Thursday, November 25, 2010

The "New Science" of Wellness Therapy

In the past two or three years, I've found myself increasingly amazed with the intense and deep progress my clients are making through the use of some "new" (actually ancient and resurrected/refined) tools related to holistic healing and wellness therapy. Brain science research (neuroscience) has led to a remarkable amount of information about how the human brain works. Much of this information simply proves what the ancients seem to have known about wellness -body, mind and spirit operate as one. Every emotional reaction has a thought attached to it and there is an immediate bodily response as well. So many of our chronic emotional problems seem to revolve around an over-active "flight or fight" reaction to stressors. Learning to meditate on a regular basis can literally calm the alarm response in the body-mind, enabling our brains to learn new behavioral habits. These new habits cause us to be able to think more clearly in the face of stress, make more wise decisions about our lives, and bounce back more quickly when life's hurts come to meet us. Part of learning these new mental habits also allows us to not take things so personally, and to forgive more easily. Here are some of the techniques I use with my clients in holistic wellness therapy: