The Mind Body Connection

Why do we blush when we are embarrassed?

Why do we salivate when we think of our favourite food?

Why do we produce tears when feeling emotions of sadness or joy?

It's all down to the Mind Body Connection. Author, international speaker and scientist Dr David Hamilton writes about the mind body connection in his fascinating and highly entertaining book "It's The Thought That Counts".

David became interested in the connection between the mind and the body whilst working as a pharmaceutical scientist testing the new drugs on the market. He was amazed to see that, where the control group taking the tested drug reported an improvement in their condition by, say, 75%, the group taking the placebo pills, which were nothing more than sugar pills, would report a 67% improvement, although they had been given no drugs whatsoever. Full of excitement, David would point this out to his colleagues only to be told indifferently "Yeah, that's the Placebo effect". No-one seemed to be interested in finding out why the placebo effect was producing such incredible results, and so David began to research how the mind and emotions can influence the wellbeing of our body.

Through his research, he also looked into the Mind Body World connection and he uses many stories in his book to demonstrate this.

Examples of the Mind Body World connection are:-

• You think of a friend, the phone rings and it's them

• A group of female friends who find their periods synchronise and they all get their periods at the same time every month

• The effects of the full moon. Many hospitals bring in extra A&E staff over the full moon period to cope with the increased number of accidents

• A room full of pendulum clocks all swinging at different times will eventually align and swing in time

• Similarly, a tuning fork will inspire nearby tuning forks to vibrate at the same speed

In the same way, positive thinking can cause all the organs of the body to sing to the same tune, bringing balance and harmony to your body. And I'm sure you will have noticed that, when you are feeling positive, people sing to the same tune as you and your whole life tends to becomes more balanced and harmonious.

Of course, when you are going through a negative phase, the opposite is true. Everything seem to be against you. How is it that, when you are stressed and in a hurry, the learner driver always pulls out in front of you and is inevitably going your way? That you choose the slowest queue in the supermarket? That the person in front of you at the bank is always paying a million bills and asking for change?

It's no coincidence. We are what we think. And what we think affects our body.

Most of us have felt stress at some point in our lives. Stress starts as a negative thought and often turns into very real symptoms - headaches, tight shoulders, stomach pain, irritable bowels, shallow breathing.

You just have to imagine walking down a dark, lonely road at night. Suddenly you realise you are not alone. The sound of footsteps is getting closer and you can hear someone breathing behind you. Thinking of this is enough to get your heart pumping harder and your adrenalin preparing for fight or flight. This is why horror movies are so popular. Some of the best ones never actually show the violence; they prey on your imagination. Silence Of the Lambs is a perfect example.

Why am I telling you about the Mind Body Connection?

Because you can use it to your advantage. By using the power of positive thought, you can literally alter your DNA, heal your body and attract a better life. You can make things happen. You can run your own movie and decide on the ending. It's up to you whether you go for the happy ending or the sad one.

What's your song?

I was watching the rerun of WALL.E with my son the other day and spent the rest of the day singing the songs from Hello Dolly that form the soundtrack to much of the movie.

How many times do you listen to the radio in the car or leave the house in the morning and end up having the last song you heard play over, and over, and over, and over, in your mind.

I have always been interested in music and can map out the events of my life by song. My ipod library is pretty eclectic these days, and I love it that so many songs of my youth have now been released as MP3s.

So, my question to you is? What would the soundtrack to your life be? If you could pick one or two songs that give you the oomph factor, what would they be?

I have three songs running at the moment which I call on at different times to give me the push I need.

When I need extra kick ass confidence, it's always Jennifer Lopez's Ain't It Funny Remix.

Some people find this a strange choice, but it's more to do with her "nobody messes with me" sassy attitude in the vid than to do with the message in the song. That beat in my head makes me walk down the road with my head held high, my shoulders back, looking as if I have a great secret that nobody will ever know but everyone would love to find out.

When I'm in need of inner confidence, it has to be Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful. It's a message to myself that I can do and be anything I choose, if I just believe in myself.

And where would I be without Barbra Streisand's "Before The Parade Passes By".  The message in the song and the build up in tempo from the start makes me feel like going out and conquering the world. For too long I held myself back, but not anymore.

So what's your song? What would make you get out of bed in the morning and have a really good day? What would give you drive and determination? What truly inspires you?

Let me know.

Hypnotherapy - one of the secrets of my success

Don't tell anyone, but I have a trick up my sleeve when I'm in a hypnotherapy session.


I use a hypnokit and headphones when talking to you for the hypno bit. The kit allows me to simultaneously channel my voice into your unconscious, play you beautiful music, and cut out background noise for a deeper and more enjoyable relaxation.

I can also record a session which can then be transferred to disc in a couple of minutes.

Clever, or what?

Who would have thought that I, of all people, would become such a techie? Okay, maybe my avid viewing of The Gadget Show each week might give that away, and I am "she who is in charge of updating all ipods in the household", but I still can't read a map without having to turn it in the direction in which we are going (actually that's another story and one that's coming to a blog near you very soon!). Nor can I fix the spacing on my blog when it looks okay on the preview and takes on a life of its own when published (see the word "transferred" above as an example).

So there you are. My hypnokit. Always wanted one of those USP thingies! (I am of course referring to a Unique Selling Point, as opposed to Unbelievably Stupid Person who cannot sort her own blog).

Fears and Phobias

Chris is 12 years old. He has been terrified of the dentist for as long as he can remember. Or, more specifically, of the needles. As a baby, he needed lots of injections and he has carried the fear and bad memories of those times throughout his childhood and into his early teens.

At her wits end, his mum calls me to see if I can help.

I meet with Chris. He knows what I’m there for, and he wants to change but he’s understandably nervous. I mention the “D” word and he collapses, sobbing uncontrollably and shaking from head to foot.

I take him through an exercise which involves running the pictures in his mind backwards, and changing things about the memories to make them comical. Because memories can’t hurt us. It’s the emotions we attach to the memories that affect us, and when we wipe out the bad emotions, we are left with nothing more than an old black and white photo that we can either choose to file away or delete.

Our mind loves processes, so it stores information in a filing cabinet in the brain. It likes to link similar memories and keep them in the same place. For positive memories, this is a good thing. But for negative memories, it means that bit by bit your mind is storing a whole host of bad memories, piling emotions one on top of the other, and when we finally blow up or break down, we're feeling not just the emotion from a single event but from all the stored emotions at once.

Fears and phobias are only maintained because we continue to focus on the thing we’re afraid of, and the more we think of it, the worse it gets.

Using Neuro Linguistic Programming (a fancy term for learning how to use your brain effectively) we can “play” with our mind and change our programming to realise that the fear is not as bad as we were making it out to be in our mind.

Chris had a dental appointment the next day. He still felt slightly nervous but he walked straight into the room, sat down in the dentist’s chair and opened his mouth, ready for treatment.

The dentist stood open-mouthed himself. He couldn’t believe it was the same boy.

Many of us have fears and phobias, whether they be of needles, the dentist, spiders, snakes, dogs, flying... the list goes on.

Most fears and phobias are either linked to a specific event in the past or are learned behaviour from someone else. The good news is, using NLP and hypnotherapy, like Chris, you can be rid of your fears once and for all and get on with your life.

Because life is for living, not for fearing.

Read more about fears and phobias on my website

Our Deepest Fear

'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It's our light, not our darkness, that mosts frightens us.
We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of the universe.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking,
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of the universe
that is within us. It's not just in some of us: it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
And as we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.'


Marianne Williamson

Paul McKenna Weight Loss blog

Two and a half years ago, I lost 28lbs with Paul McKenna’s I Can Make You Thin programme. It was the easiest weight loss system I had ever been on and my life seemed to improve almost overnight. Previously, the most I had lost was 18lbs with weightwatchers, but I put it all back on and more.

In the last two and a half years I have maintained my weight to within + or - 7lbs.

Paul has four golden rules:-
1. Eat when you’re hungry
2. Eat consciously
3. Eat what you want and not what you think you should
4. Stop when you’re full.
That’s it! That’s all.

When I tell people this, they look at me in disbelief. How can you lose weight and eat what you want?

Well, I did. At first, I continued to eat what I would normally eat, but I paid more attention to what I was putting in my mouth, and I got the hang of stopping when I thought I was full. I slowed down my eating and I discovered that there were some foods that I just didn’t like any more. I knew things had changed for the better when I stood in the cafe of Frasers department store and ordered soup and a roll for lunch. Until I opened my mouth, I was going to order a scone and a piece of millionaire’s shortbread, so no-one was more surprised than me when I ordered soup. What’s more, it was delicious.

Suddenly, I had the urge to exercise. I live on the outskirts of Edinburgh and am blessed to have some beautiful walks nearby, so I plugged in my ipod and started walking round the reservoir. I bought myself a pedometer and I diligently recorded my steps in a journal every night.

I was still eating chocolate and chips from time to time, but I wasn’t having cravings, and for the first time ever I was able to eat a couple of squares of chocolate and put the rest of the bar back in the cupboard. After all, naturally thin people eat chocolate, and chips, and pizza – they just know when to stop. I didn’t have to think about food, and I didn’t have to avoid food. Life was much easier.

Eating out was more enjoyable. I could eat anything off the menu as long as I stopped when I felt full. But whereas I would have once picked a creamy pasta sauce, I now found myself naturally drawn to a healthier option. And on the days that I wanted the creamy sauce, I had the creamy sauce and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For the first six months of my weight loss, the weight dropped off at a steady rate. But, as always, the self sabotage started creeping in. I had a few personal challenges and the chocolate and sweet tooth slipped in unnoticed a little at a time. I was busy getting my business up and running and the walks around the reservoir went from being a regular thing, to the occasional treat, to non-existent (there are only so many times you can blame the weather).

How many of you can relate to this?

Interestingly enough, my weight remained constant. I wasn’t losing weight but I wasn’t gaining it either. The changes I had made were obviously on a much deeper level than anything I had done before.

As a coach and therapist, I fully believe that I have to “walk the walk, and talk the talk”. I still have more weight to lose. I’m a size 16/18 and I want to be a size 12. I got complacent because I looked and felt so much better than I did before, and I accepted myself as a size 16/18. But not any longer. I’m ready to deal with what’s holding me back, and I am bringing Paul McKenna back into my everyday life. I know it works for me, and I know it will be easy and effortless. I have some negative emotion that I have to work on, and I will enlist the help of a fellow coach to do that.

Einstein said “You cannot solve a problem in the same consciousness that created it”. I may be a therapist but I still need to ask for help when I need it.

There is a wonderful story about Ghandi .

A woman came to Ghandi and asked him to tell her overweight son to stop eating sugar.

“Madam” he replied. “Come back in three weeks time.”

Surprised at this request, she nevertheless returned with her son three weeks later.

Ghandi looked at the boy and said “Stop eating sugar.”

When the boy had left the room, the mother turned to Ghandi and asked why he hadn’t said this three weeks ago.

Ghandi replied, “Madam, three weeks ago I myself was eating sugar.”

I will keep you posted on my progress. I’m away to dig out my pedometer.

TFT - Tapping Your Problems Away

If I told you there was something you could do any time, any day, anywhere that would give you a natural high, that costs nothing, that has no risks or side effects, you would be interested to learn more, wouldn’t you?

I’m talking about tapping. Or Thought Field Therapy to be exact. In the 1980’s, Dr Roger Callaghan, a well respected psychologist, pioneered this technique which involves tapping with your fingers on specific points of the body located along energy lines, while focusing on the thing that is troubling you. These lines, or meridians, coincide with acupuncture points, and by tapping on them, you can eliminate imbalances in the body’s energy system and in the process, get rid of negative emotions and psychological distress.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And it is.

Tip – if you are sitting on a bus and don’t want to be thought of as the local nutter, just imagine running through the sequence. It will have the same effect. Alternatively, if you want to keep the seat free beside you, then tap away!

Tapping can help you deal with trauma, grief, anxiety, stress, addictive cravings (including cigarettes, food, alcohol and drugs), phobias, depression, anger and rage, guilt, shame / embarrassment, jet lag and physical pain, to name but a few.

But rather than reading about it, why not try it? Use the exercise below whenever you are feeling stressed or anxious. This same sequence also works on cravings. At first, you may have to run through the sequence a few times, but every time you do it, you are teaching your body how to relax, and you will get to the stage when you just need to start the sequence and the feeling of relaxation will flood over you.

It may sound funny to start with, but believe me it works.

Tapping for Anxiety / Cravings (as described in “Tapping The Healer Within” by Roger Callaghan)

1. Tune the thought field – i.e. think about the thing that is making you anxious.

2. Give it a rating from 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst you could possibly feel, and 1 being no trace of upset (this is so you can compare your rating after the sequence and see the change)

3. Using two fingers of one hand (I use the index and middle finger), tap five times under the eye. About an inch below the bottom of the centre of the bony orbit, high on the cheek. Tap firmly, but not hard enough to cause pain.

4. Tap solidly five times under the arm, about four inches below the armpit, using rigid fingers. In men, this spot is under the arm about even with the nipple. Women can locate this spot by tapping at the centre of the bra under the arm.

5. Tap the collarbone point. To locate it, take two fingers of either hand and run them down the centre of the throat to the top of the centre collarbone notch. This is approximately even with the spot where a man would knot his tie. From there, move straight down an additional inch and then move to the right one inch. Tap this point five times.

6. Perform the nine gamut treatments. Locate the gamut spot on the back of the hand, about an inch below the raised knuckles of the ring finger and little finger when making a fist. Begin tapping the gamut spot with two fingers of the opposite hand, about three to five times per second, and continue tapping while performing all nine steps below (tap five or six times for each of the nine gamut positions). It is very important to tap the gamut spot throughout all nine of these gamut treatments:

· Open the eyes

· Close the eyes

· Open the eyes and point them down and to the left

· Point the eyes down and to the right

· Whirl the eyes around in a circle in one direction once

· Whirl the eyes around in the opposite direction once

· Hum a few bars of Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you)

· Count aloud from one to five

· Hum Happy Birthday again

7. Tap five times under the eye again.

8. Tap five times under the arm again.

9. Tap the collarbone point five times again.

10. Rate your level of anxiety / craving again from 1 to 10. If it has gone down to 1, move to step 11. If not, repeat the process until it has come down.

11. To close the process, roll your eyes from floor to ceiling. Hold your head level and move your eyes down. Then begin tapping the gamut point as you move your eyes upwards.

When I teach this to people for the first time, they usually giggle. But the effect is amazing. You can use this technique as much as you want – the more you use it, the more you will want to use it.

For more information about TFT, case studies and tapping sequences for other problems, read “Tapping The Healer Within” by Roger Callaghan.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

I used to have an identity. I used to be someone. I was the one everyone wanted to talk to at parties. I was glamour personified. I was fun and perceived to be maybe just a little naughty. I was ... an air hostess.

In those days, the place names of Rio, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Caracas, Vancouver, Sydney, New York, Bangkok and Hong Kong tripped off my tongue. I jumped on and off planes like most people jump on the number 44 bus.


And then one day I hung up my uniform and became normal. I had a normal job, a normal life and I holidayed in Florida.

Ten years later and many several pounds heavier, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw someone else.

I saw a beige person. I was dressed in beige. What had happened to the brightly coloured clothes I had amassed from all over the world? My hair was beige where once it was fiery red, dirty blond or rich mahogany, depending on the whim of the moment. My life was beige. I had turned into a mum, a wife and a drudge.


Don’t get me wrong. I love being a mum. I love the chat at the school gates. I love the sense of community. And most of all, I love the love that comes from that little person. The smile that melts your heart. The chubby arms wound tightly around your neck.

But something was missing. I needed colour, I needed life. I needed to find the old me.

I took stock of my life. I was working in my husband’s business, living his dream, not mine. I was living in a place I hated, which made my heart heavy every time I drove into the village limits. I had lost my enthusiasm, my sense of adventure and worst of all, my self confidence.

They say that inside every old woman there is a young girl wondering what the hell happened. That was exactly how I was feeling , and I’d only just turned forty!

Little by little, I turned my life around. I retrained in Reiki and began helping others. We moved away from that ugly village where, if you weren’t born there, you were an “incomer”, an outcast, a social pariah. We moved to a vibrant village, full of like-minded people, community spirit and fun.

Then I met Paul McKenna at a seminar and my life changed for the better. I lost weight using his system. I decided to train as a hypnotherapist.


And I auditioned for the local theatre company. I was a closet karaoke queen. I had never sung in front of anyone in my life and suddenly I found myself standing in front of a panel of four with nowhere to hide. I opened my mouth, took a deep breath and sang louder than I had ever done in my life.

“The sun will come out tomorrow...”

And I knew that the sun would come out.

That if I was stuck with a day that was grey and lonely, I’d stick out my chin and grin and say “tomorrow’s only a day away”.