The Truth Detector

Truth Detector

I was listening to a podcast recently which featured John David Oates, founder of the theory of Reverse Speech. http://reversespeech.com/ His  theory postulates that human speech has two functions. Overt and covert. Overt speech is spoken forwards and is under our conscious control. Covert speech is spoken backwards and is not under our conscious control.  If you record a person speaking, and then play the recording backwards, interesting things happen! You will hear lots of gibberish, but then very clear statements are heard. Those clear statements are the unconscious mind, speaking the “truth”- the inconsistencies of forward speech are revealed in backwards speech.  In the podcast John David Oates played some of his recordings both forwards and backwards, and each time, the backwards speech revealed the “truth “ of what the speaker was really saying. What made the biggest impression on me was Oates’ statement:” the body is hardwired for truth.”

This statement led me to think about polygraphs, or “lie detector” tests that are used by law enforcement to tell if someone is telling the truth. Although lie detector tests are somewhat controversial in their use by  law enforcement, they can help us gain some insight into how the body responds to truths and non truths. The polygraph test measures the function of the autonomic nervous system. It measures the unconscious processes of the body, specifically, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and perspiration. Theoretically, if a lie is detected, there will be an increase in stress hormones, which will result in a spike in blood pressure, heart rate, perspiration and respiration. Say what you will about the polygraph test, but this is interesting for those of us who have healed from various illnesses by coming back to, or reconnecting, to our “truth”.

Symptoms of CFS/ME paint a picture of an autonomic nervous system, the system that is in control  of the unconscious properties in the body, that is stuck in a “fight or flight” or stress response cycle. A body stuck in “fight or flight” will soon start to experience a breakdown in all systems of the body The constant pumping out of stress hormones affect the immune,endocrine ,digestive, and musculoskeletal systems of the body. So symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Autonomic Nervous System dysfunction, result in the disruption of basically all systems in the body, and create a myriad of strange and debilitating symptoms. This is virtually a nightmare for doctors, who often diagnose and treat symptoms ( regardless of the illness) , rather than causes. This also leads to the unfounded belief that this is a complex medical illness with no cure.

When we start to picture Chronic Illness, and CFS/Me in particular as a stress related disease, then the pieces of the puzzle start to come together. Our physical body is our unconscious. When the physical body sends us symptoms in the form of any illness, it is sending us an S.O.S, so to speak. It’s telling us something. It is communication to us that something is “off” that we’ve somehow strayed, unconsciously, from our true self. It is a call to heal, to come back into alignment with self.

Healing is simply a return to self.  A return to self results in homeostasis in the autonomic nervous system. There is no need for the body to stay stuck in a stress response cycle when we’ve heard and responded to its messages. A return to self means that we have tuned into and activated the self healing mechanisms of the body, all which start with the rest and relax mode of the autonomic nervous system.

When we heal by tapping into the mind body connection, we are tapping deep into the very thing that connects mind to body…we are tapping into emotion. Repressed emotion is the biggest culprit in stress related disease, and when we tap into symptoms of illness, which leads us to tap into emotion, we can feel, release, and heal those emotions. The body then heals itself.

This leads us back to the truth. People experiencing ME/CFS can find relief of symptoms, can completely heal their bodies, and can resume their normal active pre-disease lifestyle.