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What is coaching?
It is drilling and "skilling."
New habits give you a new brain.
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Dr. Lisa's Coaching Approach:
1- Bite Sized Lesson
2- Question Corner
3- Member Momentum
These emails help us go into more depth on the BFA Protocol when there isn't enough time to do so at your maintenance visit. You can read them at home, at your leisure because so much great healing and insights happen between office visits.
1- "Talk to Your Brain" Mini-Lesson
The Significance of ACE
When I talk to people about their back pain, leg pain, neck pain, arm pain, I prefer to talk about what they are trying to accomplish in their lives. A specific body pain seems to flare up right in the middle of a busy time of your life. And even if the pain wasn't there it would be a time of stress, overwhelm, and maybe panic.
If you're dealing with something new, something you've never had to face, it makes you feel nervous, self critical, and you question your competency. That's a lot of stress hormones circulating.
Sometimes, everyone around you makes life look easy. Darn them! Well, the truth is, they are faking it. Take the pressure off yourself.
Just about every time I start the conversation about life events, daily events, work, recent challenges, folks confess there are multiple events going on that keep them from eating properly and sleeping well. It's just the perfect storm.
I'm glad they are taking time to get adjusted. That is the first step of BFA: Move Your Brain. We all need the prefrontal cortex whipped back into shape. We also need to tell the limbic system to give the energy back to the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is a major energy hog.
Every adjustment activates the prefrontal cortex so your brain can conduct business in a proper manner. Yay!!!
Now: I want to introduce to my readers the ACE Study. (Adverse Childhood Event.) Sociologists have been able to track children into adulthood to study how stress impacts their lives.
Depending on the experiences of your childhood, the brain memorizes early patterns that impact your future health. This gives us insight into why we may act the way we do. Logically, we fall back on what we know, what we learned. Old coping skills are relied upon later on in life. This may or may not be healthy in the long run. But it is not permanent. If you don't like your brain's coping patterns, you can reteach your brain!
I found an interesting chapter of the ACE Study in the book Cure, by Jo Marchant. It was noted that 50% of folks who suffer early childhood adverse events yet are successful as adults in stable jobs, etc., still maintain high cortisol levels (stress hormones). It is as if they are still ready to jump. They are still glancing over their shoulders, waiting for a trauma or bad event.
But, 50% have normal cortisol levels. And that is the promising side. We can tamp down a wayward stress response so we aren't always overcome with unhealthy inflammation levels that impair healing. (Chiropractic boosts the good inflammatory cells and reduces the bad inflammatory cells.)
Another book I have on my recommended reading list is :
They Can't Find Anything Wrong, by David D. Clarke. He helps people delve into their stress, and often it is hidden, unrecognized stress. Once they come to a new understanding , their healing response improves. Check out his website.
In every coaching email I focus on our Big Why, Little Why and Action Swap.
Your Big Why is your reason for attaining better health. For me, I don't want to be surprised with an illness. I want to be busy and active for decades to come. My Little Why gets more into the details of self healing. My little why is to keep my brain programmed with positive responses to stress. Stress happens everyday, so I don't want to be thrown off my game by it. I want to be flexible enough in my thoughts to keep away the inflammation process, and reset promptly back to stability.
In order develop healthy responses to stress, we have to utilize the "Activity Swap." We can replace old, un-serving behaviors with ideal behaviors. Out with the old. In with the new.
An action swap for me is to slow down, take a breath and rethink how I want react to a sudden change in my plans. It's very easy to overreact, get flustered and lose time with anxiety. I can waste time dwelling on my disappointment. Instead I can swap the old reaction with a new focus. After all, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
Having an even blood sugar level also helps people deal with stress better, so diet plays a key role in brain activity. A blood sugar level that is too low or too high gets in the way of your problem solving. We can think things through, have more patience when blood sugar is managed well. (Coming up in a future coaching e-mail.)
1- Have you determined your Big Why?
2- Does today's bite sized lesson help you commit to a Little Why?
3- What Action Swap will you utilize based on this lesson?
-how often during the upcoming week do you envision yourself doing so? Give yourself a number so you can track it.
2- Question Corner
One very common question I get is how long will it take to feel
better?
There is no automatic answer to this question as we are all different. And, we probably compare ourselves to others too often, making us feel defeated. Some people make it look as if their healing journey was very easy, but you may not have seen that person during difficult times. You know, we all hide these parts of ourselves. So, there's no point in making comparisons. We have different health histories, different challenges, and it is best if we just keep looking inward rather than outward and all around us.
I believe someone with a well defined goal who is willing to change course every so often, yet stay focused will have enough small successes to keep the momentum building. That is the way to not lose sight of the end of the journey. There is no end to the journey anyway. We just refine it and keep learning more about ourselves.
Send me your questions and I will address them in future emails.
I will repeat these questions in a generalized manner and keep them anonymous.
3- Member Momentum
This is the place where you share your successes. Folks who lost their function due to an injury are pleased to be back in their routines whether they are back to the gym, back to their jobs. walking up steep hills with more ease, being able to travel again. I see the change in attitudes. I see more confidence, more energy.
Your story will go here, very soon.
Also, there are a lot of acceptable behaviors in society that actually bring us down, and lead us to poor health. We have to step away from the the pack and do things others are not willing to do. Just having a conversation about chiropractic becomes nonproductive when someone is adamant that you are doing something silly or frivolous. The member momentum portion of this email will provide support. You are not alone. You'll also find great support when you're in the office waiting room.😀
Conclusion:
Did you give yourself a new activity swap to work on?
Did you give yourself a reasonable number of times you will act on it this week?
If you check out the suggested links and books mentioned above, be sure to share with us any insights for the Member Momentum. I will keep them anonymous if you wish.
Remember, you may be someone else's inspiration. Don't be shy.
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Thank you for your participation.
Look for your next email in a few days to address another aspect of Moving Your Brain, Feeding Your Brain, and Talking to Your Brain.
--Dr. Lisa
--Your Health Freedom Advocate
