Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Effects of Thoughts on the Body

We are moving this week and while packing, I came across my great grandfather Willi Aeppli's book, The Developing Child.  While skimming it, I found a couple references to Steiner and a subject I'd been thinking about anyway.  It's a little far afield from color, but it connects through Steiner and his work with color and temperament.  What I've been thinking about is the physical aspects of PTSD, which includes carrying trauma in the body, which is triggered again during subsequent "fight or flight" episodes.

Here's where Aeppli quotes Steiner:

"The child, however, not only adopts external characteristics.  He also absorbs less tangible things, such as the adult's thoughts and feelings, and uses them to form his organs.  Rudolf Steiner said, 'Our thoughts live on in the physical body of the child.'  Later, they appear as strength or weakness of the organs. A time will come, Rudolf Steiner goes on to say, when prospective doctors, educators and psychologists will choose quite different themes for their dissertations than they do today.  They might, for example, discuss the following situation:  At the age of forty-eight* a man succumbs to an illness with such and such symptoms.  The illness is found to stem from certain ugly thoughts that confronted the person as a child of four or five (Rudolf Steiner, The Roots of Education).  It will behoove future biographers as well to adopt the basic attitude and insight expressed in this kind of dissertation theme." p. 203
 *(that's weird, I'm 48 right now)
"In a question and answer period Rudolf Steiner addressed this precise issue.  'Every soul trauma,' he said, 'also has an organic effect, especially in children. Everything that happens to the soul has corresponding physical repercussions that alter the course of the organism's development.  After a very specific number of years (life passes rhythmically), and as a result of these repercussions, a repetition of the initial effect on the organs occurs.  The re-traumatized organs now act back on the soul, which is traumatized in turn.  Therefore, instead of analyzing the patient's subconscious, we should be examining his physical health." p. 207

So one's own negative thoughts are stored in the body and effects health, but also the thoughts of your parents or teachers or other early caregivers.  So by extension, all of these effect the suppression of your natural dominant energy and probably even some manifestation of appearance (as effected by health).



Louise Hay You Can Heal Your Body Affirmations

... but hey, don't listen to me, EXPRESS YOUR TRUTH! Jane


2 comments:

SWriter said...

This is an excellent insight. I have been seeing a connection between hormones and neuropeptides and the body. Many scientists are discussing the effects of neurochemicals on health and even body shape such as with cortisol creating a larger stomach. This is one reason that there is growing interest in the brain and neuroscience. Meditation is one of the greatest tools we have at our disposal. Could it be that our energies and body types respond to emotions. I've noticed highly evolved people who use color psychology for making decisions about dress and accessories. How about the effect of crystals and gem stones on apperance and for healing? good stuff, Jane.

Jane Leu Rekas said...

Thank you! all very good related insights to think about :)