I’m a great believer in approaching overall health holistically: mind, body and soul. When it comes to body image, I have come to learn, and experience, that the mind absolutely does affect weight, shape and size. It is a subject that is close to my heart because I started to gain weight at the age of twelve and then went on to battle an eating disorder in my late teens and twenty’s. Gradually I managed to focus my attention on being healthy and not just thin, but it wasn’t until I learnt about the power of the subconscious mind that I managed to get to the root cause of my self sabotage and finally understood why I neglected and punished myself for so long.
The subconscious is always trying to protect or make you feel better in someway and it doesn’t follow logic, it’s main driver is emotion and it automatically responds to emotions by influencing your body both physically and mentally, your conscious mind simply has NO idea what is going on! If the mind hasn’t resolved an old emotional issue, it will try to help you in the original, out of date and unwanted way that may have served you well as a child but really doesn’t work for you now in adulthood. Let me give you an example:
Joe reaches the age of three and takes great delight in having mummy and daddy’s full attention. Then sibling number two comes on the scene and Joe feels that this new edition is getting more attention than him. Joe has feelings of maybe jealousy or rejection which Joe cannot understand let alone describe.The subconscious manifests through Joe’s emotional experience eczema or psoriasis. The parents notice, and naturally start to pay Joe more attention by way of trips to the doctor and special cream being rubbed on Joes skin daily, fulfilling the emotional need of Joe by giving him more attention. Joe’s analytical brain is not yet developed so there is no way he could consciously come up with a solution to his emotional problem, but because the issue is unresolved in the subconscious mind, Joe still has skin issues in his forty’s.
Weight gain or unhealthy eating habits aren’t any different, an unresolved emotional need will effect your body in an infinite amount of ways and for an amazing amount of time. A subconscious solution my have served us as a child but because the subconscious has absolutely no concept of time it continues as a pattern, ailment or coping mechanism until it is brought from the subconscious into the conscious mind and resolved.
Going back to caveman days we were originally hard wired to gorge on fruit and honey when it was in season, the only problem now is sugar is always readily available and highly addictive so know that it’s not your fault and there is an emotional need that is always driving a habit. The phrase “mood food” has an awful lot of truth behind it. Advertising is very sneaky and will play on your moods too, suggesting that eating certain foods will take you back to that fond memory in your childhood or make you feel happy and comforted in some way, we are being bombarded with hypnotic suggestions all the time. Being aware that this is going on can help you consciously start to make better choices about what you listen to and watch, but what if we started to change some of these suggestions for ourselves? We can either empower ourselves or surround ourselves with things that can seriously disempower us.
Its easy to criticise and judge ourselves when we fall short of our desired body image, but doing just that will again impact your body negatively, try to focus on all the things you like about yourself instead and be kind to YOU. Remember every cell in your body has its own consciousness that’s an awful lot of consciousness listening to your every word and thoughts.
The most important words you will ever hear are the ones you whisper to yourself.
Weight problems and eating disorders have an array of root causes stemming from emotional needs not being met. Not feeling safe, protected, acknowledged or loved are just a few examples, but every emotion causes a physical reaction in the body, take something simple like blushing for instance. Unpleasant and unwanted emotions release chemicals like cortisol into the blood stream so if your are trying to lose weight, cortisol is going to majorly hinder your efforts as it instructs the body to hold on to reserves. We live in a world of stress and the body often spends extended periods in states of fight or flight. Reducing your stress and emotional triggers has to be a priority for any health advancement. Surrounding your self with positive people, positive conversations, places or music are just a few examples, any small changes can have an incredible impact on your health. Losing weight is not simply calories in vs energy out, willpower will have little long term impact when you are at battle with the subconscious mind which leads me to my next topic.
Dr David Synder introduced to me a concept of SRU’s (Self Regulating Units) predominantly based on the amount of sleep we manage to obtain. These SRU’s basically get used up each and every time we have to exercise self control and literally can affect your success or failure to achieve goals. If SRU’s are mostly replaced by sleep it’s no wonder by the end of a day we are emotionally at our weakest, reaching for a sugary pick me up as compensation for a day full of problem solving. A good nights sleep and again removing any unnecessary stress is moving towards the path of successful weight management. If sleep is a problem, your subconscious will have the answers to that too.
We are all electromagnetic, each and every cell in your body has an electric life force flowing through it, and your emotions are magnetic. Most of us have had the experience of meeting someone we would describe as magnetic, they seem full of life and fun right? Their personalities literally feel magnetic. Is your battery pack full of high vibing emotions or are heavy emotions draining your electric life source? Our words will often reflect our emotional state, and when working with weight issues, clients will use terminology like heavy, weighed down, stuck. How they are feeling inside is mirrored in their body weight and shape, our bodies literally become a reflection of our metaphors and stories. What I’m trying to say here is listen to the words that you use and just notice how you feel when you say them. Then ask yourself how you can start moving in the direction of feeling lighter.
Getting clear on exactly what foods your individual body agrees or disagrees with is a great start either by way of an hair strand test, (every body is different and results can be very surprising) or through muscle testing - kinesiology. Your subconscious absolutely won’t lie to you, which is why I demonstrate with all my clients how to simply do muscle testing at home. I was making organic cauliflower soup thinking it was really good for me and waking up the next day feeling awful, turns out I was allergic. More information can easily be found online or you can see a specialist in this field.
Lastly, we often think of nutrition in terms of the body but don’t forget good nutrition is vital for mind health. There are an array of vitamins, minerals and oils your body needs; omega 3’s and vitamin D, for example, play a key role for your mind. A quick google will show you where your diet may be falling short. Your mind is by far the most powerful tool you have if you look after it and learn to use it to your advantage.
At the end of the day your health is your wealth and it’s not until your health is compromised that you realise it impacts absolutely everything you do.
For more information, help or advice my website is http://www.crownboutiquetherapy.com/ or you can contact me on: 07359 004762 or info@crownboutiquetherapy.com