Mind Body Interface of Conversion Disorder

Somatosync.com/Radio
Healing Conversion Disorder
Dr. Paul Canali Interview

Recently, I wrapped up an interview with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing.  In the interview, we discussed how to heal Conversion Disorder in regards to the mind body interface.

If you are suffering from Conversion Disorder or know someone that does, this 33 minute interview is well worth your time to listen to it.  Even if you don't suffer from Conversion Disorder, the information applies to every human on the planet.

When I went through the major episode with Conversion Disorder in 1991, there were really no resources and no one to talk to.  The internet wasn't really in existence like it is today and so I was forced to find my own way through this ordeal.  None of it was easy and I know first hand just how difficult it is to come through this.  However, I knew there was some way out of the hell my body and life was shoved into and I never gave up in trying to find the help I needed.

It took me many years to finally move to a place and meet someone that could truly help me heal from Conversion Disorder.  When I went to him, the big physical symptoms had pretty much gone away like the paralysis, but I had plenty of other physical realities to deal with in my life.  On top of that, I had just lost my mom to a car accident which set off a cascade of events in my life.

Unified Therapy Seminar 2012

What:  3 Day Seminar For Health Professionals
When:  June 23-25
Where: Miami, FL (Biltmore Hotel)
Info:  305-667-8174

Unified Therapy(TM) is a revolutionary treatment approach which access innate self-regulating mechanisms.  A new direction for healing many chronic conditions including PTSD, anxiety, and pain.

This seminar is taught by Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing Institute.  He has helped change my life in many ways and this is the work and understand that I am learning.  It is not about teaching a system as much as it is teaching concepts that anyone can use and that really help the person heal from the inside out.  

Healing Conversion Disorder Podcast

While this interview was done a couple of years ago, the information is still relevant to Conversion Disorder today.  With the news of assisted suicide in Canada, where a woman found no way out of conversion disorder, I thought the time is right to highlight this interview again.  There is hope.  Don't ever give up!

I know of others that have been through this and found their way out.  In fact, I was one of those that went through Conversion Disorder with paralysis and pseudo-seizures, among many other things.  At the time, I could not piece everything together as to what caused it, but in time the story began to emerge.

This video interview podcast is a discussion I had with Dr. Paul Canali of the Evolutionary Healing Institute in Miami, Florida.  He is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma and helping people recover their lives from the inside-out.  Dr. Canali has been instrumental in helping me fully recover and several others that have been through Conversion Disorder.

I have hosted the podcast and more information on a another website I run, so please check it out. There is some excellent information in here that you most likely have not heard presented in the way that it is.  The website is Somatosync.com .

Some of the topics covered include in the interview:

1. What is Conversion Disorder?
2.  Is Conversion Disorder all in your head?
3. What are some examples of Conversion Disorder?
4. Does there have to be major trauma for Conversion Disorder?
5. What are some of the first steps a person can take to recover?

Listen to the Podcast with Dr. Paul Canali

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Diagnosis Of Conversion Disorder

Here is another great interview I found on Conversion Disorder by Dr.  Rochelle Caplan.  She had a very good way of helping to understand what Conversion Disorder is and the struggle to diagnose it.

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Read My Personal Story

To learn more about my personal story and journey through Conversion Disorder, please check out my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly.

When I was in the early stages, there was so much I did not realize and know.  This is part of Conversion Disorder from my experience because if we knew these things, then most likely we could avoid this horrible ordeal.

If you're going through Conversion Disorder, please know that you are not alone and there is hope.  There is a way through it, but it requires courage and going outside the box of paradigms.  I had to let go of much of what I thought was true in life to find out what really was true.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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A Life Changing Moment

Shortly after I graduated from massage school, I had the opportunity to do chair massage for the faculty and staff at Southwood Middle School. A tragedy had hit the school when a student killed one of his classmates and friends during school hours. I was there with others as part of a day of healing for the teachers. One of the speakers was Dr. Paul Canali talking about how trauma affects us and how to watch out for the effects that we may see in others especially the children. As I listened to Dr. Canali speak that day, I was captivated because what he was sharing with others, was things that resonated deeply within me.

After his talk was over, I so badly wanted to connect with him but when it was my turn to speak to him, I could barely say anything. About the only thing I could think to do was hand him my business card because my voice was silent. Time went on and I didn’t really think about Dr. Canali again until I went to a local FSMTA (Florida State Massage Therapy Association) meeting. He was the speaker and that night I was sitting up front. As Dr. Canali talked, he kept putting his hands on my shoulder and using me as an example of what he was saying. Normally with strangers, I would have been crawling out of my skin and running out the door. I, however, knew that Dr. Canali’s touch was safe. Somehow I knew that and I was not afraid.

Fast forward to a workshop he held in July 2004, that I wanted to attend. Before signing up for the workshop, Dr. Canali and I talked by phone where I shared with him some of my past. When I got to the workshop, it was part lecture and part hands on training. Dr. Canali asked for volunteers and without hesitation, I said I would like to volunteer. Up until this point, I had not experienced his work like many of the others had, and I had no clue what I was about to experience. The moment on the table which seemed like only a few minutes was in fact over a couple hours and when I got off that table, I felt like my life was different than when I started. It was a powerful life changing moment and at the time I had no clue just how far this would go.

I began to see Dr. Canali for regular sessions because I knew deep down, there was much stored within my body that needed to be dealt with. You didn’t need to explain to me just how everyday life, every day stress, trauma and experiences find homes within our bodies. My body knew that first hand because I was paralyzed in 1991. Physically I had recovered from it but there were many hidden scars within me that had never been allowed to heal. I had plenty of current problems as well from depression, anxiety, frequent migraine headaches, a stomach ulcer, allergies and the list could go on. I never dreamed that a few years after this, my life would have changed in dramatic ways physically, emotionally and spiritually. I’m not the same person I was and this isn’t some surface changes in me. It is deep emotional long lasting changes.

While I still know I have a ways to go and I still have my demons I battle within me, I’m on my way to connecting to something that will carry me forward. I’m not even 100% sure I understand what that is today and that’s fine, but I see more of my path ahead with each day. Dr. Canali has helped me to understand myself more and see the power that I hold to make choices and changes in my life. He has helped me to become more aware of myself so that I can begin to experience life in an entirely new way. If you would have told me all of this was possible a few years ago, I would have probably laughed. Of course now, you don’t have to convince me because I’ve lived it and the truth of it resides with myself and my new found freedom and awareness.

With all of this said, Dr. Canali just launched his new website and it is filled with a lot of information. Some of the information is deep and may sail over your head when you first read it, but it can be a catalyst in your life. I urge you to go and check out the website and read it and learn all you can. Your life won’t be the same after this point.

The website is
Evolutionary Healing Institute http://evolutionaryhealinginstitute.com/

Trauma and Renewal Conference At Barry University

Trauma And Renewal Conference
Barry University, March 16, 2012

On March, 16, 2012, Barry University in South Florida will be holding its 17th annual Professional Conference. The topic this year is trauma and renewal: implications for research and practice. The featured speakers are Charles Figley, PhD and Kathleen Figley, Dmin.

I personally have never been to one of these, but it looks like a great event to attend especially if you work in the area of trauma. My good friend, Dr. Paul Canali is going to be one of the presenters at this event. The topic he will be speaking on is Healing Trauma And Chronic Pain Through Autonomic Re-Regulation and Somatic Awareness.

Dr. Paul Canali is the founder of Evolutionary Healing Institute and the originator of Unified Therapy. Through Dr. Canali's work, there is hope for people to heal as they discover the autonomic balancing reflex in their system. Unless trauma is released in the physical body and connected through the awareness of the mind, it will reside as potential energy searching for an exit route. If it is not released from the body, the exit routes can include anything from depression, anxiety, physical ailments, body pain to rashes, conversion disorders, sleep problems and many other situations. Dr. Canali has found a way to heal the body that is highly reproducible and is based upon scientific principles.

Trauma Keeps Peace Away

I know other people have written much more in-depth about this subject and one of them that comes to my mind is Peter Levine in his book, "Waking The Tiger".  One of the most horrible things that trauma does long term to a person is it keeps the peace away.

Yes, we can begin to find peace, but trauma keeps the body revved up.  It keeps the moments of when the trauma happened in the forefront of our brain as if they are still happening.  Because of the impact of these moments, it keeps our nervous system on edge and our brain from slowing down.

If you read the book, "Waking The Tiger", you'll see a very good and healthy explanation of what trauma does to the body and the mind.  It is the basis for much of what I have learned along with what has physically been demonstrated to me in my own body through healing with Dr. Paul Canali of Unified Therapy.

You can compare trauma to walking through the jungle.  There are predators out there and if you don't watch out, you'll become lunch for an animal in the jungle.  Let's use being hunted by a Tiger as Dr. Peter Levine discusses.

Your body is revved up...

In trauma, the Tiger pounces and attacks just like walking through the jungle.  Even if you somehow escape the Tiger or the trauma, your body is still revved up like the event is happening.  We've all had those moments that shocks or frightens us and it takes a while to come down.  Trauma does the same thing, but to a much greater degree.  Trauma keeps us in that revved up state.  The long term impacts of it can be felt and see in the mind and body for years after it stopped. 

Even long after the trauma has passed, it is as if we are still experiencing it.  This is why reaching out to support groups, therapists and other body-centered trauma healing is essential.  It isn't about being weak, but learning and discovering how to let go of the residual impacts from the trauma.  It is about finding ways to heal from our inner core.  It is about reclaiming all that we are and learning how to show trauma the door.

As if things never ended...

I went through intense torture and childhood sexual abuse.  It shaped me in so many ways.  While I've done extensive deep body healing from the trauma with Dr. Paul Canali, there are moments that the triggers act as if the Tiger is still chasing me.  Of course, I know that the events have stopped, but in my mind and neural pathways, they are still acting as if things never ended.  Trauma keeps us in that state.

The body needs to be a central part of continued healing because even though we try to disconnect, forget and numb, the cells, muscles, nervous system and the brain still remember.  They don't forget.  Unless these parts of our bodies are healed deeply, they will continue to rev up the nervous system from the trauma and keep peace away.

Deep peace is difficult after Trauma...

If your body is on full alert because it believes there is a Tiger waiting to pounce, most likely you are not going to be able to lay down and take a nice restful nap.  It is the same with trauma.  As long as the trauma remains within us, true and deep peace will be difficult to grasp.

One of the things that I so love about Unified Therapy with Dr. Paul Canali is that after you've gone through a moment of deep release, the peace that ensues is unlike anything we have ever felt.  It is such a deep peace that you beg him to just leave you in that place, not wanting to come out from it.  It is hard to describe it, but in the process of healing through this work, when you do feel what I'm talking about, it will blow your mind!

In healing, we have to learn how to understand that the Tiger is no longer chasing us.  Our minds will make us believe that it is while keeping it from our conscious thought.  Our minds try so hard to protect us that we often stay in numbing and disconnectedness.  It is in reconciling these things that we will find further healing into a life that is truly ours.  It is in these moments of healing that we will discover more of who we are and that is a beautiful thing.  It is a place of peace.

Trauma may try to keep the peace away, but the more we work to heal, the more we will discover it.  Healing is about taking our life back from those things that stole it.  It is about finding that awareness which leads us to a greater peace than we've ever known. 

#HealTrauma

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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What Is Chronic Pain - Interview With Dr Paul Canali

This video interview is a very good one.  It is done by Jim Fazio and Dr. Paul Canali.  Unified Therapy by Dr. Paul Canali has changed my life.  He has helped me to understand that chronic pain can be treated and healed.

Chronic pain is in the brain, even though it feels like it is in each individual muscle of the body.  I know that may sound weird, but it is true.  I have felt it and experienced the difference in my own body going through the healing work of Unified Therapy.

Did you know that 15% to 20% of all adults in the world suffer from chronic pain.  It is what keeps doctors up at night and drug companies in business.  Yet, we aren't getting better as a world society and that is because don't fully understand chronic pain or the nature of pain.

Many research studies have been done in neuroscience and they are finding that the volume knob for chronic pain is not in the body, but in the brain.  They are also finding on brain scans that if the person experiences pain in the arm, it does not show up in the region of the brain for the arm.  Instead it shows up in the emotion centers of the brain.

Major Moment Of Embarrassment And Shame

The other day I went to a healer in South Florida by the name of Kathi Angeli.  I have been to her several times before and each time, it really helps me move forward in life, while letting go of long held energy blockages and finding forgiveness for experiences of my past that I encountered.  This session was no different and at first, I thought it was not going anywhere.  Lo and behold to my surprise, things got intense real quick and I was shocked at the event that came up.

Way back many years ago around the time I was 14 years old, there was an incident that happened with me and my younger brother.  I don't think I had hid this experience from my consciousness, but I never fully realized just what impact it had on my life.  In reality, I just chalked it up to another one of those experiences from my traumatic past that I had to heal and work through.  In fact, I thought I had worked through it, but then healing trauma is a process, not necessarily an end point like so many often believe.

In this experience, my mother (God rest her soul) who hardly ever whipped us, got upset with something my younger brother and I were doing.  I cannot even remember what it was to this day that sparked the whipping. I really doubt it was much of any significance.  In our house, the slightest breath could get you whipped.  I recognize she was having issues with my father and more than likely took that out on us, rather than dealing with it in her own life.

A Shoulder To Cry On

Sometimes in life we all need a shoulder to cry on or an ear that will listen. All too often, we get just the opposite by people who mean well and believe they are doing the right thing. Never underestimate the power of just listening to someone or giving them a shoulder to cry on. Never underestimate how holding someone's hand in a moment of crisis can be such a life changing moment.

A little over a year ago, I was going through some very difficult moments. A rash had engulfed my body and itching was my closest companion. No matter what I did, the itching would not stop and I spent many days and nights awake anguishing in terror. There seemed like no end and it was a horrible painful time of frightening experiences that I went through.

I remember finally going to Dr. Paul Canali at Evolutionary Healing for a session. By the time I got there, I was so afraid that I could barely function in life let alone get myself into his office. My body was so wrought with fear that it took all the energy I could find to just get my body to function and physically move. In that moment, I was not sure if there was a way through this. I did not have hope that it would improve because I had already endured so much and for so long.

I'll never forget the words that Dr. Canali spoke to me and what he did when I first got on the table. He grabbed hold of my hand in a very firm, supportive and loving way while he looked at me and said, "I'm here for you!" It wasn't just the words either that were said, but I could tell the conviction in each syllable that he truly meant what he was saying. I also could hear through the words that he could back up what he was saying because he had already touched his own pain and sorrow. It was a life changing moment. I'll never forget that moment.

Today, I read a blog by Nicole Bowman that really reminded me of this point and so much more. All too often, we think we have to solve the problem or we are too mired in our own pain, that we cannot just be there for the person. We can't simply offer a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear? It is okay to go in and be in the depths of pain with people as long as we have done the work on ourselves so we can truly be there.

It took me a long time to understand that you can go into the pain with the person that needs it without losing yourself. It has nothing to do with shielding yourself from the person's energy or anything else. It is a matter of just holding the space open and walking along side by side through their journey helping them to take each step. It has nothing to do with us although it may trigger and connect with areas of our own life that we have not fully healed. We should welcome those moments because they give us further opportunity to evolve and heal ourselves.

I hope you will read Nicole's blog entry that I've linked to below, because she so eloquently states this concept. It is a beautiful concept and one that when practiced can truly be life changing for another person. The true essence of our humanity is how far we allow ourselves to heal and how we use that awareness and consciousness to help others do the same thing. There is no greater gift we can give others than to offer ourselves up with all our pains, inadequacies and healing so that together we evolve into more than we are currently aware of in this moment.

1) Nicole Bowman, Blog Post March 2 - Thoughts On The New Age
2) Dr. Paul Canali, Evolutionary Healing of Miami
3) Blog Post on August 19, 2010 - Stop The Itching



Blog Post & Images (c) 3/4/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

The Choice To Go Into Pain

In a recent situation, my friend was experiencing headaches that were very severe.  They were in the migraine stage.  I have been through these in the past and I know first hand just how rough they can be.  After a few days of the headaches not going away, we made a trip to see Dr. Canali in Miami, Florida.  Granted, we had not been there in several months so both his nervous system and mine were way out of balance.

It would have been easy to go into the fear of the situation and chase every remedy known to man.  Some probably felt that we needed to do this, but because of our experience with the concepts of what Dr. Canali teaches, we knew there was another route.  This method of treatment is effective because it honors and respects what is going on within the body.  It recognizes that if the nervous system is out of balance, things like headaches and other pain will appear.

In addition, I had done some body work on my friend and while it didn't completely alleviate the headaches or pain, it took him from a 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10) down to probably a 5 or less.  He was able to sleep through the night, rather than scream out in pain.  In my mind, I knew that this was nervous system related and not some other thing.  I listened to my intuition.  We were also in touch with Dr. Canali as to the course of treatment.

Chronic Pain Is More Than Lifestyle Choices

Do you ever have one of those cartoon moments, where steam comes out your ears after reading something?  Well, today was one of those days.

When I read the following quote, it made steam come out of my ears.  No, I'm not going to name the source because far too many people think this way and quite frankly, they are only seeing "part" of the story.


The quote is:

Lifestyle is the cause of chronic illness and lifestyle is the only evidence-based solution for the prevention of, and recovery from, chronic illness.

In addition to the entire premise of this statement being short-sighted and downright wrong from my own experience, when you use the word "ONLY" as the foundation for your statement, you are standing on melting ice in the middle of a lake.  This is one of the things that is wrong with our health care system and why people don't get better.  I know the place that wrote this means well, but there is more to the picture than this "belief" about chronic illness.

Inadequate at best and harmful at worst...

I will not disagree that chronic pain often has lifestyle choices that are not healthy.  However, that is like telling a person with depression, to just be happy or a person who has sleep issues, that they should just go to bed at a set time.  These forms of advice and counseling and help are inadequate at best and harmful at worst.  They don't assist the person and help them.  They only cement the judgment and shame deeper into their consciousness.

In many of the chronic pain and chronic illness, there is something more below the surface.  There is something that set the person up for the situation they are now facing.  Maybe no one can see it.  Maybe no one can even begin to believe it.  Maybe it is something that no one is even thinking about, but it is there.  I've worked with far too many people and seen evidence of what I am saying, to not be able to believe that lifestyle changes along can help every situation.

All too often we've seen people look for help that isn't there.  We've seen this person or that product offering the "cure-all" for their condition.  I used to work in research evaluating products for a company before we took the plunge and spent millions to find out if something worked or not.  Of the products that were backed up by science and research and trials with big name companies, approximately 85% of them did not show a statistical improvement for whatever it was that we were testing.

Needless to say, these companies and even colleagues of mine would rip my research to shreds.  Yes, it was meticulously done and yes, myself and other individuals reviewed it before the data was released.

I find the same thing in the health and healing communities.  Some of the "products" out there make my eyes do flip-flops and the claims make me vomit.  Sorry, if you're one that does not want to hear this, but from my experience, it is the truth.

Chronic conditions have deep layers...

Chronic pain and chronic illness is present for a reason.  It has deep layers which I don't think we truly understand today.  However, there is new pioneering work that is being done and can often reverse these conditions or have a significant impact upon them.  Situations and health conditions that we thought were not treatable are now being seen that we can influence them.

Yes, lifestyle choices does make a difference, but if there are underlying situations and stresses below the surface, then you can beg someone to change all day long with little results.  Heck, even the person suffering from Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness can hope something changes, but unless the underlying pressures are released, this will be nothing but a prayer.

A message from our body to our brain...

Pain is there for a reason.  It is a message from our body to our brain trying to get our attention.  Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it is difficult to understand how this could even be true, let alone how we can solve it.  The answers are not from feel good statements, but are through interventions that takes us deep within where we feel our body.  It is not where we escape it.

Here is a good video by good friend Jim Fazio as he interviews Dr. Paul Canali about Chronic Pain.  Dr. Paul Canali is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma, pain, and anxiety and offers a new approach that is highly effective.  This is not belief or theory, but actually applied therapy that has helped thousands of people he has worked on.

I want to push each one of us, whether we suffer from chronic conditions or we are in the healing community try to help people deal with these conditions.  We cannot sit back and expect the tired and old practices that have become our paradigms to continue being ineffective in our healing modalities.  We have to be more and often that starts where we least expect it to begin.

Instead of limiting your healing beliefs to lifestyle changes only, find out what makes the person tick from the inside.  What is it that holds you or them back?

I used to think that Dr Canali had some special gift, but now I'm beginning to see that what he has learned resides in each one of us.  It was not just him that could help others.  Yes, it may take another compassionate and caring individual without judgment to walk through the healing fires with us, but healing comes from within us.  Let us not look at it through simple eyes, missing the deeper moments.

Chronic pain and illness is not easy.  However, there are therapies emerging that can help so much, if we allow ourselves to go check them out.

#ChronicPain

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Healing The Physical Trauma of Child Abuse

Written by Don Shetterly

This Unified Therapy session wasn't easy.  It was tough beyond any words that I can write.  In fact, just getting myself to see Dr. Canali was more than difficult.  I procrastinated.  I tried to wish it away.  I tried to numb it away.

No matter what, as hard as I tried to wish it away, my avoidance was not helping the issue at all.  I was begging for mercy.  I wanted relief.  I could not find it on my own no matter what I was doing.  As I wrote a few days earlier in a blog post, it was the Rash That Won't Stop that got me to the point where I finally went to see Dr. Canali.

My life had become one of so much difficulty with little sleep.  The burning and itching I described in that blog post were no lies.  It was all too real.  My anger was hard to contain with everyone and everything.  I did not know at that moment before the session if I could make it through this.  I was not sure if I could make it through this.  The session with Dr. Canali had become my last hope.

What I had written, I shared...

I shared with him what I had written in that blog post. I couldn't even manage to get the words out.  My voice would not articulate them.  As he sat down beside the massage table and read them out loud to me, my eyes welled up with tears.  To most people, they are words on a page.  To me, they were heartaches and pain from the abuse I suffered.

As we began to go into what was coming up in my body, it was evident to Dr. Canali and myself just how locked up my pelvis and abdomen were.  In fact, most of my pants were not fitting at that time.  They felt like 5 sizes too small.  The itching in this area was intense.  Any touch anywhere close and the pain would shoot through my body like there was no end.

Moving through things, everything from the itching to the heat in my body and the pain would kick up.  We would take it as far as we could, and then Dr. Canali would allow me to drop back down.  It felt like a physical workout.  It felt like there were moments that were almost too much.  However, I knew that this was part of the healing process.

An empowerment boost of healing...

The more I started to see that we could go into all of these things and then drop back into a more peaceful state, the more empowered my body became. It was as if pushing into these difficult moments and then dropping back was an empowerment boost.  A boost that kept me taking on more of the trauma my body had been holding for many years.

Some of these trauma memories of abuse that I was dealing with, I have seen in other forms and ways at various times.  However, this one was the more physical side of being raped and held down with no way to stop it.  It started by the time I was around six years old and continued until I was much older.

As we moved through the session, we discussed those things, and I was allowed to share them.  It wasn't easy to say the words.  It wasn't easy to recognize just how much the evil and darkness of these abusers and tried to squash any hope for light and existence I had.

The Body Shows The Trauma...

The physical trauma resides in the body.  The body remembers even if we attempt to keep it from reliving memories from years past.  The brain will try to block it, but when the body shows the evidence, it is then that the brain is in survival and numbing.

As we went through the session, I could feel the physical tension leaving my body.  It was more than if I had gotten a relaxing massage.  It was where my body goes into that deep peace and rest that it desperately needs.  The itching came down.  The pain came down.  The elevated body temperature I was feeling dropped down.

I noticed as we left the office and went out into the summer heat of a South Florida afternoon, that I was tolerating the heat much better.  Before this moment, I could barely stand in the summer heat for a few minutes.

I noticed that the world around me seemed more at peace.  I sensed the quiet stillness accessible to me even though the hustle and bustle of the city continued.  I felt lighter and more joyful.  I felt more hopeful and alive than I had a little while earlier that day.

As we left to go back to the hotel, I started to notice that the pants which were tight on me before the session, were now needing a belt.  There was so much physical tension in my abdomen and waist that had released that I could barely keep my pants up.  It shocked me because it showed me just how much trauma I was holding in my physical body.

I went from not wanting anyone close to me touching me to allowing myself to be touched.  I went from wanting no intimacy to welcoming it happily.

In that session with Dr. Canali, so much physically changed in my body.  It was like I was coming back into my body and learning to live life again as was meant for me to experience.

Healing Is More Than A Mental Exercise...

Once again, the work and concepts that Dr. Canali has discovered are helping me understand what trauma does to the body and how we store all of this for years and years.  It is not just a mental exercise.  It is an exercise where you connect the mind with what comes up in the body and then you are gently guided in different ways how to let go of it all.  It is a process that helps you find deep healing and peace, that is more than a quick point of change.  This healing is lasting.

As I write this, several days after the session, I can still feel my body letting go and processing all that went on in that session.  I can feel how little moments in life kick up the body temperature or the itching while being able to talk myself back down and put reality in perspective with what I am feeling.

Yes, I've had moments of anger and frustration, but I can deal with them more appropriately than I was.  I'm able to go in and stop and rest and allow my body to just be in the moment.  I've been able to be in a hot tub and sauna, be outside in the heat of an afternoon and not feel like I was going to lose my mind or pass out and drop on the ground.

I'm working to take care of myself, changing how I see things in my life and observing how I react.  I want the reactions to be from a more mind and body centered approach than feeling like an unwilling participant.  I'm focusing on the bigger picture of my life much more than I have been and seeing how all of this plays into where my life goes.

I'm monitoring how much I let in from the world that is full of screaming, anger, rage, and disrespect because the actions I see every day do nothing to help me in my own life.  I'm allowing myself to disconnect from them and replace them with things that are genuinely helpful.  I know that if I get caught up in the darkness of the day, it will do nothing positive for me.

Most of all, I feel better.  I feel more empowered.  I feel more centered.  It is like there is now hope where I thought I had lost all hope.

I'm thankful for Unified Therapy and Dr. Paul Canali and what he knows and how he helps me.  He is one of a kind.  If there are others beyond him (and a few other practitioners) that can do what he does for me, I have not found them.  He is a pioneer in the field of healing trauma.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Sexual Abuse Effects Lessened by Massage

According to a study done at the Touch Research Institute with Dr. Tiffany Fields, women who had experienced sexual abuse found the effects were lessened by massage therapy. In 1996, a study involving 20 women with an average age of 35 years, were given a 30 minute massage twice a week for one month.

Immediately after the massage, the participants reported being less depressed, less anxious and their salivary cortisol levels decreased. Over the one month duration of receiving massage, the participants reported a decrease in depression and life event stress. Although the relaxation therapy control group also reported a decrease in anxiety and depression, their stress hormones did not change, and they reported an increasingly negative attitude towards touch.

Being an abuse survivor myself, I do recognize just how difficult it is to begin receiving massage work. The very first time that I tried to have a massage was on a cruise ship and I actually thought it was all about sex as many people tend to think it is. When I realized that it was not about sex and that it actually felt good to be touched, I experienced a degree of relaxation that I had not felt before.

Even with the good experience of getting the first massage, my mind always saw massage as a trigger back to past experiences that were not favorable. Even though my body was very tense, my muscles were tight and painful and my life was filled with stress, massage was not an option. I did not feel safe around anyone that was doing it and tended to discount any thought of getting a massage. I completely understand when other survivors are afraid to be touched.

My next attempt at massage started out better but by the end of the third massage, I got triggered badly. It wasn't anything the therapist was doing but unfortunately they weren't able to realize I had been triggered and so I laid there receiving the massage while being completely out of my body and not present. I never went back to the therapist and did not go back to a massage for a long time.

It wasn't until I started to think about going to massage school (of all places for me to go) that I went in and had another massage. This time, a guy was doing it and was actually one of these that applies a lot of pressure. I really didn't feel much of it. It took many months of being in massage school where I began to truly feel touch.

Since that time, I have made tremendous strides through healing and accepting touch within my own body through the Trager (TM) approach and through Unified Therapy with Dr. Paul Canali. Both have helped me release some of the trauma I went through and now my body does like to be touched. I am cautious though in who I allow to touch me but when I do get body work done on me, it is a good feeling now.

I am happy to see research being done on the area of healing, touch and massage therapy. The Touch Research Institute is a great place that is doing some tremendous research in this area. I also want to be a catalyst in helping other abuse survivors realize that touch can be a good thing even if you think there is no way on earth you can do bodywork. I've learned a form of bodywork that is not regular massage but it meets you where ever you are at and works from that point forward.


Abstract For The article cited above

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SEXUAL ABUSE

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Hart, S., Quintino, O., Drose, L., Field, T., Kuhn, C., & Schanberg, S (1997). Effects of sexual abuse are lessened by massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 1, 65-69.

Women who had experienced sexual abuse were given a 30-minute massage twice a week for 1 month. Immediately after the massage the women reported being less depressed and less anxious and their salivary cortisol levels decreased following the session. Over the 1-month treatment period the massage therapy group experienced a decrease in depression and in life event stress. Although the relaxation therapy control group also reported a decrease in anxiety and depression, their stress hormones did not change, and they reported an increasingly negative attitude toward touch.


For More Information:
1) Journal Of Bodywork Article about sexual abuse and massage
2) Touch Research Institute with Dr. Tiffany Fields, Univ of Miami
3) The Trager (TM) Approach
4) Dr. Paul Canali and Unified Therapy
5) Healing bodywork with Don Shetterly

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Blog Post & Images (c) 1/20/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only

Conversion (Somatoform) Disorder

If you read my book or some of the blog entries I have posted about, you will quickly see that I personally suffered from a conversion disorder. There are many names for it which include hysterical paralysis or a more common term of somatoform disorder. For me, the situation turned into complete paralysis with loss of speech, feeling, sensitivity and brain function including seizures.

At the time, I did not think there was any way through this and it seemed hopeless. I experienced the seizures and a feeling of being so tired that I could barely stay awake for any length of time. Test after test was done and at first they diagnosed it as MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Imagine being 26 years old and told you have MS. I was not prepared to hear that and I'm sure no one is every prepared to deal with the trauma that a diagnosis such as Multiple Sclerosis. In those days, there was no internet and so even though I knew very little about MS, I knew it was not good.

As with most episodes of a conversion disorder (somatoform disorder), there is usually some underlying trauma and then when a certain trigger or switch is thrown, the two events collide to bring about conditions which are not easily diagnosed. I often explain it to people that it is like an electrical circuit in a house. If you start putting to many items on a circuit and then turn start turning them on, at some point they will flip the breaker. The same thing happens to our body where we continue to put one stress and trauma on after another. It builds up and something in the body ends up breaking or giving way to a shut down. The nervous system if not properly tuned up can only handle so much before it says - that's it - I'm outta here!

Unfortunately, all too often somatoform disorders are misdiagnosed by well intentioned specialists. I think back to the days when I was going through this and each doctor would run test after test to trying to explain what was going on. Early tests indicated Multiple Sclerosis but after I was started on a drug treatment (which was some type of steroid medication), my body had a severe reaction to it and started in with seizures and violent trembling and shaking throughout my body. After weeks of MRI's, blood work, a trip to the Hospital Emergency Room by ambulance, most of the doctors were giving up. Each time, I would be sent home with no explanation of why things were happening. Each time, friends would have to help lift me in and out of a car and carry me into my apartment as I could do none of this for myself. I could not care for myself during this time, yet no doctor or emergency room would admit me to the hospital.

Fortunately, some doctor got me in touch with a neurologist. It did not take long for the neurologist to begin questioning the tests that had already been done on me. She was the wise one that began to ask the questions and put things together that there was something behind all of this and it was not physical. Once she had me meet with a psychiatrist and as I began talking to the psychiatrist, I took my first steps that day. That was the beginning of my recovery. It was not an easy road and it took great will power and determination to keep going when all seemed hopeless for me physically.

Back then, I was not aware of the work that Dr. Paul Canali, D.C. was doing with trauma healing. In fact, I didn't even truly understand what a conversion disorder was at the time and it took some time before the doctors even told me this was what happened. It is a very rare condition but I know there are more out there that go through this. I have found there is healing from this and from the trauma that I suffered. I also learned that to heal the trauma in my life, I needed to go in and touch the depths of it which were located within my body and my mind. It was through that connection that I really found my way through deep healing and started to reclaim my life.

There really is hope for someone if they are experiencing this situation in their life. No one needs to go through what I went through because tests and medications are not going to heal it in the end. When I first met Dr. Canali and began listening to what he was talking about, the concepts were foreign to me. You don't hear these things talked about in our every day world. However, my body knew without a doubt that what he was saying was exactly what had taken place in my life. My body also realized that he had discovered some of the answers that I had longed to find in my life. Through his work, I have changed completely from what I used to be and I have begun to discover just who I am and what I am made of. My physical ailments from depression, anxiety, migraine headaches, stomach ulcers, stiff necks, muscle tension, anger, despair, and the list goes on - these things are no longer in power over me. I have found freedom from them by finding the necessary tools within myself to move through all that comes up in my life.

Further Reading

1. Autonomic Nervous System by Dr. Paul Canali
   
   
2. Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly
   

(Copyright 11/08/10 - Use by permission only)

Masking Trauma With Surgery, Part 1

This is part 1 of a 2 part series, please read Part 2, Masking Trauma With Surgery for the complete story (2/5/11).

Several years ago in a workshop presented by Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing, a lady named Mary, shared her story that really amazed everyone there. In her story, she talked about having 48 different surgeries and medical procedures in the course of her 52 years of life.

She was the by product of many hospital stays, surgeries, medical procedures and university studies. In fact, her medical file was so thick and extensive that she was a virtual who's who of medical diagnosis.

From what I can remember when she was telling her story, was that each doctor would take on the "current symptom" and either medicate her based upon that or prescribe some medical procedure/surgery to alleviate the condition. The minute they would work to get one condition alleviated, another would show up. Mary had many internal organs removed or transplanted if I recall correctly. This continued on for years until Mary was so exhausted that she sought out a different option.

I still remember the gleam in her face, the tears in her eye as she told her story and as she now knew what hope was about. She realized that after the work with Dr. Canali to go in and deal with the trauma that had happened to her early in life, that there was hope for her. She no longer needed to live in the fear of having to have all these medical procedures to give her the false illusion that somehow they would make her better. Each time she had one of these surgeries or procedures, she would realize that it never solved the problem.

This is often the case in the medical world. We go to the doctor to find out what is wrong with us, what the name of our condition is and what pill or surgery or test we can take to alleviate it. We never stop to consider what we can do if we go within and search our own selves to see what is going on. Most of the time, we do not even consider that we have any power or knowledge or awareness to do this. So we give our power over to the doctors, drug companies and medical establishment.

Now, I'm not saying there is no place for the medical profession or surgery or procedures or even sometimes medications. We have to have a balance here so please don't get me wrong on that. However, all too often we treat the symptom instead of treating the entire person. The medical establishment looks for the easy way out in diagnosing someone and often the patients want the easy way out as well. They want to identify with the name of the condition they have and they want a pill or procedure that will just make it all better. No one really wants to do the hard work of going within and asking the tough questions or facing what they know.

Trauma impacts the body in a negative way and it lingers there robbing the body and mind of precious health and energy. Many of us (myself included) often go through life hoping and wishing it away or trying to cover it up by not thinking about it. We do all kinds of things including several new age practices that just mask the trauma. Instead, we need to go into the trauma and take our power back. This is not a one time process but an ongoing process of self discovery and awareness.

In Mary's story, there was much trauma that she had tried to forget and distance herself from. In fact, many of us that live through traumatic moments whether it is an abusive childhood, engagement in wars, experiences we are part of or an overwhelming load of daily stress. However, if we do not deal with these things, we will find out just as Mary did that the trauma will catch up with us. It may not be today or tomorrow but it is lurking in the shadows just waiting for the right moment for the switch to be flipped.

Yes, I know that there are plenty of tests and research to indicate that you may have this or that disease and condition. I know there are xrays that will show the body is in this position and surgery is required. However, that is like looking up at the sun and exclaiming that the ONLY reason for its existence is to give us light during the day. There is more to the picture that most of us do not see nor do we want to, but please, let us not fool ourselves here into thinking we are seeing the entire picture.

If you do not deal with the trauma, it will deal with you. If you choose to try every procedure and surgery and pill that is known to civilization it may temporarily help but in the end, you will not have eliminated the source. The source is not physical. The source of the condition is in the trauma that you have experienced. If you truly want to heal, look to the source of the condition, not just the symptoms showing up. Learn from Mary's example that after 48 procedures and surgeries, she realized that healing the trauma, healed her life.

Come back tomorrow for Part 2, Masking Trauma With Surgery, where I share some of my own experiences.


Further Reading:
1) Heal Trauma Internally
2) Evolutionary Healing Institute, Dr. Paul Canali
3) Part 2, Masking Trauma With Surgery



Blog Post & Images (c) 2/3/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Asleep To Feeling Pain In Our Body

Let's all go down to the river and party the night away.  Okay, I'm not sure why I wrote that this, but maybe it is more telling then I am aware of in this moment.  If you read the blog post on June 13, 2017, Are You Asleep?, you will see that Donnie struggles with this one.

Here's a part from Donnie's statement on the blog post Are You Asleep:     After all, he doesn't have time to deal with pains in his body.  There is just too much too accomplish.   His body is 100% pain free.  Unfortunately, that's a good sign of how asleep Donnie is.

We are so oblivious to pain in our bodies that even saying we are asleep is not a strong enough statement.  Of course, I'm sure you're probably eye-rolling me right now, wondering if I just fell off my rocker and hit my head on the floor.

Safe to say, I'm okay.  I didn't hit my head on the floor.

For a long time I was traveling every week and going almost nonstop.  I hardly felt pain in my body.  There was no time to feel it and if I felt it, it had to disappear because I could not function and do what was required of me.  Pain relievers were the go-to if that happened.

However, most of the time I didn't feel pain.  In fact, that's how most of us are.  We are oblivious to pain in our bodies, even though it is there.  Yes, even if you don't notice it, it is there.

How do I know this?  Well, when I finally get myself to stop or I go in for a deep healing session with Dr. Paul Canali, the first thing I'm asked to do is feel what is going on in my body.  Of course, one thinks that we know what is going on, but until you do this - much of it is hidden.  Let me repeat that - much of it is hidden.

The more you stop and notice, the more you'll exclaim like I do in a session, "Oh, I didn't know that was there."  We are so unconscious and disconnected that most of the time the pain (and the warning signs of the mind and body) go undetected.  We just fail to hear them because we are asleep.

They keep ratcheting up the alarm, and we keep dousing them with unconsciousness and other substances in our day.   Then when the alarm has gone as far as it can, the body gets our attention.  Usually by that point, things aren't good and require much more medical intervention than we would have had to do if we'd listened to the pain in the first place.

I had someone once tell me that they were sorry to hear I had pain.  I'm like, but everyone does - they just don't listen to it.  It is messages our bodies are trying to get through our asleep thick skulls.

Pain can be good if we do something conscious with it.  If we hide it, then we've inflicted a world of hurt on ourselves.  Rather than hiding it, the better thing to do is to go in and feel the pain.  Yep, I know - you've probably thought I've fallen again from my rocking chair.  Rest assured, I have not.

If pain is overwhelming, we want it gone.  That's human nature.  However, if you can find body work like what Dr. Paul Canali does, then you learn that by going into the pain,  you take control of it and transform it.  When you do, a whole new world opens up.

Is that easy?  NO IT IS NOT!  Is it good in the long run? YES IT IS.  Being asleep so much that you don't feel the pain is not a recipe for health and wellness.  Too much in our society is built around numbing the pain, rather than going in and interacting with the pain.  Too many health conditions are a result of not feeling the pain.

It is past time our world wakes up and begins to deal with pain in the right way.  First, we have to recognize it is there and feel it.  Once we've made it that far, then we need to go in and have a conversation with it through not only the mind, but through the felt sense of the body.  When we learn to interact with it in the body, that's when pain becomes our friend, rather than our foe. 

Make sure you check out the next part in this 11 part series

 Part 11 is "Asleep By Happy Thoughts"

 

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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How Pain Is Felt In The Brain

Join Jim Fazio as he discusses "how pain is felt in the brain" with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing Institute.  This is part of an ongoing series of interviews Jim did with Dr. Paul Canali on chronic pain, PTSD, Healing Trauma and Unified Therapy.

Danielle's Journey with Conversion Disorder

While I do not know who Danielle is, I found this video through another blog (which I introduced on yesterday's post - "Battle With Conversion Disorder" ). Please take a moment to go and read this previous post and check out the other blogger I introduced.

This video for me is tough to watch because of what I went through. However, I know that there is healing and that gives me hope! My heart goes out to this girl, Danielle because I know how frustrating and frightening this entire ordeal can be.

As you will see in the video, there is a lot of trembling and shaking that she goes through. For me, the trembling and shaking was there but in a much more violent way, almost like a seizure. When these shaking moments would come, they would get so violent that if I was in a chair, I would almost fall out if someone didn't hold on to me. They would not stop until my body was exhausted and my muscles had no more energy to move.

What I have now learned and experienced through my own healing is that the shaking is the body's natural way of releasing the trauma and the stored energy that is locked within the muscles and nervous system. If the right person is able to accompany you through this and keep you from going into what is known as the "fear mode", than healing can be a result. However, in a conversion disorder, it is all too common and too easy to get taken in by the fears that come up. Please keep in mind that the fears are not always conscious but often they are unconscious. While this may sound difficult to understand, I have experienced the healing side of these things through the work of Dr. Paul Canali.

So here is the video. I hope you will check it out because people really need to be educated about this. This does not just apply to the medical field but to regular people as well.

YouTube Video: Danielle's Journey with Conversion Disorder

If you have suffered through a conversion disorder or know someone that has, please feel free to contact me. I'm very open and willing to talk to anyone about my experiences and healing.

Please come back tomorrow for another video about some of the work that Dr. Paul Canali does and the work I am learning to do as well. My hope in life is that I can help others heal from Conversion Disorders and the traumatic experiences that lead up to them.




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Blog Post & Images (c) 7/25/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

If any part of this post is used or shared, a link back to this site is required.
http://mindbodythoughts.blogspot.com/
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Autonomic Nervous System and Stress On Our Body

In this video, Dr. Paul Canali and Jim Fazio discuss the Autonomic Nervous System, stress, and how it impacts our physical well-being.

Key Points In The Video

• The Autonomic Nervous System is responsible for our day to day function.
• Controls things like heart rate, blood pressure, hot, cold, sexual intimacy.
• Almost every function of the human body is under Autonomic Nervous System control.
• We're not always aware of it until something goes wrong.
• Negative impacts of stress are expressed through the Autonomic Nervous System.
• Sympathetic Nervous System
• One part of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
• It increases and expends energy to meet the demand of the moment.
• Increases
• Blood Pressure
• Heart Rate
• The stress response
• The survival response
• Still in the "danger mode" so your body doesn't waste energy on digestion, sleep, rest, healing.  Even dangers that have long past gone away.
• Parasympathetic Nervous System
• Helps slow things down and bring things back into balance.
• If the threat, real or perceived, is still there, this will not engage.
• Parasympathetic helps in
• Sleep
• Digestion
• Rest
• Healing
• The longer we stay in stress or survival, the longer these systems will stay shut down and lead to constipation, inflammatory disease, and illness of all types. 
• Majority of doctor visits are due to stress or the maladaptation to stress.
• Treatments will only do so much unless you deal with the stress.
• If you don't correct your ways to adapt to stress, nature will take you out of the picture.
• Re-regulate stress by dumping allostatic load, which is how the body adapts to a stressful stimulus.
• Stress happens and it impacts the body, but in a short period of time, we should return back to a baseline called homeostasis.  Unfortunately, we don't always do this.
• Stresses can accumulate and keep us out of balance which ends up in situations where we are in severe pain, physical illness, and conditions that impact the body.

For More Information

1. Dr. Paul Canali, Evolutionary Healing Institute of Miami, Florida
2. Jim Fazio, Integrative Bodywork

Conversion Disorder Healing, Part 2

Note:  This is part 2 of a 4 part series.  Read Part 1, first.

It was not that long ago that I found a video on YouTube of someone who was suffering through a conversion disorder.  When I saw that video, I immediately began to cry.  I wasn’t crying for the girl in the video as much as I was crying for myself.  For this video instantly brought up within me, a connection to these horrendous moments of fear, I faced many years ago.  It was a connection to my body and mind of the trauma that I was dealing with from my past as well as these specific moments of early days of paralysis.

To this moment, I cannot even think about the video without tears welling up in my eyes.  It is such a strong connection for me because if you have been through this, you will understand completely.  There is no moment of peace for someone enduring this condition and there is no one that can tell you when these moments will stop.  You are sailing in a big vast ocean all alone on a small life raft and getting tossed and turned in every way possible.