Emotional Intelligence & Mind-Body Connection (2)

This is a recording of the 2nd event of the Mind-Body Connection series of 2023. An introduction to Mind-Body Connection, where we explore the link between body and emotions, how to enhance self-awareness and emotional regulation, and how it can improve our lives. Please, subscribe to follow the next events!
Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background noises.

Transcript

Hello,

Everyone.

So I'm really happy to welcome you guys here in the afternoon of this beautiful Saturday.

Please also let me know whether you have attended the previous event.

That was the first session that we had last week on Saturday.

And let me introduce myself.

First of all,

My name is Diana.

I am a Mind-Body Connection coach,

Psychosomatic specialist and a meditation teacher.

And this is the second event of the Mind-Body Connection series of live events.

And today we will dedicate our time and attention to the emotional intelligence and mind-body awareness,

So the link between them.

And of course,

I would like to have a smooth dialogue with all of you,

With the participants.

I wouldn't just like it to be a dry lecture or something one-way talk about the Mind-Body Connection.

So I would really want to encourage you guys to participate,

To share your ideas,

Thoughts,

Ask me any questions that you would like or might have during the session.

And of course,

This is a completely safe and acceptable environment,

So please do not hesitate to express yourself.

So let me mention in a few words what a Mind-Body Connection is.

Basically,

As we can understand from the name of it,

It is the,

Let's say,

The knowledge,

The branch of knowledge that suggests that our thoughts,

Our emotions,

Beliefs and beliefs,

Any psychological experiences have a profound impact on our body and vice versa.

That our bodies can influence all of the aspects of our being and of our lives.

So I believe it is quite difficult to argue with that,

But if you guys have different views,

Please also let me know on that.

And let's see also how the emotions in the body are linked.

So first of all,

I would like to ask you guys whether you have noticed from your personal experiences in your own life or maybe just observing some situations or people,

If you have noticed this link between our emotional responses or feelings,

Emotions that we experience and our physical selves.

Whether you have any strong examples of that or maybe something that you would like to pay our attention to during our live event today.

That will be very helpful for me as well to see what is of your interest,

Where we can go and what moments we can explore together.

And of course,

If you have any experience of working with emotions,

Maybe by yourself or with a therapist or through meditation,

Because we are on this beautiful meditation platform,

I would love to hear that as well.

And of course,

In the beginning,

I would like to thank Insight Timer for providing us this time and this platform to connect to each other,

To create this amazing community.

And I would like you guys to encourage you to donate to Insight Timer and during our live events and to the teachers,

Contributors on the platform so the whole team can support all of us.

And of course,

The meditation teachers and the yoga teachers who are providing classes and their guidance within the application.

All right,

Holly,

The comment from you,

Going to jail,

Suffer from depression and anxiety.

And that's a very profound experience.

And how did you see it influencing your body if you have noticed that or if you would like to share or wouldn't mind sharing that?

Yes,

Unfortunately,

Anxiety is becoming even more and more common.

Depression a little bit less,

But on the other hand,

I'm really glad that more people are becoming aware of that.

It is the first step to help ourselves and to help each other to raise awareness of such problems.

Holly,

It led you to taking too much medication.

Right.

Unfortunately,

Sometimes it is necessary,

It is essential to be supported by medication.

And I'm sure that also provided you support in return.

Janet,

Emotions are often difficult for me to be aware till I have a physical reaction.

That is very interesting.

And what sort of physical reaction do you have or do you mean by that?

I believe the physical reaction to emotions or situations,

Right?

Yeah,

There is a strong link between them.

And as you say,

It is difficult for you.

It is already great that you can identify that,

That you can become aware of this challenge that you have.

I'm sure that with the time,

Practice and experience,

It will be more easy for you.

Tension in the shoulders and anxiety.

Yeah,

I believe anxiety lives in our chest area,

So the shoulders.

Definitely can imagine that and experiencing fear.

Right,

That would be the reaction of our bodies to this strong,

Let's say,

Uncomfortable emotions.

Also,

A very important moment that I would like to highlight in the beginning as a psychosomatic specialist,

The one who works with the body and the mind.

I wouldn't divide the emotions into positive and negative,

But rather uncomfortable and uncomfortable.

Because I believe that emotions are simply saying our friends.

They help us to identify what is wrong with us or around us,

Let's say,

Maybe inside of us.

Or what is good and what we get pleasure from.

So they really help us to live in this world,

To live among other people in the society.

So let's,

During our session,

Divide them into comfortable and uncomfortable.

Well,

Thank you both ladies for sharing that in the comment section.

And I should say that,

Again,

The connection between the bodies and emotions are very complex.

And it is a bi-directional relationship.

So each of them can influence each other.

It's not only one way,

But we can always see the relationship,

The strong relationship between both.

And let's see how self-awareness can help us to work with the emotions.

So how we can identify our emotions or emotional experiences and later work with them.

So first of all,

We get the somatic markers and emotional responses,

Which already Janet mentioned in the comment section.

How our bodies often react to emotions before even our conscious mind can fully grasp them.

So even before realizing that the emotional background changed or something is not right or something is becoming brighter and more positive,

We first get the somatic markers,

As we call them,

The response of our bodies.

They are very important indicators that I believe we all should learn to distinguish within our own bodies.

Because each person's experience is unique and we are all different.

Of course,

There are some set of patterns that we can identify,

But listening and learning how to listen to yourself is crucial.

If any of you guys have noticed physical reactions to your emotions previously,

Please give us more examples,

Share your experiences.

You can probably ask questions if you would like to hear my opinion.

As for me,

I would say a few years ago,

Maybe seven to five years ago,

That was really difficult to connect to negative,

To uncomfortable emotions.

I was trying to escape them in any ways,

Whether it's just traveling or meeting with friends.

Or,

Yeah,

It's even difficult to talk about that for some reason.

Or,

I don't know,

Going to the cinema,

Just not being with myself.

And it led to my body being very stiff,

Like all the muscles were not only not stretching,

Not flexible,

But all of the internal organs were always in alert state,

Which,

Of course,

Isn't good for the overall physical health.

Yeah,

But luckily,

When I realized that and when I decided to work with that,

It changed completely.

And now I can't say I am fully cured or I'm fully able to notice the shifts immediately,

But it is much easier and I can see how happier my body feels because of that.

Well,

Another moment that I would like to highlight during our talk today is the mind-body feedback loop.

And what it means is that,

For example,

An uncomfortable emotion can give us tightness in the shoulders,

So we would sort of close up our chest area and you can imagine how our posture would look like.

But on the other hand,

Because it is a bidirectional influence,

When we adopt a confident,

Straight posture,

When we relax and push back a little bit our shoulders,

When we relax our belly,

It can influence our feelings of empowerment,

Of probably confidence and lightness.

So another quite more obvious example,

I would say,

Is smiling.

So when we just start to smile with our teeth open,

It can trigger the feeling of happiness or just joy or simple relaxation.

It signals to our brain that we are safe and that we can relax just probably a little bit.

So,

For example,

That is very helpful to do in the morning.

First thing,

Before brushing your teeth,

Smile to yourself with your beautiful lips and teeth to signal to your brain that,

Oh,

That's a beautiful beginning of a new day.

And I'm pretty sure that after a few days you will be able to see a little difference in how you perceive your mornings.

Hopefully,

Of course.

Well,

And if you have some other examples,

Maybe some other tricks that you use in your daily lives,

That help you to navigate through your emotions thanks to your bodies,

Thanks to some adjustments,

You can share also them with us.

And please,

Guys,

Also let me know whether everything is clear,

Whether you have something to add or to ask.

I would love to get some feedback from all of you.

Please,

Don't be shy,

Fully participate.

Holly,

You are talking about short inhales and long exhales.

Right,

So if I'm not taking it in a wrong way,

You are talking about how we can unwind our brains,

Our minds and let go of inner tension.

It helps us to relax this breath pattern.

Am I right?

Is it what you meant?

Janet,

For you it's meditation,

Inside time or breath work and dancing.

Wow,

Dancing,

That is a very powerful instrument.

Even if it is difficult to call it an instrument in pure form,

But working with our bodies,

Expressing ourselves through the bodies,

Through the dance,

Through the movement.

Yes,

That is just amazing.

It's very beautiful.

One of the best ways that I choose to work with emotions.

Suze,

You are doing EFT or tapping to move energy and rewire the brain.

Excellent.

Speaking of rewiring the brain,

That might seem like magic in some situations,

But it definitely works.

This is what neuroscience tells us.

It's an incredible instrument to use to know how to work with the brain,

Which techniques to use and so on.

Great,

Thank you so much for sharing,

Guys.

For myself,

I first of all choose the breath,

Especially if it is an urge to switch emotional background,

That is somewhere bustling inside of me.

Another one would be from movement and certainly meditation.

Great.

Alright,

Thank you guys for your hearts,

I can see them.

That's really nice.

Let's talk about the next moment here,

The body-brain connection.

If we are deepening a little bit into our bodies,

We can see how network of nerves and some chemical messengers work within ourselves.

For example,

If our brain receives the signals of increased heartbeat and it responds by triggering the feelings of anxiety or excitement.

And here is a very curious moment that when I knew first,

I was shocked that in our body,

Excitement and anxiety,

Quite opposite emotions that could seem,

They are perceived in the same way.

So,

Our body feels both of them in the same way.

So,

Here can be another trick,

But I would say it is a more profound work with self to not get anxious about something,

But try to be excited about that.

Of course,

There are many layers to go through on this way,

But if our bodies perceive them equally with the same physical responses,

Why not to work with that,

Why not to help ourselves and make it easier for us and more pleasant,

Of course.

So,

I would like you guys to tell me also what causes anxiety for you and what makes you excited.

So,

I would just like to see how different,

How probably polar or maybe similar these situations are.

So,

We can shortly probably analyze them.

That would be very interesting.

Janet,

You love EFT and tapping too.

Great.

Yes,

That's perfect.

Neuroplasticity.

So,

It's definitely right.

This is all of our amazing bodies talking to us,

How we can work with our bodies,

Deepening our self-understanding.

Arizona is here.

Great.

Kegan.

Yeah,

One of the practices that definitely helps us to connect with ourselves with all of the parts of our being.

Very beautiful.

Yoga and breath.

Absolutely.

Yeah,

I would say that yoga for me was life changing.

When I was living in Ireland,

I found two magnificent teachers who changed my not only opinion but my experience with yoga.

And I definitely,

I would say this was the moment,

The period of time when I decided to work with our mind and body intricately.

When I decided to dedicate myself,

My professional work to this connection.

Yes,

Yoga made magic to me.

And breath work.

Right.

I'm happy to hear,

To see,

To read that many of you guys practice breath work.

That's becoming more popular and that's amazing that we can use this tool.

That it is so accessible to everyone.

Great.

Thank you so much,

Guys.

So,

If to talk about anxiety and excitement.

Again,

Earlier when,

For example,

I was moving to another place as a digital nomad,

I got.

.

.

Of course,

I was looking forward to discovering new countries and places,

Meeting new people,

Finding the new community there.

But I was getting anxious a few days before my flight or relocation.

That was challenging week,

Let's say,

A few days.

But when I started to work with the body,

I realized that actually my body is looking forward to that.

It is my mind who interpreted it in a different way.

So,

Now,

Of course,

Anxiety exists in my body as well.

And mostly,

I would say,

It is excitement.

And I'm so happy that it definitely made a difference to me.

You guys can imagine when you can switch that.

I'm sure that many would love to experience that.

And that is all accessible as well.

So,

Suze,

You're saying that if I have anxiety,

I tend to hold my breath.

And when I'm excited,

I can sometimes feel breathtaking.

Aha,

Great.

I never realized how much the same they can be.

Thank you for the awareness of that.

Yes,

Well,

Definitely,

I really like how you put it into the word breathtaking.

I feel breathtaking,

Definitely.

Right,

And I can relate myself when I.

.

.

I would say when I experience fear,

When I'm scared of something,

Even unconsciously.

Yes,

I feel the stiffness in my lungs.

And when I realize that,

Oh,

I'm not breathing,

What happened?

Then,

Only after that,

I can realize that something is wrong or where I should look at and so on.

Definitely,

That's so connected.

Right,

And Maggie,

You're mentioning heart-brain coherence.

Absolutely right.

Some somatic practices or simply just listening to your heart and brain.

Maybe putting hands on both at the same time.

Just being with yourself at the same moment.

The same as a heart goes on your heart and another one on your back.

It can be a very nice practice.

Quite stabilizing,

I would say,

At the moment.

Holly,

You're using insight time a lot.

Yes,

Perfect.

I'm glad to know that.

And Maggie,

I see standards that take my breath away,

Then I cry with love,

Then I start to breathe.

Yes,

Especially when you're mentioning the tears.

This is how our bodies release tension,

Whether it is positive or negative tension,

Right from comfortable or uncomfortable emotions.

So this is how our bodies regulate themselves,

Including all the hormones and so on.

Excellent.

That was really,

Really interesting to hear your stories,

Guys.

Your tools,

The favorite instruments that you're using.

Thank you so much for your participation.

And once again,

I would like to remind you guys about the recordings of these questions in my profile.

So please make sure to follow me here on Instagram.

There is also an option to message me directly if you got any questions,

If you would like to work with me.

I provide online coaching sessions.

I have an online coaching program.

And,

Of course,

Online personalized,

Tailored to you meditation sessions,

As well as working with the bodies through psychosomatics.

And you can find me on Instagram as well.

And,

Of course,

Thank you guys for your donations,

Maybe during our session or later.

Thank you all so much.

That really contributes to the whole community of Insight Timer.

All right.

Well,

And let's continue.

I have a few more moments that I would like to mention to you guys in regards of emotions and our bodies,

Physical selves.

It is chemical reactions and neurotransmitters.

So definitely quite related to the previous moment that we were just discussing.

So I'm sure that most of us are aware of serotonin and dopamine,

Meaning that they are substances that the emotions can make our bodies to produce them in response to some situations.

Right.

And another psychosomatic effect,

Of course,

As a psychosomatic specialist,

That is something that resonates with me deeply.

Emotional experiences can manifest physically in the form of different aches,

Pains,

Even diseases or health issues.

So chronic stress,

For example,

Can lead to weakened immune system,

Which in turn would just start many other unfortunate illnesses in our physical bodies.

So it is a very strong example of illustration of how emotions can affect our physical health.

And in psychosomatics,

We are working through our bodies with the emotions,

With some triggers.

We are finding with the help of our body the root cause,

The root problem.

That was the switch on to some diseases or to your emotional states.

So that is why psychosomatics is so beautiful to me,

That it makes it so clear and so obvious and so easy to work with.

So sometimes it is even possible to change the physical condition of a person within one deep session.

And that is just incredible,

Another example of magic.

And all thanks to our bodies and minds.

Well,

Thank you so much,

Holly,

For your donation.

And I really appreciate that.

All of you guys,

Thank you for participating,

For being here.

It makes me really happy to share today with all of you guys.

And let's highlight the importance of self-awareness.

I'm sure that all of us here,

Because we are on Insight Timer,

Right,

Know how crucial it is in our lives.

So with the help of self-awareness,

Just recognizing that something probably is not right or something changed,

It helps us to regulate and to manage our emotions effectively.

So what happens when we can work and manage our emotions?

Well,

I would love to hear your opinions,

Guys.

So how do you imagine that or how do you know that from your experiences,

From your life,

What happens or what would happen if we are aware of our emotions,

If we know how to regulate them and how to respond to them?

Let's wait for a few moments.

If somebody would like to share about that.

Here we can talk about the emotional intelligence.

And let's see,

Let's see.

Well,

I would like to,

First of all,

Point out that regulating our emotions,

Knowing how to respond to them can improve our relationships with other people,

Because all the stress,

All the happiness and everything in between them happens because of other people in our lives,

Whether we are contacting them directly,

Right now,

Physically at this moment or not,

But because of other people.

It can strengthen our relationships,

Whether it is with ourselves,

First of all,

The very profound one,

The basic one,

With our families,

Loved ones,

Colleagues and so on.

Managing,

Regulating our emotional states,

Our emotions can improve our well-being,

Our physical health as we already saw the connection of emotions with our bodies and speaking more generally,

Improve the quality of our lives.

So that is so important to understand yourself,

Your emotions and know how to work with them.

All right,

So Holly,

You are saying that you can overcome them and change your mood.

Absolutely,

Right.

So even if it is a very strong uncomfortable emotion,

First would be to identify that and the second to pay attention to that,

To dedicate your time and full presence to that.

And with the time,

Depending on the scale,

It will be possible to naturally change your mood for the better.

Right.

And Maggie,

You are saying that I know when I get triggered,

I have to pause and or leave the room.

I know it is just an emotion coming up.

Breath and breathe and go back and have a peaceful conversation.

Yes,

Right.

Especially if we are talking about some sort of arguments or conflicts,

The best way to go through such situations.

Absolutely.

Thank you for making it clear to all of us.

Through conscious mindfulness,

I raise my vibration through smiling and getting myself to love.

Excellent.

Yes,

That makes me really glad to read that.

Do you mean getting myself to love that you practice some intentional loving?

As I imagine that there are even some practices,

Let's say,

In yoga classes that I participated in and so on,

In gatherings,

That you in a group start to love intentionally.

Well,

To say it basically.

Is it what you mean or is it something different?

It is very curious to me to know a bit more about that.

Yes,

I cannot say that I try that regularly,

Speaking about laughter,

Though a couple of times when I did,

I could see that it was working and so quickly.

Yes,

Maggie,

You did by yourself?

Yeah,

Absolutely.

It is possible.

I mean that if I understood correctly what getting myself to love meant.

Great.

Thank you so much.

I am sure that we already got a big list of practices that will help us to enhance our self-awareness of our emotions,

Emotional states.

Another one that I would like to mention is mindful practices,

All of them,

Such as not only breathing,

But mindful eating,

Which is also really important to our bodies,

Our physical health,

Especially to the digestive system.

And all types of mindful routines,

Such as,

For example,

I help my clients to make the structure in their days to establish healthier,

More suitable for them,

More effective morning and night routines,

That when you get to practice them,

When you establish them strongly,

Profoundly in your life,

They can provide you immense support throughout the whole day.

So,

And definitely that in turn,

Again,

Will improve the quality of your life.

Meditation,

Such as body scan,

Again,

Connecting with the body,

Or progressive muscle relaxation,

Especially before going to sleep.

Other beautiful practices.

Maybe gratitude.

But I think one of the most life-changing for me here was journaling.

I always knew about the benefits of journaling,

That it helps us to release emotional tension and also mental tension through our brains,

From our brains through our physical bodies,

Right,

Through our hands.

I'm talking about journaling with a pen and paper.

But I never could establish this practice.

So,

Until when I decided,

All right,

I'm going to do that for two weeks,

And if nothing happens,

I've just quit it and will never come back to that.

And after about 10 days,

It took quite a long time,

Because I was very impatient to see the results.

I started seeing the difference that journaling makes for me.

And after that,

I definitely use this instrument regularly.

I do not journal every day now,

But only when I feel that I need that.

And it really helps.

Let me know your stories with journaling,

Because I would say about three,

Four years ago,

It was booming.

And I'm curious whether you also tried to start practicing it or maybe not.

Maggie,

Some comments from you.

I have been on Insight Timer for three and a half years every day.

Wow,

Every day.

Excellent.

It has changed my life.

Thank you so very much.

I'm sending out so much love to all of you.

Thank you.

I feel that love.

Excellent.

Thank you all,

Guys,

Again,

For being here.

Thank you,

Maggie,

For your kind words.

And I loved doing my gratitude journal for years.

It helped so much.

As gratitude journal,

It's the part that warms my heart every single time when I do that.

Or even if I don't have the opportunity to write it down,

Doing it in my mind.

Yes,

I totally agree that it helps a lot and it changes my emotional state at the moment.

Maybe not drastically sometimes,

But definitely contributes to my mental and emotional well-being.

Great.

Thank you,

Maggie,

For your donation as well.

Perfect.

And while we're here,

If there are any questions,

Guys,

About our today's live event,

This session that we had,

Please let me know.

I would like to chat maybe a little more with you guys.

And,

Yes,

I'm really glad to see how self-aware you guys are,

How you can work with your emotions.

And another moment that I would like to talk about,

Just in a few words,

Is that some say that we can or should control our emotions.

But I absolutely against that.

First of all,

I don't think that we can control our emotions,

Because in any way.

.

.

We can suppress them,

But in any way they will leak out.

So there is no point even in trying to control them.

And at the same time,

There is no need to control them.

As I said,

They are very essential,

Very important markers for us to see whether everything is going on well inside and outside of us.

All right.

Well,

As I see,

There are no questions.

Well,

Thank you,

Guys,

For your time today.

That was so nice to connect with you on this Saturday afternoon,

Depending on the place where you are.

Also,

I would like to tell you guys,

If you would like some professional help or guidance in working with your emotions or your bodies,

Please do not hesitate to contact me.

I would be really happy to connect to you outside of Insight Timer and the private sessions,

If you feel that it is something that you are seeking now at the moment,

Or if you would like to deepen your mind-body connection.

All right.

So,

Maggie,

The question from you.

Don't you think we should address all emotions and find out what our soul is trying to tell us?

Yeah,

Absolutely.

If I understand your question correctly,

Address all emotions.

Of course,

We should work,

We should accept,

We should let any emotion that arises,

That we identify,

Just be inside of us,

With us at this very moment.

We should not try to escape from any,

No matter how uncomfortable or how comfortable but intense they are.

Of course,

This is,

As you say,

Our soul is trying to tell us,

And I would add that our body is trying to tell us as well.

Yes,

We have so many different parts in our beings,

And it is so beautiful to see how they all work together,

And who we actually are,

Thanks to these parts of us.

All right.

Well,

Maggie,

No problem.

I think we didn't mention that aspect in the very beginning,

If you were late,

No problem.

So,

I hope that I answered your question,

Even if shortly.

Right,

No resistance,

Of course.

I'm sure that resistance at the same time is a natural response to uncomfortable emotions,

And it may always be there,

But we should see with our awareness.

All right,

Here is a resistance to what?

To this emotion or emotions.

So,

Let them be both at the same time.

You are none of them fully,

They are just parts of you.

And yes,

It means that you can work with both,

Or with the strongest emotion that you identify at the moment.

All right,

My pleasure.

I'm glad that I could understand the question and share my thoughts on that.

Also,

In the Plus subscription on Insight Timer,

There is a meditation,

A guided meditation of mine,

On how to work and live through emotions.

It is quite a short practice,

About 10 or 11 minutes,

That you can perform at any time,

In any place,

When you need some urgent support,

Some help,

Maybe to stabilize your emotional or even physical state.

Again,

That is a very powerful instrument,

That sometimes saves the whole situation or the whole day for me.

So,

You can check that in the Plus subscription.

And thank you once again,

Guys,

For your presence today,

For participating,

For having this communication together.

I really enjoyed that.

Thank you so much for the donations once again.

And thanks,

Insight Timer,

For providing this place for all of us to connect.

Well,

I will see you guys next week,

Next Saturday at 12 p.

M.

Central Time.

And we will discuss and dive deeper into another aspect of the mind-body connection.

All right.

Enjoy this weekend and goodbye,

Everyone!