Each of us has probably had such experiences. When we are in a bad mood for a long time, we somehow easily catch a cold and have a fever. When we are in a bad health, we are also depressed and cannot lift our spirits if we want to be a what.
Although [body] and [mind] are two separate words, there is a great connection between them. Studies in modern psychology, neuroscience and medicine have found that many of our physical changes can affect our psychology, as can our emotional changes.
Stress Affects Physical Condition
We all know that long-term stress is the enemy of physical and mental health. If we want mental health, we must first pay attention to the signals of physical stress response and respond to the signals to relieve stress in various ways.
However, modern people’s life is often out of touch with their own bodies.
Different from our ancestors, many people in big cities either crowded in narrow carriages or sat in front of computers for a long time every day. They ate and slept irregularly and sometimes did not even have time to go to the toilet. As a result, many warnings sent to us by the body were unconsciously ignored.
We have even formed the habit of ignoring the body and regard it as a virtue. If this happens for a long time, the body will be unable to stand it sooner or later, and related psychological problems may follow.
The most common physical and mental diseases are stomach diseases, cardiovascular diseases are also closely related to psychological state, many muscle soreness problems are even more related to stress, and the most serious is [karoshi].
Reconnect the mind with the body
Having talked so much about the connection between body and mind and the possible danger of ignoring the body, let me introduce a small exercise to help everyone reconnect with their own bodies and help you find the most important problems in your body now.
This exercise is very simple and can be carried out anytime and anywhere. It usually takes 15-20 minutes at a time.
You can find a quieter time, lying flat on the bed or on the carpeted floor, or sitting to do this exercise, but novice practitioners are better off lying down.
Because when lying down, your body is already relaxed, so you can focus on practice.
Body Scanning Exercise
Step 0 Feel the bed or floor
First, take 3-5 deep breaths, imagine your body sinking into the mattress or floor with each breath when exhaling, then feel the contact between your body and the bed or floor, and pay attention to the fact that your body is being supported by them, so feel for about one minute.
Step 1 Feel your feet
Then focus on your feet and pay attention to the feeling of how on your feet. Is it hot, cold, relaxed, nervous, or does what feel nothing? Simply feel that kind of feeling, do not need to be specially controlled or changed.
Step 2 Feel your legs
Then focus on your legs and also on how you feel.
Do you feel your legs tense or relaxed? Can you feel your legs? You may have other thoughts coming out, such as dissatisfaction with your legs, or some memories of injuries, or some irrelevant things starting to appear in your mind, such as tomorrow’s arrangement, etc.
At this time, you just need to gently bring your attention back to the body parts you are feeling, and you don’t need to be a special what.
Step 3 Feel your hips
After that, you can shift your attention to your hips and feel the contact with the bed, floor or stool, or whether there are other feelings around you… … …
Step 4 Feel the belly
Move to the abdomen again and feel that your intestines and stomach are in a state of what. Do you feel swollen or empty?
Step 5 Feel your chest
Next is the chest. You can try to feel your heartbeat. Some people can feel it, others cannot, but you don’t have to pay too much attention. Just be content with how you felt at that time, no matter it is what or even no feeling.
Step 6 Feel your arms
Next, move your attention to your arm and feel the feeling that your arm is hanging down naturally, or do you have other feelings in that position?
Step 7 Feel your shoulders and neck
Then focus on the shoulders and neck and feel nervous or relaxed here? Many people often unconsciously shrug their shoulders or tighten their necks without realizing it. At this time, you can feel that you are doing what unconsciously.
Step 8 Feel your head
Finally, focus on your head. Can you feel every position on your face? You can also feel the skin on the back of the head to see if it is tight or relaxed.
Step 9 Feel the whole body
After the whole process is over, spread your attention to the whole body and feel that your body is a whole. It feels like what.
What parts of your body still feel particularly obvious? Or are there any parts that cannot be felt at all? Is your feeling different from that of what at the beginning, or is it basically the same?
10. How to deal with these feelings
It is also just to pay attention to these feelings. If you find out which parts of your body are unwell, you can have an examination or massage later, but at this time you don’t need to change your what specially, just feel it.
If you can’t feel it all over your body, you can also try to move where you need to feel it, take it to that position, and then calm down and focus on it.
11. What if the feeling is [made]?
In addition, there are also some friends who will create feelings, that is, there is no special feeling in what, because they specially pay attention to a certain place and hope to have feelings, so they specially create certain body feelings, such as feeling swollen or oppressed.
This situation sometimes lasts for a period of time. Just remind yourself that what you have to do is [feel], not [create feeling], and then the situation will gradually disappear as the number of exercises increases.
If you are particularly relaxed and feel asleep when doing this exercise, please try to stay awake before going to sleep.
The clues that this exercise can provide
Although this exercise seems simple, it can explain many problems.
Friends who are often isolated from their bodies usually encounter difficulties in feeling their own bodies, while many friends will find some tension and pressure that they have never noticed but continue to affect them.
If you find some abnormal special reactions in your body through scanning, you can go to the hospital for examination as soon as possible.
Visitors who have suffered medical trauma or psychological trauma (such as major surgery, sexual assault or violence, etc.) sometimes have strong emotions or even unbearable pain when feeling certain parts of the body, and most of these emotions are related to trauma.
This kind of problem, usually need to find a psychological consultant to solve.