Quantum Healing Center - Meditation, Yoga, A Course in Miracles - Spiritual Center in Delray Beach

Petition to Educate and Don't Medicate today's children!

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:56:00 +0000

Sign our Petition to Educate, Not Medicate!

A Course in Miracles - Building a Foundation of Miracle Mindedness

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:29:00 +0000

Clear Mind Open Heart Meditation as Digital Download

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:38:00 +0000

Clear Mind Open Heart Meditation is now available as a digital download on teachoutloud.com for listening to on your mp3 player or Ipod...

Clear Mind Open Heart Meditation

October Class and Events at the Quantum Healing Center

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Drop by the Quantum Healing Center in Delray Beach for a meditation or yoga class, or enjoy one of our special events this month...

Click for the pdf version of the full listing...

The Trance of Spirituality

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:33:00 +0000

The Trance of Spirituality

Have you ever noticed how you can say one thing, think something different and feel in your body something else all together? Consider this..you say " I have forgiven them" yet you think "but I hope I never see them again" and you feel a tension in your body of resisting the impulse to to punch them in the face.

Sound familiar? This is this split mind at work and IS the level most "spiritual" people achieve. Of course they won't tell you that as they have so thoroughly repressed their body's feelings and emotions they are excellent at pretending their way through life..living in their "heads" disconnected from the feelings in their body. This split leads to most illnesses and emotional breakdowns as its dishonest at it's core.

Honesty is when the thoughts, words and feelings are ALL aligned and coherent. This is rarely achieved as most keep themselves in their spirituality trance repeating self hypnotic beliefs, positive thinking affirmations and ongoing "prayers" to overcome the way they really FEEL inside their body at their core!

Now don't get me wrong..some shift is better than none..and positive thinking,prayers etc sure beats negative thinking and not praying..but its NOT enough!

Most stop here and run around in La la land thinking everything will now go wonderfully as they have learned the Secret! (This is the trance of spirituality) Yet this often only causes more distress as it sets up another opportunity to fail and feel unworthy, inadequate or not good enough to have ones desires go unfulfilled.

I myself have gotten caught in this silly game many times as I trained my mind so well though meditation, A Course in Miracles and many other mind development
techniques I denied the natural impulses in my body. (and oh my what an incredible release to access them and release them! ) .Eventually we all have to face our humanness and realize we may not be "of this world" but we do "live in it" and our bodies are the condensed levels of consciousness that we live through here that acts as our unconscious mind! That's right the body is the unconscious mind and it's only through our feeling in the body that we access our true power.

Although overlooked by most even A Course in Miracles..a mind training spiritual psychotherapy tells us " The body is the means by which God's Son returns to sanity" The course is clear how the ego displaces its' feelings of guilt into to the body to keep it hidden!

What I am trying to share with you is that until we are fully aligned with our body and mind we are in a trance of self deception that the ego promotes. The ego seeks to keep us from looking within at what it has hidden in the unconscious mind/body. The ego never wants us to experience our true peace and will always be in conflict, self sabotaging or not feeling our core essence as we are afraid to look within the hidden recesses of the body.

This is why I recently reoriented all meditation and A Course in Miracles classes to get deeper transformation. We dive deeper into the unconscious mind so as not to be just changing conscious thoughts. Only looking at conscious thinking is like mowing a field full of weeds, soon the roots of the weeds regrow themselves causing the same problems over again. I am also making a new CD to explain this much deeper with numerous Course and quantum psychology references.

I hope this short explanation makes sense to you as to why many issues keep resurfacing, why "forgiven" people still bother you and why you feel resistance to situations you thought you already worked through. Perhaps you'll understand there is another way and its through even deeper work beyound whatever you thought it was( if you are conscious of it, it's not it..as its the unconscious aspect of it is below that which is what is creating the problem!)

Namaste,Brian

A Way To Happiness and A Satisfying Life - A Feeling Good and Happy About Your Life Workshop (Early Registration Discount Ends Friday)

Feeling unhappy or anxiety in life is a human trait that occurs anytime poor choices are being made that cause suffering, loss, fear or guilt. Anti-depressants may help overcome some of the symptoms of depression or anxiety and may be helpful for some to move forward in their life but it doesn't*t address the cause of the problem. This is why I am doing this special workshop. This workshop will teach you how to correct perceptions, attitudes and choices to discover a workable way new ones that bring greater happiness. For over a decade I have worked with hundreds of people diagnosed as bi-polar or suffering from depression and anxiety to achieve consistent results for all completing my program.
The purposes of this program are:

1- To become happier and more relaxed without medication and either reducing or no longer taking anti-depressants if currently being taken

2- To learn helpful living skills to experience more happiness and less sadness while removing unconscious and repressed issues in the body/ mind/spirit.

3- To Reverse many of the negative *side effects* from the medication including loss of sexual drive, anxiety and insensitivity.

4- To Reconnect to the body, family and inner creative impulses to feel more relaxed,happier and alive again.

As all our workshops are..we guarantee full satisfaction upon completion and offer a full course refund if not satisfied upon finishing the complete program.

This is a program that is very experiential in nature and will include bioenergetics, yoga, centering, breath retraining, detoxification of mind and body, self hypnosis, NLP and coaching.

When: Monday September 24th at 7:30 p.m.( Each Monday for 9 weeks)

Cost:$252 if paid by Sept 1st - $288 after wards-PLEASE CALL KARA AT THE QUANTUM HEALING CENTER TOREGISTER AT 561-272-3733

Any participants on medication are asked to inform and get permission from their prescribing physician to do this program to supervise their medication withdrawal if this is desired. This workshop does not offer medical advice or diagnosis of any kind.

The next Sacred Women's Circle is September 9th Sunday at 6:30pm with a special guest speaking about creating helpful energy in your home.

Slideshow of Clearminded Children's Program at the Quantum Healing Center

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:35:00 +0000

How to Succeed with Your Intentions

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:53:00 +0000

To be able to manifest your highest intentions in a life or in a relationship there must be an unobstructed channel for these intentions to emerge from. The purity of your flow and your conviction determines the power extended from your core. A pinched rubber hose filled with heavy mud allows a weak and restricted water flow to exit the nozzle.

The Path to experiencing fulfilling relationships is: by living in a place where there is an absence of fear and a presence of trust. Trust and faith, gives your intention greater extension and the power to your into the space of the field of energy/consciousness we exist in. If you fear frustration, un-fulfillment or their consequences, the tension of your inner core will tense, constrict, and prohibit the fulfillment of what you want. The power of an arrow with a chain attached to is weighed down by the weight of the chain and limited by the chains length. Each doubt or belief you get what you intend - acts as a counter force to your intention. Learn to be doubtless, full of faith and complete determination. Intention Counter Intention.

Effort Counter Effort

Yet even as you place this conviction into the arrow of intention, you must completely let it go for you so it is. Any attachment to your intention literally ties a chain to it and weighs it down preventing its freedom of movement to let consciousness organize around it. This often comes from an infantile belief that you will be annihilated if you do not have/get what you want. Your fear induces a cramp that acts as a counterforce a denial of your original desire to receive.

The quest for manifestation is to first commit yourself to recognize and overcome the fear and unconscious avoidance and resistance. Take steps to begin to reverse this hidden self sabotaging aspect of the unconscious. Admit to the destructive side you hold about yourself and others and express it as it wasn't allowed to be expressed back then. Through various activation and rehabilitation processes re-educate the infantile and ignorant aspects of yourself . Churn in your new ideas into other levels of your consciousness and sort through old beliefs, feelings, and body structures. Then you wait patiently for new connections to occur as you to let the infant inside grow up!

A Very effective exercise that can help you connect to the aforementioned idea to release unconsciously held inhibitions and weaknesses is by foot stomping - chest pounding - shouting What about me? - want some too - and ts not fair - Feel the movement and surrender to it emotion - until fatigue or emotional release. Use an image of a memory with a parent or person that best connects you to these feelings to help activate the emotions. You can also visualize another person who represents these feelings to you not getting what you want, or someone you feel opposes you.

Any person not bringing his or her unconscious feeling experiences into consciousness must bring all the repressed material into the next incarnation. The embedded material seeks out circumstance and people for the next incarnation that will give an opportunity to bring this dormant unassembled material to the fore again. Eva Perakos - The Pathwork of Self - To the degree you have not experienced transformation fully of your infantile needs, you must attract similar experiences later in life - the most painful element in it is the un-fulfillment of your legitimate needs as a child. The negation of your real needs creates your false needs. Whatever is real at one period of a persons life may be utterly false and unreal at a later period.

The law of attraction is clear - like attracts like. When your goal, wish or prayer comes from an ego belief of luck, fear or guilt - to prove something, get what you deserve etc. - the genesis of your goal was wished for while emanating in a field of consciousness based in fear, guilt or lack. And this negative laced wish attracts more the like kind of itself even though you verbally state the positive side of it.

The denial of the pain of relationships un-fulfillment perpetuates these unmet needs and projects it into a later time onto other people it is a false need! You can get now what you didn get then! Your ego needs wants are built on separation and therefore are weak and without authentic power. Ego goals often try to prove something to yourself or another, or create a sense of superiority being right or special - &rsquod rather be right than happy.

Your attempts at relationship wish fulfillment can create continued frustration and emptiness until restrictions to self knowledge and inner peril no longer dominate. Then as the super ego steps in with its need to be perfect it uses punishment toward yourself and then toward others, who are now distorted in your mind to appear to be the cause of your negative self feelings. This is termed projection.

Consider this: Real power never requires others to comply and give it to you. Intentions regarding relationships follow the same principals as anything else although these experiences are far more valuable. Relationships provide an opportunity to open up normally closed areas of your heart core and so can show you insidious layers of repressed emotion and thought. Every relationship you enter into is a holy encounter regardless of the out come. Infantile yearnings unsatisfied in the dark side of your inner child emerge significantly in relationships and are a fantastic opportunity for self awareness and correction. The real yearning for love, companionship and sharing can only begin to be fulfilled when the soul is ready to love and give. This must never be confused with the neurotic need to be loved.

The same person who demands others to demonstrate their love first before demonstrating theirs - will never know the truth that giving is receiving and it is true you can reap what you haven first sown! A baby has a small reach as it has limited mobility. It extends it hand to take, to get what it needs to feed it hunger and fill it needs. Instinctual consciousness directs infants while it develops it reach out - only to get what it wants. It gives nothing but it presence and constant demands. It learns to cry to get attention to having it needs met.

Remember needs are of the body and relate to its present survival. Babes learn to love That which fills their needs. Desires or/wishes develop as intelligence does after separation instances occurred when needs weren met. The mind begins its self imaging process and creates the formation of its personality. Desires/wishes are always an attempt based on the past and were efforts of the mind to compensate for what need wasn met in the body. Desires and wishes are hypnotic commands that will now replace the material flow of existence using its belief of wish fulfillments to replace what is they the pictures from the past unmet needs are used to monitor and judge the actions you take today. Wishes and desires are based on imagination - not what is and so it draws one into an illusion based existence caught in the movie playing in their head (perception).

Only when these infant distortions are broken through and adult you learn to give as an adult - from deep in your heart, fearlessly, convincingly, will the depth of a relationship be truly known.

As long as you believe you are really willing to love, but fate is slighting you and whom you can love - you are really ardently engaged in trying to fulfill the childhood need with a substitute parent. The Guide - (Pathwork)

Solution - give up old emotions and beliefs which encase you. - Learn to live in the now - remove all obstructions and real love will fill your present need.

What are adult needs - self - expression, growth, development, realizing ones spiritual potential - and never blaming another for your choices and what is.

Unreal needs are demands made upon others they can never be fulfilled.

To prepare yourself for having satisfying relationships first bring your feelings back to yourself learn to tap your inner resources and open the wells of giving and loving feelings. See the entire path as I show you in the diagram for manifestation The Big Picture of the steps for fulfillment. This is the path to freedom manifestation of your intention.

Remember: No matter how bad your parents failed - they cannot be responsible for your suffering now (i.e. they didn buy you a bike as a kid - so you were deprived and never learned - why haven you bought your own bike as an adult and have someone teach you?) Each time you reference your parents upbringing or past experience as why you made a poor disconnection choice now - you haven taken the responsibility necessary to own your current choice and action, forgive yourself of the mistakes, take corrective action, and peacefully try again.

To succeed in developing core manifestation - it takes a strong willingness and commitment to purify your core. Whenever there is obstruction, un-fulfillment or an un yielding wall in your life, an unreal need has to be looked for. Find and express the voice and recognize fallacy (i.e. notice there are happy people not in romantic relationships).

An infant seeks omnipotent rulership - a special position in which the surrounding world owes it unquestioned obedience. The infant demands everybody fulfill it desires. When it wish can be gratified - and it never can - frustration is enormous. This tension creates a drive for perfection to relieve the tension and obtain the control it feels it. As this is often not realized, feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, regret and guilt build to feed the False Core/False Self.

E xercise: Think of all the many relationships available to you in your work, hobbies, spiritual path, community, volunteering, sports, and other activities. Create a mural or collage of this. Make a mind map showing connections to one another to get a sense of the matrix of your consciousness. Meditate on the pure space of self and experience the unifying connection life has with life regardless of the form, action or location. Learn a deep and satisfying relationship with all of life.

On-going practice: Anytime you find yourself demanding something of others, trying to control everything around you, act hurt to make someone feel bad, do something to gain someone approval, or do something that really goes against who you are and what you value - Stop - Pause - Take a Deep Breath and shout it out This is my (name this infantile strategy) or quo or means of compensation of what I believe I missing) will not victimize myself with this belief anymore. I am aware I can make an adult choice now and I choose to do so. I forgive myself for my mistake and ask guidance for correction of my thinking. What I really want is peace and chose to discover another way to experience it and I open myself to it.

The Clear Minded Children's Program at the Quantum Healing Center

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:21:00 +0000

More media about the ClearMinded Children's Program:

Clear Minded Children's Program - An Overview of Today's Drug Orientation - Part I

MP3

Educate, Don't Medicate...

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:23:00 +0000

Dangerous Solutions for Solvable Problems

“The responsibility of those given power and authority over children is to be helpful and patient to create a safe, nourishing environment to learn and grow. Our constitution dictates the protection of our rights to be free in our pursuit of happiness.

Certainly forcing toxic and addictive drugs upon children is neither nourishing nor productive of a child’s right to be the creative person they are. Surely its time to choose another way that respects a child’s rights“.

THE EDUCATE DON’T MEDICATE CHOICE Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Solutions to Reverse The Symptoms of ADD/ADHD Without Medication The Clear Minded Children’s Program Eleven Case Studies By Dr. Brian Sheen

Surely there must be another way - a first choice that has zero negative side effects. Fortunately there is AND it costs less while bringing about greater family unity and strength that can last a life time to help children function successfully in schools and life.

Currently there is an estimated eight million school children as young as four years old are daily being dosed with Ritalin (a methylphenidate), Adderal and other addictive, cocaine like toxic drugs. Common side effects include insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of creativity, depression and increased risk of suicide.

Children on these drugs have a higher occurrence of stunted growth, Tardive Dyslexia, Turrets Syndrome and Tics. Additionally, due to the social stigmas associated often with ADHD labeled children they are given the message that they are disabled (and often labeled as such by the U.S. Government to qualify for thousands of dollars in Federal Funds), defective and broken, making them more prone to escapism through illegal drugs as they get older.

For over twenty years I have stood by and watched with horror at how this massive drug experiment on our future generation mushroomed. I couldn’t understand why such extreme and dangerous options were chosen without attempts to change the method and system that was providing these educational failures. Over the past 12 years as other parts of the world shunned the use of medicating students, the United States had over an 800% increase in the use of drugs for school children. The U.S. uses over 90% of the world’s production of methylphenidates (Ritalin etc.) and anti-depressants. Our entire country has been hypnotized by a continuous onslaught of pharmaceutical ads targeting different colored pills to make our lives happier. It reminds me of how the cigarette industry brainwashed so many to think cigarette smoking would make us sexier, more successful and help us enjoy life more. Haven’t we learned our lessons from the tens of millions who developed severe life changing illnesses and the millions who died of cancer? Is this tragedy about to repeat itself? After watching this alarming rise of doctor prescribed drug use on many school children, I decided to take a proactive approach and use the techniques I had used successfully with adults for decades and adjust them to work with children and teenagers. In order to address the origins of the difficulities rather then "treating" the symptoms, I developed The Clear Minded Children’s Program (TCMCP). TCMCP takes a totally different approach to dealing with unfocused and highly energized children.

Please note that I do not call children hyperactive, I term them energized. Hyperactive has become a term that associates the natural energy a child can exhibit as a pathological symptom of an illness. This line of thinking turns the blessing of having an abundance of life force into a curse. Unlike diabetes or heart disease, here evidence supporting the diagnosis can be seen in a blood test or X-Ray, “ADHD” presently has no biological indicators. To treat it biologically,with potential dangerous medications should be considered as a last resort and not a first choice. (Until an objective method of testing is created to show specific biological markers that demonstrate this as a “disease“ all those so labeled should have this diagnosis“ deleted from their records).

A human’s nervous system is an intricate and constantly adjusting biological process that seeks to maintain homeostasis balance to ensure the survival of the organism. ADD/ADHD drugs like Ritalin etc.. can reduce blood flow up to 30% to the brain while reducing the amount of oxygen, nutrition and the metabolic rate. These medications cause “brain failure” as part of the brain stops functioning while the neurotransmitter system is over activated to compensate for this shutting down. It’s common to see this result in causing tics, tourettes syndrome, stunting of growth, irritability and insomnia. Imagine causing these effects on children as young as three! Surely this is a punishment that can destroy the rest of their lives. TCMCP enhances and optimizes the brain function building the body’s systems naturally to provide it increased strength and development. Through the constant ebb and flow of information from the seven senses - seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling, feeling and thinking, our bodies learn to adapt to our internal and external nvironments in pursuit of the maintenance of it’s existence. As the hunters and gatherers of yesteryear learned how to integrate the many influences they were faced with in their lives, our children today are also developing their neurological systems to deal with their experiences. We can not ignore the unprecedented speed of information and change that our current generation is exposed to. The fact that there are diverse responses to these influences is a testament to the creative intelligence our mind/body systems posses.

Perhaps more than anything we should view these children’s response as a message for helping our political, social, business and educational leaders to find new ways to create more flexibility, harmony and compassion in the plans they implement. This is why I view each child’s unique way of processing life energy and then provide a safe, non-drug solution to develop healthy and creative ways to utilize it. The Clear Minded Children’s Program addresses the root causes of “ADD”. Some of these causes are an untrained mind, misdirected education that suppresses creativity, acting out due to a stressed home environment, insufficient physical activity to discharge inner energy, a poorly balanced diet or something else.

EDUCATE DON’T MEDICATE We must teach children how to be happy in their bodies and environments; feeling their feelings them and learning how those feelings can help direct them accordingly in life. Drugging children merely masks the body’s needs and disassociates them from the mind/body feed back systems. To demonstrate this point let us look at a stomach ache. A stomach ache quickly tells you to stop eating what you’ve been eating or you’ll feel sicker. Our bodies communicate to us when we’re out of balance and need to make adjustments to get back into balance. Imagine if your stomach never told you when you’ve eaten enough! Our children can be strong and balanced rather than rugged and cut off from their body’s natural feedback system. If we numb children from what they are feeling, how do they learn the true result of their decisions and actions. Overpowering their systems with a potent and potentially dangerous, artificially created substances must be a last resort, not a first choice. TCMCP program is based on the principles of developing children’s strengths and transferring those skills to abilities that are not developed yet. Once children learn how to focus, relax, connect and make healthier choices, they thrive at school, at home and in social circles. They feel good about themselves and don’t walk around thinking they are cursed. I have observed and spoken with hundreds of children diagnosed as DD/ADHD. My observations have been formed from working with both parents and children. My research has clearly shown that labeling children with a disease because sometimes they don’t concentrate or are hyperactive, is FALSE science. These same ADD/ADHD children often sit three, four or five hours in front of a video game, TV or computer. Where’s the research that shows the biological imbalances this disease” causes? Should we start giving insulin to everyone who has a reaction to too much sugar thinking they’re diabetic? Of course not, you say, for that we would require a blood test first to check sugar levels, as injecting insulin can be dangerous!

Different conclusions as to the cause of ADHD/ADD could be deduced if these symptoms were understood as Attention Disinterest Decision. Who doesn’t fidget, get impatient or let their mind wander when they get bored or see no value to what they are watching or listening. Don’t we all get feisty and protest when we are forced to do something that we don’t find useful or fun? We’re creative, intelligent human beings, not programmed unfeeling robots!

I’d like you to consider a different interpretation of the facts: Whenever a child’s energy, interests and natural impulses are held inside or not expressed, this unexpressed energy causes an inner un-ease. Please check this conclusion with your own internal experience when your impulses are given an opportunity for release.

“THE EDUCATE DON’T MEDICATE CHOICE Since children are a voiceless minority without any authority, even over their own bodies’ voices, they are forced to change unwillingly. Since there has been no scientific evidence of the causes of “ADD” or “ADHD” , the prescribed, toxic drugs only affect existing symptoms and create new undesirable ones like insomnia, stunting of growth or depression! TCMCP addresses the underlying causes of the attention deficit through education, skill development, resolving harmful family conditions, training and validating what is right about these gifted children. There is no question that speed, uppers and other cocaine like stimulants can create artificial focus and energy and this is what Ritalin, Adderall and other methylphenidates do. The primary principle I began this program with was understanding that with dangerous “side” effects occurring in such a large percentage of students (often forty percent or more), I strongly believe that a safer way, at least as effective, should be considered first! I would love to compare side by side the results of TCMCP with those of long term medicated children. Recently a nineteen year old college student who has been on ADD medications since she was three years old (16 years!) came to see me. She was now taking Prozac to deal with the unwanted “side” effects of pulling out her hair her Adderal was causing (common side effects). When she heard I could help her be medication free she got excited to finally feel what her body was really like (although scared about the withdrawal symptoms from 16 years on speed). It is very common for children taking ADD/ADHD medications to be on two, three & four different medications in an attempt to relieve the long term effects the toxic drugs they are taking create. She already had tics in her face from her long term addiction: As she could only see me only once before returning north to school I suggested she begin TCMCP CD series. She quickly agreed and was very excited at the notion of being drug free. Later when her mother came to pick her up, her mother got angry she’d even considered being medication free as she declared this was an illness they both had (mom was also on medications for 16 years)! After doing a regression with this young lady it was obvious her mom used their “illness” as a defense against acknowledging the war like environment she placed her daughter in, as she and her husband were always yelling and screaming at each other, putting their daughter in the middle. By blaming her daughter’s imbalance on some pseudo-disease called ADHD (and one she said she was being treated for as well) she wouldn’t have to face the effects she and her husband caused. It was also apparent that the daughter was still in the midest of this war, even as the parents divorced 15 years ago as the mother used this “illness” to get financial assistance continually from her ex-husband. Drugging millions of school children with cocaine-like drug effects should be a last resort, NOT a first choice. Children need to have a clear mind and drug free body to build a productive future. These drug solutions cloud, mask and numb their minds poisoning them, while predisposing them to a drug dominated existence. STICKS AND STONES Most of us remember the rhyme “Sticks and Stones”. It reminds us that “names can never harm you”. Unfortunately in life, the experience of being called derogatory names does harm most people and can cause life altering consequences. The names many of the ADD/ADHD labeled children are given by other kids, teachers and parents are devastating. These labels include freak, idiot, Ritalin boy, pill pusher, trouble maker, learning disabled and anger management kid. It doesn’t take much intelligence to know any one of these labels is enough to harm anyone’s self image and therefore their ability to reach effectively into the world with confidence. A HEALTHIER SOLUTION I believe our attention should first be focused on the educational system itself. Schools should provide information that is relevant and useful. Any curriculum more than five years old must be updated. It’s time we stop cramming useless facts and figures into children’s heads to which hand held computers give them instant access anytime. Adults should help provide useful information on living in today’s service and information oriented era, while being willing to listen to the students on how to do this as they are the ones experiencing this. We should help students learn to think in new ways that enable them to sort through the flood of data to distinguish importance, priorities and relevance. A few examples would include: teaching children to obtain meaningful insights as to the causes and effects of events and history, while considering creative alternatives that could have changed the harmful outcomes. Doing an exhibit of projects, art, poetry, music, dance, theatre community service. Less fact memorization and more using what is being learned in focused and fun ways that create “joining” and shared interests. Helping children learn choices that can bring them inner peace is certainly more valuable than memorizing dates of what war started when. Understanding motivations for historical events, the effects of contrary belief systems and influences of vested interest groups can strengthen our children’s ability to reason, to evaluate and arrive at peaceful solutions that brings us together without dragging us in to a deeper conflict. Perhaps creating educational teams who work at their own pace to achieve a curriculums purpose can help students move in their natural rhythms and not get bored or feel rushed. It’s time to acknowledge – there must be a better way and giving dangerous medications to robotize our children only acknowledges that those educating have failed at being successful educators. This is a reflection on the incompetence of those in charge not on the children themselves. Our Approach The Clear Minded Children Program (TCMCP) helps families develop greater concentration, greater abilities to adapt their way of processing information in the world in useful and comfortable manners while learning to be able to function in a variety of life situations in a more coherent and productive way. Through meditation, yoga, bioenergetics, psychoneuro-immunology, hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, Quantum Psychology, Choice Therapy and other alternative modalities of transformation, my staff and I help children and their parents build and develop new abilities to relax, focus, participate and feel good about themselves. Children, parents and staff alike join in the goal to develop effective skills and be medication free! We believe today’s youth, combined with parental involvement, are smart enough to learn and change if they realize it is to their benefit. TCMCP capitalizes on people’s deepest desires to be free and happy, to feel inspired to live a fulfilling life in whatever way they choose without needing to take dangerous and toxic medications. A child’s mind is a proverbial blank slate when they enter this world. Like a computer they accept whatever input they are given without evaluation, as their programmers (family, friends, etc.) input their beliefs, values, attitudes and approaches. Consciously or unconsciously, they model themselves after their care givers and surrounding influences without the ability to analyze the quality of the information received. Substantial portions of this input comes in the form of fictional stories that are passed on from generation to generation without any thought given to what the metaphors mean and unconsciously begin to construct in a child’s mind. I’ve never understood why we sing a song to help a baby to sleep that invokes the imagery of rocking a cradle on a tree top whose “bough breaks” to have the cradle fall so “down will come baby cradle and all”. Visualize that in your mind and see if it comforts you and helps you to feel safe going to sleep. And don’t we all know someone - waiting for their knight in shining armor to come whisk them away from living in quiet desperation? When we remember that the ages between birth and five years old is the most active period of developing our core self, we can learn to be far more careful about the stories, home environment, and interactions between caregivers and children, aware that the child is using all their seven senses to mentally construct their self image and their perception of the world based on what they hear and see. Children are wonderful hypnotic candidates as they are trained to focus on the imaginary realms in video games, cartoons, movies and TV. Our job as caretakers of the next generation is to communicate positive and loving dreams with meaningful purpose to extend their creative and heart felt talents. The lessons we teach should help children access their own divinely given talents. TCMCP utilizes group sessions for the children and parents enrolled in the program. Small groups are created based on students energy levels and maturity. In these group sessions we do meditation, yoga, bioenergetics, masking, art, sculpting, play therapy, theatre, dance and singing to develop and encourage existing outlets of expression and discover new ones. All of these have now been put in a special CD series so anyone can learn to do this (go to www.clearmindedchildren.org). Our approach is simple: work with the generation of today to learn how they like to learn and express, while teaching parents/teachers how to pace the child’s energy to guide them both to be better focused, connected and able to make helpful and connecting choices. Pacing Is The Key Pacing is a process of building rapport by working in the rhythm and intensity level presented by the student. The preposterous idea that we artificially manipulate a students life-force to get them into the school system’s rhythm is not education but a process of domestication that one might do to an animal (though I’m sure effective animal tamers don’t even go to these extremes.) Do we really have an effective and relevant school system if it needs to drug eight million kids into submission? Frightenively (this number could easily double if Teen Screen is permitted to used (see appendix). We must keep in mind children don’t suffer from attention deficits, they suffer from Attention Dis-Interests from being forced to learn irrelevant, useless information in a confining jail like atmosphere. Every child I’ve ever met can spend hours playing sports, watching TV or instant messaging. They have all the attention they need when they are interested. Forced learning with the only purpose of passing some state based test like FCATS - is IRRELEVANT! Knowledge is not information, knowledge is a useful understanding of something that can be used to produce a result. Mobility and processing huge streams of information electronically and mentally to sort out the levels of importance are the major themes of our generation. It’s vital we all learn not to become overwhelmed with spam. Today it’s a world of mobile phones, MP3 players, satellite linked computers and WI-FI. Mobility must be integrated into our educational structures. Daily releases of energy are essential through PE, recess or creative classes done phonetically or with exercise. We need to UPDATE our learning system to recognize what IS and not try and force children into a system developed when NONE of the aforementioned inventions even existed! Perhaps Kahlil Gibran said it best when he said, in the Prophet “You may give them your love, but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls. For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday“. Through parental involvement a strong bond is built as both learn helpful new ideas and develop new abilities to work together as a supportive family unit. Pacing lets us learn from the next generation how they are learning to deal with this future shock that would make even Future Shock author Alvin Tofler and Megatrends author John Nasbeth gasp! The internet has changed the way we live forever…and it’s only a decade old! Educating children to move with the current flow of life and helping parents adjust is vital to obtain a balance emotionally and homeostasis physically. It’s imperative we keep the sixteen to twenty years of school education relevant. Because of the advent of the computer every five years there is more information generated than had been previously generated in the entire history of man! The internet is the best yardstick for this growth. Google any topic and you’ll quickly see this for yourself. We are leaping forward at the speed of DSL! THE PULSATION OF LIFE A foundation principal of the TCMCP is that when there is a build up of impulse within an organism that is not provided a healthy release, it builds anxiety, frustration, anger and depression. Soon the body-mind builds defensive armoring to either numb itself or cut itself off from feelings building in their body. Sometimes this pressure builds so high it is finally released in a rage that can be very destructive. I utilize much of the research of Dr. Alexander Lowen, in Bioenergetics to teach kids to feel their bodies and use them as a feed back mechanism for making better decisions. This is a great problem with people on psychiatric drugs as most recipients feel wooden, numb or disassociated from their bodies’ feeling. THE SCOPE OF THE BOOK "THE EDUCATE, DON’T MEDICATE CHOICE: Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Solutions to Reverse The Symptoms of ADD/ADHD Without Medication Using The Clear Minded Children’s Program

Eleven Case Studies

I have written this book to describe eleven specific cases focusing primarily on the child‘s process. Parental involvement will be discussed in detail. The first subject is “The Troublemaker”, a ten year old boy who had been taking Strattera due to an ADHD diagnosis. The second history is a twelve year Ellen who had been on both anti-depressants and methylphenidates and had a “devil” inside her. The third case study is Ken, an eight year old boy who was on Ritalin, Zoloft, Risperdahl, Strattera and finally Adderal. In Latisha and her unstoppable smile, your heart will be warmed and inspired. Jessie is the fifth case study subject. And an excellent one in which to see the intricacies of how a family’s dynamics contribute to a child’s mental state. Roslyn is the sixth case study who, although not completing TCMCP due to a continued unhealthy family situation, she was still able to achieve success in becoming medication free. The seventh story discussed is what I call “Richard and the Angry Tree.” This example shows the complexities of family systems. The history of Natalie and her “inappropriate” behavior demonstrates how well a high schooler can turn herself around. The Journey of Justin - whipped, broken and repaired will probably bring tears to your eyes as you read it. The report on Ricky and his new possibilities shows how even in loss, great gains can be made. In each case they were successfully weaned from their medication and given new skills to practice in order be successful and stay medication free. Lastly is the study of Harold - from D’s and F’s to straight A’s while experiencing the disintegration and the start of a new reformation of his family system. Through this entire book individual child or family names have been changed to protect the privacy of these families. The newly released Clear Minded Children’s Program CD series takes you through all the phases which are in these case studies and many more that aren’t in this report.

This is howthe book THE EDUCATE DON’T MEDICATE CHOICE Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Solutions to Reverse The Symptoms of ADD/ADHD Without Medication Using The Clear Minded Children’s Program Eleven Case Studies

Educate, Don't Medicate...Video

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:16:00 +0000

A Video on the Clear Minded Children's Program

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:23:00 +0000

A Course in Miracles

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:04:00 +0000

©Dr. Brian Sheen
A Course in Miracles is a complete self-study spiritual thought system. As a three-volume curriculum consisting of a Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers, it teaches that the way to universal love and peace—or remembering God—is by undoing guilt through forgiving others. The Course thus focuses on the healing of relationships and making them holy. A Course in Miracles also emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum, of which there are "many thousands." Consequently, even though the language of the Course is that of traditional Christianity, it expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality. A Course in Miracles therefore is a universal spiritual teaching, not a religion.

The "Text" presents the theory of the Course and has built into its study the development of the experience of forgiveness that is the Course's goal for the student. In this regard, A Course in Miracles states that "its goal for you is happiness and peace." (Text, p. 241) (T-13.II.7:1) The Text also explains the basis for fear and guilt, and how they can be overcome through miracles, which are defined as maximal "expressions of love." The miracle is defined as the shift in perception from fear to love.

The "Workbook for Students" consists of 365 lessons, an exercise for each day of the year. This one-year training program begins the process of changing the student's mind and perception, though it is not intended to bring one's learning to completion. As stated in the Preface to the Course, "At the end, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit." (Preface: ix)

"The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.

"The overall aim of the exercises is to increase your ability to extend the ideas you will be practicing to include everything. This will require no effort on your part. The exercises themselves meet the conditions necessary for this kind of transfer."

In addition, a little faith in the process and in your inherent ability to understand and succeed will be helpful, but even that is not required if you are willing to seek the truth about yourself and the world, and the happiness that awaits you for your efforts. The introduction goes on to encourage us to trust in ourselves and in Who It is that is always with us to direct us along the way:

"Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.

"Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required,"

There are a variety of things you could do that might serve as companion to your visit to the day's Lesson, such as relaxing and listening with eyes open or closed to what is read, using the spoken word to follow the printed word from the Workbook itself, or even joining friends in support of one another's efforts along the way. Whatever your method, the important thing is that you proceed in a way that is comfortable for you and that fits your personal study habits and lifestyle.

The "Manual for Teachers" is written in question-and-answer form and provides answers to some of the more likely questions a student might ask. It also includes clarification of a number of terms the Course uses, explaining them within the theoretical framework of the Text and for their practical application through the Workbook.

What It Says

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.

This is how A Course in Miracles begins. It makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law, the law of love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal, and unambiguous. It can be unrecognized, but it cannot be changed. It applies to everything that God created, and only what He created is real. It is beyond learning because it is beyond time and process. It has no opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely is.

The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation, and death. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.

From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception, however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant defense precisely because it is not real.

When you have been caught in the world of perception you are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without help, because everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality of the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only Way out, the true Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy Spirit, to mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because, while on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also recognizes our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit's goal to help us escape from the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about. However, the Course has its own definition of what forgiveness really is just as it defines the world in its own way.

The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference—the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception" (Text, p. 445). We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own mistakes—our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may take—we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are being "good" and "charitable," but because what we are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or "forgive." At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us and as us.

Sin is defined as "lack of love" (Text, p. 11). Since love is all there is, sin in the sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be corrected, rather than an evil to be punished. Our sense of inadequacy, weakness, and incompletion comes from the strong investment in the "scarcity principle" that governs the whole world of illusions. From that point of view, we seek in others what we feel is wanting in ourselves. We "love" another in order to get something ourselves. That, in fact, is what passes for love in the dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that, for love is incapable of asking for anything.

Only minds can really join, and whom God has joined no man can put asunder (Text, p. 356). It is, however, only at the level of Christ Mind that true union is possible, and has, in fact, never been lost. The "little I" seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions, and external "love." The Self That God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved, and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than project. It has no needs and wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of abundance.

The special relationships of the world are destructive, selfish, and childishly egocentric. Yet, if given to the Holy Spirit, these relationships can become the holiest things on earth—the miracles that point the way to the return to Heaven. The world uses its special relationships as a final weapon of exclusion and a demonstration of separateness. The Holy Spirit transforms them into perfect lessons in forgiveness and in awakening from the dream. Each one is an opportunity to let perceptions be healed and errors corrected. Each one is another chance to forgive oneself by forgiving the other. And each one becomes still another invitation to the Holy Spirit and to the remembrance of God.

Perception is a function of the body, and therefore represents a limit on awareness. Perception sees through the body's eyes and hears through the body's ears. It evokes the limited responses which the body makes. The body appears to be largely self-motivated and independent, yet it actually responds only to the intentions of the mind. If the mind wants to use it for attack in any form, it becomes prey to sickness, age, and decay. If the mind accepts the Holy Spirit's purpose for it instead, it becomes a useful way of communicating with others, invulnerable as long as it is needed, and to be gently laid by when its use is over. Of itself it is neutral, as is everything in the world of perception. Whether it is used for the goals of the ego or the Holy Spirit depends entirely on what the mind wants.

The opposite of seeing through the body's eyes is the vision of Christ, which reflects strength rather than weakness, unity rather than separation, and love rather than fear. The opposite of hearing through the body's ears is communication through the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, which abides in each of us. His Voice seems distant and difficult to hear because the ego, which speaks for the little, separated self, seems to be much louder. This is actually reversed. The Holy Spirit speaks with unmistakable clarity and overwhelming appeal. No one who does not choose to identify with the body could possibly be deaf to His messages of release and hope, nor could he fail to accept joyously the vision of Christ in glad exchange for his miserable picture of himself.

Christ's vision is the Holy Spirit's gift, God's alternative to the illusion of separation and to the belief in the reality of sin, guilt, and death. It is the one correction for all errors of perception; the reconciliation of the seeming opposites on which this world is based. Its kindly light shows all things from another point of view, reflecting the thought system that arises from knowledge and making return to God not only possible but inevitable. What was regarded as injustices done to one by someone else, now becomes a call for help and for union. Sin, sickness, and attack are seen as misperceptions calling for remedy through gentleness and love. Defenses are laid down because where there is no attack there is no need for them. Our brothers' needs become our own, because they are taking the journey with us as we go to God. Without us they would lose their way. Without them we could never find our own.

Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven, where the need for it would be inconceivable. However, in this world, forgiveness is a necessary correction for all the mistakes that we have made. To offer forgiveness is the only way for us to have it, for it reflects the law of Heaven that giving and receiving are the same. Heaven is the natural state of all the Sons of God as He created them. Such is their reality forever. It has not changed because it has been forgotten.

Forgiveness is the means by which we will remember. Through forgiveness the thinking of the world is reversed. The forgiven world becomes the gate of Heaven, because by its mercy we can at last forgive ourselves. Holding no one prisoner to guilt, we become free. Acknowledging Christ in all our brothers, we recognize His Presence in ourselves. Forgetting all our misperceptions, and with nothing from the past to hold us back, we can remember God. Beyond this, learning cannot go. When we are ready, God Himself will take the final step in our return to Him.

Neuro Linguistic Programming

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:19:00 +0000

©Dr. Brian Sheen

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a method, set of techinques, or personal development system developed in the early 1970s by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, in association with Gregory Bateson. It uses a toolbox of strategies, axioms and beliefs about human communication, perception and subjective experience.

NLP's core idea is that an individual's thoughts, gestures and words interact to create their perception of the world. By changing their outlook, using a variety of techniques, a person can improve their attitudes and actions. I call it "the study of the structure of subjective experience".

NLP teaches that a person can develop successful habits by amplifying helpful behaviors and diminishing negative ones. Positive change can come when one carefully reproduces the behaviors and beliefs of successful people (called 'modeling'). It also states that all human beings have all the resources necessary for success within themselves.

Bandler and Grinder credited three successful therapists — Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson — as NLP's major inspirations. They 'modeled' the therapists and developed special "patterns" for general communication, rapport-building and self-improvement.

What is NLP?

Neuro: The nervous system senses signals to the mind, through which our worldly experience is processed via five senses:

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic
• Olfactory
• Gustatory

Linguistic: Language and other nonverbal communication systems through which our neural representations are coded, ordered and given meaning.

Includes:
• Pictures
• Sounds
• Feelings
• Tastes
• Smells
• Words (Self Talk)

Programming: The ability to discover and utilize the programs that we run (our communication to ourselves and others) in our neurological systems to achieve our specific and desired outcomes.

In other words, NLP is how to use the language of the mind to consistently achieve our specific and desired outcomes.

When was NLP created?

NLP was initially created in the 1970’s by Richard Bandler a student of mathematics and gestalt therapy and John Grinder a Professor of Linguistics at The University of California Santa Cruz. They began modeling and duplicating the "magical results" of a few top communicators and therapists.

Some of the first people they studied included Hypnotherapist Milton Erickson, gestalt therapist Fritz Perls and family therapist Virginia Satir. Since then, many others have contributed to the growth and development of the field.

What are some beliefs of NLP?

(This is a short list summarizing some of the thinking behind NLP)
• People are not their behaviors. Accept the person; change the behavior
• People have all the resources they need to succeed and achieve their desired outcomes
• The meaning of the communication is the response you get
• Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available
• We are in charge of our minds and therefore our results
• There is no failure, only feedback

Bioenergetics

Bioenergetic Analysis is a body-oriented psychotherapy based on the expression of feelings and the re-establishment of energy flow in the body. Developed out of Wilhelm Reich's character analytic technique of vegetotherapy by Alexander Lowen and others, it is practised under the auspices of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis. Bioenergetic Analysis recognises several clearly circumscribed human character structures, each able to be "read" in the form and posture of the individual's body: schizoid, oral, masochistic, psychopathic, rigid and narcissistic. Bioenergetic treatment involves the adoption of one of a number of "stress positions" designed to promote confronting the individual with his or her structure, and the repressed emotions holding it together. The most common position is standing upright, knees slightly bent, weight on the centre to outside of the feet, belly relaxed (the"grounded" position); then fists pushed into the middle of the back (to open the chest region}; and head up and chin pushed slightly forward (assertion of the right to be/feel). Bioenergetic Analysis is practised as an individual and as a group psychotherapy.

In therapy groups, the most common application of bioenergetics is in exercises such as beating a pile of mattresses with a tennis racquet or the fists, or lying on the back on a mattress kicking and yelling. This method is thought within co-counselling movements like Re-evaluation Counselling to be based on promoting bodily emotional discharge. The basic tenet is that when a person breathes deeply, he or she can begin to feel deeply, and that with deep feeling comes a resurgence of repressed feelings and lost memories, which need to be understood both on the feeling and reflective levels through catharsis, verbal processing and physically grounding the individual in emotional reality.

Hypnotherapy

What is hypnotherapy?

The term "hypnosis" is derived from the Greek word hypnos , meaning "sleep." Hypnotherapists typically use exercises that bring about deep relaxation and an altered state of consciousness, also known as a trance. Many people routinely experience a trance-like state while they are watching television or sitting at a red light. A person in a trance or deeply focused state is unusually responsive to an idea or image, but this does not mean that a hypnotist can control his or her mind and free will. On the contrary, hypnosis can actually teach people how to master their own states of awareness. By doing so they can affect their own bodily functions and psychological responses

What is the history of hypnosis?

Throughout history, trance states have been used by shamans and ancient peoples in ritualistic activities. But hypnosis as we know it today was first associated with the work of an Austrian physician named Franz Anton Mesmer. In the 1700s, Mesmer used magnets and other hypnotic techniques (hence the word, mesmerized ) to treat people, and while he achieved a number of dramatic "cures" for blindness, paralysis, headache, and joint pain, the medical community was not convinced. Mesmer was accused of fraud and his techniques called unscientific.

Hypnotherapy regained popularity in the mid-1900's due in to the notoriety and career of Milton H. Erickson (1901-1980), a successful psychiatrist who used hypnosis in his practice. In 1958, both the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association recognized the therapy as a valid medical procedure. And since 1995, the National Institutes of Health has recommended hypnotherapy as a treatment for chronic pain. Other conditions for which hypnotherapy is frequently used include anxiety and addiction; see the section entitled What illnesses or conditions respond well to hypnotherapy?

How does hypnosis work?

When something new happens to us, we remember it and learn a particular behavior in response to that circumstance. Memories stored in our mind hold the original physical and emotional reactions that occurred when the given memory was first formed. Each time similar events occur again, the physical and emotional reactions attached to the memory are repeated. These reactions may be inappropriate or unhealthy. In hypnotherapy, the trained therapist guides you to remember the event that led to the first reaction, separate the memory from the learned behavior, and reconstruct the event with new, healthier associations.

During hypnosis, a person's body relaxes while his or her thoughts become more focused and attentive. Like other relaxation techniques, hypnosis decreases blood pressure and heart rate, and alters certain types of brain wave activity. In this relaxed state, a person will feel very at ease physically yet fully awake mentally. In this state of deep concentration people are highly responsive to suggestion. If you are trying to quit smoking, for example, a therapist's suggestion may successfully convince you that in the future you will have a strong dislike for the taste of cigarettes.

There are several stages of hypnosis. The process begins with reframing the problem; becoming relaxed, then absorbed (deeply engaged in the words or images presented by a hypnotherapist); dissociating (letting go of critical thoughts); responding (complying whole-heartedly to a hypnotherapist's suggestions); returning to usual awareness; and reflecting on the experience.

What happens during a visit to the hypnotherapist?

During your first visit to a hypnotherapist, he or she will ask you questions about your medical history and what brought you to see them – in other words, what condition it is that you would like to clear up. The specialist will then, likely, explain to you what hypnosis is and how it works. You will then be directed through relaxation techniques with a series of mental images and suggestions intended to change behaviors and alleviate symptoms. For example, people who suffer from panic attacks may be given the suggestion that, in the future, they will be able to relax at will. The hypnotherapist may also teach you the basics of self-hypnosis and give you an audio CD for home use. This enables you to recreate the feelings you experienced during the session and reinforce the learning on your own.

How many treatments will I need?

What illnesses or conditions respond well to hypnosis?

Hypnosis is used in a variety of settings – from emergency rooms to dental offices to outpatient clinics – to relieve conditions with an emotional or psychological component. Studies suggest that hypnosis may improve immune function, increase relaxation, decrease stress, and ease feelings of anxiety.

Hypnotherapy is effective in reducing the fear and anxiety that accompany pain and uncomfortable medical or dental procedures. For example, when used during an operation, hypnosis may improve recovery time and decrease anxiety as well as pain following the surgery. Clinical trials on burn patients suggest that hypnosis decreases pain (enough to replace pain medication) and speeds healing. Generally, studies indicate that using hypnosis can lessen your need for medication, improve your mental and physical condition before an operation, and reduce the time it takes to recover. Dentists also use hypnotherapy to control gagging and bleeding.

A hypnotherapist can teach you self-regulation skills. For instance, someone with arthritis may be told that he or she can turn down pain like the volume on a radio. Hypnotherapy can also be an effective tool for managing chronic illness. Self-hypnosis can enhance a sense of control, which is often eroded by chronic illness. Children may benefit the most from hypnosis, probably because they are most easily hypnotized.

Studies on children in emergency treatment centers show that hypnotherapy reduces fear, anxiety, and discomfort and improves self-control and cooperation with medical personnel.

In another study, 83 percent of children significantly or completely recovered from the following:

• obesity
• asthma
• fecal incontinence
• anxiety
• pain
• problematic habits (sleep walking, thumb sucking, nail biting)

Other problems or conditions that respond well to hypnotherapy include:

• inflammatory bowel diseases (namely, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)
• sleep disorders, including insomnia
• addictions
• warts
• bedwetting
• fibromyalgia
• irritable bowel syndrome
• phobias
• labor and delivery
• fractures
• skin disorders (such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema [atopic dermatitis])
• migraine headaches
• stress
• tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• cancer related pain
• weight loss
• eating disorders, namely anorexia and bulimia
• indigestion (dyspepsia)

Techniques
_ Age regression - by returning to an earlier ego-state the patient can regain qualities they once had, but have lost. Remembering an earlier, healthier, ego-state can increase the patients' strength and confidence. _ Revivification - remembering past experiences can contribute to therapy. For example; the hypnotist may ask "have you ever been in trance?" and then find it easier to revive the previous experience than attempt inducing a new state. _ Guided imagery - a method by which the subject is given a new relaxing and beneficial experience. _ Parts therapy - a method pioneered by Charles Tebbetts to identify conflicting parts that are damaging the well being of clients, then helps those parts negotiate with each other through the therapist to bring about a resolution. _ Confusion - a method developed by Milton H. Erickson in which the subject is more likely to be receptive to indirect suggestion due to an altered state of confusion. _ Repetition - the more an idea is repeated the more likely it is to be accepted and acted upon by the patient. _ Direct suggestion - suggesting directly. "You feel safe and secure". _ Indirect suggestion - using "interspersal" technique and other means to cause effect. _ Mental state - people are more receptive while relaxed, sleeping, or in a trance. _ Hypnoanalysis - the client recalls moments from his past, confronting them and releasing associated emotions, similar to psychoanalysis. _ Post-hypnotic suggestion - a suggestion that will be carried out after the trance has ended. "When you re-awaken you will feel refreshed and happy!" _ Visualization - being told to imagine or visualize a desired outcome seems to make it more likely to actually occur.

Addiction to Drugs, Medication and Alchohol - A New "Bleep" in Understanding True Recovery - © Dr. Brian Sheen – March 2005

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:35:00 +0000

I was inspired to write this article due to my recent viewing of the movie, “What the Bleep” do We Know.” This movie inspired me as after years of helping people overcome their addictions (including myself), “What the Bleep Do We Know”, actually gave one of the most precise explanations of the holistic models of healing that I have researched and utilized the past 35 years. What follows are two case studies whose journey it was to overcome years of heavy levels of addiction to become drug, medication, and alcohol free.

Addiction to Medications…and Psychiatric Ignorance
CASE #1- When I met Stan for the first time it was at a talk I was giving at Books a Million in Delray Beach, Florida. Stan walked in with his girlfriend and joined the group listening to me discuss my latest book, “When Life Becomes Overwhelming.” I thought it was odd that in his hand he already had a copy of my book which had just being released in this bookstore with my lecture as the kickoff. Later when Stan and I met in my office he told me he had bought the book at another bookstore three miles away earlier that evening. He and his girlfriend had been bicycling around town, saw Books a Million and decided to check it out-unaware I was at the bookstore launching my latest book to this store.

Stan met me professionally about a week later in my office. He explained how he was now taking the large doses of LOVOX (300mg) and BUSPAR (60mg) for obsessive-compulsive disorder, DEPAKOTE (1000mg) for manic-depression and SEROQUEL (100mg) for psychosis. Stan had been living a life in a “fog” of chemicals for the past 24 years which included for many years, quarts of different alcohols daily. Stan was filled with anger and resentment towards his father, wife and the world in general-overwhelmed, suffering and hopeless. As he told me later-“You are the tenth and last therapist I have come to and for me it is the end of the line. I have separated from my wife and am going through a divorce, watching my business collapse and I have lost all desire to go on.”

“My psychiatrists up North told me that I must be on these medications the rest of my life”, he spoke despairingly, “yet these drugs drain me of energy, nullify my creativity and I’ve lost all joy in living. I can’t even connect well with my 10 year old son. Since meeting you in the bookstore last week and reading your book, “When Life Becomes Overwhelming.”, it seems to me you had your own challenges to go through and have obviously more than surpassed them. I’ve come to you today as a last resort-Can I be helped? Can I get off these medications which destroy my vitality for life? Is there any hope at all I could be happy again?”

I sat there for a few moments without saying a word. I just looked at Stan and extended a compassionate heart and mind to him-connecting “spirit to sprit”, before speaking.

“Thank you for sharing your situation with me-I understand where you are in your life and the events leading up to it. I realize how devastating it can be to hear from one psychiatrist after another that you are chemically imbalanced, brain damaged and would be a victim of your upbringing your entire life. However as I look at you and feel the presence of your Being I can tell you with great certainty, you are so much more than just your body; you are a powerful spirit with an enormously competent intellect. You are not just a bunch of chemicals interacting according to the grey mass in your head. Your brain takes directions from your mind-and your mind takes directions from you, the knower of the mind, which I call the Self. Call it Self, Spiritual Being, Soul, Pure Consciousness, Divine Spark of Light, whatever you like but you are so much more than what you’ve been told.”

I noticed Stan’s eyes brighten as I told him this-his breath eased and he sat more relaxed. Years later he would tell me how this was the defining moment for him, he suddenly felt a connection to his authentic self that he had separated from 30 years earlier and had completely forgotten about. This image would be held onto for years acting as a perpetual life preserver and motivation to drive Stan through to the other side.

Stan shared with me the story of his life consisting of continual emotional abuse. He felt scared growing up-trying to “escape from being nutty”. He spent three years on his back from ages 11 to14 with Perth’s disease in his hip. He became ashamed to face people. He had an extremely negative self image and took heavy doses of four medications to try and “cope and remain comfortable in my skin.”

When I initially did some sensory channel testing, I found his auditory and kinesthic means of perception nearly shut down. (Not uncommon in heavy drug users.) He was going through a business melt down and divorce and was quite overwhelmed in every facet of his life. He remembered very little about his childhood but knew it was painful. Stan was confused, numb, frightened, alienated and lost. He was a human being who did not know how to be the Authentic Self that was peaceful, happy and loving, a state of mind shared by few humans!

As we began our therapeutic work-it was very clear-Stan was determined to do whatever it would take to become healthy and free. A keystone of my approach is a re-education in how the mind works, how to handle issues which emerge, who is this Authentic Self and how to stay connected to it. My classes in “Clear Mind, Open Heart Meditation” and “Developing a Foundation Miracle Mindedness” are strongly suggested to learn new ways and empowering tools to live life peacefully. He came to both of my meditation and Developing Miracle Mindedness classes most weeks, plus my group healing workshops. He was always on time for his twice a week sessions. He practiced the meditation techniques and did his homework assignments and A Course in Miracle lessons every day. He really wanted to give it his best to make a permanent change. Through our sessions, which consisted of a variety of regressions, NLP and Miracle Repatterning techniques, we un-covered and then healed many buried emotions and issues. Stan learned how his shame based view of his life were constantly being re-enforced when he replayed the self-depreciating statements to himself-which had been repeated to him again and again angrily by his father as he stripped Stan naked and punished him with strappings. Stan came to believe later that it was the inner rage and resistance he held inside which perpetuated the Perth’s disease he was burdened with for years.

Perhaps worse for Stan was not his childhood abuses but the psychiatric abuses he endured. Psychiatrists continually over medicated him and labeled him with so many “made up” illnesses like-Bi-Polar, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Manic Depressive, Psychotic. Unhappiness, bad habits and being caught in the past are not illnesses-they are mental states of human beings can get trapped in that with redirection becomes free, happy, healthy and present.

Stan was told authoritatively a number of times,“never stop taking those drugs we prescribe you as otherwise you’ll never be able to function in your life.” I reframed this for Stan in our first meeting-“if there was an insane person in the room when you were told this, it wasn’t you.” We laughed.

Everyone should understand by now thatwhen someone is labeled as broken or ill who has a natural human emotion such as unhappiness, grief from loss or confusion in life-people soon no longer see them as a spiritual being, people see them as another “depressive”, another “ADD” or another “broken being”. The mind becomes what you focus your attention on. Give mistakes all your attention and you will feel like a mistake. Focus your attention upon your strengths and you will feel your strengths. What you feel, you radiate, and you will receive what you transmit, a reflection of itself, a like kind returned. Psychiatry doesn’t understand this yet…. I’m an eternal optimist-it feels better for me to focus on their goodness and the bigger picture of being healed.

Beginning my work with Stan-I knew how it was important to get him to stop focusing on all that had gone wrong in his life as he had for over 25 years in sessions with his psycho-therapists. They always seem to concentrate on what wasn’t working in his life. But this never worked to make him feel happier or stronger. A basic rule of therapy I’ve always used is “observe and adjust”. If what you’re doing isn’t working to improve your client-change what you’re doing. Simple isn’t it? You don’t just increase the medication dosage and hope! Stan’s past therapists didn’t recognize Stan’s forgotten abilities and powers-and they didn’t know how to help him call upon these resources to help himself. This was the direction I felt guided to take. For this I began using Meta NLP-to build new strengths, good feelings and things he did right amidst this entire drama. I wanted him to access his abilities as somehow he had still managed to get married, have and raise a child to ten years old, build a million dollar construction business and still be alive today! He survived! A “Very Well Done!” for that!

Stan was very open and seemed to enjoy the creative approach to strengthen himself, instead of dwelling on his weaknesses. When we would get stuck in an issue with someone-especially his father-we would use one of the many Miracle Mindedness Forgiveness techniques to unhook him from the anger, resentment and hatred-which lessened the resistance to circulating the emotional energy he was experiencing. These “stuck” masses of energy were gradually diluded and dissolved free by helping him redirect his choices to look at things from a viewpoint of seeking compassion, understanding and release, he gained access to new possibilities and resources that were previously ignored. Stan worked well with gentle guidance-rebuilding his life from the bottom up.

To support his recovery process, I sent him to a nutritionist to evaluate his biological levels. Medications strip key nutrients from our bodies-especially B-complex-as well as weakening the immune system from the medications toxic effects.

Stan agreed to follow a regime of multi-vitamins, Flax seed Oil and other mineral supplements-combined with a 20 minute daily Epson salt foot-bath. Exercise was encouraged-walking, biking, tennis etc. Long term drug users need to re acclimate themselves to being in their body without the need of numbing it as they had been doing.

Meanwhile Stan dealt with divorce ramifications-costs, child support, alimony etc. I worked intensively with Stan and helped guide him to reshape his attitude, self-image, inner dialogue and belief systems. He was open and ready to learn.

One of the common effects I see in long term addiction patterns-is the tendency to dwell on a few undesirable events or situations and to carry them forward, recreating them again and again in the present. The recreation of a past unwanted feeling or emotion- does not make any sense, does it? Wouldn’t someone want instead to create a new opportunity to feel good? Part of my approach is-why not remember a different time in which things went well-or you just felt good about things in general? Then by modeling this-you can begin heading in a new direction. Many therapists, like most people, get caught in the ego’s trap-always looking for what’s wrong. When you dwell on what’s wrong it will generalize into other areas of life to remove the joy and fun. The right minded way of thinking is to look instead for what’s right and build on that! The exercises in the Miracle Mindedness CD’s help train listeners in these techniques.

I continued to help Stan rebuild a new inner core, creating compelling models of strength and the ability to survive in life easily. Stan demonstrated the one thing that always guarantees success, complete commitment. He always did his best every day to complete the different parts of his assignments. Stan embraced the technique of forgiveness that A Course in Miracles taught as I shared in Miracle Mindedness. A session didn’t go by that we used these techniques on one or more former friends, relatives or business associates who were still entangled in some unhealed grievance from the past. Stan also learned to use the “Clear Mind, Open Heart” meditation techniques I taught him, and he practiced them consistently between sessions. One of my goals for clients is that through daily repetition they develop new habits that soon just happen unconsciously and automatically.

As his emotional self was stabilized, Stan eased off all medications by 75% within 3 months. He was 100% medication free in 4 ½ months, the first time in 27 years!

After some time, we did different types of regression work and unburied interfering childhood and past life memories. Stan was amazed to see how many of this life’s challenges were the accumulation of un-forgiven mistakes from earlier points in his personal existence. By the sixth month working with Stan, he was stable and had opened his heart and mind to realignment with his Higher Power-his Authentic Self and was reconnecting deeply to Life-thoroughly and profoundly. I can still remember the joy in his face as he shared with me the joy of going out to a club to hear music for the first time in years. Because of the OCD labels his psychiatrist gave him, Stan was told to stay away from going to places with music or playing music. Dan loved music and art. After a few months in our work together he reconnected to his love, began playing guitar again and doing art for the first time in many years. Creativity returned grandly as it usually does. Fortunately creativity is your life essence-is your loving, peaceful nature as long as you are alive you possess this innate quality. The creative nature is unchangeable as is your loving, peaceful nature.

My experience has shown me that the process of healing goes through various stages-a beautiful dance around the vibrations of existence in and out, to and fro. Once you commit to the process-each day provides a meaningful event for you to learn and grow, develop new abilities, experience things in different ways and have fun. But the detoxifying process can be quite difficult at times as you sort through the valuable from the valueless. Sometimes it feels things are being taken away and your body may go through various withdrawal stages as the old is flushed out, releasing ideas and beliefs that are worthless in reaching your intended state of peacefulness and freedom to make space for the new healthy replacements later. But this soon will pass if you persist.

Amidst this healing process for Stan-I also had a chance to work with his significant other. She had been in recovery for over 15 years and had been by Stan’s’ side for over a year watching him lose his grip on life. Fortunately for Stan, she was very open to the work I was doing with Stan and she began attending the same classes to learn empowering tools for her self so as not to fall into a co-dependent relationship any deeper. She also came to me to work on some of her unresolved issues which helped her clear away other obstacles to her inner peace, and gave her helpful insights into how the transformation process Stan was experiencing worked to be more understanding of the stuff Stan was going through.

I know of no better way for a couple to strengthen their relationship then by facing their shadow sides together-and emerging into the light-together, remembering: always start every communication from a place of stillness with the purpose of peace being primary in your mind.

Ten months since starting, Stan had reached a wonderful milestone-drug, alcohol and medication free for over 4 months. He was now ready and willing to face the mess he made with his family and business. He felt connected to his Higher Power and was filled with faith that whatever life would bring him-he could handle it and know it would bring him good. Stable and clear minded Stan moved back North to begin his new life.

A year after finishing therapy work-Stan wrote me a letter letting me know of the difficult readjustments to his new life. To currently survive he was working a contractor job for $14 an hour. He wrote how his “worldly” life is “unimaginable now”- “The only good news” being how after giving away his million dollar construction firm for nothing while in a daze on medications and not thinking straight, he felt at least “I didn’t have to go bankrupt!” (He reframes it to a positive later as he writes, “But I have never felt better in my life. I live each day at a time in the moment. Life is a mysterious gift!”

I occasionally received a letter from Stan telling me of his progress. Then-four years later, while visiting Florida, Stan stopped by my office. He had grown a beard and was joined by the same girlfriend from 5 years earlier. They had been through a great deal together-but that’s another story in itself. At age 52, he was back in school studying to be an architect-and this was his Spring Break. They were on their way to Key West to relax and enjoy. He had just celebrated his fourth year medication, drug and alcohol free and was feeling great. He still did his Clear Mind, Open Heart meditation and used the Miracle Mindedness techniques to experience life as a wonderful mysterious gift. Interestingly, Stan attempted to have the courts remove the wrongly diagnosed labels from his record- psychotic, OCD and disabled. The courts refused-and Stan is given disability income because of this which now supports him while in college. College tuition is also paid for by his state of residence. Funny how the universe helps bring us back into balance when we are right minded!

A major principle in my work is, “With your willingness to be open and learn and, your commitment to face your shadow side, when you combine it with faith and honesty, you can accomplish anything!” Just as a caterpillar on the ground has no idea he’ll transform one day into a beautiful butterfly soaring amongst the tree tops, anyone can emerge from their cocoon and begin sailing in the sky instead of crawling upon their belly, looking up-and wondering if they’ll ever get off the ground. For even as the caterpillar crawled up a tree to gain new perspectives and begin to wonder about unknown inner impulses beginning to draw his attention within, you can begin to imagine lofty new horizons in your perspective-as you rise up to see the mental construct of the life you created for yourself. With this new vision you can see clearly the steps you need to take to reach your goals, and you happily begin to take them.

Case #2 Trained into Addictive Behavior
Before I met Ted-I met his mother. She had been in the downtown Delray Beach, Florida area and “accidentally” walked by the Quantum Healing Center where I work. She walked upstairs and looked at one of my books and some articles I had written and asked to see me. She sat in my office for the next hour as a frightened desperate mother. She had been overwhelmed watching her son become more and more withdrawn from life. Her son would hardly bath, always wore the same T-shirt-and was very out of touch with reality after 4 years of taking LSD nearly every day. He had also been getting drunk on alcohol, often times, twice in one day.

Ted’s Mom had tried everything a 28 day in house programs, AA, treatment centers, psychiatrists, medication, psychologists and addiction counselors. Her son was now doped up on heavy dosages of medications-introverted and non-functional-“Please could you help my son in anyway”, she pleaded.

Tears ran down Ted’s mothers face-A pretty woman in her late 40’s who obviously was deeply afraid of losing her son. Her son had already been suicidal on more than one occasion. I explained to her that I could help her son if he wanted to receive my help-and was willing to work with me, committed to his healing. I told her the story of Stan from Case #1, which filled her with hope.

There was no question when I met Ted he had been very disoriented and disconnected. Fortunately his mother followed my advice as she read Dr. Peter Breggins and Dr. David Cohen’s book, “Your Drug May Be Your Problem.”, and listened to important information I have later put in a health education CD set I made called, “Caution-Psychiatric Drugs May be Hazardous to Your Health”. She then began a two week detox of the medications Ted was taking (I believe two weeks is usually too short and 4-10 weeks is more appropriate under a medical doctors supervision). Despite some difficult days-he broke through and was more clear headed then he had been in quite some time. When I met Ted-he was quick to say, “I feel angry, depressed and nervous. I’m without any grasp of reality and have no motivation for anything. My depression is bad all the time and I’m angry all the time”. He listed 82 unwanted personal, emotional and spiritual conditions he sought help for.

Ted was your stereotypical ‘lost boy’-finding a sense of freedom in the thousands of LSD trips, alcohol, speed, coke and downs he took. He had no hopes or dreams and had become like a hermit. “Nothing is real”, he repeated to himself like a mantra.

As is my standard procedure-Ted and I looked over his life and made a Time Line to see the defining moments, pivotal decisions, traumas and sudden shifts in any particular direction. It became very clear-Ted was raised to model drug and alcohol use. Both his parents openly took drugs in great excess and when a father substitute as a young teen entered into his life, he was a chronic alcohol and drug abuser that tutored Ted further in these ways.

Over the next few sessions I did some receptivity testing to determine his ability to access and utilize his mental functions. He was able to visualize well and his artistic nature shone through. Ted shared some powerful metaphysical experiences with me. His intense LSD use had forced open some portals into deeper realms of the super-conscious and unconscious minds. As a spiritual astronaut myself in the 60’s-I was well aware of what dimensions of consciousness can be opened through the use of psychedelics. I was sure to acknowledge what he did and showed him many self trance techniques so he could safely continue his spiritual exploration without dangerous side effects of drugs. Ted and I then worked together to discover the underlying decisions as to why he made these choices. I encouraged him to express his feelings and new visions and to put them into his paintings to allow whatever influences he liked to flow through him in creative ways. In one of the receptivity tests I used he easily uncovered a safe and good memory at age two-while on a boat-breathing in the salty air (I anchored him to this feeling so each time he put his hand on his heart he would feel these safe and good feelings).

As forementioned, my therapeutic philosophy is to spend substantial time building positive, healthy, workable resources to have the strength, patience and determination to keep on the path of healing and stay the course as they remodel their self image. I believe it’s important to score small victories along the way. (Which written down in a “Valuable Insights” journal can help ourselves later, your journal can become a source of helpful insights to guide you if you ever fall off course.) Additionally, it’s helpful to learn what’s right about yourself-expand your strengths and abilities and not focus on mistakes and inabilities. I’ve observed when you feel confident and strong in what you decide, life goes easier.

Another direction I take with most addiction oriented clients is to get them into physical work. A workout at a gym 3 or 4 times a week, walks in nature, doing physical labor, yoga, bioenergetics, gardening, construction-these are excellent to reground an addicted persona back into the Earth. Those who numb themselves with substances disassociate from their bodies-often because of suppressed pain. Learning to reconnect yourself back into your body creates a more powerful base from which to function and can then open you to a wider array of the unconscious minds resources.

In addition to Ted’s personal problems-his relationship problems fared no better. Ted’s parental history looked like this-his mother was separated from his father, when the SWAT raided them while a small boy enjoying a day trip of fishing on a boat. A few years later his mother came out of the closet and moved in with a woman lover/partner for a number of years before leaving her and finally marrying a wealthy man to take care of her, when her girlfriend could no longer support her. Throughout all of this Ted was in a permissive substance abuse environment.

Choice therapy was helpful in helping Ted learn to look at consequences, purposes-ego gratification versus right mindedness. Step by step Ted was reconnected with his environment, his family, work and school. Learning meditation and the steps it takes to create a satisfying life each day helped Ted quickly take hold of himself and have a foundation to build upon. He liked to use as part of starting his day the phrase, “Nothing is going to change-unless I change it!”

Within a matter of weeks-Ted showed great improvement. We began setting goals to get his GED, go to college, get a job-build a future career. “I want to feel good.”, became the new mantra.

Through the course of our work we did many forgiveness interventions. As I present in both Clear Mind, Open Heart Meditation and Developing Miracle Mindedness, it is imperative to release the past. Failing to let go of the past is like walking around with one hundred pounds of lead weight on your chest and shoulders. We must lighten our loads for our own sakes!

As we searched around pivotal times in his life, we discovered Ted had many cross flow traumas that still weighed heavily upon him. Watching his Dad hit his mother as a child, watching his father arrested by a SWAT team, having his best friend die at 13-and then “becoming” him-clothes and all. I’ve found that many times cross flow memories can have a greater impact than a directly involved situation. Observing others experiencing traumas can make one feel more helpless and hopeless than when something is done to you-or by you. Unfortunately for Ted, these cross flow situations, were always his parents, his “deities”. Feeling separation or any threat of separation of a parent-real or imagined-can often cause a separation from your essential self that could allow the establishment of a new false “self-image” to cover up this perceived emptiness to compensate for the resulting gap. Separation events are one of the most important segments in our lives to heal. It is often here we broke away from our authentic power-and got caught into a weakened version of ourselves that believed and felt it was alienated from its true source. Understanding this, its easy to see how separation events are a major cause of depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome and scores of other illnesses. Through the work I’ve done with individuals using hypnotherapy, NLP, regressions, Hellinger Constellations, Quantum Psychology and other modalities of therapy to reveal these hidden negative influences, healing the major separation points, provides great transformation.

Ted quickly made progress. After less than 3 months of intensive work Ted was driving again, had a job, a new girlfriend and had signed up to finish school.

When I look back at Ted’s process-I think the recognition of hidden rage that occurred when his father threw him and his mothers’ clothes overboard while on a boat one day was the key negative charge release that unlocked the door. As a young child it was the difference that made the difference in his life. He remembered watching his favorite polka dot shirt floating in the water-and decided both his parents were crazy. This separated him form his “creators”. And he now felt “alone”, “alienated”, “unlovable”, “nothing”. It was these cognitions that helped Ted emerge from the shadows and reenter life with a positive attitude and clear mind. Now the challenge would be maintaining it-staying in this channel of consciousness.

Nearly a year later after finishing my work with Ted, I received an email from him:

“I wanted to write to you and tell you how much you helped me. I’m working part time and going to school at night and haven’t ever felt this happy. I live down the road from my mom and her husband. I just want to let you know how much of a role model you were to me and how appreciative I am.”

Conclusion: As a human being, addictions are a part of this existence. For some its sports, for others its TV and still others chocolate, anger, being right, being a victim, not being themselves or other addictive beliefs, emotions or actions. One isn’t better than or worse than another-the only real question is-are your actions, thoughts and emotions helpful-or are they harmful? Does your mindset promote peace for you and others and allow you to be free not to follow that course of action if you decide it doesn’t bring peace, love or happiness? Of course nothing replaces willingness and determination to heal. If you do the work the best you can-you will come to know your Authentic Self and feel peaceful, purposeful and enjoy the life you are co-creating. If you are willing to face all the conditioning you’ve had in your life at every level, to look at everything you value, to discover all that you’re not, then life can be all you ever hoped for. Good luck on your journey.

The Quantum Healing Center – 12 NE 5th Avenue – Delray Beach, FL 33438 – 561 272 3733

The Real Causes of Depression - © Dr. Brian Sheen – March 2004

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:55:00 +0000

There is an old saying that if you continue to tell a lie often enough people begin to accept this as a truth. Perhaps the greatest lie being told today is “depression is caused by chemical imbalance of the seratonin levels in the brain”. “Yes this is a lie despite the millions who take antidepressants everyday! It is merely a hypothesis promoted by pharmaceutical companies who seek to profit and doctors who have similar vested interests. Startling isn’t it? Listen closely to exactly what is often repeated in a Zoloft commercial - and I quote “although there is no scientific evidence proving that chemical imbalance causes depression”. Understand chemical imbalance is a symptom not a cause! Of course, taking drugs can alter symptoms - we all know this - but saying anti-depressants are the answer and should be taken by anyone feeling depressed to cure it is as ridiculous! Consider this example: You’re probably observed a wallflower at a party, shy and withdrawn, not having fun and off in a corner. They then have a few drinks of alcohol and then come to life, lose their inhibitions and are the life of the party? Should we now deduce that the cause of this person’s withdrawn and depressing personality was caused by a lack of alcohol in their system, and they should be prescribed 3 martinis a day to cure it? Absurd isn’t it (although not to many alcoholics). This is the reasoning behind prescribing antidepressants today. Placebos statistically get similar percentages of results and without any harsh side effects. From these facts we might surmise it’s the belief that taking anti depressants can help combined with the human contact which occurs when someone depressed reaches out for help! I suggest reading Dr. Peter Breggin’s, “Toxic Psychiatry” or Dr. David Cohen’s, “Your Drug May Be Your Problem” or Dr. William Glassner’s “Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous To Your Health”, to get the scientific research that refutes the misleading claims of the benefits of taking antidepressants.

Now with this out of the way let me describe to you my research that has clearly shown how you can easily overcome depression without medications – one of many case studies. Susan was very depressed when she appeared at my center. Her face was glum, her body language languid and her words dispirited. She related to me how lousy life had been and she was feeling hopeless. Life had little meaning to her and she wondered if she had much of a purpose for living. She felt used by her sister, her friends and former boyfriends- and was exhausted from carrying the load of her family on her back.

“It never seems to let up”, she confessed, “I drag myself to work, go through the motions and then eat all weekend to try and cheer me up. I haven’t had a good relationship in over 3 years and I’ve gained 25 pounds to boot! I feel so unloved and wonder if it pays to continue living.”

As we talked further I learned Susan had been taking prozac for over a year and a half and previously Zoloft for 2 years. They had increased her dosage twice which gave her a temporary boost but even this soon subsided. She had also done 4 years of psychotherapy which also seemed to produce little results.

“If you’re still feeling depressed while taking your antidepressants - why do you continue to take them?” I asked.

“I’m afraid to stop” she cried, “my psychiatrist has repeatedly told me I’d be even worse without them and that I needed them to function.”

Unfortunately I had heard these students too many times before as either the withdrawal effects that occurred from getting off the medications were uncomfortable and caused temporary anxiety (like withdrawing from any addiction)-or the attending doctor themselves filled them with fear due to their own bias or ignorance as to what these medications do (I prefer to think positive about these doctors that they don’t keep their patients on these drugs to have an ongoing income source!)

I looked deeply into Susan’s eyes and let her know I understood her dilemma but was curious; “What brought you here then-you must know I don’t recommend medications except in the most extreme cases, for very short term and then only when combined with proper therapy that opens the subconscious layers of the mind to uncover the actual causes”.

“Exactly” she said “that’s why I’m here I read your book “When Life Becomes Overwhelming” and saw that having gone through depression yourself you understand what I was going through. Coincidentally one of the clients at my spa who had been seeing you told me she got off her anti-depressant medications in 10 weeks and feels great. She told me that by working with you privately and coming to your meditation and ‘A Course in Miracles’ classes she got to the underlying causes of her depression-learned tools to better handle her life and now is feeling good most of the time-I want the same thing for myself. Is it possible?”

“Yes, it’s very possible.” I told her but only if you’re willing to learn new ways of thinking and living your life. You have to understand the way you have been living your life has not been working to produce the peace and happiness you desire. Yet the life you have been living is based upon the choices and decisions you make, learn, and be aware that your decisions are based upon your interpretations of your perceptions which are evaluated by the underlying system of beliefs and thinking you have established. Unless you’re willing to look at the underlying formation of your entire belief system and thinking process and open it for correction to one that can produce a happy and peaceful life nothing will change. “Are you willing to undertake this work?”

Susan didn’t hesitate for a moment and said, “Definitely!”

“Good that’s the first step-but then there’s one more; commitment. Without your conviction to do this inner work you will be deterred at the first roadblock you encounter. You must be determined to see this through; come to sessions and to classes as well as do the assignments I give you between sessions to reinforce and expand the aspect of the transformation we’re working on. I ask for a 6 month commitment although I find the average is 3 months for a 70% or better improvement. You can usually begin to see a nice change after as little as 6 weeks but everyone is different will you make this commitment?”

Susan agreed and for the first time since I’ve met her had a small smile of hope on her face. At this point I smiled back and looked deeply into her eyes and told her, “Remember Susan-you’re so much more than the chemicals in your body-you have a mind and a spiritual consciousness that has great power and ability. At your core is a peaceful and happy spiritual being who has been hidden in layers of junk that has piled up so high you forget you’re true nature.”

Susan enrolled into my foundation classes for A Course in Miracles and Meditation, and begun listening to my Peaceful Living CD package. My goal was to understand how the mind works and to give her tools to help her master the directions in which she gave it. Until we understand the power of our thoughts – the difference between our ego’s wrong mindlessness, versus our Authentic Selves right-mindedness we are lost and confused. When we learn our role as the decision maker who chooses which side of our mind to interpret the constant input we receive we no longer are a victim to the people and events outside us – we become responsible for the feelings and conditions we experience in life and become empowered.

In my sessions and classes I make it very clear how it is the choices we make that determine the life we experience. We make hundreds of decisions each day that either emanates from our fears or from a sense of love and trust; from our guilt and anger or from our peace and innocence. The world we experience inside reflects back our underlying thinking and beliefs. Until this is understood, we believe we are the effects of what happens to us and not the interpreter (decision maker).

In our next session I spent time with Susan going over the timeline of her life experiences. I actually drew this on a marker board from birth to the present so she could clearly see where the significant moments of her life occurred and in what direction her interpretation of it caused her to go. We examined her relationships with her family as we often carry the models of our parents or major caretakers subconsciously in our core memory that forms our underlying belief system and influences the values being held today. Strange isn’t it how decisions made as a little child can determine the choices you make decades later!

As we laid out her timeline, it became very apparent that her feelings of depression began not a few years ago as she had thought, but early on in her childhood. When four years old she decided she was no longer good enough as she felt her father separated from her and spent more time with her little brother. Later at five years old a sister was born and she felt relegated to the role of caretaker for her little sister and was strictly disciplined to ensure she would be a perfect model for her younger sister.

Susan was filled with animosity, as she believed lost her childhood at 5 years old and was expected to act like an adult. This event caused her to take her life very seriously and always felt guilty when she had fun as she decided, “If I have fun I’ll get punished and lose my parents love.” In later sessions we reunited her fragmented inner child and installed new childhood experiences within her timeline using miracle re-patterning and re-scripting.

As we continued drawing Susan’s timeline, we finally came to a point of great emotional distress. Susan begun crying and moaning in great pain as we approached her life at 10 years old. After much comforting and reassurance, Susan related to me she has been sexually abused by an older man at a store one day. She has been tricked into taking off her blouse and letting him touch her in exchange for some candy she couldn’t afford.
Although this was not to come until many sessions later, this act continued for some time as Susan enjoyed the attention this older man gave her. It made her feel pretty and loved, which she didn’t feel at home. Yet as she was from a strict Catholic background, the belief in her self, as a horrible sinner caused feelings of guilt to overwhelm her. It was at this point Susan decided “men could never be trusted and that they only wanted her body.” Susan felt shameful and begun putting on weight to protect her self from men and “cover up” her guilt.

Finishing the timeline took a few sessions for as we hit upon sensitive areas, I utilized a variety of interventions to release her negative energies and traumas, reframe her experiences and literally revive her mind to fill it with the goodness of who she was and the helpful lessons she had learned. Uncovering buried decisions on how she programmed her belief system proved to be a life altering experience. By the fourth week of session she informed me she had completely stopped taking her anti-depressants and was already feeling much better.

Through Neurolinguistic Programming I was able to make needed shifts to return her thinking about men and herself to ones of acceptance and love. Her entire body language began to change, as she no longer saw men as a threat. She begun to lose weight, work out and reclaim her sexuality, as she no longer felt being sexy was dirty. There was an obvious shift in her dressing too as she started to accent her body’s curves instead if hiding them.

After each NLP shift I then made hypnotic induction tapes to reorient her subconsciousness, and made a tape of this to relisten to a couple of times a week.

“It’s hard to believe I’ve been dwelling on these fears for 30 years in my subconscious” she related one day. “All the guilt of my little girl mistakes was sabotaging any relationships I entered. I see so clearly now my ambivalence to wanting to have love but being so afraid what would happen if I made that connection. Worse is, I separated from who I was because of my horrible self-image. I finally understand I can’t be in a loving relationship with another person until I can be in one with myself – how can I share what I don’t have with another!”

Susan made steady progress although she had occasional minor setbacks that always seemed to be connected to her sister. At last, in one session, we confronted this issue and we uncovered huge amounts of anger and blame towards her sister for what Susan believed was not having paid back over $2,000 she lent her a few years back.

Therapeutically, this is called projection – we project on to another the guilt we feel inside ourselves that we refuse to face. By projecting onto another we seek to make ourselves right and them wrong. Like an attorney would in court, we will build a case to support our feelings of guilt and sin. It is a warped way to rationalize our judgments. From the surface it looked like a legitimate beef - a $2000 unpaid debt, but a rule of healing is: “You are never upset for the reasons you think.”

“I understand how you feel Susan” I said “but as you’ve learned in A Course of Miracles – you are never upset for the reasons you think.” She looked at me and agreed.

At this point I began some regressions to uncover similar feelings in her past where she had separated from the love and unity of being with her sister, and what of her own beliefs and actions were beneath it. It wasn’t long before we discovered seeds of guilt in her early childhood when she had left her sister alone when she was supposed to be watching her. She even had taken her sister’s doll once and broke it out of anger. We unearthed her original decision to see separate interests with her sister when she decided her sister ruined her life by being born and made her second-rate in the household.

Of course, I’ve only given you sketches here of what occurred over the course of our work. We utilized Holotrophic Breathwork to open some blocked energy; Circular Breathing, Hellinger Constellations, Core Transformation and even a couple of Past Life Regressions.

After 4 months of work Susan came to me and related an experience of how she had reached a new level in her life. Each moment she now felt blessed and able to express herself in new better ways. She had experienced deep levels of forgiveness and is now very close to her sister, father and mother. She looked at every day as an opportunity to have fun and knew she was responsible for the fun she would have.

Susan now meditated more regularly, did A Course in Miracles lesson nearly every day and listened to one or two of our session tapes each week. She even felt confident to go on a wild adventure overseas to meet some long-lost distant relatives in Italy just for the fun of it.

Our regular sessions have ended and Susan continued to come to class every couple of weeks and see me once a month. More happy, peaceful and balanced – her depression had been transformed into an expression of the joy of life. She no longer dwelled on what was wrong with her self or others, consciously and subconsciously, and let go of the past at all levels. Her spirit and mind solved the problems it had created for itself and now was free to enjoy life.

P.S. It’s been two months since I finished this article and I had the opportunity to meet with Susan after her adventure to Italy. While in Italy she met a handsome, loving romantic Italian attorney who spent a week wining and dining her. As she explained “this is what I had always dreamed of – my wish had come true. I feel so full of love I’m speechless.” We spent a couple of sessions to discover how to now utilize her new feelings and freedom to experience a joyful relationship. Through this process we uncovered some deeper levels of self-hatred that had its source in a past life when sold into slavery to a brothel as a young girl to support her family and stay alive after her village was overtaken in a war. Within a week of this session she received a call from her Italian lover who invited her to come to Italy for 2 weeks to travel the country and that he’d send her an airline ticket as soon as possible. The story continues…

Remember – until we remove the interferences to love in our mind – our heart can never be open to send a signal to other like-minded beings to attract them to you.

Depression is just a form of non-expression of the love you have been created in. Each moment you are depressing yourself from the choices you make they are not honoring your higher self. As you dwell upon what went wrong in the past you think and feel wrongly about who you are – and as like attracts like – this thinking will only attract the “wrong” people into your life. Actually these “wrong” people you attract are perfectly right – as they reflect to you on the outside the thoughts and feelings you have about yourself and others on the inside. When you understand this you can stop depressing the possibilities of this moment and the future by destroying it with your old thinking that the past will forever repeat itself. When you learn to release your old patterns and accept the joyful power of this moment – you will attract to you other like-minded people and things that reflect to you your new inner decision-making. This takes determined work and willingness to face your inner darkness – but when you do – the light comes through and you will feel your love expressions fill your heart and mind.

The Quantum Healing Center – 12 NE 5th Avenue – Delray Beach, FL 33438 – 561 272 3733

The Yoga of Healthy Relationships

drbriansheen@yahoo.com (Brian Sheen) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 19:02:00 +0000

Growing up, each of us inherits the prevailing belief systems for our gender. Men are trained to act in accordance with the accepted customs of the groups they are connected to...family, religion, region and country. Women are conditioned to theirs.

Even our ancestral heritage intrudes upon our deep levels of collective unconsciousness imposing the symbolic hunter and gatherer archetypal impulses into men...and homemaker and nurturer into women. These conscious and unconscious influences are powerful forces of the interplay of relationships we subject ourselves to in every aspect of our life...romantic, social and business. Yet, like all things of the mind...our beliefs are ideas and, as such, are impermanent. Accepted behavior during one time period, (i.e.) the 1950's when I was a child and domesticated, radically changed in the 1960's as free love expression of the hippies sprouted and then the feminist movement emerged. All the accepted roles that had been ingrained in our minds had been turned squarely on its head. This continues today to be as those influences grow and develop into many new acceptable concepts. To be successful the ever changing role of men in beginning and maintaining a relationship must go deeper into the knowledge of the one who is the knower and interpreter of the beliefs and choices if one is ever to succeed.

Joining together in Yoga

In yoga, practitioners learn to develop balance and a steadfast position through first asana's and then meditation. Without achieving what is called an "easy seat" our bodies and thereby our minds are off center and disconnected from the harmony of their own existence. Through yoga practice deeper concentration is developed to know oneself as a divine spirit and to recognize the divine spirit everyone else is. It is through a steadfast practice of asanas and meditation that purification of the mind occurs.

Through ones' practices (sadhana) the confusing and ever changing concepts of what roles we are to play in relationships are transcended. Love and devotion begins to flow from the heart to join together in shared purposes and goals in a unified oneness.

Perhaps the hardest lesson we come to learn in our life is when we loosen the ties of our conditioning and become one pointed in our relationship with God. We can then experience God and that this awareness energizes all relationships, romantic and otherwise. We are all children of God, Life, Pure Consciousness and so deserve the same devotion. Our notions of acceptable behavior are in a constant state of flux and the human notion of love is we love to be in love; as long as the other gives us what we feel we need, want or believe we are missing in our life (what the Course in Miracles calls"special" love). Through the practice of elevating our consciousness to its purified state of devotional oneness with our Source can we experience the true power of a yogic relationship. (Yog is Oneness of Being)

From my experience I can only say giving devotion to another is recognizing their God Self. It brings amazing bliss and enlightenment and when that devotion is mutual it becomes a celestial joining that lasts forever in the Light of God.

Expressing Oneness

Each day we are given the opportunity to develop the yogic state of being. Being kind and gentle to ourselves and each other, earning how to interact in a pleasing manner...stepping back from the concept you have of someone or something in your head, and experiencing the light of their essence in your heart. Couple meditation is an excellent way to unite two people in spirit using the principles of tantra in sexual relationships can release life enhancing shakti and kundalini to raise the energy vibrations quickly and remove chronic depression, anxiety or tiredness. The archaic roles most humans play in the sexual dramas are not life supporting. Of course, the ability to communicate at all levels on a centered face to face basis is still not important.

Having a healthy relationship is a choice each of us can make. Find a helpful support team of coaches, teachers and therapists and look deep within yourself to purify your own self first and then radiate that light so others can be guided to help themselves and have fun.

Brian Sheen, PhD

The Quantum Healing Center – 12 NE 5th Avenue – Delray Beach, FL 33438 – 561 272 3733