Mind Over Body

[Guest LittleKaitlyn]

Hey guys and girls.

So I haven't been in the Trans community too long, always been fairly hidden. However, in the time I've been here I've noticed a fair few threads where it seems the mind goes over matter... like for example, a girl saying she was quite overweight, and had some moobs which shaped to be more boob-like, pre hrt. However, when she started to lose weight, they stayed. Another example if I have an ftm friend who seems to be getting more T effects, despite not being on T. His voice seemed to deepen some and he got alot of the male body hair growth, and even a little bit on the face!

I have a theory, does the mind have some control over the body? Maybe some of these people's bodies produce more of the right hormones than their born-gender should because their mind knows they're really a girl/guy?

I mean, it's not like a replacement for HRT or anything but it might do it to some extent!

Just a thought

Kaitlyn xx

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Could be something to that. The mind is a very powerful thing.

I have heard of what is called 'visualization.'

Others may have used this and it would be good to hear from them.

Lizzy

[Guest Carter L]

I definitely believe in it! Since I began to identify as FtM, just a year ago, my face has thinned out, I get a little more hair growth under my sideburns, my voice is deeper, and my hair grows in a different pattern! The more I look at old pictures of me with the same haircut, the more I'm convinced!

[Carolyn Marie]

I'm something of a skeptic when it comes to reports of mind over matter, or mind over body effects. I do believe that a positive outlook

on life can decrease stress, lower blood pressure, and other moderate effects. But I have a hard time believing that will power can

change secondary sexual characteristics, or move fat from one place to another, or increase or decrease hair growth.

Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But if it isn't harmful, illegal or immoral, then whatever floats your boat!

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Lacey Lynne]

Kaitlyn:

By the way, hon, I love your name!

Anyway, your are more right than you could possibly know if you still question this assertion.

Look, very briefly, I'm here to tell you that this is entirely true. When I was young (Yes, I actually was, shock, shock!), I was a theoretical physics major. Archimedes propounded the initial scientific worldview that gained wilde acceptance. Then, Sir Isaac Netwon proffered forth his mechanistic worldview refining Archimedes' initially tenets substantially.

His became the de factor worldview for 3+ centuries and became bedrock to the material furthering of human society.

Albert Einstein, in 1905 and again in 1913, upended Newton's mechanics, not be displacing them but rather by refining them moreorless establishing that Newton's mechanics were a specific case and a microcosm of the general case of the macrocosm. Enter special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1913).

Concomitantly, several physicists propounded quantum theory generally contemporaneous to Einstein's work albeit with their initial investigations occurring before Einstein's discoveries. Enter quantum mechanics (firmly established in the early 1930s).

Arrive Richard P. Feynman in his heyday in my youth. He refined quantum theory (quantum electrodynamics) and founded the theoretical underpinnings of what became nanotechnology. When I was in high school, Feynman was at Caltech to which I applied and was ready to go to ... until U. Chicago popped up on the scene with a generous scholarship offer ... well, heck, on their dime? Okay, done deal. I digress. Sorry.

Girl:

Leading-edge theoretical physicists (very much out of the mainsteam I might add ... oh, those lovable mathematical mavericks ... yeeha!) are discovering only now what ancient mystics have long known.

The linchpin of our reality is?

Atoms? Nope.

Energy? Nope.

Thought? YES!!!

If you are interested in things like this, just for grins and giggles, here's a way-watered-down and seriously-nontechnical treatise for you to check out. This guy is on the leading edge of this research these days.

http://www.calphysics.org/zpe.html

Again, the ancient mystics knew of this ... though by unscientific means aeons and aeons ago. If you are REALLY interested in this notion, then check out:

http://www.crystalinks.com/

She is a genius albeit an unconventional one who some think is a charlatan. While there is an argument in that direction, I believe she knows her stuff. Her articles (there are many of them) are the best fusion of the knowledge of the mystics of yore melded with the knowledge of the scientists of now.

Love her or hate her, she'll give you one hell of a read.

Peace, My Enquiring Friend

Lacey Lynne

Very, very ancient civilizations of yore (seldom mentioned in traditional university programs) were vastly more advanced in their knowledge of matters like these than we are today. While this assertion sounds utterly preposterous, I'm here to tell you that it is sound.

Humans have mental and spiritual powers beyond their wildest imaginings. Again, this sounds like an asinine assertion. Sometime, go to The Bible, read the first several chapters of The Book of Genesis (covering the creation) and REALLY STOP AND THINK about what you've just read.

Writ large are hints aplenty before our very eyes. I'll leave it at that. Yes, THOUGHT is the most powerful thing in the universe ... period.

[Guest someone or other]

I believe that there are external factors that can influence hormones in the body. I was told that when I work out more often, my body starts producing more testosterone, which I am inclined to believe based on mood changes and hair growth (though I know those are not really reliable signifiers, I still find it interesting). I think the mind can definitely influence the body, though. At least, I like to think so, because I probably won't be starting T as soon as I would like to, haha.

[Guest Lacey Lynne]

I believe that there are external factors that can influence hormones in the body. I was told that when I work out more often, my body starts producing more testosterone, which I am inclined to believe based on mood changes and hair growth (though I know those are not really reliable signifiers, I still find it interesting). I think the mind can definitely influence the body, though. At least, I like to think so, because I probably won't be starting T as soon as I would like to, haha.

Hon, the very best thing you can possibly do for yourself, especially while transitioning, is work out regularly and eat nutritious and healthy meals.

Don't worry about the jump in testosterone. Once you're on a full-tilt HRT regimen, that will not matter. Trust me on this. Look at my avatar picture. I'll be age 60 in 4+ years. That pic is from Thanksgiving Day of 2010.

Well, I'm in much better shape now, because I've been able to get back to L.A. Fitness regularly again. At the time of that pic, circumstances had forced me to stop working out for months. Bummer. If Laura's Playground would let us post a nude pic of ourselves, I'd do it and show you what regularly work outs and a healthy diet can do.

Look, I'm not bragging. I'm must saying. Girls half my age regularly smile and me and talk to me. Yeah, I've got lucky genetics but I work darned hard to hone what I have. Again, I'm NOT bragging or boasting.

The other transsexual forum I belong to has this one member going by the name of Izumi. She is a drop-dead-gorgeous stunner who looks better than most genetic women. She is in her very-early-40s. She showed before and after transtion pictures. She's now almost 3 years into hormone replacement therapy.

As a guy, she was your typical-looking middle-aged schlub. As a girl, she's smokin' hot ... at about age 41! She's the envy of that website. She plainly tells everybody, in no uncertain terms, that she worked like a slave to look like that ... including joining a gym, working out regularly and eating in a healthy way.

Honey, hie thee hither to your health club of choice, joint, start and endure. Nothing, NOTHING you can do in transition will help you more. Your body will better assimilate the hormone replacement therapy by virtue of its top conditioning anyway.

Try it and see! When you're hot as Hades itself down the line from your smart and diligent effort, you can look in the mirror and wink at yourself with a knowing and winning smile. Hooha! You will have earned it!

Lacey Lynne

[Guest Zenda]

Kia Ora Kaitlyn,

"I think therefore I am!"["I think?" ]... We only use a small potion of the mind's capacity...

Metta Zenda