Phoenix_RisingSenior Contributor
Calm body, calm brain
Hi all,
Over the past few days I've been thinking a lot about the idea of focusing more on calming my body, than calming my brain. I am wondering if we spend way too much time focused on trying to calm the mind (e.g. mindfulness) or challenge "faulty" or "negative" thinking as a way of dealing with big feelings such as anxiety, depression, anger etc. I am beginning to think that the answer lies more in calming the body and thereby calming the brain.
Obviously I'm not the first person to think about this. I'm sure we all know about the benefits of physical exercise for good mental health. Also, techniques such as half-smiling draw on this idea. This is where you deliberately smile when you really really don't feel like smiling. Research shows that when we engage in the act of smiling, this produces "happy" chemicals in the brain.
I've just been particularly thinking about it because during sessions, when I become super dysregulated my psychologist has been getting me to do the whole body tensing thing. This is where you tense up every muscle in your body and hold it for as long as you can, and then relax. I tend to do it three times in quick succession, holding the tension for quite a long time at each go. After the third attempt, I physically can't rage anymore. That is, my body is physically exhausted. I really notice how intensely calming it is.
I'm curious to hear about the experiences of others in this area. I think it makes much more sense to me to focus on dealing with the physiological aspects of intense emotions rather than trying to do battle with my brain.
