Asthma and NLP
Colin Lang
Having had many years of asthma attacks (I'm 50 now and they started
when I was 6) I am curious about any strategies and successes you have
had in using nlp to stop asthma attacks.
I have used many techniques with no complete success so far. I am now
using ventolin/severent. And seem to be in an asthma phase. When I was
little I used to alternate between asthma periods and eczema periods. In
chinese medicine the skin is seem as the third lung. I don't have any
skkin problems now.
OK I am in a stressful job - local government social work. And I do get
tired.
I was introduced to nlp via Tony Robbins and did my nlp practitioner
training here in the UK. Since then I have Time Lined myself back to
several points in the past and removed emotions. I have asked my
unconscious mind to tell me why I decided to not breathe out. I have
also asked what purpose these attacks have. Consciously it seems to be
about me feeling OK about taking some time to myself. (Interestingly
enough after Tony Robbins seminars where there was a load of yelling for
three days I did feel better for a while measured by periods between
these attacks being longer.)
I think there is a fear component - fear of criticism, perhaps, and I
have Time Lined that as well.
I have used visualisation. In particular little women and men massaging
the inside of my bronchial tubes to release the inflammation. I have
changed my diet cutting out all sugar most(!) alcohol, additatives.
Eating fresh most of the time. No meat!!!
I have used reframing like saying to myself "I forget how to breathe
easily and effortlessly occasionally" I use affirmations like " I am
able to breathe easily and effortlessly" when I am in an attack. I even
got to the point of thinking that I need to retrain my breathing
consciously and have started to use yogic abdominal breathing whenever I
have an opportunity.
I don't really know what to do next.
And if I did do it would be to send this to the newsgroup.
I assume that different people create asthma in different ways.
Different strategies for different folks for example.
So does anyone else have any ideas about helping people who have asthma
attacks stop having them.
Am I doing something wrong here. Perhaps I am at the same logical level
as myself, and can't see the big picture.(!).
Any ideas???????
1 Nelson Road
London "Work is love made manifest"
SW19 1HS K Gibran
Tel: 0181 296 8356
Lee Tye Beng,Joel
Just a short note to share my personal encounter with this. I developed
asthma when I was 21 and at times it got pretty bad. Ventolin and all
that.
When I took my practitioner training, I did one intervention on it which
made it go away. I basically did a belief change from "I have asthma" to
"I can learn to have perfect health".
I have not had an asthma attack since then and that was in June 96. I'm
pretty amazed with it myself!
Not suggesting that the same intervention will work for you. Occurred to
me that since you've done a lot of other work on it like Time Line,
reframing and visualization, there may be a belief or decision you have
until now which had prevented you from being free of asthma.
See if the belief change helps. Also suss out any secondary gain you
might have. Then do a parts integration on it. You might also do a
mapping across of your submodalities of asthma to an illness which you
used to have but not anymore. Finally, if you've made a particular
decision about asthma, you might to do a decision destroyer or a Time
Line intervention on it.
I'm not sure which of these ones will be the one to do the trick. I hope
my thoughts have helped. I would be interested in how you are getting
along. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely
Joel
Sijyoung
Hi Colin,
Have you seen this?
http://www.wt.com.au/~pkolb/intouch.htm
A new Russian approach to ease symptoms based on CO2 exchange in the lungs...
Regards Si...
Jack Williams
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Colin Lang [SMTP:co...@lang2.demon.co.uk]
>> Posted At: Thursday, October 08, 1998 4:59 AM
>> Posted To: nlp
>> Conversation: Asthma and NLP
>> Subject: Asthma and NLP
I've worked with a number of asthma sufferers. I wanted to make a few
comments on your post and perhaps offer some suggestions for you to
consider. I have rearranged the position of the points in your post.
>> I think there is a fear component - fear of criticism, perhaps, and I
>> have Time Lined that as well.
In my estimation our response to fear is the number one component of asthma.
Fear is the trigger and seems to be based in the "fight/flight" response.
Our response is -- to hold our breath. As you are probably aware this
heightens anxiety and exacerbates the fear. With asthmatics however the
holding of breath is a trigger within a trigger since it simulates the
onset of the asthma attack. Breathing now becomes very difficult.
I've had success in changing the response to fear with the Five Step Chain.
This changes the response from holding one's breath to taking a deep breath.
This reduces the exacerbation and cuts the link to the second trigger
simulating the asthma attack. If you're unfamiliar with chaining ask me and
I'll give you the steps for designing your chain.
>> OK I am in a stressful job - local government social work. And I do
>> get
>> tired
In your paragraph above you alude to a fear of criticism. I think Change
Your Mind and Keep the Change, Andreas & Bandler had a pattern for changing
our response to criticism. Essentially it changes an associative state to a
disassociative state wherein one observes oneself being cricitized. Our
normal response is kneejerk defense. Changing state brings rationality in.
There are three possible responses. 1. The criticism if valid. 2. It is
invalid. 3. You need more information, this last being the most prevalent
response in a disassociated state. In an associative state the normal
response is number two. If it's number one you thank the criticizer. It's a
very worthwhile pattern.
The same methodology could be used in your stressful job. Firstly,
recognize that the job creates stressors -- it's your response to the
stressors that creates stress. I suggest that the disassociative state be
standard training for social workers. I think much of the "burn out" in the
profession could be alleviated by this training. In working with a client,
step outside of yourself and observe yourself working with the client.
You'll reduce the stressor and also be more effective in your work.
>> I have asked my
>> unconscious mind to tell me why I decided to not breathe out. I have
>> also asked what purpose these attacks have. Consciously it seems to be
>> about me feeling OK about taking some time to myself.
I noted here your phrase "not breathe out." I think more importantly, what
stops you from breathing in -- the breath of life. Aspire is exhaling,
inspire is inhaling -- the breath of life. You need more inspiration and
less aspiration.) This relates to my second paragraph. Holding ones breath
is "not breathing out" but in so doing are we afraid to breathe in? Do we
deserve to live?
Think about it as you notice how naturally one follows the other without
either being first or second. Think of it as a wheel, one follows the other,
very easily and naturally.
>> I have used reframing like saying to myself "I forget how to breathe
>> easily and effortlessly occasionally" I use affirmations like " I am
>> able to breathe easily and effortlessly" when I am in an attack
Would you run the first by me again? Is that your unconscious mind talking?
Why wait to use your affirmation "I am able to breathe ---" when you're IN
AN ATTACK? Use it when you're breathing well and you may never have another
attack. At the very least it well calm you whereas waiting for your next
attack sure as hell won't.).
>>I even
>> got to the point of thinking that I need to retrain my breathing
>> consciously and have started to use yogic abdominal breathing whenever
>> I
>> have an opportunity.
Yes, definitely. I've taught everyone I've worked with to use belly
breathing (diaphragm, yogic, --) at all times -- AT ALL TIMES. It's my
understanding you can double your lung capacity this way. Shallow, upper
lung breathing seems to be a component of anxiety attacks. I changed my own
breathing consciously by keeping my hand on my belly for 24 hours. Put a
sling on your arm and tell everybody you sprained it. When you breathe in,
the belly (and hand) go out. Exhale by pushing the belly in. Check yourself
periodically to make sure you've retained it.
Hope my suggestions are helpful.
Jack Williams, NLPMP, Colorado
Colin Lang
In article <3447D7F0AFD4D011AE0400608C14CE560940AF26@PFS01>, Lee Tye
Beng,Joel <law...@nus.edu.sg> writes
>Colin,
>
>Just a short note to share my personal encounter with this. I developed
>asthma when I was 21 and at times it got pretty bad. Ventolin and all
>that.
>
>When I took my practitioner training, I did one intervention on it which
>made it go away. I basically did a belief change from "I have asthma" to
>"I can learn to have perfect health".
>
>I have not had an asthma attack since then and that was in June 96. I'm
>pretty amazed with it myself!
>
>Not suggesting that the same intervention will work for you.
Thank you for that
>Occurred to
>me that since you've done a lot of other work on it like Time Line,
>reframing and visualization, there may be a belief or decision you have
>until now which had prevented you from being free of asthma.
If there is a decision or belief i have done thats limiting I am still
working on that one. Some decisions are so life or death decisions, I
wonder sometimes if they don't all come down to a fear of death and the
decision to not breathe presupposes that what would happen as a
consequence of breathing would be so much worse than breathing.So that
its safer not to breathe (you get to not breathe one day :). I'll let
you know about that.
>
>See if the belief change helps. Also suss out any secondary gain you
>might have. Then do a parts integration on it. You might also do a
>mapping across of your submodalities of asthma to an illness which you
>used to have but not anymore. Finally, if you've made a particular
>decision about asthma, you might to do a decision destroyer or a Time
>Line intervention on it.
I wonder how this would work with me I am currently unable to look back
at my life and see a part which has been "without illness". That aside
perhaps I could use something such as an acute condition like
gastroenteritis. My feelilng is that I need to use something that I was
completely associated into and took me over (which is interesting
languaging) rather than something like a touch of sunburn. Also I wonder
if it has to be an illness-like submodality mapping. I wonder if its
possible to map across submodalities of asthma with something I used to
have like my old car.
>
Tell me about the decision destroyer.
>I'm not sure which of these ones will be the one to do the trick. I hope
>my thoughts have helped. I would be interested in how you are getting
>along. Please keep in touch.
>
>Sincerely
>
>Joel
>
>
Thanks pal. I'll let you know it goes.
>
Colin Lang
Colin Lang
<ja...@imageline.com> writes
>
>In my estimation our response to fear is the number one component of asthma.
>Fear is the trigger and seems to be based in the "fight/flight" response.
>Our response is -- to hold our breath. As you are probably aware this
>heightens anxiety and exacerbates the fear. With asthmatics however the
>holding of breath is a trigger within a trigger since it simulates the
>onset of the asthma attack. Breathing now becomes very difficult.
Yes. I have an image in my mind. It may be something I was told or a
"memory", where my father was studying for his degree when I was 2/3
years old, and I wasn't allowed to make any noise. So I am holding my
breath when I am listening intently waiting to know when its ok for me
to make a noise now (interact with the environment). And its an image
like this which implies to me that the degree of fear associated with
breathing out/making a noise must have been so great that it was better
to suffer the pain of not breathing (out). It was only later when I was
six that I had my first attack. Now it may be that during 3 years I had
held my breath for a sufficient number of times (or after a particularly
intense incident) in a gestalt of similar situations triggered by
comments like "children should be seen and not heard" and other
accidentally installed beliefs that it became an unconscious reaction to
these triggers in my environment, and later generalised into a reaction
to stress or even stimulation. The problem with that route is that if
you try to avoid stress or stimulation you create the very conditions of
not interacting with the environment such as not breathing out.
>
>I've had success in changing the response to fear with the Five Step Chain.
>This changes the response from holding one's breath to taking a deep breath.
>This reduces the exacerbation and cuts the link to the second trigger
>simulating the asthma attack. If you're unfamiliar with chaining ask me and
>I'll give you the steps for designing your chain.
>
I am familiar with chaining and would be interested in what the five
steps chain is.
>>> OK I am in a stressful job - local government social work. And I do
>>> get
>>> tired >
snipped very good stuff about fear of criticism which will be put to
good use immediately....
> Holding ones breath
>is "not breathing out" but in so doing are we afraid to breathe in? Do we
>deserve to live?
>Think about it as you notice how naturally one follows the other without
>either being first or second. Think of it as a wheel, one follows the other,
>very easily and naturally.
Yes.The suspension of breath puts a "break" into that cycle. And
unconsciously that's how I breathe when I am breathing easily and
effortlessly. Asthma is separating the in breath and the out breath and
making awareness of that separation conscious. And how!
>
>>> I have used reframing like saying to myself "I forget how to breathe
>>> easily and effortlessly occasionally" I use affirmations like " I am
>>> able to breathe easily and effortlessly" when I am in an attack
>
>Would you run the first by me again? Is that your unconscious mind talking?
>Why wait to use your affirmation "I am able to breathe ---" when you're IN
>AN ATTACK? Use it when you're breathing well and you may never have another
>attack. At the very least it well calm you whereas waiting for your next
>attack sure as hell won't.).
OOOoops! I love it when that happens. Yes. Hullo Colin!! This is your
unconscious mind speaking. Hullo is there anybody there?
>
>Yes, definitely. I've taught everyone I've worked with to use belly
>breathing (diaphragm, yogic, --) at all times -- AT ALL TIMES. It's my
>understanding you can double your lung capacity this way. Shallow, upper
>lung breathing seems to be a component of anxiety attacks. I changed my own
>breathing consciously by keeping my hand on my belly for 24 hours. Put a
>sling on your arm and tell everybody you sprained it. When you breathe in,
>the belly (and hand) go out. Exhale by pushing the belly in. Check yourself
>periodically to make sure you've retained it.
>
LOL LOL LOL LOL :)
I love this and will get a sling as soon as the shops open tomorrw.
And thank you for that. I'll milk all the sympathy for my sprained arm
as well..... I mean I work with professional carers after all.
>Hope my suggestions are helpful.
>Jack Williams, NLPMP, Colorado
>
>
Thanks Jack
>
Have a nice day
Colin
Jack Williams
I received your response to Joel's helpful message at the same time I
received your response to me. The two of them overlap and fit together very
well. You seem to have a grasp of the issues..
Joel says to Colin
:>Occurred to
>me that since you've done a lot of other work on it like Time Line,
>reframing and visualization, there may be a belief or decision you have
>until now which had prevented you from being free of asthma.
Colin Lang wrote in message to me ...
>Yes. I have an image in my mind. It may be something I was told or a
>"memory", where my father was studying for his degree when I was 2/3
>years old, and I wasn't allowed to make any noise. So I am holding my
>breath when I am listening intently waiting to know when its ok for me
>to make a noise now (interact with the environment). And its an image
>like this which implies to me that the degree of fear associated with
>breathing out/making a noise must have been so great that it was better
>to suffer the pain of not breathing (out). <snipped>
What you've described here is a fine example of how a belief (limiting
decision) gets established and installed.
Collin wrote in message.
.>The problem with that route is that if
>you try to avoid stress or stimulation you create the very conditions of
>not interacting with the environment such as not breathing out.
You've described a dilemna. Either this -- or that. To avoid stress
(stressors in my language) or stimulation is to avoid life itself. Remember
it's the response to the stressor that's the culprit and you're limiting the
number of options you have to two -- a dilemna. But how about changing your
response to stress/stimulation? Or reframe it? Isn't it great that you
receive
stress/stimulation -- it's a key component to your motivational strategy --
it shows you're alive. And what if, at the first signs of a stressor, your
response was to take several deep, yogic breaths. How would that change
things?
Collin wrote in message to Joel:
>I wonder
>if it has to be an illness-like submodality mapping. I wonder if its
>possible to map across submodalities of asthma with something I used to
>have like my old car.
In your responses to both of us you've created some wonderful metaphors. As
you know, a metaphor may be more effective in communicating with that Collin
who, "forgets how to breathe". I store some cars six months at a time. When
I go to start them they've always started easily and automatically. One year
I tried to start my '68 Mustang. It started, coughed and died. It started
again, coughed and died. Like most vain males I lifted the hood (I don't
know a generator from a gas cap.) but something led me to remove the air
cleaner. Inside was a huge mouse nest, blocking the inward flow of air, air
that it needed, air it was designed to have. So I just cleaned out the mouse
nest, started it again and it ran like a top, round and round, sucking in
air and pumping it out.
You know, I can still see that
mouse nest in the trash barrel.......but of course its long gone........
>I am familiar with chaining and would be interested in what the five
>steps chain is.
I personally find it difficult to do this on myself. It's much easier with a
friend or NLP Practictioner.
I use the knuckles as the anchor points. As you're aware, the chain is
designed to provide a direction in which you want to move. The third (or
middle) part of the five part chain is the decision point. Your example for
this is a time in your life where you had to make a decision but you weren't
sure about it. Step into the time, feel what you feel and anchor it on the
middle knuckle.
The fifth part example is a time in your life where you felt totally
empowered and confident.. Maybe a time when one of your clients woke up, got
the message and changed their life. Hey Collin -- great job! Step into it,
live it, feel it, magnify it -- notice how good some deep breaths feel and
anchor the feeling on your thumb knuckle. You may wish to stack this anchor
(repeat with other experiences) so it's really strong.
The first part example is the extreme opposite -- a time in your life when
everything unraveled, you felt totally incompetent, at the end of your rope.
Step into it, live it, feel it, notice how you're holding your breath and
hold it longer and longer, until you can't hold it anymore and just before
you inhale anchor the feeling on your little finger.
Now between these points, the 2nd and 4th anchor are transitional points.
Anchor 2 might be a time of extreme anxiety, you're not in panic yet but
you're getting there, you don't know what to do, you're indecisive. Anchor
this on the second knuckle (next to little finger).
The 4th anchor is the opposite. You're not sure
yet that you've got a handle on it, but you've got a feeling that
it's going to work out, you're not there yet but boy you hope. Finger
knuckle next to thumb.
Now fire each anchor, beginning with Number One, little finger and hold it
until the feelings come. Then move up the chain, firing each one while fully
experiencing your feelings. When you're done with the thumb knuckle take a
minute or two to let it all fit together. Then fire anchor one, the little
finger. The first thing you should notice is you take a deep breath.
Colin Says:
>I mean I work with professional carers after all.
If you care about people you want to help them. Is it necessary for you to
feel their pain to do this? So much of what we experience, we do to
ourselves -- our pain is self inflicted, and rationally, much of it doesn't
make sense. Empathy suggests understanding while applying all the skills of
rationality, and everything we need we already have. Helping is when you get
them to understand that.
"Dance as if no one was watching.
Sing as if no one was listening.
Love as if you've never been hurt"
Jack Williams NLPMP, Colorado
Lee Tye Beng,Joel
Please see below for response
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Colin Lang [SMTP:co...@lang2.demon.co.uk]
> Posted At: Saturday, October 10, 1998 6:37 AM
> Posted To: nlp
> Conversation: Asthma and NLP
> Subject: Re: Asthma and NLP
>
> Hullo Joel,
>
[Joel:] <Snip>
>
> If there is a decision or belief i have done thats limiting I am still
> working on that one. Some decisions are so life or death decisions, I
> wonder sometimes if they don't all come down to a fear of death and
> the
> decision to not breathe presupposes that what would happen as a
> consequence of breathing would be so much worse than breathing.So
> that
> its safer not to breathe (you get to not breathe one day :). I'll let
> you know about that.
>
[Joel:] Perhaps a parts integration would be useful hear, after
all, has that part considered that the single act of breathing can lead
to even more total safety than before?
> >See if the belief change helps. Also suss out any secondary gain you
> >might have. Then do a parts integration on it. You might also do a
> >mapping across of your submodalities of asthma to an illness which
> you
> >used to have but not anymore. Finally, if you've made a particular
> >decision about asthma, you might to do a decision destroyer or a Time
> >Line intervention on it.
> I wonder how this would work with me I am currently unable to look
> back
> at my life and see a part which has been "without illness".
[Joel:] You don't have to do this. You can just think of an
illness you used to have but not anymore.
> That aside
> perhaps I could use something such as an acute condition like
> gastroenteritis. My feelilng is that I need to use something that I
> was
> completely associated into and took me over (which is interesting
> languaging) rather than something like a touch of sunburn.
[Joel:] Hmm.. it is interesting languagin, so when are you
going to stop it from taking over your life?
> Also I wonder
> if it has to be an illness-like submodality mapping. I wonder if its
> possible to map across submodalities of asthma with something I used
> to
> have like my old car.
>
[Joel:] According to the Andreas, you can map it across to
something which you know that your body will automatically take care of.
> Tell me about the decision destroyer.
[Joel:] This is written up in "Heart of the Mind". Basically,
it's to go back to a time before you made the decision and make a
different decision or add resources to it and then re-evaluate your time
line.
Time Line Therapy also has a way to help you remove limiting
decisions.
Lee Tye Beng,Joel
Please see below...
Cheers
Joel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jack Williams [SMTP:ja...@imageline.com]
> Posted At: Sunday, October 11, 1998 12:29 PM
> Posted To: nlp
> Conversation: Asthma and NLP
> Subject: Re: Asthma and NLP
>
> Colin:
> I received your response to Joel's helpful message at the same time I
> received your response to me. The two of them overlap and fit together
> very
> well. You seem to have a grasp of the issues..
>
> Joel says to Colin
> :>Occurred to
> >me that since you've done a lot of other work on it like Time Line,
> >reframing and visualization, there may be a belief or decision you
> have
> >until now which had prevented you from being free of asthma.
>
> Colin Lang wrote in message to me ...
> >Yes. I have an image in my mind. It may be something I was told or a
> >"memory", where my father was studying for his degree when I was 2/3
> >years old, and I wasn't allowed to make any noise. So I am holding my
> >breath when I am listening intently waiting to know when its ok for
> me
> >to make a noise now (interact with the environment). And its an image
> >like this which implies to me that the degree of fear associated with
> >breathing out/making a noise must have been so great that it was
> better
> >to suffer the pain of not breathing (out). <snipped>
>
> What you've described here is a fine example of how a belief (limiting
> decision) gets established and installed.
>
[Joel:]
This is also a good example of where you can preserve the
positive learnings from this situation and release the negative emotion
via Time Line Therapy.
> Collin wrote in message.
> .>The problem with that route is that if
> >you try to avoid stress or stimulation you create the very conditions
> of
> >not interacting with the environment such as not breathing out.
>
> You've described a dilemna. Either this -- or that. To avoid stress
> (stressors in my language) or stimulation is to avoid life itself.
> Remember
> it's the response to the stressor that's the culprit and you're
> limiting the
> number of options you have to two -- a dilemna. But how about
> changing your
> response to stress/stimulation? Or reframe it? Isn't it great that
> you
> receive
> stress/stimulation -- it's a key component to your motivational
> strategy --
> it shows you're alive. And what if, at the first signs of a stressor,
> your
> response was to take several deep, yogic breaths. How would that
> change
> things?
>
[Joel:] Absolutely! Couple this with visualizing relaxed and
open air passages and go into a light trance state. These may also help.
[Joel:] :-)