No? Well, maybe another time. This post is about something different.
It's something about centeredness, prayer, mindfulness, controlling the autonomic nervous system and maybe a little bit about just having one's eyes wide open.
It is at least about an interesting synchronicity....
- In college, I had a professor who could lower his body temperature by a degree or two just by focusing on biofeedback.
- Years ago, a friend of mine came from Germany to study mindfulness in Worcester, MA. I read about it at the time.
- I went on to learn quite a few meditative practices as a monk.
- I've always been drawn to simple and earthy persons who look deeply at life while also treading lightly.
- While in Boston, I briefly enjoyed the acupuncture services of a friend, fascinated by its combination of ancient wisdom and modern science.
- My hypnotherapy training focused on very similar things being explored in the realm of quantum physics and the power of the mind.
- All of this fit well with my rooted spiritual beliefs.
- Recently, I learned in my peer review group (the "La Mente Collaborative") about some biofeedback, parasympathetic work that one can do while hooked up to a computer game. The objective is to achieve levels of the game through altering things like your heart rate, breathing, temperature, etc. I've been trying to borrow a copy of the program for testing.
- This past Tuesday, I joined a 7-part series at my church on simplicity. It involves presentations and discussions on things like world-wide fair trade, debt reduction, personal clutter. And the evenings include a silent meditative group sit. Sort of a mild and westernized sangha.
- If you read the righthand sidebar of this blog, then you have also noticed that lately my reading has begun to include some interesting psychological titles. (And if you haven't, you are missing an evolution of book, music and movie titles there.)
Recently, my therapist has begun to push me toward what he calls the "third wave" of psychology. The first was Freud and psychoanalysis. The second was Skinner and other cognitive behavioralists. The third is purportedly more like the movie "The Matrix." It is a blend of east meets west. It is acceptance and commitment therapy. It is mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
So this week, I went in to see him and he said that he felt it was time to hook me up to a computerized program to check on patterns of coherence. It is one of the biofeedback programs that helps train the user to control thought and physical repsonses.
To make a complex story simple, many parts of my life are continuing to weave together a compelling fabric. I keep returning to things like mindfulness, meditation and observance. It is interesting to me, too, that some of my clients have begun to ask for spiritual direction, as well as hypnosis. I keep getting directed back to my center. Being present in the moment.
Guess my new year's resolution held more for me than I was conscious of at the time.
(I think the hotlinks in this post are worth your browsing time. Enjoy!)
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