The Paradox of Healing

I was having a conversation with someone a few days ago about the amazing human capacity for healing. Human beings self heal from colds, the flu, even cancer. Outside agents, whether it’s a chiropractic adjustment, drug, herb, salve or tonic only stimulate the inherent nature of the human being striving for health and wholeness.

That is the paradox. We are self healing, and outside agents stimulate the healing process.

While away on vacation I visited a colleagues office, he had a cartoon on the message board.  It was a conversation between a doctor and a father.  The father said to the Doctor “I took my son to a chiropractor for his Asthma, and it’s getting better”.  The doctor said “Chiropractic doesn’t work for Asthma, it’s only a placebo” to which the father replied “Why didn’t you tell me Chiropractic was a good placebo for Asthma?”

Dr. Brian

The 5 Responses to Stress

When you read about stress, we often hear of the “fight or flight” response to stress. It is the natural instinct for self-protection, we either hold our ground and fight or flee an attack. Human beings have at least 3 other responses when faced with a challenge.

Freeze

This mechanism is used by the Opossum in response to physical danger. It goes limp, and will appear to be dead.  In Humans, this strategy is recommended if you are attacked by a bear.

Submit

This strategy is mostly seen animals that display dominance or a pecking order. the less strong will submit, it allows them to live, and gain strength until they become the elder of the tribe.

Flow

The flow state was brought into modern lexicon by the author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. In this state, there is a stress, a threat, or an increased demand on your body or mind. Instead of narrowing the focus inward, or protecting, there is an expansion of energy with a continued “flow” to the higher centers of the brain.  People in “flow” report a slowing down of perceived time. This state can be also be associated with enhanced creativity and peak performance.

How can we get into a flow state?

Through training we can learn to be in the flow state. Picture yourself in second grade, standing in front of the class, giving a short presentation in science class. Everyone is looking at you, you start sweating, your words aren’t coming out of your mouth like they would in normal conversation. These are classic signs of your body unconsciously trying to protect yourself from a different or strange situation which can be perceived as a threat. This happens even if the situation isn’t dangerous.

Now fast forward 30 years, you have done countless presentations in high school and college, you have been on job interviews, pitched business ideas to potential partners, and have become skilled in public presentations.  You are asked to give a speech about something that is very important and you are passionate about it. The outcome of the talk will affect many people. Even with this challenge, you rise to the occasion, maintain a sense of calm, focused power through the presentation.

This can only happen by learning to acknowledge the subtle signals of your body, and acting in a way that leads to flow. It will feel very odd at first, as we are acting against natural instincts. We can train our body/mind to do something different, when instinct is telling us to stick our head in the sand and just wait for the threat to pass. Flow doesn’t usually just happen, this state must be cultivated.

With Network Spinal Analysis Care, this state is cultivated around 3-6 months into care, as your body doesn’t go into protection anymore when challenged, you begin to set new standards for yourself in regards to your energy state, your attitudes and actions.

Dr. Brian

Can Choosing a Different Word Affect Your Outlook?

In Robert Cialidni’s book called Pre-Suasion, he tells a story about being invited to speak to a group. This was no ordinary group, they had received many excellence awards over the years, a top-notch organization on all levels. Before the presentation, Mr. Cialdini went over his presentation with six different employees, so he could get a wide range of feedback. One of the feedback items was the use of “Bullet Points”. It wasn’t that he couldn’t use bullet points in his presentation, calling them bullet points wasn’t acceptable.  The healthcare group had a conscious policy not to use words that are associated with violence.  He was told he could use “Information Points”.  Other words they consciously choose are:

• Instead of “Attacking” a problem, they “Approach” it
• Instead of business “Targets” they have “Goals”
• Instead of “Beating” the competition, they “Outdistance” themselves from the competition

Robert Cialdini’s first book was called Influence, which discusses things that go on beneath our conscious awareness that ultimately influence our decisions. Of all the things he researched over the years, he didn’t put much thought into word choice.  At first he thought, “Geez, this is silly” when asked to use the alternative words, but now he calls himself a convert, especially after looking at the research on the subject.

As a healthcare organization, this group decided they weren’t going to let anything get in the way of a healing environment for their employees or patients. Can you make that same commitment?  Can you make the commitment to yourself? Be mindful of your self-talk, find words that support achievement like attain, succeed, master. Making this slight change can make a big difference, try it with me, and let me know how it works.

Dr. Brian

From Patient to Practice Member
In the 1980’s, Dr. Donald Epstein realized some of his patients had gone beyond the model of the typical patient. They weren’t looking for a cure or a fix anymore, they were taking action in many areas of their health and well-being. They started new diets, left unsupportive relationships, and started exercising, just to name a few changes.
The term Practice Member was born out of this realization that something was different when people started taking a more active role in their health and well-being.

Become An Advocate For Your Own Health
The concept of “Patient Activation” was studied by a UK health management consultant. They found in people with the highest levels of involvement in their health, called “Advocates”, had 9-20% lower healthcare costs per year.  That is astounding!

In the report, the authors see distinct levels of engagement and understanding of their health, going from “Believing Health is Largely Out of Their Control” to “Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle as a Key Focus”.

If you are still in the place where you believe health is largely out of your control, consider a different perspective. We can control many things, and all of these can lead to greater health. Our DNA is just a blueprint, and we control the finished product by what we eat, what we think, how clean our air and water are, and much more.

The choices you make can lead you to becoming your own Health Advocate.

Dr. Brian

An Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks

When I was young, it seemed like I learned something new each day.  Sometimes we stop learning, and we fall into familiar patterns of behaving, thinking and feeling.  I could see how this way of being would lead neuroscientists from an earlier time to think the brain couldn’t change after a certain age. This was the common thought in the field of neuroscience through the 1990’s.

Modern Neuroscience has a different perspective on how we can continue to learn well into our last decades of life.  Last week I listened to a fascinating interview with Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist from South Africa.  If you would like to listen, here is the link: http://findingmastery.net/caroline-leaf/

Dr. Leaf mentioned a very special teacher who encouraged her to go beyond what she knew. Holding the space as a teacher for your student to go beyond what you know is an incredibly powerful concept.

It was also interesting to hear her perspectives on changing patterns.  Maybe you have heard the phrase that it takes 21 days to establish a new pattern, or eliminate a non-productive pattern?  Dr. Leaf said this was true, and also when you continue the new behavior for 2 more cycles of 21 days, then you have built a new pattern that is strong.

If you tried to change a pattern for the New Year, how is it going?  Did you notice any resistance around day 4?  Dr. Leaf discussed that Day 4 was often the hardest when you are trying to change a pattern.

I personally got a lot out of this interview, and I hope you do also.

Dr. Brian

P.S. Thank you to my practice member who suggested I look up Dr. Leaf after a conversation about one of my previous newsletters.

This weekend we honor Dr. Martin Luther King.  When you hear his “I have a dream” speech, do you ever wonder how human beings have the capacity to visualize something that has not yet happened?

Another word for being able to visualize the future is called consciousness, and the study of what makes one conscious has vexed scientists for years.

Recently I read this article that puts a few more pieces of the puzzle together. http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/harvard-researchers-have-found-the-source-of-human-consciousness I hope you find it as fascinating as I did.

How can we dream a better tomorrow?  According to the latest research, it starts with connecting the brainstem to the prefrontal cortex via a neural network. Neural networks are built through our life, and strengthened with use.

Michio Kaku calls the human brain a prediction machine. Based on previous experiences, we can predict what might happen, and we can also see things better than they are in the moment, and then start working toward that goal.

Dr. Brian

Emotional “After Effects” – How to Use Them For Your Advantage

Researchers at NYU have discovered that “How we remember events is not just a consequence of the external world we experience, but is also strongly influenced by our internal states–and these internal states can persist and color future experiences.” Furthermore, “These findings make clear that our cognition is highly influenced by preceding experiences and, specifically, that emotional brain states can persist for long periods of time.”

Said in another way, how we experience events is partially based on our current state.  Or, how we remember the past, is based on our present energy state.

Researchers also discovered these elevated states of high emotion prime the brain, and those effects improve your cognition of non-emotional events. Knowing this, you can use this to your advantage.  If you want to remember something or be more engaged, put yourself into a higher emotional state before you learn. You can prime your system with images of beautiful things or loved ones.  You can play or sing inspiring music. For instance, Tony Robbins starts each day “Priming” his physiology with high energy appreciations.

We cannot change the external world, “events” happen, but we can choose the type of thoughts, and emotions we have.  We can choose the type of people in which we surround ourselves, we can choose the type of media we engage with. Each of those choices either puts us in a high emotional state of happiness and appreciation, or an emotional state of depression and withdrawal. Which will you choose?

Dr. Brian

When you change your actions/behaviors, you change the biochemistry of your brain. Neurotransmitters start firing in new areas, changing the function of your brain. Changing the function over time will change the structure of your brain, new pathways are formed. This is how you change your brain.

Your Brain is changed every time you learn something new.

Listen to Brain Researcher Dr. Lara Boyd from University of British Columbia in a TEDx talk titled “After watching this, your brain will not be the same.”  In addition to describing the process of how to change your brain, she also talks about the common misconceptions about the brain, and how different people learn differently.

Enjoy,
Dr. Brian

How Can My Newsletter Help You?
Each week I listen to podcasts, watch TED talks, read published journal articles in the areas of health, personal growth, diet and nutrition, psychology, and more.

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Brian Dickert
434-227-7149
briandickert.com