Interested in building upon recent studies showing that imagery helps post-stroke patients relearn daily tasks, researchers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China investigated whether imagery could also help with generalizing skills on trained and untrained tasks in new environments in a small, randomized, controlled clinical trial. 

Thirty-five acute post-stroke patients were randomly assigned to an imagery training group (n=18) or conventional functional rehabilitation (n=17) group. The imagery intervention was 3-weeks of standardized practices and daily tasks using chunking-regulation-rehearsal strategies.

Outcome measurements were the performances on trained and untrained tasks in the training and novel environments.

Question:  

I'm very new to guided imagery. After listening to Healing Trauma for a couple of weeks, I find that my mind now "goes off" somewhere (sort of like right before falling asleep, but not sleeping). I am aware that thoughts are flitting in and out but I can't remember what I was "thinking" about or otherwise doing. And I have no memory of anything said on the CD. This usually lasts for most of the entire CD.  I feel relaxed when I "awake" but am wondering if, because I don't remember hearing anything on the CD past the first few minutes, if I am missing the whole point or IS that the whole point? This doesn't happen when I just listen to the affirmations. Thank you so much.
PS, I love your voice, it is so soothing and calming.
Christy

We got this marvelous email from a phobic driver, who got herself back behind the steering wheel by playing affirmations… she probably has no idea how much good company she’s in with this challenge  Here it is:

I wanted to share my experience with affirmations and driving. Maybe if there is someone else like me, it might help.

I am 48 years old and am terrified of driving. I got my driver’s license at age 16 as did all my peers, but never drove until I was 22 and starting my first teaching job after getting my degree.

When my father was dying of kidney cancer back in 1959 (probably from copper dust contamination acquired while making bullets at the Watertown Arsenal during World War II) our family was told not to tell him he was dying, lest he deteriorate even faster.  As a result, my mother was denied the comfort of sharing her feelings with her best friend – her husband - about the single most impactful and horrible event in her 47-year-old life.  

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of sitting with dying friends. Two families really touched and impressed me with the way they’ve been handling this tough journey.  It struck me that our norms are really changing at last - we’ve gotten much better at dying than we used to be.

Question:

Dear Belleruth,
I am very disappointed that you mentioned the word cancer in the Healthy Immune System program.  I have lung disease and very much wanted to use the program with my own psychotherapy patients.  I now see that this is out of the question. You should have warned your purchasers in advance that this was a cancer CD. I will have to return this.  I expect a full refund.
Sincerely,
Lawrence P.

Researchers from the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation in Bangalore, India studied the effect of integrated yoga practice and guided relaxation on both perceived stress and measured autonomic response in healthy pregnant women.

The 122 healthy women in the study were recruited between the 18th and 20th week of pregnancy at prenatal clinics in Bangalore, India, and were randomized to practicing yoga and deep relaxation or standard prenatal exercises 1-hour daily. Forty-five participants in each group completed the study, and were evaluated by repeated measures analysis of variance.

Please forgive the mixed food metaphor, but if schmaltz is your cup of tea, you mustn’t miss the inspired kid stories that Celine Dion pulled together for her latest  book, currently being featured on Ms. Oprah’s show.  There won’t be a dry eye in the blogosphere, and even if you do feel a tad manipulated by the slick production values of perfectly edited video and slide show production, you still can’t deny the power of these terrific stories and the intention behind their creation.  Click here to check ‘em out.

Hey, everyone.

I love Sara Altshul – I met her when she was writing for Prevention Magazine – and her recent article:  What Happens when a Natural Remedies Guru Comes Down with Swine Flu seemed to me to strike just the right notes.  Rather than botch it up in translation, I’m going to paste it in here.  This comes from her terrific weekly column for Health.com, which you can find here.

When I wrote about ways to prevent the H1N1 flu virus last month, I never suspected I might actually catch the bug myself. I’m healthy, and I’m committed to my three-times-a-week gym workouts; plus, I eat well, and I take vitamins. So when, a few days ago, I started feeling flu-ish, I was pretty surprised.

Question:

Hello, I want you to know that in the late 1990s, my husband and I saw a marital counselor in Atlanta and bought one of your recordings for depression. It helped tremendously! Thank you so much!

Now the same husband and I are going through a divorce. After 26 years of marriage. I have several chronic illnesses, some brought on by stress from living in an emotionally abusive situation for so many years. I would like for you to recommend a place for me to start. I am not sleeping well and have a broken heart and spirit.  I am doing my best to heal, but I am taking it one day at a time and know this is a long process. Please advise me on which CD/DVD would be best.

With Much Gratitude,
Della

Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in The Netherlands explored whether self-help could offer an inexpensive and more accessible alternative to face-to-face treatment, comparing non-pharmacological therapies only.

Ten studies with a total of 1000 subjects were included. The self-help style of intervention was found to improve sleep efficiency (d=0.42; p<0.05), sleep onset latency (d=0.29; p<0.05), waking after sleep onset (d=0.44; p<0.05) and sleep quality (d=0.33; p<0.05) but not total sleep time (d=0.02; p>0.05).