Holistic Life Coach & Mind-Body Practitioner

Professional Certification Training Course

MODULE 5 – THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION

© Viki Thondley 2017-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission.
IN THIS MODULE

• The BodyMind
• The Placebo Effect
• Biology of Belief
• Conditioned Beliefs/Childhood Programming
• Thoughts & Emotions
• The Power of Breathing
• Mind-Body Balancing

DIRECTIONS

Please read through your module.

When you are directed to complete a task, please refer to your assessment Workbook Two.

NB: Modules 5 – 8 competency tasks are all within Workbook Two – Mind-Body & Neuroscience.

Your Workbook is a copyright Word document. Please follow the instructions within for completion
and submission of your stage two workbook. It will be assessed and returned to you in PDF.

Your coach mentor will touch base with you shortly after to provide feedback and answer any
questions you may have.

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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to your life-changing, mind-blowing, whole mind-body practitioner training certificate.
This in-depth training course will take you through the following considerations towards self-
directed healing, health and deliberate change:

• Self-awareness and consciousness

• The mind-body connection
• Belief and childhood conditioning
• Brain dominance and whole-brain state learning
• The types of stress and how they impact our health
• Energy and emotional clearing
• The 3 main parts of the brain and how they interact
• How beliefs are formed and can be changed

As a Mind-Body Practitioner you can offer your clients a deep understanding of what contributes to
their emotional, physical and spiritual health via science-based education, awareness of the mind-
body connection and how thoughts can cause physical stress, impacting the health of the body.

You’ll gain an insight into Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) – how thoughts impact our feelings and
nervous system health, a thorough understanding of the stress and relaxation responses, and
effective mind-body balancing tools to regulate the nervous system and promote healing. You’ll
learn how to bring awareness to a clients’ thoughts, feelings and physical experiences utilising
neuroscience and positive psychology with meditation, visualisation and breathing.

As a practitioner you’ll be able to provide education, explanations and tools for enhancing the
neuro-psycho-physiological, mind-body relationship and suggest a variety of holistic practices to
support the mind, body, emotions and spirit to experience greater alignment.

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THE BODYMIND
In this module, we will look at the fundamental mind-body awareness needed to understand how
the mind creates our reality and shapes our experiences, and why integrating mind-body tools into
modern life can more greatly assist our clients to lead truly prosperous and abundant lives.

Having an in-depth understanding of how the non-physical mind affects the physical body – and
vice-versa - will give you a distinct edge on how you approach helping your clients – and yourself –
to holistically create change and improve the health and enjoyment of their overall lives.

As you discovered in Module Two, we don’t merely experience our lives from one state of being;
our state of being changes constantly in reaction or response to our needs via our thoughts, beliefs,
feelings and emotions. This is further influenced by our memory of past events and the meaning we
associate with them in our mind.

These aspects are constantly being interpreted, processed and relayed back through the
subconscious mind, from the brain to the body, and back again.

It’s through this mind-body connection feedback loop that, effectively, our body becomes our
conditioned mind; experiencing and reliving a certain state of feeling in response to our core
underlying thoughts and beliefs, and the memories and meanings that support them.

To say that the mind and body are separate is a hugely outdated perspective. They do in fact
intrinsically operate as one, communicating via the central nervous system, particularly the vagus
(or wandering) nerve, and affecting all other systems of the body. The bodymind is comprised of
our thoughts, beliefs, memories and energy, and is influenced by our external environment through
our perception of the world around us via our senses.

Our bodies are amazingly robust and have the extraordinary ability to heal, repair, rebuild and
transform. Each cell is a living individual, a sentient being that has its own life and functions but
interacts with other cells in the nature of a community. Our bodies are therefore a community of
cells, each one capable of creating another you!

In the science of epigenetics, there is evidence that we are no longer victims of our genes. It’s been
found that the perception of our environment is what controls our genes. We are the ones who can
change our environment, by changing our perceptions of our environment – and therefore, our
reaction and responses to it.

Learning how the mind and body operate as a whole, is an invaluable awakening of how:

• thoughts and feelings influence physical health,

• chronic stress weakens health, and
• all the intricately connected parts are communicating with each other every millisecond of
the day to maintain a state of wellbeing and balance (homeostasis).

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You may have noticed my use of the “bodymind” as one word. This is intentional. Dr. Candace
Pert[1] (1946-2013), often referred to as “The Mother of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)”, once
famously said, “Your body is your subconscious mind”.

Pert was a neuroscientist and pharmacologist who published over 250 research articles and was a
contributing pioneer of mind-body medicine as a legitimate research science in the 1980’s. Author
of “Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine”, she purposely linked the
words (bodymind) to symbolize the unity of our emotions and cells.

Our bodies WANT to be well. They WANT us to be healthy. They WANT us to be happy. But much of
this wonderous biochemical ability is hindered by our unruly thinking and attachments to past
stories creating emotional and physical pain.

Learning, understanding and ultimately applying this knowledge provides a deeper awareness and
connection to our bodies, through the more deliberate use of our powerful minds.

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THE PLACEBO EFFECT

Mind-Body medicine uses the power of thoughts and emotions (mental health) to influence
physical health. That is… how the non-physical mind affects the physical body.

As Hippocrates once wrote, “The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in
getting well.” This is mindbody medicine in a nutshell.

Every aspect of who we are and what we create is a direct result of what we have first thought and
created in the mind. The brain translates the minds perceptions into chemical, electrical and
hormonal responses within the body, which in turn affect our physical and chemical health.

By this stage you are hopefully more aware, and perhaps convinced, that what we think, we create.
To demonstrate the power of the mind over the body, I’d like to introduce Dr Lissa Rankin.

In the following excerpt from her TED talk [2], Dr Rankin shares examples of the Placebo, and the
Nocebo effects:

”A case study from 1957 of Mr. Wright who had advanced lymphosarcoma. So, things
weren’t going well for Mr. Wright, time was really running out. He had tumors the size of
oranges in his armpits, his neck, his chest, his abdomen. His liver and spleen were enlarged,
and his lungs were filling up with two quarts of milky fluid every day that had to be drained
in order for him to breathe.

But Mr. Wright wasn’t giving up hope. He had heard about this wonder drug
called Krebiozen, and he was begging his doctor, “Come on, just give me some of that
Krebiozen, it’s all going to be good.”

Now, unfortunately the Krebiozen was only available on a research protocol and the protocol
required that the doctor be able to make an assessment that says that this guy has at least
three months to live. And his doctor, Dr. West just couldn’t do that.

But Mr. Wright was tenacious and he didn’t give up. He kept badgering his doctor, until
finally his doctor was like, “Okay, fine I’ll give you the Krebiozen.”

So he dosed him up on a Friday, not expecting that Mr. Wright would make it through the
weekend. But to his utter shock, when Dr. West came in to do rounds on Monday, Mr.
Wright was up, walking around the wards, and his tumors had shrunk to half of their original
size. They had melted like snowballs on a hot stove. And 10 days after getting the Krebiozen,
they were gone.

Mr. Wright was up rocking and rolling like crazy and Krebiozen is the miracle drug he
believed it to be, for two months, until the initial reports came out about Krebiozen that said
that it didn’t really look like Krebiozen was working so well.

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 Mr. Wright fell into a deep depression and his cancer came back. So this time Dr. West
decided to get sneaky, and he told his patient that “You know that Krebiozen that you got,
that was a tainted version, really not so good.

But I got us some ultrapure highly concentrated Krebiozen; this stuff’s got it going on.
He then injected Mr. Wright with nothing but distilled water. And once again, the tumors
disappeared, the fluid in his lungs went away. Mr. Wright was up rocking and rolling for
another two months.

And then the American Medical Association blew it, by publishing on a nationwide study that
proved definitively that Krebiozen was worthless.

Two days later, Mr. Wright after hearing this news died.

Soon after that, I came across another study in the medical literature that was the stuff of
fairy tales. Three baby girls were born, delivered by a midwife, on Friday the 13th in the
Okefenokee Swamp, near the Georgia-Florida border. And the midwife pronounced that
these three babies, born on such a faithful day, were all hexed.

The first, she said, would die before her 16th birthday. The second, before her 21st. The third,
before her 23rd birthday.

And as it turned out, the first girl died the day before her 16th birthday, the second died the
day before her 21st birthday, and the third girl, who knew what had happened to the other
two, got wind of that, and the day before her 23rd birthday, she showed up at the hospital
hyperventilating, begging them, to make sure she survived. She wound up dying that night.

These two case studies are great examples from the medical literature of the placebo effect,
and its opposite, the nocebo effect.

Mr. Wright, when he got that distilled water and his tumors melted away, that’s a great
example of the placebo effect. When you get a seemingly inert treatment and yet something
is happening physiologically in the body, such that the disease goes away.

The nocebo effect is the opposite. The three hexed girls are an example of the nocebo effect.
When the minds believed that something bad is going to happen in the body then it comes to
manifest. “

The most significant detail about the placebo effect is its ability to create real biological changes
in the body due to our associations with certain beliefs and what we expect will happen.

This is quite extraordinary when you consider that placebos were intentionally used routinely in the
1940’s due to a lack of medical intervention. Patients responded and got well without any
‘medicine’ at all. It was largely due to the patients’ belief about receiving medication, and whether
they perceived the outcome would be positive or not, that they indeed improved or recovered.

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When we make an association with a certain treatment, we have an expectation of what will most
likely happen, due to previous observation, experience and anecdotal evidence.

For example, in 1983 medical researchers were testing a new chemotherapy treatment. One group
of cancer patients received the actual drug being tested while another group received a placebo—a
fake, harmless, inert chemical substance. (Pharmaceutical companies are required by law to test all
new drugs against a placebo to determine the true effectiveness, if any, of the product in
question).

During this study, no one thought twice when 74% of the cancer patients receiving the real
chemotherapy exhibited one of the more common side effects of this treatment: they lost their
hair. Yet, quite remarkably, 31% of the patients on the placebo chemotherapy – an inert saltwater
injection – also had an interesting side effect: they too lost their hair!

The only reason the placebo patients lost their hair is because they believed they would. Like many
people, they associated having cancer and receiving chemotherapy with going bald.

Such is the power of belief and expectation.

Dr Bruce Lipton, author of “Biology of Belief” once said: “Your mind controls your biology. That’s
what the placebo effect is about; the mind believes the pill will work and so it does.” [3]

The studies proving the placebo effect is more than just trickery of the mind, encourage us to look
beyond our current circumstances and evaluate our beliefs and attachments to them. Our mind is
more powerful than we often realise. But more powerful than the mind, is how we use it – our
perception.

If we expect to get better, we will. If we expect we can change, we will.

If we expect that we will be successful, abundance, healthy, happy or anything else we desire… we
will create that belief and expectation within our bodies to experience that too.

What I hope to convey to you to pass on to your clients, is that we humans have an incredible
potential to live the lives we choose. But we first must perceive that it is possible and begin to
consciously challenge and change the beliefs that we can’t.

ASSESSMENT TASK ONE

1. Watch the Placebo Ted Talk by Dr Lissa Rankin on Youtube here: Placebo Effect ~ How it
works by Lissa Rankin, MD at TEDxAmericanRiviera (18:49). Describe what you have learned
about the Placebo Effect in respect to the power of the mindbody connection, and how you
think this information will benefit you and your clients.

TYPE OR WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DIRECTLY INTO YOUR ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK.

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BIOLOGY OF BELIEF

Cells are the basis of life and there are approximately 50 trillion of them in the human body. Some
cells connect body parts and store nutrients; others fight disease and transport gases. Some cells
gather information and control certain body functions, while specialised cells are used for
reproduction.

Every thought you think, intention you set, feeling you conjure and emotion you chemically
generate is felt and experienced within every single one of these 50 trillion cells within your body.

Dr Bruce Lipton, author of “Biology of Belief”, states that beliefs control perception. That is, that
perception is awareness, shaped by belief. He also states that if you rewrite beliefs, you rewrite
perception, and if you rewrite perception, you rewrite genes and behaviour.

Beliefs can be defined as conclusions or assumptions we arrive at, that are derived from
information and/or experience. They can be both conscious, and unconscious. The mechanics of
the mind-body interaction reveals how our “learned” perceptions control behaviour, regulate gene
expression and even contribute to the rewriting of our genetic code.

In his own words[4], Dr Bruce Lipton breaks down this relationship as such:

“Now, there are two different parts to the mind, the subconscious part and the conscious
part. The subconscious is like a tape recorder, just playing old programs and running 95% of
your reactions and decisions. For most people the conscious mind only operates about 5% of
the time.

The cells of your body are merely following instructions given by the nervous system, by the
brain. The nervous system does the interpretation. You can easily see this when you see two
people reacting to the same stimulus with very different reactions, one positive and one
negative. As your perception changes, you change the message that your nervous system
communicates to the cells of your body. Your mind controls your biology. That’s what the
placebo effect is about; the mind believes the pill will work and so it does.”

As you have learned, our beliefs and perceptions are formed very early on in childhood. The
predominant messages we receive as children will determine our personality and behavioural
habits. Psychologists believe that this conditioning is set by the age of five.

It’s important to recognise that childhood programming, unconsciously and habitually, becomes
our beliefs and reality in adulthood. Meaning that by such an early age we have already
experienced or been exposed to information that has shaped our perceptions and behaviours into
patterns of conditioning in the brain and nervous system. With repetitive reinforcement of familiar
experiences and similar information, our beliefs and perceptions are strengthened over time.

This is the cycle of conditioning in action, and our present personal reality is the result.

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Many of these beliefs become “I can’t” messages that reside in our unconscious mind, and override
all conscious attempts to create change in our lives:

▪ I’m worthless
▪ I’m not smart enough
▪ I don’t deserve to succeed
▪ I’ll never amount to anything
▪ No one will ever love me
▪ No matter how hard I try it’s never good enough
▪ I never have any luck
▪ I’ll probably get cancer, because it’s genetic

These are known as psychological attachments. Whether these beliefs are true or false, we are
emotionally attached to their memory and carry in our bodymind, a meaning of our own creation.

Words are powerful to the subconscious mind. When we hear harsh words as children, our nervous
system can lock those negative feelings into our unconscious mind as a belief that we are bad,
stupid, unsafe, unworthy, unwanted, not enough, etc. As we grow into adulthood carrying this
programming, we can sometimes hear those same harsh words repeating themselves as negative
self-talk. Think of when you do something by accident and call yourself a name, repeating the same
harsh words of a parent or teacher and recreating the same feeling state as when you were a child.

By learning to observe our inner critic from a higher level of awareness, we can set about
recognizing this pattern and reframing old beliefs into new ones by rewording our self-talk and
rewriting the program. Many people don’t realise just how frequently they are thinking negative
affirmations (beliefs) about themselves until they start paying attention to their self-talk.

When we take ownership of our self-talk, we can learn to confront outdated belief programs and
the information that is no longer relevant or appropriate to our current circumstances.

ASSESSMENT TASK TWO

1. WATCH: YouTube video How to Stop Being Yourself: Dr Joe Dispenza and How to Reprogram
Your Mind (20 minutes). Please share below what you have learned about the power of our
beliefs and perceptions and how you think this information will benefit you and your clients.

2. Write a list of all the old beliefs you have recognised are from childhood. It helps to recall
the messages you remember hearing from your parents and siblings, perhaps even school
friends; anything that stands out as a statement from your impressionable youth.

3. Looking over these old messages from childhood, how many have influenced how you live
your life now and in what way? Did you realise how influential they were before now? Write
down your exploration of what you have discovered by doing this task.

TYPE OR WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DIRECTLY INTO YOUR ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK.

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CONDITIONED BELIEFS/CHILDHOOD PROGRAMMING

The mind is a muscle that is constantly flexing: interpreting and processing what’s going on around
you, and your response or reaction to it. For the mind to stop thinking about anything, it first must
bring to mind (think about) the very thing you’re trying not to think about!

Most people are so entrenched in their worry and stress: what others are thinking, and what they
should and shouldn’t be doing or having, that they don’t even realise how many thoughts they are
thinking – least of all what these thoughts are saying to them.

When we feel stressed we’re often stuck in our minds, consumed by incessant thoughts running on
repeat. We’re certainly in no mind to pay attention to our bodies. In this inward state, our self-talk
gets out of hand – especially the negative stuff.

Psychologists estimate we have approximately anywhere between 50 and 70 000 thoughts per day.
About 85% of them are negative, and about 90% of them are the same habitual and unconscious
automated thoughts that we had yesterday.

That’s a LOT of unconscious thinking that we have no control over (while it remains unconscious).

Even if our conscious mind is distracted by the art of worrying and negative self-talk, our body is
always listening and processing our thoughts into chemical reactions and physical sensations.

• When you worry about the past, the body relives the emotions in the present.
• When you stew over the present, your body is absorbing the stress and tension of the now.
• When you freak about the future – even one that may never eventuate – your body is
listening and feeling your imagined fear in the present.

As you’ve previously learned, the conscious mind has a lowly 5% processing power compared to a
whopping 95% for the unconscious mind based on how many neurons fire.

The subconscious mind is a chamber of secrets, holding all your knowledge, memories and mental
programming. It keeps all that information stored away in the corners of your mind, waiting to
pluck it out and push it into consciousness the moment you need to be aware of it.

Think about it: you don’t need to consciously be thinking about how to brush your teeth, tie your
shoelaces, ride a bike or drive your car. The conscious mind needs to focus on the road and ensure
you are aware of other cars, stop lights and road signs, or unexpected pedestrians.

Our mind is like a computer, and it starts booting up with data from the age of about two. Between
the ages of two and seven our subconscious mind is a floodgate for information. We observe our
surroundings through an emotive lens, unable to determine fact from fear, or fiction.

As children, our primary language is emotion. Our ability to apply logic or reasoning has not yet
matured and developed in the brain. Feelings are how we interpret our senses via physical
sensations felt in the body, and they are the initial instruction on deciphering right from wrong.

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As we move through childhood and into our teenage years, repetitive messages that have been
reinforced through words, feelings, behaviours or events, condition the mind and body to react and
respond in patterned behaviours, which create habit loops and neuronal connections in the brain.

− I’m not good enough

− I don’t like myself
− I hate my body
− I can’t do it
− Why can’t I change?

By adulthood, these conditioned beliefs and behaviours are well-worn neural pathways in the
brain, held together by unconscious responses and reactions within the bodymind. These patterns
of thinking and behaving certainly don’t make the beliefs true or the behaviours unchangeable –
especially as they were formed in our early years with little logic or reasoning. But without
awareness of them, your client’s patterns will continue to dictate their motivation and actions well
into adulthood, making change quite difficult to stick to.

When a person’s thoughts do not align with what they say they want, it creates incongruence -
when nonverbal behaviour contradicts a person's words. It is necessary to uncover and rewrite
the program so that what they say they want aligns with what they believe in relation to having
what they want, otherwise their motivation to take action will continually be hindered by an inner
conflict and cause self-sabotage.

If your inner critic has been telling you you’re not worthy, deserving or smart enough to do, be or
have what you want, any conscious effort you try to make will not be able to surpass the long-term
hold that your past conditioning has over you – until you become aware of what that conditioning
is.

This is unfortunately why so many people seeking change in their lives remain stuck in self-
sabotaging cycles of repetitive behaviour.

When trying to create change, they focus on only one aspect of changing – setting the goal –
however rarely uncover and confront the patterns that are running in their brain, mind and body
that may oppose what they want and why.

New ways of living and being require programming new ways or patterns of thinking, and
therefore behaving.

Until you understand what the negative mental programming is that underlies your thoughts, fears
and worries, you can want to create change all you like, but your reality won’t align with your
beliefs. That is, until you become aware of your self-talk, identify negative beliefs, challenge their
validity, and reprogram your thinking patterns with conscious, repetitive action.

Remember, it’s your subconscious that’s in the drivers’ seat. Becoming conscious (self-aware) is
key. To learn how to guide your clients in creating real change, you must first experience this ability
for yourself.

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THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS

“Emotion is a telling factor. If you have a strong emotion, positive or negative, around a certain
belief, it pretty much ensures that the particular belief will become your physical reality. The science
of epigenetics is not the science of being defined by your genes or environment; it’s the science of
understanding how your interpretation of your life events and environment affects the cells of your
physical body.”- Dr Bruce Lipton

Our beliefs shape the quality of our thoughts, which in turn resonate in the body as our emotions.

The emotions we experience from day to day are a direct reflection of what we think and how we
feel about our lives and ourselves. Emotions can be so overwhelming that we often fall into the trap
of believing that certain emotions define who we are (I’m always tired, I’m aggressive by nature).

For example: If a client is wanting to lose weight and get fit and healthy, it is quite probable that
they have tried several times before to reach a desired weight with different levels of success.

Throughout the process of watching what they ate, moving their body more, resisting their
favourite foods and perhaps not totally enjoying the dieting process, they may have developed
certain thoughts and beliefs about what getting fit and healthy feels like to them:

It’s so hard losing weight

I’m hungry all the time
I hate dieting
I always put the weight back on

If during this external process of change they did not uncover negative belief systems about their
self-worth, body shame or guilt around eating, it is highly likely that their reason for wanting to lose
weight is driven by a conditioned belief that they are not enough, too much, or not worthy as they
are – regardless of their weight, shape or size.

This underlying belief may have come about from childhood conditioning, where perhaps their
mother or father had their own issues with body image, weight issues and eating restriction.

Perhaps through observation the child may have come to believe that a certain body weight or
shape is the “ideal” and what they should strive for to be accepted or valued.

− If the child was taught to watch their own weight,

− If they were subjected to a controlled eating regime, or
− If they were constantly hearing criticism about their food choices or portion sizes;

They may have developed a set of beliefs about themselves based on the feelings they experienced
in such a controlled and critical environment. Fast forward to adulthood and your client wishing to
lose weight and get healthy may still be carrying this fear, control and criticism in their

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subconscious (negative emotion and self-talk effecting their cells) and underlying beliefs, hindering
their ability to achieve or maintain any form of weight loss.

Add to their fitness efforts if they:

1. Experience running as painful,

2. Hate the thought of pounding the pavement, or
3. The very idea of putting on their running shoes evokes resistance in their body.

Then this suggests a conditioned response that started in the mind. The body is merely reacting
on what the mind has already created.

If a client who wants to get fit and healthy, feels hesitant or defiant about going for a run, then
those physical experiences and negative emotions have been conditioned within the cells of the
body. This is where physical and emotional resistance can cause self-sabotaging thoughts and
behaviours.

To your client, these emotions may feel heavy, restrictive, cumbersome, inflexible, protective, and
weighing them down. Therefore, it is necessary to assist our clients to describe their feelings and
where they feel them.

Even though I have used ‘running to get fit and healthy’ as our example, the theory can be applied
to any type of desire and conditioned response.

• A client wants to change jobs but is so nervous about going to interviews. The thought
physically terrifies him more than the discomfort of staying in a job he hates. Most likely he
would feel this fear in his chest, stomach and hands.

• A client is looking for love but has a history of bad boyfriends. Her distrust of men and belief
that all men will eventually hurt her leads to irrational behaviour and emotional rigidness.
Either no man can get close enough to prove her belief wrong, no man can convince her he's
trustworthy, or the energy she puts out instinctively keeps men away. Anxiety and
overwhelm take over her rational mind whenever she feels unsafe, jealous, or insecure.

• A client who constantly spends money she doesn’t have has a fear of being poor. Her fear
brings about feelings of lack and little, which propels her towards behaviours that make her
feel abundant (overeating, excessive shopping, drinking etc.), yet only prove her lack. Most
likely she feels this fear in her abdomen, throat and heart.

We all have conditioned patterns from childhood. Yet most of these patterns remain unconscious,
ruling our lives from the seat of our subconscious, and physically manifesting within the cells of the
body. Thoughts create feelings, feelings create behaviours.

Helping our clients identify their current emotional state and what purpose it serves, if any, is
necessary for them to clearly see whether these emotions are serving them or hurting them, and
what ingrained beliefs and fears are overriding their conscious desire for change.

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Guidelines to help uncover subconscious emotions:

• How is your client currently feeling?

• Where do they feel it in their body?
• What feelings are keeping them stuck?
• What beliefs are they attached to?
• Why do these feelings have such a hold over them?
• What do they represent or relate to?
• Where in their body do they experience these emotions? What shape does it have, what
colour is it? Physically relax this area and tune into any negative beliefs attached to it.

When our clients realise that they have a choice over which emotions they feel and why, we can
help enable our clients to step out of the old patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, into new
and positive mental and emotional states.

Now that you know how powerful beliefs are in creating physical manifestations of our perceptive
truth, you have a better understanding of how internal health and balance can be disrupted on all
levels of our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

To change a negative belief, you must first recognise that you have one. Then you need to cast it
aside and create for yourself a new belief: one that is relevant and true for you now.

In every moment, you have the capability to notice your thoughts, stop the negative ones, and
reframe them into more positive, truthful and productive thoughts that will serve you now with
love.

An effective positive statement focuses on what you ARE and not what you hope you are not. It is in
the present tense, as if you are realising that you already experiencing this belief as true. Lastly, it is
personal. Don’t focus on changing the behaviour of other people – this will change nothing. Focus
only on yourself.

For example:

Belief – I’m not smart enough.

Thought – I am so stupid because I don’t understand this.
Positive reframe – I have overcome challenges in the past and I am willing to learn.

Write down previous experiences that support your new belief and keep them with you for a quick
reminder. Once you have a new belief statement, say it aloud. Affirm it to yourself every morning.
Reaffirm it to yourself throughout the day at any moment you hear the old self-talk arising.

Make it visible on your mirror, the fridge, your computer screen and car dashboard. Repeat it to
yourself mentally and aloud several times a day. New beliefs are more powerful when you can
attach positive feelings to it by envisioning yourself as you want to be. How does it feel? What does
it look like?

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With conscious effort, you will start to change your thinking and how you show up in the world.
When you start changing your internal world, your outer world will respond in often surprising and
pleasant ways.

ASSESSMENT TASK THREE

1. Complete the “Challenging Your Beliefs” exercise within your Workbook Two and examine
your own belief constructs.

BELIEF THOUGHT POSITIVE REFRAME

2. Outline and describe the biggest realizations you’ve gained by doing the “Challenging Your
Beliefs” exercise.

TYPE OR WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DIRECTLY INTO YOUR ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK.

*** KEY POINTS ***

As you are learning throughout this very important module, the subconscious mind will not allow us
to make change stick without first changing what we think, how we feel and what we do – most of
the time. This requires us to become aware of our unconscious, automated programs.

It’s the missing piece of the puzzle that has so many coaches, trainers and practitioners stumped
and unable to help their clients move beyond their own self-imposed limitations!

You can ‘know’, but you must be able to ‘do’.

Developing self-awareness in your life is the first step towards breaking those unconscious
programs and creating the life that you would prefer to be living, instead of living your life
habitually.

Once you have experienced this process, you will better understand how to guide others in
breaking their own mental habits and limitations.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 16
THE POWER OF BREATHING

Our feelings and fears drive our internal thinking patterns, and our self-talk influences our
emotional state. Somewhere in the translation of real versus perceived fear, the body becomes
conditioned to react the same way as in the past.

It's in this sequence of repetitive reactions that the body effectively becomes the mind – which you
now understand to be the ‘bodymind’. The more our mind is triggered by past experiences, the
more our physical body is primed for reactivity. Various associations related to a stressor become
familiar triggers to our unique perception of safety or danger.

When in this reactive state we often hold our breath, stop breathing momentarily, clench our jaw,
tighten our chest, and almost certainly, our breaths become short and sharp. Our body is
physiologically preparing us to fight, flee or freeze – even as we continue about our day.

Therefore, it's not only that our thoughts are creating stress but that our nervous system
conditioning is unconsciously reacting to cues of caution or danger without us even realising it.

A nervous system on constant alert can, for the most part, continue to fuel a highly functioning
lifestyle, even though it will compromise ones’ health over time. A client operating in fight or flight
will find it hard to concentrate, stay focused on one topic, may be overly emotional, talk
consistently, and may feel distant from their situation, or even ambivalent. They will be unable to
embody their present moment experience until they are in a relaxed and regulated state with a
calm, conscious mind to support them.

The neo-cortex is known as the CEO of your brain, and you need it online to step out of stress and
into conscious awareness. To access our full creative and problem-solving potential, we must be
operating from our higher thinking regions in the cortex. This is where using the power of breathing
can be so beneficial for opening the doorway to calm, conscious, focused awareness.

We can gain much wisdom by learning how to pull our bodies out of the past and bring our
awareness back into the safety of the moment. We can disrupt the pattern of reviving the past, and
stop unnecessarily increasing stress, tension, and anxiety with the bodymind.

The easiest and most effective way to do this is by recognising signs of stress – rapid shallow
breathing, heat rising in the head or neck, nervous energy, queasy stomach, heavy chest, tight jaw
or throat, heat, sweating – and immediately taking conscious control over the breath.

When a client is clearly displaying signs of being in fight or flight - and especially in overwhelm - it
is essential that you help them return to the relaxation response before trying to explain, reason,
challenge, discuss ideas, or plan with them. This is referred to as the ‘bottom up’ approach.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 17
Conscious, focused breathing is a simple and highly effective tool that can consciously counteract
the subconscious conditioning creating havoc in the mind and body.

Even just 10 minutes of consistent quiet breathing, observation and reflection a day, can over time
produce a greater ability to restore homeostasis, build resilience, instill gratitude, and create a
more peaceful and positive mindset.

In this state of being you interrupt the brain’s pattern of unconscious reaction and can easily:

• slow your heart rate

• calm your nervous system
• lower blood pressure
• reduce panic
• relax muscles
• quiet your reactive mind
• become conscious and aware in the moment
• choose how you want to feel
• release patterns of conditioning

It does take effort to instill this mindful observation. However, even though the habit itself won’t
happen overnight, the act of bringing yourself back into the present moment to experience
relaxation, calm and conscious awareness can happen instantly. As you gradually increase your
conscious awareness, your reactive thinking gets stopped in its’ tracks.

The following breathing exercise can quickly and easily bring you and your clients into a relaxed and
regulated nervous system by activating the parasympathetic (PSN) branch of your ANS – your
relaxation response.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 18
Breathing Exercise:

Sit comfortably with your spine upright or laying straight back and start to focus on your
breath.

Gradually increase the length of both inhalation and exhalation until both are long, slow,
and of the same count.

Breathe in deeply, down into the belly. Relax the shoulders and chest and allow the ribcage
to loosen and inflate. This is called Diaphragmatic breathing.

Slow your exhale to even your inhale. It’s often helpful to count your breath in and out to
ensure a slow, even cycle that also takes the focus of your mind away from the stressful or
worrying reactive thoughts that are manifesting in your body.

Remind yourself in that moment that you are indeed safe. It’s just your mind getting away
with itself. Right now, in this moment, you are safe, and all is well.

With conscious repetition of this breathing practice, you begin to interrupt the unconscious
patterns and rewire your brain to change the reality of your mind; and therefore, the experience
within your body (and nervous system).

BREATHING DEMONSTRATION VIDEO:

Breathing Demonstration Video: How to Practice Deep Breathing
for Stress

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 19
MIND-BODY BALANCING

By encouraging our clients to adopt a routine of balancing their mind, body and emotions, we can
teach them a set of skills they can use to increase awareness of their self-talk and change unhelpful
negative thinking patterns.

They can learn to become pro-active in their lives by making conscious decisions that benefit them,
instead of simply reacting to the world around them in negative and unhealthy ways. It’s about
becoming aware of - and focusing on - what is important and relevant, and learning to let go of
things that are not.

Each of the following mind-body exercises encourage activities to balance the nervous system and
open a quieter channel of communication between our brain and our cells. Each exercise can help
to improve physical reduction of stress, tension and biochemical chaos and return the bodymind to
harmony.

MECHANISMS OF BREATHING

The lungs and heart are encased in the chest cavity and the diaphragm separates them from the
remaining vital organs by attachment around the lower ribcage, stretching down towards the
lumbar. When the lungs expand in the chest cavity, they create beneficial movement within the
intercostal muscles and abdomen as the ribcage expands and the diaphragm moves downward,
allowing the lungs to widen and fill deeper with oxygen.

When breathing deeply and fully the diaphragm is slowly moving upwards and downwards,
massaging the organs, and stretching the muscle attachments. At the same time the abdominal
cavity is also expanding and retracting. Together these up, down, in and out movements massage
the encased organs, detoxifying, promoting blood flow and pumping lymph fluids more efficiently –
all helping to increase and promote good health.

Breathing fully, deeply, and correctly increases our oxygen intake by allowing the lungs to fully
expand and absorb maximum breath. This in turn feeds the cells and organs with vital nutrients via
the bloodstream to optimise functioning, increase mental and physical relaxation, boost vitality and
increase the flow of energy.

The more consciously we breathe oxygen in, the more effectively we can release carbon dioxide
and muscle tension as we exhale.

CAUTION: It is important to allow time for the heart rate to slow steadily (approximately 20-30
seconds). If the heart rate decelerates too quickly, it can cause a Vasovagal response where the
person may pass out. This is when there is an over-activation or acceleration of the relaxation
response that overwhelms the system – like a rebound effect – and lowers the heart rate too fast.
Fainting at an emotional stress or the sudden sight of blood are examples of this.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 20
FOCUSED BREATHING

Our breath is vital for health, healing and well-being yet we most often don’t even notice our
breathing, even though it is the reason we sustain life. Although breathing is an automatic
response, it has both an involuntary control mechanism as well as voluntary, which we can use to
our advantage in times of stress.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, pioneer of MBSR – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction[5] has a simple and
powerful point in explaining why breathing is so important:

“Take the breath, for instance. We take it so much for granted. Unless, that is, you have a bad cold
or can’t breathe. Then, suddenly, the breath may become the only thing in the world you are
interested in. Yet the breath is coming in and going out of your body all the time.”

Focused, conscious breathing is the perfect anchor to keep our attention in the present moment.
When our ability to breathe is threatened we instinctively become immediately aware of it. By
focusing on our breath deliberately we take voluntary control over our stress and relaxation
responses. This is why breathing is so widely referred to as the first object of attention in a
meditation practice.

DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

Deep, full breaths immediately encourage the mind and body to slow down and release tension.
When breathing is long, deep and natural it slows our heart rate, increases effective oxygen
supply, promotes inner calm, and a feeling of general wellbeing.

Spend a few minutes right now to sit comfortably with your spine upright or lay straight back, and
start to focus your attention on your breath. Notice the sensations of your breath moving in
through your nose and throat, filling your lungs and expanding your stomach.

Observe yourself releasing tension as it escapes slowly and evenly through your mouth. Try to relax
your shoulders and stomach as you do this.

Gradually increase the length of both inhalation and exhalation until both are long, slow and
approximately of the same count. It actually helps to count your breaths and keep your focus!

Practice Awareness of Your Breathing:

Inhaling = lungs expanding, belly swelling, abdomen stretching, fresh oxygen.

Exhaling = air expelling, belly contracting, chest falling, diaphragm rising, inner calm.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 21
BOX BREATHING

Also known as Four-Square Breathing and Controlled Breathing, Box Breathing is a powerful stress
management exercise. It helps to focus your attention, increase concentration and heighten
performance.

This deceptively simple technique is endorsed by the American Navy SEALs to remain calm under
pressure. It helps to bypass the unconscious primal reactions and bring a focused awareness of
conscious control. It’s a very simple exercise to practice and takes just five minutes for effect,
although can be practiced for fifteen or twenty minutes for maximum impact.

Sit comfortably and remove distractions when new to this exercise. Soon enough you’ll be able to
practice Box Breathing no matter where you are or what's going on around you.

ONE ROUND

Become aware of your breathing and your body.

Expel all of the air from your chest and keep your lungs empty for a four-count hold.
Inhale through your nose for 4 counts.
Hold the air in your lungs for 4 counts – try to remain physically relaxed.
Exhale slowly through your nose for 4 counts.
Repeat.
Slow your counting as you slow your breathing rate.

ASSESSMENT TASK FOUR

1. WATCH: Breathing Demonstration Video: How to Practice Deep Breathing for Stress
Management and practice Diaphragmatic Breathing regularly this week. At the end of the
week, describe your experience and note the benefits below.

2. Practice Box Breathing several times this week particularly when you notice your heart rate
escalate. It may take some practice but is well worth the effort of moving through the
process and controlling your breathing consciously. Describe your experience and the
benefits you’ve noticed.

TYPE OR WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DIRECTLY INTO YOUR ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK.

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 22
 END OF MODULE

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 23
REFERENCES:

[1] http://candacepert.com/

[2] https://singjupost.com/is-there-scientific-proof-we-can-heal-ourselves-by-lissa-rankin-transcript/

[3] http://www.consciouslifestylemag.com/healing-meditation-mind-body/

[4] http://www.consciouslifestylemag.com/healing-meditation-mind-body/

[5] https://www.mindfulnesscds.com/

FURTHER READING:

Mind Over Medicine – Lissa Rankin, MD

You Are the Placebo – Dr Joe Dispenza

Biology of Belief – Dr Bruce Lipton

Molecules of Emotion – Candace Pert

Discovering Your Inner Wisdom and Potential for Self-Healing – Dr Bernie Siegel

RESOURCES:

https://theconnection.tv/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24988414

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456909/

http://www.noetic.org/research/projects/spontaneous-remission

http://library.noetic.org/library/publication-bibliographies/spontaneous-remission

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-psychoneuroimmunology-definition-lesson.html

https://www.sott.net/article/326588-Mind-body-connection-How-movement-controls-the-bodys-stress-response-
system

https://medium.com/forever-young/think-yourself-healthy-the-mind-body-connection-a6b496b4a78c#.frp323v23

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/mind-body-connection/5882006#transcript

https://familydoctor.org/mindbody-connection-how-your-emotions-affect-your-health/

https://theconnection.tv/

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/complementary-and-alternative-medicine.html

https://www.brucelipton.com/resource/article/the-wisdom-your-cells

© Viki Thondley 2016-2022. All rights reserved. Not be used or reproduced without written permission. 24