Want to transform your life? Reprogram your brain!

Here is a fantastic quote from one of Rob Brezny’s astrological updates in my local newspaper (Metro Pulse) earlier this year: “Success coach Tom Ferry once said that our ability to pursue our dreams can be damaged by four addictions:

  • 1. an addiction to what other people think of us;
  • 2. an addiction to creating melodrama in a misguided quest for excitement;
  • 3, an addiction to believing that we are imprisoned by what happened in the past;
  • 4. an addiction to negative thoughts that fill us with anxiety.”

Rob’s words serve as an important reminder that we must rise above our emotional addictions and negative thought patterns – we all have them…

The brain is made up of tiny nerve cells called neurons. These neurons connect to each other forming a neuro-net that builds up all concepts through the law of associative memory. Our ideas, thoughts, and feelings are all interconnected in this web.

For example, the concept of love is stored in our neuro-net based upon our experiences. Some people develop a dysfunctional concept of love, based upon disappointment, sorrow or anger. We create similar concepts of other things that are important to us in life. Although the relationships between our nerve cells are longstanding, they can be reprogrammed. When we change our thought patterns, the nerve cells lose their long term relationship and we recreate ourselves.

Quantum physicists have proven that our awareness can actually transform matter. In other words, our thoughts and words contribute to the creation of our reality. Did you know that the brain makes no distinction between actual events and visualization? Which disempowering concept might you relinquish and what could you replace it with?

You can learn more about everyday addictions to repetitive thought patterns and feelings by reading Dr. Candace Pert’s book “Molecules of Emotion”.

Happy Thoughts!

Steven Frampton

http://www.quantumselfdiscovery.com/

Walking the Talk

Winter is such a fine time for a good book, a new personal challenge, or for practicing a new skill.  I’ve been blessed with all three this last winter.  As a committed yogi, I cannot avoid practice because of the weather.  I just go to my basement studio.  No excuses.  Thanks to getting older, there is always a new body-challenge manifesting.  I often think of yoga as a game I play with myself:  awareness and skill set versus ageing.  That experiment will last a lifetime!  I’m interested in sharing notes with any person taking the challenge of a new day as a new beginning.  There’s always something to be discovered or refined.  For example, my weekly headstand–shoulder stand–handstand practice has made strides this winter.  Would you believe how much can be learned from inversions alone?  Yogis have advocated this for centuries, and only now I’m really learning why.  It’s complicated!  “The benefits of yoga come not to those who just talk about it, but only to those who practice”.  And so I spent my winter.

Another personal challenge this winter involved my dear hubby.  His 76 year old bicyclist body is having many complaints now.   So we’ve chosen an alternative to hearing those daily complaints of pain as breakfast conversation. We took a practitioner certification in Rossiter Method in early December, at my insistence.  Rossiter Method is a partnered derivative of Rolf’s Structural Integration treatment model.  So Ed and I have been trading time for time since December, practicing and applying these techniques on one another.  It’s been a good investment.  We all know the risks of pain relief meds.  So rather than use a shotgun approach and dampen the immune system, we are using “muscle energy bodywork.”  That means that the receiver is actively engaged in order to balance muscle use patterns.  Rossiter advocates, as I do, that we must all learn our way out of our pains.  There are gifts of awareness, self-correction, and spiritual growth in this process.  Of course people, by nature, do not come to this conclusion willingly or because it’s inherently attractive.  They will, however, stay with it when the results prove themselves to be effective.  Learn more at  www.therossitersystem.com

If you are curious or want to experience the Rossiter Method,  call me at 865-384-4239.

Wishing you safety, wellness, & joy—

Val Whiting, MS, OT, LMT

Grounding to Deal with Anxiety

Grounding to Deal with Anxiety

By Megan MacNamara, Ph.D., Psychologist

Common symptoms of stress and anxiety include feeling speedy, constant thinking, floating sensations, excessive talking, and disconnection from the body.  Many of us are overscheduled and overworked.  In Japanese, the word for “busy” is synonymous with “heart killing.”  Since we spend so much time in our heads, it is easy to get disconnected from our bodies.  Just as a plant that is uprooted cannot survive, so our ability to thrive is rooted in connecting with our heart, body, and spirit.

Recently, I was in a car accident, rear ended by another driver.  I was not aware of the physical or psychological impact until I realized that I experienced all of the above symptoms of anxiety.  I felt disconnected from my body, in part to avoid the constant pain in my neck and back.  My mind was racing and even a moment of silence was difficult.

It was not until a session with CHEO member, Dr. Natalie Kurylo, combining chiropractic care, reiki, and cranio-sacral therapy that I felt grounded again.  Afterwards, everything slowed way down.  I felt still and relaxed, welcoming silence.  It does not have to take something as serious as a car accident to make us feel anxious or need grounding.  Below are some suggestions for slowing down and connecting with your senses that can be part of a daily self-care ritual.

Suggestions for Grounding:

  • Taking time to smell the roses:  Use your sense of smell.
    • Light a scented candle
    • Burn incense or sage
    • Smell your next meal
    • Use aromatherapy
  • Connecting with your body: Use your sense of touch.
    • Cuddle up with something soft
    • Take a bath
    • Exercise
    • Try body work: massage, reiki, cranio-sacral, chiropractic or acupuncture
  • Envisioning relaxation: Use your sense of sight.
    • Clean some clutter
    • Look at some beautiful art
    • Surround yourself with the beauty of nature
    • Look deeply into the eyes of someone you love
  • Tasty treats: Use your sense of taste
    • Try a new type of tea
    • Indulge in your favorite treat
    • Try a food from a different culture
    • Recreate a recipe that reminds you of home
  • Sound of serenity: Use your sense of hearing.
    • Listen to classical music
    • Listen to a relaxation exercise
    • Listen to the sounds of nature
    • Listen to the laughter of a loved one

For more information check out the following websites:

Welcome to the Complementary Health Education of Knoxville blog!

Welcome!  CHEO is A Complementary Health Education Organization that provides education to the community on alternative, holistic, integrative and complementary health practices; and creates a supportive network within the community.

CHEO acknowledges the inseparability of mind, body, emotion and spirit in achieving and maintaining optimal wellness.  We trust in the body’s innate potential to heal, and in working harmoniously with this timeless and universal knowledge.

CHEO welcomes all practitioners and persons interested in complementary and holistic health education to our supportive network.

CHEO started a blog to give voice to the wisdom our practitioners have to share.  Our members will write about topics that are near and dear to their healing philosophy.  Topics will include perspectives meant to enrich mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

This blog will introduce you to a diversity of integrative and complementary health practices so that you can take charge of your health and healing.

We want to extend our supportive network beyond the greater Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.  We want to give this gift of complementary health education to the global community.

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