Freedom from M.E.
Supporting you in your journey to recovery...
Issue 5, September 2008
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| Quote of the Month |
"Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances."
Benjamin Franklin
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You're receiving this newsletter because you joined our mailing list or signed up to the Interactive section of www.FreedomFromME.co.uk
To change your subscription please follow the link at the end of this email.
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Welcome to our September 2008 newsletter...
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Dear reader, We hope you had a great month of August, and managed to catch a little bit of sun as it tried to dodge the clouds! For those of you living in the Bristol area and interested in The 90 Day Programme, we have had a last minute cancellation for the programme which is running in Bristol on 17th-19th September. This is a great opportunity to do the clinic's world leading psychology programme for the first time ever at a venue outside of London, so if you would like to find out more, please contact caroline@theoptimumhealthclinic.com ASAP. We are very excited this month to be launching our social networking website as promised. It's free for everyone to join, and is a unique opportunity to connect and share with others on a journey to recovery. If you are familiar with sites such as Facebook, you will find the functionality very similar, but obviously with a distinct OHC feel. We really encourage you to sign up, and get involved in the sharing. You'll notice when you go to the site, that there are a number of different groups on the site for various OHC courses, events and products. Most of these are by invitation only (for example, the Secrets to Recovery group will be in time replacing the current Secrets to Recovery forum), but anyone can join the site, create a profile, and contact other members. Invitations to join the various groups will be emailed to those eligible in coming weeks. For those of you nervous about meeting strangers through a social networking site, we promise to look after you best we can, and we will of course remove anyone we find to be being abusive or unhelpfully negative. The idea is to create the same sense of community and sharing experience at OHC courses for those of you currently unable to attend, and to maintain the friendships and connections beyond the courses for those of you that have attended. We will be adding more videos and photos over coming weeks, including some photos from Conscious Transformation. And, you can of course add your own photos and videos under your own profile to share with others. So, for example, the first time you are able to do something in a long time, why not celebrate it by taking some photos and loading them onto the site! You can join the site at www.OptimumHealthCommunity.com and please do feel free to invite friends that you think would enjoy the experience to join as well. Finally, there are still a couple of places left on Conscious Transformation on 6-7 September, so if you are interested please do visit www.ConsciousTransformation.co.uk now, where you can also download for free the audio recording of our recent teleseminar about the event. Have a great month,
Love and warmth,
Alex and the
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| This month on Secrets to Recovery - Message from Lois
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 August saw two really important calls on Secrets to Recovery. Firstly, Alex and Philippa discussed the Anxiety Subtype, giving insights into this M.E subtype of patients and tools for working with anxiety.
The second call featured meditation teacher and psychology practitioner Linda Hall, who explored the benefits of meditation for M.E. and took us through some wonderfully relaxing meditations live on the call. I'm delighted to say that one of these meditations is featured on this month's free sample, please click below to listen.
Coming up in September we have the following calls:
 September 2nd 2008 The Five Secrets to Accelerated Recovery
This call has the potential to be one of the most valuable
Secrets calls ever. Every challenge in life requires
a different skill set, from climbing a mountain, to a loving
a supportive relationship, to excellence in sport, to building
a successful business. Recovery from M.E. is the same. This
call is the culmination of Alex's personal treatment
and supervision of over two thousand patients with M.E., and
modelling the actions and traits of those that seem to have
recovered more quickly.
The call is not a training in specific tools, as these are
after all different for everyone, it is a training in the psychological
approach of the clinics "best patients." Alex
will be sharing what he believes these traits to be, and what
you can do to cultivate them more strongly in yourself. This
call is not to be missed!
 September 16th 2008 - M.E. Subtypes - The Trauma Type
A number of patients with M.E. have experienced some kind
of trauma prior to developing the illness. Be it major
physical, emotional or sexual trauma, or be it "milder" traumas
of not feeling "held and supported" as a child,
these experiences can play a significant role in driving up
stress level and putting the body in an ongoing state of anxiety.
In this call, Anna Duschinsky, Director of Psychology at the
clinic, will be discussing this important subtype, and explaining
how patients can work through these kinds of traumas. In
addition to sharing the wisdom gained from working with patients
at the clinic, Anna will also be discussing her recent experiences
working with trauma victims in Indonesia, and some simple tips
that can really make a difference.
Remember to check out next month's newsletter, where I'll be giving you details of October's calls.
To find out more about joining Secrets to Recovery, just visit the website at www.SecretsToRecovery.com and if you have any questions please do e-mail me.
Lois Thorpe,
Co-ordinator of Secrets to Recovery
lois@TheOptimumHealthClinic.com
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Lessons from the Golf Course Part 2 - Alex Howard
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You may remember that last month I wrote about the lessons I have learned from my summer on the golf course, and I'm rather pleased to say that the adventure has continued. Sunday was my last round for a while, and I'd like to share with you a rather powerful experience I had.
With this summer being the first time in around twelve years that I played golf with any kind of regularity, I think it's fair to say that my consistency was pretty poor. However, having gone to the golf range at least three times a week every week for the six months previously, I had put in a lot of work. But, when it came to playing on the course, I was totally inconsistent. I'd have a great hole, and then three dreadful holes. A lot like M.E., you have a good day, followed by three bad days.
Thankfully, having been teaching psychology for enough years, I realised that the fact I could play even one great hole, meant I did have the ability. What I needed was to get better access to this ability. And, of course when I had a bad shot, you can imagine the kind of thing that started to go through my mind; I think the kind of language involved is probably a little inappropriate for this newsletter. For those of you well versed in working with the inner critic, let's just say we weren't being very nice to each other!
Anyway, for Sunday's big round, I decided to use it as an opportunity to really work with my psychology, and see what difference that really could make. So, whenever I hit a bad shot, or seemed to lose my rhythm, I just repeated a very simple mantra to myself, "I'm better than this." In a very calm, relaxed and kind voice, "I'm better than this." Not, "I can do this," in a high intensity stressful way, just a very gentle and supportive affirmation.
The more I did this, the more I found myself just coming into the moment, and really enjoying the experience of being on a beautiful golf course in Richmond Park, with the sun doing its best to gently shine through. And, after a while, something quite remarkable started to happen, on the last nine holes, I played the best I've ever played in my life, and apart from winning the match by a massive eight shots (against someone I haven't beaten in twelve years), I also scored a single figure handicap, the holy grail of golf.
Now, of course those months of training on the golf range, the hours of practice on the putting green, and so on, were all necessary, just like working on your nutrition, and practicing the techniques you've learned in the clinic are key. However, what I managed to then do was get the most out of all those skills.
And, that simple affirmation that turned around my performance on the golf course, is also a pretty great affirmation for recovery from M.E., "I'm better than this." Just repeated, gently, kindly, and with softness. Affirmations can be extremely powerful when used in the right way. Here are a couple of tips to help make them more effective:
- Repeat the affirmation gently and kindly, the tone of how you repeat it to yourself is even more important than the actual words. Saying, "Life is fully of joy" with a depressed tone of voice, obviously is not exactly uplifting!
- Make sure the words you are using resonate and "feel right" to you. The more personal it feels to you the better
- Let go of any attachment to the outcome. The secret is to gently make a suggestion to your unconscious, without trying to DO anything. Paradoxically, the more we let go of anything happening or changing, the more we relax our system and so open it up to the possibility.
Give it a go, and let us know how you get on!
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Product News
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 This is the last chance to sponsor Anna and Lois for their
reschduled parachute jump on September 10th. If you sponsor them for £20 or more, you will receive a free copy of
Learn to Relax or The Sleep Inducer.
However, you must do so through www.freedomfromme.co.uk/cdih
and not through the main OHC website.
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And finally...
Thanks for reading, and look out for next month's newsletter when we will be letting you know all about our new Nutrition on a Budget Protocol, news of Anna and Lois' parachute jump (finally!) and also telling you all about our brand new head office and training centre which will be officially opening 13th October.
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| Warm wishes,
The Optimum Health Clinic Team
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