Mind-body connection -
The pictures below represent the body maps for the six basic emotions. Yellow indicates the highest level of activity, followed by red. Black is neutral, while blue and light blue indicate lowered and very low activity, respectively. You can find the original blog post here.
Each emotion we experience has a different representation in the body. Happiness is the one emotion that fills the whole body with activity. This might indicate a sense of physical readiness that comes with a happy state, and heightened communication between the body and the brain.
We usually feel secure when we are happy, so in this state, we can devote all of our attention to experiencing ourselves as a part of a pleasure-rich world around us. This is another standout emotion that fills the body with activation, stopping just short of the legs.
Love is often intertwined with physical desire, so it unsurprisingly activates sensation in the reproductive organs more strongly than happiness does.
The emotional focus of love is both the object of affection and the intensity of emotions in the subjective self; thus, activation is intense around the head and chest but more difficult to notice in the lower extremities.
This emotion floods the head and chest areas with a very intense sensation. This pattern of activation corresponds to a focus on the self, with resources and awareness drawn inwards and away from the extremities. Although surprise follows a similar pattern, the strength of the activation is much less pronounced, as resources draw inwards to prepare the body to face danger.
Because surprise can be positive, negative, or neutral, the body experiences it in a way that reflects uncertainty about the triggering event. Anger stands alone as the negative emotion with the most intense activation, particularly in the head, chest, and hands.
The angry body prepares itself for conflict by focusing attention and resources on the parts of the body that might have to act.
When we picture anger or a time when we felt enraged, many people describe an overwhelming desire to hit something. This aligns with the image scan where sensation floods to our hands.
Evolutionarily, fear required immediate thought: do I decide to run away from this predator, or fight to the death? In modern terms, do I feel that I can stand my ground with this frightening dog, or should I flee? Thus, it makes sense that we experience fear with a rush of sensation to the head.
Disgust pulls the resources of the body even more tightly into the core of the body. This emotion causes the body to prepare to expel any noxious substances it has ingested, hence the focus of activation along the digestive tract. When we experience disgust towards other humans, perhaps we feel a concentration of sensation in our vital organs, as a natural protective response to repulsion.
Although shame and contempt have similar patterns of activation, contempt stimulates less activation in the chest. This may be because the focus of contempt is outside of the self and the judgment of others. Shame, on the other hand, focuses on a sense of personal failure and judgment of yourself for causing this to happen.
The depression of activity in the extremities is very pronounced in shame. Perhaps this is because the body withdraws resources into itself in a fight-or-flight response. Anxiety is a form of long-term, low-grade stress. It activates the chest intensely and can lead to a sense of doom or dread, as experienced by panic attacks.
People who experience panic attacks frequently report tightness and pain in the chest, and an inability to think beyond the pressing fear of the moment. These feelings might correspond to the strain the heart and lungs feel as they struggle to deliver oxygen to a body under conditions of extended fear.
This has the most noticeable map of our negative emotions. It stimulates no activation in any part of the body and lowers activation in the extremities. In a state of depression, it is difficult to connect with the active self and the outside world.
Sadness does not suppress feeling in the head and chest and often contributes to a general lack of agency or activity. Because emotions manifest in the body as physical sensations, it follows that physical sensations can produce corresponding emotions.
Molecular neuroscientist Lauri Nummenmaa explains this below:. This way they prepare us to react swiftly to the dangers, but also to the opportunities […] Awareness of the corresponding bodily changes may subsequently trigger the conscious emotional sensations, such as the feeling of happiness.
For example, it is likely that the warmth of a blanket wrapped around your shoulders on a cold day, translates from a physical sensation of heat to an emotional feeling of happiness and security. The connection between our minds and our bodies is something we instinctively feel, but how much attention do we pay to your bodily sensations each moment?
To understand our own emotional lives and those of the people around us, we need a deeper awareness, achieved through the practice of mindfulness and the development of body intelligence. Take a moment to acknowledge how you physically feel right now, as well as your next emotional flood of joy, sorrow, and calm.
Over time, this can help you feel more in touch with these aspects of existing, and providing you with a rich understanding of your whole mind and body connection. Body intelligence is a psychological method that highlights the importance of recognizing body sensations as a way to improve our health.
The first step is to recognize the internal cues and sensations that your body tells you. Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Exercises PDF Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology. As an integral part of the human machine, it communicates what it needs in order to survive and cope with stressors—we just need to actively listen.
When we are confronted with difficult emotions, maladaptive ways like self-medicating or practicing denial, are frequent ways people cope with undesirable feelings. What if, instead, we leaned into these unpleasant feelings as messages from our bodies to our brains?
Although relieving at the moment, a maladaptive coping mechanism can be detrimental to health. Body intelligence offers tools to strengthen the mind-body link and work towards positive wellbeing. Body intelligence cannot remove illness, but it can attune you to what your body is feeling. It can alleviate certain symptoms of stress such as chest pain, headaches, heart rate variability, and others.
What to know more about the details of body intelligence? Take a listen to this podcast from Live Happy. It explains the details and benefits of listening to the physical sensations of our body.
The clip below provides an example of the tools that can help us become attuned with our body, and how to relieve stress in holistic ways.
Duperly et al. Students with a positive attitude accepted preventive counseling better before stress or disorders became all-consuming. This example of disease prevention is a key example of how attitude shapes other aspects of life and impacts health.
So how do we influence this unconscious dynamic between our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations? Below is a comprehensive list of techniques that help to build body intelligence, tune our attention, and increase body awareness for greater physical and mental health.
The body-mind integration field includes a number of disciplines and approaches. Here is the main goal of this technique:. Mindfulness is a powerful tool in the treatment of mental health disorders, stress-related conditions, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions.
People who are prone to depression, anxiety and stress-related conditions, often engage in overthinking and rumination. They also struggle with disconnecting from their thoughts and worries, which can drive someone into exhaustion. Mindfulness is vital for people struggling, as a way to direct attention on the present experience.
Fazekas, Leitner, and Pieringer cite the importance of accurate detection of emotions as a way to practice effective self-regulation. The body calms down when the mind recognizes what it is feeling Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is another example of mindfulness-based therapies.
It is a structured course which offers its participants a new lease on life, health, and wellbeing. Essentially, mindfulness redirects attention to the external environment so we can escape the unwinding of our neural and negative thought loops, or pain and discomfort.
By disrupting past patterns of thought, these approaches slow the heart rate and calm the breath, which continues to relax the body and then flood the body with more pleasant neurotransmitters. This, in turn, creates a positive feedback loop.
This TEDtalk by translational neuroscientist Catherine Kerr is a great introduction to mindfulness. She explains how focusing on our toes can help reduce negative thoughts.
As Kerr explains, mindfulness starts with the body and noticing the details of what sensations we feel, say, starting with our toes. Our sensory attentional system is one gateway to a richer mind-body connection—and the health of an attuned human.
In traditional meditation, the main focal point for attention training is on the inhalation and exhalation of air through the nose. Research into the breath confirms that by being attuned to your breathing, and paying attention to it, naturally slows your breathing.
Below is one example of the meditation resources available. It is a traditional meditation practice which focuses on training the attention on the breath. Even 3-minutes of meditation can ease a stressed brain. Maybe before eating dinner, or upon waking up, there is time for you to reset your brain.
There are times to be alert and stressed. A lot of the time, however, we do not need the hyper-alert sensation of stress. How do we help ourselves relax? There are many ways.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation PMR is one example of relaxation therapy which is known to build body intelligence. PMR teaches us to systematically tense and then release muscles, working on one muscle group at a time. This process results in reduced physical stress and tension by increasing our focus on the body.
A pioneering technique for building body intelligence is biofeedback. This is the use of scientific and physiological monitoring of the body to effectuate awareness of body states with electrodes. The evidence supporting biofeedback has been strong; it can reduce certain disorders such as high blood pressure and migraines.
One of the most significant perks of biofeedback is the self-direction that it elicits. If you are interested in learning more about biofeedback and how it can provide effective treatment for different illnesses, then watch this full-length lecture from the University of California, San Fransisco, Osher Centre for Integrative Medicine:.
Headaches, asthma, recurrent abdominal pain, pelvic pain, and sleep disorders are just some of the ailments that biofeedback can help with. These three physical practices focus on using body movements that draw attention to the internal experience of the present.
The slow and steady pace of the movements helps relax us and reduce physical stress. They also create a focused state of mind which helps with negative emotions. A report from Harvard Health explored the benefits of these three body-mind-integration techniques, exploring how it aids with anxiety and depression.
A study by Staples, Atti, and Gordon highlighted significant improvements in depressive symptoms and a lowered sense of hopelessness for Palestinian children and adolescents in a session mind-body skills group. But just what is the mind-body connection and how can you strengthen yours?
The mind-body connection means that our attitudes, beliefs, and emotions can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. But we can still strive for that healthy mind-body connection using the simple steps below. Whether you realize it or not, your body responds to the way you think, feel, and act.
Be sure to spend some time each day focused on the things that you are grateful for in your life. Relaxing methods include meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, listening to music, among many other practices to bring your emotions to balance.
A variety of calming and empowering mind-body exercises have been provided to help people decrease anxiety and pain, and also enhance sleep. Looking for ideas and inspiration? Depending on your fitness goals, just 20 minutes of daily physical movement can help improve your health and wellness and help you lead your fullest life possible.
Find a source of inspiration that is bigger than you. The key is to feed your mind, body, and soul to nurture the best possible you.
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