Arpana Greenwood

An idea is only an idea until it has connected to the muscles of your body!

Stress, anxiety, depression, phobia, pain, grief and more -- all of these can be summarized as "limiting emotional states." These emotions can become habits that all too often keep us stuck in very unresourceful states. They may cause irritation, dread, arguments and turbulence with our loved ones and co-workers. They also cause our limitations and lack of success in many areas of life. Most amazing is that it really isn't the emotion itself that makes us to feel bad – but our inability to appropriately deal with those emotional states.

According to current research, the increase of psychological and emotional disorders matches the tremendous explosion of technology and economy. Our traditional clinical models lag behind in providing an effective, satisfying cure. This planet has reached a very specific time that calls not only for a shift in consciousness but also for higher emotional intelligence. Hence, therapeutic models need to advance in order to correspond with the complexity of those challenges.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a science about how human beings process information. Developed in 1974, NLP is still regarded as a highly innovative and effective therapeutic model. NLP respects and embodies the uniqueness of each person's subjective perception of the world and is basically about how thought and language influence what people can or cannot do.

How can we address today's limiting emotional states most effectively? What really is an emotion?

In the May/June 1999 issue of Alaska Wellness magazine, I wrote about embracing rather than fighting troublesome habits. The idea was introduced that each unwanted or troublesome habit has a positive intention. NLP looks at unpleasant and limiting emotions as a signal for a message that has not yet been received. Hence, a negative emotion can be viewed as a carrier for a positive learning.

Once the learning is gathered appropriately, three powerful new options present themselves:

• Experiencing and practicing the larger space within. The "meta" position in NLP is a place called "beyond" where you learn to dis-associate for a chosen amount of time in order to experience a neutral, chargeless dimension that allows watching without judgment.
• The "meta" place helps you to accept and embrace any emotion so it can be expressed adequately and respectfully to all those involved.
• You can learn how to leverage limiting emotional charge into new levels of desired feelings and creations.

It is important to note that emotions are not disregarded in this model, but used to serve us rather than function against ourselves. There are intelligent ways to discover what the fabric of our emotions is made of rather than getting caught up in their content.

If you would like to experience this yourself, take a moment now to stretch your perception and experiment with new ways to address limiting emotional states. Begin by remembering an unpleasant emotional state. Pay attention to the inner picture or movie that goes along with it. If you cannot visualize it right now - just make it up. Notice the colors and how dark they might appear. Notice the smallness of the image of yourself. Pay close attention to the sound track and how discordant and maybe even intrusive it may be. Notice the unpleasant feeling following this representation on your inside.

Leave this experience behind you now and remember a pleasant emotional experience, one you really enjoyed. Pay close attention to the difference of your inner representation. Notice sizes, colors, brightness and the accompanying sounds. Is it a lighter, brighter and more harmonious representation? Notice the feelings that are triggered and where in your body those feelings reside.

I can reproduce a feeling consciously just by visiting that particular sensory perception in the privacy of my mind! Emotions really are the response to our internal representations.

A stimulus gets triggered (a look from your partner) and an automatic pattern follows (feeling humiliated, reacting angrily, etc.). Isn't the metaphor "pushing a button" very descriptive here? Push a button and an internalized, habituated program or pattern prevails.

While shifting inner representations will not necessarily cure a limiting emotional state (there are many different modules that an NLP Practitioner would apply), knowing how to intervene with the fabric that makes the content of your inner movies can be of tremendous help for your daily life applications. It's like having only one channel on your TV screen that plays the same movie over and over again. Let's assume you become tired of these types of movies because they don't serve you anymore. You simply weren't aware yet that there are many more channels with other kinds of movies. NLP empowers you to call forth a multitude of already existing channels while providing the freedom of greater choice and selection.

Brain and body are inseparable. Your brain needs to know where to go, or your body will go back and reproduce the old behavior. Neuro-pathways from your brain are passing messages directly to the cells and muscles of your body. An idea is only an idea until it has connected to the muscles of your body! Your brain works through your five senses. NLP uses sensory perception to make ideas real to the brain. It facilitates authenticity and congruency between your conscious will and unconscious ability. It makes ideas and thoughts real in a way that your neuro-channels can pass them on to your body and behavior successfully. The treasure of NLP is to leverage the language of body/mind toward higher emotional intelligence.