Mitochondrial Function and Blockages

As some of you will know, Mitochondrial Function (or should I say Dysfunction!) can be a source of several problems for ME/CFS sufferers, the most notable being a lack of available energy!!  Respected M.E./CFS specialist Dr. Myhill even says that it is the 'cental cause' in M.E./CFS.

I had my 3rd Mitochondrial Function test back this week, and the great thing is, now my Mitochondrial function is at the level of a normal healthy person! However, I do still get symptoms.  This underlines the fact that recovery from this condition is not just purely about sorting out nutritional imbalances.  It's also about addressing the psychological element, dealing with the underlying anxieties and stresses in our current environment, which are burdening our system.  I've already done a post on this which you can read here.  I'll do another one on 'Common M.E. Thought Patterns' soon.  It's also important to address the physical re-conditioning aspect when you are at the right stage of recovery. Chances are you haven't been hugely active for a while.  This is where the exercise comes in. I talk about this and the importance of it being done in a graded and considered way in another previous post - click here.

My aim in this post is to talk about potential blockages that stop your Mitcohondria from functioning properly.  I can only talk about my personal experience, as I'm not a Nutritionist or Doctor with vast experience about this, nor am I claiming to be.  I have a blockage of about 10% outside the normal healthy range in my system, which causes certain elements/substances to stick to my DNA, meaning my ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) isn't being recycled to it's optimum level.  Therefore my consistent access to energy is still suboptimal..to an extent.  I know this sounds really scientific and confusing..to be honest, I don't properly understand it either.


This, on top of the physical re-conditioning I still need to do and psychological work, is certainly contributing to the fact I'm still experiencing symptoms.  The blockage they found in me relates to petrol, vehicle exhausts, furniture waxes, air fresheners and Benzoates...basically any toxic cleaning materials haha!  Therefore I've taken responsibility to make my house as clean as humanly possible! I've decided to replace these toxic cleaning materials with home made alternatives :

Kitchen &  Bathroom Cleaner :

• 1 Spray Bottle
• 3 Tablespoons Vinegar
• Squeeze of 1/2 a lemon
• Water

Place in a large spray bottle and shake vigorously.

Homemade Dusting Spray : 

• 1 Spray Bottle 
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
• 30-40 drops essential oil, optional (clove, orange, lemon, etc)

Place in a large spray bottle and shake vigorously. Spray directly on furniture (being careful of overspray) and buff with a clean, dry cloth.

Plants : 

I read that plants literally eat up pollutants in your house, so I've now got a few in my room, living room and dining room.  It also makes the rooms look a bit nicer.

Baths : 

No more Radox bubble bath..just pure Epsom Salts

Avoiding Benzoates : 

I plan to do this by simply avoiding anything Benzoate related in preservatives ie Benzoic Acid, Sodium Benzoate etc.


Avoiding Pollution : 

Well..this is pretty much impossible. Living in London, one of the busiest Cities in the world, and being under a flight path, means I'm always going to be in contact with pollution.  However, I've lived here my whole life, and I was pretty damn healthy for 21 years of it, so I'm sure I can survive a few more pollutants here and there! You become more resistant to pollutants as you get stronger anyway.


Let's clear as much of this blockage as possible!

P.S. If you are interested in getting your Mitochondrial function tested and getting support in normalising it, the best thing to do would be to get in contact with either Dr. Myhill's clinic here, or with the Nutrition Team at The Optimum Health Clinic here.

Adam

x

What's All This Tapping About?

Wow, it's been over a year since my last post, so I thought I'd rev up the blog engine again! However, this time it will carry a more personal tone, exploring things that have helped me on 'My Journey' over the last 5 years of sub-normal health, the challenges I've faced, and the lessons I've learnt.

As those of you close to me know, I've been suffering from ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) since I contracted Glandular Fever late in 2009. The first 4 years were pretty hell-ish to be honest, with no noticeable improvement. To be fair, up until this point I refused to accept the illness and I was living in a constant state of stress about my symptoms, which ranged from extreme brain-fog and light sensitivity to sore, painful muscles and constant flu-like symptoms. If anything this simply perpetuated the illness. I had no idea what was happening to me and why it was happening...it was a scary place.  At points I have to be honest, I could get extremely depressed and was having thoughts about ending my situation. Anyone who has been through this condition will know what I mean.

Fortunately after almost 4 years, I came across the Optimum Health Clinic, based in London, who specialise in treating ME, and take an integrative, holistic approach (I had discovered that Western Medicine was pretty useless at treating this condition by this point!) I'm also seeing a Physiotherapist who specialises in the condition to help me build up my exercise and daily activities.

A year and 4 months later (now!) I'm exercising (walking) 5-6 days a week, I'm doing some work 5-6 days a week, studying for my NLP, Hypnotherapy, Life Coaching, & EFT qualifications, and I'm doing some volunteering for the clinic. I'm not fully recovered, and there's still a fair bit of work to do to get me there, but I'm feeling generally quite positive.

Ok that's that little bit done..now to explain the title of this blog post!

Tapping (otherwise known as EFT) is a form of counselling intervention that draws on various theories of alternative medicine including acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming, energy medicine, and Thought Field Therapy (TFT).


From here


Skeptical? Sound a bit confusing? That's how I approached it initially...how can tapping on certain parts of your body whilst saying certain phrases release this anxiety I've been feeling for years?

It's certainly encouraged me to be more open-minded when trying new things or modalities. It's quite hard to explain how this works without showing you a video demo, so click below to identify how and where to tap :

I know it looks a little weird, but I dare you to give it a go and see if you notice any changes.  

This is a relatively new form of therapy which is pretty exciting.  The great thing about EFT is that you can use it on virtually anything - from fear, to stress, it's very flexible. It can even get results with pain. What I really like about this modality is that you can use it on yourself, whenever you need - you don't need someone there to guide you or walk you through the steps.  

The most useful resource I found on this is a book by Nick Ortner called The Tapping Solution. I got through this in 2 days..it was too good to put down.  There's also a film Nick Ortner made of the same name, which follows 10 individuals with various ailments (some severe) being taught EFT. Some of the results are simply astounding. I'll leave it up to you to find out what they were!

I've added in a tapping session here about anxiety, which you can have a go with if you wish : 

If you've got this far, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments, feel free to leave in the box below :-)

Adam

Rapport

Taken From Here

Have you ever felt 'out of sync' with the individual you're talking to? Have you ever ended a conversation with someone thinking "We're just not on the same wavelength!" Don't worry, it happens to all of us. However, we can change this by building rapport with literally anyone. This is one of the cornerstones of NLP. 

Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human interaction.

It can be described as a state of mutual trust and responsiveness between individuals or groups of people. Building rapport is so fundamental in life, that it can be the difference between brokering a big business deal or getting nothing at all. By establishing good rapport at the outset we can gain commitment from the other party, conscious or unconscious, to trust the process even when they do not fully understand how the process works and what the ultimate outcome will be. 

Taken From Here

The most important thing to remember here is that people like people who are like themselves. 
Think about people you truly get on with, who you have rapport with and you really like. Then think about their mannerisms, tonality, behaviours - similar to yours, no?

In NLP, here's a few indicators of rapport building :

• Matching someone's posture (Are they sitting, standing, kneeling, slouching?)

• Matching their tonality

• Matching their breathing (this is a good one for if you want to be more subtle and not spook out the person you're communicating with!)

• Using some of the key words they have been using

Try some of these out, and see if you feel more in rapport with individuals you may have previously found difficult to get on with.

The low-down on Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Taken From Here

"Whether or not you think you can 

  or you can't...you're probably right" 

  Henry Ford

I've been really really excited about writing this post, as NLP is an approach to psychotherapy, personal development, and communication which absolutely fascinates me, and after reading this it may fascinate you more!

So, what is "Neuro-Linguistic Programming"?

NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, is the art and science of excellence, derived from studying how top people in different fields obtain their outstanding results. These communication skills can be learned by anyone to improve their effectiveness both personally and professionally. It is directly applicable to a diverse spectrum of fields such as communications, business, sales, education and therapy

Beginnings of NeuroLinguistic Programming
NLP began in the early 70's as a thesis project in California. Richard Bandler and his professor, John Grinder, wanted to develop models of human behavior to understand why certain people seemed to be excellent at what they did, while others found the same tasks challenging or nearly impossible to do.

Inspired by pioneers in fields of therapy, personal growth and development, Bandler and Grinder began to develop systematic procedures and theories that formed the basis of NLP. They studied three top therapists: Virginia Satir, the extraordinary family therapist, the innovative psychotherapist Fritz Perls, and Milton Erickson, the world-famous hypnotherapist.

Their goal was to develop models of how it was that these people got the results they did. They sought to identify and model the patterns that produced these results. These three gifted therapists were quite different personalities, yet Grinder and Bandler discovered some underlying patterns that were quite similar. These patterns became the underlying structure of NLP, with names like: meta-model, submodalities, reframing, language patterns, well formedness conditions and eye accessing clues.

The phrase "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" describes the process of how personality creates and expresses itself. Put simply, we are all made up of a neurology that conveys information about our environment to our central neurvous systems and brains. Since we are also meaning creating creatures, we translate theseperceptions in our brains into meanings, beliefs and expectations. As we continue to grow from a rather "critter brain" baby into a more complex adult human, we tend to filter,distort and magnify the input we get from our environment such that it matches the elaborate program we evolve to explain our life experience.

NLP in other Therapies

Taken From Here

Today, NLP has grown in a myriad of directions - hypnosis and behavioral personal change work, structures of beliefs, modeling personal success and systems of excelence and expertise, business coaching and sales training.  In fact, in my last job in advertising at Starcom MediaVest Group, the company ran a 4-day NLP course which offered managers and directors useful tools to improve their communication, confidence, and management skills. Some have taken it in spiritual directions, assisting in alignment of personal behaviours and beliefs with a "higher purpose" and connection to the Divine. 

It is rapidly growing in the field of personal health (the area I want to go into!) with its strong foundation in how the mind influences behaviours and feelings in the body.   Public speaking, stage fright, parenting skills, allergies, phobias, trauma...the list of areas where training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and individual therapeutic work with NLP practitioners is endless.

In the next few posts I'll be walking through some tools common in NLP to improve performance at work and in your own personal health and wellbeing.  

If you're interested in using NLP in a practical sense, this is a great place to start 

Until next time...

Our Emotional Brain

"When we direct our thoughts properly, we can control our emotions." W. Clement Stone - Businessman, Philanthropist & Author of Success System That Never Fails 



Hi all!

Today I'm going to delve deeper into our emotional brain and how it drives our behaviours and bodily feelings.  

Psychologists define emotions as a combination of cognitions, feelings and actions [source: Kalat]. Put simply, 'emotions' incorporate feelings, but also how we process and respond to those feelings.

This is possible because every time we have a thought, the brain produces a chemical, which travels down into the body.  Emotions are the effect of these chemical messages travelling through the body.  

If you are currently experiencing stress, anxiety or fear, you body is likely to contain high levels of adrenalin, cortisol, and Norepinephrine.  This is known as the 'Fight-or-Flight' response, and is great for if you need the body to "fight" or "flee" from perceived attack, harm or threat to our survival.  In this scenario, 'Fight-or-Flight' is useful.  However, chronic stress causes adrenalin, cortisol, and norepinephrine to run through your body constantly, which causes the de-regulation of cells, and our primitive bodies just aren't designed for this long-term.  Sit back for a second...Is your heart rate faster than usual? Are you breathing at a quicker rate than normal? Do you feel tense.  If so, this is effectively your brain telling your body that you are stressed or anxious, and your body is literally reflecting your mind!  

Don't worry, there's a flip side, and its important we adopt this for our health and wellbeing.  When experiencing happiness, joy, love, fulfilment, the list goes on...the brain releases chemicals into our body that have the complete opposite effect.  Dopamine  (known as the love chemical) is released, enabling the body to experience pleasure.  In other words, when you do something good, you're rewarded with dopamine and gain a pleasurable, happy feeling. This teaches your brain to want to do it again and again. Serotonin is also released, and is associated with memory and learning.  These positive emotions are critical in allowing the body to repair itself.  Next time you're feeling comfortable, or happy, take note of your pulse - does it feel more normal? does your body feel lighter? has your breathing rate normalised?

Well I hope you found this interesting,

Until next time, 

Adam

Treat yourself to a free Mind Detox - only 9 places left

Hi again!

Apologies for the delay, its been far too long!  

Taken From Here

The past week I've been on the fantastic award-winning Mind Detox Practitioner Masterclass, led by Sandy C. Newbigging.  Throughout the course, I was taught a series of powerful techniques, which quickly finds the unconscious subtle resistance in a person's life, and helps them move to a place of acceptance.  The course elegantly delved in to how our mind drives our emotions, behaviours, and habits, and how this is reflected in our bodies.  What impressed me most about the Mind Detox Method is the speed at which it can aid people in moving on and completely heal their past.  Having worked with some brilliant people over the last week, it was incredible to see the positive shift everyone, myself included, in a matter of minutes.  Most interesting was the change in how people were feeling, having released issues which had been holding them back for literally years and years. Truly inspiring.  

I'm now in the process of working through 20 case studies - this involves roughly an hour to an hour and a half discussion where we assess what you want to let go of, what you want to gain, and then we use the method to resolve the issues.  This is completely free (as I'm in training!), and I only have 9 slots left, so if you're interested is resolving anything, please private message me on Facebook, I'll be more than happy to help. Also worth noting, these sessions can be done over Skype if you live far away.  

The below video is Sandy explaining how our emotions affect our behaviours.

See you soon,

Adam

Method 2. Short-Cuts to Rapidly Reduce Stress in your Working or Studying Environment, and Create Peace of Mind Now!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/laughter.htm

Stress relief from laughter? Yes, no joke. It was an age old question for me - why do people who laugh more appear happier, more relaxed, more in control, and in better health? 

What was the secret? What was the formula? 

http://mydailycafe.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Laughter.jpg

When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces some very powerful physical changes in your body. Wow, all that just from a short burst of laughter. It also promotes a healthier, more positive attitude, and at the end of the day, why would you want to resist happiness in your life?

Take yourself back to a time when you've had a good old chuckle - how did you feel? Lighter, lifted, happier, even relieved?
Laughter can :

Short-term effects :

• Stimulates many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
• Activates and relieves your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response and increases your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
• Soothes tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Long-term effects :

• Improves your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can impact your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. In contrast, positive thoughts actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
• Relieves pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers. Laughter may also break the pain-spasm cycle common to some muscle disorders.
• Increases personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.

It's even being recommended by The Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine as an approach to stimulate lymphatic health! I'm not saying go over the top here, but just a couple of chuckles a day, may well keep the doctor away.

A great clip here from the amazing Karl Pilkington attending a Laughter Yoga club in India, where laughter really is the best medicine.  

Remember, "A day without laughter, is a day wasted." Charlie Chaplin

Thanks for stopping by!

Adam