Go With Your Gut

I was recently asked, "Why are people so afraid of logic and rational thought?" This was part of a discussion about how polarized we have become, so often unable to disagree without getting caught up in an emotional tailspin, then projecting it onto the other person. This was my answer:

People think of rational thought and logic as excluding emotions or physical feeling. We have divided ourselves into parts: mind, body, heart. When we understand that the self is undivided, a whole entity, then we can value intelligence as a way of being that includes thinking and feeling and sensing, all at once. Folks need to feel that an argument sits right with them in their gut, but then they ignore the connection between logic and feeling!

Not only are we each an undivided entity, we are connected to all living beings: the entire biosphere is unified. And that "gut feeling" I mentioned? That's not just a concept, it is physiological fact. We now understand that we have an "enteric nervous system," or ENS. The ENS is two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract that is in constant communication with the bigger brain in our heads. Current research suggests that there is a link between the ENS and mood, well-being, memory, and intelligence. 

This is just one example of how thought affects the body and the body affects thought. Think of a juicy lemon right now. Did you salivate? Now make a fist with your right hand. How did that happen? You had to have the thought first, then the hand responded. The reverse works too. That's why it is often good advice to take a walk or do something physical when you feel depressed and hopeless. Moving the body shifts the mood. Aerobic activity releases endorphins and other opiate-like hormones, which the brain (the gut-brain!) recognizes as "happiness."  The inability to move about freely can cause severe depression, which is why solitary confinement is torture. 

Thinking and feeling, logic and imagination, sensing and knowing -- these are not dichotomies but integrated aspects of human functioning and flow. We literally cannot have one without the other. When we try to live in a separated way, we live in a house (and senate and government and judiciary and culture and psyche) divided. Perhaps the most common report I hear from my Alexander students and my mindfulness classes is that they feel whole again, like returning to home base, where there is cooperation instead of struggle. 

That's why the Alexander Technique is not about improving posture, but rather about becoming aligned. Alignment leads to good posture, which can be an external sign that the body-mind-heart is unified. The way the AT teaches this alignment is by changing how we think in activity, by boosting our awareness of how we are using ourselves in any given moment. 

How could you become more aligned with this moment? Where are you dividing yourself, and can you allow a return to your undivided self? (Hint: Go with your gut.)