An InterviewWith Noa Belling IR 9
before. Then, adding even a small smile, even if you feel like you are faking it, can in a sense trick your brain to believe you are happier and as a result set off a cas- cade of feel-good hormones. Your internal hormonal balance can be like a seesaw. Either you have a domi- nance of stress hormones, or you have a dominance of fee -good hormones. By placing your hand on your chest and adding a small smile, it can naturally tip your internal balance towards feeling good, and it can be effective in a matter of moments or minutes to counter- act feeling stressed or distressed. This can help you in a few ways. It can simply help you to take a deep breath and feel less constricted by whatever is going on for you emotionally. It can naturally wake up some compassion towards yourself and your circumstance, which can be relieving. It can also help you to access your brain more fully towards clearer, more resourceful thinking and responding to whatever you face. These are all good reasons to try it out. The trick to
really reap the benefits is to hold your hand over heart and smile for at least 30 seconds. Again here I invite you to pause, look to a clock, take on the position of hand to heart and smile and see what it takes to stay in contact with your feel-better or feel-good process for the full 30 seconds. It may be longer than you would imagine!And it does become easier with practice as we grow our ability to voluntarily shift our internal world to be more positive and compassionate. This exercise is also a great practice for those who might experience anxiety.With practice it can help turn around anxiety or even panic in a matter of minutes towards feeling calmer and perhaps more open minded that can be applied to whatever it is we may
face.Also the more we grow our ability to voluntarily generate positivity from the inside out, the stronger or more confident we can feel emotionally in our ability to respond maturely to whatever we may face. There is a chapter called “Change your posture,
Change yourMind”. Can the body in a sense trick the mind to change how we feel? To start with, try something out for yourself. First,
slouch your posture and look down. Stay there for a few moments and notice how you feel and what kinds of thoughts come to mind? Then contrast this by righting your posture, perhaps holding your chin up and chest open in a way that feels comfortable. Notice how your feelings and your outlook might shift along with your posture. Now add even a small smile even if you don’t feel like it and track how your body responds. If you tracked your feelings closely, youmight have
picked up that no matter how you were feeling to start with, your mood and your state of mind might have shifted to some extent as you shifted your posture and facial expression. Most of us are aware that when we feel down, the impulse, even if we fight it, is to slump our posture. What might not be as obvious is that pos- ture can also perpetuate, or even cause us to feel a cer- tain way and that changing our posture can help us to change our mood and mind. This points to how our
brain is wired or primed to take cues from our body lan- guage to determine how we feel. Richard Petty, Professor of Psychology at Ohio
State University, explains that the brain has areas that reflect feelings such as confidence, and when the spe- cific area is triggered it is difficult to tell the difference between natural confidence and temporary confidence as a result of standing up straight. The brain responds in the same way to both. So your confidence canmake you stand upright and standing upright can create confi- dence. The same applies to smiling. You can feel happy and smile naturally and you can smile to make you feel happier. Choosing to smile is seen to yield the same warm effects as smiling naturally, such as increasing ‘feel-good’ hormones like endorphins, serotonin and dopamine, reducing the stress hormone cortisol, increasing relaxation and increasing the sense of plea- sure in doing a task. Another way that changing your posture can change
your mind is in relation to qualities or personality traits such as confidence and loving kindness. For example, if you stand with your hands on your hips and expand your chest area, as if making yourself bigger, and hold this pose for just 2 minutes, it has been scientifically proven to increase confidence and reduce anxiety. Contrast this with placing a hand on your heart. Notice how you might feel different now to when your hands were on your hips, possibly awakening in you a desire to be more sincere and caring towards yourself and oth- ers. You cannot fundamentally change who you are or what your natural personality is, but you can use these kinds of postural shifts to increase your access to differ- ent traits that could be helpful in different situations. Experimenting with your body in these kinds of
ways can be empowering, giving you a sense of how changing your body can change your mind, your mood and your outlook. This can help with both stress man- agement and building emotional strength.
author. Her previous books include the international best- seller, The Yoga Handbook (Struik, 2001). Noa holds a masters degree in Somatic Psychology, which is a field that incorporates body awareness and physical movement in the psychotherapeutic process. Her latest book, The Mindful Body, Rockpool Publishing, 2018, https:///
www.rockpoo;
publishing.com.au/, offers prac- tical strategies for building emotional strength and managing stress through body mindfulness.
http://redwheelweiser.com/detail.html?session=2cc757249fee718 bd1c69563aedb2cad&id=9781925682182
Noa Belling is a psychotherapist and bestselling
www.noabelling.com
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