This is how I stumbled upon the mind-body connection, and how I used it to release my IBS triggers.
The surprising Aha moment
I was tired, bloated and my stomach had started gnawing away. I didn’t really care what I watched, I just wanted to be a couch potato.
Maybe you can relate?
There was nothing much on TV, so I ended up watching an episode of an old US series called Monk.
For any of you who don’t know the series, it’s a little like Columbo in that Monk has a sharp mind and a fantastic skill of observation. However Monk is also hindered in his professional and private life by OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).
I watched this brilliant detective try to hide his repeated and compulsive hand-washing, desk tidying, checking his car door etc. It seemed as if he did all that as if it were a sort of nervous mind-body connection.
I had a sudden flash of insight.
It made me think of how I tried to hide my IBS symptoms, that seemed as out of control as Monk’s compulsive behaviour.
What if my IBS was similar in some way? What if this uncontrolled digestion and elimination was some sort of repeated, compulsive nervous reaction too?
Food and Digestion
For a long time I followed doctors and researchers who were all pointing to food as the reason for IBS.
However, I could see that no matter how “careful” I was with what I ate, there was no logical explanation for my IBS flare-ups that I could see.
And it really as if felt my IBS was operating in a similar way to OCD. But inside my body.
Does this sound like it could be the case for you?
Looking into OCD
As I started researching OCD with a very curious mind, I came across Dr Schwarz, an OCD specialist. I looked into his 4 step approach to OCD.
But quickly realized that this method wasn’t really adapted to IBS. It was unfortunately a dead end.
However, I did come across another article that mentioned the mind-body connection, and another one that talked about neuroscience.
Why research in neuroplasticity is such a breakthrough
I came across study after study on neuroplasticity and the mind. It was fascinating.
Researchers had basically proved that our minds are not static.
They learn and evolve throughout our lives – like we are developing AI to do for robots.
And it is totally possible to change unconscious reactions we have by “rewiring” the brain.
Could I reprogram my IBS triggers?
No-one was talking about doing that with IBS, but I sure was going to try!
I immediately wondered what you had to go through to be “rewired”. A brain scan and an operation?
It turned out to be much easier than I thought.
You needed to be put in a meditative state and consider new realities. Then reinforce those new realities so that they become the new default path of thinking – and experience.
And the mind cannot differentiate imagined and real states.
I tried hypnotherapy but I really wasn’t comfortable with being “put under”. Because I didn’t want to give over control to someone else.
I needed something else.
Improving the mind-body connection: IBS and NLP
Once I had seen the link to the mind-body connection and IBS, my next stop was NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).
I read an amazing book about all that NLP could do for releasing trauma, phobias, and strong past emotions.
There were no NLP practitioners where I lived. And no-one was working online back then.
So I enrolled in several courses and learned how NLP works. I was so impressed with NLP that I became a certified NLP practitioner.
NLP works in a similar way to hypnotherapy, but without “going under”. In fact the NLP practitioner is a facilitator. YOU keep total control (ideal if like me you have trust issues).
However you have to know specifically how to use NLP for IBS and IBS triggers.
Why would you want to do that?
Because fear, worry and anxious thoughts contribute a great deal to IBS flare-ups. They can contract muscles in the body, causing cramps and constipation. The fight or flight mechanism diverts energy away from digestion. And if you are experiencing diarrhea, fear can set off involuntary muscular waves pushing food straight through your system, rather than holding on to it.
Our minds give labels to past experiences, creating trigger loops. And when we live something similar or that takes us back to that experience, we relive the fear.
That’s what often sets off those IBS flare-ups, and why a simple comment from someone at work can trigger you. And you may not actually have ever linked that to a past experience.
When we worry about or fear something, it is our thoughts about that “something” that get us stirred up. We react to the potential threat, where there is often no real threat right here, right now. But it certainly feels VERY real.
With IBS and NLP it is possible to discover those trigger situations as an observer, and take some, or all of the sting out of them. And that is truly liberating.
An even better approach
I no longer suffer with any IBS symptoms, and a large part of that is due to seeing and changing my unconscious patterns.
I no longer use NLP. Over time, I have developed a specific approach that I find exceptionally effective for IBS and releasing conscious, but also unconscious IBS triggers.
It works much faster than NLP, and you don’t need to revisit the past at all if you don’t want to, so it is particularly suited to trauma and strong emotions.
Clients don’t even have to let me know what trigger they are working on if there is something private that they just don’t want to disclose. Although most people really appreciate having a safe, non-judgemental space where they can open up and be themselves. Sometimes for the first time in their lives.
The best part is that they can learn to use the technique themselves, and become empowered to reverse their IBS (instead of powerless to change it). Then the only help they need is with any blindspots (and we all have those!)
Onwards and upwards!
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