explain, please. :yup: this is interesting.
Every thought we have that breaks out of the basic thought stream - where the thousands of thoughts per minute happen - has as its partner, a physical reaction. Of course we do not notice this most of the time because we are moving so fast and generally not paying attention to it. You can see this most clearly in meditation because nothing else is imposing itself as a distraction; there are only thoughts and physical sensations.
so for me, when i would sit in meditation and thoughts about parenting would come up, my lower back would hurt. all the time. this happened without fail. because this is true yet people don't know it, they begin to think that they have "issues" that they don't really have. or that they don't really need to have. If they could connect the thought with the physical sensation or urge, they could them simply observe it and avoid making a habit out of responding to the physical part, choosing more wisely to address the thinking and the emotion the thoughts cause.
This is the basic practice of Mindfulness. there are many terrific books about it but one need only sit still with the goal in mind of not moving. commit to keeping your attention on your breath as it moves in and out of your nostrils. when your thoughts stray from your breath, bring the attention back. what you will notice in short order are two things; thoughts come and go at a rate unfathomable and with them, sensations like ache and itch and twitch and "falling asleep." These are sensations built to distract you from difficult thoughts. if you sit long enough with compassionate attention for what you are going through, always bringing the attention back to the breath, you will notice that these sensations, like ocean tide, come and go. They are not fixed. not "real."
This is the power of the mind/body connection. even when we are not conscious of it, the mind and body are working together. sometimes to our benefit.....sometimes not so much. our awareness is key.
The New FastGirl