Reflections Newsletter
"People are not broken and in need of fixing... most people are just fine. They may simply need a tune-up."
Dr. Alexander R. Lees
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In This Issue:
This month we have articles from all our regular columnists, and it's a very interesting mix of information and viewpoints. Alex explains how Energy Psychology works, which will help all of you that have ever tried to explain tapping to your friends and family. Dave writes about the advantages of being a "rightie" instead of a "leftie" when it comes to which side of your brain you use most often; once again demonstrating his mastery of the thinking processes. Tom finishes his series on Emotional Release techniques with an excellent example of how to deal with grief. I do believe "timing" is important, so when I received Tom's article I was thankful when I saw the subject matter. The timing was perfect and you'll see why in Berit's Corner.
We hope you enjoy this edition of Reflections!
Berit Lees, Editor
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Energy Psychology: How does it work?
By Dr. Alexander R. Lees
As more and more people become aware of the term Energy Psychology, which includes EFT, AFT, TFT, and particularly, Donna Eden's Energy Medicine (see Tom's articles for more in-depth reports), our email Inbox has been filled with questions about it. Some want to know, and some actually state, that tapping certain points on the body is nothing more than a distraction; others know it's just another form of hypnosis, or at best, a new way of taking advantage of a person's suggestibility.
Fortunately, the world is big enough, and benign enough for all these beliefs and certain knowledge to exist simultaneously, and still manages to tick along quite nicely. However, within this same mix of emails are those that genuinely are intrigued by this ever evolving topic, and seem quite sincere in learning it's inner mechanisms. In short, their well thought out questions suggest an open mind, and a delightful curiosity to learn more. Perhaps the simplest way to answer these questions is the following.
Within our skull rests two "black boxes." Box #2 is referred to as the Limbic System. The Limbic System came along quite some time before Box #1, and it is where the emotions reside. It is also responsible for the formation of memories. As well, it mediates (but does not control) heart rate, body temperature, metabolism, breathing and a host of other important mechanisms responsible for health and well being.
It also "attaches" a yes (attract) signal, or a no (repulse, move away from) signal to all experiences. A way of thinking about this is once programmed, just about everything we encounter will then have a positive (that's good, I like that) or a negative (that's bad, I don't want that) signal attached to it. This signaling business is referred to as an emotional response. The emotional response can be big or small, or anything in between. Some we are consciously aware of, some we are not. None the less, these signals play a large part in behaviours, attitudes, and decision making processes, so they are well worth knowing about.
One of the limitations of Box #2 is that it's impulsive; that is, it wants gratification now. It is because of this limitation, and others, that the brain evolved Box #1. Box #1 has various names - Prefrontal Cortex being the favourite. This is where the intellect resides. It is the seat of higher learning, and abstract reasoning. It is the part that creates mental maps of the territory, and can make sophisticated evaluations. In short, it reasons, and is aware of consequences. Originally it started out as a governor for the more volatile limbic system, and then evolved from there.
Now, granted, this is but a thumbnail sketch of these two boxes, but the question still remains: How does tapping certain acupuncture points relate to all this?
First of all, thanks for following along so far. Now let's tie it all together.
Normally, 22% of the oxygen we breathe is consumed by the Prefrontal Cortex. Some 30+% of the nutrition in food is directed to this same area of the brain. Then, along comes a stimulus that triggers the emotional brain to respond. If the stimulus is sufficient, the Limbic System is suddenly in charge, and we react emotively. Reason and consequences go out the window, and we simply react.
This reaction can be, "I don't like homework, so regardless of consequences, I'm not going to do it." Or, "Your behaviour is perceived as such a threat, I'm going to kill you." Or, "That mouse is so frightening I'm going to act as if a nuclear bomb is heading my way."
The best working hypothesis to explain tapping specific acupuncture points is the following.
The signal that shifts control to the limbic system/emotional brain is interrupted. If the tapping session is done properly, then the brain now has an experience of processing the same stimuli without the emotional response, and files that as a new memory for referencing future experiences that are like and similar.
And that, in a nutshell, is how tapping specific acupuncture points reduces unwanted emotional responses, and can be used to "clean up" the reference library called our past.
Kinda neat, isn't it?!
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These beautiful images of waves were taken by Clark Little whom many consider the premier photographer of surf. He has dedicated his life to photographing waves and has published a selection of the best images of his career. Below he captures magical moments "inside the tube", as surfers say.
 Molten, Liquid Gold The See through the Sea Shell
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 Contributing
Columnist Dave Marshall is retired and lives in Spain. Before his
retirement he was in the corporate world in the UK, and also taught NLP
(he's an NLP Master Trainer). Visit his website at www.nlpman.eu which
has a ton of free information on NLP. Dave has also joined the world of blogs, check his out at http://www.bukisa.com/search?Q=nlpman (please copy and paste URL into your browser).
A Whole New Mind
By David Marshall
It was 30 years ago when I first started looking at the left and right brain theories. Around that time we knew that the left brain was to do with logic, words, maths, and attention to detail. The right brain was to do with images, pictures, music, sounds, and emotions. There were people who had biases to the left or right side of the brain, and were intensely detailed logical thinkers versus the artists and musicians who seem to be all tied up with their emotions. This was all very interesting but what could we do with it? We knew that there was Broca's region of the brain that controlled the production of words and that there were other areas on the right side of the brain that controlled visualization and images.
In the mid eighties (about 1985) I started running a creative thinking course, the objective of this was to enlarge the outlook of the very left brain oriented computer people I worked with. The course work was very well accepted and the students were able to broaden their outlook tremendously. Some actually discovered many different ways of doing things, which surprised a lot of them.
As my creative thinking courses progressed I discovered a guy called Dr. Michael Kirton (I told you about him a few months ago). His theory was that everyone is creative but we have different styles. We have people who are adapters and people who are innovators, and this matched very nicely with left and right brain approaches. The innovators were very right brained, thinking up concepts, plans and principles, but not getting a lot done. These people are often described as "head in the clouds" people. The adapters (left brain oriented, very logical, very detailed people) couldn't stand the innovators because they were too wild and woolly. The adapters were good, solid down to earth, get things done, people who didn't rock the boat.
That was all very well but where was it getting us? We all thought it would be better if the lefties were a bit more like the righties, and the righties were more like the lefties. We all ended up trying to become very well balanced.
Now, along comes Daniel H. Pink, who has written a book called A Whole New Mind, Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future. Oh what a breath of fresh air it is when someone writes a brilliant book that puts all the thoughts that you had in the past, down on paper, with evidence that shows you were right all the time! And so with that satisfying feeling of smugness I ploughed in to Daniel's new book with great enthusiasm. The guy has done an excellent job, gathering together all the evidence of recent years, showing where the left brain dominated thinking of the west has got us. He points out that in the west we have spent years making computers and cars bigger and better, and better and bigger than ever they were before, until all we've got is more cars than we know what to do with, more computers than we can use - and now it's all being done in the far east at a price we cannot afford to work for.
In India and the Far East, computer programmers and manufacturers can produce things for far less than we can in the west and their left brain thinking university graduates are brilliant at computer programming, accountancy engineering, telecommunications, rocket science, brain surgery, etc., etc. So what is our salvation? Daniels theory is that we in the west need to become more right brain oriented. We need to create the ideas and the concepts for new products. And these new products need to be revolutionary, not just variations of old ones. Rather than refining the petrol car for more miles per gallon, we need to create electric, hydrogen or pneumatic powered cars. Yes, I know we've done all this, but where are they? They've been designed but they haven't been made because the cost of producing them in the west is just too high. Daniel thinks that we should have the ideas, and other people put them into practice. To do this of course we need to develop more right brain thinking, and in order to do that, Daniel suggests many exercises that we can do to encourage a more creative approach to life.
This approach is not just being applied to manufacturing; it applies to almost everything we do. Doctors and nurses who demonstrate a more right brain approach to their patients have been shown to get better results. In sales and marketing the use of images and emotions have more effect than facts and figures alone. Daniel also recommends the use of stories and metaphors, because stories and metaphors are much more in line with right brain thinking. The benefits of approaching problems using metaphors are also being seen in therapy with the growing use of Clean Language.
The book is brilliant with excellent footnotes and index. But, even if you don't want to buy it, at least go to your library and take it out! Give your whole mind a make over... it could be a lifesaver.
Footnote:
Many years after I retired, I had a stroke. My carotid artery was blocked and my brain was not getting enough blood. Guess what? It was Broca's area that was affected. It was really weird. I couldn't talk properly. Although I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I could see the pictures coming from my right brain in my mind's eye, but my poor old left brain couldn't find the word to go with the picture! And I thought, "Well I've been telling people this for years and now it's happened to me." That was a really good personal example of the theory being born out in practice. I'm OK now.
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Anagrams:
DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
THE MORSE CODE : When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ELECTION RESULTS: When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
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 Contributing Columnist Tom
Dorzab is a retired biologist from Kansas and now lives with his wife
in Spain. Tom followed his passion and is now an energy medicine
practitioner specializing in Eden Energy Medicine. You can contact Tom
at tdorz@telefonica.net Emotional release, what a relief! (Part 5)
By Tom Dorzab
We all have a little bit of each element of the Chinese Five Element model in our make up. And we all tend to cycle through times when one element seems to dominate. Most of us however, tend to lean toward one or more of the elements more than the others. As a result, we tend to exhibit the characteristics related to those elements. This month we will be concluding the series on using Neurovascular Points related to the elements of the Five Element Model for emotional release. We have already discussed the emotions as they relate to out-of-balance elements. The Water Element is related to fear, the Wood Element is related to anger, the Fire Element is related to panic, the Earth Element is related to over-compassion and the Metal Element, the flavour of the month, is related to grief. Those people that are considered Metal Element types are probably the brunt of more Five Element jokes than any other with Wood Element taking a close second. By the way, have you heard the one about the Metal Element who had a great party for all his friends? I haven't either. That's because a Metal Element tendency is to be very aloof, keeping emotional distance from others. He can also be critical, judgemental and extremely intolerant of opposing viewpoints.
Probably one of the best examples of a Metal Element type is Mr. Spock from the Star Trek series. Need I say more? Everyone would probably agree though that Mr. Spock's calm and calculating character was responsible for saving the Universe on countless occasions. A well balanced Metal Element can discern perfectly those things that are important and those that are not. His house or office is always in perfect order. You won't find any fluff here. If you get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities and you find the bed is made when you return, you may be married to a Metal Element. If you're looking for a great office manager for your company, be sure to include a requirement for a Metal Element.
You don't have to be a Metal Element to benefit from using the Neurovascular Points for grief. As I said, everyone phases through all the elements at some point in their lives and grief is no more the property of just Metal Element types than any of the other emotions are the sole property of their predominate elemental types. Whether you are just passing through Metal territory or you live there, holding the Neurovascular Points for the Metal Element can help relieve the grief that can be associated with it. At the same time, it can help balance not only the Metal Element, but also its contributing yin meridian of Lung and its yang meridian of Large Intestine.
So if your Metal Element is a little out of whack, first think of the situation that is causing your grief. Then, while keeping those thoughts in mind, place the palm of one hand on your forehead. Use a light touch. Place your other palm over the center of the top of your head (for those familiar with the chakras, this is the Crown Chakra). Hold these points until you feel the synchronous pulsing under all the points you are touching or until you take a deep sigh, yawn or have a feeling of release. Don't forget to breathe deeply. Remember, it can take anywhere from three to thirty minutes.
Well, that's a wrap. Now you are armed with information that can help ease the pain associated with many of the excessive emotions we all face daily, whether it stems from present or past situations, it doesn't matter. Balancing elements and meridians is a bonus.
Next month I'm thinking about sharing some interesting stories of real events I have come across in my travels where my Eden Energy Medicine training has really made a difference to someone in need. It should be fun and interesting.
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Kids in Church
Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?" "Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life." The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So why is the groom wearing black?"
Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, "What do you think about all this Satan stuff?" The other boy replied, "Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It's probably just your dad."
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Berit's Corner
Sometimes it's difficult to stay up and be positive. Some people may think that's not a good comment for me to make, especially when I'm in the people helping business and I'm also married to a therapist! My only excuse is - I'm human. :-)
Things were actually starting to get better and the economic woes many are suffering seemed to be improving ever so slightly. Alex and I were looking forward to a nice summer (we're taking some time off) and the weather here was certainly co-operating - we've had a marvelous June. Then, a couple of weeks ago both Alex and I had to accept the fact that our doggie Kaylie was in tremendous pain and it was getting more severe every day, right before our eyes. It was decision time.
Alex is fond of saying, "When Berit and I got together, we divided up our duties. She would take care of all the little day to day things and when a BIG thing appeared or happened, I'd get involved." That system has worked very well for both of us probably because I enjoy running things, which leaves Alex free to concentrate on whatever it is that he does. :-)
So, a decision had to be made. This was a BIG thing. As I sat crying my heart out and hugging Kaylie, Alex phoned the vet. I was incapable of going with him, so he took Kaylie for her last drive. It's the second time he's had to do this - long time readers of Reflections may remember when our beloved Lucas passed - Alex also drove him for the last time.
I'm now the only female in our little family. It's just me and the boys. Both Alex and I are watching Ty closely for any signs of depression. When Lucas passed, Kaylie went in to a clinical depression and the vet recommended the only thing he thought would help - get another dog. That's how Ty joined us. He's an absolute delight and I'm hoping his independent streak will help him through this difficult time.
Alex is doing his best to reassure me that the Chow part of Ty (he's half Chow and half black Lab) will be the dominant part of his personality and he'll be fine. He's using all his therapist skills to get me through this and he's doing a good job. As each day goes by I'm starting to feel a bit more normal - I like being the lady of the house and taking care of my guys.
Now, if only I could get Ty to chase balls! Instead, he looks at me as if I'm a very silly woman and I swear he's thinking, "Why should I run after a ball? When I bring it back to you, you just throw it away again. That's silly!" May I should throw a ball for Alex and see what happens. :-)
Meanwhile, life goes on. I do hope you know that I don't think losing a pet is the end of the world because in the larger scheme of things, it's not. There seem to be tragedies happening everywhere at the moment and all of it is a cause for concern. As upset and angry as I am about what's happening in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, and many countries in Africa - my heaven's there's a lot of horrible stuff going on in so many places - I am still optimistic. I'm also deeply touched by the strength of the human spirit in all these countries. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people everywhere fighting for basic human rights and trying to survive in some terrible circumstances.
My thoughts are also with Kaylie, I know she's in doggie heaven, has found Lucas, and is pestering the heck out of him. So, I'm going to go and have a chat with Ty and try to entice him to play ball. As I said, I'm an optimist.
I hope you have a great July!
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Volume 16, No. 07
July 2009
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Upcoming Workshops
We will post our Fall/Winter Workshop Schedule in August 2009.
(We don't do any workshops over the summer.) You can read all the details about our workshop by clicking the links below.
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Fees, Location & Other Registration Information
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Happy
Canada Day
July 1st!
To our American friends - Happy 4th of July!
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