand felt small. It felt like a shriveled raisin. As we walked around I felt my whole left foot on the floor, but not all of my left foot. On my left foot I just felt three bones hitting the floor. My right foot was far more comfortable.
Next we thought about the left side of our body and our body crossing sides. This made my left thigh swell up more than the right. This caused me to feel like I was leaning to the right. Next my shoulder swelled up. So in the end, the weight and size was even form left to right, but along the left side of my body some parts were huge while others were still shriveled. This was a very strange sensation.
-Sandi
This exercise in class was very similar to the exercise we did several weeks ago where our partners were to lift us out of a chair as we thought specific thoughts. These thoughts were then manifested in our bodies and witnessed by our partners. I found that to be interesting because we had an objective observer who could tell us how our distinct thoughts could create very specific movements in our body.
In the exercise last Tuesday, I did not witness a change in my body but I also did not have a partner to observe the movements of my body, I had to observe them myself. I felt my concentration was fixed on listening to you read but for some reason the thoughts in my mind did not manifest into any feelings of symmetry or lack of symmetry in my body during both readings.
One feeling I did have however, was this sensation of my body folding in half when you were describing the left side of our body crossing over the right side of our body. This did not produce any feelings of asymmetry but I did this urge in my body to fold over. It was a peculiar feeling.
-Hanalore Alupay
I believe beyond doubt that there is a profound effect of Words or thought on the perception of our bodies. Yet I do not know what effect do they have on the *actual* physical body. Usually, we might feel/think a certain different way about our bodies after being influenced by a related thought, which then might bring changes to our bodies eventually although not immediately (in contrast to the immediate perception).
In today's class after listening to a lot of words involving the right side of the body, my attention shifted to the right part of the body. As a consequence while walking I perceived my right part to be higher then the left part (probably because left part was ignored). I could feel myself adjusting to balance them, although another thought kicked reminding me that I haven't really tested whether this is the case in reality. Other then that everything else was fine, partly because I could only remember part of the text and that being everything right, right, and right.
While doing the Neurospeak activity given in the reading, my attention was again focused on the right. However, I cannot descern whether I felt the right foot as heavier or the left foot being ligher. It seemed as if there is considerably more mass on the right (which is correlated with heaviness, since gravity is what determines the weight). Moreover, while reversing the exercise on the left foot, it was definitely not the same as with the right foot. It was as if I knew my right foot better then the left (and hence could not visualize it with as much resolution as with the right). Perhaps this has to do with dominance of one foot over the other but I am not sure.
I never realized how much listening to someone read to you could effect that way your body felt as much as it did in class on Tuesday. When talking about symmetry I could feel my right side sink into the floor. It felt like I was dragging my leg around like a hunchback sidekick character that you see in the movies. I felt so uneven that it was very uncomfortable.
I am right handed and very right dominant and this exercise really emphasized that for me. I let that heaviness take over.
Some people in class got a little nauseous; I did too a little bit. I felt my body all move over to one side and I felt very off balance while sitting in the chair. Maybe it was because I am not used to sitting that upright in a chair. Who knows.
-jasmine boado
This exercise was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable experiences I have encountered in class. I appreciate this opportunity to explore the body/mind connection with Robert Masters who wrote, Neurospeak. I found it difficult to actual get the whole experience of this exercise since I was extremely uncomfortable sitting on a chair that was not adjustable, and have both feet placed on the ground. The chair we used made it hard to sit up and relax at the same time. Since both my legs are short I had to position myself one-fourth into my chair so both my foot reaches the ground. My mind was not fully involved in this experience. I adjusted my body into many position, straight or slouching against the chair. Two minutes into this exercise I started to feel light headed.
As this exercise progressed into the hour, I found myself increasing in anxiety. When we closed our eyes and listen to the words in Neurospeak my body felt the urge to stand up. When our classmates commented on the experience they had in class, I felt the complete opposite. I did experience the separation between my body and mind that distinguish between heavier or lighter. But when the book focused on the right side of our body, my left side seems lighter compared to the right side while we were walking. Overall, I found this class experience and book interesting but I just felt like I missed most of the body and mind connection due to my body positioning on the chair.
-QMLN
I actually found this assignment to be my own personal body check. How was I feeling? Was I in any pain? Did I walk lopsided? Was my posture good? Being able to contrast what my body was feeling when just focusing on the right or left side of my body versus both sides of my body was interesting. I did actually felt weaker on my left side. I always felt as if my left side was dragging behind me, and my right side was leading me through space. Something else I noticed was that I was super sore in my legs but not my in upper body. Just getting out of my chair was like a job for me. I thought it was interesting how a lot of the people were feeling dizzy, because I always feel a little dizzy when I really focus on my body or my mind. I always thought I must just be different. I also found that really listening to a voice puts me in a daze, because it is like someone else is controlling my movement.
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Neurospeak Article:
After the neurospeak exercises and doing the reading, I now understand how much ability one has to control their own body. I learned that the human nervous system is hedonistic-seeking pleasure and avoidance of pain. And that by having a ‘quality of consciousness’ you are able to relax your body and gain self-awareness. The activities with neurospeak act as a learning experience for the body. Each exercise challenges the central nervous system in ways that I would have never thought possible. I did the exercise at home and was amazed how much awareness I had in the foot. I was able to sense my individual toes and my left foot became more aware and almost identical to my right foot. I am fascinated with the concept of superior organization.
This reading convinced me about the power of positive thinking all too easily. I love the idea that thoughts and words are actually, literally turned into flesh. The methods in this book informed me about a new, accessible way to realize our potential. How just the action of smiling changes our actual emotional state; you really can fake it until you make it. This reading gave me a sense (or an actual?) confidence in my abilities to perform, change, and self-heal. It made me think about whether or not doctors should always tell people bad news, or take the risk of making more progress solely because of a patients resolved, positive thoughts. I hope I remember this extra awareness I experienced when negative emotions are running through my mind, I hope I remember the actual effects they have on my body and make efforts to control and direct my personal moods and reactions for the better.
-Eugenia Prezhdo
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