Health Affirmations

Health Affirmations

Many people who currently experience the symptoms associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease focus their primary attention on therapies that have helped other people in similar circumstances reverse their own symptoms. Such a strategy of recovery can be invigorating and yield exciting victories. There may however be an undercurrent process which ultimately undermines your success with reclaiming your health. What in the world might this be?

Most people do not acknowledge that there is often an unconscious process that undermines a positive intention to heal. Since the process is entirely unconscious it is hidden and thus impossible to detect. Why might a person’s subconscious be undermining their positive intent to recover?

There are many reasons of course, but the person is getting something out of being sick that they would not get if they were well. Perhaps they are getting disability payments or special attention from family and friends. Perhaps they finally have a perfectly justifiable excuse to quit a job they have never liked doing.  If a person is getting something out of being sick, it will be virtually impossible to heal.

I believe that everyone has unconscious processes at work. We all wind up sabotaging our best and highest intentions at one time or another.  I know I do. The first step in paving a clear and unobstructed pathway down the road to recovery is to acknowledge that unconscious processes do exist that undermine our good intentions.  The second step is to take a minute out of every day to state your intention to recover with a clear and loud voice.

My suggestion is to print out the health affirmations below, attach them to your refrigerator and say them out loud each and every day for 40 days.

My intention is to maintain health and wellness for myself.

I admire and model people who are healthy.

Health makes life more enjoyable.

I am healthy when I do what I love.

I deserve to be healthy because I add value to other people’s lives.

I receive compliments and gifts from others with an open heart.

I am grateful for the health I have now.

Opportunities to reverse any and all symptoms always come my way.

My capacity to reclaim full health and wellness expands each and every day.

If there is no unconscious current which is undermining your recovery, the task of  saying the statements above for 40 days will strengthen your intention and facilitate your recovery. If, on the other hand, there is an unconscious process at play which is undermining your good intention to reverse symptoms, you will not succeed in saying the statements out loud for 40 days. You might succeed for 30 days – but suddenly you skip a day.

Saying the health affirmations above out loud only takes a minute each day, yet you forget to do it. It was not because you did not have enough time!

When you realize that you “forgot” to state your affirmations, you will know that there must be something that you are getting out of your disease that you are not acknowledging.

And if this is the case, what do you do? Acknowledge that there must be part of you that does not want to get well. It is no big deal. We all sabotage ourselves in one way or another. The most important step is to acknowledge it.

Then, simply begin saying your affirmations again starting with day one. See if you get through 40 days without missing a day. If you succeed, celebrate your success with paving an unobstructed road to recovery. If you forget again, start the 40 ritual again. Maybe three times will be a charm.

If three times is not a charm, why not simply accept the reality that you are getting something out of being sick that may actually be worth all the trouble?

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Five Steps to Recovery
www.fivestepstorecovery.com

Living with Parkinson’s

Those of you currently living with Parkinson’s symptoms who have been eagerly waiting to purchase Anne Atkin’s new book, Still Laughing, need wait no longer. Her new treasure has just been released. Email Anne at anne@anneatkinart.com to purchase her new book or visit her website and pay using paypal:

http://www.anneatkinart.com

Cost is 40.00 (Australian dollars) which includes the book, packaging and postage.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Below is brief update from Anne on her recent experiences down the road to recovery. I plan on having her as a guest on the radio
show soon.

You know how much I believe in the restorative effects of exercise, well at the moment I am taking part in a pilot study about the positive effects of dance. Tomorrow I have my next lesson in learning the Argentine Tango. I have started doing some cartoons labelled The Argentine Tangle!

Anne Atkin
www.anneatkinart.com

Best Exercise for Parkinson’s Disease

What is the Best Exercise for Parkinson’s Disease?

Everyone by now has heard that exercise provides welcome relief from many of the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease.  Most people want to know more. What is the best exercise for Parkinson’s disease? Is it aerobics which involves activities like spinning, running on a treadmill or a track? Is it resistance exercise through lifting heavier and heavier weights? Is it Tai Chi or Qigong which improves balance?

I am out of breath just listing the choices and I am just sitting right now! To make the decisions even more challenging, how much of each type of exercise should you do every week?

This week’s guest on  my radio show was Dr. Daniel Corcos has seasoned answers to these questions. Dr. Corcos has studied the impact of exercise on the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for the past several decades. He recommends that doing all three types of exercise during the week will yield the most impressive results.

Yes, it takes a little extra time every week. Yes, it can be  tiring. And yes, it will help you feel a lot better. The recent study just published by Dr. Corcos reports a dazzling improvement in symptoms as a result of resistance exercise.

I encourage everyone to take 45 minutes out of your week to hear my radio show interview with Dr. Corcos:  www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery

Exciting Research Opportunity

During my radio show this week Dr. Corcos announced an exciting opportunity for people to participate in a research study which will evaluate the effects of exercise on Parkinson’s symptoms. He is recruiting volunteers who have never taken medications that happen to live in Chicago, Pittsburgh or Denver. Please help us spread the word. This is a spectacular opportunity for people to help themselves as well as others who currently experience the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Contact Dr. Corsos to apply: Daniel Corcos [dcorcos@uic.edu]

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me
Olympia, Washington

P.S.:: Only one day left to claim your 25% discount on orders of the Parkinsons Recovery Summit videos of the Santa Fe Presentations in February, 2013
www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com

 

Experience of Parkinson’s

Michael Day recounts his remarkable experience of Parkinson’s in the email below which he has given me permission to post. There is not doubt about it. The experiences of Parkinson’s is unique for each person as can be honored by the variety of presentations at the Parkinsons Recovery Summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico in February.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery

Experience of Parkinson’s : A Magnificent Adventure

Robert…partly thanks to you…I have not experienced any shame the entire time I’ve had Parkinson’s. And my diagnosis day? For me, it was more of an initiation into a magnificent adventure than a day of heartbreak and devastating news.In fact, I would say that my overall experience of Parkinson’s symptoms has been the complete opposite of shame. It has been a profound gift. But this doesn’t mean it’s been easy!

Currently,

  • I can only type with my left index finger…
  • Walking is incredibly weird and difficult…
  • Fatigue is sometimes overwhelming…
  • Talking is often not possible…
  • The tremor is relentless.

However… even though the phenomenon of Parkinson’s is absolutely the most challenging thing that Life has ever invited me to face…every single day I feel so grateful to have been given such powerful support to accelerate my evolution. For me, shame has always been more a verb than a noun and when experienced from this perspective, shame becomes a choice. So, instead of shaming myself for having attracted a neurological imbalance, I choose to embrace these symptoms with love and compassion and let the shaking and the limitations lead me deeper and deeper into the discovery of who I really am.

Impact that Parkinson’s has had on My Life

Until 2006, I practiced for 30 years as a spiritually oriented psychotherapist with a 25 year professional background in natural medicine consulting that included many years of study in energetic healing and psychoneuroimmunology. At one time, I also ran an oriental medicine clinic for 3 years. My original training as a therapist had its foundations in Primal Therapy (Janov, Rubin), Bioenergetics (Lowen), and The Option Method (DeMarsico, Kaufman, Johnstone, Evans), with internship positions that included assisting with the process of conscious dying, managing a suicide hotline, and counseling runaway kids on the streets of San Francisco. Thankfully, my work as a counselor was transformed early on in my career as a result of receiving countless of hours of intimate guidance from remarkable beings from India and Tibet, western mystics, and elders of indigenous communities.

In the mid eighties, an incident very close to a near death experience, caused me to see that to offer myself as a therapist was really a sacred privilege. This made it “impossible” for me to continue looking at counseling as a business, and in my attempt to live in integrity with this experience, all my work with people has been on donation ever since. Due to the fact that there are periods of time when donations do not cover expenses, my wife Dovida and I entered the world of home based self employment. After struggling on many levels with network marketing and various business opportunities, we started an independent long distance phone service agency in 1996, which enabled us to sell national and international long distance service for the next 10 years. Since 2007, we have been exploring online marketing and blogging but as of 2012, we have yet to experience any significant monetary success from our efforts.

Back in 1992, I started and facilitated for the next 14 years, a residential inner work community dedicated to world peace through ending the war within. This community was partly modeled on Gandhi’s phrase: “Become the world you want to see”. Also in 1992, I received one of the only two honorary PhDs ever offered by one of the oldest colleges of natural healing in the U.S. and shortly thereafter, I was ordained as a nondenominational minister.

In 2006, partly as a result of my background in trauma counseling, I was invited to come and do service in a community in Venezuela. However, in 2010, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s which caused me to realize that the challenges Life was offering me through the kind of counseling work I had been doing were more than I could effectively embrace right now. So, while my focus is primarily on personal healing at this time, I continue to participate whenever I can in what is known in South America as the Bolivarian Revolution: a remarkable movement that has transformed the quality of life of over 15 million Venezuelans who had previously only known the multi-generational hell of abject poverty.

I suspect that a 40 year dedication to natural medicine, spiritual practice, and psycho-spiritual study, are partly what led me to connect up through the internet with a tiny community of brave souls who have committed to fully recovering from the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Inspired by their courage to clear what the medical community solely regards as a progressive incurable illness, I have committed myself to evolving beyond the need for the symptoms of Parkinson’s and while I’m at it…I have committed myself to evolving beyond the need for any other concept of illness or physical imperfection as well.

Parkinson’s and the attempt to recover from it can be a wild and fierce gift of grace. Fully embracing the experience of these particular symptoms, can bring a raw, visceral, physicality to the process of awakening to who we really are which is actually a profound gift if we also desire full integration of body, mind, and spirit. This process has shown me that to truly evolve beyond the need for these particular symptoms, or the need for any illness or physical imperfection, requires no less than an absolute reconsideration…in fact a total “reinvention” and “re-imagining” of all that we have previously known ourselves to be.

I have exclusively used Apple computers since 1989, and I feel utterly certain that if it were not for the genius of Steve Jobs, pen and paper would still be the primary tools of my creative expression. Besides relentlessly exploring Life through my beloved portal to infinity (my iMac), my core interests are meditation, natural medicine, Qi gong, yoga, conscious diet, uncovering the connections between personal healing/awakening and the transformation of global issues, all forms of music, independent film, and the process of hopefully becoming a better and better writer.

Warmest regards, namaste, and ubuntu,

From a little pig who’s trying
to become the world he wants to see…

Michael

Experience of Parkinson's

Parkinsons Recovery Summit

2013 Parkinsons Recovery Summit in Santa Fe

The 2013 Parkinsons Recovery Summit sponsored 19 amazing presentations by individuals who discussed ways to reverse the symptoms associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease using one approach or another. Some of the presenters have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. They talked about what helped them reverse their symptoms. The stories that were told varied considerably. The panel discussion provided a rich preview of the many options that have offered relief for persons with Parkinson’s symptoms.

Just because an approach helped one person does not mean necessarily that it will help you. The entire purpose of the Summit is to provide insights into each option so you can make an informed decision about which ones to pursue.  You can’t get around having to make choices here. There are too many wonderful options to embrace in one person’s lifetime!

Others presenters at the Santa Fe Parkinsons Recovery Summit were health care practitioners from one modality or another who have had success in helping people reverse Parkinson’s symptoms.  Taken together, the presentations represented a broad coverage of the many exciting options that have  helped people reverse their symptoms.

The question for everyone then is not whether there are viable options to consider. The real challenge turns on deciding which ones are the right options for you to pursue

DVDs of the Parkinsons Recovery Summit Presentations Now Available

There is no need to have regrets if you were unable to attend the Santa Fe Summit. DVDs of 19 of the presentations at the Parkinsons Recovery Summit in Santa Fe can be ordered at a 25% discount by entering the coupon code 2013options on the shopping cart. This discount offer expires Monday, Memorial Day, so if you have been pondering which DVDs to order, make your decisions now and order before it is too late to claim the discount. To preview and order the videos that are now available of the Summit, visit: www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

 

Implications of the Lunar Eclipse for Parkinson’s

On the 25th day of May we will all experience a lunar eclipse. When combined with some of the most ferocious solar flares of the decade, we will all be exposed to a heavy dose of dramatic geomagnetic shifts on the earth. This blast of energy creates conditions that invite us all to cast off any and all feelings and thoughts that are not in our best and highest good.

What unwanted thoughts, beliefs and feelings do you need to cast off this month? Obviously we all have our own issues and our own private lists. Permit me to take the liberty of making one suggestion of a feeling that you might consider adding to your own personal “cast off” list” the shame of currently experiencing Parkinson’s symptoms. Everyone is ashamed to be ill no matter what the diagnosis of the symptoms. In the case of Parkinson’s, shame seems to run especially deep and thick.

Many people who have been told they have Parkinson’s disease do not even tell their family for years and even decades (if ever). They embrace a belief which is untrue that the diagnosis means that they are destined to feel worse and worse over time. They are convinced that their friends and family will distance themselves when they discover that they have this dreaded condition which carries the label of Parkinson’s. Because they never say anything they have no opportunity to realize this belief is not valid.

I know that shame runs deep for a variety of reasons. Here are a few:

  • Conversations with hundreds of persons with Parkinson’s symptoms over the past six years  have revealed the depth of the shame that people experience.
  • When people order one of my books by phone they often tell me that they are ordering the book for a family member or a friend. Sometimes no doubt this is true. Sometimes no doubt they are ordering the book for themselves but are too ashamed to admit it even to me, a total stranger.
  • Sunday Connections is an opportunity for people who happen to have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (and their family and friends) to find get answers to their questions when they need them. The idea which motivated me to subsidize Sunday Connections is to provide a system of ongoing support to the Parkinson’s community, a place where options can be explored with other persons who have succeeded in reversing their own symptoms. Yet, few people call in during the live event. Most prefer to listen to the recording. There is such shame associated with even talking with another person even if they too have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

As we approach the lunar eclipse this week why not set the intention to cast off any and all shame that you might be currently be holding consciously or unconsciously. Often the shame is unconscious.

Why hold onto the shame? A vast majority of the population have neurological challenges. It is really nothing to be ashamed about.

More and more people are identifying the cause of neurological challenges that they happen to be currently experiencing. Once the factors that are causing the symptoms have been identified, solutions can be explored that will help reversing whatever symptoms you may currently experience.

Shame places you in a position of subservience to a concept that has no basis in reality. It is not true that people who happen to have been diagnosed with Parkinsons disease are destined to deteriorate. It is far more likely that they have been misdiagnosed.

People are succeeding in reversing neurological symptoms. Preview the remarkable
presentations that were given at the Santa Fe Summit in February by people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease who are – for all practical purposes – symptom free today. You can listen to my radio show with each of the presenters during a show aired over the past several years for free or order DVDs of their presentations at the Summit.

www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Holding shame in you heart, mind and body is not in your (or anyone’s) best and highest good. Cast the weight of shame off your shoulders today. That is the intention I have set for myself.


Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkins0ns Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Exercise and Parkinson’s – What Type is Best?

Everyone knows by now that exercise and Parkinson’s is a  healthy formula. Exercise helps alleviate the symptoms that are associated with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. I have hosted a series of renown researchers on the Parkinsons Recovery Radio Show over the past five years who have exposed on its benefits and virtues. It is clear you will see improvements in your health on some level when you exercise. Everyone needs to exercise if they are serious about recovery.OK. But …

Let’s get down to practicalities here. What type of exercise is best for people who currently experience Parkinson’s symptoms? Is it aerobic exercise which strengthens the heart and immune system? Or, is it resistance exercise that involves lifting weights? Is it advisable to lift heavier and heavier weights? Or, is exercise that improves balance the best option for people with Parkinson’s symptoms through accessing a modality like Tai Chi or Qigong or dance?

How often should you exercise – every day? Or, every week? Or …? When you really get down to practicalities it gets complicated.

Daniel Corcos, Ph.D., is my guest on the Parkinsons Recovery Radio show this Wednesday (May 22nd). Dr Corcos answers all of these questions and more! After three decades of conducting research on exercise and Parkinson’s he is one man who has the answers to all of these questions.

Listen to the show live Wednesday or listen to the recording later. All of my radio shows from the past five years are archived and free to access at anytime of the day or night. This is one of the many free services that are sponsored by Parkinsons Recovery. The radio show page is:

www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery

OK – so you have never liked to exercise? Dr. Corcos has some suggestions for you too!

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me
Olympia, Washington
877-526-4646

 

Maybe You Have Lyme Disease and Not Parkinson’s Disease

I will soon be hosting several guests on the Parkinsons Recovery Radio Show who will discuss the unbelievable role that Lyme disease has for a surprising number of people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Symptoms of a Lyme infection are similar to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Many people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease actually have a Lyme infection. A variety of treatment protocols for Lyme are used by doctors with varying degrees of success, but everyone who treats Lyme agrees that it is a nasty infection to heal.

Some of you have heard my radio show with Lexie or had the opportunity to meet her in person at the Santa Fe Summit. Lexie has been taking LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) to treat her own Parkinson’s symptoms with notable success. At her Santa Fe Summit presentation she reported that she only experiences symptoms when she is straddled with an overload of stress. At all other times she is symptom free.

Why should LDN help to reverse Lexie’s Parkinson’s symptoms? A fundamental cause of her symptoms is likely to be an infection of some sort (like Lyme). LDN helps to strengthen the body’s immune system. Once the immune system is brought back on line, the body is better equipped to heal infections naturally.

Why is a body unable to heal infections like Lyme disease naturally? When I give you the answer you are going to know instinctively that I am right. The factor that accounts for the inability of the body to eliminate infections like Lyme naturally is trauma. When trauma has been experienced (whether physical or emotional) effects of the trauma are long lasting. They become trapped deep inside the body at the cellular level. Tissues of the body tighten up as if there were in a vice grip.This is why muscles of many persons with Parkinson’s symptoms can be so hard and inflexible.

The long term result of trauma is to destroy the body’s immune system. When the immune system is shot, the body does not have a prayer of eliminating infections without a little outside support of one type or another.

Want More Information about LDN as a Treatment Protocol?

If you are interested in LDN as a treatment protocol you can get the full scoop from a video of Lexie’s Santa Fe Summit presentation which is now available as a DVD. For more information visit:

www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Keep in mind that LDN is not a quick fix. Lexie has been taking LDN for several years now. Also keep in mind that no therapy exists that will help everyone reverse their symptoms. What helps one person may not necessarily help you. What does help everyone is to release any and all trauma and stress that is trapped in the tissues of the body.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

Options that Reverse Parkinson’s

The phone has been ringing off the hook these past few weeks. Everyone wants to know the dates and location of the 2014 Parkinsons Recovery Summit where presenters will discuss what options reverse Parkinson’s symptoms. The answer is that I have not decided at this point. Several options are being reviewed. You will be the first to hear once the 2014 Summit has been set. We are just finishing work from the Santa Fe Summit.

Many of you have asked that presentations from the Santa Fe Summit be video taped taped so that you could see what was presented at an amazing Summit you may have been unable to attend. Although it has taken a mountain of effort and tons of money since the February Summit, videos of 19 presentations have at long last been edited and mastered.

In celebration of the release of Santa Fe videos this week – they will be available at a 25% discount for the next 24 hours. To claim you discount enter the code 2013options on the shopping cart when you check out and the price of any online videos or DVDs that you order will be automatically discounted by 25%. Any and all videos can be ordered from the Parkinsons Recovery Summit website:

http://www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Acquisitions of videos help to cover expenses of the Summit presenters and
reduce the tuition of future Summits.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com
877-526-4646

Road to Recovery from Parkinson’s Disease

Over the past six years of researching Parkinson’s disease, I have concluded that there are many, many routes down the road to recovery. I do get many questions from people asking what is the most important step they should explore to recover.  The good news is that there are many options that are helping people reverse their symptoms. The bad news is that there are so many choices, is can be a daunting task to choose ones to pursue.

I thought when I began my research I would discover a simple solution. That anticipation has been transformed into something much more exciting – the preview of many options that are making a difference.

This insight inspired me to sponsor Parkinsons Recovery Summits which preview some of the options that are making a huge difference in the lives of persons diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The 2011  Summit was in Vancouver, the 2012 Summit in Cincinnati and the 2013 Summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Because many people cannot travel long distances to the Summit, we video taped the Santa Fe presentations which can now be ordered through April for a 25% discount (coupon code is 2013options). Information about the videos and the presentations is available on the Summit Website: http://www.summit.parkinsonsrecovery.com.

I received an inspiring email from Anne who has given me permission to include her correspondence here.  She will be a guest on the radio show when her second book has been officially released.  Her story beautifully captures the observation that everyone’s journey down the road to recovery is unique

Hello Robert and how are you?

My second book is out by the end of next month. It’s title is ‘Still Laughing.’ It is slightly longer that the first one and deals with what it has been like now that I am no longer considered to be newly diagnosed. In fact, it will be 8 years in August plus another 5 on top where I was misdiagnosed.

I volunteered for the Australian Parkinson’s registry 4 years  ago and was given a very thorough physical and cognitive overhaul. Last month (March). I was recalled for another overhaul and my results were even better. My postural balance is now considered to be normal. My cognitive scores had improved – one test is where you look at a list of 10 words and then say them. Four years ago I scored 6 and then 30 mins later, the score was still 6. This time I scored 9 and 30 mins later it was 10!

I still take medication but it has not been increased for 3 years. The non-motor symptoms are the ones that are not all that responsive – sleep disorder, gastric reflux, excessive sweating, bowel and bladder problems are still there but I can live with them. Being able to walk and move well and actually remember myself doing that is just the best feeling.

I can stand on one foot and put a sock on the other without over-balancing. My score overall was 98/100. Last time it was below 85. I am even getting muscle tone back.

I do not attend a gymnasium. I use my everyday life as exercise i.e. the housework and gardening are part of my exercise program. I still have my beautiful bed of roses where I take time to bury myself in the perfume.

I am a very positive person and I do it automatically. Same with all my movements. I was told that using the frontal cortex was effective but movements would never become spontaneous and that you would have to plan each part of a movement. Not true. I can do 2 things at once and most times I don’t even think about what I am going to do. Many times I have stopped and realised that I have been on automatic pilot and wasn’t aware of doing so.

I don’t put myself down. I never say that I am stupid or dumb. If I make a mistake I just think of it as a learning experience and will do it better next time. I made the decision to present to the world a smiling face. And when I am asked how I am, I always answer ‘I feel fine’ and you know what? I am!

Cheers

Anne