Day 1 Big Peace December

So it’s Big Peace December. I’ve just spent all weekend at our first Big Peace yoga retreat and boy! am I ready to share what I learnt.

 

The weekend was profound. The thing that moved me beyond belief is how -  if we believe the negative script of our inner pessimist (inner critic whatever you want to call it) -  we live our lives steeped in anxiety and misery – how if we believe his ‘you’re not good/beautiful/clever/you fill in the blanks’….rant, we are imprisoned.

The good news is that it is in a prison of our own making.

 

And all we have to do is open the prison door OR just create a new reality for ourselves entirely. (And as say in my book, listen to your inner coach.)

 

I interviewed Dr David Hamilton recently (he’s the scientist who became fascinated by the Placebo effect) and author of How The Mind Can Heal The Body.

(Here’s the interview if you missed it) and he explained that the mind cannot tell the difference between real or imagined. Whatever stories we tell ourselves become true for us.

One of the studies he quotes in the book revealed that we can get fit and stronger – simply by imagining that we are. A study followed three groups and showed that the group who did not exercise, but rather thought about exercising experienced nearly the same gains in strength as the exercise group by visualising three times a week.  (The real exercises improved muscle strength by 28%, the visualisers improved by 24%) Yes, you read that right.

And that’s just fitness levels. Dr Hamilton gives study after study and case history and case history of how our thinking can induce healing, anti-ageing, losing weight – and even healing ourselves from heart disease and cancer.

On the yoga retreat this weekend, we did physical demonstrations of what happens to our bodies, our stress levels, our lives when we listen to negative stories. Then practiced over and over again with different tools on how to make the leap from listening to our inner pessimist to listening to our inner coach. We experimented with different tools on how to create new thinking and new stories which would get us to our Big Peace place.

In this month of our Big Peace December, I would love for us to create a daily practice for ourselves and try one tool per day to notice our negative stories/ thinking and create new positive, healing stories for ourselves instead. Over the last couple of years, I have interviewed some the biggest self development gurus in the world so we will be experimenting with some of the most tried and tested and most effective tools we have available to us.

At the end of this month, I would love for you to find one or two brilliant tools that work for you. I believe creating The Big Peace in our lives is a daily practice (and sometimes minute by minute practice for me!) and we just need to find a way that works for us to access that place within that can get us tuned into the radio station of our inner coach versus our inner pessimist.

Today, I want us to try a visualisation that Dr Hamilton recommends in his book. (Before you do this exercise today, try to listen to the interview that I did with him so you realise the weight of scientific evidence that shows that this works):

Visualise three times a day:

Imagine a ball of soft green, pink or white light in the centre of your brain or heart, or see it like a little candle flame. This represents your happiness. Note its size.

Now imagine a dial and turn it up. As you do this, see the light get bigger and bigger and brighter. Mentally affirm that it is a symbol of your inner strength and happiness.

Continue to turn the dial and watch the light get bigger and brighter. See it expand right out of your head or heart and throughout your entire body. See the light flow through your arteries and your veins, though your heart and your internal organs. Imagine it tickling your cells and organs and see them smile. See it flow over your skin and imagine your skin cells smiling. See yourself surrounded by this powerful light and mentally affirm that your power and happiness are great.

Try this out - I just have and found myself smiling and then the sun broke through the clouds outside my window. My god, I knew I was powerful but that powerful? Sunny days, all round then?

Speak tomorrow and let me know how you got on with this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Sue Thomason]

Thanks so much for this, especially the interview with David Hamilton. I use visualisation in my online course for compulsive overeaters - and it works to help them to change their thinking. It's great to hear yet more scientific evidence behind the effectiveness of visualisation and the power of making changes to the way we think.

I shall be keeping up to date regularly with The Big Peace. It's much appreciated.

Sue Thomason

[red index]

I just did the exercise for perhaps all of 5 minutes, and now feel a buzzing halo around myself: Wow! I did not expect the effect to be so powerful and immediate!

[Jacqueline]

This was lovely and relaxing. I had a very contented feeling after. I have done a similar excercise before and often imagine sending the pink light to others.

[Claire]

I tried to do this 3 or 4 times last night. I couldn't visualise the light. Any tips? Could I imagine a warm feeling spreading instead maybe or do I have to 'see' this light? Am I looking at myself as if observing from afar?

[Sarah]

I find I can "feelise" much easier than visualise - so cut out the flame/light and went straight to strength and happiness spreading out from my heart through my body. I felt calmer and more focussed after. Tried it several times during the day and found the starting point was stronger than the previous each time.

[Jo]

Wow, thanks for the lovely visualisation exercise! I practiced at lunchtime and could feel the stress of the day lift away....and I couldn't stop smiling!! ;-)