Hi Friends,
We've been talking here a lot about anxiety lately and I just wanted to share that there are some great articles in the July/August issue of Utne magazine. Fear, Anxiety, Trauma....when to let go... how to heal. It talks a lot about muscle memory and ways to break up those impulses. If you can't find the magazine and are interested ..let me know as they list some helpful websites that I can pass on.
Love,
Cristi
Anxiety
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Oh, is this the article you're talking about? It's online.
http://www.utne.com/pub/2006_136/promo/12168-1.html
http://www.utne.com/pub/2006_136/promo/12168-1.html
Ok, I just read it. It's amazing to me how often I now see this particular theme. Kind of like when you are buying a new car, at first you barely notice it if at all, then all of a sudden you see the new car you are intrested in all over the place.
The theme that I see is this. That something is telling us that we need to change. In the case of anxiety, food intollerances our bodies are saying "hello, you there, you aren't listening so I'm going to make you listen", and so we get GI issues, pain, etc. And unfortunatly our society/science/medicine seems to be all about making that symptom go away, ignore the pain, cover it up with something else, take a pain pill or anxiety drug or what ever, instead of focusing on the problem. In our cases it could be food intollerances, could be in how we communicate with others, how we handle our feelings or others feelings, and so on.
We've got to work on the cause before our bodies will stop telling us that something is wrong. We've got to listen to our bodies, our bodies seem to care more about us than we seem to care about ourselves. Talk about survival instinct. :)
To think that all this while I was asking God for help or for a sign, and guess what, God has been telling me for a long time now. It's about time I listen.
Mike
The theme that I see is this. That something is telling us that we need to change. In the case of anxiety, food intollerances our bodies are saying "hello, you there, you aren't listening so I'm going to make you listen", and so we get GI issues, pain, etc. And unfortunatly our society/science/medicine seems to be all about making that symptom go away, ignore the pain, cover it up with something else, take a pain pill or anxiety drug or what ever, instead of focusing on the problem. In our cases it could be food intollerances, could be in how we communicate with others, how we handle our feelings or others feelings, and so on.
We've got to work on the cause before our bodies will stop telling us that something is wrong. We've got to listen to our bodies, our bodies seem to care more about us than we seem to care about ourselves. Talk about survival instinct. :)
To think that all this while I was asking God for help or for a sign, and guess what, God has been telling me for a long time now. It's about time I listen.
Mike
Very interesting article, Christine. I never did find the Utne Reader so I read it here.
I have found that meditation is a good way to engage the mind/body/spirit system and get rid of a lot of garbage. Sometimes my brain brings up some awful stuff from the past and I can look at it and understand it and it just seems to go away. That and the feelings surrounding it. Which are usually the type of self-loathing and blame and shame that you qere talking about.
Like even after my mother died and was no longer around to torture me, I was left with the old rage that I had felt for years. One day as I was meditating the whole thing came up again. I "saw" all the things that she did and said to me that were hurtful. I FELT THEM PHYSICALLY. Because that kind of pain is a physical thing. Along with the rest. As I sat there feeling this and crying I suddenly experienced a calmness come over me and I KNEW that none of it had been my fault and that I had a right to my rage. The moment I accepted my rage as being a completely reational reaction to how I was treated, it went away. Just like that. And I have never felt that particular rage again. Furthermore, it included my father so I am left with no feeling of anger towards them at all. I used to be eaten alive by it.
It's hard to explain something spiritual in word, but I have done the best I can. This was all out of my conscious control (neocortex) and happened somewhere else. I don't even know if it was my brain. Anyway, it IS possible to heal.
Lots of love,
Sally
I have found that meditation is a good way to engage the mind/body/spirit system and get rid of a lot of garbage. Sometimes my brain brings up some awful stuff from the past and I can look at it and understand it and it just seems to go away. That and the feelings surrounding it. Which are usually the type of self-loathing and blame and shame that you qere talking about.
Like even after my mother died and was no longer around to torture me, I was left with the old rage that I had felt for years. One day as I was meditating the whole thing came up again. I "saw" all the things that she did and said to me that were hurtful. I FELT THEM PHYSICALLY. Because that kind of pain is a physical thing. Along with the rest. As I sat there feeling this and crying I suddenly experienced a calmness come over me and I KNEW that none of it had been my fault and that I had a right to my rage. The moment I accepted my rage as being a completely reational reaction to how I was treated, it went away. Just like that. And I have never felt that particular rage again. Furthermore, it included my father so I am left with no feeling of anger towards them at all. I used to be eaten alive by it.
It's hard to explain something spiritual in word, but I have done the best I can. This was all out of my conscious control (neocortex) and happened somewhere else. I don't even know if it was my brain. Anyway, it IS possible to heal.
Lots of love,
Sally
Mitakuye oyasin
(Lakota for "We are all related")
(Lakota for "We are all related")
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barbaranoela
- Emperor Penguin
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Christi---that was a very very intereting article about anxities--
And Mike thanks for passing on the url---
Much to ponder over---cus I am one that did ALLOW anxiety and fear rule my life--
Although I did Xpress my *fears*--and feelings--there are times that I was laughed at---
And lately people have been seeing a change in me---and I in myself too-to add it has been since I got involved in yoga and tai chi????
could this be my reason for feeling *free*? actually FEELING the freedom of over coming anxieties??
I will add that I never held back on my *sorrows* in life---when I lost someone--the feelings always spewed outta me--and the pain heals but the sadness is always there--
I dont know if I am off base with reading this article but I had to Xpress all this-
Adding more thoughts----there is megga baggage that I have let go off--and U know--its a wonderful feeling~~~~
thanks for this article
luve Barbara
And Mike thanks for passing on the url---
Much to ponder over---cus I am one that did ALLOW anxiety and fear rule my life--
Although I did Xpress my *fears*--and feelings--there are times that I was laughed at---
And lately people have been seeing a change in me---and I in myself too-to add it has been since I got involved in yoga and tai chi????
could this be my reason for feeling *free*? actually FEELING the freedom of over coming anxieties??
I will add that I never held back on my *sorrows* in life---when I lost someone--the feelings always spewed outta me--and the pain heals but the sadness is always there--
I dont know if I am off base with reading this article but I had to Xpress all this-
Adding more thoughts----there is megga baggage that I have let go off--and U know--its a wonderful feeling~~~~
thanks for this article
luve Barbara
the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control
YES, Miss BN!!! Yoga works not just on the body, but on the whole connection to the mind and spirit. And there IS a connection. You may not be aware of it in your conscious mind, but it is happening. Keep it up. I really love that you are doing this.
Namaste,
Moi
Namaste,
Moi
Mitakuye oyasin
(Lakota for "We are all related")
(Lakota for "We are all related")
Hi Friends,
I am glad you thought the article was interesting as well. I have lived with an under current of anxiety my whole life and it has always manifested itself in my stomach. I have not done yoga but did pilates for 6 years and achieved some peace through that as well.
The other interesting part of the article was the part about the EMDR. I looked up some info on it and it talks about how anxiety creates muscle patterns in our brains...so that given a particular stimulus...it automatically responds a certain way...we truely have little conscious choice in the matter. So. in my particular case...whenever I experience stress (possitive or negative) my stomach churns. I've tried relaxing and deep breathing to relax me , but usually with limited results. Any way, they looked at our brains while experiencing this stress...saw the pattern...then did this EMDR and it broke up the muscle pattern. I'm sure I'm not explaining this to its best advantage....but it sounds interesting and has the scans to prove it plus a lot of people say it has helped them. From the website in the article, there seem to be a lot of therapists in a lot of areas practicing it.
Another interesting way of looking at things.
Love,
Cristi
I am glad you thought the article was interesting as well. I have lived with an under current of anxiety my whole life and it has always manifested itself in my stomach. I have not done yoga but did pilates for 6 years and achieved some peace through that as well.
The other interesting part of the article was the part about the EMDR. I looked up some info on it and it talks about how anxiety creates muscle patterns in our brains...so that given a particular stimulus...it automatically responds a certain way...we truely have little conscious choice in the matter. So. in my particular case...whenever I experience stress (possitive or negative) my stomach churns. I've tried relaxing and deep breathing to relax me , but usually with limited results. Any way, they looked at our brains while experiencing this stress...saw the pattern...then did this EMDR and it broke up the muscle pattern. I'm sure I'm not explaining this to its best advantage....but it sounds interesting and has the scans to prove it plus a lot of people say it has helped them. From the website in the article, there seem to be a lot of therapists in a lot of areas practicing it.
Another interesting way of looking at things.
Love,
Cristi