The Body Body Body Series

How to reverse the mind-body connection.

I still remember the first time I had smoked meat.

My wife wanted to spend Thanksgiving with her grandparents, so we made the trek down to little ole Pembroke, Georgia — a town with fewer people than most American high schools. But what it lacks in basic amenities (the closest Walmart is a 40-minute drive), it makes up for in Southern charm and hospitality.

The people smile, wave, and call you sweetheart. Everyone is handy. Everyone knows how to cook. The world turns slower there.

We woke up to the smell of cherry wood. If you married the lumber aisle in a Home Depot with a bakery around 5 am in the morning, you’d get close to the same scent.

A few hours later, we all sat around the glorious bird to take our first bites. Orgasmic. And yes, I meant to use that sexual word because that’s how damn good the food was. People talk about depth of flavor but it’s an entirely different thing all together when you experience it.

Sweet, smoky, succulent. I was hooked.

But I was also genuinely surprised by how different it was from any other turkey I'd ever eaten. Granted, they were delicious, too, but not in the same way. This wasn't just better; it was distinct. Transformed.

And that made me think about the cherry wood — how an outside thing could change an inside thing so dramatically.

A Two-Way Street

When we think about the body-mind connection, we typically do so in a one-directional way. The mind influences the body.

Or, as Dr. Hawkins says, "the body obeys the mind."¹

It’s why people like Wim Hof can mute their sensitivities to the cold or how people with personality disorders can turn on/off physical traits like a switch.

The body is at the service of the brain (we’ll use brain and mind interchangeably for simplicity, even though that’s a whole other bucket worth exploring sometime).

But what if the opposite was also true?

What if the body could influence the mind? Not just in little ways, but in fundamental transformations?

We get hints that this is true on both ends of the human life.

As babies, our bodies engage in what Dr. Mollway calls “primitive reflex patterns” that jumpstart growth in specific areas of the brain. But when a baby can’t move in those ways because of a physical limitation or restraint, their brain suffers — leading to dangerous developmental delays.

On the opposite end of the age spectrum, sitting for long periods of time literally turns our brains off. Immobility accelerates the aging process. By doing less, we become less able to do.

Now, you're likely older than 2 and younger than 95, which means you have A LOT of the squishy middle left to live (if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, of course). And that means you have the opportunity to learn how to wield this lever.

Practicing Preciseness

What’s particularly attractive about this topic is the specificity.

There are things you can do with your body that can trigger confidence, peace, clarity, and power. If meditation is a compound exercise for your brain, we’re going to focus on isolation movements. Targeted actions you can take to change the way you think.

And, by doing so, upend your life (in the best ways possible).

So, this is my invitation to you to reverse the body-mind connection and reclaim the influence you forgot you had. It’s an invitation to craft your internal world like you would any piece of art: with your hands and sweat and strength.

It’s your chance to flavor your brain and transform those anxious, small thoughts into sweet, smoky balls-to-the-walls beliefs about yourself. About your value. About your worth. About what you’re here to do…and your ability to do it.

Welcome to Body Body Body.

1. From Letting Go by David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD.