The old way of thinking was that we have no control over those bodily functions governed by the autonomic nervous system, such as rate of blood flow, body temperature and heart rate. But, recent research and experiments have shown that a person, such as yourself, has the power to influence these and other bodily functions.

Just by concentrating deeply, you can control what was previously thought to be automatic.

In her book "Molecules of Emotion: why you feel the way you feel", Candace Pert says that anybody has the ability to increase the temperature in their hands by 5-10 degrees when they are connected to monitoring machines and can get feedback on what's happening inside their bodies. This process of influencing your body's functioning while looking at a monitoring machine is called biofeedback.

Another example of putting yourself in the driver's seat when it comes to emotions involves Norman Cousins (again!). At one stage, he broke his elbow and was told by his doctor that it would take a long time to heal, because it's difficult getting blood to the elbow. In response to this, Cousins spent 20 minutes every day, visualising his blood flowing to his elbow. The result was that his elbow healed in record time. You can try this visualisation technique too, follow this link!

What we're trying to say here, is that you have the power to use your conscious mind to change your physical state of being. For example: in understanding humour, we use our conscious mind, but at the same time, our actual physical response to humour, namely laughter, changes certain elements in our body that is beneficial to our health.

The choices you make can influence your emotions and state of health, therefore, why don't you choose to check out our laughter and fun sections, and do a "Cousins" on us!!