I just returned from the 11th Annual Canadian Energy Psychology Conference in Toronto, Canada. If you have never visited Toronto, I recommend you do so sometime in your life. The city is expansive as it is beautiful and diverse in its population. It has excellent public transportation and a wonderful array of internationally diverse restaurants, reminiscent of other large cities I have been to such as New York and London. I recommend it as a getaway destination should you have the time off to travel. My hotel was just a 5-minute walk from the famous and enormous St. Lawrence Market.
Imagine a building as large as a Costco warehouse only with shop after shop of fresh cheeses, meats, seafood, spices as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. Let’s not forget the casual little restaurants and stands offering ethnic foods and excellent Greek baklava dripping with gooey honey and filled with pistachios, almonds or walnuts (probably my favorite dessert in the world). I ended up favoring a seafood stand named Buster’s that made the best crab cake sandwiches I have ever tasted. On Sundays, local merchants come from out of the city to sell their fresh fruits and vegetables surrounding the market as vendors fill the streets. I managed to find some just-picked locally grown raspberries that were a great treat as our Oregon berry season is now just a pleasant memory. I had fun getting to know the area of the city that was within a 20-minute walk from my hotel by making time to walk around with a map every day.
The Conference was notable because of the world class key note speakers that were presenting there this year. I had the rare privilege of attending workshops by Donna Eden (who with her husband, David Feinstein wrote the classic Energy Medicine), where she demonstrated all kinds of different ways to balance our meridians and energy body. She is extremely vivacious and lively and made for a most engaging time. Her demonstrations reminded me to make some time to review my copy of Energy Medicine as she confirmed how effective and easy it is to balance the body’s essential energy system using muscle testing as the corroborating evidence.
Her husband David presented a key note presentation on the neurology of trauma and PTSD. He reminded us that PTSD does not heal itself. The old wounds generated from trauma continue to interfere with peoples lives. A hard-to-believe statistic is that the Institute of Medicine estimated that in 2006, over 30,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were PTSD positive and that over 5-million Americans are afflicted by PTSD as well. Thus, we are a PTSD creating culture. He cited a number of studies done by energy psychology practitioners who have worked with returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as children who were traumatized by genocide in Rwanda. The studies used EFT as the stand-alone energy psychology intervention and the outcomes were remarkable. Fifty Rwandan children with PTSD were given only one EFT session. On the initial questionnaire, each of them scored 100% for PTSD symptoms. One year later, only 8% still had any symptoms! Compared to veterans using other therapy methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy coupled with medication, the application of EFT after just six sessions significantly reduced nearly all of the PTSD symptoms of all of the veterans who participated. One study he cited included 19 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. They each had six EFT sessions and the changes in their subjective scoring of PTSD symptoms went from 60.5% down to 36.8%. PTSD is among other things, a memory that is too terrible to integrate. Our brain has evolved to keep us safe. The amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of gray matter in the anterior portion of the temporal lobe that is centered on threat detection and emotional memory. This is the part of us that neurologically gets triggered before our frontal cortex even knows anything traumatic has happened. What we have learned is that the brain cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time. Energy psychology techniques create instant calming to counteract the stress response. One way to deactivate the amydala’s hypervigilence is through the use of energy psychology interventions that access our essential energy system that includes the meridian and chakra systems. This ends up deactivating the stimulus-response PTSD trauma symptoms much more effectively than traditional cognitive behavioral therapy. Considering just how comprehensive and consistently successful Dynamic Energetic Healing® is with PTSD, it is really wonderful to see how studies are beginning to emerge that corroborate just how powerful the results can be just using EFT while working with veterans and survivors of genocide who are still carrying war trauma-related PTSD residue. Attending these conferences is inspiring as I learn how energy psychology practitioners are creating well designed studies that reinforce the power and effectiveness of energetic interventions for dealing with trauma.
Joe Dispenza is the last key note presenter I want to share a few awarenesses I gleaned from his two presentations. He is a chiropractor who has been doing research on brain function and how we literally can change our brain through specific strategies. While neurological research of even 20-years ago believed that our brains are hard wired and never change, new research uses modern brain scan imaging technology that contradicts this and proves that new neuronal networks can be created through our commitment to change. How can one achieve these changes? First of all, we need to understand that every thought creates chemical changes from our brain cells or neurons and the more we think these particular thoughts, the more the neurons create expanding neuronal networks. As this occurs, the brain tissue itself grows and experiences plasticity which then reflects in changes in our physical body as well as in the larger quantum field. However, these changes don’t happen instantly—they take time. So making the time and commitment to practice repeatedly creates these desired outcomes. Mental rehearsal is one of the keys, especially in an alpha or theta wave relaxed state where our chattering conscious mind is out of the way. When we pursue this daily practice, we are reprogramming our subconscious mind which is estimated to make up 95% of our change making consciousness that runs our life in the background. Another essential ingredient for miraculous change is the strong belief and connection to the Divine Intelligence that is the Creator of all things, including all of our tissues, cells and consciousness. Dr. Dispenza’s message is simply that if your brain doesn’t change you won’t change. You can read more about his work in his book called Evolve Your Brain; The Science of Changing Your Mind.
Not only did I learn a lot from others but I also had the opportunity to do some teaching of my own. I gave a presentation about DEH along with a demo on Tuesday night that my Toronto colleague and DEH trainee arranged for me. On Thursday, I gave a pre-conference 6-hour workshop to an enthusiastic group of 15-participants who were eager to learn how to weave into a psychotherapy session the spiritual component of the power of compassionate spirits who facilitate and enable transformative change. I taught about the importance of second attention awareness and trusting Process as DEH is a non-linear process that requires trusting one’s perceptions as new information is constantly revealed. They also had the opportunity to learn the shamanic journey to the lower world. Some encountered a few problems at first so we established energetic boundaries with supernatural phenomena and the subsequent journeys went much more smoothly. One psychiatrist expressed the legitimate objection during the group process that her license could be compromised is she gets too overtly spiritual. Once this was released, she was able to journey more vividly than she ever had before. On Friday afternoon, I taught a 2-hour breakout session on how to use DEH with couples, families and groups. I plan to get this MP3 on my website in a few weeks so if you are interested, check it out in mid-November. A couple who attended my 6-hour workshop wanted a private session so we agreed that they would be the demo so they could get their session with me. It all went very well and as usual, their process was something I had never encountered before but ended up being completed just before the end of the session. The woman is doing some kind of earth healing process but was picking up subtle negative energies from the earth that had to be dealt with as a necessary step for her and her boyfriend to have good energetic boundaries with each other.
Overall, I had a great experience in Toronto and learned a lot. I am completely inspired to learn new ways to align with the Creator (by changing my brain!) and can’t wait to find out how the universe supports me in concrete ways. But I suspect I won’t have to wait too long. After all, time is just an illusion we choose to agree about.
Blessings of the whistling Columbia Gorge winds on you.
Howard
November 6, 2009
Howard Brockman
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