Changing pain using your brain

I have been up to London recently for the annual Lightning Process conference, where as practitioners we were comparing some of the exciting work that we have done to change people's experience of chronic pain.

This 5 minute video is used by pain consultants working with clients in the NHS and shows how much of an overlap there now is between the medical profession's understanding of chronic pain and what the Lightning Process does.

Understanding pain, What to do about it in less than 5 minutes.

The video says that all pain is experienced in the brain, and that beyond 3 - 6 months it is no longer about tissue damage but more about the sensitivity of the nervous system. "To change it, you need to retrain the brain and the nervous system."

And retraining the brain and nervous system is exactly what the Lightning Process is so good at helping you to do, as this 2 minute video by Phil Parker about neuroplasticity shows very simply (neuroplasticity is the way in which the brain changes in response to what it experiences):

Neuroplasticity

The pain consultant who gave us the video about understanding pain, Dr Rajesh Munglani, watched a Lightning Process course. For his comments about it go to this page;

www.lightningprocess.com/FM-Chronic-Pain

If you want to read more detail about some of the research being done by the medical profession in this area, I would recomment this article from the Times:

"How you think about pain can have a major impact on how it feels. That's the intriguing conclusion neuroscientists are reaching as scanning technologies let them see how the brain processes pain."
Rewiring the Brain to Ease Pain

 

The placebo effect

I am fascinated by the placebo effect. It could be seen as the most tested thing in the world, since every drug in medicine is tested against a placebo (a pill etc with none of the drug in it). This is done because the medical profession want to know if the drug has an effect over and above the positive effect of people believing that a pill will work. On average 20 - 40% of all medical effects can be achieved with a placebo.

This video clip gives more fascinating details about
The strange powers of the placebo effect 

What the placebo effect shows us is that we can access our body's natural healing ability through the power of our expectations (of what we believe will happen). It also shows us that the medical profession knows this, otherwise there would be no need to test drugs in this way.

One way of describing the Lightning Process would be that it teaches you to use this influence between the brain and the body in order to access and harness your own natural healing ability.

Phil Parker talks here about some of the science that lies behind what we do:

The body mind link, Psycho Neuro Immunology, and placebos

Success with the Lightning Process

This inspiring little video that Phil Parker made recently brings together comments and stories from a number of clients that have done the Lightning Process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL1iksCzVO8


And for more stories, or to add your own story if you have done the Lightning Process already, try the forum:
www.lightningprocesshelpedme.com

Elaine's story

One of my clients sent me this wonderful story recently, because she wanted to share her experience of the Lightning Process with others.

"So here I am, 4 weeks after completing the lightning process (sorry for the delay – been busy!), and I am to write ‘my story’...


This has me in a quandary. For 52 years ‘my story’ has been a heavy burden that I’ve carried on my back; like a snail that carries its home on its back, my story has been with me every step of the way and I have been fully focused on it, wearing it like a badge for all to see. And now, it’s suddenly not my story any more: it no longer fits; I no longer own it. It is irrelevant.


I have moved on. I have a life of energy, happiness and joy: I feel fantastic. I now look forward to a life of almost infinite possibility. There is so much to do, so much to see, and I can choose – where do I start?

So why would I want to revisit ‘my old story’?


I can, however, see that this is a useful thing to do – to help others understand that no matter how badly your life is affected by ill health, you do have the potential to change it.


So……My story is one of 15 years of M.E. 15 years of chronic ill health that resulted in loss of job and loss of home. I was totally exhausted and in extreme pain. Everything hurt – my muscles, bones, skin. And I was completely emotionally overwhelmed. I was a wreck on every level.


The doctors could not help me so, like many others, I travelled the alternative route. I tried everything out there and spent a fortune that I didn’t have. There was a slow improvement over the 15 years and I was able to return to part-time self-employment (who would employ me?). I would have brief periods of feeling well and totally believe that I had cracked it. This was it – I was well. And then for no reason that I could find, it was like someone flicked a switch and I would totally seize up and be back in the full depths of M.E. I spent months at a time in bed or sat on the sofa. I cancelled more engagements than I kept, and I couldn’t understand why.


I was absolutely determined to be well: and I have always known that I would be well again. This made every setback, every relapse hugely disappointing. I could not understand why I couldn’t hold onto good health. It just didn’t make sense.


Whilst I knew exactly what had precipitated my journey into M.E., I could not find my way out. Something was missing. Like my L.P. trainer said, it was like having lots of helpful information but a crucial piece of the jigsaw was missing.


Now I have the missing piece. It is like magic. Had I not experienced it for myself I would not have believed it. In fact when I first heard about the lightning process about 2 years ago, I totally dismissed it. Then in one week I had 4 different people tell me that I must do the lightning process. This time I listened.


I spent several weeks investigating – trawling websites, reading the book, contacting people who had been successful with LP, and then deciding on my practitioner.


The results have been staggering. I knew during the training that I was out of M.E. and never going back there again.


The thing that is so amazing is that I had the power within me to achieve this – I just needed someone to show me how.


So thank you Hilary, thank you Phil. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.


You have given me my life back, you have given my husband his wife back and my children their mother. I have re-found myself, and I like what I see.


I have just been to a wedding where I danced until midnight, drove people home and got into bed at 1.45am. Before the lightning process this would not have been possible. Now anything is possible.


Thank you.


Elaine Chatwin "

The Lightning Process on TV

The Lightning Process was recently featured on the Lorraine programme on TV, and is now available on Youtube. It includes the inspiring story of a woman who had ME and did the course. Click here to watch it.

A client's story

I would like to tell you about a client who recently did the Lightning Process with me for ME. On the morning of the third day of the course she told me "Today I cried tears of joy, noticing how well I felt. What a transformation! Yesterday I went shopping for shoes after the course, and felt fantastic. And this morning there was water dripping through the kitchen ceiling, yet I felt very calm, very easy, I was taking it in my stride. I had lots of strength to drill a hole in the ceiling, something I could never have done before."


A week after the course I spoke to her to see how she was doing, and she said "I have been shopping, walking, driving, working, laughing. The first day after the course I went to 16 shops, some of them twice, I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I feel fantastic: calm, relaxed and confident. People tell me I look beautiful and I have been enjoying everyone's delight at my getting well."

Welcome to my new blogsite!

I would like to use this blog to tell you about interesting ideas and information I come across, my clients's successes and progress, and my own thoughts and ideas. We are such amazing beings with so much potential, each one of us, and the more I learn about what is possible for me and for others, the more I really take this in. 


Today, I have noticed that I learned how to set up a blogsite for a campaigning group a year ago, and at the time it seemed such a steep learning curve. I have therefore been delighted this time to discover how much I have learned since then. It is interesting how what can initially seem so complicated and difficult to grasp can so quickly become easy, even automatic.