What is NLP?

During our last seminar, I briefly talked about NLP and my Life Coaching practice. Here are some questions that were raised about the subject:


Q: You mentioned NLP, what does that stand for?
A: Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Q: What is NLP?
A: This is always a fun question to answer. As an NLP practitioner it is challenging to put into one simple sentence the definition of NLP. Below is a definition that is lengthy, but very descriptive. NLP is the process I use in my Life Coaching practice to guide a client to personal successes. NLP can be used to learn to communicate effectively, enhance personal or business relationships, effectively resolve inner and outer conflict, overcome obstacles, and deal with stress, overcome phobias, fears; overcome food addictions and many other personal challenges. Because there are many branches of NLP, it is important to note that not all NLP practitioners use all the same processes, but their practices are based on the same bases upon which NLP was founded.

NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a name that encompasses the three most influential components involved in producing human experience: neurology, language and programming. The neurological system regulates how our bodies function, language determines how we interface and communicate with other people and our programming determines the kinds of models of the world we create. Neuro-Linguistic Programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay effects our body and behavior (programming).

NLP is a pragmatic school of thought - an 'epistemology' - that addresses the many levels involved in being human. NLP is a multi-dimensional process that involves the development of behavioral competence and flexibility, but also involves strategic thinking and an understanding of the mental and cognitive processes behind behavior. NLP provides tools and skills for the development of states of individual excellence, but it also establishes a system of empowering beliefs and presuppositions about what human beings are, what communication is and what the process of change is all about. At another level, NLP is about self-discovery, exploring identity and mission. It also provides a framework for understanding and relating to the 'spiritual' part of human experience that reaches beyond us as individuals to our family, community and global systems. NLP is not only about competence and excellence; it is about wisdom and vision.

See this page for more details on NLP: http://www.nlpu.com/whatnlp.htm

Q: Explain more why people hold on to food they know is bad for them.
A: There could be a number of reasons why people hold on to food they know is bad for them. One reason may be that they have substituted an emotional connection with the food they are addicted to, so they use a particular food to meet an emotional or relational need. Another reason why people hold on to toxic food or toxic habits is because they have not felt enough pain to give it up, whether it is emotional or physical pain. Whenever a person feels enough pain to run away from what is causing the pain, they simply do it. If they are convinced that they no longer want to live in pain, they just quit eating or doing what is causing the pain. One last reason is because they are chemically addicted to the food itself so it is like a drug. The body chemically "asks" for the food. The more the body receives satisfaction from the addicting food, the more the brain associates pleasure with that food and the body will continue to crave it and ask for it. Sugar is a classic example of an addictive food that causes a tremendous amount of pleasure and so it is tougher to give up. Salt (which also has sugar in it, in the form of dextrose) is pleasurable to the palate so there is no pain associated with it. Cheese is also a highly addictive food, due to the casomorphine in it, which is a morphine-like substance which causes a "high" in the body. Rice and pasta, because of their high sugar content, are highly addictive. We recommend two things to overcome food addictions: 1) Begin detoxifying the body with raw fruits and vegetables and 2) See an NLP practitioner to emotionally detach from any toxic foods or habits.

We will talk more extensively about raw foods at our next seminar.

Raw Detox Seminar

Presented by Soft Touch Chiropractic and Acupuncture

April 3, 2010

9:30am - 12:30pm

19474 Rinaldi St. Northridge, CA 91326

Register online

http://www.stchiro.com/

More on ORAC

Q: What is ORAC?
A: ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.

Q: What foods have the most ORAC?
A: Superfoods score the highest is the ORAC measurement. Foods like goji berries and deep seas minerals have a very high ORAC measurement.

Q: What apple has the most ORAC?
A: The apple, although a great food, is not in the highest ranked foods by ORAC measurement. However, we have seen comparisons that show that the Red Delicious scores higher than a Granny Smith or a Gala. There are so many types of apples, we encourage you to do more research and share your finding, maybe there is a higher scoring apple than the Red Delicious out there.

Answers to Your Questions

We received some great questions during our last seminar. Here are just a few answers to start. There were so many that we will be answering over the next several days. The questions are not in any particular order, but we have categorized them by subject. We have also kept the questions in their original form as they were written and have not changed them.

Q: What is Qi gong?
A: See the entry on this blog dated Friday, August 28, 2009, for a detailed description.

Q: How often should the Qi gong exercises be done in order to be beneficial?
A: We suggest the exercises be done daily.

Q: How often do you do the foot detox?
A: This depends on the type of machine you use. The particular machine used during the seminar comes with instructions to use no more than once a week.

Q: How long do you do the foot detox?
A. The duration of one detox session is 30 minutes. For how long you regularly detox with the foot bath machine depends on the machine and your health. Once a week for a few months at a time is safe. If you buy a machine for your personal use, follow the instructions and recommendations included with the equipment.

Q: On the screenings you mentioned, please explain more about the screenings?
A: The free screenings will be the showing of a movie in its entirety at our office. We showed trailers for four movies at the seminar: Raw for 30 Days; Big Bucks, Big Pharma; Food Inc. and Food Matters.

Q: Are screenings more in depth then what was shown at the seminar?
A: Yes. See above. If you are interested in attending a screening please post a comment.

Have a great week everyone!

Detoxing In the New Year

Although detoxing isn't at the top of most people's resolutions lists, our family is doing its best to help others learn how important it is to detox as well as practical ways to detox. My husband and I taught yet another successful seminar this past Saturday. The turn out was fantastic, the participants were curious and we all learned and shared new information.

We are using this blog to answer questions that came up during the seminar. Because we had so many great questions, it will take us a few entry blogs to answer them all in a satisfactory manner.

You are welcome to read through past entries on this blog. There is a great deal of helpful information from a past seminar here already. We encourage you to share this blog with anyone you wish. Lastly you are invited to come back and bring your friends and family members to our next seminar on Saturday, April 3. Some of the information will be the same and some may be different so please join us.

If you register to follow this blog, you will automatically receive notification of updates (click on the "follow" link on the right. If you have follow up questions or comments, please click on the comment link below this entry to post.

We wish you a healthy and prosperous 2010. To your health.

Answers to Your Questions

Patients and friends of Soft Touch Chiropractic and Acupuncture gathered to learn about anti-aging strategies through chiropractic, acupuncture and NLP. We had a great time practicing Qigong together, talking about wellness and learning how to change our posture for better health. Please feel free to comment and ask follow up questions right here on this blog. TO POST A COMMENT OR QUESTION, look to the bottom of this post and click on the word Comment.







Thank you all for making this a great seminar and we hope to see you again in January at the detox seminar

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Where can we get the Qigong DVD showed at the seminar?



A: We purchased our copy through amazon.com. The name of the program is Ken Cohen Qigong Training Course. This course includes 8 CDs and two workbooks. If you are interested in something less costly and easier to get a hold of, we suggest you look on youtube.com. We found an excellent video, although it is lengthy. You can find it by searching for Discovering Qigong on youtube. The video is posted by the National Qigong Association.






2. Does a man's hormones react differently than a woman's hormones under stress?



A: Yes. Women seem to be more sensitive to cortisol (the stress hormone) after the end of their menstrual cycle, due to the fluctuation of progesterone and estrogen.







3. My legs hurt if I stand for short periods. I feel I have to move constantly or else it's uncomfortable. Why?

A: It is possible that you have an obstruction in the nerve root of your low back L3, L4, L5 and S1. The cause of obstruction could be loss of disc height or a bulging disc. The cause can be determined by an MRI.

4. Where can I learn more about Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)?



A: You are welcome to book and appointment with Ruth for an introductory NLP session. You can learn more on line on this page www.nlpu.com/whatnlp.htm. We found the explanation to be short enough to not bore anyone with details, but long enough so that it gives good background info on NLP.







5. How can you coordinate your body systems? Is there a book you can recommend?



A: The best way to coordinate the body's systems is through the nervous system. Our body goes through micro or macro traumas each day, whether through habits or injuries. Those traumas could interfere with the nervous system. These interferences show up in our joints, muscles and bones; bones can become misaligned, muscles can spasm or lose tone, joints can swell up or become unstable. All these interferences, separately or together, can create obstruction to the nervous system. By removing these obstructions, we can ensure that the nervous system functions at its maximum potential. There are other obstructions or interferences, like chemical interferences, caused by ingestion of drugs, food contamination (i.e. pesticides, insecticides) or through chemicals in beverages like aspartame, also through the overload of sugar, or lastly through enzyme or vitamin deficiencies, especially vitamins B. Last but not least, emotional interferences can also cause obstruction in the nervous system. Stress, for example, can translate into hormone interferences through the release of cortisol. Stress can also cause loss of muscle tone and posture thus creating a physical interference. Chiropractic can help remove musculoskeletal interferences. Improving your nutrition can begin to remove the chemical interferences. NLP can help you to help yourself with eliminating emotional interferences.





We recommend the following books to learn more about coordinating the body's systems: Chiropractic First (you can pick up a copy of this book in our office), Natural Healing by Jack Soltanoff, DC.







6. I seem to contract with the touch, will chiropractic still help me?



A: Yes, chiropractic will help you. If you contract with touch, you have a special need for chiropractic and can benefit greatly from regular joint mobilization and also from non-force chiropractic techniques. Non-force techniques are designed for people who are emotionally reluctant to manual adjustments, for people with osteoporosis or those who are sensitive to touch.







7. During the seminar Ruth shared about how her mom changed her eating habits and was able to reverse arthritis and is now living pain-free. The question is, how did she change her diet? or better yet, what did she change her diet to?



A: My mom followed a modified detox plan outlined in the book There is a Cure for Arthritis by Dr. Paavo Airola, available through amazon. I outlined some of the details in earlier entries in this blog. See parts 1-3 of Food Can and Does Heal. This is a subject we will briefly touch on in our January seminar.






We look forward to more questions and comments from you. See below for details about our next seminar.





DETOX STRATEGIES SEMINAR



JANUARY 16, 2010



10:00AM





Soft Touch Chiropractic and Acupuncture


19474 Rinaldi St.


Northridge, CA

Qigong, what is that?

Wow, it's been a couple of months since my last entry. It's not that I don't have anything to share, it's just that there is so much going on, that I hadn't made the time to share it. I am in the midst of a couple of big projects at the practice, the kids went back to music and ballet classes and with that come the birthday parties, the play dates, etc. AND I've been exploring Qigong. Here is an excerpt from our practice's newsletter about this very interesting subject.


Qigong, pronounced chee gung, is a Chinese meditative practice that uses slow movements to cleanse, gather and circulate the energy in the body.


Qi means life energy and breath. Gong means work or skill. Qigong is thus breath work or energy work. It is used or healing purposes, to improve sports performance and for spiritual purposes.


We have found various sources that report the existence of six thousand to ten thousand types of Qigong. We have been exploring the Personal Healing practice for self healing and restoration. There are two types of healing practices, Personal Healing and External Qi Healing. External Qigong is a type of therapeutic touch in which the healer assesses the patient's qi and then projects healing energy through his or her hands to restore the patient's qi balance.


Qigong has been scientifically tested and experimental evidence demonstrates that it can be effective in treating many ailments in conjunction with other healing practices. We like the way Ken Cohen describes the dynamics of Qigong in his book, The Essential Qigong Training Guide:


"Qigong is based on the premise that the human body is an energy system. As long as it has energy or qi, it is alive; when energy is gone, it is dead. This makes good scientific sense. A living cell has an electric charge; differences in electric potential allow nutrients to flow in and out of the cell and messages to pass through the nervous system. Like a computer, the electrical signaling system can become corrupted through 'incompatible programs' - pollution, poor diet, stress."


My personal experience with Qigong has been most successful in the last two months, since I committed to practicing daily. I had a few false starts with the practice earlier this year and I hadn't seen any results; this time, I chose to be more engaged and present while practicing and it made all the difference (versus doing the movements while my mind raced through my to do list!)


The day I started, I definitely felt the cleansing effects. At the beginning I felt a bit of tingling in my fingers and arms. After doing movements for a half hour, my nose started to run a bit, I had to race to the bathroom and my head was very clear. If you've done any type of detox, you know these are symptoms of the body detoxifying. I felt great immediately after finishing my practice! My 30 minute routine consists of cleansing the qi, circulating the qi and then doing movements paired with sounds to remove old stagnant qi from specific organs.


I could not load up the youtube video that shows a 45 minute Qigong session. If you are interested, look up Discovering Qigong on youtube.com and choose the video produced by the National Qigong Association. Be aware that the first four minutes consist of various warnings and disclaimers. If you are seeking to practice at home or are interested in the External Healing practice, Ken Cohen's training set is a good one.

Mother-Daughter Relationships and Wellness

It took me three years, but I finally finished reading Mother-Daughter Wisdom by Dr. Christianne Northrup. It felt like a monumental achievement. The 700 page book is filled with great advise on mother-daughter relationships (mostly for the mother on nurturing her relationship with a daughter). The premise is that our relationships with our mothers deeply affect our health.

"So what does my relationship with my mother have to do with health?" was my first question after starting the book three years ago. The short answer is, just about everything! Dr. Northrup's advise, backed by personal experiences, documented studies and data, range from why it is a great practice to look at your baby girl in the eyes and talk to her as you hold her during her infant years all the way to how a daughter's health is impacted by a mother's emotional letting go of (or holding on to) her daughter in their adult years. By the way, Northrup explains that if you consistently talk to your infant daughter while looking into her eyes, her brain grows faster, meaning she makes more brain connections, thus making her smarter. This is quite the simplistic layman's way of explaining it. Dr. Northrup does a much better job of elegantly explaining what exactly happens in the brain. And the letting go issue, Dr. Northrup makes a clear connection between weight/obesity issues and daughters whose mothers will not go of them emotionally. Very interesting.

It takes a little to get used to the medical jargon used throughout the book, but anyone who took physio in high school, will find this book interesting and practical. The book moves through each "stage" in a daughters life, seven years at a time.

For those who are interested in wellness and do their homework, it's almost common knowledge that the health of our relationships deeply impacts our physical health, thus the mind body connection. I have personally found that my relationship with my mother, specifically, deeply impacts my wellness and it has done so in the past without me being conscious of it. In my adult life I have had times when my mother has been physically far away from me and also times when she has been physically close. At this time she is close by, thankfully. We have found a great balance in our relationship as adults. We have figured out ways to communicate as women, instead of just mother-daughter. I realize not everyone is so blessed and sometimes distancing from a maternal relationship seems to be the best option for someone whose relationship with their mom is highly toxic and irreparable. It saddens me to hear of such relationships, but it is reality.

If you have a daughter of any age, it is worth reading this book; even if your daughter is in her adult years, you can just skip to the relevant chapters. As a mother, this book changed my paradigm on letting go of children as they grow, the power of womanhood through menstruation as well as child birth and lastly, the incredible impact I will have on my daughter's health. I've learned how important it is that I mindfully train her and teach her. As a daughter I have become much more understanding of my mom and less critical of her parenting. I am much more grateful for my upbringing. Maybe that just comes from being a mother, but it sure has eased my heart into a place of compassion and conscious decision-making in relationships. I sleep better at night knowing I've done my best as a mother and a daughter. So goes my wellness.