No.14 Psychological Kinesiology- Affirmations- VAK

No. 14 Psychological Kinesiology- Affirmations- VAK 


Performance and the Subconscious Mind Part 14- Psychological Kinesiology- Affirmations- VAK
February 22, 2011 by Richard Matteson

Hi,

Understanding the Subconscious Mind- Affirmations

Rob Williams- PSYCH-K

In our last blog we found that our subconscious mind communicates through our body and specifically through our muscles. We learned about Kinesiology and one muscle test.

According to one expert who read my last blog, it is not easy to get accurate results with the muscle test covered in the last blog and other self-muscle tests. It’s possible to get mixed results. [See PSYCH-K Muscle Test below]

Skeptics point out that mixing the power of belief with the possible “facilitated assistance” of your muscle test partner and /or the “placebo effect” may cause your body to give you the answers you or your partner consciously want instead of what your subconscious believes. There are many variables- you or your partner could be tired, sick or emotionally distraught, skewing the results.

Remember also, we are dealing with the subconscious mind and concepts that have not been verified scientifically by a large volume of consistent test results. These blogs about the subconscious mind are presented as innovative and sometimes controversial ways to understand the mind and how it works- caveat emptor.

Today we’re going to continue learning more about the subconscious from another facet of kinesiology- Psychological Kinesiology known as PSYCH- K. We’ll look at the PSYCH- K Muscle Test, which has some improvements over the classic Diamond Muscle Test. We’re also going to learn about affirmations and some ways to create affirmations that connect with the subconscious mind.

An affirmation is a positive statement or declaration that something is true. Many affirmations are self-affirmations that are repeated aloud or silently to create a positive state of mind. Affirmations are sometimes repeated over and over like a mantra to replace negative thoughts and feelings that come into the mind. Some people believe that by repeating these affirmations they will replace the underlying negative thoughts stored in the subconscious. So how can we replace the negative thoughts and emotions?

Let’s look at some affirmations that were used as classical guitar performance tools by Aaron Shearer, my mentor. The first and most important affirmation is that we learn music so that we can share it with other people. The emphasis on learning to play music is on “sharing music.”

Certainly this is not how many music students approach the daunting task of performing music. Shearer realized that if we could only practice or play in a sound proof room and could never play music for any person, we would lack the motivation to practice and perfect our musical skills. Without an audience, playing music is pointless. So “sharing music” is the main reason we learn, even if it is an ego driven desire.

So affirmations for “I love sharing music” could be: “I am sharing music” or “Sharing music is my goal” or “Sharing music and playing music are the same.”

Shearer also said in his book, Learning the Classic Guitar Volume 3, “Cultivate a positive attitude towards your listener.” He adds, “They’ll sense and appreciate your attitude.” Here Aaron is going beyond any standard dry pedagogy and talking about “sensing” a discernment of the subconscious mind.

So affirmations for “I love my audience” could be: “I am glad to play for you” or “I feel happy that you are here” or “My audience knows I care about them.”

Psychological Kinesiology known as PSYCH- K was created in 1988 by Robert M. Williams. We’ll examine the subconscious and affirmations by looking at his 2004 book, PSYCH-K…The Missing Peace In Your Life! Williams co-facilitates transformational workshops with cell biologist Bruce Lipton, PhD, author of The Biology of Belief (See also my blog about Lipton).

According to Williams; Your reality is created by your “beliefs.” These beliefs, usually subconscious, are often the result of lifelong “programming,” and represent a powerful influence on human behavior. Studies in neuroscience indicate that as much as 95% of our consciousness is actually subconscious. It’s the subconscious mind that is the store-house for our attitudes, values, and beliefs. It is from our beliefs that we form perceptions about the world and ourselves, and from these perceptions we develop behaviors. Usually, it is self-defeating behaviors we wish to change. Often the most effective way to change a behavior is to change the subconscious belief(s) that support it.

Many performers have self-defeating behaviors that originate in the subconscious and haunt them, making every performance a struggle of epic proportions. Let’s see what we can learn from PSYCH-K to help us. Here’s some useful information about how the conscious and subconscious minds operate:

THE CONSCIOUS MIND

- Volitional: Sets goals and judges results.

- Thinks abstractly: Likes new, creative ideas and activities

- Time-bound: Is past and future focused. It often looks for new ways to do things based on past experiences and future goals.

- Short-term memory: About 20 seconds in the average human being.

- Limited processing capacity: Processes an average of 2,000 bits of information per second and is capable of managing just a few tasks at a time.

THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

- Habitual: Monitors the operation of the body, including motor functions, heart rate, respiration, and digestion.

- Thinks literally: Knows the world through the five senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling).

- Long-term memory: Stores past experiences, attitudes, values, and beliefs.

- Timeless: Focuses in present time only. Uses “past” learning experiences to perform “current” functions, such as walking, talking, driving a car, and so on.

- Expanded processing capacity: Processes an average of 4 billion bits of information per second and can handle thousands of tasks simultaneously.

Now here are two concepts from the book that will be important when writing your own affirmations:

“An important difference between the two language styles is that the subconscious mind can know things only through the five senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. The notion of happiness or fun has little meaning to the subconscious until the idea is translated into what is called sensory-based language.”

Affirmations need to be written in the language of the subconscious- “I see” or “I hear” or “I feel.” Concepts like happiness or joy need to be translated into images, sounds or feelings found in specific memories stored in the subconscious.

PSYCH-K Muscle Test- This is an improved version of the Classic Diamond Muscle Test that uses two people. One of the innovations is that the eyes are focused (see Number 3 below) in the downward position which engages the kinesthetic sensory system (feelings), and enables more accurate muscle responses when testing self-referential statements.

1. Stand to the side of your partner, facing each so that you are looking over your partner’s shoulder (of the arm to be tested).

2. The person being tested extends one arm out to the side, parallel to the floor. The tester keeps one hand resting lightly on the extended arm between the wrist and elbow (where most people wear a watch or bracelet). Place the other hand on the shoulder for stability. If one arm gets tired during the testing process, simply switch arms.

3. The person being tested keeps his/her body relaxed, head facing forward, eyes open and focused down. Be sure to keep the chin parallel to the floor while focusing the eyes in a downward direction.

4. With the arm extended from the side, have the person being tested think of something enjoyable. It can be a person, place, or activity. When your partner is experiencing the good feeling, say “Be strong” just before applying a gentle, steady pressure in a downward direction for about two seconds or until you feel the muscle either “let go” or “lock in place.” (Avoid bouncing the arm.) The person being tested is to resist the pressure of the downward movement while concentrating on the enjoyable feeling. Note the response, either strong or weak.

5. Have the person being tested (your partner) imagine something unpleasant, and repeat the preceding muscle testing procedure. Be sure to give your partner enough time to access the unpleasant feeling before you muscle test the response. Note any difference between the first test and the second. Most people will test strong to the thought of something they like and weak to something they don’t like. That is, the arm will stay in place parallel to the floor when the thought is pleasing, and it will move down toward the floor when the thought is stressful. The downward movement occurs even as the person being tested tries to keep his or her arm in the parallel position. The downward movement may be subtle or obvious. As long as the person being tested can tell the difference between a strong and weak response, the test is successful.

6. It is the reduction in the (electrical) signal strength to the muscles of the arm during the stressful thought process that reduces the strength of the muscles in the arm. You can repeat the test using a statement rather than a thought/feeling. To do so, have the partner being tested say something out loud that is true about them, such as “My name is (insert actual name).” Muscle test the response just after the statement is made. Remember to say “Be strong” just before pressing on the wrist. Then have your partner say something that is not true about them, such as “My name is (insert fictitious name),” and muscle test the response. For best results use name, age, gender or occupation with test subjects. Most people will test strong to things that are true about them and weak to things that are not true. Test results will be clearer if the statements are made with emotion. In other words, say the statements like you really mean them and stay focused on the statement while being muscle tested.

Important Reminder: For successful results, it is necessary for the person being tested to be experiencing the feeling of the thought or statement being tested. By keeping their chin parallel to the floor and their eyes focused in a downward direction, it will be easier to access the necessary feeling state to ensure accuracy of the muscle test.

In 1999, a study was published in a scientific journal called Perceptual and Motor Skills. The study was entitled Muscle Test Comparisons of Congruent and Incongruent Self-Referential Statements. The study, conducted with eighty-nine college students, concluded that, “Over-all, significant differences were found in muscle-test responses between congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli. The results of the present study suggest that the muscle test responds to the congruency of self-referential statements.” Simply put, a significant difference between the muscle responses of these individuals when they were making a true statement versus making a false statement was noted.

The next PSYCH-K concepts we will examine are related to creating affirmations. As we have seen in the THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND chart above, the subconscious processes information through the five senses known as
representation systems, or sensory modalities. The model itself is known as the VAKOG model from the initial letters of the senses: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (feeling), olfactory (smelling), gustatory (tasting). Since taste and smell are so closely connected, sometimes a 4-tuple, meaning its 4 way sensory-based description is used or a three way VAK model. A submodality is a sensory impression, such as its perceived location, distance, size, or other quality.

Through the five senses the mind internally organizes and attaches meaning to events by metaphor. For practical purposes we will use the three mostly widely used senses:
visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (feeling) which abbreviate VAK, which is the three-way model.

Here’s information about VAK presented by Rob Williams from PSYCH-K:

“I have used this V-isual A-uditory, K-inesthetic format for many years to translate nonspecific conscious goals into sensory-based language the subconscious mind can understand. Here is a typical example of a common goal and the method of defining it in a way that the subconscious mind can accept and put into action.

Overall Goal: Happiness

The problem with stating the goal in this way is that often the subconscious doesn’t really understand a general goal like happiness. What you mean by happiness probably includes various specific aspects of your life, including relationships, financial prosperity, health, and spirituality. Without specifying some details of your goal, chances are your subconscious will not have a clear idea of what it is you want.

Remember, the subconscious takes things literally and will stop its efforts toward manifesting your goal as soon as it thinks it has satisfied your criteria. If the criteria are too general, the results will usually be disappointing because the subconscious won’t know what resources to mobilize in order to accomplish the goal.

It is important to define your goal as specifically and possible and to do it in sensory-based language (visually, auditorily, and kinesthetically). For example, if your goal is to be happy, it is helpful to the subconscious mind if you can answer the following sensory based questions:

What will you see in your life that will let you know that you have achieved your goal?

More specifically, if you were happy, what would you see that you don’t see now? For example, you might see yourself surrounded by friends. You might see yourself on a cruise ship in the Caribbean . You might see yourself on a bathroom scale weighting in at your ideal weight. These are all tangible, visual examples of having achieved your goal. The subconscious mind can literally see these examples.

What will you hear other people saying about you when you have accomplished your goal? What will you be saying to yourself?

The answers to these questions should be “quotes” from the future like hearing a friend say, “You’re one of the happiest people I know.” And from yourself you would hear a comment like, “I am happier than I have ever been!”

How will you feel when you have accomplished your goal?

This question is a little trickier in some cases because the answer may be expressed as emotions similar to happiness such as joyful or satisfied. These words are still abstractions to the subconscious mind so they need to be broken down into a more sensory-based description. The best way to accomplish this task is to imagine a time in your past when you had the desired feeling, such as joy. It is not necessary for the feeling you select to directly relate to the experience that inspired that feeling of joy in the past. It is only important that you experience the joyful feeling itself. It doesn’t matter how long ago it was. To describe it in sensory-based language, allowed yourself to reexperience the feeling as much as possible, then ask the following questions:

While thinking about the past feeling, ask yourself where in your body you notice the greatest concentration of the feeling.

What color do you associate with it?
What temperature is it?
What shape is it?
Does it have a texture?

Don’t be concerned if you can’t answer all the kinesthetic questions. Just do the best you can.

Examples of answers to these questions might look something like the following:

Location? Chest area

Color? Light blue

Temperature? Warm

Shape? Oval

Texture? Smooth

These kinesthetic answers are tangible, sensory-based descriptions of an otherwise abstract concept of joy. Now, the concept of joy is defined in such a way that the subconscious mind can understand it and mobilize its resources to manifest the feeling you want to have.

One unanswered question Williams doesn’t address in the book is: How do you determine what your main learning style is? Are you primarily visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (feeling)?

To write affirmations that best connect with our personal learning style we’ll need to determine what it is. There are on-line tests we can take [Google search "Learning style"] or we can turn to NLP to help us determine our learning style type. Additionally we can see the VAK senses interpret information internally (subconscious), externally (through the conscious first) and through the imagination.

The study of eye movement shows how we are processing the information with our senses.

NLP and VAK systems & Eye Movement

Visual thoughts – sight, mental imagery, spatial awareness
Auditory (or linguistic) thoughts – sound, speech, dialog, white noise
Kinesthetic (or proprioceptive) sense – somatic feelings in the body, temperature, pressure, and also emotion.

From Wiki: Three key aspects are commonly notated: The representation system being used (visual/V, auditory/A, kinesthetic/K, and occasionally, O/G), whether the direction of attention is internal (i) or external (e), and whether the event is a recollection of an actual past event (r) or construction of an imaginary event (c). Due to its importance in human cognitive processing, auditory internal dialogue, or talking in one’s head, has its own shorthand: Aid.

Step Activity Notation What it’s being used for:

1. auditory external (Ae) Hear the question
2. visual internal (Vi) picture to oneself the meaning of the question
3. visual external (Ve) look at the dress
4. visual internal constructed (Vic) create a mental image of the dress worn by the person
5. kinesthetic internal (Ki) get an internal feeling from looking at it
6. auditory internal dialog (Aid) ask oneself “Do I like that impression?”
7. auditory external (Ae) reply

Sensory predicates and eye accessing cues. Grinder and Bandler believed they identified pattern of relationship between the sensory-based language people use in general conversation, and for example, their eye movement (known as eye accessing cues).

A common (but not universal) style of processing is shown in the diagram above, where eye flickers in specific directions often seem to tie into specific kinds of internal (mental) processing.

NLP also suggests that that sometimes (again not universally), such processing is associated with sensory word use, so for example a person asked what they liked about the beach, may flick their eyes briefly in some characteristic direction (visual memory access, often upwards), and then also use words that describe it in a visual sense (“The sea looked lovely”, and so on). Likewise asked about a problem, someone may look in a different direction for a while (kinesthetic access, typically downwards) and then look puzzled and say “I just can’t seem to get a grip on things”. Taken together, NLP suggests such eye accessing cues (1) are idiosyncratic and habitual for each person, and (2) may form significant clues as to how a person is processing or representing a problem to themselves unconsciously.

The most common arrangement for eye accessing cues in a right-handed person.

Note: NLP does not say it is ‘always’ this way, but rather that one should check whether reliable correlations seem to exist for an individual. These are common eye accessing cues:

Upwards (left/right) — Visual (V) — “I can imagine the big picture”
Level (left/right) — Auditory (A) — “Let’s tone down the discussion”
Down-right — Kinesthetic (K) — “to grasp a concept” or “to gather you’ve understood.”
Down-left Auditory internal dialogue (Aid) — talking to oneself inside

Eye movement to the left or right for many people seems to indicate if a memory was recalled or constructed. Thus remembering an actual image (Vr) is associated more with up-left, whilst imagining one’s dream home (Vc) tends (again not universally) to be more associated with up-right.

Robert Dilts (1980) proposed that eye movement (and sometimes bodily gesture) correspond to accessing cues for representations systems, and connected it to specific sides in the brain.

Writing Affirmations

We’ve looked at how the subconscious mind processes information from our senses. Affirmations are verbally or silently repeated in the conscious mind to replace negative thoughts and feelings that exist in the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind has many memories but only accepts one concept to be true. Your subconscious may believe you can’t perform Bach’s Prelude in C because you keep making major mistakes in one section. Until a stronger belief replaces that belief, it will be the dominant belief.

Affirmations are one way you can replace negative beliefs. You can find areas that need work by listening to your inner dialog and by asking yourself questions (see the blog on Judy Rees) to get to the root belief buried in the subconscious. A new type of affirmation in the form of questions called “afformations” has been developed by Noah St. John- that’s another blog!

An affirmation that you do not believe will not work. You can say as an affirmation, “I am going to play Bach’s Prelude in C perfectly.” If you don’t practice it and fix the problems you probably won’t believe you can do it. You can say as an affirmation, “I am going to step off the roof and float in the air.” Since you don’t believe it, saying it over and over as an affirmation won’t help.

Many mind researchers including Williams, Lipton and Carpenter (see earlier blogs) believe that since the subconscious operates in the theta and alpha (sleep or meditative) states you need to be in a similar state to best communicate. During meditation or early in the morning after waking or late in the evening before you go to sleep are the best time to use affirmations.

According to Carpenter in his book “The Genie Within”, Emile Coué (1857–1926) believed in gabbling (talking quickly and indistinctly so the conscious mind would get bored and not pay attention) an affirmation until it sank into the subconscious mind and became completely accepted by it.

This process or a similar one has been adapted by many including Joe Vitale who uses affirmations he learned from Dr. Hew Len (see his book Zero Limits) and other sources to create positive mental states: “I love you”– “Please forgive me”– “I’m sorry”–”Thank you”.

According to Williams and Lipton, constant repetition, is less effective than a few minutes in a congruent mental state.

Affirmations need to be written in the language of the subconscious mind. According to Williams and others, muscle testing is a way to see if your affirmation is in alignment with your belief system found in your subconscious.

Here are some steps to write affirmations:

1. Identify a negative belief that is a problem, an area that needs improvement or something that you want. Listen to your inner dialog and ask yourself questions to find the dominant root belief buried in the subconscious. If there’s a negative belief- clear the negative belief (see my blogs on clearing beliefs). For example if you want money and your subconscious belief is “money is the root of all evil” or “when you have money it controls your life” saying the affirmation, “I am receiving $10,000″ is in conflict with your subconscious belief and won’t be effective.

Create an affirmation to overwrite the negative thought in your subconscious.

2. Write in present tense. Begin with: I am, I believe, I am aware, I now, etc…

“I give my best in every performance.” “I am confident…” “I see success.”

Saying “I want” means it’s something you don’t have now; it’s something in the future.

3) Write in simple easy-to-understand language using visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (feeling) verbs. The subconscious mind has limited vocabulary and is not articulate with words and concepts.

Begin with: I am feeling; I am seeing, I am hearing…
You can skip the “am”: I feel; I see; I hear….

“I see money and wealth”

4. Use metaphors. When you dream it’s with images and feelings. Your subconscious mind understands metaphors.

Metaphors: “My guitar is singing a beautiful song.” “I play like a pro.” “My voice is soaring through the room.” “I feel like a million dollars.” “I hear the audience roar like an ocean wave.”

5. Write so that abstract concepts like joy and happiness are linked to specific memories. When (access a memory) were you joyful? How did it feel? What did you hear? What did you see? Use images and feeling to connect to the memory.

“I’m performing like I did in the concert last December when I received a standing ovation.” “I’m playing the piece flawlessly like I did in my last recital.” “It’s the same feeling of joy as I felt receiving the award last month.”

6. Remember affirmations need to be something you believe. Repeating an affirmation that you don’t believe is a waste of time. (See also conflicting beliefs #1).

If you say as an affirmation, “I am going to walk off the roof and float in the air,” you don’t believe that it’s possible.

7. Write affirmations in the the positive. For instance: Affirmation (with negative wording): I am not fat! The focus is on fat which creates a negative feeling. Positive Affirmation: I am slim! The focus is on slim which creates a positive feeling.

8. Make sure you understand the symbolic equivalent of your affirmation. What does a house represent? It could be shelter, protection, security, or status. What does love represent? It could be spiritual concern, brotherly love, passion, craving.

“I am making more and more money.” What does money represent to you?

“I am playing at the highest level.” What does the highest level mean to you?

Words can have different meanings. What do you mean by the word? Does it really mean something else to you?

Some performance affirmations:

“I am performing this piece easily”

“I am excited about performing my program.”

“I’m playing as if my fingers could fly like I did at the nightclub last week.”

“I feel the adrenalin, I see the bright lights and I hear the applause. This is great!” VAK

Affirmations from Behrend/Troward:

“The joy of God is flowing in me and through me right now.”

“I am alive, so the health of life is manifesting in me right now.”

“There is but One Mind to think about me or to make laws over me, and that is the Mind of Divine Love and Divine Power.”

“I do believe and I am persuaded that God is an ever-present, never-failing source of protection and supply.”