Mental changes that cause physical changes.

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This is an idea that I've been fascinated with for a while. Apparently mental things like depression and stress have been shown to have negative effects on your body; specifically your hormone levels, immune system and metabolism. And you can cause some symptoms of a disease to appear just by believing that you have it.

So in turn, I think it's probably possible to cause positive effects using the power of your mind/will through meditation or whatever other way you could think of to focus your mind on the change you wish to create. I'm currently trying to test this hypothesis by using it to lose weight. I am also lowing my fat intake, but I'm hoping this will give me a nice push in the right direction.

What do you guys think about the idea of using your mind/will/consciousness to create change in your physical form?

p.s. I wasn't sure whether or not this belonged here or in the Philosophy of Health section. If I got it wrong, would a mod please move it to the right section? Thanks.

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@Shadow Dragon,

Hi Shadow Dragon,

Sounds like a very good idea to me.

I have taught Taijiquan and Qigong along with Yoga for many years and witnessed many changes to people's physical condition due to good health practices such as stretching, moderate movement, nutritious diet, relaxation and breathing exercises.

I have found that all of these health practices work together. This is why Asian health practices such as the ones I teach address all aspects as a unity -not separate.

In so far as relaxation of the mind is concerned, this is how I would explain it:

By way of example, clench your fist hard. Very hard. Now release your fist and look at it. It is white because of reduced blood flow. This is a demonstration of what tension can do. Your mind clenched the fist really hard and it created an obstruction. When there is an obstruction blood and energy do not flow. Blood and the energy that moves it are responsible for nourishing your body and also cleaning it out. If you are mind is under stress, it manifests in constriction in your body, which blocks proper flow, which in turn creates health problems.

So, relaxing the mind by relaxing the body, and vice-versa is one ingredient to good health. The other aspects are also integral. So, I would pay attention to everything.

Wish you luck and hope this helps.

Rich

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@Shadow Dragon,

I think there is a book about this. The Power of Positive Thinking by somebody. I have not read it, but it probably has thoughts in it that relate to your questions.

In my opinion the mind works as a mirror. Whatever you see the world, or anything in particular, as is what you're going to display, whether through thoughts, actions or posture.

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@Shadow Dragon,

Good of you to try this shadowdragon. It actually is more real than many people believe. Your mind creates your physiology and alters it and recreates it constantly as cells die off everyday and are replaced by new ones.

The trouble with overweight people who diet have a block in their mind where they cannot visualize themselves thin so if it's not first in the mind, any loosing of the weight due to dieting will be regained. If not they usually suffer from greater disease after the weight is gone to balance out the imbalance of the mind.

100% without a doubt, you can control your physical being with your mind alone. Eat what you want, it matters not... although it is still good to get nutritional value out of your food but in general, I think we give the food we eat more weight than we give the thoughts we think.

If our thoughts are unhealthy, so will our body be and our relationships and our reflection.

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@Justin,

Justin;82565 wrote:

100% without a doubt, you can control your physical being with your mind alone. Eat what you want, it matters not...

I have myself never found this to be the case. We could take this idea to its extreme to prove it (the move, Supersize This), but no need to, I don't think.

It is a matter of how one views oneself. I view myself as being a product of both that which is inside of me and that which is outside and comes in. A fusion, so to speak.

Among that which comes from the outside includes food, sun energy, water, thoughts, feelings, etc. They mix together (or unfold as Bohm might put it) to create something. It is said that you are what you eat. Maybe this simplifies it too much, but it does bring to awareness that we are as much of a product of that which surrounds us and comes into us as that what we project from inside out (our minds).

I personally have never seen anyone who was not affected in some way by the food that they eat. A relaxed body may be more able to assimilate and reject that which is unhealthy, but why test it? Why push the body and mind to an extreme state?

Most Eastern thought suggests moderation. I agree. Healthy food. Healthy exercise. Healthy thoughts.

Rich

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@Shadow Dragon,

Shadow Dragon;82429 wrote:

What do you guys think about the idea of using your mind/will/consciousness to create change in your physical form?

It happens, to some degree

Incidentally, it has been shown that swearing loudly increases pain tolerance

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@Shadow Dragon,

Shadow Dragon;82429 wrote:

This is an idea that I've been fascinated with for a while. Apparently mental things like depression and stress have been shown to have negative effects on your body; specifically your hormone levels, immune system and metabolism. And you can cause some symptoms of a disease to appear just by believing that you have it.

So in turn, I think it's probably possible to cause positive effects using the power of your mind/will through meditation or whatever other way you could think of to focus your mind on the change you wish to create. I'm currently trying to test this hypothesis by using it to lose weight. I am also lowing my fat intake, but I'm hoping this will give me a nice push in the right direction.

What do you guys think about the idea of using your mind/will/consciousness to create change in your physical form?

p.s. I wasn't sure whether or not this belonged here or in the Philosophy of Health section. If I got it wrong, would a mod please move it to the right section? Thanks.

Yes, mind can alter bodily form. It is observed that some women can get "hysterical pregnant", you can control the autonom bodily functions with enough training ..etc.

The bodfyfat, may be another thing to control, I do think it's possible to achive higher fat burning, but never heard about it.

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@Shadow Dragon,

Some people call this "biokinesis", but there are so many "-kinesis" labels out there now that they just seem pointless. I definitely believe that changing your body via your mind is possible. From personal experience, it seems easier to trigger negative than positive changes sometimes. For example, when I was at school and playing sick to get out of going, I would develop an actual cough, migraine, and a real, measurable fever. However, when I didn't want to feel like a truck ran over me anymore I found it much harder to "will" myself to get better than I had previously done to get worse.

I think that what our outlook on our own bodies are is how our bodies will take shape. But I still wonder if our bodies are actually physically changing or if our own perspective of ourselves gets transferred to how others perceive us.

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@Shadow Dragon,

Shadow Dragon;82429 wrote:

This is an idea that I've been fascinated with for a while. Apparently mental things like depression and stress have been shown to have negative effects on your body; specifically your hormone levels, immune system and metabolism. And you can cause some symptoms of a disease to appear just by believing that you have it.

So in turn, I think it's probably possible to cause positive effects using the power of your mind/will through meditation or whatever other way you could think of to focus your mind on the change you wish to create. I'm currently trying to test this hypothesis by using it to lose weight. I am also lowing my fat intake, but I'm hoping this will give me a nice push in the right direction.

What do you guys think about the idea of using your mind/will/consciousness to create change in your physical form?

p.s. I wasn't sure whether or not this belonged here or in the Philosophy of Health section. If I got it wrong, would a mod please move it to the right section? Thanks.

I just posted about this idea in another thread:

http://www.philosophyforum.com/philosophy-forums/secondary-branches-philosophy/philosophy-health/7045-two-kinds-health.html#post143986

Pyrrho;143986 wrote:

In general, mental and physical well-being go together. Moderate exercise helps blood flow to the brain, which helps keep one's mind sharp. Also, the unhealthy things that block or damage blood vessels affect the brain, as it is filled with blood vessels. With being mentally healthy, this affects the health of the body, as the brain releases hormones and such that can either help or harm the body (as, for example, mental stress can harm one's body).

Of course, since the brain is part of the body, it should be no surprise that it is affected by and affects other parts of the body.

So my advice is to neglect neither, or both will suffer for it. You do not need to be a great athlete to be healthy, but you do need to exercise some if you want to be physically or mentally fit for an extended period of time. Likewise, you do not need to read vast volumes of books and be a great scholar in order to keep your mind sharp. Moderation is sufficient in both, provided one does not actively work against these things (e.g., with excessive eating or drinking, etc.), and, of course, provided one is not unfortunate regarding accidents and diseases and such.

Now, if you imagine that you can change your form radically from just thinking about it, say, change yourself into a cat, then that is just crazy and will not work. But you can affect your bodily health and well-being to a degree with your mental health.

The main thing with losing weight is to take in fewer calories than you use. This means, don't eat too much (though how much is too much depends upon what, exactly, you are eating) and get some exercise. And also whatever lifestyle you were living that got you fat can never be returned to again, if you want to keep the fat off. This does not mean that you cannot enjoy some of the same things in moderation, but it does mean that you cannot simply go back to doing things as you did before without getting the same sort of results that you got before.

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@Pyrrho,

I don't know if you are aware but mental health is usually a physical condition involving chemicals in the brain. I believe that feeling positive is an evolutionary trait which is beneficial to survival but my bf has also told me there has been studies done to indicate that the distribution of a large percentage of positive people along with a smaller percentage of negative people is actually conducive to the survival of the race as they play different roles in society which compliment each other. I largely believe that the inability to feel positive has to do with a combination of mental health and lacking skills and there is much evidence that supplying people with these skills makes a difference.

A well known treatment for depression is something known as cbt which doesn't group thoughts into negative and positive as such but "maladaptive" thoughts and "realistic" thoughts. someone who is depressed will have many maladaptive thoughts and this is a symptom of the illness, the trick is to recognize that the reason you might be thinking you are always a failure is because of the depression and practice thought stopping techniques then replace with a realistic thought not an overly positive thought that one might find hard to believe because it has to be convincing, such as "sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed but if I pace myself and put in as much effort as is healthy for me I will have a better chance at success"

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@Shadow Dragon,

I've always thought having a tail would be cool.

But in all seriousness, they're tied together as part of a single, integrated system. That one affects the other isn't much of a surprise. As noted; however, there are practical and physical limits. Where this goes, I can't much say.

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@Shadow Dragon,

Shadow Dragon;82429 wrote:

This is an idea that I've been fascinated with for a while. Apparently mental things like depression and stress have been shown to have negative effects on your body; specifically your hormone levels, immune system and metabolism. And you can cause some symptoms of a disease to appear just by believing that you have it.

So in turn, I think it's probably possible to cause positive effects using the power of your mind/will through meditation or whatever other way you could think of to focus your mind on the change you wish to create.. . . .

Yup, sounds like common sense to me.

"All phenomena of which we're aware occurs in our mind, therefore the mind is the only thing we have to look at" -Aliester Crowley on Yoga

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Mental changes that cause physical changes.

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