Category Archives: Mind

Medicine, Mind

The shocking truth about your health: Lissa Rankin

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Lissa Rankin, MD is an OB/GYN physician, author, keynote speaker, consultant to health care visionaries, professional artist, and founder of the women’s health and wellness community OwningPink.com. Discouraged by the broken, patriarchal health care system, she left her medical practice in 2007 only to realize that you can quit your job, but you can’t quit your calling. This epiphany launched her on a journey of discovery that led her to become a leader in the field of mind/body medicine, which she blogs about at OwningPink.com and is writing about in her third book Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can Heal Yourself (Hay House, 2013).

She teaches both patients and health care professionals how to make the body ripe for miracles by healing the mind and being healthy in all aspects of life, not just by promoting healthy behaviors like good nutrition, exercise, and adequate sleep, but by encouraging health and authenticity in relationships, work, creative expression, spirituality, sexuality, finances, and living environment. She is leading a revolution to feminize how health care is received and delivered by encouraging collaboration, fostering self-healing, reconnecting health care and spirituality, empowering patients to tap into the mind’s power to heal the body, and encouraging women not to settle for being merely well, but to strive for living vital, joyful, authentic lives full of “mojo.”

When not spreading the word, she chills out, paints, does yoga, and hikes in Marin County, CA with her husband and daughter.

via The shocking truth about your health: Lissa Rankin at TEDxFiDiWomen – YouTube.

Breath, Breathing, Dehypnosis, Emotions, Fear, Forgiveness, Freedom, Healing, Health, Love, Memory, Mental Health, Mind, Spirit, Spiritual Health, Tapping, Thought, Trauma

Spirit is the healer

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Some say Spirit is the healer and they are right. But what does that really mean? Is the Spirit that heals, a ghost? An amorphous being, a specter, phantom, apparition or halloween spook? No, the spirit that heals is far more than that — and far more readily available to all.

The word spirit comes from the Latin noun spiritus, which means breath and from the Latin verb spirare, which means to breathe.

Spirit is the breath that breathes you. Spirit is the life that lives you. Spirit is the motion that moves you. Spirit is always there — filling you from within you holding you all around, about. There is nowhere spirit is not. You are never alone. Every breath you take is a gift of love.

God breathed life into Adam and God breathes life into you every moment of every day and all night through.  Breathing freely, fully and deeply is your natural condition.

When you are afraid, your breath becomes quick and shallow — you hold your breath. In essence, when you are afraid and hold your breath, you are saying No! to life.  At that point, tensions get stuck in your body.  When you recall the point at which you held your breath, you breathe again – the dis-ease, fear and tension are released. When breath is restored, ease is restored; Love returns to fill the place where the fear had been lodged. You are free.

And that is why they say,

Spirit is the healer.

Abuse, Dehypnosis, Depression, EFT, Fear, Feelings, Forgiveness, Happiness, Healing, Hypnotherapy, Love, Memory, Mental Health, Mind, Miracles, Moods, Suffering, Thought, Trauma

You are only as sick as your secrets

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Sometimes secrets are intentionally kept. On birthdays we don’t want our friends to know what we are giving them because we want them to be happily surprised.

Sometimes wonderful, velvet memories are kept secret because they are intensely private and personal. We do not care to share what they are because they might be misunderstood and not cherished by others as we cherish them ourselves.

But then there are the prickly or even stabbing secrets that hurt us then and continue to hurt us now. Those secrets are best aired and released. We fear that to tell them would only burden others, so we keep them to ourselves.

Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood said that he used to write and write to get all the horrible secrets from his childhood out of his memory and onto the paper. Many people write, sing, make videos, journal and blog to get their stories out of their minds.

Sometimes secrets are so secret that they are secret even from ourselves. We have buried them deep in our minds because we don’t want to ever think again of the terror, horror, grief, pain, shame, guilt, humiliation. Many of the deepest secrets we have kept hidden from ourselves originated long ago — in childhood and even before.

Unfortunately, secrets unavailable to the conscious mind do not just go away of their own accord. They are still securely stored in the human subconscious, the hard drive, better known as the body. Unreleased tension can be stored in every muscle and cell of our body.

For the sake of our health and happiness, we need to locate and release those tensions. It is not difficult to do and it need not be painful. In fact, releasing old traumatic memories it is usually experienced as pleasant, freeing and empowering.

Here, we focus on simple, safe ways to release forgotten trauma and unpleasant emotions. We are available to coach you to free yourself from the chains of the past. Once you know how, you can release fear as it arises. To gain that degree of control over fear is the most exciting adventure on planet earth.

Everyone is welcome!

Fear, Healing, Love, Mind, Miracles

The mind… fear… love… healing… miracle

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The mind

Mental health can be very simple. You are not crazy; nobody is. Nothing is irrational once all the facts are known. Healing merely requires learning how — and then doing it. All dysfunction, explored, points to a common source: fear.

You have but two emotions: love and fear.
All healing is essentially the release from fear.

What is fear?

Fear is the stress, tension and tightness that grips us when we think we are in danger — we might feel angry, sorrowful, grief-stricken. In short, fear is everything we experience when we are not in the awareness of love’s presence. Fear is everything that is not Love. Fear distracts us from love. Fear is everything we’d rather ignore, but it seems to keep surfacing until we give it the attention it is calling for.

Perfect Love casts out fear.

Fear gets stuck in the subconscious, the body, where it feels like tension, tightness and pain. Here, we help you release fear.

What is love?

Love is what you are. The bible says that you were made “in the image and likeness of God”, that “God is spirit”, “God is light”, ”God is love” and “the Kingdom of God is within you.” Scientists would say M=E/C2, or “matter is energy in motion.” So in short, you were created in the image of spirit, love, light… pure energy… and nothing less. Love is your true nature.

”Looking for Love in all the wrong places” — looking for love in the outer world, in people, places and things — is stressful and ultimately serves to distract you from your immaculate, inborn nature. Returning your focus inside, you experience what has been there all along — wonder, power, peace, joy, love, ease, health.

What is healing?

Since, “All healing is essentially the release from fear”, then our purpose is to facilitate your release of fear and a speedy return to the state of love. Contrary to what you have been taught, healing is the real game on planet earth. Healing frees. You can do it; you can heal. Healing is inevitable.

What is a miracle?

A miracle is a shift in perception, in thought. When you shift out of fear into love, that is a miracle. Much like learning to ride a bike, shifting becomes easier with practice, until it is natural and automatic. The good news is…

Healing is always certain.
Shift happens!

Birth, Body, Fear, Mind, Trauma

For many women, a V-section can be as traumatic as a C-section

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by Kathryn Lane Berkowitz

Did you know that for many women, a vaginal birth with an episiotomy can be just as traumatic and painful as birth with a cesarean ? It’s true. The birth of my oldest child, who weighed on 5lbs and 5 oz was delivered via a mediolateral episiotomy and forceps. It was extremely painful. I refer to that birth as my “V-section” because that’s how it felt to me. I felt sliced and diced. And I was!

I had many, many stitches that itched and burned and nothing made it go away. This continued for several weeks. I was breastfeeding and it was all I could do to turn over in the bed without pain so intense that it made me nauseated and faint feeling. I had to have someone “spot” me every time I got up to use the bathroom because I was afraid I would faint. I was completely incapacitated.

In case you are unfamiliar with the term “episiotomy”, here is some information, and illustrations:

Patient Information on Episiotomy

Here is what some other women have said about their experiences with episiotomies :

“My husband and I had a baby boy on Christmas day. The doctor performed an episiotomy and it has been 8 weeks. I thought it had healed just fine but last week on Valentine’s Day my husband and I tried to make love and I was unable to due to pain in the area of the episiotomy.”

“I had my only child four years ago and I had an episiotomy. Now, four years later, my scar is itchy, swollen and irritated.  I also have been having strange feeling in my right leg that feels like something is cutting off the circulation at my upper thigh.”

“My episiotomy was not slight. It was severe and not only did it take me weeks before I could pee without crying, but it took me a year before I stopped itching my crotch. It was like a yeast-infection on speed as it was healing. Not fun at all. Not only that, but it still doesn’t feel the same down there. He cut through the muscle tissue so the whole vag-area feels just very funky and sad.”

And here’s a sad report about a death from episiotomy:

New Mother Dies from Episiotomy Infection

Aug. 2, 2001 – El Paso, Texas – Eight days after giving birth, a new mother died from toxic shock, due to an infection at the site of the episiotomy done while she was giving birth.  Treatments were unable to halt the progress of the infection, resulting in kidney failure, pneumonia and ultimately heart failure.  She leaves a grieving husband, baby daughter and other family.

I have known women who have developed rectovaginal fistulas after episiotomies. And I know a woman who developed a MRSA infection in her episiotomy. These women have had to search out services like these: Urogenital Repairs

Even though the practice of episiotomy has not been supported by the medical literature as providing any benefit in a normal vaginal delivery, many doctors still perform them routinely. Talk to your doctor or midwife about episiotomy and make an informed decision. If it were me, I would just say. “NO”!

Protect your local perineum!

Many thanks to the author of this article, Kathryn Lane Berkowitz, wife, mom of four adult children, grandmother, artist and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. From Kathryn’s blog, Birth Whisperer.

Bio, Dehypnosis, Healing, Hypnotherapy, Mental Health, Mind

Who is Auntie Patricia? Patricia Robinett?

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Observation constitutes the foundation
of every science.
Charles Sanders Pierce

Auntie Patricia is a detective, a scientist, a lady who wears many hats. She has delved deeply into several areas of life because something in her loves to solve mysteries … Who are we?… What are we? … What makes us tick? …  Why are we the way we are? … Why are things the way they are? … What is the point of life? … Is there a purpose?

Well, since Auntie Patricia is writing this, she might as well write in the first person…

In my work as a clinical hypnotherapist, I do not hypnotize people, since most or all of us are already living in a deep trance of fear and forgetfulness; rather, I de-hypnotize people. I wake them up from their walking trances. And in the same way, I de-hypnotize myself daily, moment by moment as circumstances arise that distract me from my peace of mind.

In regression therapy, I’ve facilitated many past life memories, which miraculously facilitate the gentle release of ancient fear, hatred, anger, grief, boredom and trauma, always in the interest of reclaiming the peace and joy that are our natural inheritance.

All healing is essentially the release from fear.
To heal is to make happy.
A Course In Miracles

A Course In Miracles is one of my favorite books because it talks extensively about healing and leads us to Knowledge, which is a direct experience of who and what you truly are. Are you a vulnerable physical body, personality and history? Or are you indestructible pure energy, spirit, life? Belief is not enough. We must know, because that is where uncertainty ends. In the ACIM Teacher’s Manual it says:

A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends.

That beautiful universal experience is called Knowledge. My book Knowledge, The Essence of World Scriptures is a collection of quotes from around the world and through the ages that motivated me to seek until I received Knowledge. This book is also an inspiration to anyone else wanting the same. And after they receive Knowledge, the quotes in this book will inspire them to savor it.

ACIM and Knowledge helped me stay peaceful when I discovered that I’d been circumcised as a little girl. I wrote about that journey of discovery in my book The Rape of Innocence, Female Genital Mutilation and Circumcision in the USA. I am deeply grateful to the course for its information on healing and to Knowledge for its comfort.

Auntie Patricia is also a healing coach. Oops!… back to first person…

I coach friends and clients to release trauma and find peace of mind, to lose excess weight and to let go of substances they are allergic or addicted to. My work is to make it easier for people like you to move away from self-destructive thoughts and behaviors, toward happier, healthier ways of being.

I feel grateful when I can help even one person. If I can be of service, please let me know. Your happiness blesses me too. Read here on this blog, join the Community forum if you like, and if you’d like to make an appointment, you can write to me from the Contact page.

Fear, Memory, Mental Health, Mind, PTSD, Self Medication, Trauma, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Veterans, War

Returning military face new enemies – PTSD & TBI

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The legacy of America’s combat missions will continue to affect the thousands of troops who come home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Many soldiers, like Colby Buzzell, were looking for excitement and purpose in the war, but were permanently affected by the combat they saw.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do or be,” Buzzell tells NPR’s Guy Raz. “Our country was at war, this was my chance to be part of history.”

“You think of all the things you’re going to do once you go back home,” he says. But once he got home, he had trouble coping. He began drinking heavily to avoid reliving firefights and combat missions. Eventually, he became more withdrawn. He and his wife divorced.

When Buzzell received a letter calling him back into the Army, he says, he would have done anything to avoid going back. He knew he wasn’t mentally stable and had been suicidal in the past. Finally seeking help, he was diagnosed with PTSD and deemed “undeployable” by the U.S. Army.

Though thousands of soldiers are diagnosed with PTSD, many more suffer without treatment. Among those who do seek treatment, doctors are finding another, distinctly different problem called traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

The two conditions have similar symptoms, but the causes are quite different. While PTSD is a psychological disorder that can be treated with medication and therapy, TBI is physical injury to the brain that requires cognitive treatment to help rebuild function.

“Fundamentally, PTSD is a disorder where you remember too much, whereas TBI is a disorder where you don’t remember enough,” says Dr. Gregory O’Shanick, National Medical Director for the Brain Injury Association of America.

“The main differences are that individuals with traumatic brain injuries also will have neurologic symptoms such as headache, light sensitivity, dizziness and will have difficulty, many times, with balance,” O’Shanick says.

Individuals with PTSD, on the other hand, will re-experience events or have emotional or behavioral symptoms, like “feeling ashamed, feeling guilty, avoidance types of behavior, things of that nature,” O’Shanick says.

Fortunately, doctors are working to develop a better understanding of how to treat the two different disorders and more soldiers are seeking and receiving treatment.

Dehypnosis, Fear, Forgiveness, Healing, Hypnotherapy, Love, Mind, Miracles, Psychology, PTSD, Spirit, Spiritual Health, Trauma

For healing: hypnosis or de-hypnosis?

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“All healing is essentially the release from fear.”
– ACIM

Hypnosis can be a powerful tool for good — or for ill. Hypnotic suggestions program your mind, which is essentially the hard drive of your body computer. We have all been programmed to believe what we believe, to see ourselves and the world as we do.

Some love the color red; others hate it. Some love dogs; others fear them. When we came from the womb, we were simply open and receptive; fear has hypnotized us all and imprinted us all with different programs.

Fear is an especially effective means of hypnosis. A trained hypnotist might suddenly push you off balance or clap loudly next to your head… for he has learned that fear puts the subject into a trance of shock. Once in trance, suggestions can be made that will go deep into the mind.

Someone may be an excellent hypnotist and have the best of intentions, yet not know what you personally need. Only you know. Only that part of you that is below the conscious mind knows what you have been through and what you need to hear to heal the past.

This is why I recommend de-hypnosis. We need to be de-hypnotized from all the trauma we have known — from our creation until the present. Once all the trauma is gone, we are naturally restored to our innate peace of mind, joy and unconditional love.

When you are very relaxed, your own inner wisdom can show or tell you what you need to know to heal your life.  It works every time. It is very efficient. It never harms.

ACIM, Judgment, Love, Mental Health, Mind, Miracles, Pain, Release, Spirit

Relinquishing judgment

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These wise words are from A Course In Miracles, Manual for Teachers…

In order to judge anything rightly, one would have to be fully aware of an inconceivably wide range of things; past, present and to come. One would have to recognise in advance all the effects of his judgments on everyone and everything involved in them in any way. And one would have to be certain there is no distortion in his perception, so that his judgment would be wholly fair to everyone on whom it rests now and in the future. Who is in a position to do this? Who except in grandiose fantasies would claim this for himself?

Remember how many times you thought you knew all the “facts” you needed for judgment, and how wrong you were? Is there anyone who has not had this experience? Would you know how many times you merely thought you were right, without ever realising you were wrong? Why would you choose such an arbitrary basis for decision-making? Wisdom is not judgement; it is the relinquishment of judgment. Make then but one more judgement. It is this: There is Someone with you Whose judgement is perfect. He does know all the facts; past, present and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgement on everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to everyone, for there is no distortion in His perception.

Therefore lay judgement down, not with regret but with a sigh of gratitude. Now are you free of a burden so great that you could merely stagger and fall down beneath it. And it was all illusion. Nothing more. Now can the teacher of God rise up unburdened, and walk lightly on. Yet it is not only this that is his benefit. His sense of care is gone, for he has none. He has given it away, along with judgment. He gave himself to Him Whose judgement he has chosen now to trust, instead of his own. Now he makes no mistakes. His Guide is sure. And where he came to judge, he comes to bless. Where now he laughs, he used to come to weep.

It is not difficult to relinquish judgment. But it is difficult indeed to try to keep it. The teacher of God lays it down happily the instant he recognises its cost. All of the ugliness he sees about him is its outcome. All of the pain he looks upon is its result. All of the loneliness and sense of loss; of passing time and growing hopelessness; of sickening despair and fear of death; all these have come of it. And now he knows that these things need not be. Not one is true. For he has given up their cause, and they, which never were but the effects of his mistaken choice, have fallen from him. Teacher of God, this step will bring you peace. Can it be difficult to want but this?