by T-Can
republished from T-Can’s Planet Thrive blog with permission
Technique Two: WHEE
I use this technique if I feel I am not getting anywhere with the tapping, humming, and counting alone (I explained in detail how I do this in my previous post), or if I need some variety. A clear explanation of this technique can be found here.
This is a simple tool but has helped me release blocks to my healing. For instance, if I am tapping, but have a persistent chemical taste in my mouth, I will stop the tapping and then use WHEE to target the chemical taste. I recommend doing this with a smile on your face. Here is how I do it:
1. Create the set-up. “Even though I can taste chemicals in my mouth, I love and accept myself wholly and completely, and God [Christ/Allah/the Infinite Source etc] loves and accepts me wholly, completely, and unconditionally.”
2. While repeating this affirmation, I pat my biceps alternately, side to side, while doing what is referred to as the “butterfly hug”. The butterfly hug is done with arms crossed in front of chest with hands patting the biceps; this is explained in the WHEE article.
I do this technique for a few cycles until I feel some relief. If I don’t feel any relief, I try to locate any underlying negative thoughts or beliefs that might be there. For instance, I might be thinking, “I don’t even think this is going to work.” So I will do the butterfly hug and pat my biceps while saying the new set-up:
“Even though I don’t even think this is going to work, I love and accept myself wholly and completely, and God [Christ/Allah/the Infinite Source etc] loves and accepts me wholly, completely, and unconditionally.”
I’ve found that the WHEE process can also release blocks to motivation. For instance, one evening I was supposed to go out to a friend’s going away party. I had an exposure earlier in the day that left me feeling discouraged and fatigued and I really just wanted to skip the party and go to bed. I had actually just read through the WHEE process, and as I lay down, I decided to see what happened if I tried the WHEE. I used the set-up,
“I’m discouraged and fatigued and I don’t want to go to the party.”
While doing this for a few cycles, I realized that underneath this thought was another one:
“I am worried that people will be wearing fragrances at the party.”
So I then used this thought as my set-up and did a few more cycles of WHEE:
“Even though I am worried that people will be wearing fragrances at the party, I love and accept myself wholly and completely, and God loves and accepts me wholly, completely, and unconditionally.”
After only 3 or 4 cycles of this, I noticed I had more energy and that my worrying about exposures at the party had vanished (I could always leave whenever I needed to, right?). So I got dressed and left for the party. I had an amazing time with absolutely no reactions even though there were about 40 people milling about, some of whom were wearing fragrance.
Another huge block that I discovered was an underlying fear of getting better. This surprised me, but I decided to do WHEE with that thought as my set-up. While doing it, it occurred to me that I was afraid of getting better because then much more would be expected of me by others, and what if I get better and then get ill again? I believe that a part of my subconscious brain was creating a block to getting better because it was afraid of change. While continuing to do the WHEE, I was able to process that and release the fear of change. For me it was a powerful and emotional breakthrough. I am new to WHEE, but I think it has a ton of potential to help with motivation and blocks in other areas (i.e. creative blocks for writers, artists, etc).
Technique Three: HAMR
You can find out everything you need to know about this brain retraining tool at the official website http://www.hamr.com/ There are PDFs of the technique that are downloadable for free, and if you are interested I recommend downloading the “HAMR Starter Program.” It’s a small PDF file with diagrams and easy to understand instructions.
If you decide to apply HAMR to MCS as I have done, I would recommend first practising the HAMR Lessons 1-11 in the above mentioned Starter Program. Practise this until it flows naturally before you try the HAMR for MCS. This HAMR lesson is powerful in itself for instilling a sense of self-worth by using an affirmation of being chosen by everyone in a competition.
I took the basic HAMR procedure and changed the wording in order to change my brain’s beliefs about fragrances and common chemicals. I honestly don’t believe this is a “mental” process; I believe it actually creates a shift in neurology. I can’t prove it, but the first time I used this it produced a very strange sensation in my brain that I can only describe as something shifting. It was actually a bit disorienting at first. The creator of the program says that some people describe this sensation as an altered state, or a sense of exhilaration. I definitely identify with the feeling of being in a temporary altered state, and found after the exercise that I needed to lie down for several minutes to let my brain do its thing. It won’t necessarily happen to you, but if it does, know that it is apparently a common reaction.
I would recommend that anyone who tries this out do so no later than a few hours before bedtime, because I found it difficult to fall asleep for some time after the exercise. And I probably would NOT do this technique right before driving or operating heavy equipment. I would even suggest that anyone who suffers from mental disorders should talk to their doctor before trying this out. It’s that powerful for me. I have no idea if this will be helpful for anyone else. This may also work better if other forms of brain retraining are used first for a period of time, and you may want to change the wording to suit you. Try at own risk!
HAMR for MCS
First, recall the “safe space” that you created (mentioned in my previous post, and explained quite well in this video, but you don’t do the butterfly hug while doing the HAMR exercise… I suppose one could, but it would be difficult with only two arms!). Visualize it until you can feel the strong, positive feelings. This feeling is to be used in the exercise as the “NEW” thought and you should be able to conjure up this “safe space” and all the good feelings that come with it for the exercise.
I drink a big glass of water before and after this one, I find I get really thirsty. Using the base exercise found in the HAMR Starter Program, I begin with Lesson 3 and work down to Lesson 11. I replace the “CASE” thought and the “NEW” thought in the sample lessons as follows:
CASE thought: This includes all perfumes, fragrances, fabric softeners, cleaners, paints etc that trigger reactions. The exercise can also be done with one item at a time. For instance, I did it with cinnamon, which for some reason I’d been reacting to and never had before.
NEW thought: This is the feeling you get from your “Safe Space.”
Here is how I do it. Please refer to the HAMR Starter Program if necessary for diagrams.
Holding hands out, palms up.
1. Imagine NEW thought (Safe Place–stay with it as long as you need to in order to evoke a really good feeling)) in left hand
2. Imagine NEW thought in right hand
Then:
3. Imagine CASE thought (perfumes etc that trigger reactions) in right hand
4. Imagine CASE thought in left hand
Then:
5. Imagine CASE thought in right hand
6. Imagine NEW thought in left hand
7. Pretend that the NEW reaches over and spills in the CASE hand.
8. Pretend that the CASE reaches over and spills in the NEW hand. (My note: At this point I not only spill the one hand into the other, I shake them up as if I was shaking a pair of dice; this seems to work well for my brain.)
Then:
9. Imagine CASE thought in left hand
10. Imagine NEW thought in right hand
11. Pretend that the NEW reaches over and spills in the CASE hand.
12. Pretend that the CASE reaches over and spills in the NEW hand.
Then:
13. Imagine the PAST thought (choose something simple, positive or neutral in your past, to activate the part of the brain used for recall) in right hand
14. Imagine the PAST thought in left hand
Then:
15. Imagine the FUTURE thought (a simple thought of your future health and vitality) in right hand
16. Imagine the FUTURE thought in left hand
Then:
17. Imagine the PRESENT thought (look quickly at your surroundings) in right hand
18. Imagine the PRESENT thought in left hand
Then:
19. Quickly imagine PAST in right then left hand
20. Quickly imagine FUTURE in right then left hand
21. Quickly imagine PRESENT in right then left hand
Then:
22. Slide one hand under the other and press both hands into chest. Hold hands against chest for a few minutes and let your brain reorganize healthy neurons. Focus on your “safe space” if you find it helpful.
That’s the whole process. I’d be interested if anyone else finds it helpful. I’ve been doing this once or twice a day at the most. I found a startling reduction in my reactions the next day. In fact, what I noticed even most is how “normal” and free I felt. The positive effects are still accruing for me.
[Note: I’ve been playing with it in the past few weeks and have noticed it is much more effective if I skip the steps 19-21 since they seem redundant to me, and I want to stay as close to the good feeling of the “safe space” as I can. I also should note here that when I get to the part of invoking the “safe space” feeling into the hands, I stay with that safe space until I can really feel the good feeling. This is important. And I have a theory on why this works (at least for me):
By evoking the good feeling (especially of love and safety), and then by “spilling” it symbolically into the other hand (which contains items that typically cause reactions) and mixing them, I am training my brain to associate these items with the good feeling. The brain cannot travel along two divergent paths at the same time, so it chooses the easiest one–the good feeling. This exercise has proved to completely remove the negative reaction I used to get from chemical products and fragrances. As each day goes by, the effect is strengthened.]
On top of the positive effect this exercise has had on my recovery, I am using it to neutralize all kinds of negative thoughts and beliefs I have long felt no control over. There are some false beliefs about myself that no matter how hard I have tried to talk myself out of, I couldn’t shake them. But after only using the HAMR technique a few times I have completely neutralized them! What a terrific tool.
If anyone tries any of these techniques, I hope it works for you. I’d love to hear how you’re doing, or if you have any suggestions or tips on how you’ve accelerated your own healing.
Some people may be reading this with the misinterpretation that I am saying MCS is psychological, “all in our heads,” something that can be fixed by talking to a good shrink and taking some meds. I am 100% not saying this at all. I understand that people with MCS have been fighting this misnomer for years. I know first hand that this illness causes real, sometimes debilitating and deadly physiological problems. I want to reiterate what EMDR therapist Robin Shapiro wrote on her website about treating MCS with EMDR:
“…new research has shown that MCS can be caused by a “kindling” in the brain. It’s not psychological. It’s more like a reflex or phantom limb pain.”
Brain retraining is not simply changing how we think or feel, as if it was that easy to cure my MCS. Brain retraining is a very methodical, repetitive process that changes the neurology in the brain. I don’t believe this can be done by simple talk therapy. I can’t imagine that people suffering from phantom limb pain could “think” their way out of the pain. In the case of phantom limb pain, an original trauma causes the impaired neurology, which results in the phantom limb pain. Brain retraining changes the neurology and the pain vanishes. Similarly, I believe that we need to “fix” our neurological impairment caused by the original trauma, and we can also do that by retraining our brains. There are many methods out there to facilitate this. Robin Shapiro and EMDR, Annie Hopper with her DNRS, Ashok Gupta with his ART, and also those of us discovering other techniques are all pioneers in brain retraining for MCS. People are being healed of their neurological impairments and are becoming MCS-free, thanks to new applications of neuroplasticity. I am one of them.
photo © Rolffimages | Dreamstime.com
T-Can (short for Toronto Canary) lives in Toronto, Canada with his two cheeky budgies.
T-Can WOW. WOW. WOW. This is a great piece of writing. I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the effort and time to write this two part piece. I am in my 7th month of brain retraining using Gupta and have hit a wall simply because I am always being evacuated from a non-EI/MCS methane situation on my property. My partner who provides round the clock care is a normal person with no illness but is now ill from the methane. Honestly, I was at my end with the paralysis and hourly evacuations and then saw that Julie Genser had posted your phenomenal writing. You came just in time man. I am going to add the WHEE an HAMR to my Gupta. I actually had to stop reading the HAMR instructions because my brain started to change just reading the exchange of hands thing. Like I said, ‘Wow.’ Big kiss.
I’ve been doing Gupta since Oct 2011 and have seen some progress but not much in terms of MCS ( mainly in energy and concentratatjon). This seems to be very complimentary with Guota. How would you recommend this for working with chronic fatigue?
e.i.–glad to read that you got something out of my post. Thank you for the kind comments. It’s been a while since I wrote these two pieces, and when I use the HAMR now I have added something. When the exercise is done and my hands are pressed against my chest, I hold them there while visualizing my “safe space.” Let me know if it works for you.
Evan–all I can say is that it couldn’t hurt to try different tools. I don’t know if you suffer from body pains with chronic fatigue, but if it is not too uncomfortable for you I really recommend acupressure tapping in any form, whether than be EFT, TFT, Whee, etc. But it does take time and a lot of persistence, it did for me.
Wish you all well on your journeys back to health!
T- Can In one of your blogs on Planet Thrive describing your brain retraining adventure, you mention you have a list of things you used the EFT on, an extensive list. I know it is different from what I may require, however, I seem to have a steep memory loss even from word to word, and my EFT acupressure point list is 14 items. My journal for Gupta is even shorter because I don’t have anxiety or fear of a situation, so I have to work Gupta from a back door way I developed, essentially without a list. I would benefit by using your list as a guideline, where I could pick and choose what resonates within me. Would you be willing to post your extensive list of things you tapped on?
E.I… I can’t recall exactly which blog post you are referring to. But I know I did make a list of experiences to use EFT and WHEE on… some of them are personal and I’m not comfortable sharing them. Basically, I went back in time in my memory to every experience where I felt danger, or something life threatening. If while recalling an event I still felt a twinge of negative feeling, I kept on (mostly with WHEE) until there was no longer a negative response to the memory. I hope that helps!
Hi t-can fistly thankyou for going too such lenghts too explain things. Basically this hamr tecnique is a very similar but diferent version of Guptas stop stop stop/accellerator tecnique. Have you done Gupta ? I found I wasnt really getting very far untill I changed the tecnique a bit and did many more repetitions daily, im currently doing arount 40 reps/cycles a day on specific topics and YAY it just started helping instantly. The stop stop stop method also acceses the past mind then the present mind and then the future mind and alternates negative thought patterns with positive patterns, so its the same thing, and thats fantastic because they are both helping people. Something I also recently descovered was that if my meditation wasnt going well and my mind was wondering off onto thoughts, that my mind was actually accesing the imaginary part of the brain , that is too say the past or planning in lala land fantasy future and that my eyeballs were always pointing up, so too stop it I dipped my head down or open my eyes momentarily thus pointing the eyeballs straight foward or down and this changes the focus of the mind too the moment the present time ,i could suddenly stop daydreaming and meditate again,once again changing the focus of the mind and accessing a different part of the brain. Personally I hope these techniques are in their infancy and that through collaboration they will get more powerfull. But try it ask someone too tell you something they did in the past the present and then make up something from the fure and watch the direction of there eyeballs, its fricken hallirious, but everytime you can watch there mind accesing a different part of the brain by following there eye balls.
Thanks for the comment Karl, no I don’t own Gupta but assume from what I have read that it is similar to DNRS, which I do own. What you say about eye direction and accessing different parts of the brain is great, I have read the same thing, and that you can tell if someone is embellishing a story by the direction their eyes are looking. Fascinating. :)
Glad to read that you have found a way to make the Gupta exercise work for you. I concur with you that I hope eventually the various methods will be more accessible to those who need them, and tweaked to be as powerful as possible. Keep on retraining!
T-Can, I join the others in thanking you for taking the time to write and post your article, and congratulate you on your amazing success!
I had a couple of questions: You mention leg pain early on. I was wondering how severe this was, and how long it took to really notice a difference? I have severe pain in my feet, which has gotten worse over the years, but has become so bad lately that I’m basically housebound as well. Really hard to get one’s mind off of pain when it’s so bad, but I have to admit that it does go away from time to time, so at least part of it must be a fear-based issue perhaps related to recovery or literally ‘moving forward’.
Also, I was wondering if you ever looked at or tried the “Faster EFT” videos on youtube? I’ve tried some of them, and it seems to really work on some things (so far), without all the rigid setups and scripts that Gupta and regular EFT use.
Interested to hear your comments.
p.s. The reason I mentioned “faster EFT” is that it also seems to be similar to parts of the HAMR techniques, especially the ‘case’ thoughts and replacing those with a ‘new’ thought.
Hi Dan. Thanks for your comments, sorry I’m so late in replying. Part of my recovery now is dependent on avoiding anything that might reinforce a trauma loop (theoretically the neuron(s) created in the initial trauma, that causes the symptoms when exposed to chemicals that are benign to most people). So I have been making the effort to only check up on this and other sites once in a while until my healthy neurons are stabilized.
The pain in my legs before brain retraining was not completely debilitating. I could walk, but only short distances because the pain was quite uncomfortable. I noticed that the pain usually occurred shortly after an exposure and lasted for a period of time afterwards. This pain was miraculously gone quickly after doing DNRS and hasn’t returned, other than a few occasions and vanished after a few minutes of brain retraining. I hope you find the same relief with your feet pain.
No, never heard of “faster EFT”, I’ll look into it, thanks!
As for your pain, I’m not sure if you are a member at PlanetThrive, but there is a group there for something called “Open Focus”. It is a meditation technique that has helped people reduce pain. I use it successfully for insomnia and anxiety, it’s really terrific and I urge you to check it out. You can borrow the books at your local library for free.
Thanks T-Can. I am a member at Planet Thrive, but like you, I find that if I’m online too much, then my pain, fatigue, etc., just get worse. I’ve been following a certain thread over there, and want to comment more, but will have to pace myself and post when I can. Thanks for the heads up on “Open Focus” — haven’t heard of that before — will definitely look into it. :)
I am interested in doing the dnrs and wanted to make sure it was a real thing…. I have had mcs and now am sensitive to electronics… just wanted to make sure it was a real thing before I purchase. Would love to hear your comments.
Terresa, DNRS is a real thing, and people really are recovering from mcs with the program. Same can be said for Gupta’s Amygdala Retraining Program. I reached around 75% better using only DNRS in two months. From there I went on to use EFT because it was a better fit for me, but others have been using DNRS to reach full 100% healing, many have done so really quickly, though most seem to be gradual. I was really worried about wasting my money on DNRS because I was recently laid off and on a very limited income, but I have to say it was well worth it. It did come with a money-back guarantee, not sure if it still does or not.
That said, if you want to give EFT a try, it doesn’t cost a thing. Thanks to Dan I discovered Faster EFT, there are loads of videos if you do a search on youtube, and you can simply use the phrases “hypersensitivity to chemicals, scents, etc I let it all go…. it’s safe to let it go… I let it go” while tapping. Really focus on imagining a situation where you are exposed to chemicals before and during the tapping. Simply imagining a situation that your limbic system feels is unsafe is enough to turn the amygdala fight or flight into the “ON” position, and tapping is known to turn that switch back off. The more you practise, the more your brain starts to follow the new path.
Wish you the best!
This is really great.. Your writing and the links you referenced. Big thanks!
PS: The HAMR technique seems complex.. Definitely not one to be attempted first time in the fog!
i’m doing the DNRS dvds now. i almost can’t wait to be done with the dvds, so i can try T-Can’s additional techniques he describes in this blog. thank you for writing and blogging. you are doing a big service to the community.
Thanks Kat and rrrr. Rrrr, I really recommend FasterEFT, Dan told me about it back in April after I wrote this article. I find FasterEFT far and above more effective than anything else I have used for brain retraining. There is already quite a lot of conversation about FasterEFT over in the Brain Retraining Group at planetthrive if you want to look into it, including a few video links by a woman who has used FasterEFT to heal a whole host of problems.
Wish you the best with DNRS, it is a really terrific introduction to brain retraining for mcs and other ei’s, how and why it works, etc. Keep in mind that you need to start with the conviction that you will do the exercise every day for at least 6 months, and that you may or may not notice a difference right away but don’t be discouraged. It can take a long time for the brain to switch back to a non-emergency state and stop producing symptoms. I really think FasterEFT and others are also great in conjunction with DNRS. Illnesses are always better treated from many different directions. Cutting out any stimulants was important for me, still is, including caffeine, hot pepper, even stress-inducing media and television.
thanks, t-can! i’m done with the dvds and will soon begin to learn about fasterEFT. you are a real help! — rrrr
All i can say is, I love you, for posting this detailed account of your process for curing MCS. It has helped me immensely just now in the simple reading of it. I look forward to practicing daily and moving beyond chemical sensitivity. Namaste~
T-Can, thank you so very much for sharing this. You helped me tremendously by pointing me toward some things I hadn’t seen before. I have used EFT with great success, and in combination with some other things I feel that my own MCS, OCD, and Lyme challenges have improved remarkably. A few years ago I was barely able to stand or eat, I was swinging between intense anger and depression, I reacted intensely to any sythetic fragrance or chemical and even many natural thing, and I couldn’t stop obsessing or giving in to an increasing number of compulsions. I found that HAMR has been an incredibly powerful technique that helped me get from 70% better to 99%+ in about a week. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I would like to share a write-up I did on HAMR because I think that it is FAR more powerful when practiced “correctly.” I definitely know that everyone is different, and so what works for one person may not work for another. So I really hear that for you (T-Can) dropping steps from HAMR is effective. For me, however, I discovered that when I applied the technique as described in the HAMR manual I started seeing astounding results (the free instruction on the HAMR site is terrible and, in my opinion, is unlikely to yield powerful results unless you get lucky.) You can see my write-up at http://lymealive.com/2013/03/11/hamr-a-powerful-tool-for-getting-well/ . (I intend to write more on that site as I can about other things that have helped me.) If you don’t want to read that, then I can summarize briefly: do all the steps, do them gently and quickly, don’t worry if you’re getting it “right” or not, the thought/word seems to be as effective as a complex visualization so do whatever is easiset and quickest, spacial awareness during the past/future/present steps is very helpful and increases the effectiveness maybe ten-fold. (have a sense of behind you when thinking past, in front of you when thinking future, and in your hands when thinking present.)
Also, WHEE (or any alternating meridian tapping) seems to be extremely effective during any acute experiences such as anxiety or intense bodily sensations AS THEY ARE HAPPENING. I use this fact to help stablize the HAMR afterward if I discover that the sensations produced after the HAMR are themselves very intense. HAMR and WHEE together seem to be very powerful.
Thank you again, T-Can. And thank you to everyone at Planet Thrive. What a gift.
Thank you so so so much for sharing your experience with these techniques! I will be incorporating them in my daily routine from now on. I know what you mean with feeling impatience to get well, right now my parents have to provide for me since I had to drop out of school and I really want to get better soon so I can start providing for myself again. I have been using the Gupta programme for about a month and so far I find that the meditation, visualisation and also yoga has helped a lot! I also started another meditation; Isha Kriya, which i find to be very helpful (although at first I felt a little uncomfortable doing the chanting but after reading about the benefits from it I’m happy to do it). You can learn it from this site: http://www.ishafoundation.org/Ishakriya I have faith in a brighter MCS-free future for us all! :)
As I was reading about the HAMR technique, I instantly had a flashback to a trauma I experienced years ago. I decided to just do the technique using the trauma as my old thought. I found that I had an intense emotional reaction and was very off balance and anxious for a while after I did it. Does that mean I did it wrong? Afterwards I used some WHEE to try to bring the anxiety down, and it did seem to help. So how are you supposed to feel after you do the HAMR?
Hi Bianca, I’m just seeing your comment now. Doing the HAMR technique – which is really similar to picture switching in NLP – can leave you a bit disoriented. It’s never left me feeling anxious though. I wonder if you have managed to anchor a really positive memory (a memory that makes you feel really good when you think about it), because when you collapse the “bad” memory by switching it with the good memory, the good will collapse the bad – the brain will automatically go with the good feeling. I would suggest trying a less traumatic memory to start with, perhaps if you have anxiety over a bar of fragrance soap being near you, use that as the bad memory that you want to collapse. Once you get the hang of the technique you can start experimenting with other memories. Just remember to always take responsibility for your own emotions and if it seems too much for you, don’t use it. WHEE may just be the thing for you.
Just found this site today. Unbelievable what I have learned from your sharing. Just started my journey of retraining my brain. Am excited to know the technologies available and to hear first hand how people are retraining for a better life. I’ve pushed trauma away all my life with my I can get through this attitude or just ignoring the hurt. But no more. My time has come to let go, rearrange my thinking and brain and resurrect a new future. With the help of others like on this site as they share, and being consistent and dedicated, I have hope! Thank you all again. I look forward to some day paying it forward to help others that are to come this way.
So do you just imagine the fragrance during HAMR or do you actually introduce it to your body?
I’m finding that I cannot get much to change by just imagining it.
Also, Do you think that you need to be REALLY calm to do this? I find it hard to calm down.
Finally, do you think DNRS is necessary?
I have been researching as much as I can regarding mcs recovery and came across your site which I am very grateful for! I have decided to order the DNRS and then want to incorporate your techniques also. I can’t seem to connect with the WHEE sites. Can you advise on how I may view this technique? Hope your recovery is still going well!
so any progress over these 2 years