Читать книгу Trust Your Gut - Gregory Plotnikoff - Страница 17

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

—Chuang Tzu, Chinese philosopher

Your mind and body make up an integrated system, and when it goes out of balance, you become dysfunctional. The results of this imbalance are obvious in people who perform for a living. An Olympic gymnast who is uncentered crashes on the floor. An actress forgets her lines. A juggler drops the balls. A batter can't hit the baseball. That's why such performers always prepare themselves with some sort of centering technique before the curtain rises or the first pitch is thrown. They get psyched up before the big game to keep their mind calm and focused, and their body flexible and alert. The mind and body must become one. When they stay centered, they perform perfectly—the slugger gets a hit and the gymnast gets a 10.

You need to know where you are headed—and why—before you can become centered.

It's no different if you suffer from chronic intestinal distress. You have an imbalance in your body/mind system, and you can only find lasting relief by becoming centered. No one sees your problem, but you know it preoccupies you way too much of the time. Whenever you walk out the door to go to work or out on a date, you are on stage. The problem is you don't always understand how to center yourself beforehand. You lack the techniques to keep your mind sharp and your body under control. You have been given various pills and been told to relax, but it doesn't exactly work. You never stop worrying, and you never feel in charge of your life.

Centering is the first step in our CORE program. You need to know where you are headed—and why—before you can become centered. That's why we begin the CORE program with centering.