Be the Harmony

CEO of the Brain is Knocked Out by Stress

Stress causes a body serious harm. Researchers have already told us that stress can damage the heart by increasing the risks for high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

According to Dr. Gary Kaplan, a Long Island neurologist in the September 30, 2005 article from CanWest News Service called: Job stress takes its toll on the brain,“High stress, long hours, bad diet (fast food) in the workplace also takes a terrible toll on the brain.”

Dr. Kaplan says that the area of the brain most affected by stress is the prefrontal cortex. That’s in the front of the head behind the forehead. Here is the disturbing message. “Brain imaging and behavioral studies show that the so-called CEO of the brain, which regulates judgment, planning, problem-solving, decision making, moral reasoning and sense of self, is actually knocked out by stress.” The main controller of the brain is actually knocked out by stress.

In that same article, another expert, Fred Travis says, “If you are under constant stress, your brain is rewiring to just deal with surface facts.” It can’t handle anything else. He says, “Over time, the body’s natural feedback mechanisms break down, so even when you’re not in a stressful situation your body’s activation remains permanently on and at a higher level.” The fight or flight response in the body to stress causes a form of tunnel vision that actually takes the prefrontal cortex of the brain offline causing people to be unable to plan ahead or make far reaching decisions, which are a function of the prefrontal cortex.

Have you ever gone to the emergency room at the hospital because of an anxiety attack, feeling you were going to fall apart or that you were too afraid to take a shower because you felt you might fall apart or have a heart attack? Yes, this is stress to an extreme. If you are someone who has difficulty making decisions or you’ve lost your sense of self because of stress, if you are having trouble seeing the Big Picture, consider that it may be because of compounded stress and that you have actually rewired that part of your brain.

Energy healing self-help such as Healing Touch Quick Steps may be an easy way to support the return your brain functions to a harmonic state of wholeness. One simple Quick Step that has been known to influence healthy brain functions is called Calms Nervous System, and another Quick Step is called Waist Up-Waist Down Harmony. From the application of one or two of the Healing Touch Quick Steps mentioned here you may begin to notice a clearing of your mind, maybe even a sense of feeling energized, relaxed and alert at the same time, all from the reducing and melting away stress. This is important because no matter what kind of a day you had at work or at home, you may instantly tap into perfect harmony and rewire your brain to get yourself back on track.

Remember the Healing Touch Quick Steps do not replace, treat, diagnose, prescribe or cure. They may simply help you become clear about how best to help yourself in any moment with any conventional medicine including getting yourself to a hospital if that is what you need. Be well.

Take care. Take great self-care.

Many blessings,

Barbara J. Semple

(c) Copyright 2009. Barbara J. Semple. Entire contents. Permission received from CanWest News Service.

Heat Exhaustion Can Be Deadly. Cool Down with Healing Touch Quick Steps

Elderly people and saunas. Sounds like a crazy thing to be talking about in the deepest, coldest part of winter with Arctic blizzards occurring and way below freezing temperatures outside in Northern Hemispheric places, unless you frequent a sauna. This is a short article about using a specific Healing Touch Quick Step to help clear heat out of the body fairly quickly.

Last week while exercising in the pool at the local fitness center, I saw an elderly man stagger out of the sauna and almost fall into the jacuzzi. Every part of his body that was visible - legs, arms, chest, face, head -  was an evenly bright red. He looked like someone had painted him fire engine red. I happened to know the man and began engaging him in conversation to see if he was all right. His life force was so shallow that he spoke very faintly. He was not all right.

He was sitting in a chair near the pool and was acting agitated. He could not get comfortable. He put his head in his hands and bent over. Then he tried to cover his head with his towel and he put his head back down in his lap.

I felt intuitively that he needed to get his body cooled down as quickly as possible. I exited the pool and calmly walked over to him. I looked around for the fitness center attendant. I didn't see her. There was one other person in the pool area with me, a student of mine actually. I felt it important to stay with the man, my friend. All of this was happening very fast. I did not know until I did a Google search later at home that heat exhaustion and heat stroke can actually cause organ failure and death.

I had been in the pool for 24 minutes when the man walked out of the sauna. He was in a 179 degree extreme heat environment, engaged in an interesting conversation with someone. He lost track of time. He'd been in for 30 minutes or more, and he was a man in his 70's.

I carried a wastebasket and a box of tissues to him in case he might vomit. He needed to blow his nose. I asked if I could get him some cool water. He had a water bottle close by that in his weakened state he could not pick up by himself. I helped him sip water.

I asked if I could help cool down his body. He said yes. I asked if I could place my hands on him. He said yes. First I gently touched his elbow, and placed my other hand on his opposite front rib so he could feel where to place his hands. I took a step back from him and applied the same Healing Quick Step to myself so that he could see what I was doing. So he didn't have to figure anything out. The man mimicked what I was doing and placed his fingertips on his elbow and other hand on his opposite bottom rib. Within about 15 seconds (all the while he was talking softly about the delightful conversation he'd just had with an interesting fellow in the sauna) he said: "Oh my dear I am suddenly feeling better," exhaled and smiled. He continued to hold his elbow and opposite bottom rib for maybe 5 minutes (I continued to hold mine too) and then I suggested "we" switch sides and do the other elbow and opposite rib for good measure. We did that.

I stayed with the man for about 10 minutes. The first clue to his body responding positively to the therapeutic healing touch was when I heard him say he was suddenly feeling better. That was a fairly instant clue. Both the other woman in the pool and I continued to witness in amazement as the redness literally began to leave his body from the top of his face descending all the way down his face! One part of his face was now white, natural skin tone and there was a perfect horizontal dividing line across his face where the natural skin tone filled in and the red color was vanishing. It seemed so surreal, as though his body was a bottle of red water and the red liquid  was somehow effortlessly emptying itself out of this man's face and down the front of his body in a perfectly measured way, like the redness was being pulled out of his "container" from the bottoms of his feet. His skin tone went from complete red to normal skin tone before our very eyes! The sound of his voice becoming stronger, and the man becoming more present also told me that his life force was coming out of its critical need.

I am always in awe at the seeming miracles I observe in others as well as myself with these energy healing quick steps.

Now of course, Healing Touch Quick Steps do not replace emergency medical care. The fitness center attendant, who was also an emergency medical tech, came in minutes later. And, by the time she had arrived, this man was markedly on the track of cooler health again. And I heard later that the man was back at the sauna every day after that, only this time for much less time. I thought to myself, he is acting as though nothing ever happened. Did he receive help that was that good? I do not know. I think I would have stayed out of the sauna for at least a few days. And, every person's harmony is different.

So for future reference, you will find in your own Healing Touch Quick Steps HOME GUIDE, which you can purchase at my website if you do not already have one, the Healing Touch Quick Step for cooling the body that we did to help this man is called Uplifts, Brings Vitality, Recharges Heart.

Happy Solstice. Stay warm but not extreme heat for long periods of time.
Take care. Take great self-care.

Many blessings,
Barbara J. Semple
Self-Healing Advocate

www.healingtouchquicksteps.com

Copyright (c) 2008 Barbara J. Semple. Entire contents. All rights reserved.

The Secret to Surviving Stress

While we are experiencing our darkest, longest nights of the year as we arrive at Winter Solstice (December 21), there seems to be more and more tension and stress "in the air." I have been reminded quite specifically in the last few days that the secret to surviving stress is consciously choosing neutrality, staying as neutral as possible and coming back into neutral as quickly as possible.

What do I mean by neutral? Anything that does not have a "charge" around it - thought, feeling or action - is neutral. Grace is neutral. Ease and grace are neutral. Have you ever noticed that stress has a certain electricity and agitation to it. It's rather acidic. For example, for many people the holidays bring up all kinds of emotional memories, good and bad. You notice I didn't say stress. Good or bad means there is a charge or agitation to the thoughts, feelings or actions associated with holidays and being with family. Neutral is neither positive or negative, good or bad. Neutral is the place of wholeness, feeling complete in the moment in a state of no thing. Ah.

Our beloved cat recently gave me a really great lesson about the value of staying neutral. Last week we discovered that she was dealing with some kind of cancer "project." The vet advised us to make her as comfortable as possible and to consider picking a date for her to depart this earth plane. I know many of you have been in our shoes. We had never been here before and we were definitely in uncharted, very uncomfortable territory (STRESS). We talked with a number of our friends and every one of them said "It is hard. That's all I can say."

Our Girl Cat seemed to be losing ground by the hour, so we picked a time and date for the vet to come to our house and help her pass. We felt deeply saddened. We wished our beloved cat would simply go in the night so we wouldn't have to make this anguishing decision or take this action. We were lost in space for 5 days watching our cat deteriorate, we thought. We found ourselves trying to prepare, to make the euthanizing perfect. Yikes. As I said, we had never been here before. As the time for the veterinarian to arrive approached, I noticed MY breathing constricting (STRESS). I felt anxious. (STRESS).

What happened next knocked our socks right off! The vet arrived with tools in hand for the procedure. She placed her other hand on our cat and Girl Cat darted away to a place where we could not reach her. In that moment our cat chose life and said loudly and clearly with all her fervor: "I am NOT going today!" First we were stunned. Then we felt relief. And guess what? Since that moment that our cat adamantly chose life, she seems to be growing stronger and eating more. Incredible, I know.

Here is my awareness of neutrality. When she had made her decision for how her life would play out, we felt liberated, totally relieved. We felt lighter.  I realized that I have no idea what the next moment or day will be with our cat, and for my own sake and hers, I decided I will stay neutral about any outcome and address whatever happens in the moment. I will not make up anything about how things should go for her. I will stay in the present moment and respond then. That is what I mean by being neutral. For myself, having made that conscious choice freed up a ton of energy. That's quite amazing. I realized I  truly appreciate when my energy is freely flowing rather than constricting and literally cutting off my airways. And when I was "lost in space" with my anguish in uncharted territory, it was my body, my breathing that advised me that something wasn't good (very much in a state of "charge.")

Consider this. Neutrality is not a state of being for which society allows much space - sports, politics, media, bosses, work, school, family - and I haven't even mentioned traumatic life circumstances. For our wellbeing and health, we have to find neutrality or create it on our own. In addition to making a conscious choice for neutrality, also known as grace, also known as centered wholeness, one of my favorite ways to come into neutral with Healing Touch Quick Steps is called The Complete Breath Hug. Here's how you apply it, anytime, anywhere - at a moment's notice. Cross your arms and place your fingers under your arms with your thumbs resting flatly on your chest. Relax your shoulders, arms and hands as much as possible, breathe normally and simply be with your body's natural system of healing while you involve your mind in counting 36 of your exhales. Your inhales will follow naturally. :-) That's it!

Neutral IS where the POWER is. It's where your infinite reservoir of life force is. Neutral as Eckhart Tolle might say is The Power of NOW.  What a relief! The Winter Solstice reminds us, and actually takes us to that place of neutrality with that longest, sleep filled, replenishing night of the year. In this challenging and fast-paced world, remember the secret to surviving stress rather than allowing acidic stress to burn your energy to smithereens, is neutrality. May you have long periods of neutrality day and night, in a state of ease, grace and joy, interspersed with minimum amounts of life stress. Take care. Take good care.

Happy Solstice and Holy Days,
Barbara

Copyright (c) 2007 Barbara J. Semple. Entire contents. All rights reserved.

COMMENT from a reader: "Zen Buddhists have another way of saying "coming into neutral." They call it "Being Still," which they call 'the Third Position.' "

Take Time Out from the Burdens of Your Life

This refreshing story came to me in an email. I do not know who the lecturer is. Here is bright, clean wisdom about the burdens in life. Part of the grace of Healing Touch Quick Steps therapeutic self-healing touch is that when you place your hands on your body and tap into your body's natural system of healing, you can easily unburden and support your whole being without even knowing what all of the burdens are. I encourage you to take time - a minute or 5 for your personal wholeness. Enjoy!

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "how heavy is this glass of water? "

Answers called out ranged from 8oz. to 20oz. 

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.  If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all  the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.  So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.  Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short.  Enjoy it!"

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

· Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

· Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. 

· Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker. 

· If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

· If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

· It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

·  Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

· Nobody cares if you can't dance well.  Just get up and dance.

· The second mouse gets the cheese.

· Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

· You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

· Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

· A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Take care, take good self-care. Many blessings,

Barbara

Copyright (c) 2007 Barbara J. Semple. All rights reserved.

Exercising Your Unconditional Love Muscle

I believe a loving relationship with a pet can actually improve a person's health and wholeness. When you tap into your body's natural system of healing, you are tapping into the same kind of unconditional, neutral, never ceasing energy that you can experience from a beloved pet or an infant child. What I'm about to share with you is a gift I received from our cat. I didn't learn this from any published scientific journal, though I've read somewhere how a beloved cat or dog in one's life can help balance the human's high blood pressure. My discovery comes from my own sensations after having lost our precious cat a year and a half ago.

Two days before Christmas our dear cat of 11 years passed away. I had never had a pet before, and I had never had the experience of a loved one who lived with me, die. Her passing caused me to realize my "Unconditional Love" muscle. You might recognize this muscle as your compassionate Heart. Yes, the Heart is a fabulous, expanding and contracting "Unconditional Love" muscle. I feel tremendous gratitude to our cat though I didn't recognize viscerally what she really did for me until after her passing. Her presence in my life was unconditional, never ceasing, neutral, without a hidden agenda. My wise friend says that cats come into this world pure and that under normal, healthy conditions (meaning no abuse or meanness), they can remain content in their natural state of purity for a good long life. Cats do need to be supported with food, nurturing and shelter their entire lives, unlike a human infant that eventually grows up to take good care of herself.

Here is how I found my "Unconditional Love" muscle. Each time I remembered my cat, talked about her, smiled about something she used to do, and any memory of her, I felt pleasurable waves of energy radiate out in all directions from the center of my heart in the center of my chest cavity. I felt a palpable radiating movement in and out (that I later would realize was actually love flowing in and out of my heart center), which is very different from placing your hand on your chest and feeling your heartbeat. I never really noticed such a visceral expansion when our cat was alive. It was only when she wasn't there anymore that I recognized that my physical heart space and chest area felt less alive, less active.  It actually felt tight and stagnant, and hurt a little bit.

Logically, my husband and I had no intention of replacing our beloved cat. We didn't want to just get another cat for the sake of having a cat, and we didn't know if we'd be lucky enough to find another that we could love and be as compatible with as we were with our first cat.  Then exactly 49 days after the death of our little sweetheart, we adopted a small abandoned cat from the humane society and dove into a brand new relationship with a totally different and unpredictable little being. We knew that for our health and wellbeing we wanted the multiple times a day, every day of the week, joyful, enlivening expansive waves of radiating movement of our "Unconditional Love" muscles.  We consciously chose wholeness. I am delighted to share, from our own scientific study of reproducing the same effect over and over, that my husband and I are enjoying harmonious rhythm and movement of our "Unconditional Love" muscles - more than we ever thought possible - with our new, very loved cat. We have our first cat to thank for this special gift of awareness her passing brought to us.

When you tap into your body's natural system of healing, you are tapping into the same kind of unconditional, neutral, never ceasing energy that you can experience from a beloved pet or an infant child. I encourage you to experience as many times a day as possible, the graceful, very nurturing active radiating of your "Unconditional Love" muscle especially in a combination of a beloved pet or infant relationship, as well as daily practicing of your Healing Touch Quick Steps hand placements, for a deeply enriching whole being cumulative effect. To love is to heal. To heal is to love. Take care. Take great self-care. Many blessings,
Barbara

Copyright (c) 2007 Barbara J. Semple. Entire contents. All rights reserved.