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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 28 2009 : 10:52:57 AM
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Hi,
As we have a physical body, so we have an emotional one.
Your physical body is a product of the all the meals you've eaten, the nutrients you've taken in. Unhealthy meals result in your body becoming ill, and toxins building up within it.
Instead of storing physical energy, like your body, your emotional body stores emotional energy. Anger, grief and fear build up within your emotional body - increasing the negative charge within it.
Some people who've had very traumatic childhood experiences can have an incredibly powerful negative charge within their emotional body. Also people who are just very sensitive and accumulate a great deal of negative emotional charge within their emotional body.
Toxicity in your physical body results in illness and disease.
Toxicity in your emotional body also results in illness and disease, but it is not limited to physical expression. Often emotional toxicity attracts the very circumstances that mirror to us our own negative emotional charge.
For example, if you have an emotional toxicity, with many feelings of low self-worth in your emotional body from past experiences, you will keep on finding that circumstances show up again and again where people treat you negatively, and you continually re-experience feelings of low self-worth.
Here's how to tell when you have emotional toxicity.
Let's take two examples:
a) With emotional toxicity:
Somebody at work comes up to you and is really horrible. They say mean things to you.
Your reaction: You experience feelings of deep upset, you are hurt, you feel angry.
b) Without emotional toxicity:
Somebody at work comes up to you and is really horrible - for no reason. They say mean things to you.
Your reaction: You may feel sorry for them, that they have to behave in such a rude way. You realise that they're coming from a pretty bad place if they have so much anger and have to take it out on other people. The experience doesn't knock you off center.
Practically everyone has a stored negative charge in their emotional body. It builds up in each one of us, starting from our first traumatic experience: birth.
The perceptual cleanser:
In example a), when the person experiences all those negative feelings, they're probably going to believe that the circumstances CAUSED those negative feelings. I feel upset because that person was mean to me. How many times have you heard other people affirm that something that happened to them CAUSED them to feel ____ (insert negative emotion here). This belief makes them a victim of what just happened to them.
The reality is, that without emotional toxicity, you don't get upset by life. Hardly at all. In fact, whenever life gives you a knock on the head, you often find it was giving you a useful message once the pain has died down a little bit.
Look at example b) again. The person without emotional toxicity is pretty stoic, they can calmly absorb negative emotions without being hurt by them. You could go up to such a person, rant and rave, insult them and push them around, and gradually you'd realise you were just being an idiot and you'd have drained out all of your negative energy without ruffling their feathers at all.
My message is: Who do you have strong negative reactions to in your life? Which situations upset you? What do you fear? If you are to accept my premise, where do you think you'd be likely to have a negative emotional charge stored? What issues in your life keep arising that upset you, make you angry or make you afraid/anxious?
Your emotional toxicity will keep showing up as the circumstances that remind you of your negative emotional charge.
My recent yoga experiences:
I write down whenever I have a strong negative reaction to something. I don't try and feel better or distract myself from it. I just carry the feeling into my spinal breathing and deep meditation practise.
I find Yoga is the most powerful tool for cleansing your emotional body. Every time I get a strong negative emotional reaction, I sit down and do 20 minutes SBP and Deep meditation. By the end, I can feel the energy shooting up my spine and the feeling gets burned in a cleansing fire.
Your circumstances continually get better and better by doing this, and you find the situations that caused you distress just stop showing up altogether.
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Peter
Italy
25 Posts |
Posted - Mar 29 2009 : 10:46:34 AM
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Hi Mr. Anderson,
Good description and a useful way to understand these issues.
I'd like to offer here a notion that might be added onto your ideas - not in opposition to them, that is to say.
We might consider that our reactions, whether toxic or non-toxic, are strategies we've learned to help us deal with situations. The toxic strategies, we would say, don't work, whereas the non-toxic do. Often the toxic strategies were learned in our younger years and have become an ingrained, automatic part of our personalities. We likewise learn the non-toxic strategies and in various ways, including through spiritual practices. The proverbial "School of Hard Knocks" also comes to mind.
So, for instance through a spiritual practice like meditation, we develop a strategy - we might call it the "Calmness Strategy" or the "Stoic Strategy" (based on your description) - which works very well in stressful situations, as well as in lending our lives an apparent deeper meaning.
If we accept this notion, then the question arises: who or what is the actual Self? If all our actions and reactions are simply strategies, some more useful than others in dealing with various situations, then where does that leave the Self, the being who we actually are?
Or is there necessarily such a being at all...? |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2009 : 08:36:55 AM
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Apologies, but I'm not clear if you are asking something or making a statement.
Negative emotions/states/reponses/physical connection with the body are well understood these days. Yoga is one area which presents a strategy to overcome issues as is NLP and other forms of theraputic interventions. Straight forward excersise can have tremendous benefits as can everything from the use of humour to the purchase of a cat.
There are no 'one size fits all' solutions, everyone is individual. Part of life is getting hurt, getting over it and learning to cope the next time. Some people get stuck in a recurring cycle, some enjoy it (secondary gain), some cannot get over it and end up in care or worse. Not everybody responds or wants to respond to support/help/intervention.
Believing that you can be completely unflappable is foolish. One of the important lessons in life is to understand that you can be hurt, you can learn and overcome and to expect that. Much better that, than become a robot........remember the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz!!
Appropriate reaction to a stimulus is fine, it is only the inappropriate response that is best avoided. |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2009 : 12:20:03 PM
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Peter - interesting question, and yes I definitely agree with the strategies idea.
Karl - I was making a statement. Appropriate reaction to stimulus is fine, but you can begin to evolve to a more "transpersonal" level of emotion. In other words, you have much deeper levels of compassion for others, and you suffer for other people. However, on a personal level, your life is so full of bliss, that the ups and downs you experience are completely dis-similar from those experienced by most people.
I've lapsed into this level of experience a few times in my life, hence I'm speaking from personal experience.
What I'm also communicating is that most of us have wounded emotional bodies. If someone is rude to you and you've got historic wounds in your emotional body from others being unkind to you, it will be like someone flicking you in a gaping wound: PAINFUL!!!
However when people perceive their immediate circumstances as the cause of their immediate emotions: they'll perceive being flicked (being insulted) as very painful. However the truth is, when you have healed historic wounds in your emotional body, people flick you, but there is no gaping wound: you perceive them flicking you, but it's not really painful!!!
In other words the immediate circumstance (being insulted) is only painful, because you have a big negative charge in your emotional body.
It's not about becoming mechanical. |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2009 : 5:54:59 PM
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Are you saying that you have a way of helping others deal with situations, or that you have found that its worked well for you ?
I'm working with people on a day to day basis who have emotional issues and limiting beliefs and have been interested in researching how Yoga could be used in combination with other techniques. In a therapy session it is often difficult to introduce something like Yoga because it requires greater commitment from the client and does not produce instant results (so far as I have observed).
I generally find a combination of 'provocative therapy' and Time line Therapy can quickly alter someones existing perceptions. First I accept the client model of the world, before blowing it up and giving them the tools to dig deeper into their own resources.
The emotional body is what we refer to as table building. This seems to start at a very early age, or before birth in some client (if this is real or imaginary I do not know, I certainly experienced going back before my birth during our training. It can be quite simple things that trigger the initial problem.....this is the first leg of the table.......from then on the subconscious seeks confirmation that the problem is real and gradually adds legs until the table is a solid platform on which to base life.
I use TLT to clear these emotions in an easy way. This gets rid of those negative emotions and has a similarity with DM's cleansing the nervous system. I have used both in tandem and they do work very well, though you do have to have an idea of DM to begin with. Trying to take a client through DM techniques and TLT together is a bit like learning to walk and cycle at the same time  .
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2009 : 05:44:10 AM
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Hi Karl
Sorry, I was too hurried and consequently unclear when typing my original post.
I have a way of dealing with situations which I believe is very helpful to people. It can result in some very powerful shifts (you literally feel the emotions shooting up your spine, leaving your body - some people experience weeping, their body shaking etc) and the resulting changes are extremely profound.
I have tried NLP, Time Line Therapy and similar strategies. In my opinion - they are very useful, for specific scenarios: a phobia, social anxiety etc.
However the way I've been using causes incredibly powerful fundamental shifts. In my experience, Time Line Therapy, Releasing/Sedona or EFT do not come close in their power to effect change. |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2009 : 07:12:01 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
Hi Karl
Sorry, I was too hurried and consequently unclear when typing my original post.
I have a way of dealing with situations which I believe is very helpful to people. It can result in some very powerful shifts (you literally feel the emotions shooting up your spine, leaving your body - some people experience weeping, their body shaking etc) and the resulting changes are extremely profound.
I have tried NLP, Time Line Therapy and similar strategies. In my opinion - they are very useful, for specific scenarios: a phobia, social anxiety etc.
However the way I've been using causes incredibly powerful fundamental shifts. In my experience, Time Line Therapy, Releasing/Sedona or EFT do not come close in their power to effect change.
Well you have got me interested. Are you doing something differently to the AYP DM and SB ?
What I would say about NLP and TLT is that it depends very much on the therapist.I do create massive shifts in a very short space of time. As part of the work we calibrate on physiology and the shift can be so marked within the space of 30 mins that it is difficult to recognises the persons face in comparison with the person they were when they came through the door. Sometimes I am truly shocked and wish I had taken a before and after picture.
So when you say you have tried TLT and NLP it really does depend on the therapist. I have attended several advanced courses where I worked with someone who had been practising for several years and in several cases were more qualified. I was suprised to find that they really did not understand what they were doing, except making money. I called the coach over during one session to witness what was going on, I was half believing the other therapist was playing devils advocate to test me !! The coach had to walk a very fine line not to undulty upset the other therapist while agreeing with my assessment. It was very awkward. |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Apr 03 2009 : 06:25:33 AM
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Hi Karl,
I'm sure you're right - the quality of the therapist must make a huge difference. Sorry for the late reply, I've been thinking over what the essential difference is between say TLT and what I have been doing. I should explain this strategy of dealing with emotion, because it’s fundamentally different to NLP and its derivatives.
Let us consider the premise of NLP. NLP is a therapeutic technique to detect and reprogramme unconscious patterns of thought and behavior in order to alter psychological responses. The basic principle of NLP is that it is in an individual's power to change their own subconscious programming for the better.
It’s a hugely valuable paradigm, but still only a paradigm, and so by it’s nature subject to shortcomings.
The human being, as a general rule, seeks to experience pleasure (each of us has a different experience of what is, and what is not, pleasurable). Similarly we generally seek to avoid pain, and once again, each of has a different experience of what is, and what is not painful. Each of us has developed behaviours that lead us toward pleasure, and deliver us from pain. Practically everything we do, whether it’s finding a lover or achieving financial success is done because we expect it to be pleasurable or alternatively we expect it to save us from pain.
The complex and intelligent technology of NLP allows us to reprogram our subconscious, for the better. Why would we seek to do this? Because at some point we expect the results to be pleasurable or to save us from pain, do you agree?
Examples of NLP applications:
Overcome limiting behaviours (smoking, social anxiety) – If it works, we are saved from pain
Modelling excellence and achieving success – If it works, the results are pleasurable
Overcome phobias and fears – If it works, saves us from the pain of having the phobia
So there is this fundamental pattern in all human behaviour, that all of what we do is motivated by pleasure and pain, and our desire to get it, or avoid it. NLP is a system which help us fulfil these fundamental pleasure/pain desires.
There is an assumption here, that fulfilling these desires is good. But what I’ve been doing gradually reduces the DESIRE for pleasure, and the DESIRE to avoid pain – instead of helping to fulfil the desires. This facilitates A VERY PROFOUND SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
What do we do:
I contest that negative emotions are not something to be overcome, they are in fact extremely valuable psychospiritual nutrition. But they are only nutritious when you completely CONTAIN them. By this I mean:
You don’t make any mental stories about what you feel, you don’t attribute a particular cause to the feeling, you just meditate on them, holding the feeling 100% in your awareness and experiencing it on a purely emotional level. Dismiss all thoughts about the feeling, simply FEEL IT.
You don’t react when you experience strong emotions, when you’re experiencing a strong negative emotional reaction, so simply take it away with you and meditate on it. No shouting, moaning, stressing, taking it out on people etc. This is all DRAMA. So turn the DRAMA into DHARMA (I quote Michael Brown).
Similarly no physical drama when you experience strong emotions: pacing about, sedating it with alcohol, drugs etc, etc etc. Just find a quiet place and allow the experience to happen on an emotional level. Feel it with your entire being.
Your success with this technique is equal to the amount you can surrender completely to even the most intense negative emotions, without drama, and fully accept and embrace the experience.
What is the result of this?
Instead of being motivated by pleasure and pain, you are gradually completely released from their ability to motivate you. What takes the place of pleasure and pain is a hugely intense and complex emotional guidance system - you experience a complete awakening of your HEART in the deepest sense of the word.
Look at the behaviour of saints: Mother Teresa who spent her entire life working tirelessly without thought for herself to help others, Jesus who was prepared to die in the most horrible agony upon a cross for us. In many of histories saints you will see they weren't motivated by pleasure and pain, in the selfish sense, but they followed their heart - believing in the highest ideal, and being prepared to sacrifice even their own lives for this HEARTFELT ideal. This is what begins to occur when you are released from the motivation of pleasure and pain.
NLP is programming, and its very useful for this purpose. However surrendering to pain, is a hugely spiritually nutritious experience. What happens, each time you get an intense negative emotion and surrender to it in meditation, is a huge expansion of your personal strength and depth.
It's like applying the white heat to steel, to forge a sword. You enter the white heat of your pain and (although it's not pleasant) each time a sharper sword is forged. We gradually stop using our conscious mind as the controlling/directing influence on our behaviour. The controlling mind relies on logic to function, and logic is so often flawed, even in the most intelligent minds. What instead happens, is that in all your behaviour, your awakened heart becomes your guide and you rely less and less on the anal logic of the conscious mind.
don't be mistaken: this is no move towards impulsive or irrational behaviour, or sentimentality. In fact, I've found my behaviour becoming increasingly more intelligent and dynamic, in some cases less emotional. It just gives you access to a greater intelligence than what is contained in your neocortex.
Beyond this, the changes that occur when you surrender to emotional pain are beyond description in words. But if you begin to think of every agony, every rage, every dark depression, every fear, every hurt and emotional wound as having the potential to be the most juicy psychospiritual nutrition available (if meditated upon) then you begin to understand.
In summary, this technique is not about overcoming negative emotions, it's about surrendering to them, embracing them.
You become increasingly serene and peaceful with this technique. It bears similarity to the Eastern ideal of not being ATTACHED or AVERSE to anything don't you think?
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Edited by - mr_anderson on Apr 03 2009 06:38:27 AM |
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Yoga and the Emotional Body
