Lissa gave regular readers of her blog the opportunity read the first excerpt of ‘Mind Over Medicine’ by Lissa Rankin MD available to buy from a link on her blog.
I thought that everyone with an interest in healing (themselves or others) would be interested in her book, the subjects talked in the excerpt I read are; The placebo effect and its physiology, spontaneous remission from cancer, healing and belief. That was only a short extract!
Can’t wait to read the whole thing!
I would like to thank http://rosewinelover.com/ epilepsy action advocate once again for taking the time to write a guest post.
This month epilepsy me and neurology has asked me to write a brief (or not-so brief) piece on what it’s like to live with both epilepsy and autism; I shall endeavour to do my best. Continue reading
I watched this talk this evening and have to admit that I laughed, probably a bit too loudly, through this very touching Ted talk re-blogged by Dr Frank Lipman. I have seen it before from Be Well and Happy.
For all my fellow onions out there, I think this is a really important and not often enough discussed topic which has cropped up a lot recently (see links).
For everyone this weekend please share Brene’s Talk on vulnerability as an idea worth spreading.
http://bewellandhappy.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/brene-brown-ted-talk-on-vulnerability/
http://www.drfranklipman.com/brene-brown-the-power-of-vulnerability/
http://fredphillips.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/the-beauty-and-benefits-of-vulnerability/
GREAT parkinson’s neuro recovery blog!
This week kicked off brain awareness week… and the people over at sharpbrains.com debunked 10 myths around brain fitness… here are my 5 favourites!
Myth 1. Genes determine the fate of our brains.
Fact: Lifelong brain plasticity means that our lifestyles and behaviors play a significant role in how our brains (and therefore our minds) physically evolve.
(we have some aspect of control and can create new neural pathways – say with exercise for brain change!)
Myth 3. Medication is the main hope for cognitive health and enhancement.
Fact: Non-invasive interventions can have comparable and more durable benefits, and are also free of side effects.
(drug side effects are not necessary, but side effects – like endorphins – from exercise are encouraged!)
Myth 4. There’s nothing we can do to beat Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline.
Fact: While nothing has been shown to prevent the pathology of Alzheimer ’s…
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http://fredphillips.wordpress.com/articles/healing-parkinsons-disease-naturally/#comment-615
Please follow the link to Fred Phillips Blog, and inspiring story of treating parkinson’s nautrally. Fred has taken the time and care to write about how he is using diet, yoga, meditation and emotional healing to treat his Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
His diet advice in particular in relation to inflammation and the relationship between gut and immune system function are really useful (to me especially! 🙂 ).
Fred has a very good understanding of the physiology of the body and how it all inter-relates.
Fred has also written a book about healing.
Fred is also a KARATE TEACHER!!! 🙂
Following through with the theme of neurogenesis and exercise for brain health and development; here are links to two excellent articles by program director and chief instructor of karate Rob Nielson at Cedar Ridge Academy Therapeutic Boarding school for troubled teens (1).
Karate is one of my favourite pass-times and I was very happy to read that it is being used in such a positive way to help young people.
1) Karate Black Belt Challenge Brain Development in troubled teens
Student Participation stimulates brain development (neurogenesis)
By Rob Nielson, Program Director & Chief Instructor
Helpful in disorders like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression. Increases self-confidence and mindfulness,
http://www.cedaridge.net/karate-black-belt-challenge.html
2) Karate Black Belt Challenge for brain development in troubled teens – Part II
an Holistic approach to therapy at Cedar Ridge
Academy Therapeutic Boarding School for troubled teens
by Rob Nielson, Program Director & Chief Instructor
Relationships between being physically fit and mentally fit, karate for attention deficit, anxiety, drug issues, impulse control, aerobic exercise and brain health.
http://www.cedaridge.net/black-belt-challenge-therapy.html
1) http://www.cedaridge.net/quick-facts.html
I have been recovering from epilepsy for a long time and have become interested in reading a great deal about belief in relation to health and wellbeing. Other bloggers have touched on it recently, for example an excellent post from the http://workitwell.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/what-are-your-core-beliefs/
was titled ‘what are your core beliefs’.
Belief is a big word with few letters. Thinking about it might bring up ideas about your-self, others, religion, believing in something not believing in something, maybe even right and wrong.
So at what stage in your life did you start asking questions about the tooth fairy and Santa Clause?
Why do we believe what we believe and at what point do we begin to ask questions about these beliefs?
In the context of religion for example, asking questions about faith could be a welcome part of the discussion within a place of worship. Spiritual leaders may encourage debate about beliefs and use them as an opportunity to Shepard their flock to safer pastures.
However examples of how much resistance has been encountered in relation to changing beliefs can be found throughout history.
One such example of this would be the geocentric model (1) of the earth as the centre of the universe, and the resistance faced by Galileo Galilei (2) when he tried to present his case that things might be different.
Without reconsidering and changing beliefs such as the Earth as the centre of the universe, humans may never have made it to the moon. We could still be trying to leave the ground instead of taking into account new physics to take us upwards on an evolutionary path towards new technologies.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Galileo had suggested that you could communicate with people the other side of the world on an electric light box?
Bearing this in mind, how difficult is it for us to challenge or own beliefs and those held by people who are charged with our health care?
This type of difficulty is well illustrated by the distressing experience of Well Call me crazy here:
http://wellcallmecrazy.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/the-irony-of-it-all/
Having had experience of how difficult it can be to hold the ‘reflective mirror’ up to myself at what point do you question the beliefs of your doctors?
It is a sad fact that the men in white coats are often given great power by us. We look to them to answer our health problems but sadly don’t question their fallibility, and even if we do we can easily be put off by the sheer dazzling power of the white coat complex.
‘With great power comes great responsibility’ (star wars), which is sadly often abused. Pharmacy is big business and there are many millions of billions of motivations why modern medical culture doesn’t encourage us to ask questions about what is in our medication, how does it work, and what is it doing to the body?(3)
Great strides have been made by modern medicine in the mechanistic understanding of the body and yet the deities charged with our health care are only human. Why do we not ALWAYS ask what are you putting into my body?
A lot of people like my-self may have had the experience of being told that they would be on medication for life and that they need to be cured.
I prescribed to this belief for many years, despite experiencing side effects that were detrimental to my health and emotional wellbeing. This belief was driven simply by the fact that I thought my doctors new best. As a result of taking medication without question I didn’t get any better and ended up with significantly more health problems as a result.
I can’t remember exactly when I began to question the men in white coats, but I can remember that it was after I began to seek help from a white coat who went against the grain and decided to reduce my medication. The problem was it was turning me into a zombie – and zombies defiantly don’t think for themselves or ask questions.
My white coat was actually not convinced that I was epileptic at the time, so although I have to give him some credit for removing the medication it wasn’t because he had acknowledged that I am epileptic; although this did change once he had removed enough medication to find my EEG.
Whilst alternative therapies continue to be held up as many things (including the last resort for patients such as myself) there are a number of common denominators that I feel are important to mention.
The power of belief.
I have been following the work of Lissa Rankin MD.(4) You may have seen her TedX talk which I have posted at the bottom of the page. The placebo and nocebo effects are covered and Lissa speaks about the work of the institute of noetic Sciences (5) spontaneous remission project.(6)
Lissa’s blog has recently run a 4 part series http://lissarankin.com/is-it-your-fault-if-you-cant-heal-yourself-part-1 which asks is it your fault if you can’t heal yourself? This question in particular is relevant to recovery from ill health and was sparked as a result of the suggestion that we perhaps may be able to heal ourselves without medication and/or despite it.
Lissa’s work is an encouraging step towards introducing the notion that the body and mind may be intrinsically woven together in a more complex way than is currently outlined by modern Big Pharma medicine.
Would now be an appropriate time for Western medicine to start asking questions about how the mind is woven into the fabric of the body? Or is it too much of an expensive and painful prescription to swallow for Big pharma?
For me I it is not too late. I have had the lights turned on. The fog has lifted, and now I can ask questions.
For years I have been labouring under the impression I can’t learn, but last year I went to college and got 88%, 84% and 69% in exams in the same month as having seizures all month. I have spent this week twitching and seizing but I can still think.
The question had to be how?
All the time I couldn’t think I believed it was because I have epilepsy.
Now I have come to the conclusion that this isn’t so. I couldn’t think because I was on vast quantities of mind bending prescription medications.
I have had to address my core beliefs.
It has been very challenging and I still haven’t had time to integrate this new view of myself into my mind and body.
Socially epilepsy can be a very stigmatising health problem to experience. My experience has made me question how much society, attitudes, and beliefs play a part in recovery.
Thankfully I feel like I have been given a second chance. Realising that I can think and study has meant that I can go back to college to study with the support of my family.
Maybe one day we will all believe that the body, mind and environment are linked and that they are all as necessary for health as each other; just like we can now see we are only a small planet in a solar system in a universe that doesn’t revolve around us – or does it?
This post below illustrates how a different world view can influence recovery, and how diet is important to blood chemistry.
Why do we consistently reach for pills when diet can be so powerful?
It is sad to think that so many people may never know who they are without medication. I am glad that I found out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LWQfe__fNbs
Lissa Rankin MD TEDX
1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model#Historical_positions_of_the_Roman_Catholic_hierarchy Geocentric model
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair
4) http://lissarankin.com/is-it-your-fault-if-you-cant-heal-yourself-part-1
5)http://noetic.org/library/publication-books/spontaneous-remission-annotated-bibliography/
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Jon Kabat-Zinn(1) (2)
In search of mindfulness I have been following the progress of mindfulness teaching locally and have been pleasantly surprised recently with the numbers of classes advertised.
A couple of weeks ago I saw one that was titled ‘Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction’ and was intrigued.
Another article in January/February Scientific American Mind 2013 related to mindfulness; it is titled ‘Focus on Your-self to Alleviate Social Pain’. The article discusses the benefits of mindfulness for pain, stress, anxiety and depression, but also how a new study recently that has shown it reduces feelings of loneliness or social isolation. Mindfulness was also shown to reduce inflammation and the risk of heart attacks.
So where did all this research start and why is there so much interest in mindfulness for health?
Taking to you-tube (as you do) I came across this one titled ‘The Healing Power of Mindfulness’.(1)
It has sparked my interest in Jon Kabat-Zinn who talks about his life and how at college he was one of 5 students who went to see a monk lecture on this topic. During the lecture he describes how he had one of those ‘Ah-ha!’ moments as he realised that what he had just been taught to do should be something that everyone gets to learn in kindergarten.
‘Being in the moment’ sounds like something we all could benefit from, but how many of us are actually present without our mobile phone, computer, television or radio?
I am sitting here with the computer and a phone so I am clearly not a shining example of being present within myself just right now.
When do we ever switch off?
Something else I am interested in is the research into ‘neuroplasticity’. Jon Kabat-Zinn studied molecular biology in 1971 at MIT.
In the film he talks about how studies have now gone on to show that not only is the mind plastic but so are genes, and he describes how the corrosive acid of stress wears down our DNA causing problems within the body. Mindfulness meditation research is showing that this can be stopped and reversed.
He has been teaching and studying the effects of mindfulness since 1979 and is Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Although watching you-tube isn’t always a mindfulness practice, I was really relaxed and centered when I had finished watching, and participating at one point(audience participation!), spending time with this innovative out of the box thinker talking about his life’s work with mindfulness.
I hope you feel that you can take the time to watch him as well, and perhaps take away some of his mindful thoughts and experiences on the benefits of being present in the mind and body.
You come from nothing, you go back to nothing, it’s what you do in between that matters. Don’t you want to always be present?
(For people in the area there are some good classes advertised at the Treehouse if you are looking for a teacher http://www.treehousewales.co.uk/ )
Happy New Year Everybody!
The new year begins with a guest blog post from http://alysonyoga.wordpress.com/
If anybody is interested in doing a guest blog post please get in touch via my gravitar profile or drop a note to tell me how to contact you.
Thank-you Alyson for this blog post!
Guest blog post
Yoga’s been part of my life for so long I rarely stop and think ‘What am I doing?’ or ‘Why am I doing this?’ However, in writing this guest blog post, I’ve tried to put some of it into words to explain why I practise yoga, and some of the benefits it brings me.
I’ve been practising yoga for roughly half my life, attending my first classes when I was 17. I’d dabbled earlier than that at home with Mum apparently but can remember little of that. During university my yoga practice was on and off, but for the last 11 years I have been attending yoga classes regularly, at first once weekly, then twice, then three times, and then I took the plunge and started (and completed) my yoga teacher training and have been teaching since 2008.
But why do I go to classes and practice at home? For me, if I don’t do my morning stretches I soon start stiffening up. One Christmas I had family staying and routines were abandoned. After a week my neck, shoulders and back were stiff, aching and unhappy! A few days after getting back into my routine I was fine again.
My morning routine is only about 20 minutes long and consists of basic stretches that limber up most parts of the body and joints, and it seems to be the right amount for me to keep things ticking over.
If you are struggling to implement a daily routine start small. For years I talked of doing more yoga at home but I didn’t do any. Eventually I just set the alarm five minutes earlier than usual, got up and did five minutes of stretches. Gradually I increased the time and now it’s a regular easy habit.
So, I practise daily for physical comfort.
Less noticeably, I think the benefits are a calm disposition, a more peaceful state of mind, and greater body awareness. These are some of the less tangible benefits that a yoga practice can bring.
One of the things from the yoga teacher training course which had a direct impact was the starting of a pranayama (controlled breathing) practice and diary. I tacked this onto the end of my morning routine, and it’s something I’ve (generally) kept up. We sometimes focus mainly on the physical side of yoga, the postures, but the breathing practices can be very useful, and just as illuminating as to our current state of health etc.
Likewise, I have tried to also include a short meditation into my daily session, although sometimes this is pretty short! I find the meditation to be very beneficial in helping me focus, and just to observe my current state of mind and how distracted I am.
In some ways, the benefits are often more noticeable when I’m not practising yoga. When I’m not practising, for whatever reason, I realise why I do practise!
Currently I have a foot in plaster and the enforced inactivity is a challenge. However, being able to practise just 20 minutes of stretches makes me feel better – not only physically but also mentally. And it’s amazing what you can do even with a foot in plaster!
I’m still not sure why I started practising yoga though. Unless I can recall my thoughts of my 17 year old self I’ll probably never know!
[if you want to link to my blog it’s http://alysonyoga.wordpress.com/]
just read this blog which starts with ‘skilful communication allows someone to speak from the heart’ really quite impressed by the essay and reading it made me think about how this could be useful in validating emotions.
The Real Lord of The Flies A True Life Story 