We often use the term “gut feelings “, however they don’t originate in the stomach but instead begins in the subconscious mind which sends its messages through the vagus nerve to the stomach….these feelings than travel throughout the nervous system and experienced by the whole body…Our conscious mind’s role is to interpret and translate the meaning of our feelings…the process makes a complete cycle and involves the total organism.
Those who can read body language will sense what we are experiencing….our feelings are usually transparent to observers…this can be embarrassing when we want our feelings hidden and our attempt to control body language only makes us more awkward…and this is one of the reasons we may prefer communicating rationally since it doesn’t reveal as much body language.
When the subconscious mind receives incoming information, it compares and matches it with a store of similar past experiences…our past experiences are stored by images and the subconscious can rapidly match images in only 1/10 of a second!… It can also with only a small amount of information select an image from our memory.
The subconscious is the seat of our feelings and images… when the subconscious reviews images of prior experiences, we not only visualize an image, but also experience the feelings attached to these images…and the subconscious files its images by their intensity of feelings.
The only way we can change our emotional experience is by changing the feeling intensity of our subconscious images…the most important image of all is the self image….and the feelings we have about our self can change when we accept it without judgement… the removal of judgements will reduce its discomfort and allow the images to fade into the memory background.
Hi Nancy,
I enjoyed reading your comment !….I find my gut feelings are far more intelligent than my thought process…as a result I attempt to send my thoughts down to my gut feelings and if it feels good,I believe my thoughts are on solid ground.
Sid
Just discovered this blog while searching on the head brain/mind/thoughts/emotions connections with the gut after learning that scientists do regard the gut as the sixth sense.Not surprising, Sid, if the brain and the gut were twins, and the gut has half of our nerve cells! I have developed late Bi Polar 1 Mania as a result of denying/negative emotions possibly with my head brain (very strong, successful CEO etc etc). The first signs of mania are always a heightening of the most commonly known five senses, but recently the gut brain has decided to unleash its power. Fascinating stuff.
Brett,
I did research your question and found an excellent article that I think answers your question:
The Brain-Gut Connection
Why do we get butterflies in our stomach before a performance?
Why does indigestion produce nightmares?
Why are antidepressants now also being used for gastrointestinal ailments?
It turns out that both our gut and our brain originate early in embryo genesis from the same clump of tissue which divides during fetal development. While one section turns into the central nervous system, another piece migrates to become the enteric nervous system. Later the two nervous systems connect via a cable called the vagus nerve — the longest of all the cranial nerves whose name is derived from Latin, meaning “wandering.” The vagus nerve meanders from the brain stem through the neck and finally ends up in the abdomen. There’s the brain-gut connection.
Have you ever wondered why an impending job interview can cause an attack of intestinal cramps? And why do anti-depressants targeted for the brain cause nausea or abdominal upset in millions of people who take such drugs? The reason for these common experiences is because each of us literally has two interconnected brains –the familiar one encased in our skulls and a lesser-known but vitally important one found in the human gut. Like Siamese twins, the two brains are interconnected; when one gets upset, the other does, too. No wonder people trust their gut. One half of all our nerve cells are located within the gut.
The state of the gut has a profound influence upon our health. It is from the healthy gut that we enjoy neurological and psychological as well as immunological health. This is not to discount the human brain. This is simply to say that the body has two brains — the second brain being our gut.
First off, this blog is amazing and I am currently reading it in its entirety. I really appreciate all the work you have done to make this information available to read. I really am starting to open up to my right side of the brain. I have a good friend that referred to the “gut feeling” in a different manner and I think both views have really great things to offer. What he mentioned involved the “2nd brain” which he considered the bowel system and how discoveries showed that since the bowel can function adequately despite cutting the neural connection betweeen spine and gut the neural mass in the gut must constitute an independent cognitive center. To me this whole idea of another brain is like a huge wrench, but am curious to what others opinions or ideas on the subject are. Thanks again Sid.