“…as our attunement with others increases – we become viscerally aware of how our resonance circuits draw us deep within each other – we may become open to a felt awareness of how inextricably interwoven we are with one another” Daniel Siegel in Being a BrainWise Therapist 40

My body and movement life are responsible for Implicit memory. My muscles and other tissues record the events of my life. In the last two newsletters I have used a 3 ring circuit to explore a concept physically and therefore create an implicit memory.

Reminder *3 Ring Circuit

Starting in the left back corner of the horizontal plane

ascending to the high right of the vertical plane, advancing to the forward low of the sagittal plane,

and returning to the start position by enclosing to the left back corner of the horizontal plane

What I pay attention to, and how I pay attention is going to provide me with different information and experiences. With a broad focus I take in my environment, with a direct focus I take in specifics. When I move from my bones into space I create clarity for myself, and a bridging relationship to my environment. When I have a story behind my movement sequences, I am able to remember them and notice my feelings and sensations.

In my Interpersonal Neurobiology studies, we talk about three brains: the skull brain, the heart brain and the belly brain. Each of these ‘brains’ has neural nets for gathering and disseminating information.

We produce more of the neurotransmitter oxcytocin (warm hug – love drug) in our heart than in our head. We produce more seratonin (the neurotransmitter which regulates mood, irritabality, impulses, obsession, and helps with the communication between neurons) in our gut than in our head. The more seratonin in our brain, the better our mood.

Interpersonal Neurobiology specialist Bonnie Badenoch explains that one aspect of intuition is the,

“ability to pay attention to the messages of our viscera . . .[our] bodies’ signals are intimately involved in affective experience, and often the first awareness we have of our emotions comes from a bodily response . . .” The BrainWise Therapist 31.

So the organs in my belly provide me with lots of sensorial and neurological information. It is useful to become aware of the contents of our body to enhance our ability to connect and relate to others.

To gain intuitive and visceral awareness, practice the same three-ring circuit with organ support as a way to increase your sensorial connection to yourself and others.

It is important to look at anatomy images to know where the organs are within you before moving from them. Because you have an inner focus, the movement may be smaller than moving from bones, or moving with an intention of going to space.

Pay attention to the organs in your body as you move through your sequence.

Moving with Organ Support

Starting in the enclosing of my right side to my left back corner, my viscera (intestines, liver, stomach, lungs) have an inward twisting sensation.

Ascending to the right, I experience the untwisting flow of weight roll through my left kidney and back of my left lung, as my intestines open up, my awareness spreads into my right lung.

Bringing my consciousness to the falling 45-degree angle of my gall bladder, I allow my bladder to support my advancing and falling into forward and low.

Returning to awareness of my viscera, (kidneys and intestines in my lower body, heart and lungs in my upper body) winding inwards as I move right and back, I am aware of how my experience is very different and I feel alive and vital when I return to standing.

Having visceral experiences attunes you to your inner self and supports your ability to understand the affect of others on you. This is a way of developing attunement and enhances our ability to relate to others.

With greater bodily self-awareness, we can access greater mindfulness and therefore have more self- compassion. When we do this, we increase our ability to be a safe, healing, and loving presence for those around us and .

In my next articles I will be exploring how we process emotions and how our emotional lives manifest physically.