How to Balance Body, Mind & Emotions - YLAM230008

SPEAKER A This programme presents ways to optimise health and wellbeing. When considering lifestyle changes. Please consult with your health care provider to ensure they are suitable for you. SPEAKER B Hello and welcome. I'm Kaysie Vokurka. Cooperation is everywhere in nature. We see it in ant colonies, in the pollination of flowers and when birds raise their young. Working together is an essential part of life. Today we will talk more about the cooperation of the mind and body, so stay tuned. SPEAKER A This is your lifestyle as medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television. SPEAKER B I'm so happy that you've joined us on this programme. We explore ways that you can shape your lifestyle medicine. In the past few episodes, we've been looking at the mind body connection and the impact this has on our wellbeing. Today, we are continuing this discussion with a focus on some practical implications of the brain body balance. We have health psychologist Jenifer Skues here again. Welcome. Glad you are with us, Jenifer. SPEAKER C I'm very happy to be here and. SPEAKER B We are too happy to have you here as well. SPEAKER C I know. SPEAKER B That's good. So tell us a little bit more about this brain body connection and leading into. Obviously, we're going to be getting into some really practical tips today, which is going to be so useful for our viewers. Yeah. So lead us into this topic. SPEAKER C Okay, well, because we're looking at the relationship between the mind and the body, I've developed a flowchart based on how the brain works, how the mind works, how emotions and a body. It's that relationship that we need to look at, because it's when we get that relationship wrong, it's a problem. And you can see the diagram that I've developed up there and I put two options. You've got the brain, then we can have a stress brain. We've talked about stress, adrenaline, cortisol, all those things. We can have a relaxed brain. And this is like the stress brain is we tied in with the sympathetic nervous system activity, where the relaxed brain is. We put the brake on, stressed brain's revving the engine. Relaxed brain is putting the brake on and we're actually winding it down. A relaxed brain works far more efficiently, uses less energy and stays focused. In the present, there are so many positives to relaxing the brain and letting it work well. So that's very important. Whether it's stressed, we have a stressed brain or a relaxed brain determines our level of inflammation. So when the brain is stressed, we can have a lot of inflammation. When it's relaxed, it reduces that inflammation. This is where on the stress brain, you get that toxic cells, whereas relaxed brain detoxes the cells. So there are two opposing factors here. Over time, we lose energy. Relaxed brain picks up energy. So you've got these two opposites, neurotransmitters. They are damaged, drop out. The brain doesn't repair when it's relaxed. It picks up the right neurotransmitter functioning and it helps to focus. So there are lots of positives to being on the relaxed side of the brain versus the stressed side of the brain. And there's a lot. You can do a lot of research on what happens to the brain. I encourage people to go looking and find out. And is your brain stressed, and how do you know? And we talked about having that adrenaline rush and being wound up and not being able to wind down. The brain has to be stressed, definitely. So this is where. SPEAKER B Sorry, question. If we're having a lot of those stress things happening in our body and some of the physiological things going on, which you described, that in even the short term, but especially in the long term, like, that's going to have quite a big impact on our health, isn't it? SPEAKER C Oh, absolutely. Because when you are stressed, it actually, the idea of stress we talked about before is to protect you. Like if a car comes around the corner or you're near accident. How did I miss that car that just shot out at me because of that fight flight mechanism, did its job, but then we have to bring it back to relax, and that's where people don't do that. So we've got this constant to ing and fro ing from stress to relaxation. So it's an important principle and we need to recognise that stress to do something about it. If I don't know I'm stressed, I won't change it. It's self awareness, if that makes sense. SPEAKER B And so then, of course, the relaxed brain, to me, from what you're describing, like, that's optimal, like that's ideal, if that's how we are functioning the best, and it's putting all of those healthy physiological processes and chemicals out in your body. That's what we want to have most of the time. Is that correct? SPEAKER C Yes, that is correct. And that means we feel good, our wellbeing is good, we sleep well, our health picks up, we eat well, we're in the present moment when the brain is stressed. We're either living in the past and trauma is living the past in the present, post traumatic stress, so we don't want to keep doing that. And that's where we talked about how we don't even know sometimes because of the five senses, what it is. But when we're relaxed, the brain is focused in the present. When we're stressed, it'll worry about the future. So you can see time orientation for the brain and the mind is to do whether you stressed or you relax. That's a simple process. SPEAKER B Yeah. And of course, we talked about the time orientation in a previous session, but it is so relevant because when I think about, even just in the last couple of days, the times where I've felt stressed, it's because I'm thinking about, oh, I have to have this deadline to meet or I have to do that thing in time. So it's in that sense, it's a future focus, isn't it? But, yeah, bringing it back to the present can help to relieve, even in that moment. SPEAKER C Yes, but we can do that when we look after the brain, it can cope with that level of pushing yourself. Sometimes you think you're beyond your limit, but if we're doing it all the time, we burn out. And that's where stress equals burnout. If we maintain the stress response, we're living on adrenaline, cortisol, we're not normalising. Bring it back to the state of relaxation, eventually overload burnout and we will go into a state of collapse. That's the end result of burnout. But when we stop, if we've been pushing ourselves and we then say, no, tomorrow I'm going to have time out, I'm going to go to the beach or I'm going to pamper myself or have a massage, or just relax with friends, do things. And I find if things get stressful, write them down, journal it, get out of the head onto paper and think, no. If we need help from someone to do this, then that's a positive, because you're working at ways to put the brake on. These are all ways to put the brake on. So if you see the accelerator and the brake, I think it's a great illustration of what our nervous system is doing and what the brain and the body responds to. SPEAKER B Yes. Tell us a bit more about that chart. There's more to it, like, all in the middle there, definitely. SPEAKER C Yep. So if we have a look, the brain and the mind are one. The brain is a physical part of that brain space, and we know the neocortex, that front part, is important. And the mind is an expression of the brain. It's very hard to define. We know the brain is physical, the mind, we can't see, but it's an active part. And whatever's programmed in the brain and that's where it's programmed and learned core beliefs, that is what we believe, we think, and that feeds our thinking. So if my brain is stressed and I'm thinking, I don't have a choice, I have to keep working. I can't afford to stop working. And we push ourselves more and more, of course, what we believe is manifested, we're going to burn out. Okay, but if you believe, it's okay to have time out, you know, I work hard during the week, but the weekend I'm going to have time out. If it's family or yourself or spiritual life, whatever. So it's using the mind. If your core beliefs are driving you too much, you have to literally change your mind. And we've talked that you can, the brain can change itself, so we've got to reprogram, and this is where the next part of that flowchart's valuable. So what we believe, our attitudes feed the way we think. Okay, so if I believe I'm not a good person, I think in terms. If someone gives me a compliment, I go, oh, yeah, they don't mean it, right? We think in those terms. Or if we're confident in ourself and someone says, oh, that was a job well done, you go, yes. Wasn't that great? I'm really happy with it. You see? So the thinking follows the belief and what you think is what you feel. So we cannot. If I ask you to feel sad or anxious, what do you have to do? Think of something that's sad or anxiety provoking. Okay. If I want you to be happy, you can recall a happy event and that will help you to feel happier. Okay, so what we think feeds and triggers the feelings. The feelings. Then you can see. Then if we go back to that diagram, we've got feedback loops that and we, then if we feel sad and we think sad, we keep feeding it around and around, but if we, we recognise, well, hang on, I'm feeling really sad today. What am I sad about? So we change that. And is it normal to feel sad about that? And if it does, what can I do about it? We then use the mind to do some problem solving. Or if we feed it, if you feed the feeling, if feeling increases and it keeps the thinking, keeps emotional reasoning, it thinks with feelings instead of in that rational thinking brain. That makes sense. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER C Okay, and then how we feel. And this is all split second timing, nanoseconds. You don't have to stop and think, oh, I better feel good, or we just do it. It's autopilot. But the once you feel, once you think and then you feel, you action. For example, if I'm thinking in terms of fear, I'm projecting ahead. What if I don't cope? I've got a job interview. It might not go well. I feel stressed. Well, then you're going to do things. I've had people who've cancelled the interview because of that. So we then take action. But the physiology, which is what we've been looking at, like the autonomic nervous system, the blood sugar levels, all those physiological things are going to suffer and go down the hill and go against us if we allow that negative feedback loop. SPEAKER B Hmm. So it's everything. It's just so amazing to consider this. Like everything is so interconnected, isn't it? One thing is feeding back to the other, which is feeding back to the other, and it's all just relaying messages all the time, constantly. SPEAKER C The brain is a chatterbox. It's constantly talking. SPEAKER B All right? SPEAKER C So we never stop thinking. There's a source of thought. You never turn the thought off, whether it be subconscious, conscious, day, night, the brain never ceases. It's only when the thoughts are stressful and disturbing that the brain has a major problem, and so does the body because of the stress response. So if we go back to that diagram, we have a look at the thoughts, the feelings, but you have a look at the feedback loops, because we can have a thought and then we action it, or the physiology kicks in and instead of registering a feeling, we can go straight back to the thinking. And because the body's uncomfortable or not doing well, or the behaviours are negative, it can feed the thinking and we're not aware of the emotions so much. So we can actually have multiple feedback loops, depending on how our brain's working, or whether because we can actually dissociate feelings. Some people go straight from thoughts to physiology and behaviours. They don't want to feel, so they shut the feeling down. So you can see how those loops can work on a positive level. If I have realistic thoughts, rational thoughts, even if I know I'm not feeling so good, I can then deal with those feelings and modify them, or not action them. I might feel angry with someone so that in my thinking, they've done something that's upset me, I'm angry with them for something. So I can then take that feeling and initiate aggression, or pay out on that person, or I can go, I can let them know I'm feeling angry and cheque out what they did. We can think about it differently and what we think will determine whether that feeling gets worse and worse and the anger increases and then we action it. SPEAKER B Yeah, yeah. So what you're saying then is, in terms of managing our feelings, it often stems, or mostly always stems back to our thinking, how we think about it. SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER B But also if we don't, like you mentioned before, that sometimes we can totally bypass the feeling, and I know this can happen, people shut down the feelings. Do we also need to stem back to our thinking or our beliefs in that situation about those feelings? SPEAKER C The programme beliefs are the core. So when you look at the mind and the brain, the programme, and learn beliefs we have are going to let us down. If we believe, if we have negative, irrational beliefs and we're actioning them all the time, we're going to be highly stressed. The brain will be stressed. You're going to be running on that adrenaline, cortisol, fight, flight, or you go into freeze to try and survive. So you can see how that works. And we want to reprogram, and it's evident with neuroplasticity and the way the brain works. So you have to know what's the problem and you have to own it. So if you think everyone else has got the problem because that's your belief, then you won't fix it. You'll just stay in that belief system and blame everyone and probably isolate or not have fulfilling relationships. But if we recognise I'm blaming that person, what did they do wrong? And we can actually go back to the brain and process it and question it, asking yourself questions, writing it down, getting out of the brain onto paper, because then the brain can read it. And when the brain writes, reads and speaks, it is a three action process. There are three different parts of the brain that do that. So it's a way of putting the brake on because it slows down the information and we can then observe what we've written instead of actioning it. And if we're feeling angry with what we've written, we then have to rewrite it, rewrite it till our belief system says, no, I don't need to be angry about it. We're changing the mind every time we do that. SPEAKER B So taking that step back to slow down helps to really process it and unpack what's going on when it can happen so quickly, because we can react out of habit and all of these different. SPEAKER C Absolutely. Autopilot? Yeah, we got to take it off of autopilot, own the way we're reacting, own the way we are and this is where the relaxed brain is far more what we call mindful. It's focused in the present, it will pick up on things. If it misses something, it'll question it or go, hang on, I need to find out about that. And we work on that positive feedback loop and we own our feelings and go, hang on. I've really badly reacted to that and if I said something, I've got to own it and go to that person and apologise. This is where we have that repentance factor. We can say we're sorry, but we have to mean it. But when you're working with a relaxed brain, you can do that. SPEAKER B Yeah, that's really key, isn't it? Because we've probably all heard the saying that if you're angry, don't try and solve the problem, or don't try and discipline your kids or whatever, because you're not going to be functioning so well in that state. Wait till you calm down, your brain is actually going to work better and then you can solve the problem, because. SPEAKER C You'Ll be getting off that stress brain into the relaxed side of the brain, and that's when things flow. You're now putting the parasympathetic nervous system into place, putting the brake on, and there are ways we can do that, and that's some of what we're going to explore as we go further into this is, how can we put the brake on? And we will be looking at a specific way of doing that at the moment. So, because we can come back to this diagram. But how? Well, my question to you is, how do you, when you're stressed, what do you do to be more relaxed, what do you do to try and wind down and relax your brain? Have you got particular things you do? SPEAKER B Well, yeah, I mean, I think all of us have different things, but I like being in nature, so going outside, having a walk, breathing some fresh air, even some gardening, you know, these kind of things always seem to help bring everything down. SPEAKER C Well, this is where people use pet therapy, gardening, nature. But even if you don't have a lot of time, just, I mean, make a herbal tea, a relaxing tea, and have it true. There are things. There are some very good natural remedies you can take if you know you're going to have a busy, stressful day, because a lot of those remedies work on calming the autonomic nervous system. So anything to calm it down, even under stress, we can do that. And that will keep the mind focused and you'll start to recognise, hang on I'm getting a bit annoyed about this or I need to stop and have a break for five minutes and just catch my breath, basically. So, the relaxed brain, but we've got to make the effort to relax it. If not, we keep revving that engine and that is driven by. We talked about those core beliefs which develop our attitudes. All of this is how our character develops. So, yeah, our beliefs and attitudes and that comes back to what we think, what we feel and how we behave, creates our character, the sort of person you are and whether people like you or don't like you because of your character. So you can see how it's very extensive and it encompasses the physiology, the wiring of the brain, the pathways in the brain, our programmed and learned beliefs, which are from conception, genetics, through to birth and right through. And there's a lot that happens in that life cycle that can contribute to either side of this. SPEAKER B So, yeah, so it's interesting, like, you've sort of highlighted how much core beliefs can really have an impact here in terms of how we react to situations and everything like that. But you also sort of alluded to the fact that the physical things we do can help to put our brain in a better space processing those core beliefs. So are there any other things that are like physical things? We don't have to think about them, we just got to do them. That will help us get into a better state for, you know, processing and unpacking something small. SPEAKER C Yeah. So this is where we're going to look at some of the behavioural things. But this is where, with that diagram, we can work on anything. I'm feeling angry, therefore I must be thinking angry. I'll change my thinking. But if the brain is stressed and not relaxed, you can't do it. The stress brain will keep the negative loop going, but to stop that, but you have to own it. This is where some people. Not my problem, it's their problem, you know, that sort of thing. But one of the quickest ways is to work from the body to the brain. The brain listens to your heartbeat, your heart rate, whether it's spiking, whether it's even and balanced, whether it's spiking and erratic. So when you've got a stress brain, I guarantee the heart, if you put yourself on a heart monitor, it'll be all over the place, it will not be functioning well. And then yet when you have a relaxed brain, you've got the even beat, you know, that nice beat that goes like that. And that's what we want to maintain. But how do you do that? This is the big question. And there's an excellent research, been for a few decades now, on the heart brain connection. And they're saying that the heart controls the brain, which means that every heartbeat the brain responds to. So how does the brain know there's a threat? Because the heartbeat has just shifted. It skipped a beat, it's started to increase beat, and the brain goes, threat, threat. So it feeds back. Now, if we want to get to the brain and put it back in balance to do that, because when the brain's out of balance, we're working. When we look at the neocortex, we're either doing left brain or right brain. Okay, so how do I know I'm doing either? I'm emotional reasoning, and I'm feeding my anger, for example. So I'm using my left brain to feed my emotional connections on the right side of the brain, which is creativity, intuitivity. But it's also your emotional deeper connection to that memory bank. Okay? So we have to align them up. And to do that, if the heart is racing in that the brain is out of balance, when it's spiking and racing to get it back into balance, if we do the even breathing and use this, and we'll go through that, a simple breathing technique that will make a difference. It's quick, it's easy. You talked about going in nature. We go for a walk. All of those things will calm the heart rate down if it's revving. But if you're at work, you don't have time to go out and sit in nature for half an hour to calm down. Right? There are certain times we can't do that. Or we're on the phone and someone presses that trigger for us and we're reacting. Or if you're in a car and you have a near accident and you've got to calm it down rapidly, these are this particular way of doing it. So if we correct the heart rate, smooth it out, we balance the left and right brain, and this is the technique that will help to align and relax the brain and bring that looping into the correct focus. So, first of all, it's called heart focused breathing. The group that has done the research is heart math, and they call it the quick coherence technique. But you are allowed to teach it. So it is a quick coherence technique. In other words, it very quickly makes coherence between the brain and the heart. That's the principle. And it's used. They teach it and get you to use it to treat trauma. It's a very good, because it corrects the autonomic nervous system. It doesn't just realign the brain. It actually allows you to put the brake on in the nervous system that releases whatever the energy you've dialled up. It helps to shift the past that you've dialled up on the cellular memory. So the heart focus is putting your attention on the area of your heart. And, I mean, that's something we can all do. And interestingly, they have found by research that when you put your hand or your hands on your heart, it actually does start to slow it down. It has a positive physical, which means it's like protecting the heart. It's a shield. And you think about it, when we have a sudden a trauma, something suddenly happens. Often we grab the chest, we actually put the hands there, and that is what that is about. So if we can do that, that really makes a difference. So shifting your attention to the area of your heart and what you're doing, you're not breathing through the heart. You're putting attention on the heart, which is between the mouth and the breath in, and the deeper part of the lungs we're breathing into. So while you're focused on the heart, you're actually gently breathing a slow, deeper breath. 5 seconds in, and I do. Through the nose is good. Draw it in for about the count of five. And then when you breathe out, breathe out through the mouth. But it's like blowing through a straw, it actually slows it down. So, counting five, we do that breathing out. Now what that does, and you might only need a couple of those. Sometimes when you do it a lot, you only need one or two of them. You will find that everything will start to calm down. The brain will come back online, the heart will calm down. You can actually feel that calmness or more at peace internally because your autonomic nervous system has now put the brake on and stopped doing the adrenaline cortisol. Okay, wow. SPEAKER B So this is an effective way of really arresting that autonomic system that's gotten activated. It's something we can do anytime, anywhere, and just help to bring it down very quickly and also help the heart. SPEAKER C Absolutely. And that the third part of that is a heart feeling. And that's not, oh, I feel happy. It's when we have a genuine heart feeling of appreciation or care for someone or something in our life. You know, I think of my pets. I resonate close friends spiritually. I have a good heart feeling when I'm connected to Jesus. So this, this is where a heart feeling is, how the heart resonates. It's not so much a specific feeling, it's the heart resonating along those wavelengths. SPEAKER B Interesting. Yeah, well, so we're talking here about how the heart is not necessarily how many times it's beating in a minute, but what is the pace of the heart in that time and how that is in harmony, even with how our emotions can be and positive feelings, it resonates accordingly. SPEAKER C It's called heart rate variability. And so what it does, it creates that variability. And if we're stressed, of course, that variability is all over the place. But when we're not stressed and we're relaxed, then the heart rate variability evens out. So it's very easy to do. I encourage people to do this regularly. Don't wait for the moment, do it when you go to bed, when you wake up, just a few of those stretching, fresh air, window open, do these breaths. Then when you have a meal, when you're on the phone, in the car, because the brain will learn to do it automatically, we can change the brain. SPEAKER B Wow, that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that very, very helpful tip. I'm so glad we can do that anytime, anywhere. And thank you for sharing how that fits in with the body as a whole and how we can help to have balance when we're feeling stressed or under pressure. Really appreciate that, Jenifer. In the last few programmes, we've been talking with health psychologist Jenifer Skues, all about the balance between the brain and body and how this impacts our health. I found it so interesting to see just how much the mind and body are connected and I'm sure you've enjoyed learning about this too. In the next programme with Jenifer, we will look at the role of the spirit in relation to the mind and body. So join us then. If you have questions or comments about this programme, or if there is a topic you would like us to discuss, contact us on [email protected]. Remember to shape your lifestyle as medicine. SPEAKER A You've been listening to Your Lifestyle as Medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television.