I am intrigued by the power our conscious minds have over body functions that are normally controlled by the subconscious. Here are a couple interesting experiences:
When I went to the gym in California, I started experimenting with trying to conciously control my heart rate. I did this while riding a stationary exercise bike. These bikes had special sensors in the grips that detected your heart rate, and they seemed quite accurate. After about 10 minutes of steady pedalling with a medium resistance setting, my HR would get up to the 130 range. Once or twice it nearly reached 150, which I thought might be a bit high. So when it neared 130, I did not slow my pedaling or breathing, but I concentrated on relaxing all parts of my body not involved in pedaling, and imagined my inner processes slowing down. While this was initiated by logical thought, it was more a feeling that I induced and it is hard to explain exactly how I did it. I was able to lower my heart rate about 10 bpm without slowing my pedaling or reducing the resistance setting.
The other night at Kenpo, the instructor had us holding our legs straight in front, out to the side, and out behind us for 30 seconds each. This pose requires the abdomen to be a counter-balance to the outstretched leg. We were supposed to keep our arms close to our bodies in a defensive position, which meant that stretching them out for balance broke the rules. I tottered and wobbled with my leg stretching to my left and my body tilted to my right. The more I struggled to maintain my balance, the more I wobbled and tipped, and my one foot planted on the floor was making constant adjustments to conpensate. The instructor was grinning at me and I was shaking my head in embarassment. For all my flurry of micro adjustments, I could not keep my balance and my foot up. My stiffness was also a detriment here.
But then I took my mind off the instructor and the other students. I stared at my own body in the mirror, and focused on relaxing my attitude from frantic struggling to a peaceful calm. I visualized everything slowing down inside of me. Almost instantly, my wobbling body stabilized and centered my weight quietly. Wow! That was cool!
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