Meditation - How Our Thoughts Shape Our Digestion

Celia Roberts is a qualified Senior Yoga Teacher, Therapist & Ayurvedic Practitioner with a BioMedical Science degree and can offer you multiple ways to better understand your digestion through meditation.

In this meditation, you will explore simple ways to improve: Meditation for Gut Health, Brain-biome connection, Gut instinct, Gut health, Breathing to increase GABA - calming neurotransmitter, Gut Massage for increasing serotonin, oxytocin and vagal tone and How to soften belly to improve and enhance digestion on every level.

Remapping cortical experience of gut in the brainPsychoneuroimmunology for gut health (how our thoughts and actions shape our digestion) This track includes evidence-based information on how your thoughts can impact your digestion. With this knowledge, you can enhance your digestive health by mind power alone, and with the practice of meditation and breathing, even self inquiry.

Transcript

My name is Celia Roberts,

And I'm the founder of the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation – BioME.

Today,

We'll be doing meditation for gut health.

We'll be improving the brain-biome connection,

Our gut instinct,

Our gut health,

And also really just learning to soften the belly to improve and enhance digestion on every level.

Let's begin by sitting or lying.

If you choose to sit,

Please make sure you're supported so your hips are higher than your knees,

Your spine is straight.

Begin by really placing your attention into the belly and softening the belly.

You can use the breath to soften the belly,

And in doing this,

You're allowing the breath to inhale,

Inflate the abdomen,

Exhale,

And contract the abdomen.

Now,

When we breathe,

Try not to over-breathe.

You're allowing the breath to be very soft and gentle,

But also as long as possible without strain.

If we start to strain with the breath,

We tend to elicit the heart rate and increase it and the sympathetic nervous system response.

But as we come to meditate,

Let's focus on parasympathetic nervous system activity,

A longer out-breath,

And to increase the length of that out-breath,

We could use a simple hum.

So we'll hum together three times,

And that actually reduces inflammation,

Which is really important to us in harnessing the best digestive power and also brain power.

So we increase nitric oxide production in the paranasal sinuses.

This is a vasodilator and a natural anti-inflammatory as we hum together three times,

Stimulating the vagus nerve,

Lowering the heart rate,

Lengthening the breath.

And again.

Good,

That sound lengthens the breath more than your consciousness alone.

Try again.

And it's a wonderful one to remember if you experience nausea or tension or any disharmony in the gut,

Particularly the symptoms of IBS.

Okay,

Let's bring our attention now back to the softness of the belly.

And if you feel restriction or tightness in your belly,

Just go right into that tension and allow it to be there.

See if you can really feel into any tension that resides in the belly and see if you can break down the sensation.

So this is often a difficult instruction,

But you want to see if you can break down the sensation so they're not as solid as they might normally feel.

You might also explore just going behind any tension or tightness in the belly.

Is there a sense of softness and ease behind the tension or spaciousness?

And if you don't have tension,

Perhaps you experience a whirling energy or something that's really quite different.

Can you go into the centre of the whirling energy?

I've always moved into any whirling or angst or feeling in the belly to find out what's underneath that.

And actually it's quite spacious and a lovely place to reside.

So we're looking at this health condition that we might be experiencing,

Not necessarily something that we don't want to have,

Which creates a negative cycle of thought and anxiety around the condition,

But something that's almost a gift that's asking us to be really present in our body.

Pain,

Discomfort,

Anything that we resist,

Persist.

So this becomes our teacher.

This is your teacher.

This health condition is a really great insight and a reminder to come into presence.

Good.

Okay.

Keep using the breath to soften the belly.

And be really conscious as you lengthen your out-breath that you're increasing GABA,

Which is a calming neurotransmitter that affects not only the gut,

But travels via the vagus nerve to the brain.

And it's presumed via the research that this is because of vagal nerve stimulation as you breathe.

So we increase GABA,

Which tends to reduce anxiety,

Pain,

Depression,

PTSD and trauma.

Now this is produced not only in the gut,

But also in the brain,

In the thalamus and prefrontal cortex.

Okay,

Let's move on here.

Now we'll start to massage the belly.

And if you can,

Massage in a clockwise direction.

This increases serotonin to the gut.

Massage alone.

And serotonin is really important to us in our mental health,

As we all know.

But 90% of our serotonin is produced in the gut.

So one thing that I often recommend is that people actually expose the body,

Particularly the gut,

To sunlight if they have difficult conditions in this region.

And that goes for menstrual difficulties as well.

And we absolutely know scientifically that that works.

Okay,

Keep that massage going,

Even as gentle as you wish it to be.

So we tend to also increase oxytocin and improve vagal tone during massage.

And feel just a really sense of consciousness as you massage around.

So you're very present with that touch.

And this helps our brain experience our body differently.

So this is a part in the body that we actually don't sense very well compared to other parts such as the hands and face.

But with conscious awareness,

We can bring a deep sensory awareness in.

And start to remap cortically our experience of our belly in our brain.

So as you massage in here,

Know that you're increasing oxytocin and vagal tone,

As I previously said.

Good,

And we'll let that go.

And then again keep that softness in the belly.

Now it's good to know via the work of Barbara Friedrichson that when you walk into a room,

A person actually learns to trust you via the softness of your belly.

Of course your facial expressions count as well.

But you trust another based on the sensitivity in your belly as well.

And there's a sensitivity to the softness.

So the softness in the belly elicits that parasympathetic nervous system activity.

And if we know if someone's in flight,

Fight or depression or shutdown,

They usually can't be trusted.

So we want to have that softness in the belly to remind not only ourselves to trust the moment,

But also to trust another.

So that softness of belly and being able to digest the moment and be here now really allows for good gut instinct and allowing us to make good decisions based in the present moment,

Not the past projected into the future.

Another good question might be to ask yourself as a self-inquiry form of meditation is how am I digesting life?

How am I digesting the moment in front of me?

Am I resisting the moment?

Am I wanting the moment to be different from how it is?

Am I pushing the moment away?

Am I pulling someone or something towards me?

Am I fighting?

As you recognize any of these patterns in yourself,

Just notice what that does to the digestion.

Pushing,

Pulling,

Resisting,

Fighting.

If you were to hold your body in that pattern,

Just feel it in the belly.

What does it feel like to let that pattern go?

Of course,

Some people find it a deep relief,

And other people find it really challenging.

A fear comes up.

Can you sit with the fear?

Underneath anger,

There's always fear.

Underneath grief and sadness,

The same fear exists.

As we know,

These qualities,

Emotions,

Anger,

Resentment,

Resistance,

Grief,

Sadness,

And deep loss,

They all affect our digestion.

But we must recognize that emotions come and go,

And it's best not to hold on wherever possible,

To let the past be the past,

And to let this moment be our guide.

Be our truth.

It really helps us,

If we can,

Stay present and digest the moment that's in front of us,

Which is always,

Usually,

Most of the time,

If not always,

A miracle unfolding in front of us.

Life is a miracle.

Keep that breath going to the belly.

If you can,

That softness there.

I'll leave you with this final meditation.

The research by Dr.

Ali Akram shows us that when we receive two milkshakes,

Same quality,

Same substance,

Labeled differently,

Healthy milkshake,

Satiating milkshake,

High-fat,

High-calorie milkshake,

And participants drink both the same,

The people who noted that they had the high-fat,

High-calorie felt more satiation,

More ghrelin.

So what's really important to us is that when we eat food,

That we don't feel a sense of lack,

We don't feel a sense of not enough.

When we eat food,

We feel a high sense of satiation.

And this might mean that you're eating more mindfully,

With more awareness,

And not with a sense of lack or a sense of starvation or not enough.

That will improve the ghrelin effects in your body and make you feel more satiated,

More calm,

More quickly.

It's about becoming one with the object of meditation,

Which in this case is food,

And food is medicine.

It's also not being frightened of food.

So the Aghori yogis,

Amazing feats of human ability,

Would swallow mercury without any effects.

It was part of their practice.

And so ultimately what we're trying to do with meditation is develop incredible digestion,

Incredible feats of digestion,

Digesting each moment as it arises,

Being completely one with all that is and being one with the object of meditation.

That means the food that we take into us completely satiates us without any side effect.

And I think we need to understand that this is possible within us.

Let the belly be soft,

The saliva increase in the mouth.

And if you wish,

Come back to the gentle hum to assist with digestion,

Vagal tone and the softness of belly.

May you digest each moment fully and may you become one with the object of meditation.

Reviews

This really helped my sore stomach this morning, thank you 💜

I can’t remember the last time I felt so impacted by a recorded meditation. I suffer from all sorts of gut ailments along with panic disorder and relieving my symptoms seems like hoping for a miracle. Well, this helped me a lot; it got me right where I needed it to get me. Thank you so much.

Surprisingly beautiful. After waiting a day for a phone call that didn’t come, I put my phone on “do not disturb “ modus and listened. It calmed me down and I learned a lot😊. Thank you 🙏🏼.

I thought this was excellent, informative and, practical. I will share out with others as well.
Thank you 🥰🙏✨️💞🥰

This was exactly what I needed. I feel like it covered every aspect of the gut from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I will be using this often. Thank you for your contributions to the betterment of this world!!! 🙏 🩷✨️

Loved this 😍Such beneficial advice that is so important. The gut is the foundation for health. I would call it a class rather than a meditation. Much appreciated 🙏😇🙌💕🤗

I love the way Celia is in touch with her body. It’s great that she offers this important lesson.
Thank you Namaste 🙏

Loved the massage 💆‍♀️ I also eat pineapple 🍍 regularly for helping with the serotonin. Greetings from the tropics!

Thank you 🙏

So scientific-based, thank you. Will come back

Awesome. Very informative and well presented

This is best digestion meditation I have found. I thank you.⭐️🙏⭐️

I will be repeating this when needed. Very helpful and informative. Thank you.

Wonderful. Got in touch with lots of subterranean feeling probably affecting my physical. Allowing the unease, accepting it was a relief.

❤️❤️❤️

Excellent

Awesome! Deep relaxation practice felt in the belly. Thank you 🙏

Clearly explained importance of relaxed digestive system, thank you 🙏🏽✨️🧡

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful attention toward digestion and supporting our power to have a compassionate relationship with it and the body.

Loved this!
Thank you.
🙏🏻👼🏼💖👑💖