Neuropeptides and the Unconscious Mind

Twenty years ago a group of scientists discovered in the brain, a set of chemicals known as neuropeptides. Neuro because they are found in the brain, and peptides because they are protein-like molecules. So every time you have a thought or a feeling, a desire, an instinct, or a drive, each of these affects our nervous system by means of specific messenger molecules called neuropeptides.

There are receptors to these neuropeptides not only in brain cells but also in cells of the immune system. So when the scientists began looking at the various immune system cells that protect us from cancer and infection (t-cells, for example), they found that there were receptors to these same neuropeptides in those cells. In fact, the word neuropeptide became obsolete, because they’re not confined to the brain. They are floating around in the bloodstream and going to all our different organs. Since there are receptors to these neuropeptides in cells in the immune system, then it becomes obvious that, as Chopra says, “The immune system is constantly eavesdropping on our internal dialog.” In NLP we would add the following comment, “The immune system is constantly responding to the pictures, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes, and the internal dialog that we hold in our mind.”

Since the unconscious mind (also known as the “body-mind”) is the controlling intelligence in the body, it is also the connection between the mind and the immune system. One of the major theories of Time Line Therapy® ™, NLP, and Hypnosis is that the unconscious mind can communicate with any part of the body at any time it so desires, and can, in this way, stimulate the healing process. It seems that there is, in fact, neurological evidence for this idea.

Every thought, every emotion, every desire, every internal representation you have is monitored, overheard, viewed. Your immune system is watching, listening, feeling! It has been shown that grieving people have grieving immune cells. If the grieving goes on for a prolonged period of time, then the immune system has also the self-talk of, “Leave me alone, I don’t want to be bothered.” Such people are, according to Chopra, susceptible to cancer and other infectious diseases.

That is why it’s so important to understand that negative emotions which are trapped in the body are not conducive to health, and why we release all of a person’s negative emotions when we do healing processes in Time Line Therapy® ™ techniques.