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Read Your Body & Mind
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Our bodies talk, but do we know how to listen? Learn how to translate the messages of your inner experience.
The metaphor of the Three Registers- or as I refer to it- “3 levels of being” (Shelley, 1999) challenged the idea of a two-system mind (conscious & unconscious) and made counselling processes easier to understand. This can help professionals cultivate a holistic approach and help clients understand their present experience more deeply.
This level is the present moment, where “awareness,” “consciousness,” “mindfulness” and “feeling awake” exist. Being in the moment allows you to take “response-ability” and direct your attention to the safety and calmness of the present that can be cultivated.
This level focuses on parts of your experience that you may be “unaware” or only partly aware of, making the unconscious experience a part of awareness that is not yet understood. Anxious anticipation, traumatic experiences and triggers often exist here.
This level focuses on how the body speaks, for example, through discomfort and pain. Somatization is the translation of psychological and emotional pain into body symptoms- think of a “nervous tummy,” “nervous bladder,” or chronic pain. This register also carries the past, present and future as it is the site of “embodied aging, of cellular growth and eventual decay.”
So with this understanding, how can you learn from your body & mind?
First Register
Think of the emotions you’re currently experiencing. Perhaps you feel worried, angry, sad or frightened. Strategies to manage symptoms on this register include mindfulness, self-soothing, grounding and calm breathing. Cognitive-behavioural strategies also work by examining the relationship between automatic thoughts and behaviours. The registers overlap and so strategies often help ease the body and mind at the same time.
Here are some practical tips to calm your emotions (and nervous system):
Physical Grounding
- Walk slowly, noticing each footstep, saying “left” or “right” with each step.
- Describe your environment in detail (out loud if you can) using all your physical senses. Describe the objects around you, colours, shapes, smells, textures, amounts and temperature. You may also silently say to yourself “I am here. I am present in this moment in this space,” and “I am safe” or I” am calm.”
Mental Grounding
- Redirect attention. This exercise is helpful to redirect focus from emotional and felt sensations of pain. Look at your surroundings and list 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell (or would like to smell) and 1 thing you taste (or would like to taste).
- Describe a task that you know very well in detail (out loud if you can). Act as if you were teaching someone who didn’t know anything about it. You might describe how to ride a bicycle, plant a garden, set up a shot to photograph, cook your favourite meal or perform a challenging physical task, for example.
Soothing
- Remember a place that you find very soothing (perhaps the beach or mountains, or a favourite room). Focus on everything about that place- the sounds, colours, shapes, objects, textures, smells. Breathe calmly and slowly as you remember this place.
- Practice mindful breathing. Sitting comfortably, inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, and exhale for 6 or 7 seconds. Notice how your breath feels. Practice this exercise for as long as it takes to feel calm. You may find that you only need 1 to 3 minutes to relax into a calmed state. Click here for a visual guide on 4-second Box Breathing.
Second Register
Exploring symptoms on the Second Register is best done with a counsellor. Strategies like guided exploration, projective techniques and exploring how the body stores and interprets memories and forms beliefs requires a gentle approach and often specialized knowledge and training.
Some questions you may begin to explore are:
- When I think about the way I am feeling right now (mentally/physically), what am I reminded of? Is there a place, time or memory that comes up?
- When I am experiencing this feeling or sensation, what belief(s) do I have about myself?
Third Register
What if your primary concern is a bodily symptom? Do you have problems with restlessness, pain in your chest? Perhaps you have problems with digestion or chronic neck pain.
The first step is to see your family doctor to rule out any physiological causes for the symptoms. This will often require a physical exam and bloodwork analysis.
Once physiological causes have been ruled out, the bodywork can begin. Third Register exploration is recommended to do with a counselling professional who can monitor for safe exploration and recognize and calm emotional flooding. There are also some self-guided reflections you can explore. Some examples of questions may include:
- (For stomach pain) What memory or experience am I trying to “digest”? What in my life is “hard to stomach”? Is there something my “gut” is telling me? Am I trusting my “gut” or going against my instincts? Am I avoiding dealing with feelings?
- (For neck pain) What areas in my life are the biggest “pain in the neck”? What can I do to decrease this tension? How can I bring more compassion to soften the differences?
- (For chest pain) Do I need to get something “off my chest”? Where in my life can I add more self-care? Does self-love flow easily for me, or am I resisting it and why?
In addition to self-exploration, engaging the body in a physically relaxing way can redirect attention and allow sensations to exist and flow through you. Activities like yoga, swimming, dancing, gardening, stretching and running can be passive ways to engage your body. Keep your attention focused on the movements- not how it feels to do, but how the body mechanically accomplishes the task.
With this understanding of the Three Registers, you can increase awareness of your emotional, psychological and physical experience. This will improve your self-understanding and can contribute to your self-healing process. Enjoy the exploration, and remember, speaking to a counsellor can enhance this experience and help you navigate challenges and blind-spots.
Reference
Download a supplemental info-graphic here:
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Understand Your Body’s Symptoms
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Read Your Body & Mind
What Your Body is Trying to Tell You
Have you ever had strange a symptom in your body during stress or a time of high emotions? It’s relatively normal, for example, that a twitching eye can indicate increased or prolonged stress. Your body might be telling you something with the sensations you experience. But can you understand the message?
Organ Jargon
Alfred Adler coined the term “organ jargon” to refer to somatic (sensations) that express an individual’s attitude and perspective. If you felt a pain in your shoulder, it could be explained that perhaps you were feeling as though you were shouldering the burden of stress or some obligation. In this way, organ jargon or “organ dialect” is a symbolic expression of a true feeling that corresponds with an individual’s lifestyle.
If this is sounding very dense or psychology woo-woo, I highly recommend to read the definition of Adlerpedia to become more familiar with this concept.
Special note: Self-exploration question may trigger a traumatic memory. If you feel emotionally triggered by certain body sensations or activities, exploring your symptoms may negatively enhance this experience. If this happens to come up for you, switch your focus from your symptoms to grounding exercises to calm yourself.
Click here for helpful grounding exercises
This info-graphic is a supplement to the article How to Read Your Body and Mind. It lists the “3 levels of being,” a framework for understanding your body’s symptoms, and tips to access each level in self-reflection.
Suggested readings:
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Progressive Muscle Relaxation
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Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation is the intentional tensing and releasing of various muscle groups to restore a sense of relaxation and calm to your body and is a great technique for stress reduction. It is suggested to hold the tension in a muscle group for 7-10 seconds. If you have any pain or discomfort at a targeted muscle group, feel free to skip that step. It can also be helpful to close your eyes and visualize the muscles tensing as you go though the exercise. As you release tension, imagine a wave of relaxation flowing over the muscle group. Remember to keep breathing throughout the entire exercise. You may tend to unconsciously hold your breath as you tense, but keep breathing normally through the tension.
Click here for an easy visual guide to practice deep breathing.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation Script
Find a comfortable position either sitting in a chair or lying down somewhere where you will not be interrupted. Allow your attention to focus solely on your body. If your mind wanders, that is okay, just bring your attention back to the muscle you are working on.
Begin by focusing on your breath for 3 deep belly breaths. It can help to put your hand on your belly as it rises and falls. Breathe in through your nose, and put through your mouth.
Tighten the muscles in your forehead by raising your eyebrows as high as you can. Imagine your eyebrows are reaching for your hairline. Hold and breathe- then relax.
Close your eyes as tightly as you can. Hold and breathe- then relax.
Now smile as widely as you can to engage your mouth. Hold and breathe- then relax. Imagine a wave of relaxation emanating from your face.
Tilt your head back to stretch your neck. Hold and breathe- then relax. Bring your head to a natural relaxed position and feel the weight of your relaxed head and neck.
Next, let your shoulders rise up to your ears and hold them tightly. Feel the tension in your shoulders and hold. Breathe naturally, then relax.
Next, tighten your shoulder blades by trying to bring them together. Imagine your elbows can touch behind your back. Hold while breathing, then relax.
Curl your arms to engage your biceps and squeeze tightly as you flex. Hold and breathe- then relax. Imagine a wave of relaxation running down your arms and through your body.
Squeeze your hands into fists and hold the squeeze. Hold and breathe- and relax.
Suck in your stomach to engage your abdomen and your core muscles. Hold this tightly for a moment. Breathe and relax. Feel your stomach relaxing to a neutral state.
Now arch your lower back by pushing back from the hips. Imagine you are trying to push your toosh out into the bed or the chair. Hold the tension and breathe, then relax.
Now squeeze your toosh. Engage your posterior muscles and hold the tension. Breathe and relax, feeling your hips and pelvis relax.
Squeeze your thigh muscles from your hips to your knees. If you are sitting, imagine you are pushing away from your knees without engaging your calves. Hold and breathe- and release.
Curl your feet up to engage your calves in a good stretch. Hold the tension. Breathe and relax.
Now curl your toes under your feet so you feel your toes touching the bottom of your feet. Hold and breathe- then relax.
Do a body scan to see if any muscles are still carrying tension. If you need to, return to these areas and tense and release them again, following the script.
Feel the weight of your body on the chair, or the weight of your body on the bed. Imagine a wave of relaxation washing over you. Feel the inviting calm. Your tension has melted away.
You can use this progressive muscle relaxation technique any time you are feeling stressed or anxious, or when you want to experience deep relaxation. Ask your partner or a friend to read this to you and guide you through the exercise. You could even record yourself reading the script and play it back to yourself when you practice. This exercise is especially useful to use before you go to sleep at night as it helps your body to relax into a deep sleep.
Happy relaxing!
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