Fernando Bignardi

Graduated in Medicine from the Federal University of São Paulo (1980). Masters degree in Homeopathy, Psychosomatics psycotherapy, characterology Reichian and horsetherapy. As well as in Geriatrics and Gerontology, Behavioral Medicine and Integrative Care UNIFESP.
He is currently coordinator of the Center for the Study of Aging, Department of Preventive Medicine by UNIFESP, where, besides the epidemiological research on aging, has been developing line of research in the application of Transdisciplinary Health Care It is Lecturer and Consultant in Medicine, Corporate Sustainability and Quality of Life. He worked in companies such as Natura, Ara Cruz, Caixa Economica Federal, Alcoa, BM & F, SESI, SEBRAE, etc..
It was featured in the cover story in magazine “This is about Meditation Medicine” for his work at the Center for the Study of Aging for the results obtained with the use of meditation as a tool for healing. 

I first met Fernando briefly last year when we both lectured at the quantum health conference in Recife, Brazil. I met him again at the quantum conference in Granada, Brazil earlier this year and have since established a very strong friendship with him. He has shown a deep interest in BodyTalk and in particular the concept of it being consciousness-based, as this is a subject he is very strongly interested in. Fernando has opened many doors for me in Brazil especially in the academic world. He has considerable influence in medical education at the federal medical college in São Paulo. Through his contacts and the respect everyone holds for him, he has opened up many opportunities for BodyTalk to be heard.

Several of the co-presenters at the conferences had expressed a strong interest in learning more about my work. Particularly the principles behind it, and the philosophy and science. Renata invited a group of these scientists to a dinner at her house during my visit to Brazil earlier this year. I had a very enjoyable evening discussing many aspects of healthcare and philosophy with a group of brilliant doctors and scientists who were so open to learn and asked such good questions. I also demonstrated an advanced BodyTalk treatment on one of the participants who had quite severe health challenges and responded dramatically on the table. They all expressed an interest to know more, so through Fernando and Renata, I arranged to do an intensive special presentation over a few days to a small group of scientists when I went back to Brazil a month later. The presentation went very well and I really enjoyed it because I was able to just focus on the big picture rather than individual techniques etc.

Fernando then arranged for me to give a lecture at his university. He arranged for many of his students studying consciousness work in healthcare to join as well as many of the faculty of the university in medicine, psychology and sociology. I was given three hours for the talk and had a really fantastic time. The auditorium was packed, and the response was overwhelmingly good. I discussed the general principles and philosophy of BodyTalk and spent time explaining the way it was developed as an extension of events in my life.

Many of the people attending has since signed up to study BodyTalk and indicated they want to learn the whole system. In the meantime, I was approached by several different professors about further studies and research. Fernando and I continue to meet and have found so many common understandings about what is necessary for the future of healthcare. I am really looking forward to continuing to work with Fernando in the future both as a colleague and good friend.

Ram Tzu #2

Rams who knows this…

You will never have enough. 
There is not enough to be had.

Your satisfaction, 
However sweet, 
Is always temporary. 
And when it goes 
It leaves behind a void 
That screams to be filled.

So you go again in search 
Of completeness, 
Of fullness 
Off peace, 
Of happiness. 
But you know only to look 
For satisfaction.

A blind man in search of the sky.

You clever ones will see 
It to be a problem with 
A simple solution.

Austerity…

You strip yourself of worldly goods 
Run about naked 
Living off the labor of the crass souls 
Still bound to the yoke of desire.

Pity it doesn’t work. 
It looks so good on paper. 
But always in the deep, 
Dark recesses of your soul 
Lurks a tickle of noble want…

To be one with God.

It might just as well be a Rolls-Royce.

Fools, don’t despair. 
For you there is always hope.

From No Way: A Guide for the Spiritually Advanced
by Ram Tzu (ISBN 0-929448-13-8)

The Connectome

One of the more recent discoveries in neurophysiology is the discovery of the concept of the connectome. The principle behind the connectome has been an important basis of energy medicine. It underscores the understanding that the brain is not Cartesian in its makeup, and that it works as one large functional unit. Basically, the principle is that every neuron is connected to every other neuron in the brain in a complex configuration unique to every individual. It is this total functional unit that will then dictate the mechanics of what constitutes our character and personality.
 

The "connectome" represents the sum total of connections between all the neurons in the brain. Therefore, it is a complex fingerprint of your identity, which reveals the differences between brains, and dictates the way the brain responds to any given situation.
 

The connectome will have two distinct components based on our knowledge of how the body really works:

1. The energic, electrical blueprint of the connectome
2. The physical wiring of the brain, which is the physical manifestation of the energic blueprint.

So far, science has focused on the physical wiring, as that is the only factor the current equipment available can detect.  The term "connectome" is connectplus ome, with the ome inferring the connectome relates to the brain like the genome relates to cells. It also infers that the connectome has a strong epigenetic basis.  

The main protagonist of the connectome concept is Dr. Sebastian Seung , MIT Professor of computational neuroscience. He maintains that because the connectome of the human brain would be so complicated (billions of neurons), it could take another 40 years before there will be computers powerful enough to actually map it out completely. He points out that mapping out the connectome will be far more complicated than mapping the human genome. 

The diagram is the connectome of a Tapeworm that has only 300 neurons, which involved 7000 links. (The human brain has tens of billions of neurons.)

Fortunately, we do not have to wait that long for practical application of the understanding and implications of the connectome in energy medicine. Connectome research is now priority program for the National Institute of Health . 

The principles already discovered strongly sync with the principles of treatment used in PaRama BodyTalk.

Two Levels of Connectome function

1. The basic level is called the stable connectome. This is the circuitry that establishes the core functions of the brain that are not designed to be readily changed. This enables continuity of brain activity and essential stability in neurological processes and day to day functions of the nervous system.
2. The second level is considered unstable because it reflects our personality and many character traits. This means it would reflect our belief systems, habits, and attitudes about life.

The research has confirmed what we have known for a long time in energy medicine using techniques like BodyTalk. It demonstrates that from the moment of conception, the connectome changes throughout life. The neurons adjust or "reweight" their connections by strengthening or weakening them. The neurons reconnect by creating and eliminating synapses, and they rewire by growing and retracting axon and dendrite branches. 

Much of this new research clearly contradicts conventional wisdom in neurophysiology - the body can create entirely new neurons, axons and dendrites and eliminate the existing redundant connections. The important thing to realize here is that this would all have to occur at the energic blueprint level first, and this is where the BodyTalk techniques can be very powerful.

Dr. Seung has established the process he calls the four R's.

1. Reweighting

2. Reconnection

3. Rewiring

4. Regeneration

The process of the four R's is limited and framed by genetics. However, it has been clearly established that the largest factor involved in the changes made to the connectome are the environmental factors of life events. This confirms the principles of the BodyTalk System and other holistic-based else care systems.

Heart Connectome

It has been clearly established that the heart has billions of its own neurons that are far smaller, but more sophisticated in function than the brain . Obviously, the heart also has its own connectome. The function of this connectome will concur with the general functions of the heart-brain complex discussed in the "Eastern Medicine" course I am teaching starting in 2012. 

Therapeutic implications

The concept of the connectome and gives us a very powerful focusing tool for the formulas and techniques of energy medicine systems such as BodyTalk. At this stage, it is doubtful that the innate wisdom of the body would attempt to use our techniques on the whole connectome of the brain. However, there is no reason why we can't influence functional sections of the connectome.

Coordination Matrixes

In BodyTalk we talk in terms of coordination matrixes for various functions of the brain. For example, when we developed a skill that requires coordination, such as serving in tennis.  The process of developing that skill would involve training the energic connectome which, in turn, would activate the four R's to rewire the physical brain's connectome. Sometimes, when a stressful injury occurs to the shoulder, the coordination pattern is compromised.

The BodyTalk technique to restore this function involves the defragmentation of the coordination matrix. The effectiveness of the technique has been shown to be dependent upon the extent of the injury, the level of stress, and the time lapse between the injury and the treatment.

Up till now, the weakness of the technique was based upon focusing purely on the section of the connectome that was damaged. Now we have a few other possibilities in approach. Obviously, in keeping with the principles of the BodyTalk System, the choice of approach will be made intuitively.

1. The defragmentation/rehab formula of the specific coordination matrix can be linked to the whole connectome at a time prior to the injury. This will make available the information necessary for rehabilitation of the energic and physical connectomes.
2. In some cases, it may be better to link to the connectome of the heart at a time "prior to the injury".
3. The formula may also include a CDRRII (a common advanced BodyTalk formula) of the relationship between the coordination metrics being treated, and the current general connectome of the brain, so that changes can be made in the main connectome to facilitate the changes occurring locally, and the ramifications of them, to the whole brain function. 

I have found that using the concept of the connectome and has acted as a very powerful focusing tool in my formulas that are designed to reestablish healthy brain functions. This is why I have included a section on the connectome in my new course, "Eastern Medicine" which I'll be teaching from the beginning of 2012.

Please keep your eyes open for a future blog called "the holographic universe" which will add a new dimension to the understanding of the connectome. You will then see that all the connections in the connectome I like the strings of a piano. They are responsible for setting up harmonic standing waves that will holographically interact with all the other standing ways to produce a holoinformational network. This concept also adds new dimensions to the understanding of the main series covered in the "Finding Health 2" course.

Feelings

Unknown

A BreakThrough Treat

I have just heard that Esther has decided to initiate the new IBA training center in Sarasota, Florida by teaching a class there for IBA staff and friends. Better still – she is teaching BreakThrough 1 – a course she wrote, but hasn’t taught for many years. Even better – she is opening it up to the public as well, until spaces are filled. I can tell you it is well worth a trip to do this course in the way that only Esther can teach it.

Below, I have added a description of the course that Esther has just written:

BreakThough is an exploration of the most common, most painful and most misunderstood human experience - conflict. As challenging as this obviously sounds, what a BreakThrough 1 class involves is really an adventure in questioning in ways we have probably not done since childhood.

Although conflict resolution certainly comes about when one works with BreakThrough, it is not our primary focus. Our focus is more far reaching. Our focus is to unlearn the habits that prevent us from seeing and feeling beyond blame. In other words, BreakThrough is all about shifts in perspective. 

When we see and feel beyond blame our experience of life’s challenges transforms, as does the way we deal with them.

One technique of BreakThrough 1 is its Seven Steps process. A single story of conflict is isolated and worked with, using a specific protocol of questioning. Step-by-step, we discover that, however recent the story is; all over-reactions have their roots in assumptions adopted in childhood. 

What is more, we discover that no matter where a person is from, or what their background is, we all bear a primal wounding that is universal. With this realization alone there bubbles up such compassion for our fellow man that conflict takes on a whole new meaning. 

Suddenly we start to understand our own behavior and our experience of others in a totally different way. Once we begin living life from this very different perspective it changes the way we deal with conflict, from the ground up. We start to be far more conscious of what we are doing and why we are doing it, and, increasingly, the concepts of blame and victim consciousness show themselves to be totally unjustified - no matter what the situation is.

Rather than urging ourselves constantly to aim for a "new and improved" self, BreakThrough gives us a tool that allows us to come home to the human being we are, and to make peace with our humanness and life in general. 

Working with BreakThrough, we have the possibility of leaving childish, needy behaviors behind and, as adults, to rediscover the ability to experience life in a truly childlike, honest and open way that is truly natural to us.

This is what BreakThrough is all about…..the healing nature of conflict.

Conscience

Conscience is the boxing ring 
in which good and bad are pitted 
against one another. 
Guilt is the biased referee
we keep on the payroll to 
mediate between our should and 
should nots and to ensure 
that all fights are fixed 
before they even begin.

Esther Veltheim 

Scientific Acceptance of Complementary Healthcare

As you are probably aware I was published in JAMR, the Journal of Alternative Medical Research earlier this year, which is a peer-reviewed journal circulated primarily in Europe. The editors and review committee I dealt with at the journal proved to be very cooperative in helping me promote the concepts of BodyTalk.

Their enthusiasm to look at alternative and complementary healthcare systems to enhance the medical model impressed me. There is now a scientific committee that has been set up with the purpose to promote awareness of complementary and integrative medicine throughout the whole healthcare system in Europe.

This committee also organizes regular conferences on a very large-scale to further this promotion. The most recent conference was the Jerusalem International Conference on integrative medicine held in Jerusalem From May 13th to 15th, 2012. It was very well attended and had dozens of presentations on all aspects of integrated medicine. I will try to keep you posted on the future conferences because we really should be trying to attend them whenever possible.

I was honored to be invited too join the scientific committee. I have listed the committee members below so that you can see the caliber of people who are involved with this project. There is exceptional diversity and wisdom among the many members of the committee. It is great that they saw fit to invite me on the committee because I was the founder of the BodyTalk System, which they are endorsing.

Scientific Committee http://www.brainconference.com/en/index.php?page_id=8