LIFESTYLE
HEALTH
OUT OF MY MIND:
THE BODY SPEAKS By: Philip Chard
Do you listen to your body?
Beyond Conscious Awareness
incorporating so-called energy work
Edward did not. He came to counsel-
There is growing evidence that organs
(reiki), expressive movement (tai chi
ing at the suggestion of his physician
like the heart, GI tract and even skin
and dance/movement therapy), and
after being assessed for the feeling of a
possess their own type of awareness
moving meditation (yoga and forest
“lump” in his throat that had no biolog-
and ways of knowing that, while very
bathing). These methods help us tune
ical basis. While both of them assigned
different from that operating in the
into the body’s way of “speaking”
his symptoms to stress, I wasn’t so sure.
brain, are also sophisticated. The tra-
about psychological and emotional
ditional image of the brain as the sole
issues.
“It feels a bit like choking,” he told me. Upon questioning, it was clear Edward made a habit of not speaking his mind, particularly with family. “Maybe your body is telling you something,” I suggested. “Perhaps you are, quite literally, choking off your true voice.” Edward was a recipient of what psychoanalyst Fritz Perls described as “organismic wisdom.” According to Perls, the brain is not the only source of consciousness, judgment and decision-making in the body. To him, the so-called “deep mind” extends far beyond that 3 lbs. of densely packed neurons in one’s skull.
52 | Shepherd Express
central processing unit (CPU) for the body is oversold.
Through a combination of insight-oriented talk therapy and tai chi, Edward
For the most part, body wisdom oper-
discovered that the “lump” in his throat
ates outside conscious awareness. It is
was his body’s way of saying he was
embedded in the so-called unconscious
gagging himself. Predictably, the sen-
mind, where, neuroscientists estimate,
sation worsened whenever he was with
over 95% of cognitive processing,
family, with whom he had considerable
decision-making, sensing and intuition
unspoken issues. In its organismic wis-
occur.
dom, his body tightened the muscles and ligaments in his throat, creating the
Learning to listen to the body’s wisdom
physical equivalent of a psychological
when it percolates into one’s awareness
condition. Once he began expressing
is a valuable skill, but one many of us
his truth in a respectful and direct man-
were never taught and, consequently,
ner, his self-strangulation dissipated,
fail to practice. To address this widely
eventually disappearing altogether.
shared blind spot, we now treat some mental maladies with any number of body-centric therapies, including those
Learning the Body’s Language With folks like Edward, medical eval-
