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Donna Jackson Nakazawa: The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and ...

Discussion in 'Mindbody Video Library' started by Forest, Feb 28, 2014.

  1. Forest

    Forest Beloved Grand Eagle

    Barbara Kline, LCSW, just forwarded a fascinating interview broadcast yesterday on "NPR Midday:"
    The life of journalist and author Donna Jackson Nakazawa took a dramatic turn when she experienced numb limbs, muscle spasms, poor reflexes and a host of other medical problems.

    Stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease that sent her into years of physical therapy and doctors’ visits, her life boiled down to basic survival. Things turned around for Nakazawa when she met a Johns Hopkins doctor who introduced her to mind-body therapies. She chronicles that journey in "The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy and My Life."​

    In The Mindbody Prescription, Dr. Sarno is clear that autoimmune disorders aren't TMS but that emotions may play an important role. In that spirit, Donna was able to recover about 90% of her lost functionality using mind-body interventions that she describes in the interview and details in the book.

    The book looks tremendous because she, as a science writer, she is able to summarize vast swaths of cutting edge mind-body science and make it relevant to our lives. She hits all of the best science: ACE, mindfulness, meditation, amygdala/brain regions, cortisol/allostatic load, psychoneuroimmunology, enjoying life, breath, yoga, laughter yoga, etc.

    For reference, ACE, or the Adverse Childhood Events study just came up in this thread:
    http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/thread...mental-health-problems-and-chronic-pain.3793/

    Psychoneuroimmunology is a major interest of Dr. Gabor Mate's in his book, When The Body Says No:
    http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/videos-on-mindbody-and-childhood-stresses.3880/
    http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/dr-gabor-maté-on-the-the-stress-disease-connection.1307/

    Even laughter yoga has come up recently here (only touched on briefly at the end of the interview):
    http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/thread...e-you-laugh-in-this-subforum.3750/#post-22783

    The full audio of the 50 minute interview is available at the WYPR web site:
    http://wypr.org/post/last-best-cure


    Finally, if you're more visual, here is 3 minute video of the author at a book reading:

     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2014
    LindaRK likes this.
  2. nancy

    nancy Well known member

    Forest, this was an amazing video, will watch the rest in the am. My problem is going over the past
    about past events. Eric has helped me a lot with this, I still need a push, will listen to the video's
    over and over tomorrow, thank you so much. God Bless You, Nancy
     
  3. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)

    Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021) Beloved Grand Eagle

    A good video, if short. We learn that most of our day is spent on positive things and thoughts
    but about 2 percent on worries, anxieties, and they can cause us pain.

    It's another good reminder to not think about our symptoms or even the causes too much
    and spend most of our time enjoying our life and being in the moment.
     
  4. Forest

    Forest Beloved Grand Eagle

    For those who haven't listened to this interview, I can highly recommend it. I'm not thrilled with the host, but the author herself is wonderful. She is smart and very well informed, but manages to make everything very relevant to daily life.

    Here's the link to the NPR interview:
    http://wypr.org/post/last-best-cure

    You can download the full 50 minute interview to your mp3 player or phone using the following link:
    http://cpa.ds.npr.org/wyprmain/audio/2014/02/Healing.mp3

    I just got her book and am looking forward to checking it out.
     
  5. James59

    James59 Well known member

    The video closely matches the teachings of Eckhart Tolle.
     
  6. Ellen

    Ellen Beloved Grand Eagle

    Great interview! I will definitely add her book to my list. I got several great techniques from just this interview. I am going to do the one today of putting post-it notes up that say "Forgiven".
     
    Forest likes this.

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