Emotionality has been the focus of intensive interest since the 1980s among experts abroad and in our country as well (e.g., Machač, Machačová, Hoskovec, 1985). We drew attention to problems in children’s emotional development in connection with developing their social competence (Diešková, 1986). We also published a program to ease problem-solving situations in children (Diešková, 1991). Later, several psychologists developed programs for developing emotional maturity or self-regulation in children, which began to be introduced into the educational process under names such as Cesta (Matula, 2001) or Cesty (Zelina, Uhereková, 2002).
Zelina also points in connection with the psyche to children’s physical condition. There are few programs related to emotional intelligence support in our context that could serve as prevention of physical illnesses, even though the psychogenic conditioning of the origin of many diagnoses is recognized. It is stated that lowering stress levels by various methods has a preventive effect—yet the validated treatment program that would work on the basis of targeted work with emotions is not really known. In this contribution, besides theoretical issues, we also consider a program used abroad for illness prevention in children and adults, and for their treatment as well. It is also called Cesta (Bays, 2007), but it is about something else.
Wisdom and the Body in Relation to Healing
In our psychology, wisdom is most commonly mentioned in connection with understanding the world, good, and the meaning of life, and includes harmony between mind and character (Ruisel, 2006). Currently, interest in wisdom has increased in the search for positive signs of aging. It is clearly necessary to find approaches to successful aging, despite increasing biological vulnerability, which require wisdom. What type of wisdom can be useful in this? Brezina (2008) analyzes the differences between Western and Eastern concepts of wisdom. It states that Western understanding of wisdom emphasizes a broad knowledge base and expertise acquired through life experience. In the East, in connection with the application of holistic principles, wisdom is seen as a virtue closely linked with control over one’s own body. A special goal here is the conscious containing of bodily processes, where unity of control and spontaneity is applied. This is what interests us in relation to health and healing.
In another context, among the public here, the wisdom of oriental medicine according to Jonáš (1990) is known, which teaches understanding how individual parts and organs of the body influence and are related to thinking. (For example, the spleen, pancreas, and stomach circuit affects comprehension, compassion, and good social orientation). It brings information that leads people to building a healthier lifestyle and better social functioning. The question arises: to what extent can we consciously influence our health and our body. When the body can grow from the form of a child to that of an adult, a kind of its own wisdom can be attributed to it. It is a process we know takes place in the body, but we do not have the possibility to intervene in it. Some possibilities for this are provided by an understanding of how body memory works.
Body Memory and Emotions
At the beginning of the 1990s, new types of memory—explicit and implicit (Rothschild, 2007)—were discovered. They represent two incompatible memory systems. Explicit memory operates at the level of consciousness, relates to the mind and verbal abilities. Implicit/nondeclarative memory functions unconsciously, automatically, without words, at the bodily level. Accelerated heart activity, and for example accelerated breathing, can be related to the spontaneous emergence of material from implicit memory. Body memory relies on the communication network of the nervous system. We are able to perceive our internal sensations, muscle tension, and pain. Inner perception helps us identify and name emotions. According to Rothschild, each basic emotion—fear, anger, sadness, or joy—is accompanied by a certain amount of distinct bodily sensations, stimulated by precisely delimited brain activity. Even though emotions are named by our mind, they are experiences of our body and are linked to muscle contractions. The best known and recognized theories about the relationship between body and emotions come from J. LeDoux and A. Damasio. Based on them, new effective approaches to treating the consequences of trauma (when implicit and explicit memory are not connected) have been developed. In this contribution, we will not deal with these, although they are close and at the same time different from the Way we address further.
Brandon Bays and the Wisdom of the Body
Therapist B. Bays (2007) developed the Path after her cancer tumor was treated. She recognized the wisdom of the body and marveled at how quickly the organism can regenerate cells. But she did not herself come to understand why cells attacked by cancer cannot regenerate. D. Chopra explained it to her in a lecture—that inside the cells old memories are stored that can cause degenerative disease in all cells. As soon as a diseased cell dies, it passes its memory to the next emerging cell, and thus the disease continues. He compared the human body to a computer (Bays, p. 54) and stated that its “programming” can be interrupted. When this is successful, the possibility of healing arises. If we wanted to interrupt the programming, uncover the cellular memories, and get rid of them, we would need to get in contact with the same part of our being that created the original programming—that is, with the infinite intelligence and wisdom of the body. Chopra concluded that people who found out how to get in contact with body wisdom were able to find that “gap” and could survive their illness. From his observations, he found that this was achieved in a different way each time for these people, but he assessed that this possibility is available to everyone based on the so-called quantum theory. However, he did not give people concrete advice; that could only be done by Baysová, based on her direct experiences. She realized that it is not enough to speak about infinite intelligence; a person has to experience it. She found that body wisdom and cellular memory are connected with emotional problems. She learned not to run away from her emotions, but to get to their core and feel peace there. She understood that healing comes when a person addresses emotional issues on the deepest level of self-awareness. Gradually, she managed to develop the program Cesta, into which she transferred her experiences and presents them in a form understandable to the public.
Briefly on the Content of Bays' Path
The program was recently published in Czech (Bays, 2007), and is divided into two parts—the Emotional Path and the Physical Path. On the Emotional Path, the client focuses on their feelings and goes through so-called emotional layers. The person fully concentrates on the feeling, experiences and intensifies it, but does not linger in it. The layers are moved through until the client reaches an experience of peace and calm. In this process we find a combination of control with spontaneity, which we mentioned in the first part of the contribution. In the next steps of the Emotional Path, the client comes to a higher-level view of their feelings, awareness of their position in the past, and understanding of the behavior of other people. On this basis, they come to integration of their future and emotional regulation.
On the Physical Path, body wisdom leads the client through a process of discovering sensations related to individual organs and muscles. Memories are uncovered that change during the Physical Path through supportive means. The entire process takes place in an atmosphere of unconditional love and acceptance. Spontaneous healing of sick body parts occurs.
Present and Perspectives
The effectiveness of this Path has been verified by thousands of people in different countries. B. Baysová and collaborators currently organize training seminars around the world. An intensive course of the Path held in Prague was also conducted, led by Simone Weiss, her disciple. In foreign countries, longitudinal training can also be completed. Although we do not have qualified trainers here, based on insights from publications, we consider Cesta to be a major challenge and inspiration for us as well. There is also a published book Cesta pre deti (2007), which met with significant response in schools in Africa. For use of the Path with younger children in our context, we propose adaptation of terminology and its possible validation on small samples in cooperation of psychologists with doctors and special educators.
Autor: Viera Diešková Literature:
Bays, B.: Cesta. Eminent, Praha, 2007, ISBN 978-80-7281-300-1 Bays, B.: Cesta pro děti. Praha, Eminent, 2007, ISBN 978-80- 7281-301-8 Brezina, I.: Kontúry východnej múdrosti, in I.Ruisel a kol.: Myslenie- osobnosť- múdrosť, Bratislava, ÚEPsSAV, 2008, ISBN 978-80-88910-25-1 Diešková, V.: Rozvíjanie sociálnej kompetencie detí predškolského veku z detských domovov. Záverečná správa, VÚDPaP, Bratrislava, 1986 Diešková,V.: Rozvíjanie spôsobilosti riešenia problémových situácií u detí predškolského veku s ohrozeným sociálnym vývinom. PUMB, Bratislava, 1991 Machač, M.,Machačová, H., Hoskovec J.: Emoce a výkonnost. Praha, SPN, 1985 Matula, Š.: Dobrodružná cesta výchovy. VÚDPaP, Bratislava, 2001, ISBN 80-967423-2-9 Jonáš, J.: Křížovka života. Ústí nad Labem, Dialog. 1990, ISBN 80-85194-00-7 Ruisel, I.: Múdrosť na počiatku 3. tisícročia, in Múdrosť-inteligencia-osobnosť, Bratislava, ÚEPsSAV, 2006, ISBN 80-88910-19-6 Rothschild, B.: Pamäť tela. Humenné, Pro familia, 2007, ISBN 978-80-967964-5-8 Zelina,M., Uhereková: Ako byť sám sebou. Program Cesty, OG- Vydavateľstvo Poľana, s.r.o.,2002, ISBN 80-89002-57-9
The contribution was published in the conference proceedings ,,Health Psychology - Health and Wisdom. Health Psychology and Burnout Syndrome. Gender Differences in Health“. The conference was held in 2009. Editors: PhDr. Dušan Selko, CSc., MPH, Mgr. Róbert Ďurka, PhD. Proceedings published with financial support of the Národný ústav srdcových a cievnych chorôb, a. s., Bratislava Publisher: Národný ústav srdcových a cievnych chorôb, a. s., Bratislava at MAURO Slovakia s.r.o., Bratislava 2010, ISBN 978-80-968092-6-4