Volume 11, No. 5 June 2004 Depression and EFT Muscles, Immune System Benefit From Laughs EFT Q & A Berit’s Corner

Depression and EFT by Dr. Alexander R. Lees Depression, according to a variety of sources, is caused by a brain chemistry imbalance. The more I researched the literature available, the more "evidence" I found to suggest a correlation between depression and brain chemistry imbalances. What I could not find was specific research that proved the brain chemistry "abnormality" caused the depression. Just to be clear: the information available showed a correlation, not cause and effect. Conclusion: Depression and certain brain chemistry abnormalities seem to co-exist, period. Some time later, I read of some interesting findings by other researchers. Simply put, when depression lifts, regardless of how this occurs, the brain chemistry changes. Hmmm. About that time, I was enthusiastically studying and learning about EFT, and with Gary Craig's popular refrain "Try it on everything!" echoing in my head, began to introduce EFT to those clients that were seeking help with depression. With a little trial and error, I worked out an approach that generated an impressive success rate, and it is with great pleasure I offer it to you now.

Start by tapping the P.R. point, using the phrase, "Even though I'm depressed, I deeply and completely accept myself." Repeat this three times. Then tap the rest of the points using a reminder phrase, such as "This feeling of depression," or "This feeling of doom and gloom" or even "This depression." Remember to tap each point about seven times each. For quite a few people (from my experience) there will be a noticeable lift in mood. But let's not settle for that. We can go much further. Repeat the above outlined procedure several times a day. If you are persistent, (keep at it!) one of two things will occur. The depression becomes less and less as time goes by, or: Certain memories begin to filter back into consciousness that represent experiences that contributed to depression in the first case. Each of the memories contain an emotional charge. Tap on those emotional reactions, even though you aren't feeling them now. Again, let's be clear on this: Certain events or experiences we went through gradually built up in the system, and the end result is depression. Getting to, and resolving the emotional aspect of those memories clears depression. There are three things I'd like to leave you with: 1. EFT is an effective and simple technique for removing the unwanted emotional aspect of memories. 2. To quote Dr. Deepak Chopra - "The body is the place the memories call home." 3. Changing your mind (emotional state) changes brain chemistry. Happy tapping! QUESTION: How can I tune-in to, or recognize "aspects" more easily? ANSWER: The process is usually simple. Just ask the person, if you're working with someone, or if working on your self, to describe the problem after each round of tapping and notice how their language changes. They may start out, for example, talking about the problem in terms of fear, and after one round of tapping, discuss the problem in terms of guilt. Also, the events they focus on may change. In the beginning they were afraid to travel, and then the focus became, they were anxious about trying new and different food. Further, the physical sensations in their body may change from perhaps, a tightness in the stomach to a constriction in the throat. Please remember - Persistence is one of the secrets to success!   EFT Q & A If you have a question about the application of EFT and would like to have it answered in Reflections, send us an email at lees@dralexlees.com and put “EFT Q & A” in the Subject Heading. We will answer questions that are of interest, and helpful to the majority of EFT users. For those that need immediate assistance you may want to consider a phone session, see House Calls By Phone. Muscles, immune system benefit from laughs - but only if they're long enough Chris Zdeb - CanWest News Service For seven years, Jean Munro took morphine for her lupus pain. Now, she just laughs it off. Every morning, and as needed throughout the day, she giggles up a big belly laugh that lasts three to five minutes. "I have not had a pain pill for over a year now and I'm sure it's because of the laughter," says the Edmonton resident. It also relieves her arthritis. "I still take anti-inflammatories, but I don't need pain pills. It's incredible," she adds. It's been common knowledge for centuries that laughter is the best medicine. "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease," said author and philosopher Voltaire. "Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine, " romantic author George Gordon Byron aka Lord Byron, penned almost 200 years ago. Medical research is now confirming that studies have found that it's possible for all 400 muscles in the body to move during laughter, making it a form of internal aerobics. If you could sustain a belly laugh for one full hour, you could laugh off as many as 500 calories! Laughter relaxes muscles and gets oxygen flowing throughout the body, which forces us to take a deep breath, which gets the blood circulating and heart pumping. Laughter is also an effective and inexpensive form of stress therapy. When you're stressed, you take shallower breaths and therefore less oxygen. Over time, this weakens the immune system, opening the door to more than 70 illnesses, including heart disease, high blood pressure and insomnia, which all have some connection to stress. But you can't laugh and worry at the same time. You also can't laugh and be angry at the same time. You don't have to be taught to laugh, you're born laughing. Children laugh 300 to 400 times a day, often in response to new discoveries they make. Adults laugh only seven to 15 times a day - too few tee-hees to be of much benefit, and not very good ones, either. "Stand-up comedy and joke telling is primarily the way most adults get their laughs. We tend to laugh in short spurts like when we're watching a sitcom, or in a group of people, you'll hear a roar of laughter and then it stops. What we need is continuous laughter," says Cheryl Ann Oberg, who lives in Calgary and is the only Canadian certified laughter leader accredited by Columbus State College. Madan Kataria, a physician based in Mumbai is credited with founding the original laughter club in India in 1995. Since then, the laughter had been infectious, spreading around the world, including to more than 100 clubs in Canada and the U.S. alone. Laughter clubs use breathing exercises similar to yoga, as well as exaggerated facial expressions and simulated laughter drills - no jokes - to help people to learn how to literally laugh at nothing. The deeper the laugh, the better it is for you. As a therapeutic clown, Oberg uses her laughter training to help cancer patients, people living with pain and people who have been physically and emotionally abused, to laugh again. As part of laughter training, Oberg gets people for example to pretend someone has put an ice cube down their back and they have to wiggle and giggle until it's out or they simulate walking on hot sand, trying to keep their toes up as they "ooohh, aaahh, and eeehh " - hot foot and giggle their way across the beach. "The body doesn't know the difference between real laughter and fake laughter," Oberg explains. "It just knows that it feel good and it gives you a natural high and it usually does trigger the real thing. 'Fake it until you make it,' is what we say." For more information about laughter therapy, visit www.worldlaughtertour.com Berit's Corner It is now officially summer, and we have a long weekend coming up on July 1st - Canada Day, and America celebrates its Independence Day on July 4th. So I thought we should make this issue of Reflections on the lighter side and then I asked Alex what his article would be about. He replied, "Depression and EFT." I said, "Oh dear, well, I guess we can make the next edition light, summer reading. And, hopefully someone will be helped after reading your article, and then they can really enjoy the rest of the summer!" That's what we plan on doing... enjoying our summer. We've worked hard this past year, and it's time to soak up some sunshine, work in my garden... maybe Alex can find some new projects to make, as he loves playing with power tools. Actually, I've got him started already... he's making new towel racks for our freshly painted bathroom. September will come soon enough and Alex will be off to teach EFT in Madison, Wisconsin. Then in October we're off to Spain again, and this time we will be expanding EFT to other areas of Spain. Besides going to the Costa Blanca again, we will also go to Salamanca. For a glimpse of the wonders of Salamanca click here. We'll have all the details of our seminars in Spain up on our website in early July. Attention: All Women over the age of 45 Now, before I turn into a total sloth and spend all my time outdoors in the sunshine, I want to thank all the women that responded to my question in the March 04 edition of Reflections. The responses were amazing! Many women wouldn't change a thing... OK, maybe one little thing here or there. Many would like to relive their past so they could do things differently (i.e., different husband or job). Then there were some that thought if they could change something physical (i.e., their weight or facial features) they would be happy. Our purpose in asking questions was to find out the emotional state of women, not the physical. I believe our emotional well being has a direct effect on our physical well being. Recent research has shown that if we are emotionally well balanced and generally happy, we are also well physically. If we can pinpoint some of the emotional areas of your life that aren't working as well as you would like, we may be able to come up with some solutions to helping you feel better about your self and your life. Once you start to feel better, you may also feel better physically. It's just one more reason to make sure our emotional well being is in ship-shape order. Here's the next question: When you feel down, troubled and nothing is going right, what are you thinking about? This question will, hopefully, get you to start paying attention to what you're thinking. Because what you're thinking is what you're feeling. And, are you ready... what you're feeling... affects you in a variety of interesting ways. It's very important to know what you're thinking about, because as you think, you are. I don't know if someone famous said those last words, or not, but if they didn't they should have! And, if someone did, then I'm sorry I don't know who it is, and I apologize for borrowing your phrase. We're going to be asking about half a dozen questions over the next few months, and by then we'll have a pretty good idea of what we're going to do. The object of the exercise is - We want to help. We want to make a difference in your lives. We want you to enjoy the rest of your life. Remember... I want to exit this planet saying "Wow! What a ride!" My wish is the same for you. Please take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts and email them to: Berit@dralexlees.com All replies will be kept confidential. If you have a friend that would also like to answer the question, please forward the newsletter to her. The more responses we receive, the better. Till next month, take care. Interesting signs seen on women's T-shirts I child-proofed my house, but they still get in. On the front... 60 is not old. On the back... if you're a tree. I'm still hot... it just comes in flashes. At my age, "Getting Lucky" means finding my car in the parking lot. My reality check just bounced. Buckle up. It makes it harder for the aliens to snatch you from your car. Earth is the insane asylum of the universe. Keep staring... I may do a trick. Dangerously under-medicated. Every time I hear the dirty word "Exercise," I wash my mouth out with chocolate. My mind works like lightning... one brilliant flash and it's gone. Smile. It makes people wonder what you're up to.

(C) 2004 - Dr. Alexander R. Lees & Associates Inc.