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Where
is your mind? I know some of you have heard me speak and also read my comments on emotions, and why it is important to deal with the negative ones. In the last edition of Reflections I talked about motivation and using EFT. But it seems that I’m not getting the message out to everyone in a way that motivates them enough. When several clients came into my office over the past few weeks (all of whom had been taught the “tapping”) and admitted that they forgot to tap, didn’t think of tapping, or didn’t have the time, I thought I would write about why it is important to remember to tap, to think about tapping and/or make the time to tap when things aren’t going well. Most of these people had the time and energy to be upset about something, most remembered to get angry or annoyed, and they also had the time to be hurt or sad, but they didn’t have time to tap in order to feel better! My philosophy has
always been, “If X isn’t working, try something, anything else.” Therefore,
I want to explain how important it is to recognize what you’re feeling,
when you’re feeling it, and why you may want to do something about it...
right then and there. Of course, I’m talking about the bad or negative
feelings! Here’s a short lesson on where your mind is and how it works.
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The
human body is truly a miraculous thing! It is made up of billions of
cells, over 600 muscles and more than 200 bones. The cells have learned
to specialize. Some become nerve cells, others blood cells, still others
become skin cells, and so on. All of them need to communicate with the
master co-ordinator known as the brain.
So the brain, it would seem, is the head honcho; it’s in charge of everything... or is it? Where does the Mind fit into all of this? Where is it located? Well, to begin, we need to make a distinction between brain and mind. Some time ago, back in high school, we were taught that to classify something as physical, that something had to comply with three prerequisites: “It” had to occupy space, have weight or mass, and have molecular movement. If any of the three were found to be absent, then “it,” (that which we were talking about), was not physical, but an abstract. So not to worry, a brain adequately fits these three prerequisites and therefore is physical, and, for many of us, should still be there. Not so for the mind, however. A mind has no molecular movement, occupies no space, and has no weight or mass, and is therefore non physical.
So now we have two “things.” A brain, which is physical and a mind,
which is non physical. Einstein, back in the 1920s, proposed that the
universe is composed of energy; that all matter is energy, organized
in some way. Let’s think about the mind as a form of energy, a mindfield.
Every once in a while, this mindfield experiences “storms,” or, a discharge of energy referred to as an emotion. When this particular form of energy is discharged, the physical brain immediately produces a biochemical equivalent, so the body can “read” it. Therefore an emotion (abstract) is suddenly replicated on the physical plane in the form of chemistry. The reason this happens is because the brain and body can’t act upon “nothingness,” so nothingness must be converted into “somethingness.” Once the appropriate chemistry is produced, it is transported throughout the body, as a set of instructions for the body to act upon. Depending upon the particular information contained within this chemistry, our perception, attitude and behaviour can be modified accordingly. If you think about our preferred state, that is if you could go to the “State Store” and place an order to have a state installed, most would pick something along these lines. “Hi. I would like a state containing lots of hope, optimism, joy, enthusiasm, confidence and stick-to-it-ness. Oh, and throw in some humour and a dollop of curiosity, perhaps with a pinch of purpose.” Which leads to the question, “What is this positive and negative emotion business all about? A positive emotion is a classification for supportive. A negative emotion is a classification for non-supportive. Positive or negative is really about context: Anger can be useful in one context (supportive) and not useful (non-supportive) in another context. Mild fear can keep you safe and focussed while standing on a roof, whereas excessive fear might be detrimental. How do you sort it all out? One of the most efficient ways is to notice your emotional response in some memory, present event, situation or circumstance. Acknowledge it, then ask yourself, “Do I want to respond that way?” If “Yes,” leave it alone. If you answer “No,” then remove it. “How?” you ask. EFT is one of the simplest, and most effective tools for doing just that. Think about this. By deciding to apply EFT to emotional responses within yourself that you decide are non-supportive (to self) then you are removing the very signal that triggers a complex cascade of information substances that the body is compelled to act upon. Another way of thinking about this is, instead of learning to “manage and control” your behaviour (anger) or mood (sad), or try to find “healthier” outlets for “it,” simply cancel the spark (negative emotional discharge) that begins it all. You may be surprised and delighted to discover there is nothing there to “manage.” It is simply gone! Hopefully I’ve explained (in synopsis form) where the mind is, and how it works, and we will all... remember to tap, think about tapping, and just do it! In our January edition of Reflections (will be emailed just before Christmas) I’ll give you some handy “tapping tips” to help all of us have a joyful time during the holidays.
Brain Check
© 2004 Newsweek,
Inc. - Sept. 27 issue
Imagine you're allergic to the oil of the Japanese lacquer tree - so
allergic that the brush of a leaf against your skin provokes an angry
rash. Strapping a blindfold over your eyes, a scientist tells you she's
going to rub your right arm with lacquer leaf and your left arm with
the innocuous leaf of a chestnut tree. The rubbing commences, and before
long your right arm is covered with burning, itchy welts. Your left
side feels fine. No surprise, until you learn that your left arm
- not the right - is the one that got lacquered. Or imagine that
Parkinson's disease has reduced your walk to a shuffle and left your
hands too shaky to grasp a pencil. You enroll in a study and receive
an experimental surgical treatment, which dramatically improves both
your gait and your grip. You're ready to declare it a miracle of modern
medicine, when you discover that the operation was a sham. The surgeons
merely drilled a small hole in your skull and then patched it.
That
thoughts and feelings can affect our health is hardly news. In the span
of a few decades, mind-body medicine has evolved from heresy into something
approaching cliche. So why is NEWSWEEK devoting this Health for Life
report to the mind-body connection? Because the relationship between
emotion and health is turning out to be more interesting, and more important,
than most of us could have imagined. Viewed through the lens of 21st-century
science, anxiety, alienation and hopelessness are not just feelings.
Neither are love, serenity and optimism. All are physiological states
that affect our health just as clearly as obesity or physical fitness.
And the brain, as the source of such states, offers a potential gateway
to countless other tissues and organs-from the heart and blood vessels
to the gut and the immune system. The challenge is to map the pathways
linking mental states to medical ones, and learn how to travel them
at will.
According to a recent government survey, nearly half of all Americans used mind-body interventions in 2002. The respondents embraced practices ranging from deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation to meditation, hypnosis and guided imagery. Close to half of them also said they prayed-perhaps the oldest and most basic form of mind-body medicine. They had plenty to pray for. Modern life is rife with potential stressors, and there is now little question that uncontrolled stress can kill. Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon recognized 90 years ago that when confronted by a threat-physical or emotional, real or imagined-the body responds with a rise in blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and breathing rate. We now know that this physiological "stress response" involves hormones and inflammatory chemicals that, while valuable in measured bursts, can foster everything from headaches to heart attacks in overdose. Cannon verified that people who believed they'd been hexed by voodoo witch doctors could drop dead from a sudden and massive stress response. We now know that chronic stress, though not always fatal, can disrupt the digestive system, worsen symptoms of menopause and interfere with fertility. Indeed, experts now believe that 60 to 90 percent of all doctor visits involve stress-related complaints. As researchers chart the health effects of hostility and hopelessness, they're also gaining unprecedented insights into the mind's power to heal. The "placebo response" has been widely recognized since the 1950s, when Harvard's Dr. Henry Beecher described the phenomenon. Until recently, most experts dismissed it as a feat of self-deception, in which people who remain sick (or never were) convince themselves they're better. But we're now discovering that expectations can directly alter a disease process. Consider those Parkinson's sufferers who improved with sham surgery. Using PET scans, researchers compared their brains with those of patients who received an active treatment. As expected, the active intervention caused a significant rise in dopamine, the neurotransmitter that people with Parkinson's lack. But the patients who improved on placebo experienced a similar dopamine surge. A related study found that fake analgesics could boost the brain's own pain-fighting mechanisms. In both cases, the placebo response was not an imaginary lessening of symptoms but an objective, measurable change in brain chemistry.
Placebos are just the beginning. Mounting evidence suggests that any
number of soothing emotional experiences can improve our physical health.
At Duke University, researchers have found that religious observance
is associated with lower rates of illness and hospitalization. In studies
of HIV-positive men, researchers at UCLA have found that optimism is
associated with stronger immune-cell function. And research at Harvard
suggests that the "relaxation response"-the deep sense of calm we can
achieve through yoga, prayer or simple deep-breathing exercises-can
help counter the effects of chronic stress. We now believe that the
body produces more nitric oxide when deeply relaxed, and that this molecule
acts as an antidote to cortisol and other potentially toxic stress hormones.
Can we teach ourselves to be healthier? That is the central question
of mind-body medicine, and the answer is not an unqualified yes. Stressful
life circumstances are sometimes inescapable (no one chooses poverty
or discrimination).
Heredity and temperament leave some of us more stress-prone than others. And prayer is clearly no substitute for penicillin or a decent diet. Yet mind-body techniques can improve almost anyone's quality of life. Meditation may not cure cancer, but by alleviating fear and softening the side effects of treatment, it leaves many patients feeling less victimized. Stress-related illness often defies conventional remedies, and when we persist with high-tech pills and procedures, the costs of treatment can easily outweigh the benefits. Mind-body medicine offers a saner starting place. If it fulfills half its promise, it could reduce medical costs while improving our health and our lives. And whatever its limitations, it has the advantage of doing no harm. Benson is the Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston. CORLISS is a medical writer at Harvard Medical School. Cowley is NEWSWEEK's health editor. For more information go to health.harvard.edu/NEWSWEEK.
..
Exciting News ... We have been chatting with two friends in Australia about the possibility of doing a seminar together here in Vancouver. So we decided to "test the waters" and find out what the level of interest might be. Here's some info on "the guys" from Down Under: David Lake is a medical doctor who has been in private practice since 1977. He is currently involved in full-time counselling and psychotherapy from his practice in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. Together, Steve and David travel the globe conducting seminars on personal development and professional training workshops in Advanced EFT and Provocative Energy Techniques. What is Provocative Energy Techniques (PET)? Provocative Energy techniques (PET) is a unique integration of principles and techniques from the Meridian-based therapies (mainly EFT), with the humorous and paradoxical communication style and techniques of Provocative Therapy. PET addresses the multi-level nature of problems through warmth, humour and spontaneity, whilst also providing the means for rapid desensitisation of clients' emotional problems. To find out more about Steve and David please visit their excellent website at www.eftdownunder.com For those of you that have not had the pleasure of experiencing Steve and David in action, you really won't want to miss this opportunity! And, if you have seen them before, we know you'll no doubt want to see them again. We're asking you to let us know, as soon as you can, if you would be interested in attending a seminar presented by Steve Wells, David Lake and Alex Lees.
Once we get your feedback we'll let you know the details
Please
Contact Us
We have been interested in, and involved with, the Mind/Body Connection for the past 15 years. Alex presented his first Mind/Body Connection seminar in 1995. In the early 90s it was sometimes a lonely journey because most people were not aware of the mind/body connection, and not many were talking about it. It has been very gratifying to see how the whole field has developed. We now can read about it in major magazines and newspapers, watch shows on TV about it, and a movie has just recently been released called "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" The mind/body connection seems to be finally coming into the public consciousness, which is a really good thing! On a personal note, I am not the least bit scientifically minded, but I remember very clearly the first time Alex explained the mind/body connection concept to me. It was 1995 and he called me into his office and asked me to sit down on the couch. He politely asked, "Do you have 30 minutes?" My first thought was, "Do I NEED therapy?" Then he leaned over and whispered in my ear...
Alex saw the look on my face, smiled, and then explained that he could give me a synopsis of the mind/body connection, it would only take 30 minutes. The next thought I had was, "Oh dear, he's going to use all sorts of big, scientific words, and I won't have a clue what he's talking about! It won't be his fault I don't understand, it's just that my brain isn't wired for science." Before I could say a word out loud, he guaranteed I would understand what he was about to explain, and he would use every day language, so I was sure to understand. Was I ever surprised! Almost immediately, I was hooked. I understood what he was saying, and the diagrams he was drawing on the white board made sense. In fact, the whole subject was fascinating. I didn't know we had antenna-like "thingys" (my description, not Alex's) on every cell in our bodies, and they listen to all our thoughts. And, our thoughts influence not only our behaviours and attitudes, but can also influence how our cells operate.... Wow! I was pleased with myself for "getting it," and I was very impressed with my husband and his presentation. From that short 30 minute talk, a seminar was born. The January edition of Reflections will be sent out just before Christmas, so I'd better go and start looking for some interesting things to put in it. I'm curious to see what I find. Till next month,
take care.
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Newsweek
magazine devoted its entire Sept. 27th issue to the Mind/Body Connection.
There were 18 very interesting and diverse articles, and we highly recommend
you have a look at this latest information. We have excerpted part of
the first article to give you an idea of how this fascinating topic
is now being talked about, and where the field is going. You can read
the rest of the articles at 
Steve
Wells is a psychologist, professional speaker and peak performance
consultant based in Perth, Western Australia. Steve regularly teaches
and consults worldwide with elite athletes and corporate personnel to
improve their performance and enhance the performance of their teams.
Berit's
Corner
All
the articles in the Sept. 27th edition of Newsweek were fascinating
reading, and it got us excited (again) about all this "stuff." We haven't
done a Mind/Body Connection seminar for quite a while, so maybe we should
consider doing one in the new year. We'd appreciate hearing from anyone
that would be interested in attending a seminar, and if the interest
is there, we'll plan one for the Spring. 
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(C) 2004 - Dr. Alexander R. Lees & Associates Inc.