Ask Dr. Miller: Dealing with Stress in the World Today

What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 stress?  In this podcast I explain the difference, give examples of each and provide simple ways (affirmations) to quickly release stress and enter a relaxed state of mind, body and spirit.

This audio excerpt is from my program Stress Fitness Volume 1. Please visit my online store at ShopDrMiller.com for more information about this and my other audio programs.

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Healing Times Radio Archives: What is Verbal First Aid?

Verbal First Aid – The Power of Words, Images, and Stories to Help and Heal

Airdate: July 1, 2010 11am-12pm (PST) at OpenMindRadio.com

You will be fascinated and entertained as Dr. Prager and I explore the power of words to impact beliefs and engender healing. Learn about the power we all have within to transform not only our own lives but the lives of others. Everyone has the opportunity to create miracles by choosing carefully the words they use and how they speak to others (and especially themselves) in calm times as well as in high-stress situations.

We will examine some of the ideas presented in her very popular book, Verbal First Aid Helping your Kids Heal from Fear and Pain – and Come Out Strong, as well as in her newly released book, Owie Cadabra – Verbal First Aid for Kids. Then we will learn some simple ways to turn a scare into a comfort, a hurt into a healing, and a potential trauma into a memory of courage. You will hear some valuable perspectives on major life challenges and learn how to transform crisis situations into positive, empowering experiences (by adjusting your attitude through your self-talk, changing the images you hold in your mind, and the stories you tell yourself).

You will be especially charmed by the beauty and wisdom of her approach to communicating to children, especially in emergency situations. Make sure all the parents you know get to hear this one.

Dr. Prager will share her observation that far too many of today’s hospital-born babies are quickly taken into sterile nurseries and hooked up to beeping machines. Her suspicion is that, instead of bonding with the mother, this generation of newborns is bonding with machines.

And, most of all, you will get to meet a woman who is truly a healing spirit, her mission – to help create a better future where we are all aware of the energy field around each of us, and between all of us.   This energy field is so easily enlightened or shattered. Just to experience her positive energy makes this interview worthwhile.

You don’t want to miss this one!

Listen to us Thursday, July 1st, 2010

11am-12pm PST at OpenMindRadio.com

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Subscribe to Healing Times Radio Podcasts (with iTunes or with web-based podcatchers) at Healing Times Radio Archives

Make sure you don’t miss another show!

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Ask Dr. Miller: What is Software for the Mind?

Software for the Mind is the name of the book I wrote in 1987 and the set of audio tools for self-healing and optimal performance. Both were the results of my technical and clinical studies, and those of my colleagues.

I had noticed that, seemingly unbeknownst to the mainstream medical community, a persons habitual thoughts, emotions (anxieties, frustrations, etc.) could lead to the development of sufficient stress (internal friction, cognitive dissonance) to produce physical disease, behavioral (and creative) dysfunction, and poor performance and productivity. In addition, it could worsen existing disease or illness. The problem was that these patterns (programs, subroutines) were encoded into the deeper levels of the nervous system (subconscious, subcortical), and not available to direct conscious intervention.

I discovered that there were a number of techniques that showed great promise in overcoming this limitation, including hypnosis, autogenic training, meditation, and prayer. I soon realized that the deeper levels of the brain/mind operated much like the computers I had programmed. The behavior of the body (including thoughts and emotions) is controlled by this “biocomputer,” whose “source code” consists of a series of mental images that have been learned in a certain sequence, in combination with certain emotions. To create desirable change, then we need to reprogram the biocomputer. This led to the development of “Software for the Mind” (SFTM).

The deeply relaxed state, as is produced in meditation or hypnosis, makes the deeper levels of the mind available through the intentional temporary slowing of its processing. I realized that these tools could be used to put people in control of their own lives (a surprisingly uncommon goal of our culture). Once a person has entered the “healing state,” a different sequence of images and emotions can be intentionally presented and recorded by the biocomputer. By regularly practicing this imagery one can then produce profound change in health, mood, performance, productivity, and happiness. Teaching people how to do this has been a mainstay of my medical practice since 1972.

When audiocassettes were invented, they provided the first convenient means for a person to practice imagery on an ongoing basis. I invented the meditation/relaxation cassette as a way to enable my patients and coaching clients to take charge of their lives and their health. By accompanying carefully constructed sequences of images with soothing music and nature sounds, these tools for transformation became enjoyable and easy to use.

As they gained worldwide distribution, the concepts they embodied and the techniques they taught were gradually adopted by health care specialists, business people, and athletic coaches everywhere. And although I have continued to refine my art and science, producing newer programs, these original ones are still available on my website as part of the “Classics” series.

A Compassion Meditation – Rebooting Compassion Podcast

Pema Chodrun pointed out the paradoxical truth that “Being able to tolerate a broken heart is the medicine for the pain of existence.” Yet, with all the images that will be flooding our tv and internet screens, it is wise to strike a balance. We will almost certainly be treated to 24 hours of a long string of secondary disasters ranging from starvation and water-borne epidemics to violence and even deeper poverty. So it is wise to make sure you don’t overdo it.

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Further explorations of the Principle of Compassion can be found in the following two articles by Dr. Miller:

•Why Bother Feeling Compassion? Compassion is Hard.

• Is God Punishing Haitians for the Sins of Their Ancestors?

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