MODERN WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY IS STARTING TO AGREE WITH EASTERN YOGIC PHILOSOPHIES WHEN IT COMES TO OUR ABILITY TO MANUALLY OVERRIDE OUR FEARS. HERE IS THE PREMISE: – A SENSE OF SAFETY, CLARITY OF DIRECTION AND WELLBEING IS AN INTERNAL STATE THAT CAN BE REACHED WHATEVER DRAMA OR CHALLENGE IS GOING ON IN OUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT – THE EASTERN YOGIS HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS FOR MILLENNIA AND HAVE BEEN USING AN INTERNAL ‘EXTRA SENSE’ TO GET SEEMINGLY SUPERHUMAN POWERS THAT DEFY LOGIC – ANYONE CAN ACCESS THIS EXTRA SENSE POWER WITH THE RIGHT KIND OF INNER FITNESS TRAINING.
In these times of living through a global pandemic and threat of world war, many of us are finding it increasingly difficult to re-establish a good healthy routine in our personal and professional lives. One that has us feeling safe, grounded, relaxed and experiencing joy again.
A study published by The Lancet in October 2021 revealed ongoing long term lasting effects of the pandemic including:
- an estimated an additional 53·2 million cases of major depressive disorder globally (an increase of 27·6%)
- an additional 76·2 million (64·3 to 90·6) cases of anxiety disorders globally (an increase of 25·6%)
- women being more affected by the pandemic than men.
Recovering and returning to normal life and work after COVID is challenging.
It throws up a lot of fear, insecurity and so many unanswered questions.
- Do I have to rewrite the rule book when it comes to working from home?
- Do I have to pivot my business to prepare better for an uncertain future?
- Should I invest in an unstable economic market?
- Should I put all my money into digital currencies?
- Is it time to quit my corporate job and start my own business that I have always dreamed of?
- Should I escape to the country with my family?
- Do I take a year out to go travelling and find my purpose?
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have an inbuilt ‘extra sense’ that could just switch off our fears and concerns and switch on an internal safety net that helps us make the right decisions quickly and easily?
Well, as luck would have it, modern Western psychology is starting to agree with Eastern yogic philosophies when it comes to our ability to manually override our fears.
Here is the premise:
- a sense of safety, clarity of direction and wellbeing is an internal state that can be reached whatever drama or challenge is going on in our external environment
- the Eastern yogis have known about this for millennia and have been using an internal ‘extra sense’ to get seemingly superhuman powers that defy logic
- anyone can access this extra sense power with the right kind of inner fitness training.
The 9th Sense
Growing scientific research in psychology has revealed that we in fact do have this extra sense. It is referred to as ‘interoception’, or the 9th Sense. It is the brain’s ability to collect, interpret and be altered by, receptors within our internal organs. It plays a major role in regulating our emotions including negative feelings of sadness, anxiety and even depression.
The Science of Yoga
Having spent the last decade studying and training with yogis in India, America and the UK, I learned how to manually tap into this 9th sense to override fears and create an internal atmosphere of mental health, clarity and wellbeing regardless of the challenges I am facing. The techniques I learned have become my daily practice and are what I train my clients in. They generate a high state of mental, emotional and physical safety, clarity and wellbeing regardless of what life has to throw at you.
We Are Not All Meant To Become Yogis
We are not all meant to go and live in a cave or an ashram and become a Yogi in order to overcome our deepest fears and reach our best version self.
But what if I told you that you can re- train your 9th sense to do this for you while you go about your daily life?
The Brain Body Connection
Interoception is our body’s ability to ‘sense’ or read and accurately interpret our internal environment, being our thoughts, feelings and body sensations. It is distinct from exteroception which is the ability to read and interpret our external world.
Interoception is the interaction of the body with the brain which is constant and largely happens unconsciously.
The current body of scientific findings focuses on ways to bring this 9th Sense perception into conscious control by focusing on the beat of your own heart. Studies have revealed that by listening to our own heartbeat, we can take better care of the mind.
Interestingly, many Eastern meditation practices typically involve meditating on the heart chakra or energy centre.
Our central nervous system, particularly the brain, is primarily responsible for reading, interpreting and dealing with the information coming from our internal environment.
In 2021 Trends in Neurosciences published a “Special Issue on Interoception” paper by Moran Furman. These findings revealed new ways to “tune in” to the body and manually alter its interoceptive signals – techniques that may help treat a host of mental health problems and help us overcome our fears.
It would seem then that science and spirituality both agree. We can train ourselves to ‘sense’ or become aware of the signals of anxiety, stress, fear and negativity occurring within our body. Then we are better equipped to regulate or moderate the signals going to our brain to overcome our fears, regain a sense of control and safety and make better decisions about our future.
How to Train Your 9th Sense to Manually Create a State of Wellbeing
Spending just 3 to 5 minutes a day to train yourself to deliberately regulate your receptors is all it takes.
The 3 step formula I share with my clients in training them to manually regulate and override stress, anxiety and fears is:
- Stop – take 3 – 5 minutes a day to stop all activity. Ideally just after waking when the mind is less busy.
- Breathe – take 10 deep but gentle breaths in and out through the nostrils while softening the belly and inviting the breath to drop down from the chest to the belly. This shifts the brain out of the stress response into a state of rest and digest making it easier to dial in to the 9th Sense.
- Visualise – spend a few moments feeling in to the sensations of the body and each of the organs. This trains the brain to activate the 9th Sense and allows you to become aware of any fears you may be holding in the body. With this heightened awareness you will have a greater ability to manually override unnecessary worries, fears and doubts and create an internal environment of greater peace and control.
