It all starts with slime mold (see video below, it’s old but good). This is the stuff all living things are made of. From single celled organism, life evolved to have specialized cells. Bring together enough specialized cellular structures and you have … a human. To make the human system work, you have to have communication between all those specialized groups. This communication is done using chemical, electrical, and vibrational patterns.
Human Chemistry
Chemical is probably the easiest to conceptualize. Most of us in the therapy field have a basic understanding of how neurotransmitters and hormones play a role in mental and physical health. Most of us know that dopamine is connected to pleasure, serotonin to depression and contentment, and GABA to anxiety states. Many of us understand that estrogen and testosterone play a role in our ability to connect and assert ourselves. Lots of us understand that many of these shift and change based on the environment.
Diet plays a huge role here. The body is an amazing system that can make what it needs and recycle or eliminate what it doesn’t. We use food, the sun, and nature to help us develop and synthesize the neurotransmitters we need from the nutrients, vitamins, and phytochemicals we are exposed to. Biology also plays a huge role here. We often consider genes of ancestry to understand our physical structure functions.
Overall, chemical communication is fairly slow. The hormones and neurotransmitters have to get into the blood stream, enter the synapsis, hook up with other chemicals, and “dock” for uptake to keep the system going (Fields & Stevens-Graham, 2002). This is a lot of steps. The endocrine system and nervous systems use chemical patterns and electrical signaling to communicate between specialized cells.
Understanding electricity
Electrical patterns are faster and extend out beyond the physical system (Brian & Lamb, 2014). As a result, this kind of communication can be “read” by other electrical systems. When you have one electrical system next to another and they share the same frequency they create a larger field around the electrical objects. The heart works on electrical signals and is the “battery” of the human body. As your heart rate changes, it impacts the field around you. If you are in connection with another mammal and your electrical fields are similar, you will create deeper connection by collapsing the wall between you and create a larger field that both are part of (Tozz, 2014). Ever sat at the coffee shop and watched people connecting in conversation? Those who are deeply connected appear to “be in their own bubble” or we get the feeling that they are oblivious to the outside world. Maybe you’ve even had this experience yourself.
Let’s talk about heart rate variability. If you can influence your heart rate (electricity) and shift your nervous system (chemistry) and your electrical pattern moves beyond your physical body you are now influencing others near you. As the clinician you can work to regulate your clients by slowing your breath rate, shifting your heart rate, and calming your nervous system. Just like a parent does a child. Your most important therapy tool … your body. If you are working to calm yourself or others, work to slow your breathing and shift your heart rate to a slower signal. POST HRV Email on my therapist blog site.
Vibrational Waves
Humans, like all things, are made of molecular structure. Molecular structure is made of atoms. Atoms are tiny parts of matter that vibrate. Is high school physics coming back to you? When things vibrate they send out ripples. In humans these ripples extend beyond the physical structure. Just like water ripples out from the point of the dropped stone. As a result we “read” each other based on our “vibes”. You know the sayings … “that guy has bad vibes” or “I really felt good around her”. When our vibrations are similar we feel better, we “resonate” with the other person. When we do not resonate with the other person we often find ourselves feeling unease or “off”. We influence our vibrational patterns by shifting our focus points and influencing the physical structures around them (Trivedi & Mohan, 2016). Waves, like electricity will enhance or cancel each other based on how they match up when they meet. This is the communication we are experiencing between two human bodies.
When we talk about these deeper, subconscious ways humans communicate we would be remiss if we did not speak to the need for boundaries. For many of us we have physical boundaries – my chair, my office, clothing, home etc. We also have professional, ethical, and other mental / thought based boundaries around our activities, but have you thought about your energetic ones? Now that you understand how we communicate beyond the physical structure what are the ways you create energetic boundaries for success and safe connection in your life?
Now that you have an understanding of ways we communicate how will you shift your personal practices to make sure you are taking care of your own chemical, electrical, and vibrational communication influencers? What will you do to make sure you are prepared and ready to communicate in these somatic ways that allow a deeper and subconscious connection? How will you boundary yourself to make sure you are taking care of yourself?
Embrace the power of your soma to impact and influence others – both in traditional verbal / non verbal communication tactics, but also with the more subtle and powerful subconscious ways humans communicate in their environments. Give it a try today and let me know how it goes.
References:
Fields, R. D., Stevens-Graham, B. (2002). New insights into neuron-gila communication. Science, 298(5593). 556-562
Brian, M., Lamb, R. (2014). How electricity works. How Stuff Works. http://www.presentationexpressions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Yulchon-Howstuffworks-
Tozz, P. (2014). Does fascia hold memories. Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies, 18, 259e-265. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2013.11.010
Trivedi, M. K., & Mohan, T. R. R. (2016). Biofield energy signals, energy transmission and neutrinos. American Journal of Modern Physics. 5(6),172-176. doi: 10.11648/j.ajmp.20160506.12
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