I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am.

Albert Einstein
Overview of This Page:

All 3 parts of the brain (from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine) must be in balance both individually and amongst each other in order to truly thrive in our lives.

In western culture we so often want to be able to say “this is good” and “this is bad;” this habit of looking for “right” VS “wrong” overlooks that life is often a balance between extremes. Although this is an eastern concept it is also easy to verify or recognize in your own personal life experience.

Just a few examples you can notice in your own life illustrate this point:
  • Is it better to spend ALL your money, save ALL your money, or somewhere in between?
  • Is it better to spend ALL your free time with friends, ALL your free time by yourself, or somewhere in between?
  • Is it better to exercise ALL the time, rest ALL the time, or somewhere in between?

The point I hope to illustrate here is that life, in your own personal experience, is an act of balancing between extremes. This page and it’s companion pages “the thinking brain” and “the self-aware/conscious brain” are shared with you so that you can become aware how this balancing act is accomplished in the brain, how it affects your everyday experience of life, how to recognize the extremes in yourself, and finally how to use this knowledge to empower your life and move you closer to a state of THRIVING.

What Does Your Body Brain Do?

Your body brain or “Po” in TCM is often referred to as the “soul of the body”; a phrase I am personally in love with. The body has this incredible innate intelligence (what we often call intuition) that if attended to naturally draws itself to health, healing, well being, and aliveness.

If developed through practice it becomes an almost infallible guide that always moves towards “best available option”, and your own personal internal “doctor”.

It is also, as mentioned at the beginning of this “chapter“, the part of the Mind that monitors and responds to the internal (thoughts) and external (5 senses) environment and stimulates the body to respond.

What does this mean from a health/symptom perspective?

The body brain in the connector from the physical body (Qi & Essence) to the Mind and visa versa. It is what causes the almost instant feeling of relaxation when a loved one squeezes your shoulder or gives you a hug. You might say that is the TCM equivalent it the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems in Western Medicine (although as always I hesitate to make any direct comparisons).

This part of the Mind has 2 major phases that is attempts to balance between: (Much like the thinking/emotional brain)
  1. A process of expansion or a natural outflowing of itself.
    1. This is the natural outflowing of energy from you that reaches out into the world.
    2. The primary difference between this process in the body brain as compared to the same process in the thinking/emotional brain is that the process of expansion in the body brain is far more somatic (felt). There is more of a raw sense of energy as compared to the thinking/emotional brain. This often manifests with very palpable changes in the body such as a feeling of openness in the chest, a sense of intimacy with your environment, a feeling of greater openness, awareness, and aliveness.
    3. When this state becomes excessive (either by itself or in relation to the other 2 aspects of the Mind) the experience can feel very overwhelming. This is a raw state of “too much/too intense energy” rather than a state of overthinking/overdoing that often accompanies this same state in the thinking/emotional brain. It can be experienced almost like a drug high or spiritual high without being able to “come down”.
    4. This state plays a huge role in anxiety, phobias, and the raw sensation of being overwhelmed.
  1. A process of contraction or a natural pulling inward of itself.
    1. In this phase there is a felt sense of contraction.
    2. The primary difference between this process in the body brain as compared to the same process in the thinking/emotional brain is that the process of contraction in the body brain is far more somatic (felt). There is more of a raw sense of energy as compared to the thinking/emotional brain. This often manifests with very palpable changes in the body such as a feeling of stuck-ness or pressure in the chest (in fact it is an over-contraction here that causes allergic (atopic) asthma), a sense of isolation or separation from others or the world in general (depending on the type of contraction), or tension in the muscles or body in general.
    3. When this state becomes excessive (either by itself or in relation to the other 2 aspects of the Mind) life can feel very small, the body can feel numb, and emotions can become muted (this is different from depression of the thinking/emotional mind as all feelings here are muted down instead of just those that are “positive”)
    4. This state plays a huge role in allergies (especially those involving breathing or feelings of being “stuck”).
A Special note about the body brain and health/symptoms:

The body brain is almost always involved in cases of hypersensitivity whether it be to foods, lights, sounds, life circumstances, or emotions. I have never found a case of hypersensitivity in clinical practice that did not respond to therapy in this area. This is especially true when the reaction includes problems breathing or skin reactions.

Up Next: It’s a Balancing Act

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