NBSR Overview

The NBSR system can be deconstructed and understood in two distinct ways. The first shows the potential in the system for self empowerment, clarity of purpose, and belief in one's self. The second shows the ways in which the system helps you to grow out of the stress-ruled mindset and into one of calm control and self realisation.



1. Skills and Catalysts

NBSR provides personal coaching in the six Personal Development Skill Sets for self empowerment, supported  by three Catalyst Methods to help you to let go of the past, and adapt and learn your new skill sets more quickly. 

NBSR Personal Development Skill Sets

• Problem Analysis
• Self Hypnosis
• Meditation
• Reiki Breathing
• Dream Work
• Personalised Yoga

NBSR Catalyst Methods

• Hypnotherapy
• Binaural Beats
• Past Life Regression

2. Techniques

The same 9 functions are also techniques for achieving Alpha state, relaxation, and self-realisation. During your sessions, the 9 functions are applied as follows:

Alpha Learning

• Hypnotherapy
• Binaural Beats
• Self Hypnosis Training

Relaxation and Healing

• Reiki
• Hypno-meditation (Meditation Training)
• Personalised Yoga Coaching

Self Knowing

• Self Analysis
• Dream Work
• Past Life Regression

 Copywrite 2011 William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

The NBSR 100% Money Back Guarantee

"NBSR is in many way like a GPS guidance system. If your GPS says turn left and you don't turn, there is nothing wrong with your GPS! You didn't turn! It's a lot about taking responsibility for your self and what happens in your life."

Andrew Wilding

Neuro-Behavioural Sound Reprogramming is a reliable system of personal transformation, based on ancient, proven practices, and modern neurological research. NBSR empowers you by providing knowledge and personal coaching for six NBSR Personal Development Skill Sets, and supports your process by providing you with three NBSR Catalyst Methods to help you to let go of the past, and adapt and learn your new skill sets more quickly.

The skills for which you will receive personal coaching, and the knowledge that will be given to you in your sessions, will require 20 to 30 minutes a day of practice. Worksheets and and additional notes are provided, and will be emailed to you.

It is well known that an individual must poses the necessary knowledge and skill sets in order to have the ability to take control of where their life is going, and that the individual can only take control of the situation if he or she makes the effort to practice the new skills. In the NBSR system, the NBSR Personal Development Skills outnumber the supporting NBSR Catalyst Methods by three to one, because in this way you become personally empowered. The over-all effectiveness of your neuro-behavioural reprogramming depends by two thirds on your level of commitment.

NBSR Personal Development Skill Sets

• Problem Analysis
• Self Hypnosis
• Meditation
• Reiki
• Dream Work
• Yoga

NBSR Catalyst Methods

• Hypnotherapy
• Binaural Beats
• Past Life Regression.

When practised correctly, this treatment is guaranteed to cause a positive change in your belief systems and your behaviour. If you have practised these methods according to NBSR specifications given to you in your treatments, and you can not see a positive change in your attitude or behaviour after 60 days, you will receive 100% of your money back, guaranteed.

Specifications, Terms, and Conditions

1. You agree to take personal responsibility for your own process of transformation, and to apply NBSR as a system which you will use, with assistance in your treatments, to attain what you want, and to reach your personal goals.
   
   
2. You have completed the course of treatments recommended in your first session. (Usually between 1 and 2 months of sessions, once a week.)
   
   
3. You have completed any additional referral treatments, eg. TRE, Psychiatrist, etc.
   
   
4. You have practised the NBSR Personal Development Skill Set given to you,  as specified in your sessions. (Usually between 20 and 30 minutes a day.)
   
   
   
   
   Copywrite 2012, William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

The NBSR Stop Smoking 100% Garantee

There are only two reasons why you are still smoking:

1. Habit

Anxiety caused by stress is the trigger that has you reaching for your smokes and heading for the exit, but the real reason why you haven't stopped smoking is because you haven't stopped yet. There is nothing wrong with you, you are not addicted because of your genes, you are not weak. You are addicted because smoking has become a familiar habit.

2. Adrenaline

Each time you light up, your body reacts as if you were eating. Cigarettes contain a surprising amount of sugar. Insulin releases in anticipation of a meal, but the sugar in the smoke is an empty promise, and it quickly absorbs into the blood stream, leaving your body high in insulin, and low in blood sugar. At this point, you sit back and enjoy the feeling of relaxation and clarity that smoking gives you, unaware that your body has actually gone into a state of shock (that's the “relaxation”) and released adrenaline to help you cope (that's the “clarity”). Your body and it's incredible mysterious ability to deal with anything you do to it and still keep you alive, is quick to work out what has happened. You metabolise fat from your cells into glucose (that's the weight loss) to balance your blood sugar, and bring you back to homoeostasis. (That's the feeing of “Hmm, time for a smoke break.”)

Nicotine is a psycho-active chemical, and it feels good. (Ask: Why is nicotine legal?) But cigarettes are toxic due to all the other ingredients:

• Tar keeps your cigarette burning at a temperature so high that it vaporises the nicotine, making it easier for your lungs to absorb higher quantities
• Ammonia accelerates the absorption of nicotine in your lungs
• Nitric acid delays the breakdown of nicotine by your body's metabolism, keeping it in your blood stream for longer
• Formaldehyde is inhaled as a bi-product of tobacco combustion

The inhaled toxins cross into the blood stream and circulate through the brain and all the organs, causing the release of adrenaline (the fight/flight hormone) to accelerate the metabolism and destruction of these toxins, so essentially what is happening, if you look at the whole chemical picture is: cigarettes deplete your adrenaline.

Addiction and Chemical Depletion

With the use of cocaine, your own dopamine is force-released into your brain by the amphetamines in the drug, leaving your body depleted of dopamine, and open to the suggestions to take the drug again to release more of the depleted neuro-chemical. Cigarettes release adrenaline, and that's apparently legal. (Ask: Why is it ok to release adrenaline but its not okay to release dopamine?) Your body becomes accustomed to generating and maintaining a high level of adrenaline in your blood stream, and this causes anxiety, leaving you open to the ironic suggestion to have another cigarette to "calm you down".

“Cigarette addiction basically comes down to habit and adrenaline addiction. You're better off bungy jumping 20 times a day! It's more cost effective, and statistically a much lower health risk!”

Andrew Wilding

Using Neuro-Behavioural Sound Reprogramming to Stop Smoking

• The NBSR Stop Smoking program is based on the six week model developed by Dr. John Kappas at HMI. Individuals who have the desire to quite smoking and complete the HMI program are 100% successful. NBSR includes a number of supportive measures to assist you in following the program through to completion
  
  
• The analysis aspect identifies any current causes of anxiety or stress, and establishes practical solutions to reduce your stress levels
  
  
• The NBSR Alpha Techniques of Hypnosis and Binaural Beats provide a clear state of mind in which to observe your body's natural reaction to the chemical course of events of each cigarette
  
  
• Hypnotic rehearsal of the memory of your first cigarette, and strong feelings of dislike and loss of control, open the way for the introduction of an enjoyable or constructive healthy alternative for you, to replace smoking
  
  
• As the treatments progress, attention shifts to your new experiences of healthy living. Positive feelings of relief, the return of the senses of taste and smell, and the refreshing feeling of personal hygiene become the focus in hypnosis
  
  
• Your personalised Self Hypnosis Affirmation assures that the work you do in your sessions is mentally continued throughout the week
  
  
• The NBSR Relaxation Techniques (Meditation and Reiki) reduce the level of adrenaline in the blood stream while maintaining your state of relaxation. As this practice becomes more familiar, your body lowers the anticipation of the release of adrenaline, and reduces the craving for a cigarette

Giving someone else the responsibility to stop you from smoking doesn't always work, because you have no accountability in a process over which you have no control. Your personal power and your ability to decide a course of action and commit to it with your own desire, is the only reason why you will stop smoking. It can happen in 6 weeks, or in 10 years, but no-one can do it for you.

NBSR Stop Smoking Guarantee

When practised correctly, this treatment is guaranteed to phase out your tobacco addiction. If you are genuine in your desire to stop smoking, you have practised the methods given to you in your treatments according to NBSR specifications, and you still need to smoke after completing the 6 week program, you will receive a full refund, 100% of your money back, guaranteed.

Copywrite 2012, William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Neuro-Behavioural Sound Reprogramming Improves Memory

“Memory is like a muscle: the more we use it, the stronger it gets.”

Dr. John. Kappas

The discovery that our brains work on the principle of "use dependency" has led to the maxim “use it or lose it” in the field of neuroscience. Anxiety from stress and fatigue from insomnia, overload the conscious processes, and are major causes of memory deterioration. Another cause is the habit of assuming that we will not remember. Unknowingly, when we think this way we create and reinforces the "lose it" aspect of the maxim, (since we are not using our memory) which creates a "mental block".

Neural behaviour functions by a series of spontaneous neural networks, the blueprints or designs of which are our belief systems. What we would call a “mental block” is actually a neural block, since the belief that we can not remember forms a neural network that blocks and does not include the ability to remember.

"Each time you think or say "I can't remember", you are actually creating a neural bypass in your brain that circumvents memory."

Andrew Wilding

Your Mind is In Charge

Neural networks form at the speed of thought, and are based on belief systems and attitudes. Within nanoseconds, an attitude such as “My life is too hectic for me to try to remember all the unnecessary details” has created neural network that does not include memory. The truth of the matter is that we are capable of remembering everything that we have ever seen, heard, or experienced, and we are capable of recalling almost any information that we desire to remember, with desire being the key word.

The course of Neuro-Behavioural Sound Reprogramming treatments to improve memory is essentially a process of nurturing your desire to remember. Your daily practices and new found cool, calm, collectedness become a new attitude, which, both figuratively and neurologically, “opens the doors” to your memory banks. The moment that you remember, your brain activates the neural pathways to your memory, instead of bypassing them.

How the NBSR Process Achieves Memory Improvement

• The practical approach identifies any likely causes of mental stress, such as insomnia, work or emotional stress, or anxiety, and immediately takes steps to minimise the overload so that your mind is clear for good recall
• NBSR relaxation techniques improve your ability to comprehend and concentrate. This benefit greatly improves your understanding of material that is important for you to remember at a later date, for example while studying for exams
• While in hypnosis, your motivation and desire to remember is increased
• Your confidence in your ability to do anything you set your mind to, and to have an excellent memory is built up, using positive memories of past achievements
• Fear of failure to achieve your goals is systematically replaced with your personal affirmation, using self hypnosis to reprogram your attitude toward life challenges
• Hypnosis is also very effective in increasing your ability to visualize. Training the visual aspect of your mind greatly improves your memory, and with commitment and practice, the accumulative result is a photographic memory.

Most people think of hypnotherapy as an easy way out, a quick fix. While results are generally seen over a period of months, there are cases of successful shorter treatments and even single treatments, but these are by far the minority. NBSR provides you with all the skills you will need to improve your memory, and all personal training you require to learn how to use these skills. If you are prepared to follow the program, you can use NBSR to achieve everything you want.

Copywrite 2012, William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Guaranteed Treatment of Insomnia with NBSR

A short-sighted, ignorant, and shockingly common belief exists, that sleep is a waste of time. The medical fact is this: insomnia causes every function of mind and body to degenerate. After just one day without sleep, the tolerance level for stress is notably low, patience with family and loved ones diminishes, memory suffers, and the body is physically weak. In a mere number of days without sleep, the mind will experience increasingly severe conditions of decline, ranging from paranoia and irritation to audio and visual hallucinations as the duration of insomnia increases. Just for a moment, think of some examples of chronic insomniacs. They certainly achieve success outwardly, but are they able to enjoy happiness, good health, an enduring loving relationship, family, and peace of mind?

• Bill Clinton long claimed to get by on five hours of sleep a night, but he's been trying to extend that number after a heart attack he partly attributes to fatigue. He also notes:
  "Every important mistake I've made in my life, I've made because I was too tired."
  
  
• Madonna's brother, Christopher Ciccone, says his sister blames her sleeping problems on her "unbridled desire for fame and fortune." Madonna doesn't exactly disagree:
  "I'm a workaholic. I have insomnia. And I'm a control freak. That's why I'm not married. Who could stand me?"

Why cant you sleep?

Insomnia can be attributed to any number of environmental or atmospheric phenomena, but it usually comes down to an over active mind. When we feel stressed, the mind does not have time to process the issue during the busy-ness of the day, so it makes use of any rest state in order to unpack issues, and try to make sense of them. But when you do this you find that all kinds of unrelated thoughts come up, and it's difficult to focus. More often than not, “just thinking it through” turns out to be far more difficult than it sounds. The mind whirls as it attempts to process the current thought and find the solution. When it comes down to the numbers, there simply are not enough hours in the day to process consciously every thought and emotion that occurs.

How do you remain sane?

Some scientists believe that we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, and that we dream about things and events that we believe are interesting, and valuable, worth remembering. Other scientists believe that we dream about things or events that we find obsolete or unimportant, in order to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise cause confusion. But all seem in agreement that dreaming is a vital function of sanity. Dreaming performs the function of subconsciously unpacking the stressful issue, and getting to the bottom of it. This is far more effective during sleep, because the mind is not distracted by thoughts or paraphernalia from the outside world.

"To treat insomnia effectively, it is essential to train the person to relax, and develop the skill of "switching off" in order to allow the sleep state to occur."

Andrew Wilding

This is not escaping from the problem, in fact it is the exact opposite: sleep and dreaming are our natural processes of recovery from the overload and drama of the day. The body rests in order to repair and grow, the mind dreams in order to makes sense of our world, so that the next day, we can wake refreshed, sane, and functional.

Recovering Your Sleep using Neuro-Behavioural Sound Reprogramming

• The practical approach and analysis identifies and resolves any stress, anxiety, or anger that may be occupying your mind and keeping your sleep from you
  
  
• NBRS focusses your mind to function in Alpha state (which is the same state as dreaming) while receiving instruction. This has two benefits:
  1.) You actually dream about being able to drop all your thoughts and switch off, during the session, while in hypnosis
  2.) You experience a "bonus" REM cycle every time you are hypnotised. Your subconscious mind uses the time during your session to unpack and get to the bottom of any stress factors
  
  
• Previously identified stress factors are eliminated using hypnotic rehearsal, a technique which is also referred to as "Reverse Dreaming"
  
  
• The meditation training is a highly effective tool for recovering your sleep, because the training helps you to control where your mind is going so that you can avoid areas that are likely to cause mental activity while falling asleep
  
  
• In some cases, Self Hypnosis may be used to establish goals and overcome worry or feelings of stagnation in life

If you are having trouble falling asleep or you are waking up during the night and have trouble falling asleep again, if you are currently reliant on medication for insomnia and are suffering from side effects, or if you would like to be medicine free, the NBSR course of treatments is a complete and natural way to recover your sleep and your peace of mind.

Copywrite 2012, William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Reverse Dreaming, Hypnotic Rehearsal

We try to be calmer, healthier, or more successful, but can we really change the way we are?

Changing a habit or a way of thinking is difficult, some would say impossible. Everything you do without your awareness of doing it, is considered a subconscious belief system - from the growth of your cells, to your accent. But belief systems can change. What about Santa Clause? Or where babies come from? Throughout our lives, our minds go through thousands of changes in "beliefs", large and small. Neuroscientists describe the ability for the brain to adapt to change as neuro-plasticity.

Nothing is written in stone. The processes that created a subconscious belief system also has the power to change it.

The material which informs our brains and our belief systems comes from seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and intuition (the 6 senses). What is important is remembered, what is not important, or outdated, is vented out of the mind in the process of dreaming. Dreams are hallucinations consisting of sensations: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and intuition, the same 6 senses that caused the belief system to develop in the first place. The brain uses the same process of experiencing sensations to vent an obsolete belief system as it does to program it.

For example: An individual had a childhood fear of water caused by a near drowning experience in a neighbour's pool. During that experience his mind took in these senses, associated danger, and constructed a belief system around them. He felt anxious every time he saw a swimming pool, smelled chlorine, or heard the sound of splashing. His belief system triggered the warning feeling to protect him from danger. In his teenage years, due to his group of friends, he trained himself to overcome his fears in order to go spear fishing, diving, and enjoying water sports with them. Around this time he experienced panic dreams of the incident in his early childhood. When he felt safe in water, his dreams reconstructed the childhood event so that he could let go of the danger (fear) associated with water, in the form of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and intuiting the event that programmed the warning (anxiety).

Hypnotic rehearsal, or reverse dreaming, is the technique whereby using the dream state, (hypnosis) specific sensations can be experienced, with the effect of building the desired belief system. Reverse dreaming describes the process of using the dream platform for subconscious input, whereas dreaming is a platform for subconscious outlet.

"Repetition of suggestions in hypnosis reinforces the new conditions, until they become subconscious habits."

Dr. John Kappas

The NBSR Reverse Dreaming Hypnotic Rehearsal Technique:

• NBSR provides a safe, controlled environment in which the individual can rehearse positive feelings or actions without interference from the conscious mind
  
  
• Rehearsal in hypnosis allows the individual to approach resistant beliefs in layers. Each layer of rehearsal strengthens the neural pathways that form the positive belief system, and weakens the resistant belief
  
  
• Rehearsal is always emotionally positive and empowering, since repetition of the positive program builds the desired neural network
  
  
• The subconscious mind can not tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined, so it accepts the reverse dream material as actual experience
  
  
• Symbolism is the language of the subconscious mind. The reverse dream material has great symbolic meaning to the individual.

Reverse dreaming hypnotic rehearsal is one of the most widely used NBSR techniques, applicable to virtually every case where transformation is desired.

"When people think "Hypnotherapy" most expect a one-treatment miracle, as if Hypnotherapy is some kind of magic. I explain it like this: How did you learn maths? Or music? Or your golf swing? Did you have just the one training session? Garry player said: The more I practice, the luckier I get..."

Andrew Wilding

Copywrite 2011 William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Psychosomatic Illness, Holistic Cure

"95% of the people on this planet are sick, 

or are taking some form of synthetic medication."

Ramesh Ramkumar

When something goes wrong and we experience trauma or grief, most people believe that a prescription from the doctor is the only reliable treatment, even if the side effects are unpredictable or problematic.

The view that each of our problems is separate and unrelated causes confusion: instead of seeing the connection of one illness with another, and treating the cause, we can easily become lost in a wild goose chase of medication and treatments. But in the meantime our body's amazing, resourceful, and intelligent immune system is no closer to identifying the cause, and resolving the problem.

One has also to bear in mind that in 2011 the value of the global pharmaceutical market grossed 880 billion dollars...

http://www.abpi.org.uk/industry-info/knowledge-hub/global-industry/Pages/industry-market-.aspx

Synthetic medication is a central mechanism in medical practice, both for psychiatric treatments and for anaesthesia used in surgery. How could it serve the medical world, (the accepted authority on healing) to promote the knowledge that the mind and the emotions play a causal role in illness? Or that wellness can be achieved through natural, non-synthetic processes?

"When we take responsibility for our own healing process, we play the role of director with our illness, instead of being directed by it."

Andrew Wilding

It falls to each of us then, as individuals, to re-search this area, and recover ways of well-being that are thousands of years old. As the increasing archive of case studies and anecdotal evidence comes to light, and accumulates around the topic of psychosomatic illness and holistic healing, there is a growing increase in public interest, and more individuals are asking the question:

What effect do my emotions and belief systems have on my body?

Considering the relevance of this question is already to have taken the first step in healing.

"Psychosomatic disorders are characterized by disruption of normally occurring mechanisms of the body which involve the nervous system, physiological functions, endocrine system and the immune system... Studies have shown that stress has a direct effect on disease risk."

Lucce Lopes de Mello, MD

http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/139/consumer/

Translation:

Psychosomatic illness (psycho = mind, somatic = body) occurs when cells in a certain area behave dysfunctionally, being disrupted from their natural order by stress (anxiety, depression, insomnia). The effect of stress in the cells can manifest in any of the body's systems:

• The nervous system, e.g. anxiety, insomnia, concentration
• Physiological functions, e.g. digestion, blood pressure, cell growth
• Endocrine system, (hormones) e.g. emotional imbalances, thyroid, pituitary
• Immune system, e.g. bacterial or viral infection, white blood cell count

The Value Of Thought

Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, astonishing and shocking discoveries shook the field of modern science. Quantum mechanics showed atoms to be infinitely complicated and unpredictable, and later experiments (G. Jahn, Princeton) revealed that the human mind has a noticeable and undeniable effect on the behaviour of atoms. Newtonian science remains valid, but only to a certain point of magnification: molecular. The rules of atomic behaviour are so unimaginable, that modern string theories read quite a lot like science fiction!

http://noosphere.princeton.edu/

http://endgametime.wordpress.com/the-awakening-quantum-mechanics-of-the-human-brain-and-consciousness/

Atoms (elements on the periodic table, e.g. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen) connect in certain ways to form molecules (e.g. water, acid, fat). Molecules connect in certain ways to form cells, cells form organs, organs form bodies. If thoughts coming from your own mind can influence the behaviour of the atoms in your body, then your thoughts are also having an influence on the behaviour of your cells.

"A new perspective to treatment of psychosomatic disorders focuses on the fact that patients' minds should not be considered as separate from the body; hence treatment should focus on total health improvement. Some therapeutic methods that have found to be effective in psychosomatic disorders are ... stress management techniques, hypnotherapy, and meditation. Smoking cessation, reduction of alcohol consumption, establishing an exercise regime, and nutritional supplements also play a role in the recovery from psychosomatic disorders."

Lucce Lopes de Mello, MD

NBSR treatment of psychosomatic illness:

• During analysis, key life-style points such as quality of sleep, diet, and amount of exercise are taken in to consideration, and any deficiencies identified as part of the solution
  
  
• The analysis component also addresses all possible existing stress, from work, relationship, or financial sectors. Managing stress is a primary tool in the NBSR process
  
  
• Before entering hypnosis, the solution is agreed upon, and an affirmation is designed using the Kappasinian method, for use in self hypnosis
  
  
• Hypnotherapy, binaural beats, and Reiki create a state of mind which is conducive to accepting the solution
  
  
• Meditation is taught in hypnosis (hypo-meditation). This technique is perhaps the most powerful of all, as it teaches control over thought
  
  
• While in hypnosis, visualisation focusses the individual's thoughts on the solution and re-affirms the experience as something real that can be repeated

Copywrite 2011 William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Belief Systems, Neural Networks, Neuroplasticity

An unfortunate misconception regarding the brain is that we are "hard wired" to behave a certain way, much like a radio. The resulting belief system is that we can not change what we think or do, any more than a radio can become a calculator, or a leopard can change its spots. This belief system is unfortunate in that it provides an easy excuse for negative behaviour:

"I get my bad temper from my father"

or "depression runs in my family".

This belief is not only wrong, it is spectacularly wrong, because it dis-empowers the believer into a pigeon-holed life style of inevitability, and overlooks the individual's ability to thrive. Belief systems are difficult to change because they are subconscious structures - we are not aware that they even exist - and yet they are the underlying rules that govern every aspect of our personalities, from our cultures to our favourite colours.

While some areas in the brain have specific functions, when it comes to belief systems, neuroscientists since Freud acknowledge the brain's quality of neuroplasticity, meaning its ability to adapt to the surroundings. Beliefs are not set in stone, they change according to the level of knowledge that we possess about our surrounding world. (Consider Santa Clause, or where babies come from.) We may believe that anxiety is inherited genetically, until we become convinced that it is nothing but learned behaviour. At such an "Aha" moment, our belief system changes, and we subconsciously adapt our behaviour according the new information.

According to scientist Gerald Edelman, the human cortex alone has thirty billion neurons capable of making a million billion synaptic connections.

Exactly how this many neurons (brain cells) co-ordinate and cause human behaviour remains to be explained. What can be seen using current scanning equipment is that neurons from all areas of the brain contribute to behaviour, and that "neural networks" can be said to form within the brain, connecting neurons to accomplish certain actions, reactions, and thoughts.

"Neural networks form spontaneously, by association. If I ask: "Do you like fish?", within nanoseconds your brain produces a set of connections to information stored in diverse areas of your brain. Some information is conscious, like memories of your experiences with fish, or of people who are associated with those memories, and some of that information is subconscious, like the response of attraction or revulsion, like or dislike. Psychologists refer to this set of thoughts as a belief system, neurologists call it a neural network. This is your belief system about fish. You like it or don't like it based on your knowledge, memories, emotions, associations, and so forth, and all of this is merely learned information."

Andrew Wilding

Creating Neural Networks (Belief Systems)

In his research at Harvard Medical School, neuroscientist Alvero Pascual-Leone gave his volunteer subjects a simple piano exercise to learn, using TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) to map the motor cortex of each participant. After just one week of practising, new neural networks were observed. The repetition of practice was rewiring the brain.

"Neurons that fire together wire together"

Hebb's Law

Behavioural adjustments occur when the brain creates a neural network that causes the suggested (desired) behaviour. Over a course treatments during which the desired behaviour is practised, (hypnotic rehearsal) the number of neural pathways in the network increases, thus strengthening the behaviour pattern into a habit.

"Neuroplasticity is an impressive sounding word, but it really describes a very simple process. It refers to the ability of neurons to always forge new connections. Neuroplasticity, at its essence, is the process of the brain wiring and rewiring itself."

John Kehoe

Copywrite 2011 William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za

Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia: The Bemusing Triangle

“Chronic insomnia is a marker of both anxiety disorder and depression”

Dag Neckelmann, MD, PhD

The irony of the human condition is that we are protected by the very same phenomenon that can seemingly turn against us. Our subconscious defences against any threat, real or imagined, are nicknamed "fight and flight", and these are our options:

• if the threat is manageable, we can fight it
• if the threat is too dangerous, we can escape it.

The behaviour triggered by this primitive area of the subconscious mind is impossible to ignore because the body responds to danger automatically, releasing adrenaline. The heart and breath rate increase to allow more oxygen into the system; the blood flow carries oxygen away from the central organs and into the limbs and the brain to prepare for action and quick mental responses, which means that functions such as digestion are temporarily stalled until we feel safe enough to allow the body to return to homoeostasis.

This built-in survival program is suited to a simple, primitive world, where the strongest and fastest survive, but the modern world is complicated. It is not acceptable to punch your boss, (fight) or run screaming from your office, (flight) no matter how strongly you feel the desire to do so. As a result, the natural defences are suppressed, and become dysfunctional.

• When the "fight" reflex is suppressed, energy that would have been exhausted by fighting remains unused, and we feel trapped and desperate.
  "Fight" becomes anxiety
• When the "flight" reflex is suppressed, the subconscious mind tries to escape, to remain unseen, attempting to hide from the threat, like hibernation.
  "Flight" becomes depression

• An individual who's "fight" reflex has been triggered and who is suffering with anxiety, will experience episodes of depression, as the subconscious mind becomes overwhelmed by the attempt to fight, and switches to the opposite defence tactic in an attempt to survive.
  Anxiety becomes depression
• An individual who's "flight" defence has been triggered and who is suffering with depression, will experience episodes of anxiety, as the subconscious mind switches to desperation in an attempt to escape.
  Depression becomes anxiety

"Anxiety and depression may seem like opposites, but they are really opposite sides of the same coin."

John Kappas, PhD

The Bemusing Triangle

After the threat has been removed or defeated, or we have escaped out of harm's way, we are designed to return to homoeostasis through the natural process of dreaming. Sleep allows the body to heal, and the mind to dream. Dreaming allows the subconscious mind to unpack the traumatic events that have occurred, to understand what has happened, accept that the threat is over, and move on with life. But if anxiety causes depression, and depression causes anxiety, how is anyone supposed to sleep with so much adrenaline coursing through the brain?

"If we do not sleep well, we can not dream effectively. If we do not dream effectively, the mind becomes overloaded and unable to cope through the day."

John Kappas, PhD

Sleep deprivation studies (W. Dement, 1960) have shown that the effects of insomnia are short temper, emotional sensitivity, introversion, and social discomfort, characteristic symptoms of anxiety and depression. Insomnia is not only an effect of anxiety and depression, it can also be the cause. The bemusing triangle now appears:

• Anxiety can cause depression and insomnia
• Depression can cause insomnia and anxiety
• Insomnia can cause anxiety and depression

For anyone caught in this downward spiral the effects are devastating. Physiologically, the immune system becomes weak, and the body becomes highly susceptible to psychosomatic illness. Psychologically, this vicious cycle is emotionally exhausting and financially disastrous.

"The body responds to stress in a fight or flight response. Some of the manifestations of this response include increases in blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate. Prolonged and chronic stress results in increased risk of inflammatory, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases; for example, infectious diseases, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinsonism."

Lucce Lopes de Mello, MD

NBSR treatment of anxiety, depression and insomnia:

• Even if only one aspect of the triangle is present, NBSR treats that aspect with awareness of the likelihood that the hidden symptoms may also require attention
  
  
• The holistic approach to the symptom or symptoms means that the body's full natural recovery process is supported
  
  
• While the holistic view is maintained, each aspect is treated with separate and specific methods and techniques
  
  
• During the analysis, and if an identifiable threat is present, discreet yet immediate solutions are discussed, as well as a plan to implement them, to ensure that the individual is actually safe
  
  
• NBSR Meditation training provides the individual with a highly effective solution to anxiety and insomnia
  
  
• NBSR Self hypnosis training deals with depression, building confidence, self esteem, and developing goal achievement
  
  
• The NBSR Reverse dreaming hypnotic rehearsal technique programs a new belief system in the subconscious mind to remember that the cause, whether vague or clear, is in the past, and that it is now safe to move on with life. This technique is highly effective in treating anxiety and panic attacks
  
  
• Dream work is an invaluable tool in this process. It is used not only to measure progress but also to obtain a deeper understanding of the cause, and provide the material for reverse dreaming

"The human body is wonderfully resilient, incredibly intelligent, and has the surprising, sometimes miraculous ability to recover from the most horrific physical or emotional traumas. But our bodies do need the right support, because we don't always know that we can recover."

Andrew Wilding

Copywrite 2011 William Shand marketting@NBSR.co.za