© 2012 Ellen L. Hughes – Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore Newsletter May 2012
by Ellen L. Hughes
“My heart’s just not into it.”
“I have a bad feeling in my gut.”
Sound familiar? Do you ever have a sixth sense about things, instincts that don’t seem to be based on logic? There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon. It’s called a neuron. A neuron is a cell that processes information. Your brain has 100 billion neurons; your gut has 100 billion. Your heart has 40,000. In essence, you have three intelligence centers – head, heart and gut. So when you say, “My heart’s just not into it”, it’s really the result of neurons processing information – motor (movement), sensory (see, hear, smell taste and touch), and cognitive (reason, think, dream, plan, remember) that flows through the Central Nervous System.
An alternative health method that taps into this phenomenon is HeartMath. HeartMath utilizes technology, tools and techniques to facilitate communication between the heart and brain. It teaches about shifting your thinking from head to heart and taps into the heart’s intelligence.
HeartMath is just one of the lesser-known alternative health methods that takes little time but can make a big difference in your life. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping) is another little-known method. EFT is a combination of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and acupressure. It is effective on a myriad of health issues. The first time I saw it used was at a conference where the volunteer was a lady in her 40′s who struggled with her memory of molestation as a child. The practitioner used EFT on her and within a few minutes, the lady’s face visibly cleared and she said she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. I was amazed at how quickly it worked, researched EFT and finally trained in it.
During training a video showed what happens in the body when EFT is performed. There were three women: an EFT practitioner, a nurse, and a computer tech. The practitioner thought of something disturbing to her to change her mental state, the nurse then drew her blood and put it on a slide and the tech made the slide visible to the audience. The slide showed red blood cells that were elongated and stuck together – unhealthy cells. Then the practitioner performed EFT on herself. The nurse drew another sample and the tech again programmed the slide so we could see the red blood cells which were now round and flowing freely. A 5-minute session of EFT changed the blood cells from unhealthy to healthy.
These are only two examples of methods that have scientific proof to back them up. Scientific data speaks to my very logical side. And then I tend to have more faith in the method. How about you? What do you think? What is your gut feeling?
Ellen L. Hughes is an author and lecturer and describes herself as a “health junkie”. She is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and has trained in EFT, Brain Gym®, Tellington Touch, Energy Medicine and other methods. Her latest book, Adventures With Natural Healing explores 27 alternative health methods and discusses when to use them, the scientific principle and the body system accessed and basic instructions for each method.
