(no subject)
"Instinct to Heal" was a fast read. He suggested several approaches that I've been toying with (i.e. have bought the books/instruments/etc. and haven't made adequate use of them. Apparently he's sold the hell out of his book in France, Canada, and England. It was originally published in French.
So here's what the author, David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, likes in the world of complementary medicine:
* Heart Coherence -- I've had the HeartMath software for almost two years but I've never settled into using it regularly. With his rapturous recommendation of it, I think I'll had to give it a sincere try.
* EMDR -- I have a small stack of professional books on EMDR, but it's very difficult to do on one's own and there are no EMDR therapists here. I may buy a "TheraTapper" or Lightbar to give the bilateral stimulation while focusing on disquieting body sensations, images, and cognitions simultaneously. Again, this is very difficult to do alone. I think I may need to do some DBT work with affect tolerance before I try anything too upsetting.
* Artificial Dawn -- I've seen this things for years and thought they were bogus. But he gives a very good rationale for using them; perhaps I'll buy one.
* Acupuncture -- I'm not sure why he didn't address the "tapping" meridian-based therapies. Perhaps he didn't want to draw fire for discussing something that hasn't undergone fairly rigorous peer review (as the other approaches have, for the most part).
* Omega-3 Fatty Acids -- I've been taking flaxseed oil since last fall and I definitely feel that it helps. Perhaps I should make the move to fish oils, as they are easily assimilated into neural tissue whereas the omega-3's in flaxseed oil require an extra biochemical change to become EPA.
* Exercise -- Well I'm on top of this one.
* Love as a biological need -- I have my friends (though mostly in contact with them via phone, so I don't get the face-to-face feedback that would be ideal for nourishing my limbic system--but that's how things are for now). I have my doggy, Zephyr (a red doberman). I don't know how to categorize my family relationships. My mom has been feeling awful and this has meant far less contact between us. This has been difficult but also has forced me to face myself a bit more, rather than doing my usual blaming. With Dad and Gail it's another story. I love them and I know they love me but I very rarely FEEL love from them.
* Non-violent Communication -- I've had Marshall Rosenberg's book for a couple years. Never have really applied it. God it would helped when A. lived with me. Just now I did a bit on the HeartMath program and addressed my "inner critic" with some NVC and voila!...my heart coherence increased very nicely.
* BATHE (method for listening; designed for primary care physicians, but it seems well suited to many situations) -- Background,
Affect,
Trouble,
Handling,
Empathy
* Community Involvement / Spiritual Connection -- Both of these are at a very low ebb. I could offer so many things for free or for fee ... biofeedback (clearing GSR, neurofeedback [HEG], heart rate variability), informal psychotherapy (gestalt, contemplative, focusing (eugene gendlin), EMDR, TFT, transpersonal/ericksonian hypnotherapy, NLP), yoga (ashtanga, restorative, mindfulness), pilates (mat, reformer, chair) [a woman who owns a pilates studio here came over this week and was amazed that i'm more advanced than she--she was very nice and taught me some new abdominal cues]. The thing is, I don't know which if any of these things I would want to do for money, or as a volunteer thing. I'll have to really take some time to consider whether that's the direction to go. Maybe a writing group. It gets really old doing all these self-improvement / therapeutic things to myself. I sometimes wonder who is this person I'm trying to save -- who is Jacob Morris, and why is he worth extricating from the hell of agoraphobia? And do I really have an interest in serving others, or is it just a way to have intimacy with others in a realm (psychic discomfort) with which I am familiar? I cried yesterday watching, of all things, "School of Rock." I watch all these poignant art films and almost never feel a thing. Then I watch a (self-described) "gonzo" Jack Black comedy and I'm in tears when the kids have their concert. I guess there's something about seeing kids that age working together--their enthusiasm, their vitality and openness. I felt essentially the same thing watching "Camp," but the kids in the movie were younger, were closer the age when my emotional life seems to have been squashed. Maybe it has to do also with how much I enjoyed performing--in West African dance class and choir and koto at wesleyan; in modern dance concerts and "anything goes" at bowdoin; and in the ibsen play in high school. There's something about that group energy that is so beautiful and that gives momentum. How ironic that with my love of creative collaboration I'm stuck doing the solitary work of editing (sort of solitary, there IS the author, obviously). Oh well.
Is it just me or are more and more people dying in Iraq? This is horrible. Is there going to be a generation of crazy Iraq veterans? Or is the conflict less claustrophobic? My dad was in vietnam but he was a mechanic and saw a minimum of disturbing stuff--some people who had been napalmed, shot, etc. (but none of them in front of him). Mostly he smoked opium, screwed whores, and listened to jazz with black soldiers. Ah dad.
So here's what the author, David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, likes in the world of complementary medicine:
* Heart Coherence -- I've had the HeartMath software for almost two years but I've never settled into using it regularly. With his rapturous recommendation of it, I think I'll had to give it a sincere try.
* EMDR -- I have a small stack of professional books on EMDR, but it's very difficult to do on one's own and there are no EMDR therapists here. I may buy a "TheraTapper" or Lightbar to give the bilateral stimulation while focusing on disquieting body sensations, images, and cognitions simultaneously. Again, this is very difficult to do alone. I think I may need to do some DBT work with affect tolerance before I try anything too upsetting.
* Artificial Dawn -- I've seen this things for years and thought they were bogus. But he gives a very good rationale for using them; perhaps I'll buy one.
* Acupuncture -- I'm not sure why he didn't address the "tapping" meridian-based therapies. Perhaps he didn't want to draw fire for discussing something that hasn't undergone fairly rigorous peer review (as the other approaches have, for the most part).
* Omega-3 Fatty Acids -- I've been taking flaxseed oil since last fall and I definitely feel that it helps. Perhaps I should make the move to fish oils, as they are easily assimilated into neural tissue whereas the omega-3's in flaxseed oil require an extra biochemical change to become EPA.
* Exercise -- Well I'm on top of this one.
* Love as a biological need -- I have my friends (though mostly in contact with them via phone, so I don't get the face-to-face feedback that would be ideal for nourishing my limbic system--but that's how things are for now). I have my doggy, Zephyr (a red doberman). I don't know how to categorize my family relationships. My mom has been feeling awful and this has meant far less contact between us. This has been difficult but also has forced me to face myself a bit more, rather than doing my usual blaming. With Dad and Gail it's another story. I love them and I know they love me but I very rarely FEEL love from them.
* Non-violent Communication -- I've had Marshall Rosenberg's book for a couple years. Never have really applied it. God it would helped when A. lived with me. Just now I did a bit on the HeartMath program and addressed my "inner critic" with some NVC and voila!...my heart coherence increased very nicely.
* BATHE (method for listening; designed for primary care physicians, but it seems well suited to many situations) -- Background,
Affect,
Trouble,
Handling,
Empathy
* Community Involvement / Spiritual Connection -- Both of these are at a very low ebb. I could offer so many things for free or for fee ... biofeedback (clearing GSR, neurofeedback [HEG], heart rate variability), informal psychotherapy (gestalt, contemplative, focusing (eugene gendlin), EMDR, TFT, transpersonal/ericksonian hypnotherapy, NLP), yoga (ashtanga, restorative, mindfulness), pilates (mat, reformer, chair) [a woman who owns a pilates studio here came over this week and was amazed that i'm more advanced than she--she was very nice and taught me some new abdominal cues]. The thing is, I don't know which if any of these things I would want to do for money, or as a volunteer thing. I'll have to really take some time to consider whether that's the direction to go. Maybe a writing group. It gets really old doing all these self-improvement / therapeutic things to myself. I sometimes wonder who is this person I'm trying to save -- who is Jacob Morris, and why is he worth extricating from the hell of agoraphobia? And do I really have an interest in serving others, or is it just a way to have intimacy with others in a realm (psychic discomfort) with which I am familiar? I cried yesterday watching, of all things, "School of Rock." I watch all these poignant art films and almost never feel a thing. Then I watch a (self-described) "gonzo" Jack Black comedy and I'm in tears when the kids have their concert. I guess there's something about seeing kids that age working together--their enthusiasm, their vitality and openness. I felt essentially the same thing watching "Camp," but the kids in the movie were younger, were closer the age when my emotional life seems to have been squashed. Maybe it has to do also with how much I enjoyed performing--in West African dance class and choir and koto at wesleyan; in modern dance concerts and "anything goes" at bowdoin; and in the ibsen play in high school. There's something about that group energy that is so beautiful and that gives momentum. How ironic that with my love of creative collaboration I'm stuck doing the solitary work of editing (sort of solitary, there IS the author, obviously). Oh well.
Is it just me or are more and more people dying in Iraq? This is horrible. Is there going to be a generation of crazy Iraq veterans? Or is the conflict less claustrophobic? My dad was in vietnam but he was a mechanic and saw a minimum of disturbing stuff--some people who had been napalmed, shot, etc. (but none of them in front of him). Mostly he smoked opium, screwed whores, and listened to jazz with black soldiers. Ah dad.