Amygdala Retraining Blog is Back!

[Cort]

For about a year I chronicled my on again off again work with Ashok Gutpa's Amygdala Retraining program. I basically cut it off in December as I was going through a stressful period (!) and then slowly picked up again.

You can now find my new Amygdala Retraining blog on this site here:
Check it out and let's get a discussion going regarding this interesting technique.

 

[Jody]

I came across Ashok Gupta and watched a number of his pieces on YouTube last fall. I found his confidence that healing could happen to be very reassuring and ... calming. The fact that he had been sick and had recovered carried alot of weight with me. Last fall I was not confident that I would ever get any better.

His approach was new in some ways, which was good, but also fell in line with some of the conclusions I'd been coming to myself, which also reassured me that here might be a doctor who had the right idea.

I liked the fact that much of what he was presenting was stuff I could do on my own. Didn't need a doctor who believed I was sick, didn't need to be able to go anywhere (that was hard for me at that time), didn't cost money I didn't have.

Just me and my own head.

I had been familiar with psychoneuroimmunology (our brain and gut communicate with each other all day long and we can influence to some extent the messages our mind sends to our body and thus some of the chemicals that run through us).

I knew a bit about the theory re: the hypothalamic / pituitary / adrenal axis (HPA axis) being out of whack. Dr. Gupta seemed to me to be maybe taking what I'd read about the hypothalamus and saying, he thought it was the amygdala that was the source of much of the problem.

I had read about adrenal fatigue and our whole sympathetic / parasympathetic mess. Somehow, what he said confirmed some of my conclusions about being able to un-learn and re-train myself in dealing with stress.

Hope all that made sense. I am NOT a science person by nature and don't always get things right.

Suffice to say, he seemed to take things further in a direction I was already exploring, and had given me a little more to work with in that direction.

Then my computer died and I was without till April. But I am starting to look into things again.

 

[Cort]

I just think something is off in our inner wiring; like those wires are frayed and responding to the lightest touch. Its not just about fears about this disease - for me this problem extends to all sorts of everyday aspects.

I really think this and other mind/body or mindfulness approaches are worth a try. They are good for anyone anyway! They wake us up to our inner world and can provide a kind of calm that wasn't present before.

For me its slow but well worth it.

 

[Jody]

I agree that it seems like our inner wiring being hypersensitive, hyperalert. Feeling adrenaline rushes, or the physical feelings that would go with panic, when there is nothing to be panicked about.

An example. A number of years back, I was re-copying a 4 item grocery list for my husband, the original list had stuff scratched out and was hard to read. So I rewrote it. No cause for panic, didn't even have to think hard about what to put on the list. It was a copy, with 4 things on it. Gave him the list and he left for the store.

I went to bed and vibrated for a couple hours, clutching a pillow to try to ease the feeling of free-fall.

Definitely some kind of wiring out of whack.

That doesn't happen like this to me any more, thank God.

 

[susan]

I have be on the Gupta prog now for 11mths but am seeeing no results and lately have dropped my bundle. However I still do beleive that he is on the right track with the Amygdala theory. He has taught me sooo much with his prog to manage my body that I would never ask for my money back.

For some of us I believe something is going so strongly in our subsconsious mind....so many fires to be alarmed about... and we are not aware of them. Proved it several times that is sending out stress signals for no appareant reason

So stressed last week leaving for appointmet late...took my pulse as I am doing Buteyko breathing exercises at the moment. Arrive for appointment now relaxed...happy... in plenty of time but pulse through the roof. This was because I subconsciously knew I was going to be talking about my health.

I think I need an adjunct to his therapy to look at the subconscious.....EMDR WHEE and I am searching for that now.

I watched my friend get out of bed after 13 yrs and go back to her professsion this year after watching 250 CDs on how to think positively an chase negativity. I asked AShok she did it and he said she retrained her Amygdala. She could not even stand up for 13 yrs...low Bp and cooked out the side of the bed. Now in this last 8 mths she has been on 2 overseas trips...the lot...can eat anything and take any pill.

This has kept me determined it was going to work for me and now feeling disillusioned......but I totally believe his theory and will keep plugging on..

 

[Jody]

Hi susan,

Welcome to the forums.

It is frustrating to hope for improvement when we see something working well for someone else ... and then it doesn't seem to do the same for us ...

It has happened to me as well.

But you're right, you just need to keep on plugging on, and expect that you will find the answers you need.

 

[Cort]

Susan - we may in much the same place. I think Ashok is right; conceptually and on a personal level his theory fits me to a T. I have certainly made quite a lot of progress - and undoubtedly would have done better if I had been more vigilant with - but I still have so far to go. I would love to find a biochemical adjunct to it.

This is why adaptogens are attractive to me and why herbs that can tone down the sympathetic nervous system are. Interestingly since I have improved I'm much more open to trying supplements right now - before I just assumed that they wouldn't work.

I hope you'll keep on investigating these different areas. I've found that different mindfulness therapies often have markedly different effects interestingly enough. Maybe you just need to find the right practice.