Stress, Trauma & Earthquakes

A self-help Response to Stress

This simple exercise, Hook Ups, is known all round the world for its ability to calm our human response to stress and shock. It is particularly useful for the effects of stress following the Christchurch earthquakes and aftershocks.

Download Hookups Instruction Sheet

What is stress?

As far as the brain is concerned, ‘stress’ is an overload of sensory information arriving to be processed. An unfamiliar situation generates new sights, sounds, and also new feedback about where we are in space. This applies whether the new situation we are in is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Add in a deluge of messages of fear or panic as well, and the brain really does have a lot to deal with!

Response to Stress:

Technically known as the reflex producing ‘fight or flight’, this is the instinct all mammals have to move – to run or to fight – when our senses tell us we are in danger.

Whether it’s fighting to protect our young from attack, or running for cover when the ground shakes (again), our system goes on alert, sending extra blood to prepare our limbs for action!

The responses are generated in the unconscious part of the brain. If the eyes, ears, and /or sense of balance send information that adds up to danger, we are wired to respond all other mammals with the fight or flight response.

Once the fight/flight response has served its purpose we may need help to calm down. This especially applies when aftershocks go on for months, and we’ve already done all there is to do to be safe.

Here’s how to relax again:

You can be sitting, standing or lying down in bed. You might have a small child in your lap while you do the exercise around them with your own hands and legs. As you calm down, so will they.

Hook Ups Reduce Stress by enabling you to:

1. think clearly and decide what to do now
2. relax, and focus on what’s appropriate right now – which may be to  rest and sleep.

The first position works with the Acupuncture energy lines to clear stuck energy patterns. This position has been found to direct our own energy to travel more directly in the pathways that cover the torso, starting and ending in specific locations on the fingers and toes.

The second position re-engages the full range of the brain’s ability to process and respond. When we experience the symptoms of stress, human beings react by becoming over-focussed on either

• The details: taking things slowly, one step at a time. Or
• The ‘big picture’: moving swiftly and randomly, scanning the whole pattern, and jumping to conclusions.

To respond well, we need access to both ways of processing.

Using these moves has been found to bring relaxation and relieve the effects of stress – whatever its source.  Do each exercise for at least a minute and continue as long as convenient. Watch your breathing to deepen and your heart rate slow as your body and brain relax.

Submitted by Marion Pawson

Dreaming in Colour

I felt as though a giant knot had been taken out of my body……. 

Hi Marion

I want to thank you for yesterday.

Something neat happened last night. Up until I was about 5 or 6 yrs I had a happy place, where if I closed my eyes I could make beautiful pictures and colours on a screen. I got a lot of comfort from that. Around the age of 5 or 6 yrs I lost that ability, I closed my eyes one day and could only see black, and all my dreams have always been black with very vague shadows. I missed that ability and comfort terribly right up until my twenties when I finally gave up on it.

Last night I had a dream which started off as normal which is (uncomfortable and me in a bad situation) but then it turned into the most wonderful dream full of beautiful colours. I was in control of what happened to me in the dream. I couldn’t describe the dream in a million years but I do remember lots of little snippets of the dream where there was violence and just plain conflict between people but I was able to avoid them and stay in my own happy place.

The other great thing was, when I woke up at 1.30 am I felt as though a giant knot had been taken out of my body, mainly my tummy.

I wrote this email by hand at 3.30 am last night and the amazing thing is I wrote it totally effortlessly. Which is amazing because writing has been a real hassle to me for years.

I was learning lessons during the dream. I learnt that I don’t have to walk with people every step of the way and try and rescue them. I don’t have to feel responsible or guilty because they are not happy or coping. I am allowed my own happy place. I don’t have to be attached to people at the hip for the relationship to feel real. I feel free.

This is a great gift I have received. If it wears off over time I will return for another session. I feel so good today I cant believe it.

Megan

School Success Story

Practitioner: Marion Miller

We just wanted to pass on our sincerest thanks to you for the time you spent with our son (two sessions).

He has blossomed both at home and school….NOTICEABLY!

He is managing more order and personal responsibility in his daily routine. He happily and regularly does his 5-minute exercise plan as he has made the connection with this and a successful day at school.

As a family we have also found it wonderfully manageable and all enjoy participating each morning.

The difference in our son feels like a blessing for us all but of most importance is the harmony and happiness that is evident within himself.

Many, many thanks.

A Pregnancy Checkup

Dave Woodward

Previously published: In Touch #7, Spring 1988 when I was practising at Centrepoint Community. Still one of my proudest wins. (Names of clients in all instances have been changed.)

Marjorie came to see me about a check up. She was six months pregnant and beginning to change shape with dramatic swiftness after the gradualness of the preceding months.

More to the point, her bedroom was at the top of the hill – about eighty brick and railway sleeper steps to climb to get there. The winter has been wet and the steps are often slippery, as are other steps and decks around the community sleeping, living, and working areas.

She felt fine, she said, but no longer felt confident of keeping her balance. Her changing centre of gravity and changed posture had left her uncertain and fearful of falling. Her worst days were those which she described as when she “felt really pregnant all day”.

I did a brief Touch for Health balance which confirmed her visible good health. I then carried out a full Hyperton-X balance, following each correction with a re-test, thumb and ring finger joined, to isolate any emotional content. Most of the corrections were free of emotional content, and those that weren’t related mainly to the anxieties surrounding a first pregnancy.

I was left with the feeling that I still hadn’t addressed the original problem. These tend to disappear in the course of a session as other stuff gets dealt with, but this time my doubt remained.

I asked her to imagine herself in one of the places she felt unsafe, and check out how she felt. I tested a double anterior deltoid IM, which collapsed. I carried out an alarm point check, which came up HEART. Subscapularis stayed strong through an “I feel angry/scared” affirmation (ex John Diamond – Life Energy). Not emotional.

At this point, as I neared the end of what I knew that I knew, I had a picture of myself walking a slippery surface with my arms out to help my balance – with the subscapularis contracted, arms abducted, bent forward at the elbows. Reactivity??

Sure enough, subscapularis turned off gluteus medeus and a number of other major walking muscles.

I stretched subscapularis and activated the walking muscles. The HEART alarm point was no longer active, but the visualisation still tested weak.

This time the alarm point test came up KIDNEY. Psoas was the villain this time. Correction as for subscapularis. Visualisation still weak. Recheck alarm points.

CIRCULATION-SEX and piriformis this time. Correction as before, and this time the visualisation tested strong.

I checked visualisations of several other areas in the community which she had said made her feel uneasy, and all of these now tested strong.

When I asked her to walk about a bit, her comment was that “she didn’t feel pregnant at all.” Success! (I shall have to do some more work next time reframing the word pregnant to have pleasant associations, or she may unwittingly set herself up for a very small family.)

I saw her the next day, after she and her husband had hiked two miles across muddy farmland. He, she remarked with satisfaction, had fallen over three times. She hadn’t slipped once

Clinging to Normal Sanity

Practitioner: Gayleen Hamersley-West.

One year ago I was clinging to normal sanity. I had terrible anxiety attacks, which were stopping me from being the person I was, and the mother I loved being. Along with these attacks also came depression and chronic fatigue. I was not coping with day to day life at all.

After going to the doctor for medication (against my belief) but through my desperation, I was given some Lorazepam. These were for panic attacks. After taking a little less than a half a tablet I was drugged and realised there was no way I could function day to day on these tablets either. I also realised if I continued to take these I would not move from the scary place I was in.

Deciding I needed to look at what I was going to do, I thought straight of kinesiology. I had once had a balance for a minor physical complaint, I was so impressed with the end results I hoped this may work with a more dramatic situation. I went to the Natural Therapy Clinic to have a balance with Gayleen Hamersley-West. It was the best thing I could have ever done for my family and myself. I had kinesiology from 3 in 1 Concepts and Touch for Health along with some Aura Soma.

I had about four sessions, after this time I was completely back to my normal self.

I cannot express enough how powerful yet gentle this healing was for me. I believe with all my heart, if I did not know, or go for these balances, to this day I would be on some kind of anti depressants, and still fighting to have the normal life I have now, through having these kinesiology balances.
Happy again
Lee.

Brain Gym at School

Practitioner: Robyn Hadley

It always amazes me how often the simplest is the best! The following is a snippet from my kinesiology casebook.

A mother from one of my introduction to Brain Gym classes had taught her 9-year-old son who was having extreme difficulties at school some Brain Gym exercises. The child was desperate and he found B/G helped him tremendously. His teacher was amazed at his improvement in all aspects of his school life. The young man was delighted to teach his teacher the B/G he was using and there after lead the B/G in this classroom.

Depression and Better Movement

Brain Gym and Touch For Health Successes
Practitoner: Hélène Young

Case one:
I had a phone call from a client, he said, “My partner is depressed – what is available?” I rattled off Mental Health Services, support groups etc or that she could see me. “Okay,” he said. So I went to visit. She was feeling very depressed, with low energy, and was not particularly pleased to see me.

While having a chat, I commented that with all the ‘stuff’ happening in her life, she had every reason to feel depressed. I asked if she would like to learn three quick ‘first aid’ techniques. She was willing, so we did P.A.C.E. – making sure her tongue was on the roof of her mouth while we did Brain Buttons. We talked about the goal “to be calm, clear and motivated” and did a Whole Brain Balance:-
Step one: notice while thinking/saying your goal.
Step two: remember and step into a space where you have achieved a similar positive response and notice how you feel.
Step three: think of another space containing the best thing that has ever happened in your life.

Next we did Calf Pump, Grounder, Energy Yawn, Thinking Caps and Hook-ups with colour and ESR. Back to step 3, 2, 1 and voila the sun shone again.

I had a text message later saying “thanks, to hear my wife’s laughter is like all my favourite songs rolled into one”.

Three weeks later, she is still doing her movements and feeling great.

Case two:
I was working with a client who wanted to cope better with movement. We did some Brain Gym and then some TFH muscles in her lower back and neck, a few reactors, strengthened her Spleen energy and backed off Triple Warmer. Basically we were working on a moving/confidence/ pain problem.

She left feeling more confident and happier about moving.

A few days later, she rang and asked, “Did you do something for my pain the other day?” I replied, “mmm – well yes I popped in some releasing and relaxing, why?” She said, “Well I have been walking well and have been relatively pain free and TFH is the only thing I have done differently.”

Ain’t that great!

Headaches for 15 Years

Practitioner: Shaguntala Sangarapillay

A mother and daughter arrived on my doorstep. Someone overseas had told them that “Three In One” concepts focused on the emotional causes of illnesses and maybe there might be a solution for these headaches.

The daughter’s headaches started at age 7 or 8. The pain was varied. They have seen a doctor to ensure that there was nothing physically wrong. Sometime she took a Panadol. They were vegetarians and organic farmers. The daughter was studying at university.

Her mum offered to leave the room – but my client said it was okay for mum to stay in the room. I first explained that I may not start with “Three In One” – and they were agreeable. I started with N.O.T. At school some of the girls were bullies. It was a country school. It took a while to get to the cause – and the mother suddenly said “try testing in relation to being different at school”. This was the key. They were organic farmers – the rest of the kids at school came from “conventional farming” families.

At the end of the Basic 1-8, my client wanted to diffuse the stresses involved with completing her masters degree at university. She was studying in Europe. My client was the only student from that school who made it to university.

And then she said “I want to clear issues with respect to my relationship with my family”. At this point mum left the room. The stress as she was growing up was “dad did not approve of the NZ education system” – although now he has changed his mind and thinks it is good. There were “expectations from father”.

At this point “Set Standards Diffusion” from Three In One Concepts was used. This is about the stresses involved when you set standards for yourself, set standards for others and when others set standards for you.

Her homework was the Australian Bush Flower essence “Little Flannel Flower” – the essence is about connecting with the child in you. She said she grew up very fast.

One week later…

They insisted on an appointment a week later – she was returning to Europe. She did not have headaches – “I could feel it – but it never came out”.

This time she wanted to work on her future goals and dreams. She was a talented artist but she was studying “Business, Computer Science”. She spent the time during the consultation creating a way to achieve her “dream” which was more than just being an artist.

Touch for Health Success

Supplied by Andrea Radford

Although I seem to have been involved with TFH for some time, I feel I’m a junior in the field! Nonetheless, I’ve had some wonderful results which are worthwhile sharing.

A friend of mine had gone through a prolonged tough time, a family member had passed, they had bought a new home and had shifted in, along with her father-in-law, and her daughter had been ill. She was unfamiliar with TFH and we did a 14-muscle fix as you go. It went well and when I left she was feeling fine.

I phoned her a few days later to see how she was. She explained that not long after the balance she lay on the couch and could not get up to prepare dinner for her family. She went to bed and slept solidly and soundly for over 12 hours something she had not done in a very long time – and the following day felt better than she had for months. She attributed this to the balance and was grateful for the relief.

Another lady came for a balance, she said she just wanted some energy. She explained that most nights she lay on the couch after tea, lacking the energy to do anything else. Again we did a 14-muscle fix as you go. When I spoke to her a few days later, she said, “I don’t know what you did, but I did two and a half hours ironing that night, I even ironed the tablecloth from a dinner party 6 weeks ago!”

Another balance that truly astounded me was a case of constipation. The person had been suffering for a few days and was feeling quite uncomfortable. We did a balance, and as soon as he stood up he had to go to the bathroom!

I look forward to having many, many more wonderful results and experiences that enrich all our lives collectively.

Angry Children

Practitioner: Marion Miller

“My son, now 10, has had a very difficult childhood. Since he was born he was a very “different” little man, and for a long time we fought against the label ADHD. We felt that we knew him better than any doctor, and we saw many, believe me. As a general rule, within 5 minutes they had made their “diagnosis” and seemed uncaring that we disagreed – at one point I was dismissed by a specialist when I refused to put him on Ritalin – “Well, there’s no point continuing this appointment then”.

We are very educated people, and like most nowadays, we have access to all sorts of information from all the usual sources. We have never accepted that our son had ADHD as to our minds, he did not fit the pattern, varied though that pattern may be. In our opinion he was, put simply, “wired up wrong”! We had tried many “alternative” therapies with mixed results, but had not found anything that helped him beyond making him “feel nice” for an hour or two.

Luckily, after a change of school, we met an RT/LB teacher who was interested enough to look beyond the norm, and she introduced us to Marion Miller, a Neuro-Linguistic Kinesiologist.

Our first appointment was LIFE ALTERING. I took an angry, violent child into her treatment room and left with an openly affectionate son. At last, someone who could help – and not only that, but who could explain why our boy was doing what he was doing. The most basic result is that my son no longer hits other children – for the simple reason that he no longer has the over-developed fight/flight instinct. This was an IMMEDIATE benefit, noted the very next day at school.

The other benefits have been legion! Life at home is much calmer, he has a great relationship and friendship with his younger sister, and, for the first time in his life, he has friends! We still have our problems, and we still make regular trips for treatment (about once every 4-6 months) but he now knows when he is losing control, and he is the one who instigates the appointments.

I will never be able to thank Marion, and the NLK, enough. She has restored my son to me – and anyone who has a “special” child will fully understand that statement. I would urge anyone who feels that their child has behavioural issues to investigate NLK as an alternative to the awful drug regime handed out willy-nilly by the so-called specialists. In our case, specifically, Ritalin would have been disastrous as my son is not ADHD, as proved by the NLK and later backed up by further “Western” diagnosis.

However, if we had not been so adamant in finding alternative solutions, we would now have a drugged, semi-functioning child (and I am still waiting, three years down the line, for the specialists to send me information on 20 year research on the effects of this drug!).”

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