The Significance of Fields in the Body-Mind by Tim Hall

From what I understand, every physical “thing” has an electromagnetic energy field, or simply, a magnetic field. NASA has great pictorial representations of the Earth’s magnetic field. A quick Google search will result in many images that show Earth’s more realistic shape. It is not as symmetrical as usually depicted in artistic renditions. Interestingly, the fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field have been found to have a direct relationship to occurrences of heart attack. We know that the Earth’s field has a strong direct effect on all living beings that operate according to normal cycles of waking and sleeping, or what is called the circadian rhythm.¹

According to research, the human heart produces the largest magnetic energy field in a person.² It is about 100 times stronger than the brain. The term “heart rate variability” refers to the variation in your heartbeats within a specific timeframe. Your heart rate can be measured to reveal your emotional states. Basically, the heart reflects psychological states, which also changes the measurements of the heart’s magnetic field. The correlation between your heart rate and the heart's field has a clear mathematical pattern. The pulsing waves of energy generated by your field are complex and interact greatly with the physical body and the environment, including other people. The more “coherent” your heart rate is—coherency referring an ordered and harmonious state in your mind, body and emotions—the stronger your heart's magnetic energy field is. Coherency can also refer to a state of like-mindedness, common agreement, intelligent design, and so forth, within a thing, or externally between things. States of loving, emotional connectedness improve and maintain coherency.²

It is well-established that groups of people can become entrained with each other and achieve coherent heart rate variability synchronization. It commonly occurs between mothers and babies, and during sleep between loving couples in a stable relationship. It probably occurs during every conversation and social interaction but to a lesser degree. Heart rate variability has been shown to be highly reactive to psychological states and to the environment, which includes the quality of thoughts and the emotions of other people. Researchers suggest that the heart’s magnetic field is the principle non-physical mechanism of communication between people whose heart rate variability is in sync.² It has also been repeatedly demonstrated that techniques which are practiced in order to increase variability in general (whether in sync with anyone else or not), lead to a wide range of beneficial health and performance outcomes.²

From what I understand, the heart’s magnetic field, and literally any “field” is itself entirely non-physical. I have never come across any source adequately proposing a particle theory to explain the actions of pulsing magnetic energy waves. There are theories about electron spin, charge separation, and that all fields are tied to or surrounding something physical, but the ‘field” itself appears to be non-physical and non-local. Fields can be measured but they do not have discrete boundaries and thus appear to be all connected. In other words, there is only one field. The field also apparently communicates information with direct and measurable effects between things. With no known physical mediator, field communication has been proposed to occur via longitudinal scalar waves that act at such high speeds that communication is virtually instantaneous regardless of the measurable distance between the two objects. Cellular communication also occurs between DNA by longitudinal waves. The pulsing double helix structure of the DNA allows for a magnetic field to produce information packets that communicate nearly instantaneously.³

My conclusion thus far is that the mind’s thoughts and emotions operate in and through the magnetic field waves and act instantaneously at any distance. Waves which are communicating information are received and integrated (or filtered out) based on the degree of harmonic rapport and coherency. When any of us can gain a psychological state of an increasingly loving, cooperative, and thoughtful nature that improves coherency in heart rate variability, it leads to improved health, general well-being, and relationship bonding. It also acts in a protective way by naturally filtering out undesirable thought waves. The non-physical mind that operates in the energy field is distinct from the physical body that is composed of discrete particles—but they exist together in a dynamic and integrated state. Relative to a clinician’s point of view, developing empathy and establishing rapport with clients will strengthen bonds and contribute to improved clinical health outcomes, improving the client’s motivation and adherence to the therapeutic program being implemented.

“This re-enforces the BodyTalk Direct approach of repairing cells by repairing the DNA”
~ John V.


References
¹Jaruševičius, G., Rugelis, T., McCraty, R., Landauskas, M., Berškienė, K., & Vainoras, A. (2018). Correlation between Changes in Local Earth’s Magnetic Field and Cases of Acute Myocardial Infarction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(3).
²McCraty, R. (2017). New Frontiers in Heart Rate Variability and Social Coherence Research: Techniques, Technologies, and Implications for Improving Group Dynamics and Outcomes. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 267.
³Meyl, K. (2012). DNA and Cell Resonance: Magnetic Waves Enable Cell Communication. DNA & Cell Biology, 31(4), 422–426.

Robert Lanza on Biocentrism

Many of you know that I have often referred to Robert Lanza's work. This is a great short talk of his on Biocentrism. I highly recommend watching it.

The Hoarder by Esther Veltheim

"We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.”

– Tom Robbins

When left to its own devices, the head brain becomes a compulsive hoarder. It accumulates and stockpiles learned information and stories, squirreling them away as if readying itself for a famine. The greater the head brain's hoard of learned information and stories, the more adept it is at steamrolling intuition and guarding against the heart. Like any addictive behavior, the head brain's compulsion to learn and cling escalates until pathology successfully masquerades as a necessity: hoarding becomes essential to living. That we call the age we live in "the information age" might be more telling than we realize.

Like any addiction, hoarding information and knee-jerk answering weaken the head brain. Its ability to discriminate and draw on its discretionary dimension suffer dramatically. Habitually satisfying its urges with a knowledge fix allows the head brain to close down to the unknown. Conversely, when the Three Brain Complex is dynamic, the gut brain informs and the heart brain anchors. Simply put, the Hoarder head brain is our struggle with our self.

When the head brain dominates, we look to external sources to inform us. And we look to external sources to anchor us. While we are in this dissociative state, the external is mistaken for our source of survival and also our greatest threat. Accumulating learned information to ensure answers are always at the ready is how the over-compensating head brain keeps us feeling safe. The head brain's primary conviction is that learned information is our greatest strength. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what that information is as long as it keeps us armed with answers.There is nothing wrong with the head brain. It is just doing its job relative to what needs to be done in the moment.

Self-inquiry questions all learned information, stories and our assumptions about them. This means that self-inquiry puts the head brain's addiction to hoarding and its entire stash of knowledge and stories under threat. A simple explanation of self-inquiry is the process of questioning all our assumptions. A simple place to begin self-inquiry might be to ask  “What do I know for sure?” This is a self-reflective question. It turns our focus inwards which immediately shifts the habit of looking for answers "out there." And whenever this shift in orientation happens, the mind temporarily calms. Over time, the practice of self-inquiry or self-reflection disrupts apathetic head brain habits. This is because self-reflection naturally engages the Three Brain Complex in a far more dynamic way.

If any of the preceding speaks to you, please join our Q&A and share your questions or your presence with us. Although I am calling this class a Q&A, my focus is not simply to answer your questions. My role is, primarily, to serve as a catalyst for the deepening of our own questioning process.

“There has to be another way!”

Beautifully Designed

“The bodymind complex has been beautifully designed. No one system has full responsibility for all functions. This provides backup for when a system is failing, as well as multiple inputs to facilitate the ideal processing, and functioning, in any situation. For example, the meridian system can do most of the things that chakras can do, plus it does a lot more of the hands-on, day-to-day, operations of the body.” 

~ John Veltheim, taken from the Eastern Medicine course

Can Diagnosis Do More Harm Than Good?

Theoretically, the concept of diagnosis is a good one. It involves gathering a patient’s case history, their symptoms, lab results, and other diagnostic tests. In this way the patient’s illness is corroborated and named. The practitioner will then use this label to determine the treatment approach. The treatment could involve drugs, surgery, therapy, diet. Or, in the alternative therapies, acupuncture needles, herbs, homeopathic remedies, etc.

The flaw in this system is the limitation of the database you are drawing upon. In the case of traditional medicine, the database will involve physiological and structural evaluations that are very materialistically inclined. Even though reference is sometimes made to emotions and environmental stresses, these references are vague at best. Acupuncturists will also include the meridians in their evaluations and psychologists will include case history and environmental and emotional stress factors. The big problem lies in the fact the new physics is omitted from all of these preceding treatment models.

Diagnostic approaches preclude what the new physics has clearly demonstrated; that the bodymind is far more complex than the Cartesian model asserts. For a start, the energy dynamics of the bodymind are entangled with patterns of energy associated with the environment. People who are close to the patient or anyone who has an influence on the patient’s life, will bring about quantum entanglements. These entanglements will definitely influence the health of the person. A celebrity’s fan base, for example, constitutes a huge entanglement. Family, friends and even strangers who have powerful impact via the media can also present a quantum entanglement for the patient. Animals, plants, and electronic devices can also fall into the category of quantum entanglement. On top of this, the patient will also have stored emotional memories, attitudes and belief systems that are still affecting brain function, however well the patient thinks they have dealt with them. In short, when a patient’s health problems are narrowed down to a simplistic label, such as a stomach ulcer or breast cancer, a great injustice is being done to the patient. The limitations of your diagnostic database have omitted key elements that are crucial in addressing their ailment in a truly holistic way. Instead, a host of unique factors, contributing to and underpinning their symptom, are being ignored. When a patient’s health problems are diluted down and given a generic label, the subsequent treatment model will be equally generic.

This does not mean that the diagnostic model for arriving at a treatment protocol is always deficient. In many cases the treatment prescribed can actually be one that is in excess of what the bodymind complex actually requires. While healthcare modalities persist in using diagnosis as their medium, generic symptoms will remain the benchmark for treatment protocols. What this means is that patients will continue to be treated as if they are generic human beings. In essence, the diagnostic model ignores the uniqueness of each individual and the uniqueness and complexity of their individual health issues.

Healthcare modalities that fail to factor the new physics into their treatment models, continue to pigeon-hole their patients into categories of disease. This is why so many people label themselves “a cancer patient”, “a diabetic” etc. Patients are, essentially, being taught to identify as their symptoms. These labels describe only one element of a complex energy dynamic and entanglement happening within their bodymind. As was mentioned before, rigid attitudes and belief systems are quantum entanglements. When a patient adopts the identity of a symptom, they identify with a superficial aspect of their bodymind’s overall health. This new identity, “I am a cancer patient” or even, “I am a cancer survivor”, is highly detrimental. When a patient identifies with a symptom this attitude can constitute, in and of itself, a health problem.

When the bodymind’s own innate wisdom is left out of the treatment equation, more often than not, symptoms recur or transmute. To successfully address the total range of influences complicit in any disease, an understanding of the laws of quantum physics is essential. Healthcare modalities that do not use this database of information and laws are not practicing holistic medicine. They are performing first aid.

Schedule for Spring and Summer 2019

May 15, 22, 29 | Sarasota, Florida via LiveStream (12:00pm - 12:45pm)
Group Session Series: Gland Support - All 3
Details & Registration for all 3>>
Individual Registration for The Thyroid & Parathyroid, The Thymus & Immunity, or The Adrenals

June 5, 12, 19 | Sarasota, Florida via LiveStream (12:00pm - 12:45pm)
Group Session Series: Beliefs, the Senses and Stress
Details & Registration for all 3>>
Individual Registration for Five Senses, Belief Systems, Spiritual Stress

July 10 | Sarasota, Florida via LiveStream (12:00 - 1:30pm)
Online Instructor Update
Note: This free course is only available to active IBA Instructors.
(No registration required)

July 11 | Sarasota, Florida via LiveStream (12:00 - 1:30pm)
Online Member Update
Note: This free course is only available to active IBA Members.
(No registration required)

August 14, 21, 28 | Sarasota, Florida via LiveStream (12:00pm - 12:45pm)
Group Session Series: The Nervous System - All 3
Details & Registration for all 3 >>
Individual Registration for different parts of Nervous System

Questioning and the Spiritual Process by Esther Veltheim

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."  

–Rainer Maria Rilke

Spiritual process. Ask twenty different people what these two little words signify for them and you will probably receive twenty different responses. But, chances are quite a few of these explanations will contain the term becoming enlightened.

Spiritual process. Becoming enlightened. Being a spiritual person. Most anyone involved in alternative healing or any kind of yoga will have come across such terminology or even regularly use these terms themselves.

The subject of spirituality can be highly seductive, daunting and confusing. After all, the language we have for the spiritual life is laden with connotations, and conflicting-seeming schools of thought abound.

One thing is pretty certain. If your goal is to become enlightened, the belief you lack something will dog you. The opposite may also be the case. If your goal is to become enlightened it is possible you are resigned to the idea there is something you need to be getting rid of before that can happen. Maybe the ego, the me, your thoughts. Maybe all of that.

And then there are all the spiritual pathways one can take. And then there are all the different explanations about them.

And then there is what you feel inside. Maybe a deep frustration; a yearning; a sense of "This can't be it!?"; "There has to be more!"; "What is life all about!?" ...

A long preamble and maybe you are all ready to stop reading. But, if you relate to anything here, you are not alone. Spirituality is a subject that has baffled, intrigued, seduced, challenged, and driven people to the edge of madness, probably ever since it first came about. It is for this reason that we wanted to devote our first open Q&A to this subject. More importantly, it is because spirituality is such a confounding subject, that we want our Q&A's focus to be on the questions themselves.

There are so many wonderful teachings and teachers in the world who inspire and catalyze us on our spiritual journeys. In terms of the myriad, John's Soul's Journey course addressed some of the various schools of thought. He also imparted practical applications for BodyTalk and the Life Sciences that you can use to support yourself and your clients on this journey.

The much beloved and renowned mythologist and master story teller, Joseph Campbell, called our spiritual journey the Hero's Journey. And, surely, no better word can apply than hero to describe any of us journeying through this human life. Nothing is certain, nothing is predictable, nothing is sure. Even if we do not think of ourselves on a spiritual journey, just being human means we are engaged in a heroic journey.

For John and me, that is what the spiritual life signifies; the adventure of exploring what it is to be human and live this human life as fully as possible.

As you might know, there are four main paths of Yoga--Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. These are spiritual pathways used by those undertaking the spiritual journey. Each one is differently suited to a particular temperament and approach to life.

Of the four pathways, Jnana--the path of knowledge--is considered the most simple and the most direct method of cutting through our misconceptions about self. As the word simple is the antithesis of easy, this pathway is traditionally the one less traveled.

Why jnana yoga is considered difficult and not suited to everyone is because it requires a sharp intellect; one that has the capacity to cut through self-misconceptions. To this end, jnana yoga might well be called the yoga of questioning. It is not that those involved in the other yogas do not pose questions, on the contrary. But the practitioner of jnana explores the questions themselves in a way that other pathways do not. It is the path of discrimination; seeking to differentiate as clearly as possible the real from the unreal.

How might this apply to you or even interest you?

Living in the Information Age as we are, never have human beings been exposed to such a flood of information. Any of us with a computer or smart phone or TV is open to being bombarded with information on an almost constant basis. Much of this information seems compelling, seductive even. Images, words, sounds, teachings, advertising ... and the list goes on and on and on.

The benefits are many, but the dangers are equally numerous. The human system's ability to adapt to this new way of living is being tested in every moment. Much of the time we are even unaware of the multitude of stressful electrical intrusions our systems are absorbing.

As is so often the case when our systems are stressed, we do what is easiest for us. We want immediate relief, and concern for the long-term consequences falls by the wayside. One of the most common coping methods we have in the Information Age is ASSUMING. With so much information coming at us it is just easier to take most of it in and save ourselves time.

In other words, never has there been a time when human beings are more in need of honing the ability to question. Never has there been a time when our life as human beings has been more in need of examining. Not because dark and difficult ages have not existed before. On the contrary, all the preceding ages also required tremendous human adaptation; the types of human adaptations that have brought us into this age, facing floods and floods of information.

Surely, there has never been a time more pressing than this to learn the art of discrimination. And to this end, we need to learn the art of questioning. As small children, direct, simple, logical questions came easily to us. This means that it is in our nature to question directly, simply and logically. Somewhere along the way, we just became out of touch with this brilliant ability. Between childhood and adulthood, intellect became an almost dirty word to many of us. We forget that clear thinking and clear questioning was once something we were really good at. It came naturally. This means it is an inborn gift none of us are deprived of. We simply need to avail ourselves of it.

Osho

"Knowledge destroys wonder, destroys the capacity to feel awe. It makes you capable of explaining away everything. It takes away all poetry from life. It takes away all meaning from life. The knowledgeable person is never surprised by anything because he can explain everything. But no explanation is true for they don't explain anything at all. The mystery remains. The mystery is infinite."

~ Osho

The Prevalence of Complex PTSD by Esther Veltheim

"Post Truamatic Stress, from a neurological standpoint, is not a dis-order. It is a re-ordering of your neural networks and pathways and your sensory pathways, so that you can survive in a really dangerous situation."

– Janet Seahorn, PhD, author of Tears of a Warrior

When many of us think of PTSD, we often imagine a single, severely traumatic event (war, accident, rape etc.). This event can still have several incidences, but they tend to be put under the one umbrella even though we may need to address the specific components. However, as practitioners, we will more often need to address Complex PTSD also known as C-PTSD. This particular stress disorder generally results from prolonged and repetitive trauma. It frequently involves abuse or abandonment by a family member or caregiver in a situation where the power dynamic is skewed.

Unfortunately, violent and mentally or emotionally abusive relationships are just as prevalent as they have ever been, but they are often kept very hushed and can even go unrecognized by the victims. The following experiences and situations can easily leave a person with C-PTSD symptoms:

• Physically and mentally abusive relationships from childhood
• Mentally or emotionally abusive marriages/partnerships (E.g. repeated infidelity)
• Being bullied at school (leading to child suicide and more gun use in schools)
• Cyber-bullying
• Being bullied or abused by parents (alcoholic parents, drug abuse, or parents with mental disorders); being bullied by other children (siblings, school mates)
• Being gaslighted by a partner or parent
• Sexual abuse--incest, rape, etc.
• Environmental--living in a hostile environment (E.g. where there are gangs, etc.)

The profound damage gaslighting causes is only beginning to be acknowledged. If you are unfamiliar with the term gaslighting, it involves psychological manipulation that causes the victim to doubt their own memory, their own perception and their own sanity.

Gaslighting is experienced more among women, but is certainly not limited to them. Although gaslighting is sometimes accompanied by physical abuse, the abuser usually confines their attacks to the psychological realm. They lie pathologically and consistently, in the process deeply convincing themselves that their own distorted reality is truth, the only truth. That truth is lies and lies are the truth is the state of mind the gaslighter projects upon their prey and all those who surround them.

The depths of self-doubt and helplessness catalyzed by gaslighting can feel psychologically paralyzing. The most basic acts of self-preservation are being eroded and the idea of escaping the abuse can appear increasingly impossible.

One of the goals of gaslighting is to draw the other so strongly into their web of lies as to totally convince them "you are the crazy one!"  Another is to ensure the projection takes hold. To this end, they isolate their prey by convincing all who will listen that she or he is "mentally unstable," "mentally fragile," "has lost all grasp on reality" or is "crazy." The more devastating and persistent the attacks are, the stronger the gaslighter's own psychological wall becomes. To others they can appear powerful and charismatic. To their prey, what was once something endearing and charming is now seen for the façade it is; a wall that feels increasingly isolating. The perpetrator wants their prey to live out for them everything they are unwilling to face within themselves.

Because there is no physical damage as evidence and proof that these abusive attacks have taken place, the effects of gaslighting can be far more long lasting and pervasive than those of overt physical abuse. Consequently, many victims and survivors remain oblivious to the fact that what they are experiencing is Complex PTSD.

To read this brief description of gaslighting is, possibly, to realize that it is a term that not only describes the dynamic within a personal relationship. On the world stages, authoritarians are master gaslighters. From not only a psychological but also a philosophical standpoint, the concept of gaslighting has much to teach us about human nature and its transformation. Wherever there is gaslighting, our Savior/Martyr (or Disabler/Enabler) archetypes are invoking a spell. Because these two archetypes are universal and not individual, whether we are overtly affected by gaslighting or not, there is much we can learn from studying its dynamic. Because gaslighting is, essentially, abuse administered through distortion of the truth, it is very possible more of us are inured to gaslighting than we realize. This makes it equally possible that by shedding a steady light on gaslighting and acknowledging its prevalence, we can break its spell.

The World and The Mind

"The world and the mind arise and set together, as one; but of the two the world owes its appearance to the mind alone. That alone is real in which this inseparable pair, the world and the mind, has risings and settings. That reality is the one infinite Consciousness, having neither rising nor setting."

~ Ramana Maharshi

Wendell Henckel

“All the possibilities: like anger, fear, frustration, greed, envy, joy, happiness, freedom, love; they all exist in a deeper part of us, in a seed form, as though they are at rest. And when an external impression comes in of an equivalent nature it awakens the equivalent seed form and that seed form then fills the mind and the body. This level, that is deeper down than the mind, is called the human nature.

"Now in the human nature are all the possibilities for every human being. All the negative possibilities and all the positive possibilities are equally in every human being. What is drawn out in any moment is based on your external impression at that moment..... It awakens a seed form and that seed form then fills the mind and the body.”

~ Wendell Henckel

Your duty is to be and not to be this or that.

'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth.

The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'.

What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'.

All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?

Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.

~ Ramana Maharshi

"If we can stay with the tension of opposites long enough --sustain it, be true to it--we can sometimes become vessels within which the divine opposites come together and give birth to a new reality."

~ Marie-Louise von Franz

When Conflict Cannot Arise

"Living one’s life involves a series of happenings in which an awareness of the ‘me’ as a separate entity really does not exist. The ‘me’ becomes conscious of itself only when there is conflict. Until then, so long as everything is moving smoothly without any frustration, without any contradiction, there is no consciousness of oneself in action. I am aware of myself and my ‘problem’ only when I am blocked by something that the ‘other’ has done which has affected me adversely. It is necessary to understand the relationship between ‘me’ and the ‘other’. Normally, if I am hurt or opposed, my immediate reaction is that the ‘other’ has done it and so I hate him. If, however, I am able to accept that in life, as the Buddha has so clearly stated, everything is a happening and nothing is a deed done by anyone, the ‘conflict’ simply cannot arise. If I am hurt, it is obvious that the event – according to the Cosmic Law – was supposed to hurt me, and, most importantly, through which body-mind organism it happened is totally irrelevant."

Balsekar, Ramesh (2013-03-14). The One in the Mirror (Kindle Locations 96-105). Yogi Impressions Books Pvt. Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

The Complexity of Disease

Here is a clip from a BodyTalk Fundamentals Study Group that is now available on PaRama Campus. Our history in diagnosis and disease has shaped the way we interpret imbalance or failing body parts. This short clip provides a different perspective on the complex interrelationships in the bodymind.

Interesting Read. Tensegrity is Movin' on Up!

Rep Prog Phys. 2014 Apr;77(4):046603.

Tensegrity, cellular biophysics, and the mechanics of living systems.

Ingber DE, Wang N, Stamenovic D.

Abstract

The recent convergence between physics and biology has led many physicists to enter the fields of cell and developmental biology. One of the most exciting areas of interest has been the emerging field of mechanobiology that centers on how cells control their mechanical properties, and how physical forces regulate cellular biochemical responses, a process that is known as mechanotransduction. In this article, we review the central role that tensegrity (tensional integrity) architecture, which depends on tensile prestress for its mechanical stability, plays in biology. We describe how tensional prestress is a critical governor of cell mechanics and function, and how use of tensegrity by cells contributes to mechanotransduction. Theoretical tensegrity models are also described that predict both quantitative and qualitative behaviors of living cells, and these theoretical descriptions are placed in context of other physical models of the cell. In addition, we describe how tensegrity is used at multiple size scales in the hierarchy of life—from individual molecules to whole living organisms—to both stabilize three-dimensional form and to channel forces from the macroscale to the nanoscale, thereby facilitating mechanochemical conversion at the molecular level. Click here to view source of the article.

Farewell Depression, Welcome Freedom

 I have suffered from depression since I was in high school and likely even before that.  I had no idea what was wrong with me.  I just felt depressed all the time even though I had a great life.  I was good in school, had great jobs, great friends, a great family – nothing was wrong except for how I felt all the time.  When I was about 24, I had a boyfriend who told me he was leaving me because he couldn’t handle my depression and that I should go on medication.  What the hell was depression?  I had no idea what he meant.  I went to the doctor and was put on medication and lived on it for years.  I was angry, mean, suicidal, even cutting myself at times because it was the only way I knew to get the rage out without going insane.  I always just thought that I was crazy and many times would dare myself to commit suicide, sometimes taking enough pills before going to bed that I didn’t know if I would wake up.  It was a very difficult time and the worst part is that I hid it from almost everyone.  I remember lying on the floor, bawling in agony and answering the phone, chatting like nothing was wrong, then going back to the agony.  Life felt like a curse!!! 

 I met an amazing man who offered a lot of support through some really tough times and I am so grateful for him.  He introduced me to a therapist who did EMDR treatments and it helped me a great deal.  We then got married with the hope of having children.  We tried to get pregnant but had no luck.  This just pushed me further and further into depression because I kept thinking having children would make me happy – something in this world had to make me happy eventually.  I am so grateful now that I was unable to get pregnant at that time because I was still an emotional wreck, even though I had improved enough to feel stable at times. 

One day, my mother-in-law called and asked if I had ever tried BodyTalk.  I have to admit that what she described sounded a bit crazy to a computer programmer like me but I was willing to try anything to get pregnant at that point.  I remember my BodyTalk session with Allison Bachmeir was just so fascinating and I just wanted to know more about what she was doing.  I signed up for Modules 1 and 2 before I left her clinic and I began my BodyTalk journey. 

I fell in love with BodyTalk – it was my passion – I couldn’t stop taking BodyTalk courses because I just wanted to learn more.  I started a practice in March, 2007 and have enjoyed every moment of it.  I was able to wean off my medication with the help of BodyTalk before getting pregnant in 2008.  I had manyBodyTalk sessions, including one with Dr John Veltheim and took a number of BodyTalk course before getting pregnant and having 2 beautiful babies.  Having children was the most exciting thing for me, however, I began feeling like I was being pulled down the spiral of depression once again but because I was not suicidal like before, I did not recognize it as depression – until I had a session from Dr Veltheim in 2012.  His session addressed issues around the depression that I didn’t know I had.  A few days after his session, I began to see a therapist who led me to live in awareness – to watch how I am living.  Living with awareness showed me that I was so depressed but I had kept myself so busy that I never recognized it.  I knew that I needed to see a doctor.  I went to see my doctor the next day and I felt like the biggest failure sitting in the waiting room.  I was a BodyTalk practitioner – I am supposed to help people feel better – why on earth can’t I help myself feel better???  I got the prescription for the antidepressants and I literally felt better the second I had the prescription in my hand.  I now see how I had such a strong belief in medication and that is why I had to use the medication in order to feel better.  I saw Dr Veltheim again in April, 2013 and had another session from him.  I was freaking out before my session, wondering if I should tell him that I went on anti-depressants – would he think I am a failure as a practitioner for having to take medication?  I went up for my session with him and very sheepishly told him about the medication and he looked at me and said, “that’s great because sometimes the medication will help calm your brain down enough for the BodyTalk sessions to work”  Phew, he didn’t think I was a failure!  He did a session on me and I did feel much better after but still felt like I needed medication in order to function. 

In April, 2014 I saw John again for PaRama2 practical in Calgary.  He did a session on me and when I came home, I reached for my antidepressants and intuitively felt like I no longer needed them.  I stopped taking the pills that day and have never felt better.  It has been 3 months now and I feel great.  I am certainly not giving anyone the advice to quit their medication cold turkey without the assistance of their doctor but I just knew that I no longer needed the pills.  I see now, looking back, that the medication helped me cope better with life so I am so grateful for the pills but I see how important it is to continue on the path of healing to get to a space where we no longer need medication.  I feel alive again.  I FEEL my emotions again.  I feel sad and frustrated at times but I also feel happy and peaceful and alive as well – something that had felt so foreign to me for so long!!!  I am so grateful every day for the BodyTalk System.  I continue to heal in so many different areas of my life using BodyTalk – my relationships with others and with myself continue to change, my fears and worries are continually changing, my physical health is changing – basically everything in my life continues to change because I continue to have BodyTalk sessions regularly and I continue to take BodyTalk classes and I also continue to teach classes.  I love noticing improvements in my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health and will never stop anticipating new levels of healing on this amazing journey that I am on.  Even through life’s challenges, I am able to find peace and accept that life is happening FOR me, not TO me and that inner wisdom and healing is happening as a result of the challenges!!!

Thank-you, John, for this amazing system that you developed.  I am grateful everyday for you <3
Chantelle Rodgers

Evolutionary Entanglement

Millions of years of co-evolution have led to a delicate balance between the immune system and our microbial residents. A calibrated system of checks and balances has developed that keeps immune cells from being overzealous, overly aggressive, causing inflammation or attacking cells of our body. At the same time this fine balance ensures that the immune cells are not too lazy and effectively recognize and deal with the invaders. An interesting question now emerges about the role of the immune system ...did it evolve to fight off invaders (as we have always considered) OR to help us live harmoniously alongside beneficial microbes?

 

How does the immune system distinguish the good from role as distinguishing ‘self’ versus ‘not self’ must now be updated to the expanded view of distinction between the community of the human superorganism: human cells and our mutualist friends versus foes (pathogens). Microbes are no longer simply invaders to be annihilated by our immune system but residents in a symbiotic community. This discernment is the current great mystery and challenge of immunology.

Given the new view of the 100 trillion microbes that are tolerated by the immune system a new paradigm of immune system function is needed. The basic tenets of this new view have been updated:

1. Immune system development and healthy function requires continual interaction with the mutualist microbes, the beneficial bacteria and parasites.
   
2. A central component of balance in the immune system is achieved by the function of a recently discovered peacekeeper faction of the immune system: Regulatory T cells and Regulatory B cells that rein in the immune response.
• These regulatory peacekeepers are produced primarily when our immune systems regularly engage with our microbiome: bacteria and parasites
• If the microbiome biodiversity declines, then immune system education is compromised, microbe encounters decline and the peacekeeper levels fall. This situation is responsible for precipitating inflammation, allergies, asthma, and autoimmune imbalances.
3. Therefore allergies are NOT so much due to the presence of an allergen that triggers a response in the immune system but the absence of microbes that precipitates a global imbalance in our immune responses. 
   

The BodyEcolgoy course will be offered one last time LIVE and via LIVESTREAM. Click here for more info.

  

PaRama Study Group Intensive Retreat

Today’s blog is about one my favorite topics: the healing nature of conflict.  You are probably familiar with Tim Hall who has written another article for us today. As you know, The BodyTalk System is about WholeHealthcare more than it is a system that cares only about health.  Health without wisdom is baseless and empty. Through conflict comes wisdom.

I am very excited for the upcoming BodyEcology course.  Scientific discoveries such as the Microbiome reveal aspects of physiology that has always been at work, but until now it has been without our understanding of how to take advantage of this information. In a similar way, conflict has always been part of human life, but without having the understanding of its healing nature.

PaRama BodyTalk in particular is designed to provide a systematic method for establishing wisdom thru the healing nature of conflict.  To this end, Tim will be hosting the 4^th PaRama Study Group Intensive Retreat in Scottsdale AZ this coming Memorial Day weekend. Tim was one of the 1^st ten PaRama designated CBPs and has dedicated himself to this study. I encourage any PaRama member to attend his weekend group and will try to attend it myself next year.

For details, contact Tim Hall

Thanks,
John

Health is Overrated

by Tim Hall

You may have seen this Sept 4^th, 2013 TED talk by psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal who basically says that it is not stress that kills you, it is the belief that stress can kill you that kills you.  Check out the video on YouTube.

It may kill you to believe this, but consider that it is not disease and problems that makes you unhealthy, but the belief that they can make you unhealthy that is what is making you unhealthy.  Disease, problems, symptoms or relationship struggles are all various forms of conflict.  Does conflict conflict with health?  Or is there healthy conflict? 

I’m sure there is a study about this somewhere but if not, maybe you can still agree with me on the premise:  Take 10 couples all of whom have regular arguments of some kind to some degree about something.  Ask them independently if arguing is a sign of a weak, failing and hateful partnership or if it is a sign of a strong, open and respectful partnership.  Say that 5 couples said ‘weak’, and 5 couples said ‘strong’.  If we were to check in with these argumentative couples ten years later, which set would you guess is more likely to still be together? 

Now, if you are thinking that the five so-called strong couples were probably miserable for those ten years, this may reveal some of your own bias about that same question.  If ‘arguments’ isn’t the topic, it could as well be drinking habits, religious opinions, exercise and diet differences, sexual interests, scheduling difficulties, child rearing, snoring, romantic gestures and the list goes on and on.  Somewhere there will be conflict. 

If conflict and health are found to be friends, then could we lump in misery too?  Is misery an element of health?  It would seem not, right?  Then is misery an element of conflict?  While that may at least seem more likely, let’s dig a little deeper. 

Consider the couples; if arguing is one of their conflicts and they engage with that behavior fully, they are both at least on the same page and arguing together (please note that I am not promoting or condemning arguing).  If arguing is their conflict and one or both of the couples resist the behavior in themselves and/or their partner, it is easy to see how that resistance to what is actually occurring could manifest as blame, abuse, manipulation, defensiveness, turmoil, or in one word: misery. 

Having no resistance to arguments does not imply a resignation nor does it mean you have to enjoy it.  We all have our likes and dislikes.  Being content can include being content with acknowledging that some things are just not for us and that we’d prefer to improve the situation. 

Resisting a disease-conflict can be miserable too.  Not resisting it in no way means you have to keep living with it, or embrace it or even like it.  We can probably all agree that misery is an impediment to well-being of any kind.  If so, then we could also agree that in the absence of misery (and therefor the absence of resistance to the conflict), that that situation would be to our benefit? 

Have you noticed that the times you are miserable are the times when you can’t seem to get ahead, or make any progress or have a harmonious relationship?  When the conflict itself is being fought against so hard, it is nearly impossible to see a resolution.  Do we believe that conflicts make us miserable?  Or do we believe that conflict is a process of achieving a higher consciousness and an improved state of well-being? 

Perhaps now we can see the value of misery.  Misery is our signpost that says, ‘You’re going in the wrong direction!’  The more miserable we become, the less we are able to continue in that wrong direction.  Life is so complex that reasons and intellect cannot have the full picture.  And not everyone is intuitive enough to always have deep insight into what is best for the situation but we all know what misery is.  Thanks to misery, we can learn by our experience.  As this happens, the whisper of intuition becomes more familiar, “You sure you want to go that way?  You’ve been down that road before.  I know it is scary to take this new unknown path, but at least listen and know that the way you are facing now is the path of misery.”  You know that whisper.  I sure do.  Ask this yourself question, Am I sick and tired of being sick and tired? 

PaRama friends, meet me in Scottsdale AZ Memorial Day weekend and we’ll all have lots of conflict, er, wait, I mean, we’ll all Find Health together!

Tim Hall