Category: Tools and Tips

Imagery for Immunity

Research shows that our thoughts and feelings impact our physicality, from increased cortisol levels when we’re stressed to lowered immunity if we’re feeling depressed. Most of the time, we don’t consciously direct our thoughts for the benefit of our health, but we do have the power to do just that.

Visualization is a practical tool we can use at any time to deliberately and positively influence our immune system. When we say “visualization,” we really mean much more than seeing with internal eyes. Some of us are not visually oriented, and may not connect to the idea of seeing images with our eyes closed. Instead, let’s think of visualization as image-feeling. The feeling, whether we can cognize images or not, is really what we’re after. The emotion is what has the greatest influence on our health. (For more on that, see Dr. Reid’s blog post: The Power of Words.)

For example, visualize a tree. If you can’t see the trunk, branches, etc. in your mind’s eye, then cognize the feeling of a tree. In either case, when we imagine a tree, there is a feeling that we likely associate with concept of tree. This is what we mean here by visualization. So even if you can’t see that tree, you can still use visualization techniques for your benefit.

How does visualization impact us physically? It becomes part of the chemical conversation going on in our body, creating a blueprint that influences our neuro- and immunotransmitters.

From our earliest moments of life, the brain and immune system are engaged in a constant dialogue. Each influences the other by means of chemical messengers. In fact, the immune system has neurotransmitter receptor sites in white blood cells, lymph nodes and elsewhere, and the brain has receptor sites for immunotransmitters called cytokines.

Three important cytokines are:

• Interferons
• Interleukins
• Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)

Examples of neurotransmitters include:

• Seratonin
• Norepinephrine
• Dopamine

Neurotransmitters circulate throughout the body with specific immune system receptor sites, as mentioned. Emotions impact neurotransmitters and thus affect immunity specifically, and our health generally.

The immune system responds to messages from the brain formed by images or emotions. We can deliberately create mental images or encourage emotions to impact our immune systems in a positive way. Instead of letting our unconscious thoughts steer our health, we can consciously direct thoughts and feelings for greater energy and vitality.

You can use visualization in any moment to influence your experience, or you can use guided visualization for a different and often deeper effect. One of the simplest approaches is to use a counterbalancing visualization. Let’s say, for example, that you feel nervous—you can imagine yourself being calm and strong. Or maybe you feel tired—consciously imagine yourself being active, feeling what it feels like to have more energy. If you’re cold, you can imagine sitting in the sun on a tropical beach, or if you have high blood pressure, you can visualize your blood pressure going down.

If a person is dealing with cancer and thinks “I’m doomed,” it certainly doesn’t help the immune system. Indeed, fear may be the most weakening emotion for immunity.

If we let negative thoughts run unchecked, they can weaken us, versus consciously visualizing life and vitality. We can use the tool of directed visualization on the spur of the moment when there is a need or when we notice an unhelpful thought.

We can also use guided imagery to potent effect. Being Energy, our educational program on health on vitality, recently released the CD Into Your Heart, a guided visualization from Dr. Reid.

The visualization is designed to help you regulate the flow of your hormones and neurotransmitters in a way that reduces stress in your body and increases happiness. Dr. Reid guides you to opening yourself to the energy of your heart, to heal emotional hurts and find out what really matters to you.

Available for purchase from the Being Energy online store, it’s a tool that you can turn to again and again. Listen to a sample:

Dr. Reid also created a wonderful CD entitled Guided Explorations to Our Internal Organs, which is also available from the Being Energy online store.

In addition, you can try this guided visualization, or “recapitulation” for resolving past hurts. It guides you to evoking the feeling of safety and nourishment that one experiences in the mother’s womb for greater energy and vitality in daily life: Remember that you can use visualization to benefit your life any time you like, whether it’s a quick image that you form in your mind to help you manage a situation, or whether you sit down.

During our apprenticeship, Carlos Castaneda emphasized practicing sequences of movements to regain focus and alertness.

“When paying attention, not only to what movement comes next in the sequence, but even more importantly to ‘how’ you are practicing each movement,” he said during a class break, “you align your mind and body, working in unison with a clear purpose. That is what don Juan called energy redeployment— bringing back one’s energy flow to the center of the mind-body unit.”

It was a hot, dry summer evening in LA; my mind was meandering and inner thoughts jumping while I watched myself performing movements in the mirror, trying to not mess up the sequence. For several months, I had followed the practice of not watching myself in the mirror, even when brushing my teeth or applying facial lotion. It was Castaneda’s suggestion, and I found it very liberating. Looking at myself in the mirror had become torture—I couldn’t stop judging myself. However, in the yoga studio in Santa Monica were Castaneda used to teach his classes, there was a long mirror and it was difficult to avoid watching myself as I practiced and getting lost in thoughts such as, “I am good at this move,” or “Oh, I can’t get this move like he is doing it”—an endless comparison.

“Energy redeployment is required to meet It,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “LO Infinito,” he added, with piercing eyes looking towards me. A shiver ran through my sweaty spine.

He went on to say that seers of his lineage described “Infinity” as a field of infinite energy where we can expand and evolve as beings of awareness. Infinity, the universe or source, as named by other traditions, is where our lives originate, and where we return after our journey of awareness on earth has ended.

Castaneda came closer and almost whispered in my ear, “redeployment of energy beings about your energy body.” I didn’t understand it and felt a bit spooked by the idea of another body that resembles me, but is not really me.

He then continued telling the rest of the class that there are caches of energy that exist within the self. Don Juan told him that these caches are composed of energy that originates in the body itself and becomes displaced, pushed out of reach by the circumstances—the wear and tear—of daily life. In this sense, the practice of movement sequences with focus, precision and alertness, gives us a means for redeploying our unused energy.

“In the alignment of mind and movement, pay attention to your breath,” he said to all. “That is when Spiritwhispers you.”

In Being Energy’s upcoming workshop in Amsterdam, we will practice the same movement sequences that Carlos Castaneda taught to me (Aerin Alexander) and Miles Reid. Redeploy your energy to bring daring and purpose to your actions and allow the Spirit to speak through you.

Dear Being Energy Community,

Quetzal Calls – The Pyramid of Kukulcan Sings!

As I prepare for my second trip to the Yucatán, to the magical city of Chichén Itza, I have some information to share with you that will make the hairs on the back of your neck rise!

What do we know about the Maya? More than just a Mesoamerican civilization that began around 3,000 BC, the Maya were (and are) extraordinary, with a culture that was complex and magical. Known for mind-blowing astronomical, mathematical, artistic and architectural developments, the Maya built hundreds of cities that contained schools, libraries, hospitals, sports arenas and observatories (they predicted eclipses and the rising and setting of Venus). The ruins of their cities tell a story of stunning intelligence and a strongly developed artistic culture, and visiting these ruins can be life changing.

The Maya created the concept of zero before the Europeans—a BIG DEAL if you really think about it. They developed complex and accurate calendars that tracked the cycles of the sun, moon, and planets thousands of years into the future, correctly.

The Maya also invented chocolate from cocoa beans—(not the Swiss!) and a detailed writing system (only 4 other cultures ever did that!).

And… The Maya never vanished. Even though their largest cities were abandoned 1,000 years ago for reasons still unknown, the Maya survived. As don Regi a Mayan shaman, told us in Guatemala a few years ago “We are nomads that walk a path with heart. We were not conquered by anyone and we will never be. We are free.”

The Maya people and knowledge live today beyond national and linguistic boundaries. You can find Mayan people in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, for example. They speak many languages, including Mayan languages (Yucatec, Quiche, Kekchi and Mopan), Spanish and English.

Now here’s the amazing thing, the thing we want to tell you about: The Maya also built pyramids that sing!The pyramid Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl, or the ‘plumed-serpent”) in Chichén Itza was built somewhere between 500 – 900 AC.

For the Maya, the quetzal’s feathers as well as its cry were sacred. The cult of Kukulkan spread beyond the Maya, though. It was the first Mesoamerican religion to transcend linguistic and ethnic divisions. In fact, this cult facilitated communication and peaceful trade among peoples of many different social and ethnic backgrounds.

The Kukulcan pyramid, also known as “El Castillo,” has four 80-foot-tall sides, each with 91 steps. A platform at the top adds the final step to equal 365 steps—one step for every day of the year.

A handclap at the base of Kukulcan’s staircase generates what scientists call a “chirped eco” that first ascends and then falls, just like the cry of the native quetzal—the very bird that the Mayans believed carried messages of the Spirit/Gods. Handclaps from different positions along the base of the staircase likewise trigger the echo—but with different musical tones spanning half an octave.

Also, during the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun projects a pattern of light on the northern stairway for a few hours in the late afternoon—it creates an undulating shadow that looks like a serpent, caused by the angle of the sun and the edge of the nine steps that define the pyramid’s construction.

How did they do this so very long ago, without Internet, phones, or even a simple calculator?

We will be there in a few days clapping and connecting to the Spirit and Magic of the Maya.

Join us in person or in spirit, with much love and gratitude, Aerin

In Being Energy, we consider movement as the departure point for enhancing the awareness of who we are and how we relate to the world around us. When we talk about movement, we refer not only to the physical act of moving our limbs, for example, but also to the mental attention required to know which leg we’re moving first, if right or left, or the breathing pattern associated with the way we move our right leg versus our left, and the memories and emotions stored in past experiences, and, most importantly, the perception of ourselves moving through space.

Carlos Castaneda inspired and encouraged me to practice movement daily—to make it a “must do,” with the purpose of finding the trail of energy that aligns all the parts of myself into one single energetic unit. He urged me to connect to the core, or to the alignment of all of what I am through movement. The seers of ancient Mexico characterized us are luminous beings held together by a vibratory force that they referred to as “intent”—the same force that holds stars in place.

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Physical movement done with attention and purpose, he said, can forge the link to our vibratory force, the core of who we are as physical and energetic beings. Movement can lead to states of high alertness and awaken consciousness, creating an alignment of the whole self, our physical tangible parts and our energetic invisible parts.

Some professional athletes dramatically exhibit this kind of connection, such as an ice dancer flipping and turning in the air, landing powerfully, with grace, giving a breathtaking and breath-giving moment to all of us watching it!

But we don’t need to be a pro athlete to experience a connection to our center and sustain it as we go through daily life. There is something called “somatic education,” meaning that we can learn to sense and feel through movement, which is a beautiful way to start the journey.

Somatic education supports this exploration of knowing ourselves as energy first. I studied and taught somatic education for more than a decade, and observed its many benefits, including the personal experience of it helping me to heal unhealthy psychological-motor patterns and develop a clearer experience of myself as grounded and connected to my whole self. For example, I learned to stand up without projecting my lower ribs forward (a habit that had caused chronic back pain) and to free my breath by lifting the arches of my feet and to think and perceive without the unnecessary facial contortions, like frowning or raising my eyebrows.

I’d like to share with you an article about somatic education by Tomas Hanna. It is an introduction to what it is, where it came from, its pioneering teachers and its contribution to the field of health and consciousness. In Hanna’s own words, somatic education “is the use of sensory-motor learning to gain greater voluntary control of one’s physiological process. It is ‘somatic’ in the sense that the learning occurs within the individual as an internalized process.

Somatic educuation is based on self-teaching, self-learning, self-healing, and self-regulation. We find the “what” and the “how” through exploration and paying attention as we move through space, as we EXPERIENCE OURSELVES. There are several schools and methods of somatic education, which include:

Alexander Technique

Eutony

Feldenkrais Method®

The Hanna Method

Most of the explorations involve sensory perception and movement as the means of increasing one’s own awareness.

See Tomas Hanna’s Article.

To learn more about movement, watch our videos.

There is so much more to be said about somatic education, but I hope this is an interesting start for you! Aerin