Mind Body Connection
The more I understand how my body works, the more I understand my brain! Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” With all that we know now about the mind body connection, there are many who are wondering if indeed, we feel, therefore we are.
Thinking and Feeling are often posed as two sides of a coin. They are symbiotic; influence one another.
Brene Brown says that humans are often labeled as thinking beings who feel, and argues that we are really feeling beings who occasionally think.
This resonates deeply with me!
I’m an E(barely)FSJ on the Myers Briggs scoring, and my F is almost the highest it can be.
You’ve probably heard a lot of talk about the Nervous System, the Vagus Nerve, Fight/Flight/Freeze, and Trauma recently.
I’d think they were buzzwords or trendy, but really, these things are just being talked about more and more. Just like therapy is getting to be more commonplace, and the stigma is lifting on the need for mental healthcare. Our society is noting the connection, and valuing mental health.
Learning about the nervous system and its role in survival, and mental well-being, has been a big focus of mine for my own health the last 8 years. It also serves performers well to know about this part of their bodies/brains that can be activated/calmed. And, really, if it was general knowledge for every human, we would be all the better for it!
Here’s a little breakdown…
The Nervous System is your body’s wiring (nerves) that controls communication from brain to body to brain regarding physical sensation/noticings to emotions, thoughts and feelings.
Vagus Nerve - longest cranial nerve in the body; it carries signals to all the major organs, as well as helping move the body from fight/flight into rest/digest mode; also known as Sympathetic to Parasympathetic nervous system mode.
Amygdala - alert part of the brain; alarm goes off and floods body with chemicals to respond. This little piece of our brain came in handy when danger (tiger!) lurked around every corner of daily life. In our modern world, it gets set off with any “wrong” look or tone of voice that we perceive as dangerous, and often for every stress and trauma that we witness in our world. Weekly (often daily) news of shootings, rights being taken away, climate change catastrophes, pandemic craziness have taken a toll on our alert system. Our bodies are constantly being flooded by that “run/hide” hormone, Cortisol.
Cortisol - stress hormone; released when in fight/flight. Guess what else it does? Controls metabolism, suppresses inflammation, regulates blood pressure/sugar, controls sleep cycle. Hence the direct correlation to physical and mental distress when this hormone is released too often.
Then there is Trauma. I had a false perception of trauma until I started healing from it. Now I study it. One time horrible events, or constant little unsafe moments (these are the often unseen/unrealized - think childhood chaos, belittling boss, etc) that we don’t process, get stuck in our body. We become traumatized. Trauma (and, good news, resiliency) are passed down generationally too. It’s a confusing thing to unwind when you think everything should be just fine. Some of us were taught to hide our emotions and present as if all was okay. This is a very common way our bodies and minds get stuck.
Because so many of us live with unseen and unprocessed trauma in our bodies, it’s no surprise to me when people cry (or laugh) when things don’t go as expected in a voice session. It’s usually very surprising for my clients. The nervous system is there to keep us safe. When we have stored trauma, we don’t “feel” safe no matter how fine we think we are.
Guess what is a great regulator of the nervous system? Singing.
So, for folks that haven’t processed, are not ready to process, confused that they have anything to process, singing can trigger an unexpected nervous system release.
I always knew singing was healing.
I don’t usually have posts so close together, but when a word comes, it comes. Watch for more content on healing our nervous system and the way it relates to our expression, our art and our relationships.
If you are a nervous performer, and yet long to be able to perform in a more relaxed way, consider joining my Redefining Performance class this September (Tuesdays 13/20/27 at 7pm). We will do nervous system regulation exercises before (during?) and after.