Working with Thought, Feeling & Memory

This report is for therapists who work with the psyche and for people who are interested in personal and spiritual development.

Generally speaking – for people who have negative compulsive thought / feeling patterns. ie recurring anger, guilt, sadness, fear, pessimism, hurt and the inner self talk that accompany’s these feelings etc. some examples of specific problems. OCD, anxiety, low self-esteem and poor sleep

Consciousness is Primary

My main interest has been in working with consciousness. Like many others in this field I got into this because I wasn’t happy and found that the usual channels weren’t able to help me. These last few years I have been working extensively with thought, feeling and memory. Along this journey I have been in various trainings and also drawing upon the inspiration of many who have gone before me. This report is the sharing of some of the conceptual frameworks which inform why I do what I do with clients.

 Release the hurt, Heal the Heartbreak, Move on from the Loss

 

Sections

1 – Systems theory – Modelling Complexity

2 – The Human Energy Field

3 – Cyber-kinetics – a Breakthrough for working with complexity

4 – The Importance of Beliefs

5 – The Psyche, Brain and Organ

6 – Suppressed Emotion From Infancy and its Effects

7 – Memory – Past Experience Condensed into the Present

Ideas from General Systems Theory

First a Comment on the Existing Paradigm

Science is moving from reductionist thinking to a systems approach – scholastic medicine is still very reductionist as can be seen from specialisation and the lack of solidity in their framework of thought. Living in a material paradigm they think DNA is primary, when consciousness is. Another is that the body makes mistakes. They give lip service to not understanding the cause but behave as though the symptom were the cause. These ontological flaws then cascade down into methodology which essentially is symptom suppression. There are occasions where in the short term this is more desirable than some other outcomes and given they don’t understand mother natures’ processes, there is a logic to this. Symptom suppression though leads to longer term problems and a greater entrenchment of the problem, putting aside obvious things like kidney load and side effects.

Open Complex Systems are Dynamic

Whereas material science emphasises quantities & measurement in an attempt to objectify what is seen consider that with subjectivity we are looking at qualities. Complex systems are dynamic (process characterised by fluidity and fluctuation) iterative (i.e. when new information is presented it starts to change the system) the idea of recursivenes – feedback loops – vicious or virtuous cycles.

Simultaneity – as name suggests variables operate in synchrony. This factor is where many approaches fail especially when large time frames are included. How do you know what variable is interacting with what and in which way? Earth systems are a classic example of complexity. Many interacting factors operating simultaneously.

Emergent properties – the relationships between variables some seemingly related and some not seemingly related when combined form completely new properties which can’t be reduced down Think of cooking a cake – flour, sugar, butter, heat, pressure from oven – once the cake is formed u can’t then go back and isolate the flour and take it out. Also once the new property emerges it can be very stable new structure. The Quality of Resilience is an emergent property – say certain constitutional inherited factors, attitude, belief, lack of blocked energy flow etc.

Thresholds – the point at which the system reaches a tipping point and things can rapidly change in their manifestation – new feedback loops take precedence with concomitant consequential outputs. In humans the psycho-energetic system is able to maintain stability of function but when the stress has accumulated to such a degree one big event happens and then disease can manifest as there is an overwhelm and the fragmentation is of such high order that it starts to unravel. Look at symptoms like warning signals that the behaviour is no longer sustainable or that evolution is occurring. Which is it for you?

Effects often disappear when cause removed but systems theory recognises that some effects can remain and become autonomous – eg belief systems emerge out of events and when charge removed from event often they lose potency but sometimes cognitive approach will still be required to process certain thought patterns.

Wholes not Parts

The physicist Bohm talked of the implicate and explicate order. Implicate (enfolded), explicate, manifest and unfolded. The implicate is invisible e.g. consciousness, and explicate is the tangible manifest world we sense. The implicate has a huge defining effect on determining the explicate – scholastic medicine mainly focuses on the manifest. Again he talks of wholes and that parts don’t make up the whole – rather there are wholes’ and parts are derived from wholes. Reductionist approaches reduce things – this is understandable as the complexity can seem so overwhelming that we isolate bits to augment some understanding. The hologram is a great illustration of this – when a bit is taken from the hologram and made apparent it is a whole still albeit the signal becomes a little more faint..

Many diseases are actually emergent properties when certain thresholds are breached hence why reductionist approaches invariably aren’t able to cure but only treat. Stem cell and gene therapies look promising in some areas though! When working with people (complex beings) it useful to have these ideas in mind.

The Human Energy Field

For millennia the ancient healing traditions talked of an energy body. Finally an acupuncturist Peter Fraser was able to elucidate the structure of the human energy field using quantum physics and maths. Scientists have known that the body contains all different kinds of energy i.e. heart for example produces electromagnetic energy.

What is the body field?

The human body field is an intelligent, self-organising, self-correcting, self-maintaining energetic and informational structure that functions at the level of quantum electrodynamics (QED) and quantum holography. QED mathematically describes all phenomena involving electrically charged particles interacting by means of exchange of photons.

The biochemical cellular activity gives rise to in part the body-field, which in turn directs and organises the information that drives your biochemistry. The analogy Peter uses is of an opera ticket. The ticket is meaningless without the print out on it and likewise the information needs a substrate to be transmitted.

The Intricacy and Intelligence of Life is Amazing!

The body has to know what to do, when to do, and where the activity should take place, it has to carry out millions of actions with breath taking accuracy in milliseconds. The biochemistry and bioenergetics mutually contribute to homeostasis. The Bodyfield is dynamic and a holographical structure that records everything to which you are exposed.

Overview of the Structure of the Human Body Field

Drivers – these fields are the powerhouses of the body field. Each organ produces one of these – it is like the battery. The weakening of this field can compromise an organ.

Integrators – there are 12 of these and these direct and regulate information transfer in the body-field. Each one covers a certain range of electromagnetic energy (frequency). Essentially they provide the information to allow cells to work properly.

Stars – mini-information networks in which multiple information channels converge to address a single issue. They represent specific metabolic pathways or multiple influences that converge on one major function or mechanism. These essentially relate to major energy blockages.

Terrains – these refer to distortions in the body field that creates an environment in a body tissue that makes the tissue amenable to hosting microbes. Different terrains matched to differing micro-organisms.

Meridians and Emotions

Generally the integrators are the ones associated with the Chinese meridians which are associated with prevailing characteristic emotions. What Peter has found is that a distortion in the integrators does not mean that you are incapable of experiencing an emotion or that there will be an overabundance of it but instead that the person will have less of an ability to manage that emotion or to be able to deal with situations where that emotion comes into play.

Enquiry into the Psyche made Elegant – Cyber-Kinetics

Cyber-kinetics is a kinesiology which incorporates the principles of cybernetics hence the name. An engineer Alan sales noticed shortcomings with many forms of kinesiology. The primary discovery he made was what we call the analogue system. There are qualities to music coming from a record that are lacking with the clean cut digital audio recordings. The music has a warmth to it. The discovery of analogue muscle testing improved the quality of the feedback considerably in that information that would not normally register was suddenly becoming available. Imagine a dimmer switch as opposed to an on/off switch. The dimmer gives you a range. The analogue system reflects the fact that life is dynamic. In this article I will explain what this system really is.

What Actually Happens When Using Muscle Testing

There is a wonderful book called power vs force which is very informative and fairly comprehensive. I recommend that the reader get this book as the author did extensive research on whether kinesiology was valid. This article is more about the system we use.

We are detailing, scoping and connecting information. It is essentially a form of feedback from the body / mind! Feedback of INFORMATION on pretty much anything you want to enquire into to. Here the focus is on beliefs and memory.

I will assume that you are familiar with the basic mechanics of the muscle testing itself. You put a book on the persons’ body and you are taken to a page in the index, a subject heading e.g. relationships, and then you scan down the page and it selects one line. Invariably the client completely connects into the sense and this is a starting point of the conversation that ensues. This has been called the holo-linguistic effect.

What is Happening – How Does This Work – Why Does it Choose What it Chooses.

The choosing is done by an awareness. This cognizance I shall call SPIRIT (IT). There is the client, the tester and IT. Spirit embodies some guiding principles.

Utility – One can have great ideas but do they help someone achieve their goals?

Meaningful – Does the client care for what is selected, does it matter to them.

Generative – does it generate new avenues of enquiry, does it produce new thoughts.

Systemic – The information highlighted often is upstream on a problem therefore it looks for the domino effect. We say ‘finding the difference that makes a difference.’

Holistic – You would have to explore context, cultural, family, general environment. The tool allows exploration like this but depends on the facilitator thinking holistically.

What Else Happens?

Relational – the awareness tunes into your personal life story, it is client centred and it makes this method very bespoke. One can tailor make programs (exercise / spiritual).

Responsive to thought – a person can think a certain thought and this affects the muscle response. Often this is used as a demonstration. Negative thoughts can make muscle go very weak.

Differential – It calculates and sorts – it selects according to significance in the person’s life.

The Multi – Dimensional Self

One model used is based on the idea that we have different frequencies of energy making up our being. These 9 ‘body’s’ correspond to layers of the auric field, each subtle body occupying a different dimension.

Cyber-kinetics allows access to your personal records. Each body reflects certain themes, so the physical might be related to survival and fulfilment whereas the celestial relates to love & self-knowledge. Qualities of being, the higher levels representing more sublime aspects of being.

So essentially..

Cyber-kinetics is about the storage, retrieval and communication of information. In that sense it can be adapted to any modality. The acupuncturists love it but any system can utilise this. Epistemology – ‘How do you know what you know.’ With just a conversation it is much more difficult. Now we can verify what is said. You realise that without this tool it would be almost impossible to know what is needed to be done and in what order especially given that everyone has their own unique story

                                               Belief Systems Inform Our Behaviour?

 Beliefs are an idea with a big yes behind them. 
Often they are generalisations based on certain experiences we are referencing
 These evaluations / judgements about ourselves and others determine our motivation / feelings / actions
 Beliefs have an impact on our attitude, perceptions, feelings & behaviour  Clients are often not aware of their beliefs.
 Often certain internal dialogue is the clue to our beliefs.

Wars are fought over beliefs, people perform certain rituals (praying) based on their beliefs. When beliefs are challenged the physiology can become activated. Think of when you argue over an opinion. Often someone becomes heated. Uncomfortable emotion is often an indication that our expectation of the world does not fit with reality. This is driven by unconsciously held beliefs.

Beliefs come in inter-connected systems. Cultural beliefs can be very strongly identified with as everyone agrees with them. In modern times in the west ‘fat is bad/unattractive’ is an obvious one. The main way that cultural norms are embedded in the individual is through the family.

Very important beliefs are the ones around allowing and expressing emotion. A system used in Meta-Medicine elicits a whole chain of these. We have outer world perception and inner organ sensation. Language is a way into this inner world of sensation / feeling. When you block a feeling due to it being denied, disconnected from, suppressed etc it sits in the body as tension. There is often compensatory behaviour. The unexpressed energy of emotion becomes a driver for the behaviour which is now a compulsion. Embodied awareness (not just intellectual knowing) & discharging the affect which was impressed onto you when you experienced certain stimuli is key to allowing new choices and behaviours to occur. It’s often not what we do but that it is compulsive and that you do too much or sometimes too little of something!

The Brain

The human brain itself is made up of about one hundred billion nerve cells or neurons. These cells organise themselves into networks to manage specific tasks. When any experience occurs in our life, new neural networks are laid down to record that event and its meaning. To create these networks, the neurons grow an array of new dendrites (connections to other neurons). Each neuron has up to 20,000 dendrites, connecting it simultaneously into perhaps hundreds of different neural networks.

At times, the neural networks laid down in one experience or set of experiences can be quite “cut off” (due to their different neuro-chemical basis) from the rest of the person’s brain. New brain scanning techniques begin to give us more realistic images of how this actually looks. Psychiatrist Don Condie and neurobiologist Guochuan Tsai used a fMRI scanner to study the brain patterns of a woman with “multiple personality disorder”. In this disorder, the woman switched regularly between her normal personality and an alter ego called “Guardian”. The two personalities had separate memory systems and quite different strategies. The fMRI brain scan showed that each of these two personalities used different neural networks (different areas of the brain lit up when each personality emerged). If the woman only pretended to be a separate person, her brain continued to use her usual neural networks, but as soon as the “Guardian” actually took over her consciousness, it activated precise, different areas of the hippocampus and surrounding temporal cortex (brain areas associated with memory and emotion).(Adler, 1999, p 29-30)

For our purposes, the word “part” refers to any state dependent neural network with enough functional autonomy to run its strategies without control by the rest of the brain. The “conscious mind” is, in this sense, as much a part as the unconscious.

When strategies are laid down during a very unique emotional state, such networks can be poorly connected to the rest of the person’s brain. Reconnecting such networks so that the person can function in an integrated way is the goal of integration work.

How Does a ‘Part’ Manifest

These come into being either due to a drip feed of negativity particular when a kid or due to big Trauma. The signature is in the internal dialogue, the feelings and the behaviour. When you get right to the core of these parts you have essentially a core belief which would have formed in relation to an event in the persons’ life. These parts owe their relative autonomy to their emotional nature, their expression is always dependent on a network of associations, grouped round a centre charged with affect.

The Psyche, Brain & Organ

Germanic New Medicine (Meta- Medicine) is a science – demonstrable, quantifiable, verifiable & falsifiable, which after 10’s of 1000’s of cases worldwide and various verification procedures in certain countries has proven beyond doubt the accuracy of the system. Quite simply deep unhappiness can and does cause disease hence the use of this framework. The world is a certain way whether we like it or not. How we perceive that varies between people.

Meta-Medicine is like a blueprint for understanding how psychology, linguistics, neurology and biology interface. The effect of this understanding is that a particular enquiry is developed to make explicit the dysfunctional behavioural patterns so that they become open to transformation. Different organs have different linguistic markers which you wouldn’t pay attention to unless you were using this system.
There are 5 laws but below will make reference to two of them

The Law of the two phases of diseases inasmuch as there is a resolution of conflict.

The quintessence. All disease are meaningful natural events

One law states that every disease has 2 phases. Actually we see this everywhere in life. The heartbeat, breathing in and out, night and day, the tides coming in and going out, male and female etc.

The other law recognizes that Mother Nature never makes mistakes, she is goal orientated. Every illness is a specially designed survival strategy activated by extraordinary circumstances. To illustrate this an example is given. The deer loses its territory to a young stag. There is a consequent ulcer in the coronary artery. Essentially the blood vessel is wider therefore allowing more blood and therefore nutrients and oxygen to the heart. This gives the deer a second fighting chance to reclaim the territory.

The Importance of this Model?
META-Medicine is a science and acts as map to empower clients on their journey (from arthritis to the cold), it’s not always what you should do but also sometimes what you shouldn’t do.

Being based on scientific fact – that is that it is reproducible, demonstrable, quantifiable and non-disprovable, to ignore it would be foolish. This allows a person to identify the root cause of their health issue and thereby reduces fear and empowers them. People are encouraged to engage in cultivating new awareness and assuming full responsibility for their patterns.

Inner Conflict

Two ideas is opposition. Classic example is love / hate. Personal development and health are linked and now we have a scientific model, an organizing framework to navigate something as complex as the psyche. When an experience threatens your development or survival Mother Nature has created a specialized response system. We say a biological program has switched on i.e. there is an inner conflict operating. Fundamentally a conflict is an opposition of tendencies with a net loss of energy.

How we Know What we Know

The moment we suffer the conflict, the shock strikes a specific area in the brain causing a lesion that is clearly visible on a brain scan as a set of sharp target rings (see picture above). With the impact the affected brain cells send a biochemical signal to the cells in the corresponding organ causing either the growth of a tumor, a meltdown of tissue or functional loss, depending on the meaning that was created which corresponds to a specific brain location brain which in turn regulates a particular part of the body. Neuro-scientists recognise that the brain is the conductor it’s just this system gives more detail now.

The Effects of Suppressed Emotion from Early Infancy

Armouring is the way IN WHICH PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL DAMAGE IS ANCHORED AND THROUGH WHICH THE EFFECT OF A PERSONS TRAUMATISING PAST CONTINUES TO AFFECT THEM.

Extensive clinical research led to the observation of vegetative streamings or currents of energy in the body, which occurred in healthy individuals during states of great relaxation. i.e. uninhibited expression of emotion and sexual gratification. Tingling is a classic sign of the movement of orgone (Qi) energy.

If the armouring is chronic then the energy solidifies and sets the character structure with a rigidity of thought, desensitization of the body, along with a reduction in respiration and contactfulness (with self and other). The lack of cellular oxygen is the natural biochemical expression of this process.

The severity of armouring depends on what stage of life that the frustration occurs. The only way a helpless infant can cope with ongoing frustration is to suppress its rage and frustration, the earlier this armouring occurs the more deep seated will be the compensation.

Expansion & Contraction

The infant will withdraw and contract with consequent effects on its physiology, especially the digestive tract. It might become resigned and appear to have settled down and become a ‘good baby.’ The healthy child is more likely to be a nuisance.
Armoring restricts the movement of the orgone within the organism and the level of charge that an individual can tolerate. Individuals with a weakened charge are more prone to illness as this is reflective of rigidity and inflexibility and therefore a reduced ability to tolerate life’s stresses.

Breathwork

Emotion means to move out (E = out / motion = to move) Emotion is psychic energy. Breathing has long been recognized to release suppressed emotions. Energy is never destroyed only transformed.

When a person suppresses feeling due to say a fear of punishment or having fun made of them, this energy locks itself within the body. This is now stored tension which impacts the persons’ posture – e.g. tight shoulders, upper torso stiff like a board etc. As Psyche and Soma are one, this rigidity is not only reflected in posture but attitude.

As a baby the way we ward off anxiety and frustration is to hold our breath which desensitizes us – accompanying this is contraction of the muscular system. If the frustration is identified early in life and removed, this armouring yields relatively easily to bodywork. If the frustration is constant then this disconnection which is essentially energy stasis locks in and becomes a part of the character – like moss which grows into and becomes part of a wall.

Numerous factors – particularly emotional and environmental determine the depth and severity of armouring. A difficult birth can be partially mitigated through immediate breast feeding, warmth and affection.

(COEX Systems) – Memory and How it Lives on in the Present!

We Know That We Don’t Really Understand Memory

No one really understands memory. Even though scientists have identified that the hippocampus is involved in short term memory, long term memory is a mystery. While living one could argue that the brain will be an important substrate but is but a part of the equation. Some now suggest it is stored in the field. Like a TV tunes into frequencies beamed from a broadcast station, it maybe that the body is the receiver for information stored in what the ancients called the akashik field (A-field). It could also be that as of yet undiscovered parts of ourselves are involved. The idea of subtle body’s eg the mental body – maybe these aspects of ourselves have certain capacities such as storage. For now we can only guess.

Implicit memory is experiences which are recorded but can’t be recalled easily. They show up in behaviour, mannerisms, muscle tensions, bearing etc. Under certain circumstances one can surface / access these memories. Implicit memory is associated with experiences from the pre-verbal stage of development.

Explicit memory is what most people think of as memory. Think of when a memory from many years comes into consciousness. Often it has feeling and vivid imagery. This memory is easier to recall.

However Memories Feel Very Real and Exert Certain Effects on Everyone.

Stanislav Grof identified what he called COEX Systems within the human psyche (Systems of condensed experience). This is defined as a specific constellation of memories consisting of condensed experiences (and related fantasies) from different life periods of the individual.

The memories from a particular COEX system have a similar basic theme or have similar elements and are associated with a strong emotional charge. There is a layering – the deepest are in infancy and the more superficial aspects occur later in life.
Condensation on a Window Obscures the View!

An example of a COEX system might be all memories of past exposure to humiliation that have damaged self-esteem. Equally one has positive COEX systems. The point being is that the layering leads to an emotional charge which seems out of all proportion to the memory being activated, but this is due to the fact that the reservoir is deeper than appearances would dictate.

It’s Like They Have a Life of Their Own.

These COEX systems function relatively autonomously. The interaction with the environment influences subjectively the individual’s perception of himself/herself, ideas of the world, the feelings and ideation – even somatic processes’. The most important part of the COEX system is the core experience which acts as a template for the recording of subsequent similar experiences in the memory banks. The CORE may not be the earliest occurrence but a memory where the most recruitment of neurology occurred.

Transpersonal – Beyond the Purely Biographical

Why some experiences are so traumatic to some individuals and effect their development for decades is not easy to explain. Psychoanalysts considered unknown hereditary and constitutional factors.

Grof noticed that some of these factors were ancestral, racial, phylogenetic, archetypal or even past incarnation. Another was the similarity of the trauma to aspects of the birth trauma and hence an unearthing of deeply buried unconscious memories.

The Family Has a Huge Effect on our Development

One of the most important factors is the emotional atmosphere in the family setting and relationships between its members. Dysfunctional families exacerbate these traumas. Suffice to say these COEX systems influence the individual’s behaviour and attitude to life.

Through the breathwork one taps into the inherent intelligence of your being. This selforganising unconscious intelligence orchestrates the order in which the system delayers all the accumulated tension (armouring).

Natures Gift is Wonderfully Simple and yet the Healing Effects are so Profound
Breathwork is one way of purifying the energy body of implicit memory, but there is another way which works directly with explicit memory! Here information in the archived database that we reference is altered so that when certain contexts are entered a whole new response emerges. The effects are rapid, profound and alleviate problems like anxiety, OCD, guilt, anger etc. This other method works very much with information!

In the beginning there was only Darkness and from this great void came eternal Light. From the interplay of Light and Dark the two opposing forces of Yin and Yang created Colour in all its glory.
From the Trinity of Colours of the spectrum came Sound and the Musical Octaves the sustenance of our soul, which gave birth to Form the backbone of Matter the lowest of all Vibratory rates in the known Universe.
Here is where we are and will always be in the order of creation and in the manifestation of our Human Spirit and Being – as a drop in the sea of Vibration and at the End of the Rainbow that gave us life.