"Dances with Red."
-by Jonathon Earl Bowser, 1989.

Our bodies and our minds are two aspects of the same experience, our bodies are quantitative, our minds - qualitative. Our bodies react to the substance of our minds - our thoughts, our beliefs, our ideas, our neurotransmitters, our hopes, and our dreams. Your body can not tell a mental image from a physical event. They are both considered as just as real, as far as the body is concerned. Our brains are in continuous interaction with our cells and physical organs - every moment of our lives.

Researchers have isolated many mental attitudes and attributes that can profoundly affect our physical health and well-being. Some of the most positive and beneficial mental states for a strong and disease-resistant body are:

• humor
• motivation
• commitment
• caring
• self-efficiency
• assertiveness
• strong self-esteem
• intimacy
• sense of belonging
• flexibility
• optimism
• meaningfulness
• hope
• acceptance of change
• predictability
• challenge
• enjoyment of social interaction
• spiritual beliefs
• competence

Essence of the Mind-Body

The physical body is created daily around an invisible mental matrix, making the body very pliant to the mind's influence. If you are able to hold a healthy, vibrant, beautiful mental image of yourself in your mind, your body will respond to this image. This sounds simple enough, but ironically, many people have a difficult time in thinking positively and lovingly about themselves and their bodies.

"Belief systems place a heavy tax on your energy - they siphon off the better part of your awareness." - Ken Carey, "Starseed".

"The biggest and most far-reaching kind of cognitive therapy is a paradigm shift - a change in the organizing principle that underlies the way we think about ourselves and the world." Gloria Steinem - "Revolution from Within."

Our genetic bodies respond to our thoughts, to our feelings, and to our general psychological climate. If our minds are anxious, our cells experience this tenseness and discord. If our minds are relaxed and thankful, our cells feel thses qualities as well.

"Your closest environment, physically speaking, is your body - the physical materialization of your own thoughts, emotions, and interpretations. You GROW the body. It's condition perfectly mirrors your subjective state at any given time." - Jane Roberts, "Seth Speaks."

Our bodies change constantly, with each new thought, each new breath. Our bodies are different from how and what they were a year ago, cells are constantly being replaced, and our energies change. If you can fully grasp this concept - that your body is not a stagnant, aging set of cells that have existed since birth - you can begin to appreciate the power for physical transformation and health that lies within you. You must shift your awareness and concept of what your body, and what your mind, for that matter really is. If you can sit quietly and truly realize that your body cells are replacing themselves constantly, you can realize what your body truly is. Always new and dynamic.

Awareness of the Mind-Body Connection

We can shape our lives and life patterns, as well as our physical bodies through insight, direction and focused energy. If you consciously release stored unresolved tensions, and maintain a supple relaxed mind, your body will respond in like fashion.

"The master creates a ceremony out of every moment - full of energy, force, and quality." - D. Millman, "The Warrior Athlete."

The ancients spoke of "Satori", a natural harmony of mind, body, and emotions. Millman describes this in more modern terms, saying we have the university (mind), the temple (emotion and spirit), and the gym (body) within us.

We need to daily feed our bodies a diet of nurturing positivity. Negativity can become trapped and blocked within us, causing physical tension, stiffness, and if prolonged - serious diseases. It is imperative to release, and let go of any tension and worry - to flow with the mosaic and energy of life.

"Disease is the absorption of dense energy from the vibrational Earth School plane which manifests into a dysfunctional body when individuals allow themselves to become clogged and burdened by the apparent weight of the physical lessons." - Agartha.

Our bodies react to and hold a lot of information. Every thought, every feeling, and every impulse, is registered in our neuromuscular structures. Only about 25 percent of what we call "natural aging" is rooted in physical adjustment. The other 75 percent is sociogenic in nature - or a result of our beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and social reactions to life's experiences and events.

Our minds are not in our brains, but are actually an energy field within and around our physical bodies. Blocked memories are often lodged in our fascia or connective tissues. We must learn ways to clear these blocked energies for a vital, pliant body, capable of easy, sensual movement and high frequency energy.

"Think of your body as a road map. When seen this way, it speaks of your spiritual, emotional, and psychic development." - Lynn Andrews, "Jaguar Woman."

Strengthen your intent, and you will enliven your skeleton, your blood, and your body. Release all blocks and patterns of mediocrity from your being. Manifest a vehicle of superb beauty and grace. Visualize an actual resculpting occurring within your cells. See your cells vibrate with a beautiful violet light - this helps to remove all baseness and impurities, and aligns your physical body with the celestial.

Allow your body to rise proud and moulded by thoughts of grace, power, and refinement to a state of perfection. Sculpt your body with your intent, your vision, and your affirmation. Break through your body armor, and create a natural living support for your essence. Realize the virtue and integrity of your body, as well as your mind and Spirit. Truly learn how to create your reality with mastery. Regard yourself with dignity. Flow with life - expand your inner field and awareness. Just allow yourself to BE! You don't need the roles, the masks, the boxes you've allowed yourself to be placed within. Just be your ever fluctuating, beautous self - not a stereotype - but a unique You!