I was reading a post online today that said, "The cells in your body react to everything your mind says. Negativity brings down your immune system." (rawforbeauty.com)
The quote made me think of a patient of mine who had been the victim of an assault. She had responded very well to chiropractic care, but I knew that the emotional trauma was going to prevent her from healing completely until it was addressed. So she came in for a session of Neuro Emotional Technique (NET).
When she came in, her posture was slumped and her eyes were shifty (darting from side to side), she looked pallid and seemed anxious. She reported feeling a great deal of anger which was affecting her relationships and her ability to focus and sleep. We walked through the assault step by step, treating as we went (almost frame by frame). When we first started the treatment, she was literally shaking from what she said was anger and a feeling of lack of control over events, and her jaw was clenched. As we continued, we discovered that some things that she thought were not important and that she had tried to dismiss on an intellectual level, were actually affecting her on an emotional (and consequently physical) level, and we cleared them as well. After only 20 minutes, her whole demeanor had changed. She had color in her face again and was able to comfortably maintain eye contact. Her jaw was relaxed and her shoulders were no longer slumped--she sat erect, and at the same time was visibly more relaxed. She said, "This sounds crazy and you probably won't believe me, but I feel so much better. How can that be after just one session? I no longer feel angry."
I did believe her, not only because I see these kind of results all the time, but also because I experienced the changes myself first hand when I went through NET therapy to address my own past emotional trauma which had almost caused me to drop out of chiropractic school even though I had a 4.0 at the time.
Emotions are very powerful things and they affect us on a physical level--they're not just something that happens in our heads! They affect not only concentration and mood, but our posture, digestion, sleep, immune system, etc.. Some people still try to make an arbitrary distinction between the mind and body as if they are separate entities, and attempt to downplay or even dismiss a mind-body connection. But in reality, the mind is part of the body, and emotions are stored not just in the limbic system in our brains, but throughout the body as neuropeptides called information substances (see link below: Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert, PhD). In fact, the field of psychoneuroimmunology addresses the influence of emotional states on both the nervous and immune systems.
NET is a powerful tool that addressed the mind-body connection and allows us to release these information substances from where they are stuck. This, in turn, allows the body to let go of the emotional stress it sometimes holds on to unnecessarily despite our rational mind's attempts of trying to talk us out of being upset. Sometimes our rational Neocortex may be telling us one thing, but our subconscious mammalian brain is on a different page. This can cause us to get stuck in certain behavior patterns and prevent us from "moving on" no matter how much we journal, meditate, and otherwise try to "just let go." So if you're feeling stuck, find yourself self-sabotaging, or feel unable to let go of a particular hurt or frustration, I highly suggest you give NET a try.
To schedule an appointment, you can reach me at 512-762-2156 or email me at Dr.Rita@RestorativeTouchChiropractic.com
For more information on NET:
Is stress making you sick? NET can help!
http://www.netmindbody.com/for-patients/an-explanation-of-net
For more on Psychoneuroimmunology:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17503136
Candace Pert's book, Molecules of Emotion is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Molecules-Of-Emotion-Mind-BodyMedicine/dp/0684846349