Frequently Asked Questions

The frequently asked questions about topics in my book and course are listed below. 

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Consciousness and Physical Correlates

Q: What is the higher mind, and how does it relate to our consciousness?

A: The higher mind, also known as the higher self or soul self, is an energetic aspect of our consciousness that projects out of our physical body and connects us with the unified energy field. It is a spiritual channel that knows only the truth.

Q: What is the unified field of energy that the higher mind connects to?

A: Scientists hope to explain the unified energy field one day with a Unified Field Theory. It consists of energies connecting everyone and everything, including the spiritual realm and earth plane. The higher mind has the capability to tap into this field.

Q: What is the difference between nonlocal and local intuition?

A: Nonlocal intuition comes from an unexplained knowing through the higher mind, unrelated to pattern recognition or memory. In contrast, local intuition originates in the conscious and subconscious minds based on the brain's pattern recognition and memory retrieval functions.

Q: What is the heart mind, and how does it relate to the higher mind?

A: The heart mind is the consciousness of the heart, containing the wisdom of unconditional love. Research suggests the heart mind is the first part of consciousness to receive nonlocal intuitive information from the higher mind through the unified field.

Q: What are the two main parts of the autonomic nervous system, and how do they function?

A: The autonomic nervous system has the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight stress response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the rest-and-digest relaxation response. Mindfulness and meditation help balance the two.

Q: How can the heart mind be used to balance emotions?

A: The heart-mind contains the high-energy emotion of unconditional love, which can be tapped to transmute and balance low-energy emotions like anger and shame.

Q: What is the difference between beliefs and truths?

A: Not every belief is a truth, despite having the belief. The truth about beliefs can be discerned through healthy integration of the conscious and subconscious minds.

Q: What are limiting beliefs, and how do they impact us?

A: Limiting beliefs are untruths embedded deeply in the subconscious mind, often from childhood, that limit us somehow. They act like a virus infecting the mind and muddying the subconscious filter through which we perceive experiences.

Q: What is the DNA mind, and how do thoughts affect it?

A: The DNA mind is the consciousness permeating our DNA, which contains the genetic blueprint for the body-mind. Thoughts can trigger changes in DNA to turn genes on and off, impacting health, aging, and more.

Mindfulness and Meditation

Q: What are mindfulness and meditation?

A: Mindfulness and meditation are powerful mind-body practices that involve paying attention to the present moment without judgment. They involve watching, witnessing, and allowing one's experience.

Q: What is the goal of mindfulness and meditation from a health perspective?

A: From a health perspective, the goal is to trigger the relaxation response, which is the opposite of the stress response. This results in a cascade of positive physiological changes, including reduced stress hormones, a balanced autonomic nervous system, and the body beginning to repair and heal itself.

Q: How does coherence in heart rate variability reflect a balanced autonomic nervous system?

A: According to the HeartMath Institute, coherence in the beat-to-beat variation of heart rhythm reflects a balanced autonomic nervous system. This coherence is then propagated to all the body's organ systems, resulting in optimal functioning of the entire body.

Q: What is an easy way to start practicing mindfulness and meditation?

A: An easy starting place is to simply focus on your breathing. Set a timer for 5 minutes, get into a relaxed position, close your eyes, and take slow, deep breaths in and out. When your mind wanders, gently bring your focus back to the breath.

Q: What is the optimal way to breathe during a breath meditation?

A: The optimal breathing is belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing. This engages the diaphragm, improves oxygen flow, and triggers relaxation by stimulating the vagus nerve. The abdomen should extend outward on the inhale.

Q: What are some ways to practice mindfulness throughout the day?

A: You can practice mindfulness while sitting, standing, walking or eating by fully engaging in the present moment. Use reminders like alarms or sticky notes to cue yourself to be mindful. Engage all your senses when doing everyday activities like washing dishes or laundry. Use nature as a cue to be mindful when you step outside.

Q: What is a grounding visualization practice that combines imagery and meditation?

A: Stand barefoot on the earth, close your eyes, and visualize roots extending from your feet to the earth's center. Take slow belly breaths and imagine releasing fears and frustrations into the earth. This is a powerful grounding meditation.

Q: Why is mindful eating important, and how can you practice it?

A: Mindful eating is important because the main purpose of eating is to replenish nutrients and support metabolism. Many people eat comfort foods to self-medicate. Be mindful of the types of foods you eat, remembering food is energy. Enter a state of gratitude before eating to support digestion. Savor each bite and chew mindfully.

Q: Why is mindfulness so important?

A: When you engage in the present moment without judgment, you leave behind regrets from the past and worries about the future. Free of resistance, you’re less likely to trigger a stress response, and your autonomic nervous system begins to balance.

Q: Why is the present moment so powerful?

A: Everything happens only in the present moment. The present holds the powers of action, manifestation, and creation. By practicing mindfulness, you maximize present-moment awareness, which maximizes the potential for creating anything you desire.

Q: What are some different types of meditation?

A: Open awareness meditation involves being fully present without specific focus. Concentration meditation focuses on the breath or a mantra. Mindfulness meditation combines open awareness with concentration. Guided visualization follows imagery arising in the mind. Heart-centered meditations conjure emotions like love and compassion.

Q: What does research show about the effectiveness of meditation?

A: Studies show meditation programs result in moderate improvement in anxiety, depression, and pain. It has anti-inflammatory effects comparable to drugs without side effects. It may prevent age-related brain atrophy. Imagination during meditation can create new neural pathways.

Q: How do mindfulness and meditation influence genes through epigenetics?

A: Your environment, including thoughts, can trigger genes to turn on and off, creating wellness or disease. The relaxation response from meditation causes genes to express in ways that optimize health - increasing energy production, reducing inflammation, improving blood sugar regulation, and preserving telomeres.

Q: What is self-directed neuroplasticity, and how does meditation enable it?

A: Self-directed neuroplasticity is the ability to create new neural connections in the brain through regular mindfulness and meditation practice. This leads to structural changes in brain regions associated with attention, interoception, sensory processing, and self-awareness. It may prevent age-related brain atrophy.

Q: How can you overcome resistance to meditation?

A: When starting out, your mind may resist the new practice out of familiarity with old patterns, even if they cause suffering. Push through the initial discomfort, as it won't last long. Consider meditating with a partner to encourage each other. Use reminders, affirmations, and journaling to reinforce the practice.

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Stress

Q: What are the two main categories of stressors?

A: The two main categories of stressors are physical and psychological.

Q: What are some examples of physical stressors?

A: Examples of physiological stressors include very cold/hot temperatures, injury, chronic illness, or pain. These stressors put physical strain on the body.

Q: What are psychological stressors?

A: Psychological stressors are events, situations, individuals, comments, or anything we interpret as negative or threatening.

Q: What is the effect of stressors on the body?

A: Stressors cause the release of stress hormones in the body, which over time, if prolonged, degrades the body’s systems.

Q: Why is stress considered highly personal?

A: Stress is highly personal because we have to interpret or perceive a situation as stressful.

What stresses one person is different from what stresses others.

Q: What are some important components required to work through and let go of an unresolved emotional conflict?

A: Working through and letting go of an unresolved emotional conflict requires being ready to see the original event that created the conflict and seeing this original event with a peaceful higher awareness, which can be achieved through meditation.

Q: How can unresolved emotional conflicts falsely empower the ego while disempowering health?

A: Unresolved emotional conflicts may falsely empower the ego. Someone may decide that holding onto anger is a reminder to never let a similar situation happen again, creating an illusion of safety. But in reality, holding onto anger reminds them of feeling unsafe, keeping the nervous system in a stress response that eventually breaks down the body's systems.

Q: What are some ways the subconscious mind is like a computer hard drive regarding unresolved emotional conflicts?

A: The subconscious mind can remember every event in life like a hard drive. If a memory contains an unresolved emotional conflict, it acts like a virus affecting the entire body-mind. There are possible ways to search the subconscious for these "viruses" and delete them.

Q: What percentage of doctor visits are estimated to be stress-related?

A: Some estimate that 60-90% of all doctor visits are stress-related.

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Q: How does stress influence genes and inflammation in the body?

A: Chronic uncontrolled stress can turn genes on and off, creating excessive inflammation that causes disease.

Q: How does perception cause emotional stress?

A: Emotional stress always starts with perception—how one perceives their environment determines whether it triggers a stress response or not. Two people can perceive the same situation differently, one finding it stressful and the other not.

Q: What is the most important point about perception causing stress?

A: The most important point is that stress caused by perception is always due to resistance to what is. When you feel resistance about something, it triggers a stress response. Without resistance, a stress response is less likely to be triggered.

Q: How can mindfulness and meditation help reduce stress responses?

A: Mindfulness and meditation can help one enter a state of non-resistance and peacefulness associated with higher awareness. This allows responding from a place of clarity rather than reacting. Regular practice can help change perceptions to reduce overall stress responses.

Q: What are the two main parts of the autonomic nervous system, and what do they regulate?

A: The two main parts are the sympathetic nervous system, which regulates the fight-or-flight stress response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates the rest-and-digest relaxation response.

Q: How does long-term stress affect the balance of the autonomic nervous system?

A: Long-term stress generally creates an imbalance of high sympathetic activity and low parasympathetic activity, resulting in a predominant chronic fight-or-flight response that breaks down the body's systems.

What part of the brain is damaged by chronic stress, and what does this cause?

A: The hippocampus, loaded with glucocorticoid receptors that interact with stress hormones, degenerates when overstimulated by chronic stress. This degeneration of the hippocampus causes memory loss

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Functional Medicine 

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Q: What types of foods might optimize your health according to functional medicine guidelines?

A: A predominantly plant-based whole food diet with organic fruits and vegetables, colorful produce, spices, high-quality proteins like organic grass-fed meats, wild game, and wild-caught fish, raw nuts and seeds, and healthy fats like olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil.

Q: What types of fruits might be best to eat and why?

A: Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries because they are rich in healthy phytonutrients and relatively low in sugar compared to other fruits.

Q: Why might you reduce starchy potatoes, pasta, and rice in your diet?

A: Because they are high-glycemic-index foods that rapidly turn to sugar in the body and interfere with proper blood sugar metabolism. Excessive starchy high-glycemic index foods might potentially allow pathogenic bacteria and yeast to thrive in the gastrointestinal tract.

Q: What is the difference between conventionally raised meats and optimal meats?

A: Conventionally raised meats contain antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides due to how the animals are fed and raised. Optimal meats come from wild or pastured animals, allowed to free range, and eat grass and insects. Conventional meats are higher in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.

Q: Why is wild-caught fish preferable to farm-raised fish?

A: Farm-raised fish are fed grains, which changes their meat from a healthy omega-3 fatty acid predominance to an unhealthy inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid predominance. Farm-raised fish are also more likely to contain chemicals, antibiotics, and pesticides.

Q: Who may benefit from taking nutritional supplements?

A: People who are chronically ill, chronically stressed, or don't consistently eat a healthy diet may benefit from taking nutritional supplements like a high-quality multivitamin-multimineral.

Q: What types of folic acid and vitamin B12 might you look for in a multivitamin supplement?

A: Look for methylated forms of folic acid (methylfolate, methylenetetrahydrofolate) and vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin, hydroxocobalamin) in multivitamin supplements, as these are the biologically active forms.

Q: What is nutrigenomics?

A: Nutrigenomics studies how nutrition status affects gene expression and how genes affect nutrition needs.

Q: What is methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and why is it important?

A: MTHFR is a key enzyme in the methylation biochemical process, which is important for cellular repair, detoxification, neurotransmitter production, and proper immune function. Some people have genetic variants that lead to decreased MTHFR enzyme activity.

Q: How do MTHFR genetic variants impact MTHFR enzyme function?

A: If the MTHFR genetic variant is heterozygous with one affected gene, the enzyme functions at about 60%. If the variant is homozygous with both genes affected, the enzyme functions at only 10 − 30%.

Q: What health conditions are MTHFR deficiency variants associated with?

A: MTHFR deficiency variants are associated with chronic diseases such as ADHD, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression. The deficiency limits the conversion of folic acid to its biologically active form.

Q: What precautions should be taken when supplementing with methylated folic acid for MTHFR deficiency?

A: When supplementing with methylated folic acid, it's important to supplement with methylated B12 to avoid masking a B12 deficiency. Start with a low dose of 400mcg every other day. Stop if any worsening of symptoms occurs. Consult with a licensed functional medicine practitioner for guidance.

Q: Why is vitamin D deficiency so common?

A: Vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic because many people live and work mostly indoors and get little sunlight exposure.

Q: What did a study find about the health risks of avoiding sun exposure?

A: A study found that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.

Q: What should you do if you don't get regular sun exposure?

A: If you don't get regular sun exposure, get your vitamin D level tested and adjust your sun exposure or supplement with vitamin D with Vitamin K2 based on the results under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner.

Q: Why are beneficial gut bacteria essential for optimal health?

A: Beneficial gut bacteria are essential for optimal health because they help digest food and maintain a healthy immune system. Beneficial gut bacteria help regulate the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), which comprises most of the immune system.

Q: What are some natural ways to maintain beneficial gut bacteria?

A: Eating fermented foods like organic yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut on a regular basis is a natural way to help maintain beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Q: What problems can an imbalance of gut microbes lead to?

A: An imbalance of good to bad gut microbes may result in dysfunction of the entire immune system. Overgrowth of yeast, parasites, and potentially pathogenic bacteria in the gut is common, especially in people with chronic health problems.

Q: What are some potential benefits of taking magnesium supplements?

A: Magnesium is a relaxant and may help alleviate chronic muscle tension, cramps, insomnia, and constipation. It is the most common mineral deficiency.

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Q: What precautions should be taken when supplementing with magnesium?

A: When taking magnesium, start with small doses, as it can act as a laxative. Avoid magnesium oxide unless you are severely constipated. Consider other chelated forms, like magnesium citrate or aspartate. Don't supplement with magnesium if you have kidney dysfunction.

Q: What are some ways to avoid environmental toxins?

A: To avoid toxins, choose more natural cleaners and cosmetics. Avoid spraying chemical pesticides in and around your home, and seek natural pest control services and products. An excellent resource is the Environmental Working Group website at www.ewg.org.

Q: What are some proven health benefits of regular exercise?

A: Regular exercise is one of the most studied and proven natural therapies for maintaining and improving health. It helps with sleep, prevents obesity-related diseases like type 2 diabetes, and can benefit the elderly by maintaining muscle mass and balance.

Q: What are the health benefits of getting out in nature?

A: Getting out in nature allows adequate sun exposure for vitamin D production and fresh air. Connecting directly to the earth may act as a natural anti-inflammatory. According to some scientists, walking in wooded areas (forest bathing) may reduce stress.

Q: Why is getting adequate sleep so important for health?

A: Adequate sleep is critical because most of the body's repair processes occur during sleep. The brain also detoxifies waste products and processes memory during sleep.

Q: What are some tips to improve sleep?

A: To improve sleep, aim for 7-8 hours per night, avoid stimulants like caffeine in the afternoon, remove electronics from the bedroom, avoid reading electronic devices in bed, sleep in complete darkness to stimulate natural melatonin release, avoid alcohol, and consider taking a warm Epsom salt bath in the evening to relax.

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Everything is Energy

Q: What is everything in our universe made up of at the most fundamental level?

A: Everything in our universe, including our body-mind, is made up of energy. Experts say the universe began as a massive release of energy known as the Big Bang.

Q: What does Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 imply about the relationship between mass and energy?

A: Einstein's equation E=mc2 alludes to the fact that mass and energy are interchangeable. Mass and energy are different manifestations of the same thing.

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Q: What abilities of the human body provide clues that we are energetic beings?

A: The ability to electrically measure body functions, such as the heart's activity with an electrocardiogram (ECG), the brain's activity with an electroencephalogram (EEG), and muscles' activity with an electromyogram (EMG), provides clues that we are energetic beings.

Q: How does energy relate to mindfulness, meditation, and prayer?

A: Consciousness, as thoughts, is made up of energy. Intercessory prayer may be effective in healing because you transmit energy as consciousness when you pray.

Q: What are scientists attempting to define with projects like the Large Hadron Collider?

A: Scientists are attempting to define all the energy particles at the subatomic level and devise a mathematical model that explains how all the energies in our universe interact - a unified field theory. This unified field connects the energies of everyone and everything, including the consciousness of the divine.

Q: Where might science and spirituality merge?

A: In the undiscovered mathematical model of the unified field theory is where science and spirituality merge. By aligning the energy of your consciousness with the divine energy of the unified field, you might access the paranormal, the miraculous, and the spiritual.

Q: What are some examples of how to consider the energetic aspect of life?

A: Consider the energy of food - nutrient-dense natural foods contain higher energy than processed foods. Also, consider the energetic aspect of relationships - optimal relationships offer an equal energy exchange. Unequal energy exchange in relationships over prolonged periods depletes the energy of the person providing the most energy.

Q: What will facilitate the great change in global consciousness?

A9: Harnessing the power of your thoughts through meditation, contemplation, and prayer, combined with unconditional love and compassion, will facilitate a great change in global consciousness - a remembering that we all originated from the same source of love and are all one.

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Heart Consciousness

Q: What is the heart mind?

A: The heart mind is the consciousness of your heart. It helps regulate balance in the autonomic nervous system, which emotions influence.

Q: How does the HeartMath technique work to create coherence?

A: The HeartMath technique involves visualizing breathing through your heart space while conjuring a high-energy emotion like gratitude, compassion, or love. This creates coherence in your heart rate variability, balancing the autonomic nervous system.

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Q: What are the two main types of intuition discussed?

A: The two main types of intuition are local intuition - related to pattern recognition and memory retrieval, and nonlocal intuition - intuition about information you shouldn't logically know, sometimes containing information about the future.

Q: How strong is the electromagnetic field emanating from the heart compared to the brain?

A: The electromagnetic field emanating from the heart is five thousand times stronger than the brain's electromagnetic field.

Q: What is coherence in heart rate variability, and what does it reflect?

A: Smooth sine wave patterns reflect coherence in heart rate variability. Coherence indicates balance since the autonomic nervous system and emotions are intimately connected. It also helps create efficiency in the body's systems.

Q: What did the HeartMath study on nonlocal intuition demonstrate?

A: The study showed the heart receives intuitive information about a future emotionally arousing stimulus 4-5 seconds before it occurs. The heart appears to receive this intuitive information before the brain.

Q: What are some of the amazing functions of the physical heart?

A: The physical heart has its own intrinsic nervous system or "brain", releases hormones like oxytocin, contains adrenergic cells that release epinephrine and dopamine, and has a powerful electromagnetic field.

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Your Subconscious Mind and Brainwave States

Q: What is the subconscious mind, and how does it function?

A: The subconscious mind is a memory bank that stores all of your life's experiences, even when you were in the womb. It works on autopilot in the background, constantly filtering your current experiences based on associated beliefs and emotions from past experiences. The subconscious mind is always running and helps regulate what you are unaware of.

Q: How are the subconscious mind and autonomic nervous system related?

A: The subconscious mind and autonomic nervous system are intimately related because they function on autopilot outside your conscious awareness. Because of this, the subconscious mind and its associated beliefs and emotions can affect your physiology via the autonomic nervous system, which regulates unconscious functions like heart rate, blood pressure regulation, and sweating.

Q: What are brainwaves, and how are they measured?

A: Brainwaves are the electrical activity of your brain measured in frequencies called hertz (Hz) or cycles per second. An electroencephalograph (EEG) is a device that measures and records these brainwaves. You are never in just one brainwave state, as multiple brainwave types are always occurring, but you can experience the effects of a predominant brainwave state.

Q: What are the different types of brainwaves and their associated mental states?

A: The main brainwave types from fastest to slowest are:

• Gamma (27-100 Hz): Associated with enhanced creativity, flow states, and incredible efficiency

• Beta (13-30 Hz): Alert concentration, focus, increased energy, stress/anxiety at higher ranges

• Alpha (8-12 Hz): Relaxation, pain/anxiety reduction, important for meditation and working with the subconscious

• Theta (4-7 Hz): Very relaxed states, light dreaming, self-hypnosis, accessing subconscious

• Delta (0.2-3.5 Hz): Deep dreamless sleep, body regeneration and detoxification

Q: What is brainwave entrainment, and how does it work?

A: Brainwave entrainment uses repetitive stimuli, often auditory tones called binaural beats or isochronic tones, to shift brainwaves into a desired frequency. If you listen to these tones set to a specific frequency long enough, your brainwaves can start to match or entrain to that frequency. This allows for achieving desired mental states like deep relaxation.

Q: What are some of the clinical benefits of brainwave entrainment?

A: Studies have found brainwave entrainment can reduce anxiety, decrease pain, including migraines/headaches, improve PMS symptoms, and help with behavior and learning in children with ADHD and other learning disorders. Theta frequency entrainment has been found to reduce perceived pain levels in those with chronic pain.

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Belief Versus Truth

Q: What is the difference between a belief and a truth?

A: A belief is something a person strongly holds to be true, but it may not actually be true. Conversely, a truth is factually correct regardless of whether someone believes it. Just because you strongly believe something doesn't make it true.

Q: What are examples of beliefs that are not true?

A: Prejudiced beliefs and stereotypes about groups of people are examples of beliefs that are not true, despite often being passed down through generations and strongly held.

Q: What is required to discern if a belief is a truth?

A: Discernment, closely tied to intuition, is needed to know if a belief is true. Discernment improves through regular mindfulness and meditation practice.

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Q: How do mindfulness and meditation improve discernment and intuition?

A: Mindfulness and meditation increase gray matter in brain areas associated with attention, self-awareness, and sensory processing. This enhances the ability to accurately intuit something and strengthens discernment.

Q: What are limiting beliefs?

A: Limiting beliefs are false beliefs that get stuck in the subconscious mind and limit a person, possibly sabotaging life experiences and relationships.

Q: When do limiting beliefs commonly originate?

A: Limiting beliefs commonly originate in childhood, when the brain is neuroplastic and malleable until around age 7. During this time, children also lack a clear concept of cause and effect, making it more likely that limiting beliefs will develop and become planted in the subconscious.

Q: How can positive affirmations be used as a starting point to identify limiting beliefs?

A: Core positive affirmations, like "I love myself unconditionally," can reveal limiting beliefs if they don't resonate or feel right.

Q: What is the Removing Limiting Beliefs meditation technique?

A: It involves getting into a deep meditative state, focusing on the limiting belief, noticing associated tension and emotion in the body, and then asking the subconscious and higher mind to reveal the circumstances around the origin of the limiting belief. With this higher awareness, one may be able to choose to release the belief.

Q: Why should the Removing Limiting Beliefs technique only be attempted if emotionally stable with a solid mindfulness practice?

A: Remembering a stressful event that created a limiting belief could trigger the autonomic nervous system's stress response. Emotional stability and the ability to sustain a peaceful presence are important. Those with doubts, recent trauma, mental disorders, or on psychiatric medication should consult with a professional before attempting this technique.

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Placebo Effect

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Q: What is the "inner physician" that resides within our bodies?

A: The inner physician is an exquisitely powerful and infinitely intelligent healing system that resides within our bodies. It has proven itself repeatedly when our bodies have healed without outside intervention. The inner physician is more capable when the mind and body are properly supported.

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Q: What is a placebo in a clinical study?

A: In a clinical study, a placebo contains no active ingredient or a sham procedure that doesn't involve active treatment.

Q: What did a 2002 study on osteoarthritis of the knee demonstrate about the placebo effect?

A: The 2002 study found that patients who underwent a sham procedure with only small incisions on their knee, without any actual arthroscopic procedure, did just as well at a two-year follow-up as patients with an actual arthroscopic surgery. This suggests the power of the mind in healing the body.

Q: What is the regulatory gold standard for testing the effectiveness of a medication or medical device?

A: The regulatory gold standard is a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. "Placebo-controlled" means a placebo is used as a control to test the true effectiveness of the real medication or procedure.

Q: What is the placebo effect, and what does it encompass?

A: The placebo effect is a psychobiological phenomenon, meaning it has both psychological and biological effects. It always results in some type of clinical improvement and is intimately tied to the ritual of the therapeutic act.

Q: What is the ritual of the therapeutic act in a placebo effect?

A: The ritual of the therapeutic act includes all components of any type of therapy—the patient's personal beliefs and expectations, memories of prior therapies, sights and sounds of health professionals and facilities, interactions with other patients, whether a needle or device touched you, and even the color, shape, and smell of medications. Most importantly, it includes the words spoken by doctors and healthcare practitioners, which contain seeds of hope and expectation for positive outcomes.

Q: What is the nocebo effect, and how does it differ from the placebo effect?

A: The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. It also begins in the mind and triggers the brain to respond, but unlike placebo, the nocebo effect has a negative impact on physiology, resulting in clinical worsening. It is triggered by negative suggestions and expectations.

Q: What does Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) show about how placebos affect the brain?

A: MRI shows that placebos consistently turn on certain parts of the brain and cause the release of specific neurotransmitters.

Q: What did a 2014 study on migraine patients demonstrate about quantifying placebo effects?

A: The study showed that a placebo's effectiveness can vary depending on the information given to the patient when they take it. Increasing the amount of positive information given with a medication or placebo incrementally boosts the effectiveness of both. All medications contain a placebo effect component.

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Q: What was the first human clinical study to show that immune suppression can be behaviorally conditioned by a placebo?

A: A 2002 study was the first to demonstrate this. Healthy young men were conditioned over 3 days by being given a flavored drink paired with an immune-suppressing medication. Later, they were given the same flavored drink but with placebo pills instead, and it suppressed their immune system to the same degree, showing their bodies had memorized and reproduced the effect.

Q: How have placebos been shown to affect Parkinson's disease?

A: Studies have shown that Parkinson's patients, when told they would get an injection of either a dopamine agonist or placebo, had at least a 200% increase in dopamine release, and 50% had motor improvement, even with the placebo injection. This demonstrates the power of belief to turn on the inner physician, even with degenerative diseases like Parkinson's.

Q: How can the psychology of the placebo effect be harnessed in meditation?

A: Before meditating, set an expectation for being well emotionally and physically, then bring this expectation into the meditation. Accessing the subconscious mind during deeper brainwave states conditions the subconscious to the new reality of wellness. It reduces anxiety, which increases parasympathetic tone to initiate repair processes. Truly believing the expectation of getting well is key.

Q: How does removing limiting beliefs help enable the placebo effect?

A: If there are limiting beliefs in the subconscious mind that you don't deserve a reward or to get well, it may block the inner physician's placebo response. Using affirmations can identify these limiting beliefs. If affirmations about deserving wellness trigger a negative feeling, the "Removing Limiting Beliefs" meditation technique can help remove them.

Q: What role does social learning play in the placebo effect?

A: Social learning, related to seeing or hearing about others being healed, is a psychological component of the placebo effect. This is well-established in placebo research on pain. Reading about others healed from serious diseases can enable social learning and facilitate the placebo effect.

Q: How can mindfulness help reinforce expectations of wellness?

A: Mindfulness can help guard against negative thoughts and beliefs about health, indirectly reinforcing the expectation of well-being. While negative thoughts may still arise from the subconscious, mindfully recognizing them, labeling them as thoughts rather than truths, and letting them pass before triggering a negative physiological impact is a skill that improves with meditation practice.

Q: What role does assigning meaning play in powering the placebo effect?

A: Assigning a deeply positive meaning to something, like a vision of being completely healthy, gives it the potential to become a truth that the body-mind will help make so. Intensely feeling something with all your heart in meditation, assigning it deep meaning, allows it to become a belief that possibly manifests physiologically.

Q: How does attitude influence the placebo effect?

A: Optimism is major in maximizing positive outcomes from the placebo effect. Optimists are much more likely to experience positive physiological placebo effects. Pessimists can use mindfulness to practice being more optimistic, which increases their chances of beneficial placebo responses. Pessimists are also more likely to experience negative nocebo effects.

Q: What are the key elements of the "Inner Physician" guided meditation technique?

A: The key elements are:

• Believe you can heal your body

• Set an intention to activate your inner physician

• Relax fully to allow your body's systems to align and repair

• Trust your inner physician knows exactly what to do

• Hold a state of gratitude for your inner physician's power

• Allow healing in divine timing without expectations that limit the process

• See yourself healed and whole in your mind's eye, feeling what that feels like

• Reinforce the expectation of wellness through repetition

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Higher Mind

Q: What is the higher mind?

A: The higher mind is the component of your consciousness that extends outside your physical body into the unified information field that connects everyone and everything. This spiritual channel is unlimited in divine wisdom and unconditional love.

Q: What does the higher mind know?

A: The higher mind only knows the truth.

Q: How does aligning your higher mind with your heart mind affect you?

Aligning your higher mind with the consciousness of your heart - your heart mind:

• Turbocharges your nonlocal intuition

• Moves you from a state of fear to a state of love

• Opens up unlimited energetic pathways to facilitate the flow of information

Q: What did Albert Einstein say about the intuitive mind?

A: Einstein recognized the importance of intuition, saying, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Q: What is the difference between local and nonlocal intuition?

A: Local intuition is confined to the brain and derives from pattern recognition and memory retrieval. Nonlocal intuition is a knowing unexplained by logic that does not originate in the physical body. It derives from your higher mind and the unified energy field connecting everyone and everything.

A: What are synchronicities?

Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences that can't be explained by chance.

Q: What is the paradox about the space in our universe?

A: If you look with the naked eye, you'll see lots of empty space. The paradox is there is no empty space because all space is teeming with energy.

Q: What do scientists say about the information contained in energy?

A: All energy contains information. For example, the sun's rays contain energy that tells receptors in plant leaves to initiate photosynthesis and receptors in our skin to produce vitamin D.

Q: How does the author explain scientifically unexplainable phenomena?

A: It boils down to energy. The revelation that consciousness is energy goes a long way in explaining parapsychological phenomena and even life after death. Our universe is energy-based, so we are all energetic beings. You can do amazing things when you learn to work with and channel these energies.

Q: What can you do to sharpen your skill of tapping into the unified field of information?

• A: Truly believe it is possible, as belief produces resonance to facilitate the alignment of energies

• Know you are an energetic being in an energy-based universe, and all energy contains information

• Eat healthy and exercise regularly to support your physical body's energies

• Regularly practice mindfulness and meditation to focus your energies on tapping in

• Set the intention for your higher mind/self to align with your physical body's consciousness

• Get good at triggering your relaxation response, the opposite of the stress response

• Set an intention to receive nonlocal intuitive information when you do these practices

• Practice, practice, practice - belief, intention, and trust are the keys

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Q: How do you align with your higher mind?

A: Set a divine intention to align with it. Acknowledge you are a spiritual, infinite being with unlimited potential. See yourself as an energetic being able to align consciousness energies to optimize information flow. Set an intention to tap into the unified field of consciousness.

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Q: How do you connect your higher mind with your heart mind, and how will you know when they are aligned?

A: Set a divine intention to align the energies of your higher mind with your heart mind. Visualize a stream of energy connecting the two. You'll know they are aligned when it feels like unconditional love - no fear, no doubt.

Q: How do you seal the deal of aligning your higher and heart minds?

A: Conjure a feeling of profound gratitude. When you align the two minds, you feel unconditional love - this naturally evokes gratitude. Gratitude seals the deal. You can trust the nonlocal intuitive information you receive when you feel deep love and trust in the message.

Q: What is the difference between healing and curing?

A: You can be healed without being cured. Healing involves accepting things you cannot change. Acceptance brings you to a peaceful state of nonresistance, which is often the first step in true healing. Embracing this paradox holds the key to deeper wisdom and empowerment.