Ashok Gupta generously dontated some DVD sets for us to offer as rewards for our campaign. The first day, 4 out of 5 were taken. I'm sure the last set will be gone as soon as this goes out.
I first came to hear Ashok Gupta's calming voice when I was in unrelenting pain. My brother gave me a CD of the meditation he had recorded, and I ended up listening to it non-stop for days. It was the only thing that could help me calm down.
Based in England, Gupta describes the relationship between the amygdala (flight or fight) and the frontal cortex (conscious awareness and reason) in ways that echo Dr Sarno's work. He points out that when we are scared by something for the first time, be it a speeding bus or a final exam, the amygdala checks in with the frontal cortex to see if it is correct in activating the flight or fight response. If the cortex affirms this response along the lines of "YES! You need to get out of the way of a speeding bus!" then the next time we get near a moving bus, or get an exam dropped on our desk, the amygdala does its job and floods our body with stress hormones so that we are ready for the attacker. However, it doesn't check in with the cortex anymore, so instead of being conscious of the stress, we are more unconsciously anxious. If our emotions are scary to us - i.e. we are repressing them - then this response is going on all the time, and we become chronically unconsciously stressed. This plays havoc with our body, and often times pain is one of the first signs. Through mediation and journalling, we can become more aware of this process and begin to change our conscious response to these stresses.[emphasis mine]
