My guest on Parkinsons Recovery Radio is Annie Hopper who developed The Dynamic Neural Retraining System as a therapeutic approach to rewiring the brain. Thousands of people have applied her novel program for varying chronic illnesses with great success. Focus of the program is to teach participants how to self-direct neuro-plastic changes in the limbic system that normalize threat mechanisms in the brain. This allows the brain and body to move out of a state of survival and into a state of growth and repair, where healing can take place.

What is the Limbic System?

The following is an eloquent explanation Annie emailed to me in preparation for the radio show interview tomorrow.

The limbic system is a complex set of structures in the mid brain that includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex. It has been described as the feeling and reacting brain. It is responsible for the formation of memories and is constantly determining our level of safety. The Limbic System assigns emotional
significance to everything we smell, see, hear, feel, and taste. It is known as the seat of social and emotional intelligence and is the brains anxiety switch. It is closely integrated with the immune system, the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system.

When not functioning properly due to injury or impairment, the limbic system becomes hypersensitive and begins to react to stimuli that it would usually disregard as not representing a danger to the body. This results in inappropriate activation of the immune, endocrine and autonomic nervous systems that can lead to varied and seemingly unconnected symptoms.

This hypersensitivity of the limbic system causes over-firing of protective and threat mechanisms in the midbrain. This can result in distorted unconscious reactions, sensory perceptions and protective responses.

Similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it seems that limbic system hypersensitivity, or dysfunction, involves impairment to structures within the limbic system of the brain that alter connectivity to the pre-frontal cortex. We hypothesize that the hyperactivity in the limbic system fosters inhibition of the inhibitory networks, which allows the over-stimulation of survival mechanisms. This gives rise to an unconscious and persistent fight or flight response associated with limbic system impairment. Over time,
it is possible this state of hyper arousal can weaken the immune system, and affect systems associated with rest, digestion, detoxification, mood stability as well as motor and cognitive function.

The Dynamic Neural Retraining System was developed in 2008 by Annie Hopper as a therapeutic approach to improving these conditions and rewiring the brain using neuro-plasticity principles. Thousands of people have applied the program for varying chronic illnesses and have had great success. The focus of the program is to effectively teach participants how to self-direct neuro-plastic changes in the limbic system that normalize threat mechanisms in the brain. This allows the brain and body to move out of a state of survival and into a state of growth and repair, where healing can take place.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

Linda kindly gave me permission to post this email on the Parkinsons Recovery blog about the ultra mind solution and the miracle of the brain to rejuvenate and regenerate.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery

This is Linda Ralph writing to you. I have written to you a few times now. You may remember me, I am from Victoria and went on the Alaska Cruise. I have something I would like to share with you.

I am half way through a  newly purchased book, “The Ultra Mind Solution by the author: Mark Hyman, MD. I have had one of Mark’s earlier books , “The Ultra Simple Diet” for years now , and was truly very excited to find two new books  published by him recently,  especially the one having to do with the brain, and healing and fixing the brain, entitled: “The UltraMind Solution”. On the cover of this book it says:

“Fix Your Broken Brain By Healing Your Body First”.

And, I really do believe that to be true. For me, this book reiterates much of what I have learned through your website, Robert. Be it through your blog, your published works or through information that I have heard from radio show guests, or through the personal stories written or told, of many folks who are having successes in coping with PD.

In addition to that, this book is also jam packed with practical information  to help one heal and to enhance the brain. It has realms of information , that although pretty detailed at times, does provide the reader with learning that I feel is relevant and vital. And there are also a personal case studies as well, that seem, ‘bring it all home’, so to speak, as well as referencing to PD.

Hyman speaks of

‘treating the body as a whole and not as separate entities’.

Now this is not a new idea. But it merits repetition. He too, states, that

‘your brain may be broken, but it can be fixed’.

This idea certainly rings true of the last few years findings and new discoveries about the brain. Many books and articles have alluded to the fact that you can rewire your brain, you can change it, and maybe you can even fix it. Outlined in this book is a detailed (but not overly complicated ) way as to what one does to go about fixing the brain and the methods to follow to have success.

Hyman says that by ‘pinpointing the biological problem one can then fix it, by letting the body’s natural healing intelligence take over to repair your brain’. He then goes on provide a program, a simple way to do this through his : Seven Keys to Ultra Wellness. This is a very well written and helpful  book. (Another recent book of his, with over 200 recipes, “The Ultra Metabolism Cookbook“, is also an excellent resource.

If you haven’t heard of him, ( and you probably have) I do believe that you would find this  book of his, to be another delightful addition and resource for your readers. It is a good read.

There may be some merit in your readers knowing about this book and its author. Maybe this author could be a guest on your show??

JUST ONE PERSON’S OPINION
Linda Ralph

Here are some resources to share on how to change your brain:

https://www.befitoverfifty.com/pages/thera.htm?source=OverTo

Although the first part is “depressing” to read, the section on “Why Exercise Is So Important” is simple and motivating. There are yet more exercise programs for people with muscular and neurological disorders on this link, but I am not sure of their availability.

I am reading a new book (to me), Train Your MIND, Change Your BRAIN by Sharon Begley, (Ballantine). This is a survey of how the brain adapts to the kind of thinking we do and the feeling modes that we experience.

The Dalai Lama figures in this story with his patient challenge to neurological researchers on the reverse of the belief “the brain creates the mind or the mind is the result of brain activity”–doesn’t the mind affect the way the brain operates? Beliefs in science are hard to confront.

This book is about research on this confrontation. There are stories of experiments in re-training the thinking of people with depression and obsessive/compulsive disorders. As they corrected for their distorted thinking, they experienced relief, even when medication was supposed to give them relief. Re-training our thinking is crucial because our brains respond to the perception of our reality. The experiments related in the book can inspire ideas on working our own programs. Parkinson’s isn’t even mentioned, but strokes are.

The evidence shows that plasticity or brain/neural changing doesn’t occur only in childhood but throughout life. A Tibetan monk, whom the Dalai Lama knew, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 18 years, a time which included torture. When freed, he was found to be the same gentle, mentally sharp man that the Dalai once knew, just like he was before the imprisonment. Was he ever afraid? Yes, he was afraid that he would lose his compassion for the Chinese.

“Because of forgiveness, his bad experience with Chinese not got worse,” said the Dalai Lama.

This anecdote shows that mind is over matter. It is possible to change our brain when we train our mind. The book goes on to explore, from the Buddhist perspective, what mind is or does. The link between Buddhist thinking and scientific neurological research is attention and attention training.

Thanks for all that you do!

Alan

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery