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Begin the Year Victorious

1/4/2018

In a brain integration session, there is always a goal/intention that is set.
It is usually stated in the present positive, as if it is already happening because the language the brain responds to is in the present.
When you say, "I hope....", "I want...", "I'm going to..." that language automatically puts whatever you are working towards in the future, where you'll get to it "someday" but there's nothing to do right now.

The brain and body stays in idle and doesn't kick into action.

Let's take the example of making money.
"I will make more money" has a distinctly different feel than "I am making plenty of money doing what I love".
The second one creates this sense of discomfort, almost like you're lying and creates the energy in you to close the gap.

Try this out for yourself.
Say out loud, "I hope" and notice how that settles in your body.
Then say, "I am" and notice the difference.
One feels more active and the other more passive.
The language of Victory is NOW.
"I have....."
"I am......"
"I create...."
"I welcome...."

Half of creating change is mindset.
As Einstein has been credited in saying,
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".
Victory begins with making the decision that whatever has been lingering and creating stress has no place in your life anymore.
Then begins the process of practicing acting differently.
The word resolution, when you break it down, is "re-solution".

Once you have decided you are Victorious over your challenge, it is time to go about finding re-solutions to the things that cause you pain and consistently practicing that.

I am so thankful for Brain Gym and Brain Integration for helping me and so many people become Victorious in so many areas.
I am looking forward to aiding your Victory this coming year!

This is the year that I am Victorious over my stress
This is the year that I am Victorious over my relationships
This is the year that I am Victorious over my addictions
This is the year that I am Victorious over my weight
This is the year that I am Victorious over my purpose
This is the year that I am Victorious over my money
This is the year that I am Victorious over my social anxiety
This is the year that I am Victorious over my dating life
This is the year that I am Victorious over my fear.

What are you Victorious over this year?
Share your Victory in the comments below!

Year in Review

12/22/2017

It's that time of year, where you review what happened and think about what you would like to welcome in the new year.Regardless of who you are, this year was a tumultuous year on many fronts; politically, economically, racially, gender equality-wise. Even if you were personally not impacted,
I am sure that your family members, friends, and other people in your personal spheres were impacted by these things.
As human beings possessing a limbic brain(the part of the brain responsible for emotional intelligence and empathy) we are impacted by the emotions and well being of those around us.
The goal is not to isolate and feel less, but find ways to maintain our emotional center and have a great set of tools in our toolbox to come back to center when life happens.
One of my teachers has a phrase I love,
"Unconditional freedom is freedom in all conditions"---which I take to mean, that freedom is a mindset and I am in charge of it. It is up to me to free my emotional state from being impacted by what is going on around me.
It is not to be numb, but to feel more, but be anchored in who we are in what we believe in.
Taking charge of my nervous system, and having a close network of friends and loved ones helps me to keep coming back to center.
What I wish for you, at the end of the year and moving forward, is freedom from worry, stress, and the power to come back to your center. Who you are meant to be when you are not just managing or dealing with life.

I wish you all the best holiday season of your making.
I look forward to being able to share more with you in the new year.

Brain Gym for Chronic Back Pain part 2

8/23/2017

The journey of alleviating or curing chronic pain continued....
I knew a woman in one of my dance classes, who danced beautifully, and woke up one day with debilitating pain in her hips. She kept coming to class, but after the warm up, would sit out and watch because the pain was so great. She was in her early 40's and had had no injury or concrete reason for her pain to begin. She had been to physical therapy and acupuncture treatment to no avail. She told me in class that she was going to stop dancing until she could figure out what was happening or the pain went away.

I don't usually speak to people in my social circles about work, but I really felt that her pain was not physically based and that my work could help her. She was such a beautiful dancer and I saw that dancing did so much for her spirit, I didn't want her to be stopped by pain that could possibly be alleviated relatively easily.

I spoke to her and asked her to contact me if she still had pain after all her scheduled acupuncture appointments were done.
She called me a week or so later and agreed to try three sessions with me.

As we delved into her pain, it was reveals that it was being caused by unprocessed emotional pain and anger. Over the three sessions, she had complete resolution of all her hip pain. There was work done between the session such as writing exercises and specific integrating exercises that were found to be effective for her brain/body system.
Now that her pain is resolved, the writing exercises she did during the treatment time and the movements she learned are now tools in her toolbox if she ever has anger or resentment come up in her life. But she is happy to report that she has had no recurrence of the pain since.

This supposition that there is sometimes an emotional component to pain, is not original to me and my thought process. There are countless books by different MD’s such as Dr. Sarno and his book, “Healing Back Pain” and Dr. Daniel Seigel “Healing Power of Emotion” which talk about the connection between our emotions and our bodies. It is also mirrored in the many sessions I have done with people over the years to help address their pain, as well as my own exploration of chronic pain.
My experience with working with people with chronic pain conditions, such as back pain, jaw pain, foot/leg pain, headaches, is that there is some combination of unprocessed emotions along with some form of unintegrated reflexes in the body and miscommunication or poor communication between body systems such as vision and/or vestibular system challenge.

In my training in craniosacral therapy, my teacher had a saying, "The tissues hold the issues".
When another student in class asked how that was possible, she responded, "VHS tapes are pieces of plastic with magnetic particles on them which can hold visual and auditory information. If something as simple as tape and magnetic particles can hold that much information it is not too farfetched that human cells and tissues, which are infinitely more complex than that, can hold much more detailed and complex information.”
Are you suffering with chronic pain that is draining the energy out of your life? Have you tried many things to help your pain to no avail? Life is too short to suffer in pain needlessly.
Contact me today for a free consultation call or to set up an appointment.
What are your favorite books on emotions, the body, and healing pain? Please contact me and share them with me!

Brain Gym for Chronic Back Pain(Part 1)

7/24/2017

Most people associate brain gym with kids and helping overcome learning challenges. However because of my background in Occupational therapy and craniosacral therapy, I have also used it extensively to reorganize posture, and coordination to help people be more efficient with their movement.

Often this has the added benefit of decreased pain.
Especially pain that is chronic and has not been helped by other more conventional modalities like physical therapy and acupuncture.

My first experience of relief and healing for my chronic back pain happened when I was part of the brain gym teacher certification process.

I used to have chronic tightness on my right lower back which was always present in my body as a low dull ache.
I used to do yoga, get massage, acupuncture, and craniosacral therapy to address it but after the session it would feel better for about 15-20 minutes, but would come back as soon as I started moving around, walking, sitting, and driving.

I had resigned myself to the fact that my body was just going to be like this. I figured I was just going to have to keep getting massage, acupuncture, craniosacral therapy for the rest of my life to keep the discomfort at bay.

When I was in a class called “in-depth:7 Dimensions of Learning”, my teacher noticed the asymmetry in my back.
He said, “You have the ATNR(asymmetrical tonic neck reflex) active in your body”.
I scoffed and said, “No way!  That reflex goes away when you’re a baby.  It’s not active in me.”

But he told me that reflexes can be unintegrated in our bodies beyond the designated time and cause imbalances that can cause chronic pain types of issues.

Also, because these reflexes are part of normal development, there will be no test to detect it because it is something that is inherent in all of us and is supposed to be there.

I agreed to have him check my body for the presence of this reflex.
In one of the checks he checked my leg length while my head was straight and then also when I turned my head side to side and sure enough, my leg length changed as I moved my head which is one of the indications that this reflex is active in my body.

Then he lead me through a full balance procedure where he did additional brain gym processes to balance my brain and body system.

He did the checks again and my leg length did not change.

When I stood up afterwards, I felt like I was standing crooked, leaning way over to the left, but when I looked at my reflection in the mirror, my body was standing straight up.

This mismatch in my feeling sense of my body and my visual sense of my body was shocking.

This meant that on an unconscious level, I was always pulling away from my tight right side in order to walk and stand up and it was causing the aching and tiredness in my lower back.

When that internal pull which was coming from my brain was gone, I was able to stand straight without needing to pull against my tight side.

After that session, the long term, low-grade ache in my back disappeared and has never come back.

In fact, with each successive balance procedure, my body has only continued to become more and more balanced.

This was the first time I witnessed how the brain can have an impact on chronic pain.

How would you feel if you can resolve some of your most persistent pain and discomfort in one or a handful of sessions??

Here are some signs that you may have some reflexes or movement imbalances that may be impacting your body and possibly causing chronic pain:

-Chronic Pain that comes back no matter what you do to address it, whether it be tight neck, shoulders, back, knees, ankles, etc.

-A difference in the tightness of your muscles between the left and right sides of your body

-A feeling like your body does what it wants to do regardless of how you consciously want to move(this shows up particularly in sports or dancing)

-Certain sensations seemingly affect you more than it affects other people, such as loud noise, bright lights, smells, other people touching you, routines being disrupted, fear of heights, etc.

-It is easier to balance on one leg more than the other

-your shoes wear unevenly

If you recognize any of these signs and are experiencing chronic pain, you may be able to gain relief from these.

Call today for a free consultation or to set up an appointment.

301-523-3477

Amazing Synthesis of Neuroscience and Virtual Reality!

8/20/2016

When neuroplasticity and technology come together, magic happens!

Brain Awareness Week 2016 Starts TODAY!

3/14/2016

There are a multitude of events and programs for all ages!
Check out the schedule of events HERE

The Advantages of Being Bilingual

3/14/2016

This interesting article hits upon many points that I have personally experienced. In my case, I remember a distinct intuitive understanding that there was a language barrier that separated my mom and dad and didn't allow them to meet fully. My desire was to understand the perspective of each person and try to help them to communicate with each other. It is an interesting experience to understand completely where each person is coming from, yet see that they cannot understand each other.
What are your experiences in this realm??
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/sunday/the-superior-social-skills-of-bilinguals.html_

Hyperconnected Yet Alone?

2/21/2016

Hyperconnected yet along? Enjoy this TED talk!
http://t.ted.com/oMglH6C

Brain On Meditation

2/20/2016

Yet another interesting article about the brain and meditation.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/contemplation-therapy/?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

Hack Your Habits with These 10 Brain Friendly Tips!

1/5/2016

Change has this reputation of being difficult.

When you actually break it down, the process of change can actually be simple, but not easy when you don’t have the right tools or approach.

Combine this with the fact that the brain is not a huge fan of change and you can see how change has earned its reputation.

I will give you a few key words that can turn it all around and hack open the mystery of change.

They are: practice, repetition, and fun.

I know that these words are not particularly earth-shattering or sexy, but lasting change is not a flashy fad.

It is consistent, deliberate, and intentional action.

Think about the activities in your life that are so automatic that you don’t have to think to do them.
-Walking,
-running,
-reading,
-writing,
-driving,
-cooking,
-playing an instrument, -
-learning to speak a language,
just to mention a few.

When you were a baby these things seemed gargantuan and impossible, AND here you are, doing them with ease.

Think about the hours you spent practicing these things, and how many times these activities have fired the neurons in your brain, how many times they have been reinforced(myelinated), and continue to be every time you do them.

Now think about the changes you want to create, how many times you have repeated the habits that support or negate those changes, and what you want to do about them.

Here are some Brain Friendly Habit Hacking tips that will help support you in making the changes that enhance the ease and enjoyment of your life!

Comment below to share how they worked for you, share your successes and to share some of your own.

Top 10 Brain Friendly Tips for Hacking your Habits

Pick One Thing. This is super important. I know at this time of year it’s easy to get excited and want to do a whole life overhaul! This is not the time to do that. If you want to create lasting change it’s never a good time to do that. Let’s take the example of a light bulb. The photons from a light bulb can light up a room with diffuse light, so picking more than one thing is like focus that is diffused over many things. By contrast, if you take the same amount of photons that comes from a lightbulb and align the light waves into one unified wave, it becomes a laser, and you can cut through steel! If you pick one thing, you can direct your focus like a laser and progress faster and keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed. Small markers of success can become it’s own motivation so focus on small successes rather than sweeping and un-sustainable changes.

See where you are on the map! You need to know where you are starting from in order to know where you’re going. A way to support change in behavior is to get a good handle on what is actually happening. If you want to get a handle on your spending habits, start keeping track of what is going in and out. If you want to finally get help for your chronic headaches, start taking some data about the time of day, frequency that they occur, and location in your head. If you want to eat better, keep track of what you eat and what patterns you see in your cravings and preferences. If you want to clear clutter, start looking at your shopping habits and compare it to how you throw things out. The most important thing about this step is to be objective! The emotional part of your brain is very sensitive to criticism, so you can greatly affect your motivation if you start judging and shaming where you are. Take this step on like a scientist gathering data. Get curious about yourself and see what you find!

Pick the Just Right Challenge. Once you gather data and know your baseline, set a “just-right” challenge. If you pick a challenge that is too big and too extreme, the brain will basically say, “Yeah right. Fat chance!” and will not engage--or perhaps engage for a day or two and then fall into old habits. For example, if you want to stop eating sugar and say, “As of today I will no longer eat ANYTHING that has sugar in it” your brain may cooperate with your will for a day, and then go to the other extreme where you find yourself gorging yourself on snickers bars. A “Just right” challenge excites you because it is slightly our of your reach, but engages your brain and makes it willing to play. Using this example, when you gathered data maybe you found that you were eating 5 snickers bars a week, always after having a conversation with your mom. The “just right” challenge in this case may be to stop speaking to your mother......no, not really. But to strategize around this. Either, have something healthier on hand when you know you are going to speak with your mother, and commit to eating 4 snickers bars a week instead of 5. When you are consistently able to eat only 4, then move towards eating 3. 3 snickers is not easily accessible unless you can consistently do 4.
Easy does it. Growth does not only happen in stress. More and more research shows that the “No Pain, No Gain” mentality does not work for lasting change. Think about every action having an equal and opposite reaction. If you are reacting strongly to a challenge, perhaps it is time to consider a more success inducing challenge. Self compassion is important here. You are human, you have practiced the behavior that you are trying to change. You don’t yell at a kid for falling when they are learning to walk. Falling is part of the process of gaining mastery. Get curious and say, “Hmmmm. So I fell into an old habit. What happened and how can I do it differently next time?”, get creative, let it go and move on.
Move at the PACE that is right for you. This is not a race, and this is not a competition. In fact, competition kills creativity and fun. When you become solely goal oriented you activate the competitive aspects of the left brain and lose the novelty seeking and process oriented gifts of the right brain. Ben and Jerry’s said it best when they made the bumper sticker, “If it ain’t fun, don’t do it”. In the process of changing, it is important to move at your own pace. Remember that changing habits is not a new years thing, but a life thing that you want to get better at year after year.
Get Creative! You are you, and you know yourself best, so in that space when you are doing your best to move from 5 snickers to 4, explore new and novel ways to support this change. Sometimes this can be new activities, and other times it can be about enlisting more help. Some examples can be to: start a journaling practice where you express the resentments that you feel you cannot express in the conversations with your mother, punch a pillow, find a therapist, explore new healthier snack options, enlist a buddy to help keep you accountable, have a dance break after every conversation to stimulate growth of new neural networks---the strategies are limitless and can be tailored to your specific needs and desired outcomes. Have fun getting creative here!
Make Changes in your Environment to Make the Change Easier. If you are trying not to eat snickers bars, then stop buying the value pack of snickers at Costco. If you are a writer trying to finish your book, change your writing space. If you are trying to get better at running in the morning before work, set out your clothes, fill up your water bottle, have your keys and ipod by your shoes. Or maybe even go to bed in your work out clothes! New behaviors require new neural nets that are associated with the new behavior. New behaviors require “activation energy”. Activation energy is the energy needed to overcome inertia. When you have practiced something, activation energy is low because the brain has reinforced these pathways and doesn’t have to think. When you are doing something new and it has not been practiced, the energy it takes to move through the resistance to do the new task sometimes can literally feel like moving a mountain. If you are having a hard time getting going, make it was easy as possible to do the task. For any situation, the way to reduce activation energy is to decrease the number of decisions that one has to make to get something done. For the running example, put out a banana, choose your workout clothes the night before, have your music set list made, know the route you’re going to take---do as much as you can before-hand, so all you really need to do is to roll out of bed and go.
A Little Help from Your Friends. Humans are social beings. Motivation and enjoyment can be greatly enhanced if you have a close friend or two, to go through the process with. If you don’t have friends who are local or have the same goal, you can join a group or a community that has your goal as the central theme. There are a myriad of social and focused groups, there are meet ups for pretty much any kind of interest area. It’s just about tapping into one that you like and creating some alliances.
A Little Help from Some Furry Friends. This tip does not apply to every behavior change, and it is one that I would like you to consider carefully because this is a commitment that comes with other responsibilities beyond just aiding in changing your habits. That being said, sometimes it is vulnerable to share goals and desires with humans and it may be easier and feel safer to have something to care for and love---that also needs some consistent exercise. Animal companions are helpful in reducing stress, adding companionship and they’re just so fun to have in our lives. If you are not ready to commit to a dog or cat long term, then do not adopt one, but you can sign up to be a foster parent for a doggie or kittie, or perhaps even sign up for a consistent volunteer opportunity where you go and walk dogs or play with cats.
Celebrate your Successes, no matter how “small” they seem. This one relates back to the “if it ain’t fun, don’t do it” principle. Too often we reach one goal and then immediately set the bar higher or reach for a more intense goal without really enjoying the fruits of the hard work you have already done. When you celebrate your successes, by sharing them with your friends or marking it with some sort of celebration, you actually anchor the positive change in your body, making it more stable and part of you rather than something that you lose when you stop doing the thing. Celebration and the act of celebrating anchors it and makes you feel the sense of accomplishment that becomes the inherent motivation to keep going