Peacefully Serene

(post updated July 21, 2010) It has been more than a year since I have posted to my PS blog.  In all of that time I have learned much and spent most of my savings going from one doctor to another looking for solutions.  Oh, the stories I could tell.  Wait a minute.  Isn't that what this blog is for?  First off, let me point out that the person mentioned in the previous blog posting wasn't able to help me at all.  I had such high hopes!!!  In fact, I am removing her name because I don't wan't to mislead people in any way into thinking one type of therapy might work better over another therapy or that this therapist was endorsed by me. This was an expensive lesson. (the following is the original post, only slightly edited to remove the name I mentioned above) This has been an strange month in a lot of ways. Due to a series of coincidences, I discovered a wonderful Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Actually, I started seeing her because I have been experiencing vertigo for

"When Fear Falls Away - The Story of a Sudden Awakening", by Jan Frazier is my book of the week. I loved it so much that I set up an appointment with Jan and we talked for almost an hour. "When Fear Falls Away", is a book about an ordinary woman that was filled with fear, and eventually, she woke up and all of her fear was gone. The book is set up in journal fashion with many entries from the early days when she suffered a lot. It takes the reader through her many different spiritual searches and then suddenly, and shockingly, she experiences an awakening! Her life after the awakening is the most profound part of the book. I had no idea what life would look like without fear and now I know because of Jan's book. Our conversation was mainly about my own suffering (caused by thinking) and how freedom is already here, I am just not aware of it. I took pages of notes but they are very personal and I will treasure them. We talked about her spiritual path and

Exercise . I have been walking up the mountain here in San Miguel and monitoring my emotions. I can now say for certain that exercising is a great way to change your mental attitude. I started walking for about 45 minutes in the morning and after about 4 weeks, I increased it to twice a day. Luckily, I am living near a mounting that goes from a slight incline to a very steep incline. So, half of the walk is straight up and then the second half is all downhill. There are times when I still have difficult times but usually, after the second walk, I am in a fantastic mood. There really is something to this release of endorphins in the brain being linked to a sense of well-being. I think that for me, exercising burns up a lot of the extra energy I was turning into anxiety. When you are really tired, there is no energy left to turn into worrying thoughts. Exercise is my first recommendation for someone experiencing anxiety.

While reading Michael Brown's blog, "Living in Aberdeen", I started to cry. It was a very touching entry and reveals much about Michael. The reason I was so touched is that I have been feeling trapped lately. The feeling is sort of like being in perpetual limbo. I know I need to do something with my life that makes a difference and yet I have no idea what that would look like. Fear also has me feeling stuck. Luckily, I have an idea of something that I want to do and that excites me. My friend Terra, pointed out that the anxiety I was feeling was simply because I wasn't on my life path. She said that if I was doing what my heart called me to do, there would be no fear. The following from Michael Brown's blog is a perfect example of what I am struggling with. I guess the point is that we are always changing and can have many different life paths. Maybe the old one was fine for a while but now it's time for a new one? "Everything finally fell into

I have been collecting hypnosis recordings for a while now. For someone that is anxious, simple meditation can be very difficult because thoughts are already out of control and sitting still is just asking for trouble. I have found that guided meditations or hypnosis can be very helpful at replacing the negative self-talk and allow me to relax. Some of them are great and some are just Okay and some can be horrible. In this entry, I will review some recordings by Dr. Emmitt Miller, Doreen Blumenfeld, Belleruth Naparstek, and Kimberly Miles. It is vitally important that a hypnosis recording satisfy several specific requirements in order to be effective. I have found that if a hypnotherapist has an irritating voice, I won't get anything out of it. I have also found that if they use ridiculous analogies or ask you to visualize something that goes against your personal beliefs (I personally find overt Christian imagery outdated and offensive). So, after purchasing many hypnosis p

My interview with Chuck Wild has ended up on his website! You can check it out below or here: http://www.liquidmindmusic.com/anxiety/index.html Thanks Chuck! Don't forget, Chuck's newest CD will be released March 3rd, 2009. I can't wait.

I have mentioned that I love "Liquid Mind" music but I haven't mentioned any others. On my computer, I have several artists that are almost as good as Chuck's music. My second favorite is Deuter. His work is fantastic. Not all of it is soothing so check it out first. I also really like Aeoliah's music. I discovered Aeoliah, on Amazon.com where you can find tons of his work for cheap! I am not kidding. I downloaded several CDs for less than $2 (the CDs were two tracks long, about 30 minutes each track. Amazon only charges .89 or .99 a track!!!). I am a firm believer in the healing power of music and would like everybody who is looking for music to relax or even to meditate with, to check these artists out. My favorites of "Liquid Mind" ...all of them. They are all fantastic. My favorites of Deuter : "Buddha Nature", "East of the Full Moon", "Koyasan Reiki Healing", and "Earth Blue" (honorable mention goes

In this post, I want to compare two products that I found to be helpful. However, one of them was very helpful while the other one only slightly. The way I look at it is that any help is worth the money but then again, if you can get all the help you need (or most) from one program it sure isn't a bad idea to save some money. My first attempt at downloading a program was Joe Barry's Panic Away . The advice was good for helping me deal with the panic attacks directly but did little for the general anxiety (feeling anxious from dawn till dusk). Panic Away comes with an e-book that is about 151 pages. It does a pretty good job of describing what anxiety is and the different types of anxiety. His method is then summed up in a 7 minute recording called "One Move", where he helps you deal with a panic attack while it is happening. It also comes with a year of counseling (phone in or email). This is all very helpful, but for me, it wasn't enough. I need to ment