In a world where we have so much information about training , nutrition , biochemistry, hormones , deficiencies and functional medical testing why are so many people still fat, weak, skinny , ill , in pain? Well maybe the answer does not lay in the next training program or nutritional supplement. Maybe we have reached an era whereby only relying on an intellectual understanding of how the body works is just not enough anymore. Maybe we are ready and or desperate for a paradigm shift in our consciousness with regard to what makes and moulds this physical experience we call life.

I say this not just based on my own life experience and personal challenges but based on looking around me at fellow practitioners in the fields of health and strength and by witnessing the challenges my own clients encounter on a daily basis. Example 1: One of the leading lights in nutritional theory and practice, Robert Crayon, died recently. He barely reached his forties and died of colon cancer. Did he have a low fibre issue or dysbiosis or a nutrient issue. I doubt it. Example 2: The leading researcher in spinal biomechanics , Stuart McGill, whom I have had the privilege to meet and partake of his instruction and wisdom has himself an ongoing “Back issue” still unresolved. Is he missing a key exercise or postural awareness technique? I doubt it. Example 3: Charles Poliquin, my mentor for all things in the field of strength and exercise has had on ongoing issue for years with his right shoulder girdle. This guy’s knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics, training, rehab, nutrition, functional medicine, Chinese medicine, meridians etc seems to know no bounds. He has had every manual manipulation on the planet. Does he need the next new thing in manual therapy? I doubt it.

Am I judging these people as having some sort of short coming? No. What I am saying is that if some of THE most intellectually evolved minds on the planet in the fields of health and strength have issues that remain unresolved then maybe a purely intellectual paradigm of how the body works is insufficient.

Candace Pert PhD in her book “Molecules of emotion” has shown clearly through scientific experimentation during her PhD research that what we call emotions are actually a biochemical phenomenon. Feelings interact with matter to produce the biochemical’s that drive our emotions. Thoughts and beliefs can also “mold matter”. The need for double blind placebo studies is a testament to this fact. Now many of us are aware of the power of mind to affect all outcomes of human experience. To quote an Irish expression “we have ripped the hole out of this one”. There are hypnotherapy courses going two a penny out there, NLP is no longer some weird science and goal setting is almost passé.

How much awareness do we have about the realm of feelings? Again to put an Irish-ism in “Sweet feck all”! Why? Because it is the next frontier of Human awareness/consciousness. Feelings are the language of the soul and though this may sound very new age and fluffy, the language of the soul has not been our modus operandi for a very long time. We have collectively been seduced by the head, by the thinking and the intellectual masturbation.

What if being in touch with our feelings and not just our bodies and thoughts had the power to transform our lives? Turns out it does, we just don’t know it yet. Candice Pert has come to the conclusion that “Your Body is your subconscious mind”. That’s a pretty big statement but she has evidence to back it up. During her research on neuropeptides (a type of chemical messenger) she discovered that in order to function as messengers these neuropeptides needed “docking stations” known as receptor sites to bring the message home. She discovered receptor sites for opiates in the brain. Her later research discovered the same opiate receptor sites all over the body! So feeling is not just a cerebral phenomenon it’s actually more visceral. In fairness the Chinese have been on to this fact for millennia they just have not quantified it in a Western biochemical way. As more and more receptor sites were found in the brain the corresponding receptor sites were found in the body. Your body “feels” all over. These feelings are a type of communication system. This communication links the brain to the body. This was recently discovered with research into serotonin, the neurotransmitter of happiness. Yes receptor sites for this chemical were found in the brain but it turns out the gut produces 80 % of all of the body’s serotonin. But there’s more! It turns out the body and brain are connected by these chemicals and have a feedback mechanism with each other e.g. Gut/ Brain, Brain/Gut. According to the late Crayhon this feed back mechanism is actually 80/20 feedback from Gut to Brain! So if you are feeling depressed or unmotivated to do your workout maybe you need to check your digestion rather than sign up for some happy pills!

Hormones, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides….what ever way you look at it they are all “molecules of emotion” and just like the feedback loop between brain and gut goes both ways the feed back loop between feelings and chemicals goes both ways. Hormones affect feelings and feelings create biochemical effects!

What is your body saying about you? What subconscious story lies underneath those fat cells? When I do a biosignature assessment on a client I am not just looking at their hormone profile but their life story. As Carolyn Myss author of Anatomy of the spirit sates “Your biography becomes your biology”. So tell me what is your body’s story?