How to control Thoughts of our Body and Mind – Do What You Love!

With a lot of us still working from home, it’s important to keep reminding ourselves that, feeling lonely, frustrated, anxious and/or stressed is Okay. When faced with a crisis, humans tend to see stress, anxiety and frustration as some kind of awakening call. This eventually gets to be a life-transforming, eye-opening, and liberating experience. In challenging times, when we process emotions of tension and discomfort, we might feel like we want to start questioning fundamental parts of our life – including marriage, job and/or our friends.

Lockdown might make you:

– wonder whether you do what you love or not

– feel whether your love affair is sustainable or not

– question whether the job you do is what you’re passionate about

John C. Parkin in his book ‘F**ck it – Do what you Love’ supports the idea that our body and our mind always know when we are doing what we love.

But the question is, how we can make our body and mind “speak” to us? Well, Parkin suggests a transformative tool as well.

The applied kinesiology or muscle testing method

This method is a great way to dive deeper into how our authentic self feels about something – or how to understand the effect of certain thoughts on our body and our mind. The only requirement for this exercise is for another person to test the strength of your arm as you make certain statements (Take a look at: How to Make Peace With Your Difficult Emotions)

Here’s how it works

• Stand up in mountain pose (straight with the legs open as wide as your hips). Allow your arms to relax alongside the body. Your partner can stand in front of you – arms-length apart. The best way to start is by saying ‘I’m (your name)’ out loud, repeatedly. As you do this have your partner gently squeeze your arm down by the wrist from the upper side.
• With your arms raised parallel to the floor continue repeating your name as your partner presses down on your arm and try to create some resistance. Once you do this, rest for a moment.
• Ask your partner how difficult or easy it was to push down your arm when you were saying your name.
• Now, choose a name that doesn’t mean anything to you and repeat that out loud the same way you did before. ‘I’m (different name)’ and again, raise your arm parallel to the floor while repeating this different name as your partner presses down your arm.
• Next, try to check with your partner in which instance your resistance was more intense. It should be that your arm is strongest when you’re repeating your own name.

Now that you know the technique, you can use it to ‘test’ other truths. Soon you will realise that your arm works as a “lie detector”. Your ability to resist comes from how strong or weak you engage your arm, which is a fantastic indicator of whether or not what you are saying is true. Read Positive Affirmations to Reprogramming Your Inner World.

Is it working?

This testing works as a polygraph (lie detector). Based on a theory that when we lie, it’s not feasible for us to relax and whether we realise it or not, we will be stressed (and the response of the pressed-down will know it). The ‘Muscle testing’ method gives us feedback on our stress levels. In times we are stressed, we become weaker but, when we are telling the truth, we are stronger. Our body is a reflection of our state of mind.

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Written by Alexandra Kafka