A common feature of anxiety, depression, and pain is excessive negative thinking. Unrelenting negative thoughts reflect a neurological state that underlies these all too common conditions.
Energy Medicine tools can be very effective for restoring neurological order and quieting the mind.
With knowledge and practice you can learn to tame the ‘monkey mind’ that’s responsible for repetitive, upsetting thoughts. As we balance our brainwaves our mind quiets and our subjective experience of physical pain and emotional discomfort becomes more manageable.
Negativity is Baked Into our Brain & Nervous System
Our nervous systems contain a negativity bias because our brains are wired for survival. Our ancient ancestors who were the most vigilant survived. Those who jumped back at the sight of what might possibly have been a snake in the grass were more likely to survive than their carefree, easygoing, and nonchalant neighbors.
Your ancestors were the ones who survived. They were the ones who were so vigilant that they saw problems and threats even when there were none … just to be safe. You have inherited a nervous system that leans towards finding threats and problems where they don’t exist. Excessive negative thinking … always looking for problems … is one aspect of hypervigilance.
Your Emotional and Physical States are
Reflected in Your Brainwaves
In our stressed-out society beta brainwaves, especially the higher frequency beta waves, accompany our distressed states of mind and body. On the other hand, when alpha waves predominate we’re restored to a sense of calm and hopefulness.
One reason that alpha waves are so beneficial is that they balance all five brain waves for our benefit. All five … delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma … function together to help us feel safe in our own skins and meaningfully connected to other living beings and nature. Stress is the monkey wrench that disrupts this ideal state and throws us into fear and isolation with the predominating higher frequency beta wave.
Anxiety, depression, and pain are all held in place by the high frequency beta waves. Your emotional and physical states change as you repeatedly create the balanced alpha wave state. You can train your brain to change your life.
You Can Change Your Brainwaves with Energy Medicine
When I speak of Energy Medicine I include a number of modalities of which you may already be familiar. The processes that I mention have been shown to dependably reduce the higher frequency beta waves while increasing the balancing influence of alpha waves.
In addition to promoting favorable brainwave changes, these processes also support autonomic nervous system balance and influence the positive expression of your genes … that in turn influences your biochemistry and immune status. The influence of Energy Medicine on gene expression may be its greatest benefit but more about that in another post.
Here are the documented brainwave and gene balancing approaches that I use most frequently: Heart-focused and slow diaphragmatic breathing (HeartMath), Non-judgmental awareness of space and energy in your body (Open Focus), the safe befriending of unpleasant feelings (Somatic Focusing), acupuncture point tapping (TFT, EFT), gentle touch combined with the awareness of our troubling issues (Havening), and of course acupuncture with needles or low-level laser.
You, your brain, and your tissues are designed to heal. And, since energy fields are the blueprints for all of your physical and emotional parts, it behooves you to learn to balance those invisible but all so crucial fields.
You can do it. It’s so easy that you can do your own research on yourself.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in the fields of Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback. 