Here is a fantastic twist on the idea of making the “good side” worse to make the “bad side” better. Look in the mirror when you do this exercise. It is even more powerful.

Also, be sure to tap into all the deep feelings your have about your “bad side.” Make the exercise more than a thinking exercise.  Treat your “good side” just like you treat your “bad side.”

This really does help tremendously. Make it a habit every day for a few minutes.

Robert

Neurological Diplomacy is a Feldenkrais strategy to “make the good side worse” so that the “bad side” can become better. Yes. this sounds totally weird and strange, but it does succeed in reversing symptoms. Really!

I will illustrate the concept by describing an exercise introduced by Ruthy Alon in a Feldenkrais workship. Ruthy Alon is a senior Feldenkrais Trainer and founder of Bones for Life who coined the term “neurological diplomacy”.  I learned all about this technique from an email I received from one of the workshop participants who prefers to remain anonymous. Below is an edited version of the email I received.

An Exercise that Illustrates the Magic
of Neurological Diplomacy

Do the exercise right now so you can experience precisely how and why it works to reduce the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s. There are seven steps.

1. Pretend to drink water out of a stream, cupping your hands one over the other. Image you are drinking water from a fresh water stream. Sip water out of your two hands as you bring your hands up and down from the imaginary stream. Notice how easy this movement is for you. Notice also which hand is on top of the other as you do this.
2. Rest a moment.
3. Now, do the same imaginary movement again, but put the other hand on top. Bring your hands all the way to your mouth to drink the imaginary water. This is not your familiar or easy way of doing it. Chances are good this movement will not feel so comfortable or easy.

How do we go about improving the second way of doing it, the way that is not so familiar and more difficult?  We do not want to directly work with the “bad” side because this is not where the brain is working well. There is a lack of understanding by the brain or a difficulty there.

In the case of a Feldenkrais treatment there may be an injury or pain involved in the “bad side” or “bad movement”. No learning, nor any good outcome, can easily happen when the practitioner works directly with the “bad side”. Rather, the practitioner will leave the “bad side” alone and not attempt to “fix” it.

In summary, do not even think of any side as “bad” or any movement as “bad”. Instead, accept it as it is. Simply leave it alone. Ignore it. Do not even think of changing it.

Doing so is an act of violence. This is the last thing anyone needs who experiences the symptoms of Parkinson’s. 

4. Now, do the movement the “hard” way again and notice carefully how it was hard and why. Perhaps your shoulders are tighter with that unfamiliar arrangement of the hands. Perhaps the brain is confused. Perhaps the coordination is klutzy in that unfamiliar way. Whatever – notice what you can.
5. Rest a moment.

Now Comes the Magical Solution

The Heart of Neurological Diplomacy

6. Now do the easy movement, with the comfortable arrangement of hands one top of the other. Make sipping water difficult by pretending you now have on the “easy side” all the trouble or difficulty you had on the “bad side” with the unfamiliar palm on top.

Play like that for a little while, pretending to imitate the bad movement even though your palms are arranged in the more comfortable arrangement. Try to feel a little frustration about the situation. It is as if you want to convince the brain now that “I do not have any easy way to get a drink of water with my hands.”

7. Then let it go and rest. Breathe. Forget all about this. Just relax. After a minute or so go back and try to “drink water” with palms arranged in the “bad” or unfamiliar way.

Now, it will be much easier in most cases to make the movement the “hard” way using the more uncomfortable arrangement of hands. If that is not magic I do not know what is!

The surprise of the day is that you did not work with (or pay any attention) to the “bad side” at all! The intervention is magical in this way.

Physical therapists use this technique with stroke patients. They deliberately make the good side and the good movements temporarily restricted with splints or other devices in order to “magically” make the “bad side” better.  If the technique works with stroke patients, it will surely succeed for persons who currently experience Parkinson’s symptoms.

The brain is present, active and intelligent and functional in the “good side” or with the “good movement.” This is where learning can happen – not on the “bad side”.  By “teaching” the good movement to be “bad”, we show the brain how to release that learning, how to release a difficulty just of that exact nature which is transferred automatically over to the “bad side”.

The “bad side” or “bad movement” instantly becomes better without confronting the bad side directly.

• We do not name the “bad side” or “bad movement” as “wrong” or “bad”.
• We do not attempt to correct the “bad side” (which is the strategy most people engage).
• We do not call it to be “wrong” or “stupid”.
• We do not try to correct it.
• We do not even think about correcting it.

Neurological diplomacy is an extremely gentle and respectful way of working with the body. That is why it is called Neurological Diplomacy.

In summary, do not declare war on your “bad side” or “bad movement”.  Become diplomatic in your approach. Be respective of your body’s ability to self correct. I will say it one more time. This really is magic at its best.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

As the title of this post announces, free access to all 7 videos in the Betrayal series ends tonight. I understand he opened up the 7 part series for free viewing for this weekend only. (The series had also been available for free viewing last weekend as well).

You really do not want to miss this. Check out at least the sixth video which focuses on the brain and neurological diseases. The seventh video is also interesting in that the people discussing their recovery have not been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but about 50% of the symptoms they discuss are the same as would be reported by a person diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I also personally benefited from watching Tom answer questions submitted by viewers.

I have personally found something useful in each of the 7 videos and bet you will too. Taking the time to watch has been a sound investment for me and my entire family. Please send the link below to friends and family who are searching for viable solutions to their health problems.

About the Betrayal Series

Robert Rodgers PhD
Parkinsons Recovery

Naturopath John Coleman, ND, discovered that using the Aqua Hydration Formula was a critical factor to his own recovery from Parkinson’s Disease. John is one of the first persons to my knowledge who succeeded in reversing his Parkinson’s symptoms in the mid 1990’s.

I interviewed one of the developers of the Aqua Hydration Formula, Dr. Jaroslav Boublik PhD, who answered questions about the Aquas and their use in addressing the symptoms of Parkinsons Disease.

Are you taking all the best medicines and supplements for your Parkinson’s symptoms and doing the exercises recommendedby the experts and yet not seeing a reversal of your symptoms? I have a good guess for you about why.

You may be dehydrated. Simply put, your body cannot take in the nutrients nor discharge the toxins if there is not enough water in your body.

When you your doctor answers the question: “What can I do to feel better?” by saying – “Drink more water,” do not laugh. Your doctor is probably right.

Dr. Boublik is my book of experts is the international expert on water and hydration. His research centers around the effects of dehydration. Dr. Boublik answers questions about the effects of dehydration on your health and how you can realistically address the problem such as:

Why do we get dehydrated as we age?
Why is hydration so important to eliminate toxins?
If I add such substances to my diet such as – salt, energy drinks, coffee, tea, alcohol, colas, milk – will I be better hydrated?
What are the symptoms of dehydration?
Is drinking structured water a good idea?
Can good hydration reduce Parkinson’s symptoms?
Will better hydration enhance mental clarity?

Jaroslov Boublik is also one of the two developers of the Aquas (www.aquas.us) a homeopathic treatment for dehydration.

For more information about the Aqua hydration formula visit: https://www.aquas.us

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery

Yoga for Parkinson’s

I have aired several Parkinsons Recovery Radio shows over the years about doing yoga for Parkinson’s. People generally report a positive experience. It gets the oxygen moving throughout their body and is great exercise.

What follows is an email from Steve who offers a fresh perspective on yoga.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease 

In Touch of Life: The Healing Power of the Natural Life Force, author Robert Fulford,
a gifted doctor and healer, shares his wisdom after a 70 year career of healing  with the hands. I treasure like his insights. They come from clinical experience, not book learning. It is authentic knowledge.

Dr. Fulford argues that most yoga teachers and some students are heavily damaged from doing yoga. The damage can be for life since their ligaments have usually become over lax from aggressive stretching. He strongly cautions about doing yoga. This is 70 years experience speaking.

Actually muscles do not stretch. The primary focus of yoga in ancient days was not stretching! When the west got hold of yoga that is what happened.

I paraphrase next from the wisdom of Ruthy Alon who is my gold standard when it comes to knowledge about human movement.

• Yoga is from the East where people are more receptive, have less ego, are more culture oriented and don’t have a strong self identity and all that goes along with that.
• It is the opposite in the West where a strong ego and self-identity are needed to just survive.

Yoga poses strengthen the self-identity and will and are perfect to balance the Eastern psyche. Taken to the West, they can over balance the westerner who is already too strong in ego and self identity. For the western world it would be better for people to do flowing energy movements like Tai Chi, Qigong, Feldenkrais and the like as these therapies soften and harmonize the being in a way that yoga cannot do.

This also is 70 plus years of wisdom speaking from Ruthy.

Steve