In this Issue
|
Issue No. 6 July 1, 2007
Dear Subscribers,
We move into the summer and continue publishing our monthly newsletter. Please read our newsletters and pass them on to others. Your participation is greatly appreciated. For those who want to communicate with us using USPS Mail they should address their correspondence to:
Transforming Dragons Network
10455 N. Central Expressway
Suite 109-155
Dallas, Texas 75231
Thank you all for your continued interest and support of Transforming Dragons.
What to Expect After Listening
by Gerald Vind, PhD
After listening in accordance with the instructions, TD listeners experience an inner calmness and a shift or transformation in perspective. That shift is from being at effect of their feelings and emotions, to being at cause. This is accompanied by a heightened awareness of the dynamics of one’s life. There is also a much lighter and brighter outlook on life.
In order for a fundamental shift to take place, listeners must invest their full attention and their strong intention into the TD process. If a listener does not follow the instructions provided, and they have a casual approach to the TD experience, their results will be diminished.
We invite all of our TD listeners to share their experience with us. .
Back to Top
New TD Module 5 is near completion
by Gerald Vind, PhD
We have designed and recorded a new Module 5 that follows the Transforming Dragons Module 4. The added web-page design is underway and should be completed in mid-July. Module 5 will be available only as an audio-file download. The plan is to also offer the first four TD CD Modules as a download as well. It is strongly advised that listeners to Module 5 first experience Modules 1 thru 4.
The Module 5 audio file contains a story designed to produce an alternative re-imprinting of the bonding and love between mother and father. Listeners are guided to participate in an alternative prenatal experience that stimulates the production of oxytocin, and thus adjust new neurochemical response patterns.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that acts in the human body-mind. In women, it is released during the birthing process, and during breast feeding. Oxytocin is also released during orgasm in both sexes, and also during plesant surprises. Oxytocin is an important neurochemical in social recognition and bonding, and it is involved in the formation of trust between people.
The structure of oxytocin is very similar to that of vasopressin. Oxytocin and vasopressin were discovered, isolated and synthesized by Vincent du Vigneaud in 1953, and he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in 1955.
Vasopressin has also been of particular interest for its role in social behavior. Vasopressin appears to also be released in the brain during sexual activity, and it initiates and sustains pair-bond between the sexual partners. Both oxytocin and vasopressin are released in the brain during intimate sexual bonding.
Why a Module 5?
How many get into relationships that are screwed up by going about it backwards? Ideally, a relationship between a man and woman follows these steps: rapport, communications, friendship, trust, physical intimacy and sex (that may lead to pregnancy). In keeping with the prevalent fast-food mentality, couples often fail to develop a foundation of friendship and trust (two facades courting each other) and they rush into sex, pregnancy, and problems.
Under such circumstances a pregnant woman may fail to adequately stimulate the neurotransmitter oxytocin in her baby, and the result may be a child born with a down-regulated oxytocin production, and thus may have problems in forming interpersonal bonds, and experiencing love.
Module 5 will not only benefit-oxytocin disadvantaged soles, it will benefit everyone. Oxyticin production makes us feel good, and continued work with Module 5 will up-regulate oxytocin production. Why not feel wonderful? Why not up-regulate your oxytocin production?
Module 5 is split into two separate audio files. The introduction by Dr. Vind will be available as a free download. The experiential process of Module 5 can be purchased through our new digital product online store for $4.95.
Back to Top
TRANSFORMATION
by Gerald H. Vind
In Transforming Dragons, we talk about a “personality transformation program,” and the question is asked: What is transformation?
Transformation is more than change, it is a fundamental alteration of a pattern or a system. In the field of biology, transformation is a post-natal biological process called metamorphosis. Within the field of genetics, transformation refers to the introduction of a change in genetic material (from outside of a cell) that results in an alteration of the host DNA; and thus, the host cell is transformed by a process called mutation.
There is a fundamental principle involved in transformation, and it is worthwhile to take a few moments and examine a deeper meaning.
About 30-years ago I was serving on a board of directors of a health care organization, and I had several opportunities to spend time with a consultant who was hired to help the organization to plan its future. The consultant was named George Land, and he had at that time recently published a book titled: Grow or Die: The Unifying Principle of Transformation. As the author of this 1974 paperback, his name then was George T. Lock Land. However, George married a woman named Ainsworth, and so he changed his name as author of the hardcover printing of his book (in 1986) to: George T. Ainsworth-Land. Subsequently he has simplified his name to George Land.
I had several lengthy conversations with George Land, and found him to be very knowledgeable and inspiring. He has mastered every field imaginable, and he is the closest person I have encountered to being a universal expert. I have had the opportunity in my life to work with many very brilliant minds, and I have not encountered anyone with his breadth and depth of knowledge in so many fields.
George Land advances the idea that all living systems are either growing or dying, and there is no sustainable stasis. Land developed what he called a general systems theory of transformation. Accordingly, we live in a world that is in dynamic tension between the opposing forces of order and disorder.
The closed world (reductionist) view sees everything in terms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The Second Law holds that things go from a higher order to a lower order, from higher to lower complexity; e.g. water runs down hill (not up), and things wear out turning ultimately to dust. This is true for closed systems, however, living things (especially humans) are not closed systems, and thus can move to higher orders of complexity.
George Land explained to me that the disordering force of the Second Law of Thermodynamics was in opposition to an ordering force that is active in the universe. Land introduced me to the work of Ilya Prigogine, who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1977 for his theory of dissipative structures. Through Prigogine’s work we can see that life forms are complex open systems that are able to move from lower to higher orders of complexity.
Land incorporated Prigogine’s ideas into his general systems theory of transformation. Land explained this to me as he drew a line as an arrow from left to right in the middle of a sheet of paper. The direction of the line represented the passage of time, moving from left to right. At the left end of the time line, Land drew a vertical line that represented increasing order above the time line, and decreasing order (or increasing disorder) below the time line. Living systems grow to increasing orders of complexity above and along the time line.
Land explained to me his three fundamental patterns of growth apply universally. He drew a curve along the time line, as he explained that growth takes place in three fundamental phases. The first phases he calls the accretive phase. This is the getting-it-together phase, and we can observe it operating from the molecular level to the level of microorganisms, and to the level of business and governmental organizations. He explained with an example of a boy playing with an Erector Set, and he is surveying the array of parts on the floor before him. After free play with some parts, the boy begins to assemble them into a structure.
Land drew the curve from flat with the time line to begin to curve upward toward the right. Land said that the boy moves form the accretive phase to the replicative phase, as the pattern of order is repeated over and over again.
At some point in the growth process, continuing to repeat the same pattern cannot be sustained; as in the example, the boy who is building a bridge and he does not have enough long pieces to continue his structure (growth). This brings in a crisis where the growth process must transform or growth must stop. Land drew the slope of a bell-shaped curve. As one moves up the curve you are increasing growth and order. At the top of the curve there is no longer growth, and there is a process of increasing disorder as one continues down the slope.
For growth to continue there must be a transformational process. Using the example of the boy with an Erector Set, he can transform his plans from a bridge to a fort, and begin to transform his basic structure to allow the growth process to resume. Land explained that there is a potential for a fundamental transformational phase within all growing systems. When we can no longer grow we die, unless we can transform our process to resume growth.
Many people are blocked in their growth, and they are slowly dieing. This is a condition that Land calls “quiet desperation.” Others simply give up and they die more quickly. When we look at our life we can find ourselves repeating the same patterns over and over again, even when they are no longer productive and they no longer allow us to grow and enrich our lives. We can see this in a resume of a job applicant who claims ten-years of experience, when in reality he had one year of experience ten times.
In the science of Prenatal Re-Imprinting we have a fuller awareness of the prenatal imprinting that starts to form response patterns before we are born. After birth, our life seems to become more and more automatic as we enter into a replicative phase of growth. Eventually, we encounter barriers to the continuation of our established patterns, and we stop growing.
Transforming Dragons and Prenatal Re-Imprinting operate at our foundational level to revisit the origins of our maladaptive patterns and to transform them into positive alternative foundations. In this process we are able to expand our awareness about: ourselves, our relationships, and our lives. We can to begin to grow again; we can move from quiet desperation to a personal transformational phase.
The field of physics has marked some paradigm shifts. In classical Newtonian Physics we are the detached observers of our world. In the field of Quantum Physics we find that the very act of observing influences our measurements. Beyond this, we now have the awareness that the act of observing our measurements also influences us as the observer. This new paradigm is referred to as Transformational Physics.
We live in a wondrous and dynamic world that is presently going through major transformations. Are we going to be part of the world’s problems, or part of the healing? The key to our participation is in our ability to expand our awareness, and then to inspire others.
It is worthwhile to recall a quotation from psychologist Carl Jung: “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” Thus, in our reactive interactions with others we transform them; and we are transformed by them.
My fervent desire is to facilitate an expansion of human awareness through the Transforming Dragons Personality Transformation Program. I welcome you, and greatly appreciate you joining with me and assisting in this quest.
Back to Top
THE DRAGONS OF VIOLENCE
by Gerald H. Vind
The clinical dynamics of violent behavior are well known, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Yet, you readers who are listeners to Transforming Dragons have an insight that most people do not have. Even professionals in the American Psychological Association (APA) are only just beginning to examine the underlying mechanisms of violence that have their origins in the prenatal experiences in the womb.
The American Psychological Association (APA) addresses violence on their website as follows:
“Violence. It’s the act of purposefully hurting someone. And it's a major issue facing today's young adults. One in 12 high schoolers is threatened or injured with a weapon each year. If you're between the ages of 12 and 24, you face the highest risk of being the victim of violence.
At the same time, statistics show that by the early 1990's the incidence of violence caused by young people reached unparalleled levels in American society.
There is no single explanation for the overall rise in youth violence. Many different factors cause violent behavior. The more these factors are present in your life, the more likely you are to commit an act of violence….”
The APA goes on to say:
“There is never a simple answer… But people often commit violence because of one or more of the following:
Expression. Some people use violence to release feelings of anger or frustration. They think there are no answers to their problems and turn to violence to express their out of control emotions.
Manipulation. Violence is used as a way to control others or get something they want.
Retaliation. Violence is used to retaliate against those who have hurt them or someone they care about.
Violence is a learned behavior. Like all learned behaviors, it can be changed. This isn't easy, though. Since there is no single cause of violence, there is no one simple solution. The best you can do is learn to recognize the warning signs of violence and to get help when you see them in your friends or yourself.”
The psychological and social perspectives are important, but the promise of significant change in the level of violence must address the prenatal roots of violence. The field of neuroscience has many studies that are shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of violence.
Many new insights into these underlying mechanisms are coming from genetic studies of the molecular biology of neurotransmitter regulation; and these studies are providing insights into the neurobiology of violent behavior. Neurochemicals (neuropeptides, regulatory peptides, and hormones) involved in the regulation of violent behavior are under study with new brain imaging methods.
Violent behavior develops as a result of complex interactions between neurobiological and environmental factors. Some of the neurobiological mechanisms of violent behavior are similar or identical to those mechanisms found in suicidal behavior. (1)
Many neurotransmitters and hormones are involved in the modulation of aggressive behavior. Most of the current science strongly points to the importance of the neurotransmitter serotonin and catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline). Norepinephrine plays an especially important role in aggression.
Aggression is neurochemically similar to suicidal behavior, and it is associated with increased norepinephrine (noradrenergic) activity. Elevated levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine (adrenaline) have been experimentally related to hostile behavior. (2)
Serotonin exerts inhibitory control over impulsive aggression. Various studies have associated violence with a deficit found in various measures of serotonin function. The subjects in these studies were diagnosed with personality disorders and alcoholism.
Research has also found that a deficiency in two enzymes are important biomarkers of impulsive and violent behavior: monoamine oxidase (MAO) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). MAO and COMT are involved in the breakdown of catecholamines, including norepinephrine.
Severe maternal stress depletes an expectant mother’s norepinephrine levels. This stress can also produce natural opiates that further inhibit the release of norepinephrine. During pregnancy these natural opiates pass through the placenta and influence neurological development of the prenate. Depletion of norepinephrine, accompanied by excessive amygdala activation, and opiate release, can lead to permanent structural and functional neurological development by affecting brain interconnections, synaptic size and densities, and responsiveness.
Under conditions of severe maternal and or fetal stress, an abnormal form of neuronal interconnections can develop along with a reduced response threshold. Thus, a child’s foundational capacity for empathy and socialization are handicapped. After birth, continued exposure to severe stress continues to handicap developmental processes.
Children with severely disrupted development are impacted in five primary neural systems involved in regulating a child's response: Reticular Activating System, Locus Coeruleus, Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis.
These five areas are the foundational areas in what’s known as “the inner most part of the brain.” They are all involved in the altered neurobiology of violence, and they are all best influenced in a therapeutic process through Prenatal Re-Imprinting (PNRI). The use of the Transforming Dragons audio experience helps to reduce the level of inner chaos, and to prepare for a subsequent PNRI-centered therapeutic process.
References:
(1) Mann JJ: “The Neurobiology of Suicide”. Nat Med 1998; 4:25–30
(2) Gerra, G., Zaimovich A., Avanzini, P., et al: Neurotransmitter-neuroendocrine responses to experimentally induced aggression in humans: Influence of personality variable. Psychiatry Res. 1997; 66:33-43
Back to Top
THE WONDER YEARS
By Gerald H. Vind, PhD
In terms of the science of Prenatal Re-Imprinting, we have very intriguing evidence of the importance of the prenatal period on all subsequent developmental processes. We have significant evidence of our ability to facilitate superior development in all areas, such as superior intelligence, motor skills, and coordination. Rapport, attention, and love of the prenate from the moment of conception by both parents (who were cleared of their "dragons" with PNRI) have produced children that have truly extraordinary abilities. While the evidence is at present in the form of anecdotal studies, it is likely that controlled studies with a larger number of subjects will substantiate the current evidence.
For many years we have known that the period following birth is most important for subsequent developmental processes. Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago, has conducted extensive research on the early influences on human intelligence: "Put in terms of intelligence measured at age 17: from conception to age 4 the individual develops 50% of his mature intelligence... This would suggest the very rapid growth of intelligence in the early years and the possible great influence of the early environment on this development." (1)
Research by Colwyn Trevarthen at Edinburgh University, Scotland studied many hours of infant behavior while interacting with their mothers, and has this recorded on sound film. Trevarthen is primarily interested in babies' embryonic "intention to communicate," 'pre-speech and early gesticulation,' and "integration of experience with communication of intent." Trevarthen’s work points us to the prenatal period as having great importance. (2)
The fact that babies can communicate at birth indicates prenatal development and learning are taking place. One of the primary sensory channels is auditory.
Even though a series of acoustic barriers buffer a fetus from the outside world, the fetus lives in a stimulating matrix of sound, vibration, and motion. Many studies now confirm that voices reach the womb, and are not overwhelmed by the background noise created by the mother and placenta. Speech patterns, as well as musical sounds, reach the fetus with very little distortion. Our mother's voice is particularly powerful because it is transmitted to the womb through her own body reaching the fetus in a stronger form than outside sounds. (3)
Music and voices (especially the mother’s voice) can have a significant influence on prenatal development. Prenatal responsiveness begins some eight weeks before the ear is structurally complete around the 24th week. This “pre-hearing” is a reactive and primal listening, that is, a patterning that forms first on the skin and skeletal framework that are the foundations of the complex structures of the ear that will follow. With responsive listening proven at 16 weeks, hearing is clearly a major information and learning channel that is fully operational at about 24 weeks before birth. (4)
Sounds have a surprising impact upon the fetal heart rate: a five second stimulus can cause changes in heart rate and movement that last up to an hour. Some musical sounds can cause changes in fetal metabolism.
More fundamentally than musical sounds, however, are the rapport and the intention to communicate by the mother. In our last newsletter there was an article: “Thoughts, Intentions, and Emotions Influence Prenatal Development,” and this describes several levels of prenatal influence.
There are nonverbal messages from mother to her fetus that take place at a cellular level in the mother’s orchestration of emotional neurochemicals. These maternal messages can cover an extreme emotional spectrum. Let us consider two different cases for example: 1. A happy mother in a happy family setting, and as her pregnancy progresses she eagerly anticipates holding and loving her baby. 2. An unhappy mother in an emotionally toxic family setting, and as her pregnancy progresses she experiences more and more dread and despair.
The neurochemical orchestration by the happy mother is emotionally nurturing and develops a positive growth experience for the fetus with an eagerness to learn and to experience more. On the other hand, the unhappy mother is creating an emotionally toxic experience for her fetus forming a complex generalization in a neurochemical representation of the concept: “I am not wanted.” The unwanted fetus responds by withdrawing, and will miss the window of opportunity for exceptional growth and development.
The window for exceptional prenatal development begins very early in a pregnancy. Solid foundations for lifelong learning and exceptional achievements can be established in the gestational period. This window of prenatal readiness is the focus of the WonderBaby Program. See: www.wonderbabyprogram.com
The WonderBaby Program strives to expand awareness at all levels about the importance of the prenatal period in realizing our full human potential. In summary, the WonderBaby Program is described in its workbook as:
“The WonderBaby Prenatal Enrichment Program is designed to help expectant parents work in harmony with Nature to produce an exceptionally gifted child. By combining science, tradition, and practical experience, the WonderBaby Program presents a ‘paradigm shift’ in our approach to parenting and family development. With a unique, dynamic, and extraordinarily proactive philosophy, the WonderBaby Program gives expectant parents a set of principles, exercises, and guidelines for an exceptionally fulfilling pregnancy.”
References:
(1) Bloom, B. Stability and Change in Human Characteristics - New York, London, Sydney: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., (1964:68).
(2) For a popular article on Trevarthen's research see Patrick Young’s, "Babies Can Communicate at Birth," The National Observer (24 July 1976), pp. 1-4.
(3) See: Busnel, Granier-Deferre, and Lecanuet, 1992.
(4) PG Hepper and BS Shahidullah; Queen's University of Belfast, School of Psychology; also R. E. Lasky and A. L. Williams: The Development of the Auditory System from Conception to Term NeoReviews, March 1, 2005; 6(3): e141 - e152)
Back to Top
Recommended Reading: The Second Brain
Michael D. Gershon is considered to be the father of neurogastroenterology. He has written a book titled: The Second Brain. (1999, Harper Perennial, paperback) This is a groundbreaking book that provides new understanding of nervous disorders of the stomach and intestine.
Our second brain, that is located in our gut, is composed of many of the same types of cells that use the same neurotransmitters as the brain in our head. Consequently, both brains are affected by many of the same drugs and diseases, even though they operate largely independently.
The human autonomic nervous has three parts: sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric. The sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems connect the brain to the major organ systems. The third part is the enteric nervous system. Remarkably, the enteric nervous system (our gut) is very densely populated with neuronal tissues with as many neurons as in the spine. The process of regulating sphincters, peristaltic contractions, gastric juices, digesting and assimilating food requires extensive neuronal activity. Over 90-percent of the neurotransmitters produced in the body are produced in the enteric nervous system. The connection between the brain and the gut is through the vagus nerve, however, the gut will continue to function just fine when the vagus nerve connection is severed. Thus, the complex operation of our gut is capable of operating autonomously.
“We know that there is a brain in the bowel, however inappropriate that concept might seem to be. The ugly gut is more intellectual than the heart [which has extensive neuronal tissue] and may have a greater capacity for “feeling.” It is the only organ that contains an intrinsic nervous system that is able to mediate reflexes in the complete absence of input from the brain or spinal cord.” (p-xii)
Dr. Gershon is very passionate about the brain in our gut, and he has done an excellent job of explaining some very complicated physiology and neurochemistry. As students of PNRI we are concerned with the prenatal imprinting on the limbic system, however, we also need to be concerned with neuronal imprinting in other part of the body. Gershon addresses research on the encoding of enteric receptors, and tells us that prenatal development lags the development of the paleocortex.
“Although it is obvious that life itself depends on having an enteric nervous system that has developed well enough to function at birth, the enteric nervous system of a newborn animal or person is still not fully mature. Development continues postnatally….How long after birth humans continue to add enteric nerve cells has never been determined…” (p270)
However, Gershon estimates on the basis of studies of mice, that the human enteric nervous system continues to develop and add new cells for about three years after birth.
“The postnatal acquisition of new enteric nerve cells means that an infant’s nervous system is still plastic and developing. It is therefore possible that the early experiences of a young bowel can affect the “personality” of the second brain when it matures.” (p270)
While the “brain” in our gut lacks the complexity of the brain in our head it is subjected prenatally to developmental imprinting from the extreme stress reactions experienced by the mother. Thus, the foundations of eating disorders can have roots in the enteric nervous system.
It is important for our understanding of the enteric nervous system that we recall that Candice Pert holds the view that we are one bodymind. In Prenatal Re-Imprinting and in Transforming Dragons we address the whole bodymind by operating through the most powerful means of reprogramming maladaptive behavior in the limbic system. In this process the enteric nervous system is a silent participant in the re-imprinting experience.
Yes, there are “dragons” in the gut as well as the “dragons” in the paleocortex in the brain. The meta-language effects of Transforming Dragons, and PNRI are all inclusive, and the enteric nervous system responds accordingly.
Back to Top
Financial Support
Some supporters of Transforming Dragons have suggested that we include a way for people to make contributions to expand the TD network. Accordingly, we have established a fund under the Applied Neurosciences Institute (ANI). The ANI is part of the Congressional District Programs, a 501(c)(3), 509(a)(1) public charity, and shares its federal tax status (Tax Identification Number 65-0970090).
Contributions should be made payable to the Applied Neurosciences Institute, and mailed to:
Transforming Dragons Network
10455 N. Central Expressway
Suite 109-155
Dallas, Texas 75231
Back to Top
Mail Bag
by You!
We invite you to submit your comments and questions to us by email. Your privacy will be protected.
FD writes: I played your [TD] program for a disturbed adolescent, and it had the effect of calming him down, and preparing him for a more successful therapeutic process following. I found the afterthoughts by Dr. Vind to be valuable listening as life coaching, especially his concluding comments.
Back to Top
|
)