Mind Medicine
Mind Medicine
Traditional psychotherapy essentially manages symptoms, but doesn't address root causes. This is for the simple reason that classical approaches to therapy are limited to the "psychological" level of human experience, while the root and substance of all cognition is literally embodied.
Did you know that depression, anxiety, attention challenges, compulsive and addictive behaviors, and PTSD are all, at their core, dysregulated neurophysiological processes? This means that to truly resolve these conditions, and not merely treat their symptoms, we must work through the somatic mind -- the body -- to recreate patterns of holistic energy alignment and integration.
In broad outline, here are the key ideas needed to understand this process:
- Mind and body are one: cognition is not just "mental" but is inclusive of our entire being as a complex network of patterned flows of energy
- Through the normal course of life -- including everything from daily stressors to acute, intense events -- the patterns of energy that constitute us become dysregulated or dis-ordered. (Literally: the original order or organization of our energy systems is disrupted, leading to dysfunction in any number of bio-cognitive, neurophysiological, anatomic, and metabolic processes.)
- In a state of dysregulation, the multi-directional communication and functional pathways among brain, body and environment are dis-ordered. These pathways are the stuff of cognition. When these pathways are disordered, we experience the symptoms commonly labeled as "mental disorders" or "mental illness."
- Recreating holistic alignment and integration: our overall sense of "how we are" in any given moment is interoception.
We are complex patterns of energy flow...
...not "physical body" and "mental mind."
In my doctoral dissertation, I wrote about a comprehensive paradigm shift in the life and mind sciences. At the core of this shift is an evolution beyond the obsolete "mind-body dualism," which assumes that human nature is split between two distinct levels of being: non-mental, physical body and non-physical, mental mind. In fact, this dualistic perspective stems from a basic logical error made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides 2,500 years ago! It's well overdue time that we update our theories and science.
The best available scientific evidence -- not to mention millennia of direct, practical, embodied wisdom traditions -- affirms that there is no such basic duality of mind-body, mental-physical, consciousness-matter. Rather, life is patterned flows of energy. This isn't new age woo-woo fringe stuff, this is our most advanced science. Consider this statement by Martin Picard, PhD, world-leading researcher on neurological mitochondria and professor at Columbia University:
"So, what are you? Are you a molecular machine? Or are you an energetic process? And I think the truest answer...the answer is that you're both. But if you ask, 'what is most fundamental?' What is most fundamental is not your physical existence, it is actually you as an energetic process, as a flow of energy."
And, for any nerdy types out there, here is an article in the journal Communicative and Integrative Biology, discussing the same basic idea, by doctor Neil Theise, MD and physicist Menas Kafatos, PhD: "Fundamental awareness: A framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics."
Embodied Mind and Fascia: From Conceptual to Corporeal Cognition
Everything we call "mind" or "cognition" is an embodied phenomenon. This means that "mind" isn't some immaterial thing that floats around in space and somehow connects to the body. Mind is body. And the system primarily responsible for much of what people seek to address through traditional psychotherapy is the fascia.
Long neglected by researchers, fascia is finally receiving the attention it deserves. Fascia is our primary sensory organ; it serves as a body-wide communication network; it is our prime organ of form, structure and movement; it interfaces with every other system in the body; and it is where/how we generate and experience a conscious sense of self.
Interoception is