Tantra is the ancient art that reveals the secrets techniques, which connect your body and mind with your soul.  Your soul is your core self that is always abundant in love, joy, and ecstasy.

How come you do not always feel the connection with your soul?  It’s not that our soul is sick, it’s that the ego mind formed when we separated from our natural blissful state has created the apparent separation between body and soul and with it created a state of not wellbeing.

Tantric techniques, some of which we will we cover and practice in the workshop “Healing Your Soul? will reestablish the connection between body and soul and thus restore the state of Wellbeing that is our birthright.

When you feel flooded with blissful energy it’s easier to quiet down the ego mind and seduce it into becoming the servant that we need for our physical survival.  A mature ego mind concentrates on carrying out duties: to execute what’s on your to your list, to make the necessary phone calls, etc.

However, regretfully, it has gotten into the habit of interfering with your expression of love and thus cuts you off from your essence.   The ego mind knows absolutely nothing about love and connection.  It thrives in being separate and love to feel important in the eyes of others.

Tantra has secret tools to gently transform limiting believes that the ego mind has created… into powerful energy and all-encompassing love.  The healed soul can now recover its sovereignty.

The ego mind has a strong grip on our survival and in feeling special. Admittedly, feeling special feels good for the moment, but the problem is that we become addicted to wanting more and more of the stuff that does not really satisfy us deeply.

Yes, the ego might give us some mental orgasms, like when you validated as the best at something, but those orgasms are short and dry and do nothing to connect with your essence.  It actually often takes us even away from loving yourself and others as they are.   The motto of the survival mind is more, more…

Tantra is a wise teacher and guides us to give the body the pleasure that it craves by creating energy that can direct to freeing your heart, the center of love and connection in the body.  When the heart opens the connection with the Hither Mind and with your soul happens naturally.

The abundance of energy that we will create and expand in the workshop will open all our energy centers, the root chakra, so we can feel safe, the sex center so we feel ecstasy, the power center, so we feel our core power, the throat center, so we feel great asking for what we want and expressing gratitude, and the intuition center –the third eye --  that sees beyond what the physical eyes can see, the Oneness that is our essence.

When the Body, the Hither Mind and the Soul are connected we feel blissful.  There is an inseparable connection between your sex life and the rest of your life. When you expand your capacity for sensual and sexual pleasure, you expand your capacity for abundance, love and joy in all areas of your life.

Through Tantra you will lead a more authentic and satisfying sex life, but it goes much deeper:  your entire life becomes fuller and more joyful.

If your soul is longing for union with your body and mind I’m sure I will see you at my workshop on Sunday, July 14,2013.
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Carla Tara is a teacher of Tantra and runs her own practice in the field of body-oriented psychotherapy. She has studied with Eastern masters Chitrabhanu, Dr. Mishra and Dr. Rajmani as well as with Western teachers Lori Grace, Margo Anand and Charles Muir.

More than 5,000 years ago in India, oils were found that not only healed dis-eases, but prevented future imbalances.    Sacred Stone treatments use pharmaceutical, cold-pressed (organic when possible) sunflower, coconut, castor, mustard, neem, sesame, jojoba and aromatic precious oils.  Food grade oils are not the 1st press and usually have been denatured, losing all its vital nutrients, include the essential fatty acids. It’s best to order your oils through a manufacturer. I recommend www.banyanbotanicals.com and  www.fromnaturewithlove.com.  One should never apply anything to the skin that is not edible, as it is the largest organ of absorption and elimination in the body. Oil works as a physical medium to transmit prana from the therapist to the client. Ayurveda recommends doing self-oil massage everyday.

Creams and lotions ultimately dehydrate the skin because of the surfactants/emulsifiers that are used to keep the ingredients (oil and water) from separating. There are very few creams and lotions that are edible, but as the public become more educated, more edible creams and lotions will be made without surfactants. Surfactants are similar to detergent. They feel great when they are applied to the skin, but then, when you shower or bath, the water suds up the surfactants still sitting on the surface of the skin and inevitably washes away any of your skins own natural oils.   Carcinogenic, toxic pollutants are as damaging when applied externally as they are when ingested.

Using oil on the skin can help prevention and eliminate ama in the outer layers of the body. Ama is a Sanskrit word for toxin.  The use of creams, lotion, and refined oils are not only harmful, it suppresses the metabolism and poisons the body.  This may not be apparent immediately, but there is no question that many of the fancy products that people are applying to their skin today is indirectly linked to our society’s manifestation of a low immune system, among other things.  The immune function is weakened by constantly fighting ama (toxins).  On the other hand, using nourishing oils expel ama and strengthen the immune system.  Ayurveda states that you should not apply anything to your skin that you would not put in your mouth, i.e., food.

The body views oil as food for the cells.  According to ayurveda, the overall best product to use for the majority of the population is sesame oil.  Each body type should use the oil that is specific for their condition.  But, sesame is the best all around oil for head or foot massage, in which it is often recommended regardless of the natal body type.

Vegetable oils are rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, D, and E, along with gama linoleic acid, prana and protein. However, some oils are not processed correctly and their nourishing properties are destroyed. Cold pressed oils are the best oils.  This means that the extraction process of getting the oil from the seeds, or whatever, must be done with very low temperatures and no chemicals.  To get this kind of oil one can go to the local health food store. Most manufactured massage oils are partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated totally, which gives them a longer shelf life, yet reduces their healing properties.  If you have oil that you like, write to the manufacture and ask how the oil is made. The oils should not come to the boiling point in the manufacturing process.

Karen Chabot, DAy, MS, LMT will teaching a 2 1/2 day training at the Open Center from July 26-28th on Ayurvedic Abhyanga Massage Therapy.  A FREE INTRO to the program is scheduled for July 25th.
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Karyn A. Chabot, DAy, MS, LMT, a Rhode Island based nationally certified massage, Ayur*Yoga and Pancha Kharma therapist as well as a yoga and fitness instructor with 24 years’ experience in Ayurveda and holistic health, founded Sacred Stone Massage Therapy in 1999 and is a leading teacher who has trained some 1,000 practitioners in it. She has founded The Newport Massage School in Rhode Island. www.thenewportmassageschool.com

2. Creates an electrochemical balance in the body

3. Soothes insomnia

4. Nourishes the body, promotes steadiness and confidence

5. Promotes good vision

6. Heals and prevents nervous system imbalances

7. Alleviates fatigue and stress from overworking

8. Increases longevity and reverses aging

9. Strengthens the electromagnetic field of the body

10. Creates a protective shield around the body against negativity

11. Increases the immune system

12. Stimulates antibody production

Karen Chabot, DAy, MS, LMT will teaching a 2 1/2 day training at the Open Center from July 26-28th on Ayurvedic Abhyanga Massage Therapy.  A FREE INTRO to the program is scheduled for July 25th.
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Karyn A. Chabot, DAy, MS, LMT, a Rhode Island based nationally certified massage, Ayur*Yoga and Pancha Kharma therapist as well as a yoga and fitness instructor with 24 years’ experience in Ayurveda and holistic health, founded Sacred Stone Massage Therapy in 1999 and is a leading teacher who has trained some 1,000 practitioners in it. She has founded The Newport Massage School in Rhode Island. www.thenewportmassageschool.com

Originally published on March 21, 2013 in "Is Psychology Making Us Sick?" on the Psychology Today Website.

We all practice psychology. Whenever we are unhappy with ourselves—the way we act or feel—we automatically begin a process of self-reflection. Unfortunately this process is often fueled by self-criticism, bumper-sticker diagnoses, and efforts to make changes destined to fail.

Consider the following examples:

• A student always waits to the last minute to write his papers. He labels himself a procrastinator, and tries to begin his writing earlier so that he can spread it out over time.

• A woman sometimes resorts to buying shoes when she is unhappy. She tells people she has a compulsive disorder and tries to stay away from malls.

• A man says he gets drunk once very two weeks upon which he behaves in an intimidating and threatening manner to his spouse. He concludes he has an alcohol problem and seeks out counseling and books so he can stop drinking.

• A woman gets hurt by her friend. She keeps asking herself, “Why am I so sensitive?” She resolves to be tougher and not show her pain.

• An attorney is having a hard time staying focused lately; he complains of this problem every few weeks. His diagnosis—he needs to strengthen his ability to concentrate. He does concentration exercises and meditates to focus his mind.

• A woman keeps trying to lose weight but always gains it back. She believes something is wrong with her; she believes that if she felt better about herself she would keep the weight off. She goes to therapy and workshops aimed at building self-esteem.

In each of these cases a person is unhappy with themselves and proceeds as if they have a kind of illness that needs treating. They self-diagnose concluding they have low self-esteem, weak concentration, addictions, compulsive disorders, procrastination problems, or sensitivity issues. Where do their diagnoses come from? None of these people have done any research on their perceived problem. None have made a point to discuss the problem with others who share similar experiences in order to learn from them. None have even examined their own inner and outer lives over time giving them a minimal level of understanding of what is really going on. Their diagnosis comes from ideas they learned from television shows (ranging from Dr. Phil to sitcoms); radio talk show hosts who promote their favorite bumper-sticker solutions; magazines that promote such narrow ways of acting, feeling, and looking that almost everyone who reads them feels somewhat abnormal or undesirable; parents who look at their children more as a reflection of their own egos instead of unique individuals; and scores of self-help books, blogs, and counselors that buy into these  diagnoses. The problem: all of these people are practicing shame-based psychology. All of them are unhappy or critical of themselves, conclude that something is wrong with them, and begin treating themselves accordingly. They treat themselves as if they have a psychological weakness or inadequacy. In short, they “make” themselves sick.

What’s Wrong with Shame-based Psychology?

1. Critical thinking, or psychological thinking plays almost no part in shame-based psychology. People who practice shame-based psychology never ask, “What’s so good about buying shoes?” or, “Perhaps I am not focused because my work is too rigid and I want to be more creative and free thinking?” They rarely consider the beauty and gift of being sensitive in a world of so much coldness and brutality. They certainly don’t think that doing their homework the night before class forces them to summon all their intelligence and passion into a burst of energy that allows them to do their best work.

2. Compassion almost never enters into shame-based psychology.
Though shame-based self-reflection is almost always self-critical in tone, people fail to notice how harsh and hurtful their “analysis” is. Further, people don’t take time to care for the injury inflicted by their friend’s “insensitive statement.” They don’t share how difficult their law practice is on their spirit and creative impulses. They don’t take a moment to notice how good it feels buying those shoes, and how many other moments of their lives are filled with more suffering and less joy. They don’t notice how tired they are upon finishing their homework in the early morning hours, or how it feels to add insult to injury by beating up themselves for being tired.

3. Sustainable solutions rarely result form shame-based psychology. Diet programs work for days or weeks; addiction programs work maybe for a few months. No matter how many times people call themselves too sensitive they continue to expose themselves to further hurt. Now matter how many times hard working attorneys (or other hard working individuals) try to force themselves to work harder, they still seem to lose focus. Regardless of how many times people tell themselves to stop buying things that make them feel better, they still find a way of making just one more purchase. And, no matter how many times students tell themselves to start writing their paper days before it is due, other activities still interfere and they find themselves writing it the night before.

A Love-based Psychological Perspective

Love based psychology proceeds as if what people do or feel is an expression of a profound and deep intelligence; trying to make changes can only occur when this intelligence is discovered and supported. When this intelligence is denied, ignored, or simply unconscious, it manifests in ways that disturb us and our usual habits and patterns. In short, we are disturbed by ourselves not because something is wrong with us but because we don’t really know ourselves and how to live according to our more authentic natures.

Consider the cases from above:

• The student who waits for the last night to do his school papers learned that he does his best and most creative work under pressure in a short burst of energy rather than in a measured way over time.

• The woman who bought the shoes realized that she lives with a husband who is quite wealthy but equally stingy, financially and emotionally, with their family. She learned she simply wants to “do nice things” for herself.

• The man who drinks once every two weeks learned that he needs to be more assertive about his needs with his spouse on a regular basis instead of once every two weeks when he is drunk.

• The woman who thought she was too sensitive learned that she needs to trust her own judgment about her friend’s critical attitude.

• The attorney learned that he needs to stop working so hard and “de-focus” and instead take some time for his artistic interests and spiritual life.

• The woman who kept trying to lose weight learned to appreciate herself, including her body, for who she is.

These people are all of us. We have become so used to addressing everything that bothers us about ourselves with armchair diagnoses drawn from television, radio, friends, family members, and popular psychology. These mainstream notions have taken root in our psyches, impairing our vision, blinding us to the seeds of growth which we have learned to see as symptoms of illness. We have substituted being critical for genuine critical thinking. We have grown so accustomed to treating ourselves harshly that we no longer feel injured or offended. In short, we “make” ourselves sick.

David Bedrick will be teaching the full-day workshop Body as Guru: A Doorway to Your Inner Teacher on Sunday, June 30th.

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David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, an educator, counselor, attorney, organizational consultant, and writer, spent eight years on the faculty at the University of Phoenix and taught in the Navy and at the Process Work Institute. He is the author of Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology, which introduces a love-based psychology. www.davidbedrick.com

Republished from HIV Plus Print Magazine

“Do you know what it's like to have AIDS?" my friend asked. "Everyone looks at you as if you have a skull and crossbones over your head. They treat you like you're already dead." Another man I knew who also had AIDS told me after coming out of a coma, “It’s hard to keep living when people insist on seeing me as dead or dying. I’m not dead yet; I wish people would stop burying me and start relating to me.” He said he dropped into a coma because he didn’t have the strength to fight against people’s constant projections.

The denial of death is ever-present. People get sick but resist their own sense of frailty; people witness another’s death but deny their mortality; people age but fight against every visible and invisible reminder. Death is the enemy; sickness is a sign of weakness and failure.  As a result, people are compelled to project death and dying onto someone else; those with HIV/AIDS have been prime targets. Whether people are caring and care-taking, cold and dismissive, or contemptuous and blaming, the projector escapes the disquieting experience of seeing their own death in the mirror while forfeiting its gifts—the way it can highlight the profundity of the moment, reorganize priorities, and bring people closer to their loved ones and spirit.

Being looked at as diseased or dying is a most awful projection sapping the energy out of those with HIV/AIDS, devaluing the life they are living, hypnotizing them to stop living before their time. However, because this particular projection is so prevalent and seems true it is hard for many to fight back, to defend their humanity, to remember that they are full of ‘living experiences’—feelings, conversations, touches, spiritual states, not to mention loving and being loved.

But this projection not only injures those with HIV/AIDS, it costs everyone. When sickness and death, failure and weakness are projected onto another the capacity for genuine compassion turns into pity and we become blind to how we can learn from the psychology of AIDS.

AIDS is a condition of weakened immunity, of intense vulnerability. While physiologically this poses great difficulty, psychologically it represents a kind of openness that many others compulsively avoid. As a dream analyst I sometimes imagine a community of people coming to my therapy practice with the following dream. There are two groups of people. Some have a weakened immunity and are open to feeling, but defenseless against, even the mildest breeze while others are more insensitive and try to stay away from people in the first group seeing them as sick and not wanting to catch their illness. They ask for my interpretation and I say, “The first group needs more protection and care for their vulnerability; the second group needs more contact with life and receptivity to its pains and pleasures. In this way the community can become more whole and healed.”

Integrating the psychological lesson, the “dreaming” meaning of AIDS, requires those of us who are free from the medical malady to learn to lower our guards, to drop a notch in our sacred shields. This includes those who engage in dietary or exercise regimens in order to make themselves immune to all but kryptonite, those who live in the hoped-for security of gated communities, those who stockpile weapons so they can survive WW III, even those whose response to September 11th was to insist they can go on living as if America’s defense systems can keep them forever safe. Simply put, many of us who live as if being invulnerable is the key to living a long life need to learn that being vulnerable, touched, moved, and affected is what it means to experience being alive.

I still feel close to my friend who passed some fifteen years ago. I can hear him speak to those who project death and sickness onto those with HIV/AIDS, "We are not dead. We are dying, but so are you. If you could be more open to your own frailty, if you were less consumed with overcoming your own insecurity, if your psychological immune system wasn't so good at making you feel that it's not you who’s dying, it would give many of us a bit of reprieve and you the chance to touch life more intimately and to know more of the beauty of giving and receiving love.” As for me, I must say: To those who I have burdened with my ignorance, biases and projections, forgive me. And to my gay brothers who have shared their wisdom with me and taught me how to live more intimately with life, thank you.

David Bedrick will be teaching the full-day workshop Body as Guru: A Doorway to Your Inner Teacher on Sunday, June 30th.

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David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, an educator, counselor, attorney, organizational consultant, and writer, spent eight years on the faculty at the University of Phoenix and taught in the Navy and at the Process Work Institute. He is the author of Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology, which introduces a love-based psychology. www.davidbedrick.com

Edgar Cayce is considered the father of holistic medicine. The man gave over 14,000 readings in a trance state, 9,000 of these were for the treatment of physical ailments. These ailments included:  the flu, the common cold, to arthritis, psoriasis, ovarian cysts and fibroids, internal cleansing, weight loss diets and so much more. Using the Edgar Cayce philosophy of “Spirit is the life, mind is the builder and the physical is the result,” we will discuss the healing treatments Cayce would recommend for these and other illnesses.

Using castor oil packs, diet, Edgar Cayce appliances, formulations and other treatments Edgar Cayce was able to bring the body back to a normal state so that it could heal itself. The following is a Cayce quote on healing:  “Know that all healing forces are within, not without. The applications from without are merely to create within a mental and spiritual force.”  1196-7

THE EDGAR CAYCE HEALTH READINGS INCLUDED REMEDY TREATMENTS FOR:

• Arthritis

• Psoriasis and Exema

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

• Fybroids and Ovarian Cists

• Colds and Flu

• Cleansing Diets

• Weight Loss

Jack Rosen

As an Edgar Cayce Health Care Practitioner, I have been using the Edgar Cayce Remedies for almost 50 years.  My favorite treatments are the treatment of muscular injuries.  These include: Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, sprains, tendon and ligament injuries and hairline fractures.

Like Edgar Cayce, who often helped his sons with the remedies, I helped my own son with the treatment of a Hairline Fracture.  When my son David was 16, he fractured his ankle. A removable fiberglass cast was put on my son’s foot. The pain was so severe that he asked me if I could do something about it. The ankle looked like it had a grapefruit in it. I gently removed the cast, wrapped my sons ankle with a tee shirt soaked in warm castor oil, and then placed a heating pad around it. After two hours I removed the pack.  The swelling and the pain were gone. I then proceeded to rub his ankle with an Edgar Cayce formula called Egyptian Oil (whose main ingredient is peanut oil).

The second evening, I made a separate pack to wrap in a heating pad, this was an Edgar Cayce Apple Cider Pack.  The liquid of apple cider vinegar was mixed in a saturated solution of salt.  I did this treatment for five days in a row.   We also used the Egyptian Oil every day. After the five days, we took David back to the Orthopedist who he couldn’t find the fracture on the Current X-ray he took. I had to show him the previous three X-rays that were taken before the treatments and showed the hairline fracture. This Orthopedist had said in disbelief that the treatment I used could never have done what I said. My son, who was 16 at the time, innocently told him that that was exactly what I did. The Castor Oil Packs and Egyptian Oil are also part of the Edgar Cayce treatment for Arthritis.

A friend of mine fell off of a 100-foot cliff when ice climbing. He was Medi-vaced to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester NY.  When he arrived at the hospital,  they wanted to amputate his foot to save his life.  He also had a torn carotid artery, his pelvis was in two pieces, several broken ribs and two broken ankles. Using the several of the Edgar Cayce Remedies--including the packs, oils, positive thinking, prayer--he was able to win the NY State Tree Climbing Championship one-year later using both feet. A Year and a Half later in the Emergency Room, his doctor told a group of interns to look at him because he was a miracle.  That they would never see something like this again.  His wife turned to them and said: Why not, if it worked for him it can work for others.  You can find this interview on YouTube, Search: Edgar Cayce--A Miracle Healing.

Jack Rosen will be teaching the weekly series Healing with the Edgar Cayce Remedies beginning on July 8th from 8-10pm.
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Jack Rosen has been studying and using the Edgar Cayce philosophy and remedies for over 45 years and teaching about them for 35 years. He gives workshops at the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) branch in NY on the teachings of Edgar Cayce and has been a guest on many local cable TV and radio programs.

Originally published on April 17, 2013 in "Is Psychology Making Us Sick?" on the Psychology Today Website.

A friend of mine suffers from intense anxiety; sometimes he fears that he is having a heart attack only to learn that he is not. We had the following conversation recently:

Friend: How would you respond if I told you I was afraid I was having a heart attack?

Me: I would ask if you would feel relieved to go the hospital to find out whether your heart was ok. If you said “yes,” I would take you to the hospital.

Friend: Even if you knew that this was just a worry of mine and that there was probably nothing wrong?

Me: Absolutely; while I don’t know about the “reality” of your heart health, I do know that you are really frightened. Your feelings, your experiences, are what matter to me. I would process the whole experience with you—the fear, questioning the fear, wanting to be relieved by going to the hospital, even feeling embarrassed afterwards should that occur. I imagine I would learn a lot more about your fear and anxiety by not trying to convince you it wasn’t real and that in the process we would also become closer friends.

Friend: Why would you do that?

Me: Because I love you.

Many people and therapists would make statements like, “It sounds like a case of hypochondria,” or “It sounds like an anxiety disorder.” Or they might say, “Won’t your approach reinforce the fear by acting as if the concern is real? Don’t you want to help him see the truth about his feelings and his heart? Doesn’t he have some kind of psychological problem, not a physical problem?” These questions represent the perspective of mainstream psychology. Mainstream psychology views disturbing feelings, behaviors, or experiences as an indication that something is wrong with us—an attitude that often shames people.

Love-based psychology

Mainstream thinking is simply inadequate to take on the power of the challenges we face whether its depression, suicide, addiction, conflict, war, abuse, chronic physical and psychological symptoms, poverty, or issues of social justice. The paradigm is worn out—it has done the best it can. Trying to fix, change, even “heal” people to “make them better” is an attitude that has limited results and leaves much shame in its wake.

Love-based psychology begins with a different assumption—that something is “right” with us. Love-based psychology is based on three “truths” about psychological growth and healing that I have been consistently reminded of over the last twenty years of counseling individuals, couples, and organizations. First, people are more likely to get to the root of their difficulties if their experiences are taken seriously regardless of their seeming logic or illogic. That doesn’t mean we have to honor every impulse with an action; it means that trying to talk a person out of their experience is usually short-lived in its effectiveness. In fact, trying to convince someone that something is wrong with their thinking or that their current practices are not working for them has taught me one sure thing—the psyche has the incredible power and resiliency to maintain its course against the dictates of all logic and reason.

Second, when the goal of eliminating psychological symptoms dominates people’s agenda—whether the symptoms are painful feelings, habits, or relationship patterns—the capacity to truly see, understand, and care for their actual experience is diminished. Further, psychological symptoms often have an incredible way of shielding themselves (what some therapists call a “defense mechanism” or “resistance”) from this kind of “change” agenda.

Finally, I have learned that the changes people make over time are often quite different from the ones they seek when they first come to therapy. Specifically, at the beginning of their therapeutic work people almost always hope to get rid of what they find disturbing about themselves. However, later on in their growth process many people find that the most significant change that occurred was not in the difficulties themselves but in their relationship to them—they became more accepting and compassionate towards themselves, more aware of their gifts and their authentic selves, and less focused on overcoming what they saw as their weaknesses and hindrances. Ironically, under the light and care of this new relationship to themselves, their symptoms often begin to change as well, flowering into something that is the source of their greatest gifts.

Steps you can take

This exercise will help you begin practicing a love-based psychology. I’ll help by describing one client’s answers in parentheses below.

1. Identify something about yourself that you find difficult, disturbing, or upsetting. (I get really anxious when I meet new people.)

2. Notice what judgments you have about this part of yourself. Write them down. (I should relax more; I dwell too much on the anxiety and blow situations out of proportion and over react.)

3. Now state the judgments out loud. Listen carefully for the tone of those judgments. Who do you know or have known who might make those judgments? (I think of my boss who would say, “Don’t be a wimp; it’s just talking to people. It shouldn’t be so difficult. You have no reason to worry.” The tone of voice suggests that I am being ridiculous.)

4. Now bring your attention to the difficult feeling itself. What is the feeling like? How do you experience it in your body and how does it makes you move? (I get jittery inside and sweaty all over. It makes me shake.)

5. Lastly, bring to mind a wise and compassionate elder you know, have read of, or imagined. How would that person relate to your experience? If they could see something unique about you—a special gift or sensitivity—what would that be? What advice would that person have for you?  (I consider Yoko Ono to be a wise elder. She would dance around in a funny anxious dance with me. She would say, “That’s my sweet, anxious, sensitive friend!” and she would like that about me. She would also give me sunglasses so I that could remain more anonymous in the world.)

Good luck!

David Bedrick will be teaching the full-day workshop Body as Guru: A Doorway to Your Inner Teacher on Sunday, June 30th.

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David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, an educator, counselor, attorney, organizational consultant, and writer, spent eight years on the faculty at the University of Phoenix and taught in the Navy and at the Process Work Institute. He is the author of Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology, which introduces a love-based psychology. www.davidbedrick.com

Unhealthy levels of stress have become an unfortunate part of the modern life most people are living today. A desire to alleviate this stress has led many people to pursue ways to deal with it that are unhealthy. The reader, who is suffering from the effects of stress, may think that many of the successful people around them who are extremely busy and working long hours are somehow more resourceful when faced with the demands of modern life. However, human beings have a natural limit to how much effort and strain they can deal with. I’m sure many of you would be surprised how often many of these, seemingly more capable, people turn out to be dependent on some form of drugs to be able to continue on in life the way they are going. These drugs may be legal pharmaceuticals such as tranquilizers, anti-depression drugs, and also ones designed to deal with anxiety and insomnia. But also, many people take illegal drugs, not just for the physiological and mental enjoyment they might provide, but often to escape from otherwise, unbearable stress. People may actually be self-medicating themselves when they smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol excessively and use marijuana. In addition, because the stress they are subject to may leave them enervated and tired, they may also resort to stimulants, such as nicotine and caffeine, or even illegal drugs such as cocaine, to keep their energy up to be able to do all they want to do in their rushed lives.

The stress response as an adaptation that allows one to deal with an emergency situation is of great value. The flight or fight response to an imminent danger is the original form of physiological response to the stress of a threat to our survival. Hormones are released within the body such as adrenaline to help us respond by increasing our heart rate and raising our blood pressure by constricting our blood vessels. This allows us to get more blood to muscles that might be necessary for our survival. The muscles also tense to be ready for action. Other hormones signal for the release of cortisol which allows more blood sugar to be available for any fight or evasive retreat that is called for. However, to have the body remain in this emergency physiological state for long periods of time is extremely mentally uncomfortable and physiologically unhealthy. Unfortunately, this is exactly what occurs from the experience of stress in our modern life.

Stress can lead to troubled sleep and insomnia and also interfere with normal sexual function. It can affect concentration and memory. It not only leads to muscle tension throughout the body, but this muscle tension can lead to serious tension headaches. Among the other negative things that occur, our blood pressure remains heightened and cortisol, unhealthy to the body in sustained amounts, continues to flow into our body. The release of cortisol, a major stress hormone, appears to promote the formation of fat around the abdomen, an area  which is considered the most unhealthy place to store fat. And the psychological nature of stress may be one of the key reasons some people become and stay fat. Sugar and blood glucose raising foods which act like sugar, such as bread, bagels, pasta and white potatoes, increase the glucose going to the brain, which makes us feel better. But they also generate a lot in insulin which then withdraws the glucose from the blood, and makes us feel down all over again, creating an unhealthy mood cycle that leads to our using these same foods again, and gaining weight. In addition, these foods stimulate the production of serotonin which relieves stress and anxiety by putting our minds in a more relaxed and peaceful state, another reason we crave them when stressed and put on weight.

People can be subject to these stress conditions in ways that they fully realize, or, for some, they can remain unaware of just how much stress they are being subjected to, and continue on as they are going until their true condition is finally reflected in some serious health condition. The fact is, even low levels of stress, if they are chronic, can have serious negative effects on one’s life. Individuals who are self-employed or their own bosses can experience ongoing stress because of the demands they place upon themselves. On the other hand, the typical worker may experience stress for number of reasons. They may be subject to pressure because of the complexity and time constraints of their work. The regular job itself may be structured with deadlines or amounts of work that are very demanding. This may occur sometimes in a company that wishes to be more profitable by reducing their work force, and then unreasonably asks the remaining workers to increase their own load of work, to maintain the same overall level of productivity. Another cause of stress may be that a worker is subject to a poorly skilled boss who is unable to make clear what is expected of him, or relates by bullying and harassing the individual. A key psychological cause of stress on a job is a feeling that one has little power or influence over one’s working life. Employers should definitely interest themselves in becoming aware of reducing stress in the workplace as stress can seriously reduce a worker’s effectiveness. His concentration and memory may become impaired and he may experience debilitating sleep disruptions with an increase of danger from accidents both in and out of workplace. Overall, his potential for developing health problems increases considerably.

And, of course, in one’s social life, ongoing stress may be caused by a family illness or death, or social strife within a family or other social relations. Personal financial problems can also be a significant source of stress.

Just the demands and strain caused by an overly busy active life in which there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to get everything done, except, maybe, by rushing and hurrying through one’s day, without any real moments of taking your time, or just slowing down completely and relaxing, can create serious ongoing stress for the mind and body. Ongoing stress will sap your energy and debilitate you so that you may resort to taking in more caffeine from different sources, as it is found not only coffee, but in many popular sodas and even some teas. Caffeine stimulates the production of adrenaline, and may give you a sense of having more energy. In the end this will prove counterproductive as adrenaline is a stress hormone, and even though you may feel more energy, you will be experiencing even more of the effects of stress such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. Anyone suffering from stress needs to keep caffeine out of their life. Overall caffeine works against the relaxation you are in need of to counter and diminish your psychological and physiological stressed state. Fortunately, there are many effective ways to reduce stress within our everyday life at work and at home. Some of them can be done by yourself and with a little practice they can be instrumental in helping you avoid any long term detrimental effects that might have otherwise have occurred from your ongoing stressful situations.

Hypnosis is one modality people can use to relieve their stress. Since our beliefs and attitudes can influence how capable and confident we feel about ourselves, they can influence how stressed we feel when we have to deal with life’s challenges. With hypnosis people can change the underlying attitudes and beliefs in their subconscious mind, and meet life’s challenges in a more resourceful, less stressful way. In addition, hypnosis can be used to help people experience and incorporate stress reducing, relaxing mental and physical states into their everyday lives. For all these reasons hypnosis is the easiest and quickest way to alleviate stress and live a healthier, relaxing life. However, there are many ways the individual can get significant relief from stress by themselves. The key point to understand in the relief of stress is that relaxation is incompatible with the stress state, so that if you can generate relaxation in some way, you will automatically be countering the stress in your life.

Meditation is one of the key ways people can reduce stress and introduce a feeling of complete mental and physical relaxation into their lives, one which can continue to provide help in dealing with any stress experienced throughout the rest of the day. I want to say here, that, because of meditation’s connection with Eastern religions, many of you might feel that it is not in consonance with the life you are leading. The truth is, meditation is a valuable technique that is not of itself religious, but has simply been incorporated by various religions for their own purposes. It can be utilized in a completely non-religious way to achieve deep states of relaxation and great stress relief. Those suffering from serious stress should not hesitate to make use of this valuable resource for reducing stress in their lives.

The basic form of meditation is simply to focus your attention on one simple and relaxing thing. This relaxes the mind and keeps it from dwelling on stress generating thought. As a result the mind gets relief and with the mind more relaxed the body follows. To do it, you should be in a comfortable position. Some people meditate in the so-called lotus position, you may have seen on yoga magazines. But this is not at all necessary. You can just sit in a comfortable chair or lie on your bed. You may chose to meditate for any period, but 20 to 30 minutes would be a good period to aim for. If you are worried you will lose track of time, you can use an alarm, preferably a gentle one, like a radio with music coming on or another softer choice of sound.

Once you are ready, you can choose how to concentrate your attention. One very popular way is to concentrate on your breathing. Pay attention to your slow breathing in and out. Here I want to point out, controlling your breathing, all by itself, can be a powerful influence on your stress and significantly reduce it. When we are experiencing stress we breathe shallow breathes up in our chest. When we are relaxed we breathe slow, deep breaths by expanding our lower stomach area. Just by imitating the physiological states of relaxation, by controlling our breathing consciously to be like that when we experience relaxation, we induce our minds and bodies to experience relaxation. Thus, we can note here that breathing to promote relaxation, even without the act of meditation is a valuable resource for reducing stress. The beauty of using breathing for this purpose is that it can be employed wherever you are, even at work. You can just stop for a few moments and take a few slow, deep diaphragm breaths and you will be able to counter any stress you experiencing.

Another way you can meditate is to concentrate on looking at an object. You can do this with anything, but it can be more relaxing to choose a flower or an attractive piece of glass or pottery or a candle with a flame. Observe it carefully, noticing everything about it. Of course, this can be enhanced by breathing in the relaxing way at the same time, even if your attention is no longer on your breathing, but on the object. Some people can become very relaxed by focusing on a sound repeated silently in your mind. It can be short word; it can be a number, like one, or the word "easy,", or the traditional sound used in religion, Om. You can even make up your own! Today many people have sound machines, and some of you may prefer to sit quietly with all your attention on listening to the sounds generated by your machine. You could listen to waves on a beach, or crickets at night, or a downpour in a rainforest. Many people get relaxed from just listening to such sounds without using them for meditation. There are also many meditative recordings designed to initiate relaxation in the person. Perhaps one of these will prove to your liking and be very beneficial to you. While you are meditating in the way you have chosen, some other thoughts may enter your mind, do not fight them, just gently turn your attention back to what you were focusing on.

Using imagery is another way to relieve stress that people find extremely pleasant. You can either use a remembered peaceful, relaxing scene you have experienced or make up an entirely imaginary one. As you create this image in your mind make sure to involve as many senses as possible. For example, an image of a beach should involve seeing the waves and the blue sky with some lovely clouds in it; while at the same time you should be hearing the sounds of the waves and smelling the water and sand, feeling the warmth of the sun and a light breeze on your body.

Other imagery might involve seeing stress flow out of your body, or things you are concerned with moving away from you into the distance. You can also see waves of relaxation flowing down over your body and these waves can move in time with your breathing. You should feel how the relaxation is moving down your body with each new wave. Once you have done this regularly, wherever you are, you can stop for a while, even for just a minute, or as long as you are able, and imagine you are in your relaxing place or the waves of relaxation are flowing over you while you breathe in the relaxation inducing manner. You can also do deep breathing while imagining the stress flowing out of your body with each breathe you exhale. Another very effective way to reduce stress is by practicing muscle relaxation. Remember that relaxation is incompatible with the stress state, so that if you can generate relaxation in some way, you will automatically be countering the stress in your life. Relaxed muscles are the opposite of the tensed muscles experienced with stress. If you learn to relax your muscles, you will be in a more relaxed state and your stress will be reduced. Many people use what is called progressive muscle relaxation. You should consult with your doctor before using this method if you have back problems or muscle spasms, or any other condition you think might lead to injury from this program. Starting either from the top part of your body or at your feet, you tighten then relax each set of muscles. For example, you might tighten your fists and hold this for about five seconds, fully experiencing the tenseness of the muscles used. Then you release this contraction and completely relax the muscles. Breathe out as you do so. It is important to focus your attention on the different feelings of tension and total relaxation. Take your time to fully experience the feelings of relaxation in the muscles. You can repeat doing this with each muscle group, feeling deeper relaxation each time as you release the contraction. Be careful when you contract the muscles in your feet and your back; do this deliberately, but gently and carefully. Practice throughout your body for awhile then you are ready for the next stage. Now you will tense all the muscles of your body at once and then release them, while saying a word, like "relax" or a phrase, like "let go," out loud or silently in your mind. Make sure you keep breathing in a relaxing manner as you are doing all these exercises. Never hold your breath. If practiced regularly, you can reach a point where all you have to do is feel in your body where you are experiencing muscle tension, think of that muscle group in your mind, say that word or phrase, and while you are in that stressful situation, you will experience relaxation. Exercise is another very effective way to relieve stress. It releases tension in the muscles which leads to a state of relaxation when completed. It improves blood flow to your brain and throughout your body to bring more nutrients and oxygen to these areas and remove toxins and other waste products from them too. In addition, a body in better physical condition is better able to deal with the actual physiological stresses created by being in stress creating situations. Exercising results in an improved mood. This may result from physiological changes within your body, but there is another reason as well. While you are exercising, especially if you are doing some sport, you are focusing on other things rather then the concerns which were causing you stress. Exercise will also help you to sleep soundly, and getting enough healthy sleep is an important part of combating stress. You should examine your sleep habits and make sure you are getting enough sleep each night. Many people do not get enough sleep and this contributes to the stress they experience trying to cope with things during their waking life. If you are one of the individuals who do not get plentiful sleep, you should seriously consider rearranging your life to get more sleep. Make sure you consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise program. There are some forms of exercise that combine meditation, breathing and physical movement. For example, you might wish to try Tai Chi or Yoga. Remember, the best stress reduction system is the one that works for you and leads to less stress and more relaxation. Often people can improve their overall results by just adding more pleasant enjoyable moments during the day. Listening to your favorite music or reading a good book are some things you may have neglected to include in your life recently. Taking the time to enjoy good food, and taking a brisk walk can all add up to less stress and a more enjoyable relaxing existence. A lot of little things can add up and change the tone of your life toward the more positive. One of these things, often overlooked, is to include more humor in your life. This might include seeing more comedies in the movies, and amusing shows on TV, for example, going to the Comedy Channel regularly, or reading your favorite comedian’s latest book. It is now accepted that humor and laughter can significantly lower stress and have very positive mental and physiological effects on your health. You must experiment and see what works best for you. Often it may actually be a combination of things that will best lead to you a less stressful, more relaxing and enjoyable life.

Jeffrey Rose will be teaching 2 programs this season:
Friday, June 28, 6:30-9:30pm
Sleep Hygiene for Better Health
Mondays, July 29-Aug., 19, 8-10pm (4 Sessions)
Hypnosis to Free Us from Our Addictions, Fears and Bad Habits
_______________________________________________________
Jeffrey Rose, one of NYC’s leading clinical hypnotherapists, is a Certified Master Hypnotist and a nutritionist with 15 years’ experience practicing and teaching locally and nationally. He has a degree in psychology from NYU, and is founder and director of the Advanced Hypnosis Center. www.ahcenter.com

Originally published in Recover: The Lifestyle Magazine for Living with Addiction

For most of the history of humanity man ate a diet of wild game and natural vegetation including some seeds, nuts, and fruit during certain sea-sons. In our era, with the advent of processed foods, mankind’s diet has undergone a radical change. People are eating foods that never existed in nature before, foods which the body was never designed to utilize. The result is that the heavy consumption of refined sugar, and refined flour products too, has led to serious health problems for those who regularly eat them. Today 65% of Americans are overweight, and 27% are clinically obese. Even children are starting to show more and more symptoms of this growing health problem. Diabetes is starting to appear more frequently in the very young. When we look at the diet of the typical American, it is easy to see how this has happened. The average American each year consumes 125 pounds of sugar in the form of 300 cans of soda, 200 sticks of gum, 18 pounds of candy, 50 pounds of cakes and cookies and 20 gallons of ice cream. I want to make clear just how much sugar is found in the sodas people are drinking each day. There are 7 to 8 teaspoons of sugar in some form, in the average soda drink. If you have a soda at lunch, one as a snack in the afternoon, one with your dinner, and one as you watch TV or go out for a final snack later in the night, you have consumed 28 spoonfuls of sugar.

Americans are also consuming too many foods which are made from highly refined flour, which act just like sugar in the body, such as pasta, bread and cookies and cakes. In addition to all the many obvious sources of sugar in the typical American diet, sugar is used as an inexpensive additive to improve the taste of many items in which the producers in order to increase profits use cheaper inferior ingredients or use less expensive ingredients. Among these items, you may have guessed, because they taste so sweet, are ketchup, and jams and jellies, which really should have no added sugar and should be made primarily from the fruit. Fruit flavored drinks and fruit flavored yogurts, and especially, sweetened canned fruit have unnecessarily large amounts of sugar in some form in them. But it is also surprising how much sugar, unhealthy sugar, is found in items like peanut butters, bread, soups, pickles, mustard, canned dishes like baked beans, and salad dressings. Even American’s general idea of proper cui-sine contributes to this problem. Making potatoes a staple at almost every meal has been an additional negative health factor. Potatoes, among all other vegetables, are the one of the most likely to affect the body in the same way as refined sugar.

A surfeit of carbohydrates in any form will lead to gaining weight and eventual obesity, but it is sugar in all its forms, and refined flour in our diets that do the most harm. They lead to a fast rise in blood sugar, which causes the pancreas to produce a large amount of insulin to lower our blood sugar quickly, because high blood sugar is dangerous to our health. Unfortunately, this strong dose of insulin makes the blood sugar drop below our normal level and makes us feel down in mood. In order to compensate for this psychological effect, we are driven by cravings to seek an immediate repeat of our ingestion of sugar to again raise our blood sugar to make ourselves feel better, and so the cycle continues on and on. This results in our taking in more calories than are necessary to supply energy to the body. The end result is overweight and eventual obesity. The high amounts of insulin also have other deleterious effects.

They make the insulin receptors become less and less sensitive, requiring the pancreas to produce larger and larger amounts of insulin each time, to deal with same amount of high incoming sugar. Eventually the receptors become very insensitive to the incoming insulin, and the person has developed a condition referred to as insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance aggravates another problem which results from the production of insulin in the body. When insulin in the body is high, another hormone called glucagon is low. Glucagon is a hormone which promotes the release and utilization of fat from the fat storage cells for energy. So that when glucagon is present, you will be burning and thus reducing your fat stores. In other words, you will be losing weight and the weight will be a loss of fat. However, the high level of insulin in insulin resistant people keeps them from burning any of their fat stores. They can only burn incoming sugar and carbohydrates, and when they are depleted, they will begin to break down and use muscle tissue as a source of energy. This is, again, because the insulin has blocked getting access to the body's fat by blocking the production of the necessary hormone, glucagon. Now you understand why people who have eaten a lot of sugar, and sugar acting foods like refined flour and grains, and potatoes, in their life all the time have had trouble losing weight, or permanently keeping off any weight they have lost through extreme measures like very strict diets or fasting.

Eventually people on these refined high carbohydrate diets exhaust their pancreas, which stops generating any insulin at all, and they become diabetic, and must take insulin regularly to keep their blood sugar from staying at dangerously high levels.

There is another serious problem with too much sugar, sugar addiction. For many years people have spoken of sugar addiction because of the seemingly addictive behavior of people who have a strong desire for foods with sugar. However, it is only recently that it has been scientifically been shown to be a genuine addiction. Rats fed sugar showed classic signs of withdrawal when their sugar “fix” was taken away from them. When they were allowed to eat sugar again, they binged on it. The sugar had triggered natural pleasure producing opiods in their brains. The effect is similar to morphine and heroin, though not as powerful. Actual studies of these animals’ brains showed an accelerated growth of dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens in their brains. This helps explain why people who eat sugar regularly, have strong cravings and seek a sugar “fix” many times throughout their day.

You are probably addicted to sugar if you have the following: if you have cravings for food containing sugar, if you can’t stop eating after one piece of candy or one bite of cake or other baked goods; if you can’t go for more than a few hours without experiencing a letdown with fatigue or irritability or anxiety; if you have to have your sugared coffee and donuts or other baked goods every morning and have and eat candy and other sweets in your home all the time; if you regularly drink sugared sodas during the day to give yourself a pick-me-up because you’re dragging.

Nutritionally, refined sugars present another problem. It takes vitamins and minerals to digest and assimilate ingested refined sugars. Unprocessed sugar cane juice is rich in vitamins and minerals and provides some nourishment to the body, though it is still too high in sugar to be good for the body. But refined sugar is an empty calorie, which uses up valuable vitamins and minerals in order to be digested without supplying any of them. Thus, eating a lot of refined sugars depletes the body of these valuable health promoting factors. That’s why, you now can understand, even overweight people who have become so because of large amounts of sugar in their diets, can actually suffer from malnutrition.

Here’s a list of some of the negative health effects of sugar, and the refined flour products and potatoes that act like sugar within the body. Sugar can:

… cause an increase in insulin being generated in the body
… cause an increase in insulin sensitivity
… overstress the pancreas causing damage
… cause diabetes … cause weight gain and obesity
… produce a significant rise in triglycerides
… reduce helpful high density cholesterol, known as HDLs
… promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol, know as LDLs
… increase total cholesterol
… cause atherosclerosis
… increase systolic pressure
… cause hypertension
… upset the body’s mineral balance
… promote tooth decay
… cause hyperactivity, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and crankiness
in  children
… lead to alcoholism
… cause depression

If you are seriously craving sugar, you should avoid all sugars. The following is a list of sugars and sweeteners that act like sugars, though you may not have recognized them as sugars before reading this article. Of course, if a label just says “sugar,” you will avoid that too!

AVOID THESE SWEETENERS: corn syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, sucrose, maltodextrin, dextrose, molasses, rice milk, almond milk, white grape juice, fruit juice sweetened, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, date sugar, cane sugar, corn sugar, beet sugar, succanat and lactose.

There are many other points to be made if one wishes to guide oneself correctly. Raw sugar and brown sugar, which was at one time sold in a lot of health food stores and still may be found in some supermarkets, is actually highly refined white sugar with some molasses put back in to give it brown color. Fructose doesn’t increase leptin, a hormone that decreases your appetite, and doesn’t suppress ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry. Thus, people who eat food containing fructose are likely to take in more calories, not less. And remember, almost all simple sugars, fructose included, and not just refined white sugar, are metabolized quickly and raise insulin levels too quickly. Just like refined white sugar, they play a role in creating insulin resistance. In addition, fructose is converted into triglycerides more efficiently than glucose elevating triglycerides that are linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Fructose converts to fat more readily than any other sugar, and some believe its prevalence in our present food supply has made it an important factor in making Americans fatter and fatter.

Eating small amounts of fruit will not provide unhealthy large amounts of natural fructose, but fruit juices are best avoided as being too high in fructose for the body to assimilate without generating too much insulin. Aside from limited amounts of fruit, avoid fructose in food just as you would table sugar. One of the best ways to limit your intake of fructose, in general, is to eliminate soda and fruit juices from your diet.

Most artificial sweeteners are increasingly considered to be unhealthy for the body. Aspartame is the technical name for the brand names NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure. Aspartame, which is frequently found in diet sodas, accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious. In addition, Aspartame suppresses serotonin production, the chemical in the brain that contributes to your feeling satisfied after a meal. The end result from ingesting Aspartame, just as it was from people eating fructose, is that people are less satisfied with their food and tend to eat more. Diet sodas may actually be increasing your total intake of calories.

Finally, artificial sweeteners in general, just like real sugar, give you an intense experience of tasting something sweet, which psychologically stimulates cravings to consume even more sweet tasting things.

In general, you will be better off health wise if you only buy products that say “no sugar added.” Jams should say fruit only. Often fruit juices are added to the food item, but don’t be fooled, this is an unhealthy form of concentrated sugar too, even though it is originally from fruit. And remember, cocaine and heroine are derived from natural sources, but no one would say they are good for your health. A lot of poisons start out as plant material too. So do not be fooled by people who insist certain sugars are healthy because they are made from natural sources.

YOU ARE READY TO GET HEALTHIER AND FEEL BETTER
Always keep in mind

Sugar is nutritionally worthless and is full of fattening calories Sugar creates cycles of emotional highs and lows, and is chemically additive Sugar is very bad for your body’s health

READ FOOD LABELS
If sugar appears in the ingredients in the first few listed items:

DO NOT EAT THAT PRODUCT
Always keep in mind except for occasional fruit, it is best if you avoid eating any sugar at all.

Many people are addicted to sugar and should avoid all sugars permanently for optimal health.

And remember refined flour products in bread, bagels, pasta, and cookies and cakes, act just like sugar in your body, as do potatoes and potato products too.

We must eliminate refined food products from our diets and choose carefully, selecting high-fiber, non-starchy vegetables as our carbohydrate choices. In this way, we generate less insulin and avoid any insulin resistance and the adverse health effects that result. Remember, even fruits that are relatively low in carbohydrates will generate some insulin in the body to deal with the sugars they contain. Since one of the goals of low-carb eating is to generate as little insulin as possible, enjoy eating fresh fruit, in reasonable moderate amounts. On the other hand, dried fruits should be much more limited because they have a high concentration of sugars. And remember, as noted above, fruit juices are too high in sugars to be appropriate for a low insulin generating diet. Berries, on the other hand, are a good choice.

Take a moment to realize that you are on a new healthier path in life. Now you have all the knowledge necessary to take with you as you pursue your new healthier life style, free from the deleterious effects of refined sugars and refined flour, knowing that the addition of potatoes to your meal is never a healthy choice. And, as you journey along your new path, notice how much more interesting and tasty your, now, sugar- free food begins to taste. Perhaps it will happen sooner or perhaps a little further along. Stop now, and imagine how it is in the future when you no longer even crave any sugar and thoroughly enjoy how natural food tastes, and how much you really enjoy it. Of course, you enjoy life more, filled with a new sense of release and freedom as past restraints melt effortlessly away, and disappear. You flow naturally along your new sugar-free path, the path you always wanted for yourself, and you realize you love your new way of life and would never go back. 

Jeffrey Rose will be teaching 2 programs this season:
Friday, June 28, 6:30-9:30pm
Sleep Hygiene for Better Health
Mondays, July 29-Aug., 19, 8-10pm (4 Sessions)
Hypnosis to Free Us from Our Addictions, Fears and Bad Habits
_______________________________________________________
Jeffrey Rose, one of NYC’s leading clinical hypnotherapists, is a Certified Master Hypnotist and a nutritionist with 15 years’ experience practicing and teaching locally and nationally. He has a degree in psychology from NYU, and is founder and director of the Advanced Hypnosis Center. www.ahcenter.com

Anyone in recovery desires several things. You want to remain free of the drug you had been using and you want to alleviate the negative physical and emotional conditions that were created by that addiction. Hopefully, you also want to lead a healthier life in general. In order to move along a new path in life in which you are becoming and staying healthier, you must not only stay free of your previous substance abuse, but you should live in a more wholesome manner, one that is not just, not unhealthy, but one that actively promotes good health. One important way to do this is to detoxify your body and keep it free of all harmful, toxic substances. To do this, you ought to eliminate certain habits to avoid these other substances, in addition to remaining free of the drug you were abusing. For this reason, knowledge of the effects of various foods and chemicals is essential to being able to find and stay on the path that leads you to better and better health.

Sometimes sociological conditions and peer influences can distort ones view of the real situation-health. A good example of this was cigarette smoking. Older movies are a good indication of the social norms at the time. Not only did most people start smoking in social situations, but the person who did not smoke was considered not really as much a part of the social group. Of course, now most people are fully aware that not only is nicotine very addicting, but the intake of the toxic smoke is extremely harmful and unwise, and it is morally wrong to make those around you inhale toxic second hand smoke. Today, things are different and it is the the person who wants to smoke, who is a bit of an outsider, and who often finds themselves literally outside, when they have to smoke in another location, like outside a restaurant or even outside an apartment where they are a visitor.

Today, caffeine is an accepted drug, just like nicotine was many years ago. In fact, caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Some may feel that it is probably not as harmful as the toxic smoke that goes along with nicotine addiction and cigarette smoking. Nevertheless, there is no doubt, that caffeine is very harmful to the health of a person. In the Western world, 8 out of 10 adults consume caffeine in some form. Presently many Americans are hooked on caffeine. Ninety percent consume it in one form or another every single day. Over half of them consume more than 300 milligrams of caffeine every day. It is in coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, and a variety of other things, and is our nation's most popular drug.

Caffeine occurs naturally in many plants, including coffee beans, tea leaves, and cocoa nuts. Caffeine is really a biological poison used by plants as a defense against being harmed and injured by the other forms of life in their environment. The caffeine gives seeds and leaves a bitter taste, which discourages their consumption by insects and animals. If predators continue to eat a caffeine-containing plant, the caffeine can cause central nervous system disruptions and even lethal side effects. Most of them learn to leave the plant alone.

Though it is widely known that caffeine is an addictive and unhealthy drug, it is widely consumed and as much a part of American contemporary life as smoking was years ago. With the spread of and popularity of coffee bars, coffee, one of the main sources of caffeine in people's diet, is more popular than ever. (Tea and hot chocolate, also consumed at these coffee bars contain significant caffeine, but not as much.) Around one third of all coffee drinkers say they can't do without it and are clearly addicted. Tolerance for caffeine for anyone drinking coffee can develop rapidly and lead to the desire to increase ones consumption. Someone used to drinking six or seven cups of strong coffee a day will begin to experience withdrawal symptoms on waking and then every two to three hours after the last coffee drink. If you are seeking optimum health, however, you should stop or at least severely curtail your coffee consumption. It is a drug and the last thing any of us needs is another addiction.

When most people think of caffeine they immediately think of coffee, and yet much of the caffeine that is ingested does not come from coffee at all. In fact, people who do not drink coffee may be ingesting quite a great deal of caffeine regularly. The fact is caffeine is an addictive additive in most commercial sodas.

How Caffeine Hurts Your Health

Caffeine has many effects on the body and brain. For example, as your body becomes fatigued, adenosine is made in the brain, and binds to adenosine receptors. This causes drowsiness by slowing nerve cell activity. The result is that you will want to stop and rest. You will want to go to sleep. This is healthy for you need the rest. The adenosine also causes blood vessels to dilate in the brain, so more oxygen can reach the brain during sleep.

When caffeine is ingested and goes into the stomach, it quickly travels to the brain. Once there it binds to the adenosine nerve receptors. But instead of cellular activity slowing, this results in it speeding up. The cell can no longer bind with adenosine, because the caffeine is linked up with all of its available receptors. The usual effect of adenosine is blocked in this way and the cell begins accelerating its activity. In addition to this, because adenosine is shut out, the brain's blood vessels begin to constrict. The increased neuron firing in the brain stimulates the pituitary gland. The pituitary signals the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline (epinephrine), the "fight or flight" hormone.

The longer-term effects of using caffeine tend to spiral down. Once the adrenaline wears off, you face even greater fatigue and possible feelings of depression. More caffeine is regularly consumed, and soon the body is jumping into elevated adrenaline levels all day long. You literally become jumpy and irritable to. Caffeine raises the blood pressure and increases the levels of various stress hormones, and for those very sensitive to it or consuming large quantities, it can cause heart palpitations and nervousness. If sustained by regular coffee-drinking over a lifetime, these increases in blood pressure and heart rate will elevate the risk of stroke and heart disease. Heavy coffee drinkers, those having five or more cups per day, were two to three times more likely to have coronary heart disease than were nondrinkers.

Caffeine at a high level can eventually lead to exhaustion of the adrenal glands. Caffeine is a chemical stimulant that increases blood levels of the hormones produced by the adrenal glands. The adrenal hormones regulate stress response, blood pressure, blood sugar, mineral levels, immune activity, inflammation, and cell growth and repair. Long term caffeine consumption contributes to adrenal insufficiency, in which over 150 hormones produced by the adrenals or metabolized from adrenal hormones no longer function adequately.

One of the worst effects of caffeine is its stimulation of the adrenal glands to produce a larger amount of cortisol, the body's foremost stress hormone. 200 mg of caffeine, the amount usually found in just 12 ounces of coffee, increases blood cortisol levels by 30% in one hour. And the cortisol in your blood can remain elevated for up to as long as 18 hours. Moodiness, anxiety, and depression are all consequences of elevated cortisol's long-term effects on serotonin and dopamine production. Although stress hormones cause a temporary increase in short term memory for up to 30 minutes, elevated cortisol reduces blood flow and glucose delivery to the brain and interferes with the brain cell's ability to uptake glucose, thus eventually leading to poorer mental performance. People who chronically stimulate their adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol alter their daily pattern of cortisol concentrations so that cortisol is low in the morning when they wake up instead of high. So they reach for a cup of coffee to artificially spike their cortisol levels up again. These same people experience huge cortisol surges at meals causing them to overeat. They have higher body fat, lower muscle mass, and reduced metabolism, so they burn fewer calories. They don't sleep well at night because elevated cortisol levels keep them from entering the deep, rebuild and repair stage of sleep the body needs for recuperation. High levels of cortisol will also compromise your immune system and interfere with your body's ability to fight off pathogens.

Be aware that if you frequently drink coffee or have other sources of caffeine, and find that at end of the day you are regularly stressed out and exhausted, even depressed and worried, it could very well be the result of the caffeine generating large amounts of cortisol in your body.

The Under Appreciated Relationship Between Sodas and Caffeine Intake

Caffeine is much more addictive and much more of an actual drug than the general public is willing to fully admit to themselves. Yet, anyone who misses their regular coffee or sodas will tell you that they experience typical signs of substance withdrawal. These may include headaches and irritability, and the inability to function in their usual manner. You may not know this, but every can of soda, except for specific non-caffeinated ones, contains about one quarter of the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Diet sodas, you may be surprised to learn, contain even more added caffeine than the regular ones. This could be compensation by the soda companies, who are well aware of the psychological effects of their products on people, for the fact that diet sodas do not provide the stimulus of the usual high sugar content of the regular sodas. This extra caffeine is added specifically to create a drug effect, making the soda even more of a stimulant that keeps people coming back for more. This sells more soda but undermines the health of the consumer by using a harmful drug that is known to cause a physical and psychological dependence. Even though soda companies say that caffeine is put into their products for its taste, most people when tested cannot taste the difference between the same soda with or without caffeine. The great popularity of caffeinated soft drinks is driven not so much by subtle taste effects as by the mood-altering and physical dependence of caffeine that drives their daily self-administration. Subjectively, people report that the caffeine in sodas gives them a "lift." Temporally they feel less drowsy, less fatigued, and more capable of rapid and sustained intellectual effort. A common example of trying to utilize this effect is when students who are trying to get by on an inadequate amount of sleep, eagerly purchase energy soft drinks containing a great deal of caffeine. These are drinks that contain, on average, 75 mg of caffeine, approximately double that of a regular size coffee. Ultimately, the caffeine masks their deep need for proper sleep. Unfortunately for them, studies show that students who use caffeine to study late into the night find their short-term memory is poorer on the next day's exam. And if you are not intending to stay up late, the caffeine is very bad for your sleep. A few caffeinated sodas, or one strong cup of coffee, drunk 30-60 minutes before going to sleep can cause restlessness and difficulty falling asleep, increased body movements during sleep, a tendency to be more easily awakened by sudden noises, and an overall decreased quality of sleep.

Getting Caffeine Out of Your Life for Good

It is best if those in recovery lead the healthiest life possible and avoid all addictive drugs. To do this you should live a life free of all addictions, no matter how socially acceptable they presently are in society. Caffeine in all its forms in coffee and sodas, and many teas too, is one of the primary socially accepted addictive drugs that a person might incorrectly feel is not a serious problem. Yet it is now obvious from what you have been reading in this article that caffeine is a very unhealthy, addictive drug that creates a strong dependence, not just chemically, but psychologically and behaviorally too, and one which can lead to strong withdrawal symptoms. Many unhealthy and sleep deprived people feel they cannot function without their regular morning coffee, and without an ongoing ingestion of caffeine during the day by either having more coffee, or by having caffeinated sodas, as they go through their workday. The truth is that a moderate caffeine user, whether it is in coffee, or another type of food, is a rare individual.

Caffeine is so addictive that most consumers of it end up consuming a lot of it. 90% of Americans consume caffeine every day. If they try to suddenly stop, they get terrible, splitting headaches as blood vessels in the brain dilate. So people are quickly driven back to taking more caffeine. The best way to deal with substances of this nature is complete abstinence. People who use it generally are dependent on it to function in their day to day life because they have not been taking proper care of themselves. It is often a compensation for run down overall health because of poor nutrition, failure to stay fit, and most of all, inadequate sleeping regimes. Its use leads to more deterioration of a person's health, and with its continued use, their health is liable to continue to deteriorate further and further. Anyone who is seeking optimum health should stop drinking coffee and other forms of caffeine, such as caffeinated sodas and caffeine containing teas. Caffeine is a drug and the last thing any of us needs is the regular use of an addictive, physiologically deleterious, mind altering substance in our lives. If you are physically addicted, you'll need to endure the withdrawal symptoms for several days while consuming caffeine-free substitutes. It may be of interest to you to know more about why you get a headache when you skip your morning cup of caffeine. Caffeine acts as a powerful vasoconstrictor in the brain. That is, it constricts blood vessels, lowering oxygen flow to the brain because of the deceased circulation. When caffeine is no longer present the vessels dilate resulting in a sudden increase in circulation and oxygenation that results in headaches.

If you are physically addicted to caffeine, you'll need to endure the withdrawal symptoms for several days. The most common caffeine withdrawal symptom is a throbbing headache, usually occurring within 18-24 hours after the last dose of caffeine. Other symptoms may include drowsiness, lethargy, irritability, nervousness, depression, and nausea. Sometimes people who are just reducing caffeine intake, report being irritable, unable to concentrate, nervous, restless, and feeling sleepy, as well as having a headache. If you're chronically tired as you gradually switch to caffeine free sodas and teas, herbal coffee, and other alternative beverages, try to sleep more each night, eat healthier foods, and exercise regularly. While withdrawal symptoms force millions of addicted people back to the caffeine habit and make them reluctant to give it up, the good news is that people can often avoid this pitfall by very slowly weaning themselves off caffeine over a two to three week period. There is a good chance you will be able to avoid the headaches and at the same time gradually adjust your body and mind to being less reliant on this stimulant. Cutting back by a half cup per day or having one or more less caffeinated sodas each day is a recommended pace. Fortunately, for those in successful recovery from alcohol, which had caused hangovers and interfered with the important REM sleep, the powerful need for caffeine in the form of coffee in the morning no longer exists. If you find yourself needing a cup of something try to experiment with caffeine-free herbal teas.

Some people might think of trying decaf during the weaning period. But it is important to keep in mind that most decaf, even some that say "naturally decaffeinated" on the container, has been made with methylene chloride, and a significant amount of this toxic chemical is left as a residue on the newly decaffeinated coffee making it unhealthy. Decaf coffee is also highly acidic and many feel that because of this it is not health promoting. The best choice is a Swiss water processed decaf. Unfortunately, drinking only decaf coffee will not free you from caffeine addiction, and may end with your eventually desiring your regular coffee, or other sources of caffeine, like commercial sodas. The reason is that, contrary to what most people think, decaf still contains a small, but significant amount of caffeine.

One product I regularly recommend to my clients who love the taste of coffee, but who wish to improve their health by eliminating caffeine entirely from their life, is an herbal coffee called Teeccino. It comes in a variety of flavors, and most of my clients who try it find the taste of it quite satisfying and don't miss their past caffeine-laden morning cup of coffee at all. It can be brewed in the same way as regular coffee is brewed, so that you don't even have to change your morning routine. For those freeing themselves from caffeine this way, it is recommended that you gradually reduce the percentage of your caffeine containing coffee over a two-three week period until you are drinking 100% caffeine-free herbal coffee. You should be able to avoid headaches and also gradually adjust your body to less reliance on stimulants.

The body's reaction to the toxicity of caffeine can vary so greatly for different individuals that you have to discover how it was uniquely affecting you. Some pains and discomforts you would never have thought were caused by caffeine will disappear after you quit having coffee, caffeinated sodas and other forms of caffeine. You may experience improvements in your skin, digestion, sleep, mood, and energy among others. You might very well find that three months after getting caffeine completely out of your life, your energy stays steady all day long and you feel better than you've felt in years.

For more information about the negative affects of caffeine and where you can purchase a healthy coffee drink substitute please visit Teeccino.

Jeffrey Rose will be teaching 2 programs this season:
Friday, June 28, 6:30-9:30pm
Sleep Hygiene for Better Health
Mondays, July 29-Aug., 19, 8-10pm (4 Sessions)
Hypnosis to Free Us from Our Addictions, Fears and Bad Habits
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Jeffrey Rose, one of NYC’s leading clinical hypnotherapists, is a Certified Master Hypnotist and a nutritionist with 15 years’ experience practicing and teaching locally and nationally. He has a degree in psychology from NYU, and is founder and director of the Advanced Hypnosis Center. www.ahcenter.com