And the key question to ask if you find yourself obsessing! First published on Sprout Savvy.

As a blog subscriber you already know the first secret ingredient is to Ditch the Spanx. 

Dr. Andrew Weil and I were interviewed for an article  in Oprah magazine and we were each asked what best “one thing” someone could do for their health. We both answered, “Breathe correctly.” Our cultural heritage of whalebone corsets, girdles and now Spanx—not the mention the military posture—has created a nation of chest breathers. This pattern of breathing catapults us into “fight or flight” whether or not we are facing any particular problems or adversity. We can be perfectly content and happy but if we are breathing this way our body is surging with chemicals that hurt rather than heal. On the other hand, our world could be falling down around our ears and if we breathe in a healthy fashion (diaphragmatic breathing) we can protect our physiology.

Autogencis

A second tip is to practice something called “autogenics” –you can download the audio for free on my website. It’s only 5-minutes but can totally smooth out your day and retrain body and mind to respond differently to stress. The audio also features a technology of sound called psychoacoustics. If you use a headset you will hear a different beat each ear and the brain will create a phantom beat, called a binaural beat and nudge your brain into a more relaxed state, one associated with healing and repair.

Pay Attention to the Words you Use

And of course, the third tip is to pay attention to the words you use when you speak to yourself and ask if it is a message you want to receive. “Is this helping me now”? is a question we can train ourselves to ask and if the answer is no then we have the power in that moment to choose a frame of reference that is in our best interest. This simple question can redirect obsessive worry, self-criticism and channel precious energy into creating a new narrative, one rich with meaning that supports your goals and desires. It’s so simple that it’s power is often overlooked–all it takes is practice.

Photo compliments of Getideaka

Editor’s Note from Barbara Lazarony: Be inspired and informed by Brenda Stockdale, Director of Mind/Body Medicine for RC Cancer Centers, as she shares more about the healing power of words. Reposted here from All Things Healing

A first-rate storyteller, Nicholas Hall, PhD, put himself through school wrestling alligators and milking rattlesnakes. While he doesn’t need a cheap trick to hold anybody’s attention he introduces his lectures by reading a steamy passage from Lady Chatterley’s Lover. He says it absolutely illustrates that the mind is connected to the body!

Such is the power of words. Blood rushes to your face at something said in passing. Your mouth salivates at the thought of biting into a juicy lemon. An awe-inspiring story on a hot August day can give you chills. All compliments of your Limbic System—a magical part of the brain where sights, sounds and feelings are translated with lightning speed into a chemical reality that affects every cell, every nerve, and every fiber of your being. Even your genes take part in the conversation!

But this is tricky business because the brain is a narrative organ and the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and who we are affect the very architecture of the brain itself and are potent immunologic and genetic modulators. In a watershed investigation by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the largest of its kind linking stress in early life with disease in adulthood, lead epidemiologist Robert Anda shared, “As the results began streaming in I watched as the leading causes of death changed right before my eyes…The magnitude of the relationships surprised even me… The children who were traumatized or suffered neglect or abuse while growing up were over one and a half times as likely as others to develop (serious illness) in adulthood.”

While the impact of the study lies in its size and the strength of its findings, the beauty of it lies in its totally unexpected clinical significance. A company specializing in neural net analysis, and trying to move into the medical field offered, as a gift, 2-years of follow-up on 120,000 participants who had a comprehensive medical exam along with the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) questionnaire. What were the results? A 35% drop in doctor’s office visits, an 11% drop in emergency room visits, and a 3% drop in hospitalizations compared to the year before. I asked co-author Vincent Felitti what he believed accounted for such an extraordinary outcome. He replied, “That’s hard to answer definitely. But I can tell you what all of us associated with this work believe. We were asking, and people were telling us the worst secrets of their lives, and they were still accepted as human beings.”

A new story developed with new meaning and new physiological results. Such is the power of our narrative. Tuning into that story—writing and re-writing—moves us beyond the past, anchors us in the present, and redefines our future with physiological results.

Consider this: In a Harvard research project elderly people exposed to fleeting messages linking positive qualities such as wisdom and experience to the aging process experienced an increase in strength and stamina equivalent to that of a 12-week exercise program! What are the words, then, that we use when we speak to ourselves? The words we choose to define our lives? Ann Sexton’s advice is especially salient here: Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.  And if you don’t like what you hear, write a new verse, a new chapter, a new life.

Photo compliments of digitalart.

Dr. Andrew Weil and I were interviewed by Mark Matousek for this article appearing in the November, 2011 issue of Oprah Magazine.

It’s among the most important physical functions our bodies perform. We do it about 20,000 times a day. And still, somehow, most of us get it wrong. “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be to learn to breathe correctly,” says Andrew Weil, MD, a well-known pioneer in the field of integrative medicine.

Chinese and yogic traditions have long extolled the importance of chi or prana—the life forces associated with breath—and science is finally catching up. “Medicine is just recognizing the importance of energy to health,” says Richard P. Brown, MD, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. “And our most critical source of energy is oxygen.”

It turns out that getting more oxygen—by simply changing the way we breathe—can facilitate healing from a startling number of serious conditions, including chronic pain, atrial fibrillation, asthma, digestive issues, depression, and a wide range of stress-related illnesses. The secret is to return to a more natural pattern of respiration: Newborns come into the world breathing deeply, but as we age, stress can alter that pattern, and many of us start to breathe more shallowly. By adulthood, on average, we’re taking 15 to 20 breaths per minute—three to four times faster than is optimal.

That’s where the trouble can start. “Rapid, shallow breathing sends a message to our adrenal glands that we’re in fight-or-flight mode, and they begin pumping out stress hormones like cortisol,” explains Brenda Stockdale, director of mind-body medicine at the RC Cancer Centers in Atlanta. And when the body is stressed, it’s weakened. Our immune cells normally function like “little Pac-Men,” Stockdale explains, “patrolling for and destroying bacteria and diseased cells before they can multiply. But when cortisol levels are elevated, those immune cells slow down drastically, allowing pathogens and diseased cells to slip by.”

Fortunately, there are simple methods to reverse our faulty inhale-exhale habits. To get started, try these three exercises:

Diaphragmatic Breathing

What it is: Breathing that involves expanding the belly, which gives the lungs room to take in more oxygen.
How it can help: Improves circulation; eases stress-related and anxiety disorders; speeds recovery from chemotherapy.
How to start:
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place one hand just below your rib cage and the other on your upper chest.
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose so that your stomach pushes against your lower hand.
3. As you exhale through pursed lips, tighten your abs and let them fall inward. (Throughout inhalation and exhalation, the hand on your chest should remain as still as possible.) Do this exercise three times a day for five to ten minutes, then gradually increase that amount. With enough practice, you should begin to breathe this way automatically.

Alternate-Nostril Breathing

What it is: A technique designed to promote relaxation.
How it can help: Reduces blood pressure; may have an anti-obesity effect; boosts cognitive function on spatial tasks.
How to start:
1. With your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left nostril.
2. Now close your left nostril with your pinky and ring fingers, release your thumb, and exhale slowly through your right nostril.
3. Keep the right nostril open, inhale, then close it; open the left nostril, and exhale slowly through the left. That’s one round. Start with three rounds, and add a round each week until you are up to five. Then practice whenever you’re feeling stressed out.

The Bellows Breath

What it is: An exercise aimed at increasing alertness.
How it can help: Provides a boost in energy comparable to the high you feel after a workout.
How to start:
1. With your mouth closed, inhale and exhale quickly and evenly through your nose. Aim for three in-out cycles per second, but stop after 15 seconds on your first attempt.
2. Keep practicing, increasing your time by five seconds, until you reach a minute. When you feel your energy dipping, try this technique for 60 seconds.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Deep-Breathing-Methods-How-Breathing-Reduces-Stress#ixzz1cSWWWAoD

Ages ago Mark Matousek interviewed me for an article in Good Housekeeping magazine. It finally hit news stands this week and when I picked up my copy it was like opening a present–all this wonderful advice from a variety of experts–and inspiring stories too. For strategies that will help you quickly find your footing — not flounder — when hard times hit read on:

By Mark Matousek, published in Good Housekeeping magazine, October 2011

That’s odd, thought Heidi Gottlieb, a 30-year-old TV producer and new mom, when she woke up with double vision one summer day in 1990. She figured the problem would vanish as quickly as it had appeared, but when it didn’t, her doctor ordered an MRI, which revealed a tumor in her brain. And so began her health saga with cancer, one that has involved surgeries, radiation, misdiagnoses (doctors failed to notice the tumor’s regrowth for 17 years), and more stress than she could ever have imagined. Three years ago, she received a cancer treatment known as proton therapy that arrested the tumor’s growth.

Though Heidi wakes up each morning knowing there’s a Ping-Pong ball — size tumor in her skull that could start growing again at any moment, you would never suspect she’s gravely ill. Funny and outspoken, with a big smile and an infectious laugh, Gottlieb, at 52, is full of good cheer, sitting at a kitchen table in her sunny Port Washington, NY, home. “It’s harder on some days to be positive, of course,” she says, gazing out the window at her blooming garden. “But why not try? Why not choose to find the upside?”

Across the country, in Denver, Tara Sakraida, a 33-year-old real estate attorney, is experiencing challenges of a different kind. Upon graduation from law school, she found herself deeply in debt from student loans. This financial pressure has made her life an unrelenting uphill struggle to earn money in a cash-crunched economy. “The amount I owe will shadow me for decades,” she admits.

But Sakraida refuses to be demoralized and bitter about her situation. “I am not giving away the power and promise of my life to this debt; I will not let it win and make me miserable,” she says. “I’m teaching myself to look at the blessings I do have — I have my job, I have my friends. That’s what I focus on.”

Why do people like Gottlieb and Sakraida seem able to weather crisis with such courage and tenacity? The question of why some are strengthened by adversity while others fall apart isn’t new, but the answer has only recently become clear as medical, psychological, and spiritual experts have identified the tactics that truly make a difference. No matter what kind of crisis hits, an individual has far more control over her endurance and success than was previously believed. By learning new coping tools, understanding the mind-body connection, and engaging in some focused spirit-lifting, it’s possible to discover untapped reservoirs of fortitude.

The everyday upside: These insights and skills not only help when a life-altering crisis strikes, but also provide support through more mundane yet still wrenching challenges like a bumpy patch in your marriage. Here, how to come through tough times all the stronger.

LET THE BAD NEWS SINK IN

One of the first and most critical steps in surviving a crisis with grace: acknowledging that you’ve hit rough times. “Pretending not to be in pain is stressful in itself,” explains John Forsyth, Ph.D., director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at the University at Albany, State University of New York. “Our culture says that it’s not OK to feel pain and stress. But when we sidestep our inner anguish, our lives then morph into being all about avoiding pain.” Kristin Harper of Birmingham, AL, found this out two years ago. As she and her husband lay asleep during a storm, an 80-foot oak tree crashed through their roof, leaving her with two black eyes, a destroyed home — and nowhere to live for months.

“I was totally overwhelmed,” says the mother of two young sons. “I couldn’t figure out where to start — the insurance, the contractors, how to raise our boys in the midst of this. I just tried to keep my head down. When I finally crumbled and admitted I couldn’t cope, that was the turning point. I asked for help, and our community was incredible. They showered us with generosity, even new underwear from Target,” she recalls.

As Harper found, a duck-and-cover mentality allows a crisis to get the upper hand, because powerful negative emotions simply can’t be bottled up. A growing body of research shows that subjects who try to avoid upsetting feelings have far higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder than those who experience and express their emotions.

This doesn’t mean you should worry and wail nonstop, however. Instead, “listen to what words you use to describe the problem. If you say ‘always’ or ‘never,’ it could mean you’re catastrophizing — escalating a bad event into end-of-the-world proportions,” says Brenda Stockdale, director of mind-body medicine for RC Cancer Centers in Atlanta. This is common for people in crisis, and being able to turn off this type of thinking is a valuable tool. “Research shows that resilient people respond appropriately to acute danger, then quickly disengage when it’s finished,” explains Charles Raison, M.D., clinical director of the Mind-Body Program at Emory University School of Medicine. “Non-resilient types tend to keep chewing on the danger long after the crisis has passed.”

To avoid getting stuck in this pattern, Stockdale recommends that you quite literally schedule appointments with yourself to worry and then problem-solve. “This gives you a container [in which to obsess] and makes you more available to manage what’s happening around you,” she says. “You can fret, grieve your losses, sit and think, have a good cry, journal your concerns, or stew about [the issue]. It is not about denying or suppressing. It allows you to compartmentalize those feelings so they don’t overtake your life.”

 ACCEPT WHAT YOU CAN’T CHANGE

Once you work through some fear and sadness, you can take on an equally thorny challenge: “Acknowledge that you may not be able to control the situation,” says Forsyth. Heidi Gottlieb has learned this during her endless roller coaster of a medical journey: “My illness has taught me patience, because I didn’t have a choice. I had to accept my lack of control over my situation. It doesn’t matter what plan I had in mind. You can change your doctors. You can change your thoughts. But your body may have its own timetable.”

Making peace with your powerlessness is crucial: It will help you sidestep denial and shift your mood back to an even keel faster, says Mark Lerner, Ph.D., a traumatic-stress expert in Melville, NY. “Realizing that it’s OK not to be OK normalizes our experience and gives us a sense of control and that eventually things will be OK,” he says. “We realize that even if we’re not sleeping, we’re having repetitive thoughts, or we’re feeling jumpy, we’re not crazy; we’re not losing it. Acknowledging that this is a transitional time can bring hope.”

There’s also a transformative tactic known as dialectical thinking, which means embracing opposing emotions. “Usually, if you are grieving a loss or under enormous stress, you believe that you cannot experience peace or joy,” Stockdale explains. “Dialectical thinking gives you permission to do both — say, even though you are suffering from a major life loss, you can still feel joy in a given moment.”

Alice Kitselman, of Brattleboro, VT, has had plenty of practice facing hard times. Diagnosed in 2007 with advanced breast cancer, the now 50-year-old artist says, “When I heard my diagnosis, I thought, Aah! I’m going to die! I was in total panic. It took quite a while to realize I wasn’t dead yet.” (She chuckles.) A key lesson she learned was that though her health was faltering, there was still much joy in her life. She says, “Even when a scan shows that my cancer has advanced and I’m in pain, I can look at the goldfinches, cardinals, and other birds in my yard and see their stunning colors. I can stop and appreciate that. I see that life still goes on; the flow around me continues. At this dark moment in my life, I find myself thinking, with hope, What birds will pass through next spring?”

One way to achieve this perspective involves reprogramming that little voice inside your head. “Rather than think, I’ll never survive this, try, I’m having the thought that I’ll never survive this,” advises Forsyth. “This gives people space to know they are not their thoughts; they still have choices,” he says. “You recognize the presence of a troubling thought, then let it go without getting more involved in it.”

Another strategy is “to challenge the upsetting thought and see how it may not be true,” says Andrew Bernstein, author of The Myth of Stress. Bernstein compares people in crisis to children afraid of the dark: “If I’m a child who believes a monster’s under the bed, I’m going to believe that until you show me there isn’t a monster there. Similarly, the more insight we have into situations that scare us as adults, the less frightened we are.”

Journaling is an excellent way of tuning in to this reassuring voice within. Tara Sakraida finds the process very helpful. “When I’m stressed out, I write in my journal. It helps me to identify my key issues. Sometimes I arrive at answers that weren’t apparent to me before.”

Kathleen Adams, founder and director of the Center for Journal Therapy in Denver, agrees: “Writing gives a person in crisis a chance to hear herself think.” Adams recommends a simple exercise for people dealing with a mega-load of stress. First, write down three “feeling words” — “panicked,” “constricted,” and “fearful,” for instance. Next, journal for five minutes about what you need right now, using the prompts What will help you? and What do you need to remember? Then reflect for a moment and write down the three words that describe your new state of mind. “The words will likely not be the same as the ones you first wrote down,” says Adams. “It’s extraordinary how quickly your perspective can shift with just five minutes of writing.”

MANAGE THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION

“One of the best things to do in a crisis is get biology on your side by tapping your body’s ability to heal and calm itself,” says Stockdale. There is, for example, a direct link between increased production of the stress hormone cortisol and a person’s inability to function during crisis. “When we’re in fight-or-flight mode, we’re catapulted into a state that’s less advantageous for problem-solving,” she explains.

Deceptively simple as it may sound, the most effective means of lowering cortisol levels lies in regulating one’s breathing. Rapid, shallow breathing sends a message to the adrenal glands that we’re in fight-or-flight mode, which in turn further ramps up cortisol production. “It’s like battery acid on the memory centers of the brain,” explains Stockdale; if you’ve ever drawn a blank on what to do right after a fender bender, you were probably experiencing stress overload.

Controlled breathing may help in just 30 seconds. Take a slow, deep breath through the nose, advises Lerner; hold for five seconds, then slowly exhale through the mouth “while thinking, ‘Relax’ or‘I’m handling this,’ ” he says. “Repeat this several times. Not only will you help your stress levels calm down, but your bloodstream will become enriched with oxygen, which increases energy” — a precious commodity in off-kilter times.

Beyond this breathing, there are other simple tools to try when life hurls curveballs your way. “There is a back-and-forth exchange between brain and body: Thoughts and emotions activate stress pathways that affect bodily functioning, and vice versa,” explains Charles Raison, M.D., a psychiatrist at Emory University and cnn.com’s mental health expert. “This is why activities like meditation and exercise, which can enhance the body’s functioning, wind up improving our moods.” In fact, studies show that people who are aerobically fit produce less inflammation in response to stress than those who aren’t, and individuals with higher percentages of body fat show impaired cognitive resilience when dealing with acute emotional stress.

So make working out part of your plan when hard times hit, as deep-in-debt Tara Sakraida has. “Working out provides an outlet for my frustration, anger, and irritability,” she says. “Exercise takes my mind off my problems and redirects it.” Heidi Gottlieb, who’s about to embark on a 250-mile fund- and awareness-raising walk from her home to the hospital where she got lifesaving treatment, also depends on movement to pull her out of a funk. In addition to training for her walk, she says, “Yoga in particular makes me feel like I go into the cone of silence. It’s a way for me to step into a place of ahhh and leave the fear behind.”

FOCUS ON FAITH

Of course, many people depend on prayer when hard times hit, and for good reason: The ability to turn one’s confusion over to a higher power, to find solace in psalms or other writings, or to simply believe is a great boon when the chips are down. “Faith involves trusting that whatever is happening has a meaning and a purpose. Even hard times can teach us something,” says Elizabeth Lesser, author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow. ”Having faith loosens our need to control the outcome of life, which is good because it’s impossible to control something as unruly as life anyway.” Or, as Michael Mooney, president of the National Association of Christian Ministers, puts it, “Not only should we believe who God is, but we should believe that He is a rewarder of faith. We need to stay fixed on hope and the strength that comes from it.”

Psychologist Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, offers this advice: “Even when things don’t work out, you can still say you trust life. It’s an approach based not on logic or factual evidence, but rather on lived wisdom. Circumstances may not be perfect, yet you still can be a trusting, optimistic person. Each of us must ask ourselves where we stand when it comes to mystery. Do we try to hide from life, or do we instead trust that whatever happens, we’re going be OK?”

Or even better than OK. “Resilience isn’t enough,” insists Lerner. “We can live better lives after a crisis. Adversity creates a pool of energy in us that has tremendous potential. How we use it is our challenge–to sink, or to discover new opportunity.” This is how crisis becomes epiphany. Moore recounts the story of a 13-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis who knew she wasn’t going to live very long. “After this girl died, her mother read a startling passage in her diary,” Moore says. “It said, ‘I will live the life that is given.’ In spite of everything, this girl still had a positive attitude toward life.” He pauses. “That’s the secret.”

Mark Matousek’s books include When You’re Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living.

Many thanks to Colleen Walsh Fong at  Eve Laments–a site devoted to women–for a great interview.

Brenda’s extraordinary book, “You Can Beat the Odds,” details the program she uses for sufferers of autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue and related syndromes, high blood pressure and diabetes. She chronicles her use of tools and techniques to deal with her own life-altering and catastrophic illness.

CWF: I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring your valuable knowledge, and your story, to Eve Laments readers. Thank you for joining us today. To begin, will you tell our readers about your education, degrees and professional background?

BRENDA: First I would like to say how important the work you are doing is. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the information that’s available today so it’s vital to have reliable sources that focus our attention on what matters most and what is most effective. As far as my education goes–my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Behavioral Science and Health Psychology—the practical application of applied psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). I completed Harvard Medical school’s clinical course in Mind/Body Medicine and was the clinical assistant at the most comprehensive PNI program in the nation. I’m also a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator and a Certified Wellness Practitioner.

CWF: I appreciate your kind words, Brenda. You have certainly worked with some eminent professionals. Even more impressive to me than what you gained from them is what you have brought to them and to others. Would you give us an overview of your approach to wellness?

BRENDA:  At the cancer center and in my private practice the focus is on applying the latest findings in multiple disciplines to help clients achieve a high level of well-being and restore joyful, vibrant living. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach—it’s highly individualized. So while there are principles at play, there is no one right way to heal.

For example, fascination and purpose are two states that influence the behavior of our Natural Killer cells—an essential component of our immune system. But what fascinates each of us is different and the way we construct meaning and purpose in our lives varies from individual to individual—as do the blocks or impediments that challenge that flow. Temperament and personality also dictate which tools or skills we apply to our situation. So getting to know ourselves on a deep, fundamental level is central to designing an effective program that works for the unique lives we live.

CWF: One of the things I liked best about your program, and your book, is its basis in tangible, biological research. I found the connection between the limbic system and the immune system fascinating.

BRENDA:  I feel the same way; the findings truly astonish and amaze me. We take for granted, for example, that when we close our eyes and imagine let’s say a great vacation that we took—that the process stimulates the sensory cortex of the brain, the visual cortex and the auditory cortex—and each of these impact the limbic system, a magical part of our brain that translates thoughts, feelings and images with lightning speed into a chemical reality that affects every cell, every nerve, and every fiber of our being. Blushing at something someone says to you—or salivating when imaging biting into a lemon—are a couple of visible and palpable examples. But it’s also occurring on a moment-to-moment basis and it’s in our best interest to harness this pharmacy for our good and discover how to use this natural process with intention.

CWF: One thing I love about your book is that everything is simple. The language you use, the explanations. Even the tools you use go right back to our first seconds of life. Back to our first act—breathing.

BRENDA: I’m glad you mention that because breathing really is a make or break process. Taking the time to discern our breathing style and make the appropriate corrections quickly reduces harmful levels of stress hormones that wreak havoc on mind and body. I ask folks to take a moment and consider how babies and puppies breathe. Are their tummies moving or their chests? Of course it’s their abdomens. Some readers may be abdominally or diaphragmatically breathing right now. But others of us began holding in our stomachs or breathing in our chest which sends a message to the adrenal glands that we are facing a crisis—and bingo!—we’re in fight our flight response. All because of our breathing style.

CWF: The interventions you use are said to directly impact the immune system. How do you know they work?

BRENDA:  There’s a tremendous amount of evidence today from multiple disciplines. Over 300 original research articles are cited in my book and all together it would take many volumes to cite them all. Each method we use in the program is documented by a significant amount of evidence. So much so, in fact, that insurers have added behavioral medicine codes for the reimbursement of these techniques because of their effectiveness and cost-saving potential.

CWF: How has your program helped you to personally beat the odds?

BRENDA:  When I was very young I was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic with Systemic Lupus. Chronic lung and kidney infections along with neurological problems made coping a challenge. But fortunately the findings in psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) were making headlines and I thought if I had expert guidance in applying these methods I could make a difference in my health. So I enrolled in the program (where I later became the director’s clinical assistant), began to practice, practice, practice and six months later half of my labs were normal. Three months after that all my labs were normal. It was my first clinical and serological remission in 8 years. And happily I’ve maintained those clean labs for more than 15 years.

CWF: Your recovery is stunning, and so are the many examples of other such recoveries you highlight in your book. What do you say to those who call chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia “made-up illnesses”?

BRENDA:  I would say that leading experts in environmental medicine disagree. And they have brain imaging scans and laboratory evidence to prove it. The physicians who diagnose and treat it know it’s real. There are too many laboratory findings to make such a claim any more. Those who do haven’t done their homework and are sadly misinformed.

CWF: I have used many of your tools, and have especially benefitted from guided imagery. Would you explain that to our readers?

BRENDA: There’s a lot of evidence supporting imagery for health. As I mentioned, when we imagine something, we are stimulating parts of our brain that correspond with our cells and tissues. The Mayo Clinic highlighted this valuable technique in its newsletter. You can try it out for yourself for free on my website atwww.brendastockdale.com. Click on “Healing Place.” From there it’s a natural process to begin practicing ‘medical imagery,’ – specific imagery for particular medical issues. In the chapter on that topic there are remarkable individuals who have used it in extraordinary ways. After the book was published I had a client come in with the book asking me why I didn’t recommend it for her eye condition. “Because it’s scar tissue…” was my reply. She laughed and said she wasn’t going to let my answer get in her way and she devised an image to deal with the problem. Three months later when she visited her doctor at Emory he was astounded that the scar tissue had been largely replaced with healthy tissue and her vision was 20/30. So yes, I am awed by what people do with this skill.

CWF: At first it seemed amazing to me that something so simple, inside all of us, could be so powerful. Then I thought about all of the millennia during which mankind had nothing to fall back upon other than what we all carry within. I have to admit it took me 3 tries to find my relaxation place, but once I wandered in it fit like a glove. What advice can you give readers for finding the right fit?

BRENDA: Don’t use someone else’s idea of a healing place. Lie down and get comfortable and scroll through the catalogue of possible places in your mind’s eye. When you find one that resonates, hang out for a while and see what you can do to make it even more relaxing. Don’t be afraid to cut and paste different experiences or places you’ve seen in magazines or on television to create a place that is uniquely yours.

CWF: Do you use the techniques every day?

BRENDA:  Absolutely. It’s the regular use of these methods that lower harmful levels of stress hormones, reduce inflammation and promote the healing process. But I don’t want to give the wrong impression here. I truly teach what I need to know. While the lupus has never resurfaced I have had other health challenges and I then re-group and re-apply, so-to-speak, what I already know. It may be that I’ve not been paying close attention to my schedule—letting it run me—and I may need to rest, reflect and do a bit of self-nurturing. Or I could have fallen into a rut, and need to shake things up a bit. Sometimes it’s as simple as reminding myself to use music and sound as I go about my day.

CWF: Anti-depressant use is rising quickly in our society. What do you think accounts for the rise?

BRENDA: In short, hurry and worry. We are more time stressed than ever and advances in technology, while wonderful in and of themselves, reduce the time available when we can relax, slow down, unwind and just enjoy ourselves. We’ve turned up the volume so-to-speak on our lives to such a degree we are working longer and harder than most in developed nations. Our brains are being over stimulated to an excessive degree and the chronic, unchecked flow of stress hormones shrinks the brain and promotes inflammation. Both are damaging.

CWF: Why not just take a pill? Wouldn’t it be easier than setting aside time to do your program?

BRENDA: I should state that I’m not against antidepressants. I’m against using them without integrating other methods that protect brain health and support optimal immune function. In fact, antidepressants are more effective when combined with cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness, exercise and other components of a healing program. And often these methods will restore joy and wellbeing in and of themselves, eliminating the need for antidepressants entirely. So when I work with someone who is considering an antidepressant, with their doctor’s consent, I’ll ask them to try my program for 6 weeks first and reevaluate after.

CWF: Congratulations on receiving a Hambidge Fellowship! Would you explain Hambidge to our readers?

BRENDA: Hambidge is an incredible community designed to support creative leaders in various disciplines. It is a retreat for those doing cutting edge work in their field who need time to nurture and further their work and the creative process. They provide solitude and support in the North Georgia mountains for writers, composers, artists and scientists in an artists community on many acres. So peaceful. So nourishing. Check out their website: www.hambidge.org.

CWF: Visitors to your website, brendastockdale.com, will find all kinds of free tools and resources for reducing stress and building the immune system. I’m struck by your generosity. Why just give it away?

BRENDA: Because lives can be saved. It’s very necessary. People would attend my program at the center and ask for a book for friends and family who couldn’t attend and to remind themselves of what they had learned. For years I handed out this huge reading list and everyone was overwhelmed so I was asked, over and over year after year, to please put together a book. And finally I did. But it was also important for me to include a resource guide because there is so much great information out there. We can develop one skill or tool and then later go back and refine and deepen that ability—so I wanted to provide plenty of places for people to explore those options. The other issue is that there’s only one of me. There’s only so much we as individuals can accomplish. But when we share our expertise and get the word out magic happens and lives are changed. People need to know that small interventions can make a huge difference in their health and well-being. And the best person they can hear that from isn’t me. It’s their daughter, their neighbor, their best friend, your newsletter. I can’t imagine where I would be if my teachers (Deirdre Davis Brigham in particular) had not so willing to share. So the more information we freely give each other the better we will all be.

CWF: Brenda, I want to thank you for your generosity in talking with us today. Your book, “You Can Beat the Odds” is a must read for everyone in our stress-filled society. Your story is inspiring and your program is literally a life-saver. Best wishes for continued success with it.

Shaking ourselves up, every now and then, is a fabulous idea.

We can do some productive “interior designing” when we take stock of an aspect of our lives that could use some changes and “have at it.” Turning everything related inside out and backwards, while remaining mindful of how our radical changes will affect others, can have huge benefits.

The experience of making big changes feels great, exhilarating even, when we are in control.

There are times, though, when earth-shattering havoc tears our lives apart, and that doesn’t usually feel so great! The sudden death of a loved one, the destruction of a tornado, or the ravishing of a disease can often send us spinning into dark spaces in our psyche where we see nothing good about what’s happening.

Even so, there is promise when disaster strikes . . .

When the dust settles, and we begin to regain control of our lives, there is the chance to reflect and learn from what has happened — to create a new and better place for ourselves.

Just like changing a room around and getting rid of stuff we never use, or stuff that has unpleasant memories attached, or stuff we trip over all the time, we can make changes in the way we design our moments.

I’ve had a taste of being an “interior designer” with a new trend in mind, during my recovery from Lyme disease.

My life seemed empty when I was sick. As strange as this sounds, maybe that was a good thing.

When I started to get well, being “on empty” didn’t look so bad after all. I saw the opportunity to create my life with a fresh look, making careful decisions, in a mindful way, about how I used the gift of time I got each new day.

Change has the potential to carve us into masterpieces of resilience as I’m still learning.

I say, create havoc often — while we’re in charge! In an odd sort of way, doing that periodically, with help when necessary, readies us to sustain ourselves well when the storm, that’s always on the horizon and out of our control, comes our way.

For more inspiration visit: http://web.me.com/carolyn.graham/Majesty_in_the_Journey/Home.html

Copyright Carolyn Graham 2011 All Rights Reserved

This article was published in “The Futurist,” magazine, by Rick Docksai

Music may have charms to suppress the savage gene.

One ancient therapy has been gaining increased currency among health practitioners in multiple fields of medicine: music. Doctors and nurses increasingly credit music with demonstrable healing powers and anticipate that it can play a major role in treating or preventing many health conditions.

“Sound was really overlooked as a healing modality for a long time. But more recently because of the amount of studies—and because it’s a low-cost intervention—we’re seeing it being used more in medical centers,” says Brenda Stockdale, director of mind–body medicine at RC Cancer Centers.

Stockdale’s cancer center incorporates music into a six-week program for patients who are recuperating from—or trying to prevent—heart disease, autoimmune conditions, cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses. The program dedicates one full week to therapies involving sound, with other weeks focusing on nutrition, physical therapy, and other traditional health areas. In Stockdale’s experience, patients who incorporate sound-based therapies and music into their health regimens attain the best results.

“Using a technology of sound can round out a wellness program,” says Stockdale.

Her facility also plans on replacing televised news in the waiting room with spa-like music. This will soothe patients who might exhibit what Stockdale calls “white coat syndrome”—i.e., being nervous about visiting a doctor.

“That is a great way for medical facilities to start using sound from the moment a person comes in, creating a healthier atmosphere,” says Stockdale.

Music might even influence our genes, Stockdale adds: Her colleague Barry Bittman, medical director of Meadville Medical Center’s Mind-Body Wellness Center, leads sessions in which patients play spontaneous tunes and rhythms on musical instruments. Findings suggest that, following many sessions, the genes each patient carries for heart disease and other conditions are less likely to become active.

We cannot actually change our genes, but outside stresses and conditions may determine whether certain genes will be expressed, Stockdale explains. Music is a healthy influence, and when patients add it to their environs, they raise the odds that genes for health problems will not activate.

“We’re changing the cellular environment. We’re helping healthy genetic expression,” she says.

Stockdale cautions that this study is ongoing, and it is too early to draw hard conclusions from it. But if the preliminary results prove valid, then physicians might eventually design targeted music regimens to actively shape gene expression.

“We will have enough information of the genetic potential, and we will have enough information with all the markers available, to start using music intentionally,” she says.

In the meantime, music therapy is a growing treatment field. Its practitioners use music and sound sequences to help patients manage or relieve chronic pain, immune system disorders, brain damage, mental and emotional disorders, and some developmental disabilities.

Elena Mannes, documentary producer and author, recounts many applications of music therapy in her 2011 book, The Power of Music. For example, she notes that patients in England who had received anesthetics recovered more quickly and had fewer complications if they listened to classical music. Canadian patients who listened to soothing music at regular intervals needed half as much anesthetics as other patients. And at the Beth Abraham Hospital in New York City, patients whose speech was impaired due to a stroke regained some of their speaking abilities after undergoing music therapy.

“To see tears come to the eyes of a neuroscientist as music enables a stroke patient to speak is to witness a moment filled with promise. Science is opening doors to medical applications of music that were unimaginable a decade or so ago,” Mannes writes, adding that “scientists predict a future in which music will routinely be used as a prescription.”

Stockdale leads her patients through sessions using music recordings such as “auto-genics,” which feature acoustics tailored to help the listener’s brain wave rhythm slow down into a more relaxed state. When the brain registers ambient music, Stockdale explains, it secretes chemicals linked to many desirable health effects, including boosting immunity and slowing the heart rate.

“Years ago, we had a mechanistic view of the body. Now we know that the mind and body communicate seamlessly. It’s a constant conversation between mind and body,” Stockdale says. “It is mind and matter affecting each other.”—Rick Docksai, The Futurist

Sources: Brenda Stockdale (interview), RC Cancer Centers, www.brendastockdale.com.

Elena Mannes (interview), Mannes Productions, www.mannesproductions.com. See The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song by Elena Mannes (Walker, 2011).

Photo compliments of Renjith Krishnan

Paying Attention by Sharon Bray

I discovered this beautiful post by writer and educator, Sharon Bray. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you, Sharon!

There’s a book of poetry I love, one I return to from time to time to read in its entirety. Written during his recovery from cancer treatment, Ted Kooser’s Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison was inspired by his postcards sent to colleague and friend, Jim Harrison. Simple in format, eloquent in word, I’m captivated by the poet’s observation and reflections on life. Kooser describes how the book of poems came to be in his preface:

“In the autumn of 1968, during my recovery from surgery and radiation for cancer, I began taking a two-mile walk each morning…hiking in the isolated country roads near where I live…During the previous summer, depressed by my illness, preoccupied by the routines of my treatment, and feeling miserably sorry for myself, I’d all but given up on reading and writing… One morning in November, following my walk, I surprised myself by trying my hand at a poem. Soon I was writing every day… I began pasting my morning poems on postcards and sending them to Jim…”

What I love about this little book of poetry, of postcard poems to a friend, is its portrayal of a poet, recovering from the ravages of illness and treatment, whose spirit and sensibilities are reawakened by the beauty in the world around him. On each, he begins with a note on the weather before beginning the poem: “Sunny and clear.” “Six inches of new snow.” “Quiet and cold at 6 a.m.” Each poem is an observation, rich in detail and imagery, that leads to a reflection or insight.

The sky a pale yellow this morning

like the skin of an onion

and here at the center…

…A poet,

and cupped in his hands, the green shoot

of one word.

Despite his recovery from surgery and radiation, Kooser’s poems do not focus on cancer, but we are aware of its presence in his life.

My wife and I walk the cold road

In silence, asking for thirty more years…

In fact, the word “cancer” enters into Kooser’s vocabulary only a few times, for example:

I saw the season’s first bluebird

this morning, one month ahead

of its scheduled arrival. Lucky I am

to go off to my cancer appointment

having been given a bluebird, and,

for a lifetime, have been given

this world.

It is recovery Kooser shows us, but not the physical as much as the spiritual recovery, the life after cancer, yes, but emphasis on the word “life.” His poems reflect love, tenderness, and gratitude for life, the small gifts he observes each day. He reminds us how important it is to pay attention, to notice, to be fully present in the world around us, to celebrate, to give thanks.

“Gratitude,” a poem by Mary Oliver, whose observations of the natural world are so beautifully described in her poetry, asks–and answers—eight simple questions. I’ve used her questions as a daily writing exercise, because they remind me to pay attention to the beauty in Nature. In a time news of disasters, war, a failing economy, or cancer treatment dominate our world, the everyday beauty found in it can help to heal us.

Oliver begins by asking, “What did you notice?” She responds:

The dew snail;

the low-flying sparrow;

the bat, on the wind, in the dark…

What was most wonderful?

…the sea lying back on its long athlete’s spine.

What did you think was happening?

…so the gods shake us from our sleep.

(From: What Do We Know)

Paying attention, as Oliver, Kooser, and other writers remind us, is about slowing down and being attentive to the present, to what’s right in front of our eyes, discovering not only the beauty, but the meaning, the metaphors that inform our lives and our writing. Anne Lamott observed, “There is ecstasy in paying attention.”

Pay attention. Talk a walk, meandering along a trail, near the sea, into the woods. Take in the sights, sounds, smells, the movements that are Nature’s. When you return, take out your notebook and write. Take just one thing you noticed, describe it, and let it lead you. Follow it wherever it takes you.

“At a certain point you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world,

Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive.

You empty yourself and wait, listening.”

–Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Photo compliments of nixxphotography

After working at a cancer center for more than a decade weight loss isn’t something you’d expect I’d hear a lot about. But it is. We joked in one group that if you were a fly on the wall you’d think we’d gathered for a diet convention.

The missing ingredient in weight loss isn’t knowledge: we already know what’s good for us. It’s no mystery, for example, that we should be eating at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables but according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the great majority of us aren’t taking that kind of care. According to their research only 3% do. And we’re not much better when it comes to exercise either. According to the Harvard School of Public Health less than 22% of us work out regularly.

Given the statistics it’s time to reconsider our approach since knowledge alone isn’t enough to reprogram our behavior. But pausing, in a particular way, can. A healing interlude can interrupt an automatic response—like reaching for the remote or a tub of Ben & Jerry’s—and reconnect us with the wise and knowing part of ourselves that recognizes that we matter enough to make sound choices.

But this can be tricky business since how we feel about ourselves plays out in subtle ways. Researchers at the CDC were shocked to discover that in a relatively well-educated upper middle class population of over 17,000 more than 2/3 had at least one significant adverse experience in childhood. And as the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) score rises so does our likelihood of making unhealthy choices. It doesn’t stop there–for those who neither smoke nor are overweight the risk of heart disease, autoimmunity and cancer is higher than in individuals with less family dysfunction.

But while the impact of the study lies in its size and the strength of its findings its beauty lies in its totally unexpected clinical significance. As it happened, a company specializing in neural net analysis and wanting to break into the medical field offered, free of charge, a two-year follow-up on 120,000 individuals who had taken the ACE-based medical exam. I felt a chill run up my spine as one of the lead authors laid out the results before me: there was a 35% drop in doctor’s office visits, an 11% drop in ER visits and a 3% drop in hospitalizations compared to the year before. What did they believe accounted for the results? “That’s hard to answer definitively but I can tell you what all of us associated with this work believe. We were asking, and people were telling us the worst secrets of their lives, and they were still accepted as human beings.” (The full story can be found in Chapter 7 of You Can Beat the Odds.)

Despite the astounding results and the fact that this watershed investigation has been published in prestigious medical journals it received little publicity by the popular press and has been nearly ignored in physician education programming. This is a serious oversight. Recent findings indicate childhood trauma can damage DNA (along with chronic stress and depression)—but that damage has the capacity to repair itself under certain conditions and circumstances. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are and about the events of our lives affect the very architecture of the brain itself and are potent immunologic and genetic modulators. When the participants in this study told their story and were understood and accepted a new meaning resulted—with new physiological results.

But something more happened. They began to take great care. When we connect our story with the beliefs we hold about ourselves a pattern emerges, and once conscious, we can choose a more supportive frame of reference, one that is in our own best interest—a reference that supports and nurtures us from within. Our childhood doesn’t have to have any “ACEs” in order for us to benefit because we have all absorbed messages, spoken and unspoken, that may not be in our best interest. To begin I ask my clients to pay attention to their self-talk. What is it we are saying to ourselves day in and day out? Once we tune in to the chatter the goal is not to criticize what we find but bring a state of non-judgmental awareness to the table. “There it is again.” “That is the pattern I am choosing to change.” And then follow it up with a truly positive self-statement—one that affirms our worth and value.

With practice we begin naturally to pause before choosing. Before choosing a friend, an activity, an enterprise—a food or beverage—we can pause, reflect and choose as if we really mattered. Because we do.

Photo compliments of Winnond

Dedicated in honor of Tracy Fletcher Ellis– and the large army of women she represents

There are warriors and then there are warriors. The term Amazon literally means “without breast” and legends of removing the female warrior’s right breast to better handle weaponry spread throughout the ancient world. While it appears to be just that—a legend—female warriors earned their place in history. From naked Celtic conquerors (consider Boudicca—taller than many men, flaming red hair to the knees, adorned with sparkling armor and a spear–the sight might give new meaning to the word awesome… step aside Laura Croft!) to the entire female army of Dahomey (now Benin) during the 1700 and 1800s–the idea of woman as warrior is nothing new.

The battle being fought today by my friends, family, colleagues and clients, while more insidious, often requires the sacrifice of a breast. But more than that is at stake. While ancient warrior women weaved war into their identity, their crusade marked their cause and became integrated into the fabric of their society and their lives. On the other hand, a breast cancer diagnosis can cast a wrench into a modern woman’s identity, from self-concept to relationships to work and to the very heart of existence–their purpose.

“I wasn’t overly disturbed by the idea of a mastectomy but for some reason I imagined that my skin would be smooth and bare. Nothing prepared me for looking like I was attacked with a meat cleaver,” related one warrior in our group. “My husband left me right after surgery,” said another. “I was fired after I began chemo,” reported a third. Apart from their stories, though, what struck me most was their resilience. The first woman tattooed her chest with a personal symbol, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. After healing from surgery the second began bike riding. Just a few miles at first but now she relishes her athleticism, riding great distances with a like-minded group. And the third, after accessing her situation, moved lock, stock and barrel to a cabin in a mountain community where she wakes every morning to the sun peeking over the ridge of her valley.

Each of these women recast the crisis as a turning point rather than an end point. They exhibited great commitment to themselves and an enhanced sense of control—an inner sense of self-mastery that goes far beyond the external circumstances of our lives. These three Cs (Challenge, Commitment and Control) are hallmarks of survivorship and resilience. These remarkable women, like Tracy Fletcher Ellis, move forward creating community from calamity and clarity out of chaos. They give themselves time to grieve, time to heal and time to reshape and reevaluate or affirm their priorities and purpose. But what brings me to attention, what I want to take home, is how they allow themselves to savor the moment.

As we say in our groups, there may be a cure for cancer tomorrow but there’s still the number 9 bus on a harmless Thursday afternoon. (Indeed, over 200 lost their lives in storms that raged across the south last night; and while it may not compare as far as disasters go to the earthquakes ravaging Japan it speaks to the uncertainty that we all live with but more often choose to ignore.) Our own heroes—our sisters, mothers, daughters and friends–bring that message home to us and although it may seem paradoxical it is a profound and healing message that they offer.

One warrior explained it this way: “I may have lost my breasts but every night before I fall asleep I count my ‘gratitudes’ and there are many. I have my sight—and I think of the wonder and beauty I enjoy with this great gift. I can hear—and I think of my husband’s voice and how precious it is to me. I have two great, strong legs and I love where they carry me and I have a voice and I can use it to help myself and others.”  Gratitude, it turns out, is more than a state of mind; it has been documented to positively influence heart rate variability along with other distinct health benefits. Savoring the moment, too, not only frees us from the hurry and worry that accompanies ‘forward thinking’ but comes with its own medical benefit package. When we savor the present, we undercut potentially damaging stress hormones that when chronic lower circulating levels of antioxidants, reduce natural killer cells, shrink telomeres (a biomarker of aging) and even influence genetic expression.

Resilience, as it turns out, is good medicine. Fortunately for us, there is an army of women teaching us how to do it. This is for them. Celebrate the warriors in your life. I know I do. Thank you, Tracy, for all that you are to all who love you.

PS:  As Tracy reminds us, mammograms alone are not enough. Make sure you perform a self-exam each month. And although accounting for only 1% of all breast cancers, men are vulnerable, too.