Guided Imagery
By Jackie Christensen, BS, HHP, NC, MH
Faculty Member of GCNM
Guided imagery is a technique that incorporates directed thoughts and suggestions to guide your imagination toward a relaxed and focused state. Guided imagery is not just a mental activity; it involves the whole body, all the senses, and emotions.
Over the past 25 years, the effectiveness of guided imagery has been increasingly established by research findings that demonstrate its positive impact on health, creativity and performance. It has been shown that in many instances even 10 minutes of imagery can reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol and glucose levels in the blood, and heighten shortterm immune cell activity. Guided imagery has been used to reduce blood loss during surgery and help to alleviate headaches and pain. Athletes have used guided imagery to increase skill at skiing, skating, and tennis. It has been used to increase ability in writing, acting and singing. It has also been shown to accelerate weight loss and reduces anxiety; and it has been proven over and over, to reduce the aversive effects of chemotherapy, especially nausea, depression and fatigue. Imagery has been considered a healing tool in virtually all of the world's cultures and is an integral part of many religions.
When using guided imagery, people can invent their own imagery or they can listen to imagery that’s been created for them. Either way, the individual’s imagination will take over since each person’s imagination is creatively unique. Even when listening to imagery that’s been created in advance, the mind will automatically edit what’s being offered for what is needed. So a CD or written script simply becomes an internal starting mark for the imagination.
Guided imagery works well for several reasons. First of all, the mind doesn’t quite get the difference between actual events and events we create in our head. Therefore the images created in the mind can be almost as real as actual, external events. Secondly, when we are in an altered state, such as the one when we use imagery, we’re capable of more rapid and intense healing, growth, learning and performance. We are even more intuitive and creative. The third component is often referred to in medical literature as the "locus of control" factor. When we have a sense of being in control that alone can help us to feel better and do better. Feeling in control is associated with higher optimism, self-esteem, and ability to tolerate pain, ambiguity and stress. Decades of research in ego psychology informs us that we feel better about ourselves and perform better when we have a sense of mastery over the environment. Steven Covey, in his best seller, "Seven Habits of the Most Effective People, suggested that a good guided image must have five basic ingredients: It’s personal, It’s positive, It’s present tense, It’s visual, and It’s emotional.
Guided imagery works better with practice. The more you practice the easier it gets. Imagery works best in a relaxed, atmosphere with an easy-going attitude. Try not to force it, just let it happen. There are many different images to choose from, so pick one that you can relate to and is congruent with your values. When you use imagery, use all your senses not just visual. Try to feel, taste, hear and smell the image, make sure all your senses are engaged.
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Book Review
The Coconut Oil Miracle
By Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D.
The Coconut Oil Miracle was first published in 1999 as The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil. The author is a Certified Nutritionist and a Naturopathic Doctor who has studied and written about the healing properties of coconut oil for many years. In this revised fourth edition he provides clear facts about the nature of the specific type of saturated fats, medium chain fatty acids, contained in coconut oil and the healing properties and benefits of including this oil in our daily diet.
There is substantial historical evidence of the health benefits of using coconut oil. In the Ayurvedic tradition coconut oil was one of the earliest oils used as food and medicine. In the Asian, Pacific Island, African and Central American cultures there is a very long tradition as well. This history alone shows long-standing use of the coconut in over half of the global population. These cultures also showed an absence of heart disease, digestive disorders, and prostate problems, and were much healthier until the introduction of the modern western world’s dietary habits. In these cultures where the indigenous people spend a lot of time outdoors under the hot sun they used coconut oil liberally to protect their skin. In the nineteenth century many European and North American cookbooks included the use of coconut oil in recipes, in the days when cancer and heart disease were mostly unknown.
I found the author’s disclosure of the "scientific" and political propaganda conducted by the American Soybean Association and The Center for Science in the Public Interest to misinform the public and replace tropical oils with polyunsaturated soybean oil rather unsettling and slightly reminiscent of Heath Canada and the FDA’s efforts to increase agricultural and dairy industry profits at the risk of public health through introducing harmful products into our food supply. The author alleges that poorly conducted scientific testing methods and the suppression of information on the benefits of tropical oils was employed in this campaign for profit.
Coconut oil is composed of the same medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) found in mother’s breast milk, which protects the immunity of newborns and nursing babies until their own tiny immune systems can fully develop. Coconut oil has none of the health risks associated with the saturated fats found in red meats and dairy products.
The author provides us with a brief chemistry lesson on short (SCFAs), medium (MCFAs) and long (LCFAs) chain fatty acids that I found very helpful to clarify the differences and the terminology, and explains their biological effects, all in a manner that most readers will easily grasp. For example, the author states that all natural dietary oils are a combination of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and within each category are many different types. Good examples of this are olive oil, which is 14% saturated, 77% monounsaturated and 9% polyunsaturated, and coconut oil which is 92% saturated, 6% monounsaturated and 2% polyunsaturated.
The term "saturated" refers to the degree of saturation with hydrogen atoms. Fatty acids consist of a chain of carbon atoms with a number of hydrogen atoms attached. Every carbon atom can hold a pair of hydrogen atoms. This chemical structure where each carbon atom is paired with hydrogen atoms is referred to as saturated. If the chain of carbon atoms has one pair of hydrogen atoms missing it is referred to as unsaturated; if two or more pairs of hydrogen atoms are missing it is referred to as polyunsaturated. According to the author when a pair of hydrogen atoms is missing the adjoining carbon atoms form a double bond, creating a weak link in the carbon chain that can have a dramatic influence on health. The book provides diagrams to help you visualize this chemical structure.
The term triglyceride is most commonly used to describe lipids or fats. A triglyceride is composed of fat molecules known as fatty acids; three fatty acids form a single triglyceride molecule. Three triglyceride molecules joined by a glycerol molecule form either long (1424 carbon atoms), medium (812 carbon atoms), or short (26 carbon atoms) chain fatty acids. The length of the chain of the fatty acids determines how the fat is digested and metabolized.
Coconut oil is a saturated fat composed primarily of medium and short chain fatty acids which when metabolized are used for energy production, are rarely stored as fat or as deposits in the arteries, have no harmful effect on blood cholesterol, and protect against heart disease. The MCFAs in coconut oil are primarily 48% lauric acid, 8% caprylic acid and 7% capric acid.
The benefits of using Coconut oil as your only dietary fat include weight loss, prevention of heart disease, cancer and diabetes, strengthening the immune system, and protecting and condition your skin and hair naturally. The health benefits of MCFAs have been known since the 1950s. Coconut oil and a manufactured product called MCT oil are still used in hospitals to treat malabsorption syndrome, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, improve protein and fat metabolism, mineral absorption, are found in formulas fed to seriously burned or critically ill patients, in commercial baby formulas, and to nourish premature infants.
On the association of saturated fats with cholesterol, and high cholesterol as a cause of heart disease, the author states his opinion quite clearly. High homocysteine levels have a greater association with heart disease than high blood cholesterol has. Saturated fat does not clog the arteries like polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats do. Only oxidized fats cause arterial plaque.
He also discusses the immunological benefits of MCFAs and research into the effects on AIDS, Diabetes, yeast and fungi, parasites, viral and bacterial infections. He includes a chart showing the lipid-coated viruses killed by the lauric acid present in coconut oil (48% of its composition), measles, herpes, influenza, leukemia, pneumonia and hepatitis C viruses, and a chart showing the bacteria killed by MCFAs, for example Streptococcus, Staphlococcus, Chlamydia, and Heliobacter pyloris.
Another thing that really caught my attention was his explanation that polyunsaturated fats, for example soybean oil, actually suppress thyroid function, which of course has adverse effects on metabolism, lowering your metabolic rate. Further, he explains that unsaturated fats block secretion of thyroid hormones, their movement in the circulation and the response of tissues to thyroid hormones.
The MCFAs in coconut oil are different from the ones in other foods in that they convert to energy almost immediately, and are not converted into body fat or cholesterol. Coconut oil and MTC oil are used by athletes for weight reduction and control, and increasing energy.
The book provides recipe ideas for replacing dietary oils and milks with coconut products. You can even make your own coconut mayonnaise! Three and a half tablespoons of oil is the daily-recommended dosage. I recommend using fresh ingredients, not the canned ingredients he lists in the recipes. This is a great book, easy to understand and highly informative.
Reviewed By Moira Khouri NC, MH, HHP, CCP
Faculty Member of GCNM
Exercise of the Month
Exercise Description: Standing Side Leg Lifts
Target Muscle: Hip Abductors
Instructions:
Begin the exercise by standing up tall and holding onto the top of a chair or bench. Feet should be hip distance apart. Shift the weight of the body to the supporting foot. Keeping both knees slightly bend, raise the non-supporting leg to the side and lower. **Make sure that as you raise the leg that the top half of your body does not tip away from the lifting leg. Please stand straight and tall throughout the entire exercise. Keeping the abdominal muscle tight will help one keep his or her balance.
To make the exercise more challenging add ankle weights.
Motivational Article
How Much Do You Dream?
By: Roseanna Leaton
Dreaming means different things to different people. For some it is a state of unconsciousness, which they tend to drift into each night as they sleep. For others to dream means to daydream and to drift off to a tropical island somewhere in their imagination. Some people dream happy and idealistic dreams whilst to others their dreams may seem more like nightmares. This can be true of both nighttime dreaming and casual daydreams.
One thing for sure is that whether you think you dream or not you do. You may ask why I can be so sure of this. At night when you dream your brain waves alter and you access an REM state. In this state your brain performs a very vital function - that of conflict resolution. If this function were not executed on a regular basis you would become psychotic. Therefore you can be certain that you do indeed dream at some point during almost every night as you sleep, even if you do not remember your dreams.
The hypnotic state also allows you to access this altered brain wave pattern and this explains why it is so conducive to conflict resolution and change in general. Whilst in hypnosis your creative mind comes to the fore and if you give this part of your mind a goal, it will almost always find a way to achieve it. You merely have to trust in the natural and restorative powers of your subconscious and creative mind. The word hypnosis of course comes from the Greek "Hypnos", the God of sleep.
Dreaming is so very important to us in every way. At night the dreaming state is when your brain naturally and instinctively resolves unconscious conflicts; most of the time you don’t even consciously know that this is happening. But also in your daytoday logical reality, to have a dream is also mightily important. Dreams lead to you learning and creating and inventing. Unless you dream, how can you focus or picture your goal? Without dreams the world would stagnate.
It is worth noting that the only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking. Everything is possible so long as you dream, and allow your imagination to come up with answers to your conundrums. Your thoughts are the place where everything starts within your reality. As you direct your mind to imagine the goals, which you want to achieve, and to effectively dream about your goals, your subconscious mind will naturally offer you perfect solutions. Without a dream your mind would not know to carry out such a task
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About The Author
Roseanna Leaton is specialist in hypnosis for change. With a degree in psychology and qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and sports psychology, Roseanna Leaton is one of the leading practitioners of selfimprovement.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Search online for values in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
