Local Writer Teaches Your Body to Unleash Your Mind

Have you ever had a massage or maybe you were in the middle of a yoga session, and all of a sudden, you found yourself flooded with past feelings and emotions? Local writer Alicia Johnson's new book, Buried Treasure: A Field Guide to the Life-Changing Magic of Revealing Yourself, explores how we store emotions in our physical bodies, and how we can hold onto or release chosen memories.

A book launch event for Buried Treasure was held on January 25. Rather than a typical bookstore talk or wine-sip, Johnson created a setting to physically engage her prospective readers in the wellness practices her book champions.

Photo courtesy of Alicia Johnson

About a dozen participants were instructed to wear loose-fitting clothing and meet at Village Yoga in Kinderhook for a two-hour movement class. Everyone—including press—sat on their yoga mats with foam blocks, a journal, and a cup of tea. The idea was to expose the link between mind and body.

Johnson was accompanied in the tranquil studio by yogi Catherine Zack, owner of Village Yoga. Zack, a mother of two, told the group the story of holding one child on her hip while in line at the store. Even though her children are now grown, her body remembers the stance, and she often finds herself waiting with one hip bent, as if still balancing a toddler.

Johnson told the assembled group, on their mats, by candlelight, that the body stores these fond memories, but what happens when the memories are traumatic? How does the body store that information, and how can we process these feelings?

Johnson, the author of three novels, a speaker, a Ford model, and a member of the Board of Directors of A BillionMinds Institute, currently runs an ad agency as a global brands strategist with her husband. She was born in Southern California, went to school in Northern California, and found her way to New York City. Alicia and her husband bought a weekend home in a quiet area outside of Philmont and by 2011 settled here full-time.

In Buried Treasure, Johnson translates neuroscience concepts into action using her own experiences. "I wanted to be pragmatic," says Johnson. "And do something with the information I learned—take all brain functions tamped down by trauma, and bring them back.

'[Buried Treasure] has been created as a field guide, because doing the work of revealing yourself is so often a mental drag,' Johnson explains. 'There's crying, and looking at difficult things about yourself, and remembering or not being able to remember really shitty stuff... I have often felt like it's endless. Like no matter how much work I do, there will just be more.

'But that shifted when I looked at it a little differently. The crying and all of that, still true. Necessary. But the part of revealing yourself that gets you to the treasure is different.'

During the book launch, as Zack instructed the participants through basic postures and breath work, Johnson set the level of expectations low. 'You can't get it wrong,' she tells them.

Throughout the movements, there was no stress or pressure, and everyone was encouraged to write down their thoughts. In the first exercise, everyone held their head in their hands to appreciate the weight of their skulls, and the complexity of our brains and spines.

In another exercise, everyone wrote their 'limiting beliefs' on water-soluble pieces of paper. A limiting belief is something you feel holds you back from doing the things you want to do in life. Do you want to learn how to tango? Maybe start a new career? One by one, each limiting belief was put in a pan of water and stirred until the paper dissolved.

Johnson instructs her readers how to let thoughts go, but also, how to retain the memories you want to keep. She employs the acronym BASK as a mnemonic device that stands for Be (here and now), Aware, Senses, and Keep.

While writing this book, Johnson enjoyed body surfing and wanted to keep the memory with her. She took a moment, stopped, and remembered the taste of the salt water on her lips and the soft sea breezes on her skin. This conscious practice is designed to help us retain and seal in the good memories.

For those memories we want to release, Johnson has a ritual of writing wishes and regrets on a piece of paper, then, over a fire, burning them. The process releases the energy, as well as the wishes and regrets, into the universe. She has seen the instant expressions of joy and relief as one watches their regrets burn.

Johnson's Buried Treasure: A Field Guide to the Life-Changing Magic of Revealing Yourself is currently available for pre-order.

For more information on attending or hosting a future event, contact Ruby Press.