An introduction to the Sedona Method

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to a one hour introduction to the Sedona Method. A lot of the hour was spent extolling the virtues of the Sedona Method, which Hale Dwoskin, President of Sedona Training Associates claimed was the solution to all internal mood states. He also discussed the use of the Sedona Method.

I found my BS-detector on alert listening to Dwoskin’s claims that the Sedona Method was better than every other type of self-help available including therapy, meditation, visualisation and more. He quoted studies by Harvard but unfortunately those are not published so I promised to keep an open mind and participate in the demonstration.

The technique that was demonstrated is designed to help you let go of an unwanted emotion or sensation. It can potentially be used for physical sensations such as a sore back as well as anxiety, depression or stress.

Step 1: Welcome the unwanted emotion or sensation and allow yourself to experience it.

Step 2: Ask yourself ‘Could I let this go?’ Allow yourself to consider the possibility of letting go of the unwanted emotion or sensation without internal debate.

Step 3: Ask yourself ‘Would I let this go?’

Step 4: Ask yourself ‘When?’

Step 5: Check back in with yourself. Has the unwanted emotion or sensation lessened in intensity? Continue to repeat these steps until the unwanted emotion or sensation has gone.

I tried it on something that had been bugging me and found a small amount of relief, but about 15 minutes later the problem popped back into my head so I repeated the process. Unfortunately it was the only technique shared during the introduction so it’s not possible to judge the effectiveness of the Sedona Method. My feeling is that it is simply one more tool to add to your box of tricks. I believe it works by interrupting the existing thought patterns and is helpful in that respect.

I don’t believe Dwoskin’s extravagant claims that the Sedona Method is universally more successful than every other self growth system. We’re all different and respond in different ways. For me the Waste Basket Technique and the ABC of Rational Emotive Therapy (Activating event, Belief, Consequence) are superior, but it never hurts to have other systems that you can use to deal with unwanted thoughts, emotions or sensations.

Note:
This demonstration was a 60 minute trial offered as a free bonus when you order 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. Hopefully the real thing offers more substance than the demonstration!

This is the first review. I will be reviewing the other free bonuses and will let you know what I think of them. Next:

The Success Principles Downloadable Workbook
- created by Jack Canfield, the Co-Creator of the Chicken Soup of the Soul Series

All depressive illnesses are not created equal

At last! A doctor that differentiates between different types of depression…

Most doctors rate depression according to its severity. They may state that you are experiencing a major depressive episode or a mild depressive episode, or perhaps you have seasonal affective disorder (SAD).


Dr Henry Emmons has a different approach. He classifies depression as follows:

• Anxious Depression


• Agitated Depression


• Sluggish Depression

This is a potential break-through in diagnosis and the possibilities it offers for treatment. According to Emmons you may be a combination of the above three types but most likely show a preference to one type or another.

More significantly, each type of depression is attributed to an excess or deficit of chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain. Many people will already know that low levels of serotonin, otherwise known as the happiness brain chemical, can lead to depression and disrupted sleep patterns. However Emmons suggests that dopamine and norepinephrine also have a role in depression. This is not entirely new, however the attribution of specific types of depressions and tailored treatment is new.

Anxious Depression is characterised by low levels of serotonin and feelings of inadequacy and excessive worry, together with insomnia and potential carbohydrate cravings.

Agitated Depression is said to result from an excess of dopamine and norepinephrine resulting in restlessness, anger, irritability and digestive problems.

Sluggish Depression is characterised by increased sleep, withdrawal and passivity due to low levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.

In Emmons’ book The Chemistry of Joy he suggests eating plans for each type of depression, together with generalised recommendations for vitamin supplementation. Most of the information on vitamin supplementation will be familiar and include the usual mainstays, such as B complex, folic acid, omega 6 (fish oil) and the like.

Interestingly Emmons speculates that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), which are commonly prescribed for depression, are not effective long term. This contradicts accepted wisdom, however his reasoning is sound. He hypothesizes that SSRIs simply manipulate existing stores of serotonin and do not help create new sources of serotonin. Accordingly, if an individual has difficulty manufacturing serotonin then over time the existing stores will be depleted as the SSRIs can not stop re-uptake indefinitely. It’s an interesting theory. I couldn’t find any source for this from published research and it appears to be based on Emmons’ observations of his patients but I think the theory has merit.

Emmons favours a combination of lifestyle changes and supplements to treat depression. He does not rule out medication but seems to prefer a diet rich in tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin) together with 5-HTP. If you have a deficit of dopamine and norepinephrine then dopamine/norepinephrine enhancing foods and supplements are recommended.

Emmons’ book also recommends ‘Mindfulness Mediation’ and making lifestyle changes according to your Ayurvedic body type, a philosophy made popular by Deepak Chopra in several books including Perfect Health.

Do you experience depression? I'd like to know what has helped you MOST in your recovery from depression. Please register your votes at my poll

Check out part 2 of this article on The Chemistry of Joy: Mindfulness Meditation

Food for Thought: Is your career predetermined?

Do you ever wonder what you might be doing if you had taken a different turn of the road?

In Melissa’s story she described the help she received to achieve a childhood dream to travel to Spain. Upon her return, Melissa changed her major to Spanish.

This got me thinking about choices and destiny.

I couldn’t help wondering… what if Melissa had not travelled to Spain? How would that experience have shaped her life? Would the disappointment of missing out on the trip have fuelled her determination to study Spanish? Or, is it possible that without that pivotal trip to the Canary Islands, Melissa’s life would have headed in another direction? Would she instead be a marine biologist as she once dreamed, or disaffected would she have joined the large proportion of the workforce (including moi) that change careers at least twice in their lives?

When do we know what we want to do with our lives?

As a child I participated in a variety of activities. I enjoyed algebra and calculus (go figure!) just as much as drama and debating. I loved reading and ploughed through hundreds of books each year. I danced, I ran and I played sports. I was happy alone. I was happy in groups. Come to think of it I was just plain happy.

I don’t think I’d given a lot of thought to choosing a career. My father had given it plenty of thought and like many parents envisaged a highly successful career for me. He hoped that I would complete multiple degrees, dreamed of a career in politics (Prime Minister no less!) but although I was ambitious, my high school dreams hadn’t progressed much beyond being Queen of my own castle complete with the proverbial Prince. Oh hey, that would make me a princess wouldn’t it? Hmmm I guess that just goes to prove that my dreams weren’t well formed. Heck I’m still embarrassed that Martina won the award for “most likely to succeed” at Primary School. In hindsight I put that down to confessing to wanting a career as an airline hostess. What was I thinking? Not to denigrate air hosties but you have to be NICE to passengers. I’m not cut out for “nice”.

Do we have an internal homing beacon that determines where we end up in our lives?

At about 15 years of age I hit on the idea that I might like to be a psychologist. I’d been reading a lot of books on psychology and about therapists who, after thoughtfully listening to people’s problems tell them what they need to do to fix their lives. I thought to myself. Yes! I can do that. I’m smart and intuitive; I can tell people how to fix their lives.

Unfortunately at that point I consulted the school’s career guidance counsellor who advised that I needed to go to med school.

Wrong.

I didn’t plan to be a doctor or a psychiatrist. I wasn’t having anything to do with blood or vomit, thank you very much. Disillusioned I left school and worked in a bank for several months before going to University to study business.

I don’t regret that decision. Although I can now see that the accounting and finance jobs that I worked in are anathema to a free-spirited personality that loathed structure and routine, I enjoyed the sense of achievement that came from mastering the roles and climbing the corporate ladder. The subsequent experience in high-level marketing, finance, strategic and marketing roles have given me a solid grounding enabling me to run my own business.

It took me a long time to get back to my early loves. For years I didn’t read any books at all and I all but forgot about my love of psychology. I never stopped wondering what made people tick, and from time to time I thought about studying psychology but every time I picked up a textbook my eyes glazed over at the mention of the amygdala and the central nervous system.

After many abortive attempts I finally got serious about psychology. I returned to my studies, I started reading everything I could find on psychology, health and self improvement. I put pen to paper and I hit the public speaking trail. At last I had found a way to indulge my passion for psychology.

Going back to my original questions I can’t help wondering what would happen if my visit to the career guidance counsellor had had a different outcome. What if I had followed his advice and become a psychiatrist? Would I still have ended up in the same place i.e. transitioning into writing books and researching what makes us tick and how we can improve our lives? Or would the business side of my personality have been unfulfilled. Perhaps I would now be retraining as an accountant?

This is part of the AW Blog Chain. Next in the series of articles Laurie writes about the route she took to becoming a writer.

Resources:

Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want
By Barbara Sher and Annie Gottlieb
This is one of my favourite books. It tells you how to find your "touchstone" to enable you to pursue the elements of your passion that are important to you. It also challenges you to think about the five different careers you might have liked to have. Very thought provoking and a wonderful resource.

The Celestine Prophecy: An Experiential Guide
By James Redfield and Carol Adrienne
Although it is based around the insights in The Celestine Prophecy this book includes psychology and science as well as the "woo woo" stuff on destiny, coincidences and life choices. There are some great exercises to help you identify patterns in your life. The book is not so much about career as the choices people make in their lives and how those choices help them find their life purpose. There is also some interesting discussion on control dramas including patterns from childhood and how we attempt to manipulate or are manipulated by others.

Absolute Write
Resources for writers. If you're interested in freelance writing, screenwriting, playwriting, writing novels, nonfiction, comic book writing, greeting cards, poetry, songwriting, etc etc then this is the place to go.

Participants in the AW Blog Chain #6
TaliaMana
Peregrinas
IndianRaj
Just a Small Town Girl
A View From the Waterfront
Southern Expressions
Mad Scientist Matt
Organized Chaos
At Home, Writing
Writing From Within
Pass the Torch
BCOM
Fireflies in the Cloud
Sounds of Serenity
Kappa no He
Infinite Vanity
Gillian Polack
Of Chapters and Reels
Curiouser and curiouser
The Road Less Traveled
Livien

awchain

How to have sweet dreams each night!

Sleep is characterised by four different stages during which heart rate, blood pressure and temperature drop and brain waves slow. These four stages are collectively known as non-REM or non rapid eye movement sleep stages.

A fifth stage is the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage during which the eyes move rapidly under the closed lids of the eyes. Throughout the REM stage the body’s voluntary muscles, such as arms and legs become paralysed but brain activity, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature increase. It is probably a good thing that the muscles are inhibited during REM as dreams occur predominantly during this stage of sleep. The paralysis prevents people from acting out the impulses that they experience during dreams.

If we wake during this REM stage of sleep then we are highly likely to remember our dreams, but if we wake during non-REM periods of sleep where dreams occur less frequently we are unlikely to recall our dreams. The content of dreams varies enormously, although they are often emotionally charged. During testing researchers have found that the limbic area of the brain, an area which affects emotional behaviour, is especially active. Parts of the brain that relate to logic and order tend to be less active during dreaming which may explain the often confusing and nonsensical nature of dreams.

Researchers are still learning about dreams. The exact purpose of dreams is not known, nor is it known why people have the types of dreams that they do. It is possible that dreams play some role in emotional regulation. One study has found that individuals who dream within the first hour of sleep are more likely to experience depression than those who dream in the second hour of sleep. Further many anti-depressants suppress REM sleep which suggests a further link between dreaming and mood.

Many dreams are rooted in past memories or relate to the dreamer’s life circumstances. Freud coined the term daytime residue to describe dreams which he believed to be the subconscious mind’s attempt to deal with events that have occurred during the last few days. He believed that dreams were an essential ingredient of the healing of the psyche, however later research suggests that this is not the case. Contrary to popular belief there are no proven adverse effects of suppressing dreams.

Most of the time our dreams have little impact on our lives, but nightmares or dreams involving negative emotions such as guilt, worry, anger or fear can deplete our resources and leave us waking feeling unrefreshed and agitated. In some cases the fear of nightmares can also interfere with the ability to fall asleep. Some sleeping tablets, beta blockers and other medications can result in disturbed sleep or nightmares which may reduce the benefit of taking these prescriptions. However you should not stop taking these medications without the guidance of a health professional.

You may feel that you have no control over your dreams, however researchers have discovered that it is possible to influence the content of dreams. Individuals who were asked to dream about a character trait they desired in themselves were able to manufacture dreams that included this character trait, hence it may be possible to reduce nightmares by focusing on positive activities prior to sleep. Other tips for improving the quality of dreams include avoiding drugs and alcohol, checking the side effects of medications and health supplements, and avoiding meals at least two hours prior to sleep.


Resources:
Sleeping problems? Join the discussion here