I was on a coaching Skype recently, and the issue came up about energy. The inquiry was something to the effect of, “Howard, you talk about weak energy in the Parkinson’s brain, energy hitting blockages, energy not getting where it needs to get, not enough energy to move the body properly….I am having a hard time visualizing ‘energy.’ Can you give me a better picture of what is going on inside me?” Here is the answer I gave.
Have you ever gotten a beep on your cell phone that you had a voice mail, but the phone never rang? And you look at your phone and think, “I have 4 bars, this is a good connection, my phone should have rung.” Then you listen to the voice mail and call the person back, and the call goes right through and gets connected. (At this point the person looked at me like I was taking the statement “Sometimes you have to lose your mind before you come to your senses” a little too literally). But, I persisted, and the person said, “Yes. That has happened.” I said, “Okay, stay with me on this. I really have a point to make.”
Suppose the cell tower is 300 feet tall and at the top there are receivers to accept the calls coming in and transmitters to connect them to the correct cell phones. Now suppose 10,000 calls came in simultaneously, and the receivers tried to route them to the transmitters simultaneously, and then the transmitters had to instantly “find” 10,000 cell phone. Add in that some of those cell phones are cars driving in rural areas and some are in people’s pockets while the people are in their basements. The likelihood of all 10,000 calls getting connected is practically non-existent.
So, why does your phone show a great connection with 4 bars? Because your phone only has to find one 300-foot tall stationary cell tower. I can almost hear all of you saying, “Okay, Howard, but what does this have to do with the concept of energy flowing in my body?” Everything!
Your Parkinson’s Adrenaline-Mode mind is constantly bombarding your brain with fear-based mental chatter. It keeps going and going and going. The Adrenaline-driven Parkinson’s mind uses an inordinately large amount of brain power (ENERGY). It uses so much more than what should be its normal allotment of energy because it does not stop. The Parkinson’s mind wants to be perfect, and in its quest to be perfect, it simply does not slow down or shut down…it wears down the brain’s energy resources.
It is like the Adrenaline-driven mind is sending 10,000 cell calls to the receiver on the top of the cell tower…some people are not going to have their calls connected. Maybe the liver does not get its energy delivered correctly so it cannot properly cleanse toxins from the blood. Maybe the kidneys do not get their energy delivered correctly so they cannot cleanse liquid waste properly. Maybe the stomach does not get its energy delivered correctly so it cannot properly digest food. Maybe the legs do not get their energy delivered correctly so they it cannot walk properly. Maybe the hands do not get their energy delivered correctly so they have a hard time holding things and sometimes drop things. I think you have a better picture of what is going on now. Simply put, you are out of balance.
Think about this: In a meditative state and when sleeping, symptoms subside and often disappear. Why? Because the Adrenaline-driven mind is not active. The mind is calm, no physical or mental demands are being made upon it, the senses are at rest, and all of the brain energy can flow smoothly throughout the body.
The Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® brings you back into balance. When you are doing the Medical Qigong for Liver, you are strengthening the liver so it can function better. However, the liver needs more energy to function better. So, when you are exercising your liver, it is contacting your brain (like the cell phone with 4 bars finding the cell tower) and it is saying, “I need more energy to cleanse toxins. Remember me? I know there has been difficulty with you finding me because the Adrenaline-driven mind has been occupying your time too much, so I am going to keep pinging you so we can re-establish our old connection and proper energy can flow between us. We will get back into balance. However, I must let you know that my pings are weak as a result of low energy and they are having a hard time getting through the blockages in our communication system, so I need stronger energy from you to hit these blockages and break them up…then we can have full-energy, crystal clear communications.”
Each one of the Qigong exercises in the Recipe is communicating with the brain this way. Plus, the Brain Vibration Chanting creates more energy in the brain, which is why people often will tremor more when doing the Brain Vibration Chanting — the brain is taking the extra energy created and it is answering the pleas of the organs and doing its best to break through the blockages in the communications system. Calming your mind, meditating, sitting zazen, deep breathing, etc., these are the things that allow the most amount of energy to stay in your brain so your brain can best open the blockages and talk to your body.
And opening your heart…that is why we are alive. I do not believe we are here existing for the purpose of being sad or anxious or scared or insecure – it does not serve us well, and thus we cannot serve others well. I feel our purpose is to be connected, first with our own essence of joy and happiness by connecting with our Higher Power, and then serving others and ourselves at the same time by sharing the essence of who we are…joy and happiness and compassion and gratitude and love and empathy and forgiveness. We are what is in our heart and soul – no negative stuff there, no PD there. The negative stuff is in our minds, where PD has invaded us in mind and body. Opening our hearts gives us balance in life and releases our dopamine to bring balance to the adrenaline-dopamine relationship.
Re-connect your organs to your brain.
Re-connect your body parts to your brain.
Re-connect your mind to calm, peaceful, thoughts.
Re-connect your heart and spirit to the joy within you.
Re-connect your Inner Divine to the Greater Higher Power Divine.
This is the formula called the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®.
This is the formula that brings your life back into balance.
This is the formula that leads to full recovery.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
Howard, you are right on! Keep up the fight with negative thoughts.
Re-connect your heart and spirit to the joy with Howard.
This is the formula that leads to full recovery.
Happy New Year to all.
Dear Howard,
Thanks for touching on this “energy” concept. It’s such a basic, all encompassing feature of PD. When my energy feels low…it’s so hard…takes so much will power to start the next round of exercise, or to care whether I go get that next glass of water…or remember to pray. or … or … or. No energy … the battle looms large.
Laurie
This was so beautiful. Thank you for the insight that joy is in my Heart and Soul, and that if I haven’t felt joy in awhile, that is a sign that I have been living entirely in my Mind, and out of touch with my Heart and Soul. Which is true!