Tuesday 30 May 2017

“300 days after the Lightning Process I climbed Snowdon!”

This was the heading one of my clients sent me recently. She did the Lightning Process course for fibromyalgia, and transformed the chronic pain that she used to experience.

She continued;

“That’s not just climbing Snowdon, that’s climbing with a smile! I really enjoyed it. I felt strong and healthy and amazing.
Proof LP works if you work really hard. So many things have changed, and I’ve changed so many things, and I feel great for it. Looking forward to my next 300 days.”

Gemma

Isn’t it amazing that something as real and physical as chronic pain can be changed? Yet pain consultants and researchers now know that most of what we used to think about pain is wrong. They have produced this fun and interesting 5 minute video for clients, which shows how much of an overlap there now is between the medical profession’s understanding of chronic pain and what the Lightning Process does.


As I say a little bit more about the “p” word, I am going to call it “sensation” instead. This is because our brain understands words one at a time, by imagining what each word means and then releasing chemical messages in response: so if I use a word a lot of times, that is a lot of possibly unhelpful messages about that subject whizzing round your body! Also, the majority of what I say applies equally well to other unhelpful sensations the body experiences, like tinnitus and vertigo.

The video explains that all sensation is experienced in the brain, and that beyond 3 – 6 months, any tissue damage has healed as far as it can be. Sensation’s purpose is to communicate – warn – so as to protect cells from damage, so long term sensation stops serving its original protective purpose. It has become more about the over-sensitivity of the nervous system. Sensation signals are being sent when there is no need for them. Our brain is trying to help us, but sometimes it gets it wrong. “To change it, you need to retrain the brain and the nervous system.”

And retraining the brain and nervous system is exactly what the Lightning Process is so good at helping you to do. This 2 minute video by Phil Parker about neuroplasticity and sensation shows this very simply. Neuroplasticity, by the way, is the way in which the brain changes in response to how it is used.




Monday 8 May 2017

Learning to go automatic

I was staying in a friend’s house for a few weeks recently (getting away from builders!) and I noticed how, for the first couple of days, I had to really think about lots of things I normally do automatically: like reaching to the right cupboard for teabags. I realised again how much of our lives are run on automatic pilot, and how brilliant our brain is at putting things into automatic mode. This is great news for our ability to learn to be healthy and happy automatically.

Our brain does this because, research shows, our conscious mind can only focus on about 7 things at once. Ever tried to remember your shopping list if you have forgotten to take it to the shop? You might remember it all if there are only 5 things, less likely if there are 20! So our brain is very keen to put things into autopilot, because your unconscious mind can handle far far more than your conscious mind. Your automatic (unconscious) brain deals with things when you are not consciously focused on them: like breathing, driving or walking.

It is amazing how quickly you can learn to do something automatically. By the time I had been in that house 3 days, I had acquired hundreds of new automatic patterns, and my body knew where the teabags, sink and kettle were without needing to involve my conscious brain at all!

My mind and body learned these new automatic patterns because it made sense and seemed a helpful thing to learn. In the same way, when we decide to learn new ways to be healthy and happy, after a little bit of practise our brain gets the idea and carries on with them on autopilot.