I'm melting....

Yesterday I received an advance copy of John Morgan's new CD. WOW. And on the heels of Bruce Lipton's AWESOME interview with Dr. Oz yesterday. John came up with this idea independently of Bruce, but this is what he says in his intro (sounding very Bruce-ish):

Imagine for just a moment that you want something from someone whom you absolutely loathe. Additionally, imagine that you have made no secret about this person. You've told them to their face and you've told everyone willing to listen to you that you despise this person. How cooperative do you think that person would be with your request? My guess is not very. This is how most people treat their body.

Yesterday Bruce was talking about the unconscious programming we have. So we can consciously want to change our behaviour, but our conscious mind is not really running the show. We need to work with our programming. Bruce sounds v. Dobsonian here! Anyway, John says the same thing on this CD and walks you through a process--v. relaxing, soothing. I melted. It goes deeper than weight-loss, beyond self-acceptance into self-love. It's for the anoerexic as well as the weight-loss candidate. It's for anyone who has body image issues--and really, who doesn't? The CD isn't ready yet, but I'll include a link when it's official. Stay tuned...

And speaking of CD's, I'm going to go record my next one today. I'm SO EXCITED! I'm not going to give away any details--except to say, no it's not labyrinth-related. Yes...v. hypnotic and relaxing...and melty....I've done some live test runs with it, John has been a willing guinea pig and has coached me through it and given me some v. valuable suggestions that have taken it from really good to GREAT. I did a final one last night with XM Radio Guy and he said, "Amazing." High praise! So stay tuned....

View from my labyrinth. Have a BEAUTIFUL day. :-) H.

The Biology of Belief: Bruce Lipton 101

"I woke up one morning and decided to live my life in nothing less than joy." ~Bruce Lipton

This was one of the key phrases that shifted my para-dig-m of how I chose to live my own life. I was sitting in Bruce's Biology of Belief seminar learning about cell biology. Cell biology! Who knew it could be so exciting? It was one of those life-changing, Oprah Lightbulb Moment, Ah-ha experiences where you realize that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm.

A cell in a petri-dish will do one of two things: it will move toward things that are life-enhancing, in this case food. OR, it will move away from things that are life-threatening, e.g. a toxin. The first is a state of GROWTH. The second is PROTECTION. A cell can do either/or, it can't do both at the same time. You may be thinking, Yeah, OK. Why do I care?

Well. Let me tell you. A single cell in your body has all the same functions as your whole body. It takes in nutrition, oxygen, excretes waste, etc. Your body is a community of trillions of cells. It's not random. Think about a community: working together, each person contributing, communicating, relating. It's an organized network. And who's in charge? YOU, the leader. You're the director, the Queen-of-the-castle, Master-of-your-domain. The question is: are you a benevolent leader? Or not? What determines that? The environment you create by your beliefs and thoughts. Do you love your body? Do you love your life? Or are you stewing in a soup of toxic emotions? How long would you continue to work with someone who worked against you? How long would you expect your body to before it rebels? As Dr. David Lee (who gave Bruce his first cold-laser treatment) says, Your body. Your health. Your choice.

So, you give a cell some food, it moves forward, it grows. You threaten it, it retreats. You give a person nurturing and s/he grows. You threaten a person and s/he retreats into a state of protection. What's the difference? THE ENVIRONMENT. Change your environment, and you change your biology--YOU. In a state of growth, you have different chemical reactions happening in your body vs. when you're in a fearful state of protection. Bruce says that we're living our lives like we're in a race. We're at the starting line and we hear, Get ready. Get set. But we never get to GO. So our bodies are in a chronic state of stress. Stress is a protective state, not a state of growth.

This is your body's response to the stress Fight or Flight Response: your body prioritizes blood flow to the back of your brain, the survival part, to the back of your legs to run, and to the arms for fighting. It is the front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex that has higher functioning skills of thought, logic, and reasoning. This is why it's hard to reason with someone who's fearful.
How much blood goes to other areas? The bare minimum. What about your immune system? That takes way too much energy. If your body is in survival mode, it's priority is not against some outside microbe. How much blood goes to digestion in this state? Not much.

And here's the thing about fear: new things are scary and avoided. Think about that. And then think about how when you're in a state of fear, you're much more likely to give up your freedom for security and personal safety. Which means you're easier to control. And now think about the media that shows scary-threatening-violence on TV, and drug companies that sponsor these "news" programs and tell you to take their pharma-zerka-toxin-el for your anxiety, your stress, your illness.

We weren't biologically designed to live in chronic stress. And yet, some people are so used to it, they think it's normal. Just because something is common, doesn't make it normal. We have a choice. So for me, I choose growth. I choose life. I choose JOY.

And if you ever get a chance, go to a Bruce Lipton seminar. Or read his ground-breaking book, The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles. OR tune into Dr. Mehmet Oz's show on XM Radio today and listen to his interview with Bruce.

P.S. You can get a month of free XM Radio here.

Lots of Busy's

This is a quickie just to get something up besides my anti-tickle rant. When I first started working for John Morgan Seminars I booked a seminar in Myrtle Beach, SC and the next night in Birmingham, AL. John said v. dryly, "You may want to get a map." Yes, I had just lumped the South all together. At one time I knew all the states, their capitals, the whole world, in fact. At one time. Anyway, so I got a map & this is it. I write quotes on sticky notes & put them in California (no plans to go there anytime soon). And yes, that's Stephen Colbert in Canada. And yes, I knew that was Canada before I got the map! No, really. I did. For some extra fun, try your hand at this little geography game that John sent me after my display of geographical retardation. haha

P.S. HAPPY B-DAY Fairie Elaine!!!

Good Touch, Bad Touch

I like to think it's because I'm a massage therapist that I'm so sensitive. But then, I've met some pretty insensitive bodyworkers. So perhaps I became a massage therapist because I'm sensitive. Touch is so personal and subjective. One person's deep tension-relieving shoulder massage might be another person's torture. Or someone's deep tissue massage might be another person's tickle. Everyone's different, and it is my job to make a person as comfortable and relaxed as possible in a session. Once I'm working on someone, I'm looking for the "Ah Stroke." Again, it's different for everyone. For a stressed-out teacher, it might be a deep stroke across the top of the shoulder. For a computer athlete, it might be getting under the scapula or working the chest muscles. I had a golf client with lower back pain and his Ah Stroke was a slow elbow up along the spine. No matter who's on the table, I can feel when they sink into that place of deep relaxation and peace, and let go of the tensions, stresses, and worries of the day.

Being sensitive like this is helpful in the healing world. It makes it a bit more challenging when I'm just out in the real world because I'm tuned to all the little nuances and details of an experience. My chiro-friend Catherine gave me a book a few years ago called The Highly Sensitive Person. Before I read it, I thought it was about someone who overpersonalizes things. But it's not about that, it's about the sensory experience: sights, sounds, smells, touch, etc. When I walk into a room, I sense temperature, lighting, clutter, cleanliness, textures. If people are in the room, I'm reading the mood and energy of the room. John has pointed out that I go right from seeing something to having a feeling. This may be why I won't watch violence on TV. It doesn't matter if it's real or not, I feel it. And it is not a pleasant sensation. On the other hand, when I watch my favourite You Tube video Hugs in Tel Aviv, I SMILE everytime. Watch the baby in the stroller offer his cookie to Hugging Guy. So sweet.

I say this all as a preface to an observation. When I'm massaging a client, I tell her to say "stop" if there's anything I do that's uncomfortable. It doesn't matter if I think she needs me to work a particular muscle in a certain way. It's not about me, it's about her. She knows her body better than anyone. And she needs to know that she can trust me that if she says stop, that I will. Immediately. That trust allows her to relax fully and allow for some deep healing to take place.

So perhaps I am sensitive to that word. STOP.

Stop means stop, no matter who's saying it. And just because someone is laughing, doesn't mean they are enjoying the experience. So pay attention all you well-meaning uncles & aunties, moms & dads & other adults in a child's world:

Tickling is FUNny, until it's NOT.

Pinning them down to the ground with your ginormous-to-a-child body is threatening and overbearing. Forced touch of any kind is a violation.

Oftentimes adults are quick to discount a child's feelings just because s/he is a child. STOP. A child's feelings are no less real than yours. Ridiculing, cajoling, or discounting a child's feelings can get interpreted so many different ways and set up patterns for a lifetime. Patterns like:

"What I think doesn't matter."
"People don't listen to me."
"Other people's feelings are more important than mine."
"Other people are more important than me."

As for the tickling:

"I don't like being touched."
"I can't trust others to touch me in ways that I would like."
"Touch is not pleasant."
"I am powerless."

I used to be a nanny half my lifetime ago. And I used to tickle little Gabe's feet and he would giggle which would make me giggle. And even then, before an education degree or hypno-training or massage school, I would stop when he asked. And he would say it like this: STOP...do it again! And I would. His body, his choice.

We are such a touch-deprived nation. And worse, not only have people not had positive experiences with touch, they've had negative experiences. Let's make an effort to create positive touch in the lives of the people we come into contact with. And while we're at it, here's another hug from Juan Mann, the guy who started the whole Hug Campaign. Have a LOVEly day.

We're a Scrabblin' Fam

Last night I played Scrabble with my 2 brothers and Mum. One of my brothers scored 87 points with “throated.” Oh, I used up all my letters, he said. Mum was miffed when we wouldn’t accept “quillest.” We googled—not a word! She said, “It’s a person who does quilling.” Oh, you mean like a knittest? Or a carpentist? Not a word. She was doubley miffed when both my brothers accepted “malk.” It’s a Simpsons reference.

See, at this point, I was just going for the laugh, because pointage was futile. And this comes from a convo between my brother and his daughter at breakfast when she was 4.

A: Daddy, may I have some milk for my cereal?

D: No, sweetie. We don’t have any milk. We only have malk. Would you like some malk?

A: What's malk?

D: Rat milk. It has vitamin R. Mmmmm….

A: OK.

My brother is a member of Mensa, and in the magazine in his bathroom is a song written to the tune of "Born to Be Wild." With lines like:

Get your IQ runnin'! Head out on the highway!
Lookin' for a pop quiz, or whatever comes our way!

I like chess and scrabble--intellectual thunder!
Grapplin' with ideas, and things to make us wonder.

Born to be Mensans!

Today we're going to sit in a field in the rain and watch horses. Woo-hoo!

P.S. Listen to XM Radio channel 54 tonight at 9 p.m. EST The Bill Hutton Show
P.P.S. Bruce Lipton on the XM Oprah Channel on Tuesday!!!

Bruce Lipton on XM Radio!!!

This Tuesday, November 13th, Dr. Mehmet Oz is interviewing Dr. Bruce Lipton on the Oprah channel. If you've thought of enjoying commercial-free radio with LOTS of channels, here's an opportunity. You can get a FREE 30-day subscription to XM to sign on and hear the show if you do not subscribe. You can go to Oprah & Friends Radio Network to check out airtimes.

And from my Fall Folliage series...this is from a red bud tree:

I see hearts wherever I go. This is what it looks like in the spring:

GLORIOUS.

Subtraction Phase

John Morgan gave me the name for this. There are times in our lives when we ADD: to our home, to our family, to our work. It could be a new pet or child or car or new landscaping. And then there are times when we subtract: children leave home, pet dies, job changes, home changes. It's a time of evaluating priorities. My friend Bess, (going through addition with new massage office), says she heard something to ask yourself when adding OR subtracting something in your life:

Do you love it?
Do you need it?
Does it make you money?

So this is my mantra as I'm slagging through the gazillion boxes I packed on my big move.: Love-need-money, love-need-money.... Do you ever ask youself: What was I saving THIS for??? Exactly.

This is my living room. The painting is an original by Rolf Owen, an artist friend of my parents. I've always LOVED this painting and I'm thrilled to have it now. I love retro Lane furniture (coffee table, end tables, & chair/ottoman). If you were sitting in the movie theatre when I was watching Down with Love, you would have heard me say, "Hey! Those are my Lane end tables!" as you see the swinging bachelor pad for the first time. I also saw them in a Doris Day movie, recently. The lamp on the left is a v. cool retro lamp, and the one on the right is an original from another friend of the family, Salahudine Hussein. I'll have to show a close-up of that sometime, it's v. clever. Anyway, all of which I love and need. For now.