Mind-Body Workbook for PTSD (2 page)

Imagine a big switch in your brain that turns the I-System (default-mode network) on and off. When the I-System is on, it switches off your executive functioning. When the switch is off it rests, letting you heal and live life at its best.

Mind-Body Language

We will introduce you to a mind-body language that describes your personal experiences using simple terms, descriptive labels for states of your mind and body. They are not meant to carry deep psychological meaning, but they
can
give you the power to quickly start reducing your PTSD symptoms and take off on your self-healing journey.

For example, sometimes life is just hell. Your head is full of self-hating thoughts, your body screams out in misery, and nothing you do brings any relief. You can barely carry out your daily activities. This state of mind and body is the
damaged self
. The damaged self is not just a negative self-image; it also impairs every cell in your body. It is caused by the overactivity of your I-System and doesn’t refer to decreased mental or physical functioning associated with injury, illness, trauma, a difficult childhood, or even your DNA.

When you use the tools in this workbook to calm your I-System, you will automatically to a state of natural harmony and balance in your life. This is your
true self.
In this mind-body state, you heal yourself. See the appendix for short definitions of these terms.

This Book Helps Everyone

The tools in this workbook have proved to be successful even in extreme cases of stress, trauma, and PTSD. They work for men and women, people in the military and those who aren’t. And they work even if you have another problem (such as a brain injury, pain, a sleep disorder, alcohol or substance abuse, or other mental disorders) along with PTSD. The most important feature of this workbook is that it’s made for you, the individual reader, and relies 100 percent on your doing the exercises. You will learn to heal yourself.

How to Use This Book

This workbook is a self-study course with ten chapters. With seven daily exercises, each chapter is designed for you to complete over one week. It’s important to do the exercises in order. If you miss a day, review the chapter, look back at what you’ve done during the week, and pick up where you left off. It’s important to keep up to date by using all the tools you’ve learned, because they are the groundwork for the next day’s assignment. It can sometimes help to spend more than a week on a chapter. The key to healing successfully is to use your mind-body bridging tools in your daily routine. There’s no gain in taking a vacation from living your life at its best.

At the end of each chapter is an MBB (Mind-Body Bridging) Weekly Evaluation Scale that helps you measure your progress in using your practices in your daily life. Healing takes place over time. You will learn about and heal yourself at your own pace. If you get a low score in a certain area on the scale, go over the exercise related to that item. Doing well on these weekly scales means you are changing your life. Also, there are three MBB Quality of Life Scales in this book, which help you see your progress in healing.

1.
Self-Discovery and Self-Healing of PTSD

In this first chapter, let’s start with a quick two-part exercise. If you follow the instructions, you’ll see how well and how quickly the tools work. In just a few pages, you’ll see that the expert in healing your trauma is standing in your shoes—right here, right now. Only after doing this exercise and showing yourself that you have the ability to heal yourself should you start your ten-week journey of daily exercises. Your first week will show you that you can use everyday activities to improve your life.

Day One     Date:____________

1. Take a problem that’s bothering you right now, and write it in the following oval. It may help to look at the sample map on the next page. Next, take a couple of minutes to write whatever thoughts come to mind about your problem, scattering them around the oval. Be as specific as possible, working quickly and without editing your thoughts.

Problem Map

1. Is your mind clear, or is it cluttered with thoughts?
   

   ______________________________
   

2. Is your body relaxed or tense? List where and how your body is tense:
   

   ______________________________
   

   ______________________________
   

3. With your mind and body in this condition, how do you act?
   

   ______________________________
   

   ______________________________
   

We bet you believe your troubling problem is what’s creating all the commotion in your life, which you can see on your map. It’s not! You have just experienced your I-System at work. Your I-System grabs your thoughts, creates mind clutter and body tension, and influences your actions. The map in step 2 will teach you how to control your I-System.

Sample Problem Map

1. Is your mind clear or cluttered with thoughts?
   

   “My mind is so cluttered with thoughts about others that I forget about me.”
   

2. Is your body tense or relaxed? List where and how your body is tense:
   

   “Tight shoulders, “band” around my head, stomachache, really tense all over”
   

3. With your mind and body in this condition, how do you act?
   

   “Irritable, angry; have to stop myself from punching someone”
   

2. The next part of this exercise can change your life forever, because it shows you how to get your I-System to rest. For this important activity, it would help to be in a room without such distractions as the radio, TV, or people talking. Write the same problem (the one you wrote down in the first map) in the next oval. Before you continue, seat yourself comfortably, listen to any background sounds, experience your body’s pressure on your seat, feel your feet on the floor, and feel the pen in your hand. If you have thoughts, gently return to listening to background sounds and tuning in to your senses. Once you feel settled, start writing whatever comes to mind about the problem. Watch the ink go onto the paper, keep feeling the pen in your hand, and listen to any background sounds. Write for three to four minutes.

Problem Map with bridging

1. Is your mind clear or cluttered with thoughts?
   

   ______________________________
   

2. Is your body relaxed or tense?
   

   ______________________________
   

   ______________________________
   

3. How is this map different from the first one you made?
   

   ______________________________
   

   ______________________________
   

4. Do you feel clearer about your problem now? Yes ____ No ____
   
5. If you could live your life with your mind-body in this state, do you think it would enhance your self-healing powers? Yes ____ No ____
   

This first exercise was an activity called
mind-body mapping
. Mind-body maps are short writing exercises that take no longer than a few minutes and, like doodling, serve as little snapshots of your thoughts and level of body tension. The first map helped you to see your I-System’s activity, while the second map let you experience the benefits of when your I-System is quiet
.

Take a look at the differences between your two completed maps. Just as a cut on your finger will naturally heal, your PTSD will naturally heal if the mental and physical commotion of your I-System calms down. Whether it was a knife, saw, glass, or ax that wounded you, your body’s responsibility is to heal, no matter what the cause. In the second map, you saw firsthand what it’s like to calm your I-System. You saw that when you literally come to your senses by focusing on your body sensations and the sounds around you, the I-System calms, and you can better deal with your problem. Throughout the workbook you will learn mind-body bridging tools to quiet your I-System.Mind-body bridging uses the mind and body to move you from your damaged self to your healing, naturally functioning true self. Natural functioning is how you think, feel, see the world, and act when your I-System is quiet.

This week you will use in your daily life what you learned from the two maps you made today. The most important part of this workbook is your doing the exercises. With each exercise come more tools for your toolbox. It’s important to do each exercise as it comes in the workbook; this builds a solid foundation for successfully reducing your trauma or PTSD symptoms. Your results depend solely on your ability to use in everyday life what you learn. Your ability to heal yourself grows on its own. You don’t need to force yourself to heal, any more than you need to force a cut finger to heal. Once you learn to quiet your I-System, healing takes place naturally.

Many people suffering from PTSD come back after the first session and say, “I still have my symptoms, but my house is getting bigger.” This analogy of having a bigger living space is exactly how mind-body bridging works. When you quiet your I-System as you did in the second map, you automatically resume a more settled state and your ability to handle problems has grown (as shown in figure 1.1). Note that the size of the problem or symptoms hasn’t changed. People suffering from PTSD come to believe that the small vessel filled with symptoms is all that they are. They have lived their lives limited by mental and physical pain. Simply by quieting your I-System, you become an expanded vessel. Your living space, healing space, and problem-solving space expand with mind-body bridging so your natural healing state can resume.

It’s important to do each exercise as it comes in the workbook; this builds a solid foundation for successfully reducing your trauma or PTSD symptoms.

Fill out your first MBB Quality of Life Scale at the end of today’s exercises. We have placed this scale throughout your workbook so you can objectively note your progress and systematically keep track of your life-changing experience.

Figure 1.1

As we mentioned, when living with PTSD challenges, we see ourselves as the small vessel. We have falsely come to believe that the small vessel filled with symptoms (the dark shaded area) is
all
we are, with limited space (in the lightly shaded area) for anything else. It’s the overactive I-System that keeps us there.

We automatically expand into a bigger vessel when the I-System is resting. The lightly shaded area represents our living space, our problem-solving space, and our healing space. The size of your challenges hasn’t changed, but the size of the vessel has. The lightly shaded area in the larger vessel expands as you quiet your I-System with mind-body bridging tools, putting you in a state where healing can happen.

MBB Quality of Life Scale

Date: _____

Fill out your first MBB Quality of Life Scale. We have placed this scale throughout your workbook so you can objectively note your progress and systematically keep track of your life-changing experience.

Over the past seven days, how did you do in these areas?

Day Two     Date:____________