What is your subconscious?
From the day we are born, our minds are encoding messages, ideas, skills and beliefs that we soak up from our parents and surrounding society. They become stored in what we call the subconscious mind. We are not actively thinking about them but they drive us daily in our decisions, behaviours and abilities.
Many of us don’t even realise that the subconscious affects every moment of our lives. In fact, by the time you reach the age of 21, you’ve already permanently stored more than one hundred times the contents of the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.
The conscious vs unconscious mind
The conscious mind is the part of us that we are fully aware of. It includes things such as sensations, perceptions, memories, feelings and awareness of the world around us that we can talk or think about in a rational way.
The unconscious mind is where we store some memories, habits, desires and urges. According to Freud, the unconscious stores all repressed thoughts and feelings, which can be manifested in unexpected situations, usually caused by a trigger. Even though it’s difficult to measure the unconscious mind, Freud believed that we can access it through psychoanalytic therapy. This allows us to lure and confront these repressed emotions in the unconscious, which can be the source of many psychological issues.
The power of the subconscious mind
The unconscious is a process that happens automatically, whereas the subconscious is part of our conscious processing. It is not active in focal awareness but we can explore and support its transformation.
The subconscious mind is a lot more powerful than you might think. It shapes our lives. For example, if deep down your beliefs are along the lines of “you aren’t good enough”, “you’ll never go far” or “that’s not a real career”, it truly impacts how you perceive yourself and the world around you.
We can choose to limit our lives and relationships with these repeated mantras or decide to create a life full of possibility, success and happiness by reprogramming our subconscious mind.
How to reprogram your subconscious mind through Sophrology
To start the process of transforming our subconscious mind with Sophrology, here are a few simple steps to follow.
- Strengthen the connection between the conscious and subconscious
Every day for a few weeks, take just 5 to 10 minutes a day to connect to a deeper layer of yourself. This can be easily done by using a simple body scan practice inviting your body to relax and breathing techniques to let go of tension in the mind. If you don’t enjoy sitting still, Sophrology offers many simple standing exercises that will help bring a deeper awareness of your body sensations and help you instantly connect more deeply.
- Identify your resistance and work with it
With your eyes closed following a moment of relaxation, simply let your intuition guide you and ask yourself: what are the stresses, tension or resistances you feel in your body or in your life right now that you no longer want to experience? Tense and relax your body a few times allowing the tension to be acknowledged and gently processed.
- Visualise the best for yourself
Using visualisation exercises in a relaxed state is very useful to help change the narrative of our lives, train our creativity, and positively move beyond fear. Regularly visualising positive outcomes or great success in situations, relationships, work or health will help our minds to open to new possibilities and reinforce positivity within us.
- Identify core values and purpose
Sophrology not only combines relaxation, breathing, movement and visualisation to help us connect to a deeper awareness. It also offers simple practices to support us as we discover what our core values are. Knowing what you stand for in life is a way to guide your subconscious mind so that more and more it works for you rather than limiting you.
Want to get started on your Sophrology journey?
Sophrology is all about consistency. It needs to be practised little and often to support us on our journey of empowerment.
If you want to learn how to connect to and reprogram your subconscious mind, Sophrology is a quick and simple practice you can learn on your own and do on the go, making it a great toolkit for modern life.
In our free ‘Reach Your Goals’ online course, learn the super tools that can be applied to every situation in your daily life such as when you feel stressed and anxious, lacking in confidence or when you want to feel more empowered. These short, effective Sophrology exercises are perfect to practice on the go, anywhere and anytime you need them most and will help guide you to reach your full potential.
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