In this week’s blog I have a video to accompany this article. I would like to explain how the power of your thoughts and emotions have a huge effect on your physical health and well being.

As you know from my previous blogs and in greater detail with my online programs at www.TotalSomatics.com you cannot separate your mind and body. They work very closely together. Your body has a huge influence over your mind plus your mind controls your body. In Somatics we refer to the whole person as a “Soma.”

My video discusses in greater detail how the mind can influence physiological responses. To accompany this video I would like to highlight some research which shows the correlation between mental function and motor or muscular activity. An extensive 30 year period of research was conducted by Professor Robert Malmo of McGill University, Montreal Canada at the Allan Memorial Institute, Canada.

He used electromyograph (EMG) to record the level of muscular tension in his patients. His research was very indepth but one area which is extremely interesting is how muscle tension changes when our thought patterns shift from pleasant to unsettling. He investigated this correlation with people with a history of chronic headaches or neck pain. He placed EMG electrodes on the muscles in the region of their common pain area. He then recorded the behaviour of the muscles. When the conversation was moving along nicely, there was nothing to report. When the conversation became unsettling or a distracting noise could be heard in the room, their level of muscle tension would rise. At the point when the EMG recording revealed high levels of muscle activity and tension, the person would complain about their common headache or neck pain.

This experiment highlights exactly what is discussed in this week’s blog video. When we entertain emotionally charged thoughts and beliefs, it creates an increase of muscle tension in that area. We can psychologically talk ourself into more pain, tension and anxiety associated with an area of our body.

Enjoy the video and remember the Mindfulness with Total Somatics online programs at www.TotalSomatics.com teach you how you can shift your mindset and re train
both your mind and body to move freely with reduced pain and the feeling of taking back control of your health and well being.

Enjoy the video,
Take care,
Heidi Hadley xx
www.TotalSomatics.com