Black Sun

    Mind-Body Release

    In-Depth Explanation

    In-Depth Explanation

    Mind-Body Release (MBR)

    Mind-Body Release is my synthesis of the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) theories. REBT says that our belief systems create our reality and we have the power to change our belief system, a theory you can read more about . IFS says that we can take feelings in our body and release them by having a conversation with the subconscious, a theory you can read more about . The integrated approach, Mind-Body Release uses dialogue with the subconscious to quickly and efficiently release trapped beliefs. The average person is able to completely reverse a negative belief in less than 20 minutes with this method.

    Here is how it can benefit you:

    Increased Body Awareness

    • The coolest aspect of this method is feeling your body react and change in real time as you release stuck negative emotions. It helps you recognize the connection between your body and your mind by experiencing it. Clients tend to really enjoy feeling the shifting physical sensations in their body.
    • The recognition of the mind-body connection helps clients pay more attention to their body and its reactions throughout their day. This leads clients to increased self-awareness.
    • Many clients have learned to respect their body's wisdom instead of ignoring it by using this method and have gained a much deeper appreciation for their body.

    Self-Acceptance

    • Denying and repressing physical sensations is equivalent to doing so emotionally as the two are inextricably tied together. Accepting physical sensations and honoring them leads to increased self-acceptance for basically all clients.

    Understanding The Power Of Choice

    • Working through beliefs and emotions quickly, and feeling it change in your body, helps clients recognize the power they have over their emotions. Instead of sitting in negative emotions for days, months, or years, clients learn how to work through them in a matter of minutes. Once you experience this you start to understand that you are in control of your emotions, not the other way around.

    Forming A Conscious Relationship With The Subconscious

    • The subconscious works for you, not against you, even though it doesn't seem like that sometimes. This method teaches people to trust the wisdom of their subconscious even when it may not consciously make sense. This method helps people form a positive relationship with their subconscious rather than fighting against it (a futile endeavor).

    The Core Theory

    The core idea of the theory is founded in the mind-body connection which says that we subconsciously store emotions in the body. Books like The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk go over this idea, an idea that is regarded as a psychological fact. IFS took the idea a step further and theorized that we can engage the subconscious in conversation just like we might another person, something it chooses to do through the use of metaphor. It also emphasizes the importance of validating one's own emotions in order to release them.

    The subconscious is the focus in this theory. As such, always ask the subconscious the questions, don't try to come up with answers on a conscious level. If you use the conscious mind to come to conclusions or answers, this method will most likely not work. For example, if your metaphor is you being chained to a rock, don't waste time trying to figure out what you are chained to in real life, how you can get out of it, etc. This method is about releasing, not deep understanding. You can ask the subconscious whatever you'd like in addition to the steps of this process, you just prolong the process of your own healing.

    Step 1: Choose a Belief

    The first step is choosing a belief or issue to work on. Check out to help you identify yours. Rate your belief on a scale of 0-10 for how true it feels with 10 being the most true. This scale will help you monitor if this method works for you.

    Bilateral stimulation should be used throughout the entire MBR process. You can learn more about how to do bilateral stimulation and what it is .

    Step 2: Notice Body Sensations

    The second step is to say the belief to yourself and notice where your body feels distress. Choose the area where the body feels the most distress and invite your subconscious to turn those feelings into a metaphor that you can communicate with.

    The subconscious speaks in metaphor just like if a person speaks another language. A metaphor is any image that is used to represent the issue that you are trying to work through. To help facilitate communication between the conscious and subconscious mind we invite the subconscious to communicate in its language, metaphor. For this reason you should not be consciously choosing a metaphor, you should be allowing the subconscious to choose for itself. In MBR you are assuming the body part that is experiencing distress is somehow tied to your subconscious, so the metaphor the subconscious chooses to use is purposeful and represents the physical manifestation felt in your body. It doesn't matter what the metaphor is so don't get too caught up in it, just roll with whatever the image is and move on with the process. If no metaphor comes to mind, move on as well.

    Step 3: Communicate with the Subconscious

    The third step is to communicate with the subconscious.

    Communicating with the subconscious can be accomplished in three ways. First, through a thought or feeling in response to asking the subconscious a question. Don't bother analyzing whether or not it's your conscious mind creating the response or your subconscious mind, just go with it regardless. Second, through the intensity of the physical feeling. If you ask a question and the intensity of the feeling increases, the subconscious isn't on board or is saying no. If you ask a question and the intensity of the feeling decreases, the subconscious is on board or is saying yes. Your body sensations are communication and changes or shifts in where you feel it indicates emotional processing as well. Third, through the metaphor. If the metaphor is changing, it's safe to assume that your subconscious is emotionally processing whatever you are working on. Pay attention to how the metaphor changes because that can inform you where you are at subconsciously. Interpreting a metaphorical change is just going to have to be your best guess, or check in with your body to see how it's responding.

    Do not ever try to force the subconscious to do something it isn't ready to do. It doesn't work and it will only result in you being frustrated. Instead, be curious. Your subconscious is you and it's trying to get you to pay attention to something you've been unaware of or are purposefully ignoring. In order for the subconscious to be willing to let go of what it's holding, it requires you to heal yourself first by listening to it, acknowledging it, and accepting it. In other words, you need to learn how to be loving and compassionate towards yourself and any attempt to force yourself into submission is not accomplishing that goal.

    The first question you will ask your subconscious is if it is willing to release what it is holding on to in the part of the body you previously specified. If it's ready to release, continue with the process. If it isn't, you will need to get it on board to release without forcing it to do so.

    If it's ready to release:

    When the subconscious is ready to release, invite it to release all negative emotions it's holding. Wait until it feels like it has been released, don't put a time limit on how long it will take. Once it feels done, invite the subconscious to replace all negative emotions that were just released with positive emotions of the subconscious mind's choosing. You don't get to choose consciously, you won't be as good of a judge of what you need as your subconscious is. If you choose the positive emotions yourself, you will get less benefit from this method. Allow the time the subconscious needs to fully intake the positive emotions it wants.

    If it's not ready to release:

    If the subconscious is not ready to release there are a few things that you can do:

    1. Ask it what you can do for it in this moment to help it feel comfortable releasing the emotions. If something comes to mind, imagine yourself doing it, no matter what it is. Sometimes things come up that feel uncomfortable, counterintuitive, or even wrong. In that case just remember that this is your imagination and trust that your subconscious knows what it's doing.

      Examples:

      • I had a client whose subconscious told him to kill his ex-wife, but upon imagining it he realized he didn't want to do that and his anger towards her was released.
      • I had a client whose subconscious told her to die, but when she imagined herself dying it corrected itself and said it wanted the part of her that is still hurt to die and it was then ready to release.
    2. If that doesn't work or no answer comes to mind, the second thing you can try is to ask your subconscious if it's currently happy. Most of the time the answer will be no. If the answer is no, proceed to ask it if it's willing to participate in an experiment to see if you can help it be happy and if the experiment doesn't work, it can go right back to how it was before. Most of the time this works.
    3. The third option is to thank your subconscious for the role it's played in protecting you. Your subconscious will always do what it feels is in your best interest so being grateful shows it that you recognize and appreciate what it's done for you. This will often lead to willingness to release.
    4. If that doesn't work, the fourth option is to show the subconscious, in your mind, the impact that its actions are currently having on you. Sometimes the subconscious is disconnected from its impact and simply helping it become aware is enough for it to be willing to release.
    5. The final option is to have a full on conversation with your subconscious. The goal is to figure out what the block is and help the subconscious feel ready to release. How you get there is not as straightforward. Internal Family Systems is a good theory with similar techniques that may help if you're still struggling.

    Checking For What's Left

    If the physical sensation is completely gone from where you were initially focusing, that part of the body has released what it needed to. If the sensation is lessened but is not completely gone, there is something else that needs to be released that is stored in the same part of the body. Repeat as many times as is necessary.

    After a physical sensation has been entirely released, you need to check to see if it moved to another part of your body. It is common for there to be more than one place the body is storing trapped beliefs and emotions. Continue until all negative physical sensations are gone from the body when saying the negative belief to yourself. At this point you should rate yourself at a 0 on the 0-10 scale for how true the negative belief feels to you. If you aren't at a 0, you aren't done yet.

    Some people aren't at a 0 but don't feel any more body sensations. When this happens I recommend using to finish whatever is remaining to get yourself to a 0.

    Choose a that mirrors the negative belief and repeat this process. You are done when you can say the positive belief to yourself and there are no negative physical sensations in addition to the positive belief feeling 100% true. If it doesn't feel 100% true, you aren't done yet.

    Some people aren't at a 10 but don't feel any more body sensations. When this happens I recommend using to finish whatever is remaining to get yourself to a 10.

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