Ideas behind this challenge

The Future Exists First in Imagination,
Then in Will,
Then in Reality
-Barbara Marx HUBBARD

The foundational assumption behind this challenge is that the universe is composed of mind. The Universe may be big, but the human mind is bigger because the mind contains the universe. There are more possible connections between the neurons in your brain than there are atoms in the entire Universe.
We never leave our minds. All experience all perceptions occur in the mind. Therefore in order to change the Universe, what is really necessary is to change ones mind.

The second assumption, is the body mind connection. Through this connection states of the mind are manifested through the body. I am roughly relating this to
Somatypes and their relationship with personality. These states are reprogrammable on a psychic level and will create a physical manifestation.

Creating attitudes mental states associated with the musculotonic mesomorphic body type/ will have a corresponding manifestation in the body.

By thinking action oriented, competitive, adventurous thoughts, my body will begin to equip me for competitive, aggressive, adventurous actions.

I believe these types of changes occur with people all the time. People may pursue an aggressive weight training program and develop strong dense musculature and raise their testosterone levels. They may think the results are caused by the training itself, but actually the physical is manifesting changes that occurred in the mind. It’s starts primarily in the mind, but what happens is that a positive feedback loop is created through the mind body connection. A person has a desire to become strong, muscular, aggressive, that inspires them to join a gym. Their body may be already gearing up for the challenge even before they join. The physical training reinforces this.

Some recent experiments bear this out. Here is an article that compiles the various relationships between mental imagery and sports performance:

Uconn strength research


Because of the body mind connection it can work the opposite way as well. Method actors often use facial expressions and body postures to achieve a mental or emotional state associated with the character they are portraying.

Try this experiment for your self. Look in the mirror and make a face like you are terrified. Do it a couple times and you will begin to actually feel scared.

This is the body mind connection in action.

In the
eight circuit model of consciousness, There is a sixth level, known as the metaprogramming level which is able to reprogram all the previous levels. Its about awareness. I am reprogramming my second circuit which is associated with dominance/submission aggression and territoriality. Often people that strongly imprint on this circuit, which can be seen as a developmental stage, are often aggressive, dominant and action oriented. The physical manifestation of this is that they are often, lean and muscular and of medium size. This build gives the greatest balance between the fight and flight complexes. You see this type a lot fighting in the UFC.

I, however, am looking at this as a game. That is the whole point with metareprogramming. I am not stuck in any one circuit. Whereas, some tough, guy that heavily imprinted in this circuit as a child, would tend to interact with the world primarily on this basis-Seeing life as a combat sport or battle for dominance. I have some of that in me as well. My build already shows evidence of that, as I already possess some mesomorphic characteristics. Naturally broad shoulders, etc. I also have traits associated with the enomorphic body type, that I am trying to get rid of. An extreme endomorph, is fat round and soft, pear shaped, with a round jolly face. There are qualities of personality associated with the endomorph that are positive. They tend to enjoy good food and good conversation. They are friendly and personable and often clever.

If you’ve read “The Hobbit” think of hobbits if you want to figure out what endomorphs are like. They ate five meals a day and had lots of festivals and social gatherings. They tended to avoid adventure and were homebodies, living in hobbit holes.

These aren’t negative qualities. Its all good. But these are aspects of myself I am trying to change. The thing is I can! I have been playing around with my nervous system, observing its reactions in social situations and modifying it, using various polarities such as dominance/submission fear/courage. There is a lot of fear associated with social interactions for most people. Ectomorphs, the skinny ones, tend to be shy and retreating. That’s how they deal. Endomorphs deal with social fear, by being more submissive and engratiating, and using their sense of humor. Mesomorphs deal with it by being competitive and seeking to dominate.

The key to reprogramming these responses of the nervous system, is to step outside of yourself, observe your body’s reaction, and then learn how to bring it under conscious control.

So in a nutshell, what I am doing is training my nervous system to create a mesomorphic body for me.

I think this is really valuable technology I have happened upon here. This could potentially give a big edge in personal training. Because think about it. Most men, when they join a gym and begin weight training, want to become more of a mesomorph. But if they can’t reprogram their nervous system, they never will. Think of it this way.

The classic endomorph, will join a gym, build some muscle, and basically, make a lot of friends their and entertain them with jokes, turn it into a social thing and stay kind of chubby and “Friar Tuck” looking. The classic, ectomorph, will kind of keep to himself, running on a treadmill, doing cardio, listening to an audio book or something. The mesomorph will try to become the biggest toughest guy in the gym and probably will.

The various exercises themselves are not the whole picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/sheldon.html

http://www.phinnweb.org/neuro/8-circuit/lilly.html

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/MainLinks/UConnStrength/2005/jul05research.html