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Healing Silks Company Supporting Articles

::Tools for Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine Practitioners

::7 Powerful Methods for a Practically Impenetrable Immune System (click here to download article in pfd)

by Cathy Chapman, Ph.d., LMSW, C.Ht, CBP

You Have the Power!

Are you aware of how powerful your own immune system is? If yours is not working well you may be saying, “Powerful? Yeah, RIGHT! Then how come I’m feeling so rotten?”

Unless you were born without an immune system, yours, at one time, worked wondrously. If you were cut, your body sent white blood cells for healing. The cells knew how to knit together when torn. Your body identified foreign invaders and swarmed white blood cells to fight the infection.

What you may not be aware of is how very simple lifestyle changes can ramp up your immune system into a powerhouse.

This report contains 7 powerful tips to strengthen your immune system.

Take advantage of all seven tips and you could “kick-start” the most compromised immune system.

To better understand how these effective yet simple methods work; let me first give you a straightforward explanation of how the immune system functions. I’m not using technical terms and am speaking from an action perspective.

First, know that I am not a medical doctor. I am a practitioner of mind/body psychology. I’ve studied how the mental, emotional and spiritual life affects the body.

Here we go!

The Innate Wisdom of the Body

Your body has intelligence and wisdom. Within it is a medical library of knowledge about how it is to work. Your body knows when and how to release hormones and chemicals which fight infection, keep your heart beating and your lungs breathing. Your body knows how to make babies, digest food and work when you sleep. Your body knows how to do things that doctors are trying to learn!

For millennia bodies have reacted in a specific manner to keep humanity on this wonderful earth. Your body keeps you alive as long as it has what it needs to sustain it. Before written history, your body learned to increase all physical resources to keep it and humanity alive. If a saber tooth tiger jumped in front of you, your body sent life saving power to critical parts of you so that you could run away or fight for your life.

When a car cuts in front of you threatening your life, your body immediately shuts down all non-necessary functions. Your body marshals its resources to do one thing: keep you alive.

The body is wise, but it still works as if you need the long-lasting power to run from a saber tooth tiger rather than the short burst of energy to avoid a car.

The Body Reacts!

If you have to run like the wind to stay alive, you don’t need to digest food, have sex or fight off disease. Staying alive NOW is critical.

You do need adrenalin, increased thyroid and pancreas function as well as more cholesterol to give you extra fuel. You need more oxygen to move your arms and legs quickly! That’s why your heart beats faster and your respiration increases when you are scared. You need more glucose to provide fuel to run or fight for your life. Endorphins increase to kill pain if wounded. In addition, all five senses are more acute so you can see, hear, smell and sense the enemy more easily.

Your body is exquisitely made so that you can physically run as far and fast as possibly to escape that wild animal. Your body responds to danger so you can do one of two things: fight or flee. We call this response “fight or flight.”

Today, most of what threatens you cannot be evaded by physically running away. In fact, running away, literally or figuratively, sets your body up for pain, suffering and dis-ease.

You know that word “stress?” Here is what it does to your physical body.

Stress is Perception!

You’ve heard the word “stress” but do you know what it really is?

Stress is the physical result (rise in blood pressure, heart rate, etc.) of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.

Imagine the following:

The sky is beautiful. The air is clear. The birds are singing. You are in the car going to the hospital.

How do you feel?

Were your first feelings pleasant or neutral? What happened when you discovered you were going to the hospital? Did your feelings change? Are you happy or sad? Worried or excited?

Any tension, anxiety or worry you felt when you imagined that brief scene was the physical reaction to stress brought on by your thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

I was at the hospital in early October on just such a day. I met my great-niece for the very first time. What a cutie!

Your body responded to your beliefs, fears and expectations of the word “hospital.” Did you notice any changes when I told you I was there to see a new-born baby?

What Was to Save Us is Killing Us!

Our body was designed to move us from harm’s way. The physical reactions to stress are only needed IF we are under physical attack. However, the body reacts when people worry about what has or will happen. The body is hyper-alert elevating heart and breathing rates, as well as adrenalin and sugar. You go into fear, and your body enters the fight or flight response.

A continual state of being hyper-alert depletes hormones, lowers the sex drive, shuts down digestion and weakens the immune system. The long term result is illness.

How much illness? A few years ago it was estimated that more than 70% of all doctors’ appointments were stress related. That is a lot of illness!

The number of stress-related diseases is astounding. A few illnesses researchers are attributing, at least in part, to stress are:

High blood pressure, asthma, obesity, high cholesterol, colds, flu, auto-immune disorders (arthritis, fibromyalgia), heart disease, ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, allergies, cancer, indigestion, back trouble, migraines...to name a few, and not to mention accidents.

The Way You Respond Can Hurt You!

How you respond determines not only whether your body enters fight or flight mode, thus weakening your immune system, but how long you stay there. The longer you are in fight or flight mode, the more worn out your immune system becomes due to fatigue.

Four personality states have the greatest negative effect upon the body. These are: depressed, anxious, hostile and angry.

We all experience one or more of these states at various times. The key is, how long are you in a state other than joy? How extreme is your mood from joy?

Anger, depression, hostility and anger are so prevalent there is a drug for each one of them. The meds are not working! If they worked there would be a decrease, not increase, in emotional and physical disease.

On top of that, the meds make many people sicker! As a psychotherapist I’ve had teens and adults feel better when they get off their antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. Some felt increased depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts on the medications.

Don’t take the above statement as a reason for quitting your medication cold turkey. If you are bi-polar, schizophrenic or have other debilitating disorders, stay on your medication. You are among those for whom drugs are a lifesaver. Don’t ever consider going off your meds without consulting your doctor! The results could be catastrophic.

Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, but Your Words May even Kill You!!

Remember the children’s saying ending “words can never hurt me?” The truth is words are creative. They can bring joy or despair. Words have a powerful effect upon anyone who says or hears them.

Each time you think something negative you instantly change the chemical makeup of your body and weaken your immune system.

Happy thought...happy feeling...happy immune system.

Angry thought...immune system weakened. Joyful thought...immune system stronger. Jealousy...immune system weaker. Thankful...immune system stronger. Get the picture?

Sounds depressing! (Whoops), weakened immune system.

Now for the good news! (Hope... strengthens immune system.) There are strategies you can use to change your internal messages.

Skeptical? Just keep reading.

Method 1

Quit Stinkin’ Thinkin’!

The most crucial method to strengthen your immune system is watching what you think. New thoughts could change everything.

Feelings are the result of our thoughts and beliefs. If we quit thinking negative thoughts, then we won’t have immune-suppressing feelings.

When you continually rehash a negative message, “You are so stupid.,” feelings of unworthiness, anger, despair surface. These feelings cause a chemical reaction in your body which depresses your immune system. Someone sneezes on you and, pow! you get a cold.

Quit the “stinkin’ thinkin’.”

How do you do it? Simple, have thoughts that are life-enhancing to replace those that are life-depleting. Is it easy? No, but it is simple.

You need to “catch” yourself being involved with the thoughts you don’t want and bring yourself to think the other thoughts. Substitute pleasant and positive thoughts for the negative thoughts. Have an internal “file” of pleasant thoughts.

Method 2

If You Don’t Have Something Good to Think, Find Something!

In Method 2 you begin your day thinking in a life enhancing manner. One way would be a positive thought or affirmation.

Make a commitment to develop the habit of thinking only positive thoughts. First, decide upon the thought to hold throughout the day. It could be a prayer or the thought of a spring day...your child’s first step...the smile of someone you love...the fun you are going to have on your vacation...the last time you made love.

It is much easier to begin with the life-enhancing thought than having to break through an immune-suppressing thought. Each time you discover you’re doing “stinkin’ thinkin’,” gently bring your mind to the thought you want to hold.

Here is a little trick to assist in this method. Don’t try not to think of something. Instead, think of something else. If I ask you not to think of polar bears driving red convertibles, what do you think of? Polar bears in convertibles! Now, instead, think of a zebra balancing on a flag pole. The polar bears are gone and there is the zebra

A thought from a wise man named Wally Minto: “When you think a thought, you just send out the copy. The original stays within you.” You don't want toxic thoughts stirring around in you. Change them to benevolent ones and reap the benefits.

Some folks look at the glass half-full and some look at it half-empty. The half-full folks are healthier and lots of fun to be with. (And the half-empty folks probably just groaned at that over-used analogy.)

Method 3

If You Don’t Have Something Good to Think, Don’t Think At All!

Descartes said: “I think therefore I am.” Eckard Tolle in The Power of Now believes thinking is a bad habit. What and how we think determines the type of “am” we are. Thumper’s mom said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” All great minds don’t have to agree, but all of us can agree that thinking ugly, fearful, hateful, negative thoughts (or even worse, verbalizing them) must have a bad effect on us at some level.

Some people complain their mind is racing. They can’t slow down their thoughts. This type of thinking can get us into trouble. Anxiety, anger, fear, sadness can become constant companions.

When we think obsessively, we can’t manage our thoughts.

In the first part of his book, Tolle gives a simple exercise. He asks the reader to observe their thoughts. Try it now. Simply wait for your next thought and note it. (Mine was, “I wonder what my thought will be?” There was, however, a few seconds of silence before that thought.)

By observing your thoughts, your mind begins to calm. Once you can observe your thoughts, you can keep the ones that are life enhancing and throw out the others. You will access a power you didn’t know you had. Calmness results. Your immune system strengthens.

Method 4

Live from Your Heart!

HeartMath (www.heartmath.com) is an organization which researches the power of the heart and develops personal growth products based upon their research.

Researchers found focusing on the heart immediately decreased heart rate and calmed the brain waves. The chemicals signifying strong immune function elevated. Try it now. Simply bring your attention to your heart. Breathe.

Throughout the day simply focus on your heart. Set a mental reminder to bring your attention to your heart. Breathe in and out of your heart. You will find it relaxing, calming.

You will find that you can think more clearly, your intuition will open and you will feel more serene.

The key is to form a habit of living from your heart. By training yourself now, you will be in your heart more easily during times of stress.

Focusing on your heart is very simple. Once you have formed the habit of staying in your heart, choosing your thoughts is easier.

Method 5

Your Emotions are Affected by the Food You Put in Your Body

Do you know food has a huge effect upon how you think, and feel?

Joan Ifland (www.sugarsandflours.com), in her book Sugars and Flours: How They Make Us Crazy, Sick and Fat and What to Do about It, gives an excellent research-oriented discussion on how the chemistry of food affects our own body chemistry.

A friend of mine had suicidal thoughts for 15 years. They stopped when she quit eating refined foods, especially refined flours and sugars. I have heard more people say the same thing. In addition, they were able to handle the difficulties of life more easily, they quit snapping at people and life flowed. Anxiety decreased, anger abated and depression lessened.

When life gets easier, then thoughts and emotions elevate and immune function improves. In addition, when you eat in a healthy manner, your body has the nutrients it needs. The body runs easier and at a higher level. Your body’s immune system is strengthened.

Method 6

What You See and Hear Affects Your Thoughts and Feelings

You’ve heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” So far, everything discussed fits under that phrase.

For myself, the more I watch the lawyer, police and other violent dramas, the worse I feel. When I don’t watch or listen to violent or demeaning media, I feel better.

If you watch or see something that depresses you, then your immune system will also be depressed. When you watch, see or do something uplifting, your immune system will be strengthened.

Our daily lives produce enough stress that we don’t need any “help” from the media to feel stressed.

Try this. Watch shows that make you laugh or are uplifting. Stay away from the news. Better yet, turn off the television. Do this just for a week. Then notice how you feel. Is your mood any better? Are you more positive? Are you doing more things with those you love?

By the way, this applies to the radio, movies and the WEB, also!

Method 7

The Greatest Method of All

This is a true story of a man dying from AIDS. He knew he probably would not wake up the next morning. While waiting for death, he decided to tie up loose ends.

He wrote letters to everyone he could think of that had hurt him. In each one of these letters he expressed his feelings and totally forgave each person. No strings attached. He simply let all his anger and resentment go. He had nothing to lose and didn’t want to carry it with him to the next world.

Much to his surprise he woke up the next morning...hungry for the first time in months. He ate. He woke up the next day and was still hungry. He got well. He went to work. He tested negative for HIV.

Forgiveness is difficult when the pain of the event is present. Sometimes you can just let go, but sometimes, as hard as you try, you can’t let go.

Some people “forgive” too soon to try to get over the pain. Instead of healing they bury the pain deep within where it festers. The pain can spew out causing greater damage to relationships or eat up your body resulting in physical distress.

Holding onto our angers and resentments can kill us. Letting them go can heal us.

You don’t forgive because the other person deserves to be forgiven. You forgive because you deserve to be free of the pain. Forgiveness will change your life. Try it.

Pick Just One

All seven methods will help you achieve a superior immune system. Your body will stop being in over-drive. The stress hormones will decrease. Peace will come.

The amazing “side effect” of each method is that you will grow emotionally and spiritually. You will begin to heal on all levels.

Chose just one method and make a commitment to yourself to do that one method well for one week.

Do the following:

Write what you will do. “I commit to staying in and breathing through my heart. I will monitor myself each hour. If I am not in my heart I will re-focus.” Sign it.
Read your commitment out loud morning, noon and evening. When you do this, place your hand on your heart. Imagine breathing in and out of your heart. Read your commitment from your heart. Reading just from your head, just your mental state, will do little to assist you.
At the end of each day note your success and any changes in yourself.

Spend a week or more with each of the first six methods. You will soon notice positive changes within yourself. Soon you will be able to move to forgiveness and experience deep peace and harmony.

Your immune system will thank you! Those around you will thank you! You will thank you!

“Spirit is the Life,

Mind is the Builder,

the Physical is the Result.”

Edgar Cayce

My blessings to you on your Odyssey to Wholeness!

Cathy Chapman, Ph.D., LMSW, C.Ht, CBP works from a spiritual and energetic foundation. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker with a doctorate in Mind Body Psychology.

::EXPANDING EMOTIONAL FREEDOM - PIONEERING A NEW PERSPECTIVE (click here to download article in pfd)

Each day we can choose to expand by opening our minds and hearts to new possibilities.

Picture a Small Child Looking into the Pond at the Japanese Tea Garden.

When physicist Michio Kaku, was a child he loved to visit the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. Fascinated by the carp living and swimming in their own ecosystem of a shallow pond with lily pads, he began to ask himself, "What would it be like to be a carp?"

"What a strange world it would be! (He) imagined that the pond would be an entire universe, one that is two-dimensional in space. The carp would only be able to swim forwards and backwards, and left and right. (He) imagined that the concept of “up” beyond the lily pads would be totally alien to them. Any carp scientist daring to talk about “hyperspace” i.e., the third dimension “above” the pond would immediately be labeled a crank.”

“(He) wondered what would happen if (he) could reach down and grab a carp scientist and lift it up into hyperspace. (He) thought, what a wondrous story that scientist would tell the others! The carp would babble on about unbelievable new laws of physics: beings who could move without fins; beings who could breathe without gills beings who could emit sounds without bubbles.”

“(He) then wondered: How would a carp scientist know about our existence? One day it rained, and (he) saw the raindrops forming gentle ripples on the surface of the pond.”

He then understood. “The carp could see rippling shadows on the surface of the pond. The third dimension would be invisible to them, but vibrations in the third dimensions would be clearly visible. These ripples might even be felt by the carp, who would invent a silly concept to describe this, called “force.” They might even give these “forces” cute names, such as light and gravity. We would laugh at them, because, of course, we know there is no “force” at all, just the rippling of the water."

“Today,” states Michio, “many physicists believe that we are like the carp, swimming in our tiny pond, blissfully unaware of invisible, unseen universes hovering just above us in hyperspace. We spend our life in three spatial dimensions; confident that what we can see with our telescopes is all there is, ignorant of the possibility of 10-dimensional hyperspace. Although these higher dimensions are invisible, their “ripples” can clearly be seen and felt. We call these ripples gravity and light."”

The “Many Worlds” Theory.

Working in the field of Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine, one is forced to acknowledge this invisible, unseen "force".

Consider the following questions: What if, each stage of a person's life from fetus to senior citizen, simultaneously co-exists?

Do we simultaneously co-exist in many dimensions and realms of existence, allowing us to cross over into timelessness and connect with a past, present and future that co-exists as a non-linear ‘light line’? Are these the places where one can connect with the 'mind'?

Physicist Stephen Hawking has made the following statement. "I hold what is called 'the many worlds view'... In this approach, the universe doesn't just have a single history. Instead, it has every possible history, and all these histories are equally real. Some of these histories will contain people like us, and some will not."

How this Relates to Energy Therapy.

Have you experienced a stressful event in your past, and yet you cannot remember much more than a few fuzzy details? Maybe you were in a car accident and you cannot remember the details of the accident, yet many times while driving you find yourself tensing and becoming anxious.

Suppose for a moment, that one of the main functions of the mind may be to make sure the human 'system' survives. Might we have a built-in failsafe method to protect and insure the survival of this system? When one experiences a high level stress, but can’t remember the details, consider the possibility that the memory of that stressful event is stored deep within the “memory” system. Now stretch a little and contemplate the possibility that the memory could possibly be stored within another dimension of the self (the many world view, presented by Hawking and other physicists), to insure the survival of the system.

If one were to recall the impact of the full traumatic memory in a momentary flash would it not be possible, that such an intense amount of stress could cause a strong, possibly fatal, shock to the system?

Could that Memory Become Fragmented?

What if in order to insure survival of the system, the mind puts gatekeepers along the memory path? That memory path could be stored in layers with each layer having security codes that must be accessed before the next portion of the repressed memory may be recalled. As a layer is accessed and remembered, a thorough balancing of the body's energy system, an integration must occur before the next security gate may be accessed. This is not unlike defragging the hard drive on your computer, a process you must do when the files on your computer hard drive are fragmented.

This internal process could take years or moments depending on one's readiness, the methods used and the degree of stress and beliefs associated with the repressed memory.

As each layer is accessed and the body/mind energy system balanced, more of the memory may return. Then the next gate may be opened with information that must again be integrated.

I have found that the deep human need to be free from the traumas and stresses of the past often propels one into the assistance of therapeutic counseling. These repressed memories often have many layers that lie deeply tucked in the human vibrational matrix, which consists of three major interacting systems:

Energy pathways (meridians and related acupoints)

Energy centers (chakras)

Human biofield (systems of energy that envelop the body)

The mind interprets the repressed memory as a problem that may threaten the system. It sends out signals of distress. These signals begin in very subtle ways; as a twitch, or a minor ache or pain, and then if not addressed progress into a full-blown SHOUT, manifesting as disease and/ or chronic pain.

Feeling and acknowledging the pain may not be enough. Just as one must learn the Morse Code to be able to unscramble the message, “dot, dot, dot, ditty, ditty, ditty, dot, dot, dot.” into the translation of SOS, so must one learn the process of unscrambling the messages or signals, for clearing repressed memories of the past.

In unscrambling the SOS message, we must go one step further and continue the process, to further translate the SOS into the distress signal of HELP. So it is, that one must learn to transcribe the cryptic code sent by the mind. However, once a successful communication is established, the process of code translation becomes easier to "hear" and transcribe.

Using Energy Therapies to balance the timing of the various polarities of the body/mind connection, the heart/brain connection, the meridians, chakras and the bio-energy fields, assists one in beginning to transcribe the messages from the mind, and safely bring about a lasting wholeness and healing.

As we establish the connection with mind, we can begin the process of accessing our emotional wounds and with help begin to integrate and release each step of our healing process. We no longer need to be as the 'carp' swimming around aimlessly.

We CAN transport ourselves into stillness, into that space of timelessness, a NOW that allows us to be fully present with the healing "force". A force that may seem intangible to our five senses, yet is as real as light and gravity.

When we are no longer locked into the physical pain and disease (the depths of the pond) that keeps us disconnected from our true existence, we will begin to experience true emotional freedom.

When we can embrace the “rain” as an opportunity, then the repressed memories (the raindrops) developing in our mind (as the ripples forming on the surface of the pond), become our allies. The gift comes as we experience the “rain” as a bridge into the invisible, unseen universes (many worlds) above the 'lily pads' of our daily reality, then we can begin our journey into knowing our emotional healing and our emotional freedom.

Diana Wesley

Diana is the author of the TimelessNow Technique, a patent pending process, which is the foundation of the highly acclaimed interactive software series, Relax Rejuv for Everyone, Relax Rejuv for Kids and the Wellness BREAK. She is co-developer of the BreathCoil, an inexpensive, scientifically proven process for effectively lowering high blood pressure.

She has trained hundreds of professionals in the use of energy medicine and energy psychology methods. She is a Master Practitioner in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and has taught advanced methods of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), TAT (Tapas Acupuncture Technique), BSFF (Be Set Free Fast), Level I, II, III, and Master Level classes in Ursui Reiki, along with the processes that she co-created Life Force PSYCHtherapy™ and TAPpoint™ Energy Psychology Systems.

Her favorite past time, Healing Silk designs may be viewed at www.HealingSilks.com She can be reached via email: dwesley@healingsilks.com

::ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY AND THE INSTANT PHOBIA CURE (click here to download article in pfd)

New Paradigm or the Old Razzle Dazzle?

By David Feinstein, Ph.D.

Summary: This article introduces health professionals who work with psychological issues to the emerging field of energy psychology. It provides an overview of the field, covering basic concepts and procedures. It is intended to give the reader a basis to begin evaluating this new paradigm. Research and clinical evidence bearing upon clinical efficacy are presented, and plausible neurological mechanisms are discussed. The article gives a brief history of the field, mentions various energy psychology protocols, discusses indications and contraindications for clinical applications, and demonstrates a standard clinical protocol through the presentation of four case studies.

When James Reston, a New York Times reporter accompanying Henry Kissinger on a visit to Communist China in July 1971 had an acute appendicitis attack, Chinese physicians performed an emergency operation to remove Reston’s appendix. His postoperative abdominal pain was successfully treated with acupuncture, a routine procedure in many Chinese hospitals. The publicity surrounding Reston’s treatment, including a front page article in the Times, is credited with opening Western minds to the practice of acupuncture.

Today the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture has more than 1600 physician members, and the World Health Organization lists more than 50 conditions for which acupuncture is believed to be effective.

Since the early 1980s, Western mental health practitioners have been developing protocols for applying the principles of acupuncture to psychological issues (Gallo, 2004), patterned initially on the work of California psychologist Roger Callahan and Australian psychiatrist John Diamond. Acupuncture points can be stimulated for therapeutic effect through the use of needles or heat, but less invasive procedures—such as tapping or massaging points on the surface of the skin—have also been found to produce therapeutic outcomes. This allows a broader range of practitioners to use the approach, and it allows clients to self-administer the methods back home, in conjunction with the therapy.

Because the stimulation of acupuncture points produces physical change by altering the body’s electrical activity (Cho et al., 1998), the various mental health protocols that utilize acupuncture points (such as "Thought Field Therapy," "Emotional Freedom Techniques," and "Energy Diagnostic and Treatment Methods") are collectively known as "energy psychology." Energy psychology protocols generally combine the stimulation of particular electromagnetically responsive areas on the surface of the skin (Voll et al.,1983) with methods from Cognitive Behavior Therapy, including the use of imagery, self-statements, and subjective distress ratings. *A revised and condensed version of this article appeared in the January 2005 edition of Psychotherapy Networker.

Few treatment approaches have engendered more skepticism in the therapeutic community than those proffered by energy psychology. Claims of near-instant, lasting cures with recalcitrant problems using interventions that look patently absurd and seem inexplicable have triggered skepticism in virtually every clinician who first encounters them. At the same time, growing numbers of therapists representing a wide range of theoretical backgrounds have been trained in these methods (the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, for instance, has more than 600 professional members, see http://energypsych.org/) and have found that, however mysterious the mechanism of change, the approach can yield surprisingly powerful results with certain problems.

In fact, the mechanisms by which the basic procedure—tapping specific points on the skin while mentally activating a dysfunctional emotional response—may not be as incomprehensible as first appears. Energy psychology may work by producing neurological shifts in brain functioning in much the same way as neurofeedback training, a treatment that is increasingly being used for problems ranging from learning disabilities to anxiety disorders to depression to addictions (Evans & Abarbanel, 1999). Unlike psychiatric medication, which catalyzes changes through its effects on the brain’s biochemistry, both energy psychology techniques and neurofeedback training have been shown to bring about changes in brain wave patterns, and these changes correspond with a reduction of symptoms (to see digitized EEG images taken before and after energy psychology treatments, visit http://www.innersource.net/energy_psych/epi_neuro_foundations.htm).

A difference between the two approaches is that neurofeedback relies on scientific instrumentation while energy psychology does not. Although this makes energy psychology more readily accessible, it perhaps makes neurofeedback training more palatable to the professional community. In addition, the explanations used in energy psychology for the reported treatment outcomes, fall outside our familiar paradigms. They make no sense if we try to understand them in terms of conventional explanatory mechanisms, such as insight, cognitive restructuring, focused mental activities, reward and punishment, or the curative power of the therapeutic relationship. But if we examine the electrochemical shifts in the brain that are brought about by stimulating electrically inductive points on the skin, a coherent picture begins to emerge.

Research studies have shown that acupuncture points are more electrically responsive than other areas of the skin (which have 20 to 30 times the electrical resistance). Studies have also indicated that acupuncture points have a higher concentration of receptors sensitive to mechanical stimulation. In energy psychology, a subset of acupuncture points is stimulated, usually by tapping them while mentally activating a dysfunctional emotional response. Tapping specific acupuncture points sends signals to the brain (Cho et al., 1998), and these signals appear to be similar to those produced by the more traditional use of needles. Various studies have demonstrated that the stimulation of selected acupuncture points modulates the activities of the limbic system and other brain structures that are involved in the experiences of fear and pain (Hui et al., 2000).

The most promising hypothesis regarding the neurological mechanism by which energy psychology achieves its effects, I feel, has been proposed by Joaquín Andrade, a physician who works with anxiety and other psychiatric disorders, and who has also utilized acupuncture in his practice for more than 30 years. Andrade traces the consequences of activating a disturbing memory while sending electrical impulses to responsive areas of the limbic system through acupoint stimulation (Andrade & Feinstein, 2004).

As Joseph LeDoux’s (Nader et al., 2000) research program at the Center for Neural Science at NYU has demonstrated, any time a fearful memory is brought to mind, the neural connections between the fearful image and the emotional response may be increased or decreased. The memory becomes labile when reactivated, and thus susceptible to being neurologically consolidated in a new way–its emotional power either reinforced or dissipated in the process. In energy psychology treatments, it may be that the established ability of acupuncture to deactivate areas of the brain which are involved in the experiences of fear and pain apparently takes hold during this moment of "neural plasticity."

Putting the Methods to a Public Test

I learned of energy psychology while on sabbatical from a 30-year practice in clinical psychology. I was on an extended teaching tour, assisting my wife, Donna Eden, whose book on energy medicine had put her into the public spotlight. A few of her students were psychotherapists who already utilized energy psychology. Since I was both a psychologist and involved with energy medicine, they assumed I would be well-versed in energy psychology, which is a subspecialty of energy medicine in the sense that psychiatry is a subspecialty of medicine. I was not.

In fact, the first time I saw the approach used—curing a severe height phobia within the space of twenty minutes—I could hardly believe my eyes and felt skeptical that it was actually this odd method that produced this stunning result. Nor, at this point in my career was I particularly eager to take on a whole new way of working. Nonetheless, as I continued to witness the surprising results following the use of these techniques, I wanted to be able to produce the kinds of results I was seeing. I enrolled in an intensive training and certification program, hoping to master the approach. Since the procedures themselves are actually quite mechanical, if you start with a solid clinical background, they are surprisingly easy to learn.

I was still on the extended teaching tour by the time I had completed the practice requirements and was qualified to introduce the approach to clients, so I began to do my own demonstrations during the workshops. By this time, I personally knew dozens of respectable and highly trained therapists who were applying these methods in their own practices. Even so—as a licensed psychologist who was still unable to persuasively explain why the techniques worked–I was more than a little uneasy to find myself doing an approximation of the kind of razzle-dazzle medicine show that had struck so many professionals (myself included) as not much more credible than Barnum and Bailey spectacles. But nothing succeeds like success, and the demonstrations I gave of these methods–quite typical of the experiences of the growing numbers of practitioners who use them–seemed to amaze my audiences, much as I had been amazed when I first saw them.

The following reports describe the very first three sessions I conducted in these public demonstrations. I choose them not because they are particularly unusual or extraordinary within the practice of energy psychology, but rather because they illustrate some of the most important common elements of the approach.

Acrophobia

For my very first presentation, I asked for a volunteer who had an irrational fear. The methods can be applied to a wide range of diagnoses, but phobia treatments lend themselves particularly well to demonstrations because the results can be immediately tested. Nancy, a nurse with a lifelong fear of heights, volunteered. During a brief, personal interview, she reported having been uneasy about heights throughout her childhood, but intensely phobic of high places ever since an incident that occurred when a group from her high school toured Europe one summer.

While in Dover, Nancy had gathered the courage to move close to the edge and look over the famous White Cliffs. At that moment, the teacher supervising the group came up behind her and "playfully" pushed her forward. While he obviously grabbed her before she could fall, his stunt triggered a very severe height phobia which had plagued her for almost twenty years.

The fourth floor meeting room of the hotel where we were working happened to have a deck area and a balcony overlooking the ocean. With a video camera recording the session and a group of fellow students watching, I had Nancy walk toward the balcony. She became tentative at about eight feet from the edge, and then at about five feet, she seemed to hit an invisible wall. She could not bring herself to take the next step. The video shows that she began to tremble and perspire. She reported fighting a sense of being pulled forward as she approached the edge of the balcony. Thirty minutes later, the video shows her calmly walking up to the railing, leaning over, and with a mix of shock, triumph, and disbelief, saying about her longstanding terror of heights, "It’s gone!!!"

Four days later, we arranged a test on a 17th floor penthouse balcony. On the tape, she appears euphoric as she reports that her primary experience of being at the balcony’s edge is enjoyment of the view.

What happened in those thirty minutes? First I led Nancy through a quick, general "energy balancing." This routine, which resembles a combination of yoga and acupressure, is designed to establish a neurological receptiveness for the more focused techniques that are to follow. Then I asked Nancy to give a 0 to 10 rating on the amount of distress she felt when she thought about being near the edge of the balcony. It was a 10. I interviewed her to identify any internal conflicts she might have about overcoming her phobia, and I also utilized an "energy test" to examine this question in a different way.

Derived from the field of applied kinesiology, energy tests (also known as muscle tests) are designed to assess energy flow through established pathways (which acupuncturists call meridians) by gauging the relative strength in the muscle associated with that pathway. When the client is attuned to an internal conflict about the treatment, the energy flow often becomes disturbed, weakening the muscle and allowing the energy disruption to be detected when pressure is placed on the muscle.

Treatment does not usually progress well until such conflicts are resolved. To Nancy’s embarrassment, it soon become apparent that at one level she did not want to get over the phobia because if she did, she would no longer have grounds to harbor the resentment she had been holding toward her high school teacher ever since the incident.

The treatment used in energy psychology for such conflicts is deceptively simple. A statement that addresses both sides of the conflict is stated (e.g., "Even though I don’t want to get over this resentment, I choose to know that I can now be free of it") while massaging particular points on the body that are believed to release blocked energies. This seems to resolve the conflict, at least to the extent that it no longer interferes with treatment progress.

We then began with the first part of a basic energy psychology protocol. While stating the triggering phrase, "fear of heights," at each acupuncture point, Nancy tapped ten pre-selected points, each for a few seconds. This sequence took less than a minute and was followed by a brief series of activities—such as eye movements, humming, and counting—which are designed to activate and balance the right and left brain hemispheres simultaneously. This was followed by another round of tapping with Nancy continuing to mentally activate the problem by stating the triggering phrase. These three sequences constitute the protocol.

Following it, Nancy was again asked to rate her distress when thinking about being near the edge of the balcony. It was now down to a 6. The protocol was repeated. Now her distress level when thinking about being near the edge of the balcony was down to a 2. After one more round, it was down to 0.

At this point, a procedure that helps to anchor the gains was used. Nancy was to visualize herself going to the edge of the balcony and experiencing no fear, while at the same time using a similar tapping protocol. After she was able in her imagination to experience the desired equanimity when facing a height, she was invited to step out onto the balcony again. This time, she walked right up to the railing with no apparent difficulty. On two-year follow-up, Nancy reported that her fear of heights had not returned. In fact, she described a difficult experience of flying in a small plane that went through severe turbulence. Other passengers were crying and vomiting, she told me in an e-mail. "Before our work together, this would have been intolerable. But I stayed calm and centered."

A Fear of Snakes in South Africa

The second time I publicly demonstrated an energy psychology approach was at one of my own workshops. I was teaching a six-day residential class in South Africa. Many of the participants were leaders in their communities who had come to learn about the unconscious beliefs and motivations that shape a person’s life and impact a community.

At the close of the first evening, one of the participants confided to the group that she was terrified of snakes and was afraid to walk through the grassy area which separated the meeting room from her cabin, about 100 feet away. Several participants offered to escort her. Sensing that she could rapidly be helped with this phobia, I thought this might lend itself to a compelling introduction of energy psychology to the class. I arranged—with her tense but trusting permission—for a guide at the game reserve where the workshop was being held to bring a snake into the class at 10 a.m. the next morning.

I set up the chairs so that the snake and the handler were 20 feet away from her, but within her range of vision. I asked her what it was like to have a snake in the room. She replied, "I am okay as long as I don’t look at it, but I have to tell you, I left my body two minutes ago." She was dissociating. Within less than half an hour, using virtually the same methods I used with Nancy, she was able to imagine being close to a snake without feeling fear. I asked her if she would like to walk over to the snake, still positioned across the room. As she approached it, she appeared confident. The confidence soon grew into enthusiasm as she began to comment on the snake’s beauty. She asked the handler if she could touch it. Haltingly but triumphantly, she did. She reported that she was fully present in her body.

A couple of days later, she joined the group on a nature walk. As the group returned, someone asked her if being out in the bush had been difficult, given her fear of snakes. A surprised look came over her face. She had never thought about snakes once during the entire walk. Her lifelong fear had evaporated, and when I made a follow-up inquiry some six months later, it had not returned.

Claustrophobia

My third experience with a public demonstration of energy psychology was with a 37-year-old woman who had suffered a stroke seven years earlier and developed a debilitating phobia shortly after her stroke. She had been placed in an MRI machine, became fearful, began to panic, and then complete terror took over. She had been claustrophobic ever since, to the point that she could not sleep with the lights out or even under a blanket, could not drive through a tunnel, and could not get into an elevator. Besides being enormously inconvenient, this was confidence shattering as she worked to regain her speech.

Within 20 minutes, using the same protocol described in the above two examples, her anxiety when thinking about being given an MRI went from 10+, on a scale of 0 to 10, down to 0. The best way I could think of to test her was to have her go back into her room at the resort and get into the closet. During the break, she went into the closet and her partner then turned out the lights. She stayed there five minutes with no anxiety.

When she returned to report what happened to the group, she said the only problem was that she found it "boring." The rest of the group was amazed. That evening she slept with the lights out and under the covers for the first time in seven years. Her partner was elated.

Six weeks after this single session, the following e-mail arrived: "You are not going to believe this! The test of all claustrophobia tests happened to me. I got stuck in an elevator by myself for nearly an hour. In the past I would have gone nuts and clawed the door off, but I was calm and sat down on the floor and waited patiently for the repair men to arrive. . . . It was an amazing confirmation that I am no longer claustrophobic!!!!!!!! Thank you. Thank you."

Is It Really That Simple?

So, is it really that simple? Yes and no. If these three cases are representative, as I believe them to be, they indicate that with an uncomplicated phobia, a relatively mechanical approach that does not rely on insight can rapidly and permanently overcome the phobia (Wells et al., 2003).

Clinical experience further suggests that the core protocol will still work with more complex phobias, but greater therapeutic finesse is required (Feinstein, 2004). For instance, if a client presents with a fear of driving which developed following a minor automobile accident, and the basic protocol is not reducing the fear, the therapist looks for other experiences that might be psychologically linked. If the person was, for instance, injured in a skiing accident as a child, and unresolved trauma connected to that experience has been activated by the more recent event, the skiing accident would become a focus of the treatment. When the contributing experiences are based on parental or other interpersonal difficulties, the approach can quickly become quite elaborate. Most practitioners of energy psychology, in fact, integrate the field’s methods with the approaches they are already using.

What about issues other than phobias? Between 1988 and 2002, a team of 36 therapists from 11 allied treatment centers in Uruguay and Argentina tracked over 29,000 psychiatric patients who were being treated with a protocol that used acupoint stimulation

(http://www.innersource.net/energy_psych/epi_research.htm).

Besides an estimated 70 percent overall improvement rate and various informal sub-studies suggesting that the energy psychology treatments yielded markedly stronger outcomes than conventional treatments with a range of disorders, systematic interviews with the therapists identified the conditions for which energy psychology treatments seemed more effective or less effective.

Overall these clinicians indicated that energy psychology interventions were most effective with anxiety disorders, reactive depression, and many of the emotional difficulties of everyday life—from unwarranted fears and anger to excessive feelings of guilt, shame, grief, jealousy, or rejection. They did not appear to be as effective with disorders that were more biologically entrenched, such as endogenous depression, bipolar disorders, personality disorders, delirium, and dementia.

For anxiety disorders, the therapists’ uniform impression was that no other treatment modality at their disposal (including Cognitive Behavior Therapy combined with medication as needed) was as rapid, potent, and lasting (Andrade & Feinstein, 2004).

I do not mean to suggest that scientific investigation has established the efficacy of an energy approach. While early returns such as the South America study are encouraging, the research is still very preliminary. Nonetheless, energy approaches have no known side-effects, appear to relieve the suffering brought about by a number of psychological conditions with unusual speed and power, and the field continues to gain proponents among a wide spectrum of clinicians.

It is hard, in fact, to maintain unwavering skepticism in the face of concrete results in one’s own practice, case after case after case. We live in a time of endemic anxiety, and energy psychology offers tools that are certainly unique and possibly unparalleled in their effectiveness–particularly for relieving the suffering of relatively "normal" people with nonetheless real and painful symptoms. Because the methods can be immediately self-applied in situations that evoke inappropriate emotional responses, they are often experienced by the client as being enormously empowering. Because experienced clinicians can learn the methods with relatively little additional study or risk, it seems an obvious step in staying at the cutting edge for your clients to at least give them a try.

COMMENTARY by Jay S. Efran, Ph.D.

Like most skeptics, I secretly long to believe. Perhaps that’s why, as a child, I struggled so hard to accept my parents’ explanation of how Santa Claus managed to appear simultaneously at both Macy’s and Gimbel’s. Thus, as I read Feinstein’s disarming account of Energy Psychology, I find myself wanting to give the approach the benefit of the doubt. Although it has no research backing and lacks a convincing theoretical rationale, why not experiment with this apparently harmless, easy-to-learn, procedure that might produce the marvelous clinical outcomes Feinstein reports?

Ideally, as practitioners, we should be able to just sit back and wait for controlled research to render a verdict on all of these new-fangled ideas. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. For instance, even after a full decade of research, we still don’t know which elements, if any, of Linehan’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy are crucial to its success. The blunt truth is that our empirical studies rarely provide the kind of timely, detailed, real-world guidance practitioners need. Furthermore, in the crucible of daily practice, even those who subscribe to well-researched models, such as CBT, find themselves inventing hybrid techniques that are far removed from the plain-vanilla protocols that were tested in “hot-house” trials with rarefied client samples.

Because new methods will continue to surface at a rate that outpaces formal research, we must all develop rough-and-ready ways of coping with this constant barrage of enticing techniques and theories. My own strategy is to listen carefully to the professional gossip and, when it gets loud enough, launch my own “field research.” For example, as the buzz surrounding Thought Field Therapy (TFT)—an energy approach Feinstein mentions—reached a crescendo, I arranged to attend Roger Callahan’s workshop on the subject and to listen to his demonstration tape.

Then, armed with a detailed description provided by Florida State University researcher Charles Figley, I worked up the courage to try it out with a few of my own clients. I succeeded in cajoling them into tapping on various parts of their anatomies and humming “Happy Birthday to You,” but the results were disappointing. Coupled with my serious reservations about the theory, that was enough to convince me to move on.

A few years later, I decided that EMDR deserved a closer look, although I thought the pseudo-neurological theories about how it worked were nonsensical. Therefore, I went to a lecture by Francine Shapiro, read her book, and perused the early research reports—pro and con.

Eventually, I signed up for an EMDR course. My enthusiasm flagged a bit when, during the training, I got a glimpse of how the procedures felt from the client’s perspective. It seemed to me (and to some of my colleagues at the training) that any results were probably attributable to asking the client to focus simultaneously on multiple tasks. Nevertheless, when the course ended, I dutifully waved my fingers in front of a handful of clients to see what might happen. Again, I found the outcomes unimpressive, and I decided to avoid listing “EMDR Services” on my business card.

As I have explored various techniques, I have been increasingly suspicious of results produced at public demonstrations. Thus, I wish Feinstein had reported on his work with actual clinical cases rather than workshop volunteers. My qualms began in the ’60s, when I become involved with an earlier energy approach called Reevaluation Counseling (RC). RC is a catharsis-based method created by Harvey Jackins, an ex-union organizer from Seattle. Jackins’ major insight was that if he could get individuals to “discharge” in association with “mis-stored” distress patterns, they would automatically and quickly free themselves of past fears and anxieties—unprocessed recordings.

Moreover, crying, laughing, and tantruming under the right conditions would presumably rejuvenate the person’s natural energies and enable him or her to tap effortlessly into the vast wellspring of human intelligence. Jackins’ public demonstrations of these methods were galvanizing. He would invite a shy, hesitant volunteer to join him onstage and, within moments—sometimes seconds—the individual would begin sobbing, shaking as fear was “discharged,” and doubling over in spasms of laughter. Afterward, the person’s face would be radiant—exactly as Jackins had predicted. Many of us who witnessed these events became

instant converts. Later, as I got to know members of the RC community on a first-name basis, I realized that those demonstrations didn’t tell the whole story.

First, I discovered that the glow of “discharge” is short-lived. Rather than being “cured” during such demos, RC clients tended to become discharge junkies, seeking a new cathartic “fix” each week. Apparently, that reservoir of “emotional energy” needing “release” was a bottomless pit. I also learned how much easier it is to produce a dramatic “breakthrough” when a crowd is watching than during a private session.

One of the first to point this out was T. X. Barber, the well-known hypnosis researcher, who noted that stage hypnotists regularly elicit striking effects that are difficult for serious researchers to duplicate in the laboratory. In other words, context matters, and quacking like a duck is easier in some settings than in others. It is as if the volunteer becomes an actor in a play, obliged to stay in role, and—if possible—to have faith in the outcome.

Public testimonials can be similarly misleading. For instance, a woman who had worked directly with Jackins in Seattle, and was one of his most fervent supporters, later tearfully admitted to a few close friends that she was more depressed than ever and had “secretly” sought the help of a traditional therapist outside the RC community. Some other RC clients with second thoughts were told that their doubts were predictable aspects of their “chronic” patterns and could best be dealt with by more sessions.

I should add that the distinction between “chronic” and “latent” patterns became, over time, an increasingly central aspect of RC theory. “Chronics” were patterns that didn’t respond as readily to mere “discharge.” Their eradication required greater perseverance and the application of more advanced protocols. I note that Feinstein makes a similar distinction between “uncomplicated phobias” and cases that will require “greater clinical finesse.” In fact, all of the energy and energy-related approaches I know about, including EMDR, seem to begin with a simple therapy formula that is later augmented by additional protocols calling for more advanced therapist training and more client sessions. Moreover, the ratio of simple to complex cases seems to change over time, so that there are fewer of the former and more of the latter.

One wonders if all of these approaches, given enough time, will essentially turn into the traditional forms of therapy they were designed to replace?

AUTHOR’S RESPONSE

I appreciated the way Jan Efran established that new therapies need to be sagely and creatively evaluated until decisive empirical appraisals are available. I was less enthusiastic about his conclusion—based on observations about the misleading claims that accompany many new therapies and a sliver of personal “field research”—that energy psychology is probably more razzle dazzle than new paradigm, associating it with Harvey Jackins’ discredited Reevaluation Counseling. But unlike Jackin’s approach, and actually much more like the Dialectical Behavior Therapy that Efran regards as an effective modality, the therapists who are “field testing” energy psychology have considerable stature, are reporting strong results over time with complex clinical conditions, and are continuing to grow in number more than two decades after the approach was first introduced.

Efran closes by wondering “if all of these approaches, given enough time, will essentially turn into the traditional forms of therapy they were designed to replace?” But this provocative question misses the mark. Most seasoned therapists who experiment with energy psychology conclude that in complex clinical situations, energy interventions do not replace the approaches that already work for them. Rather, they make those approaches more effective by adding a noninvasive tool that purportedly facilitates precisely targeted neurological change, the probable active ingredient in the phobia cures.

I also want to respond to Efran’s very reasonable suggestion that I might have shared actual clinical cases rather than experiences with workshop volunteers. I admit that in selecting examples for this article, I showcased simple, dramatic scenarios. Here is how the same techniques can play out in a more complex clinical situation. I treated a 45-year-old woman who had been moderately depressed for six months and reported having become immobilized in her job. Intake interview revealed that shortly before the onset of her depression, she had been promoted from a contained role, which she had done well for many years, to a job that required substantial interchange and often debate with colleagues. When her decisions were self-directed, she did fine. But when factoring in the opinions of others, she became confused, frozen, and antagonistic.

The interview uncovered that the job shift had activated unresolved issues from an abortion she’d had when 23, following a clandestine affair with the minister of her church. She had actually been thrilled to learn of the pregnancy, but two powerful elders in the church campaigned for the abortion. After being pressured for a month, she reluctantly agreed. She never forgave herself.

Now when someone with authority tried to persuade her to change her opinion, her emotional reaction was strong, inappropriate, and mysterious to her—until she examined its historical roots.

While such an insight can be a clinical breakthrough, it is usually not in itself sufficient to bring about significant change in a deeply embedded emotional pattern. Compare the steps you might take using CBT with the following. The treatment from this point utilized the same basic “tapping” protocol seen with the phobia cases, but applied it to this insight. Specifically, the following issues were focused upon, one at a time: her agony immediately following the abortion, her sense of betrayal toward the minister, her anger at the elders who persuaded her to have the abortion, her anger at herself for having been swayed, her grief for the lost child, her distrust of anyone who tried to influence her, her loss of confidence and effectiveness in her work, and her difficulties fielding the opinions of her colleagues. Over the course of five sessions, each of the above issues went from a distress rating of “7” or above down to “0” just as rapidly and decisively as the three phobias were “neutralized” in the earlier examples. For each issue she was able, after 8 to 30 minutes of applying the tapping protocol, to bring the situation to mind vividly with no sense of bodily distress.

Along the way, her ability to collaborate with colleagues improved dramatically, she began to thrive in her new position, and her depression lifted. Equivalent cases by dozens of credible therapists are reported in the literature or on the Internet, and that sampling reflects a much larger pool of clinical experience. Any method that apparently shifts the somatic underpinnings of unresolved trauma and dysfunctional emotional patterns, rapidly and non-invasively, is certainly a significant development worthy of consideration.

REFERENCES

Andrade, J. & Feinstein, D. (2004). Energy psychology: Theory, indications and evidence. In D. Feinstein, F. Gallo and D. Eden, Energy psychology interactive: Rapid interventions for lasting change (pp. 199-214). Ashland, OR: Innersource

Cho, Z. H., Chung, S. C., Jones, J. P., Park, J. B., Park, H. J., Lee, H. J., Wong, E. K., & Min, B. I. (1998). New findings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI. Proceedings of National Academy of Science, 95, 2670-2673.

Evans, J. R., & Abarbanel, A. (1999). Introduction to quantitative EEG and neurofeedback. New York: Academic Press.

Feinstein, D. (2004). Energy psychology interactive: Rapid interventions for lasting change. Ashland, OR: Innersource.

Gallo, F. P. (2004). Energy psychology: Explorations at the interface of energy, cognition, behavior, and health. (2nd ed.). New York: CRC Press.

Hui, K. K., Liu, J., Makris, N., Gollub, R. L., Chen, A. J., Moore, C. I., Kennedy, D. N., Rosen, B. R., & Kwong K. K. (2000). Acupuncture modulates the limbic system and subcortical gray structures of the human brain: Evidence from fMRI studies in normal subjects.

Human Brain Mapping, 9(1), 13-25.

Nader K., Schafe, G. E., & LeDoux J. E. (2000). The labile nature of consolidation theory.

Nature Neuroscience Reviews, 1(3), 216-219.

Voll, R., Sarkisyanz, H. (Trans.), Scott-Morley, A. M. (Trans.), (1983). The 850 EAV

measurement points of the meridians and vessels including secondary vessels. Milan,

Italy: Medicina Biologica

Wells S, Polglase K, Andrews HB, Carrington P, & Baker AH. (2003). Evaluation of a

meridian-based intervention, emotional freedom techniques (EFT), for reducing specific phobias of small animals. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 943-966.

David Feinstein, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the national director of the non-profit Energy Medicine Institute in Ashland, Oregon. Author or co-author of 6 books and over 50 professional papers, he has served on the faculties of Antioch College and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He led a 27-person team in the development of Energy Psychology Interactive, an award-winning book and CD-ROM training program for psychotherapists wishing to introduce energy psychology into their practices.

www.EnergyPsychologyInteractive.com.

Jay Efran, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of psychology at Temple University. He is a coauthor of Language, Structure, and Change: Frameworks of Meaning in Psychotherapy and of The Tao of Sobriety. Contact: J.Efran@worldnet.att.net .

As of March 2005, psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, marriage & family counselors, drug & alcohol counselors, and nurses may obtain one CE credit for reading this paper and completing an exam. Visit www.EnergyHomeStudy.com.

::Correcting Neurological Disorganization with Healing Silks (click here to download article in pfd)

By Diana Wesley

Do you have trouble following directions? Are you overly clumsy? Do you suffer from quick temper or mood changes, or have learning difficulties. Then you may be "switched" or have a problem with neurological organization, which may be corrected with the balanced fractal and sacred geometry patterns used in our healing silks.

Basically the nervous system has two functions: to receive information and to transmit information. Switching seems to be due to a functional error in information processing.

Improper transmission from sensory receptors (information from outside to the brain) causes the Central Nervous System (our brain and spinal cord) to create inappropriate strengthening and weakening of the muscles and formation of incorrect neural patterns and responses.

Neurological disorganization or switching essentially is the body's response to a stimulus overload - Physical, Psychological, Nutritional or Chemical.

How would you know if you were "switched"

You have trouble following directions: for example, even with a map, you get lost easily and turn right when you should have turned left.
Complaints of brain fog, reading difficulties, falling asleep, learning disabilities, mood changes, confusion, emotional fragility or quick temper or jet lag that just will not go away no matter what you do.
You may have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.
Uncoordinated or clumsy movement or walking, for example, you are constantly tripping over the crack in the sidewalk that is not there.
You have problems w/ balance or thyroid problems that recur.
You have problems raising your right shoulder but the pain is in your left shoulder.

What could have caused the "switching"

Your parents encouraged you as an infant to walk before you had efficient bilateral function as in cross crawling on the floor.
You are constantly on exercise machines that do not repeat the natural cross pattern of the body that is when left leg goes forward, the right arm moves forward, etc.
You do (or have done in the past) a lot of recreational drugs.
You experienced early childhood trauma, or trauma later in life.
You may have eaten food additives, refined sugar, refined flour or any noxious stimuli, for which you have sensitivity; or you may have experienced environmental or chemical toxicity.
You may have nutrition deficiencies.

What you can do to correct it

Reducing the stressors such as recreational drugs or food additives for example will often self-correct the disorganization pattern.
On occasion, it needs to be addressed directly, with a correction of Acupressure points - K27, GV 27, CV 24 and GV 22 all which are used in our Healing Silks with EFT method.(see article(s) on using EFT and Healing Silks)
You can correct the nutritional deficiency.
Do exercises such as cross crawl, balance board, cross country machines, certain martial arts movements that repeat the natural cross pattern of the body; that is when right leg goes forward, the left arm moves forward, etc. BrainGym offers many books and courses to guide you in these exercises. Donna Eden’s book, Energy Medicine is also an excellent reference.
Use your Healing Silk for meditation and EFT exercises everyday.
Work with a health care practitioner who is familiar with these types of exercises.