This is the third in a series of blogs and newsletters about the different wellbeing courses I’ve attended over the last thirteen years.  I’ve picked the courses, teachers and books that have had the most profound impact on the way that I perceive the world.  One of the most transformational courses was a ten day Vipassana meditation retreat in the Rocky mountains four years ago.

As I left Vancouver on a rainy Summers day I was filled with uncertainty about the challenge ahead.  As the bus snaked through the foothills I was reluctant to leave the misty Pacific and I reflected on the rules that I had agreed to abide by for the next 10 days:

-        No communication with anyone on the course.  This included verbal and non verbal communication.  For example eye contact with fellow participants was to be avoided.

-        No communication with the outside world

-        No ipods, no music, no books or magazines.  Nothing to hear or read or watch for 10 days

-        A simple vegetarian diet with no alcohol, no tobacco or drugs of any kind and just two small meals per day

-        Complete emersion in the practice.  They were to teach us a form of meditation and we were to practice this style only

-        Each day started at 5am and lasted until 10pm.  90% of this time was to be spent in a shaded room sitting cross legged on the floor practicing the Vipassana meditation technique.  The rest of the time was to be spent taking silent walks alone in the forest or receiving meditation instructions.

So you can understand my concern! This was serious spiritual bootcamp. Why endure this when there was so much to see outside – the beautiful snow capped Rocky Mountains.   Why spend time looking inside alone with my hopes and fears for 10 days.  Where would the love be, the touch of another, the smile and the loving support that we all need?

The taxi drive from Merritt greyhound station up to the retreat in the mountains only took about 20 minutes.  What surprised me most was the electric fence surrounding the centre to keep Grizzlies at bay.  Throughout the early part of the course my thoughts kept returning to whether, in the event of a power cut, they had a good backup generator.  I didn’t want to be eaten by a bear just as I was on the threshold of enlightenment.

Before dinner on day -1 we met the people on the course and as usual on such things there were people from all walks of life.  On this course there were four senior members of Obamas election campaign team.  After dinner we received the first of our instructions and from then on we agreed to engage in the practice and not communicate.

We spent the first three days practicing a breathing technique to help make the mind sharp.  Over three days we focussed our attention on the sensation of the breath entering and leaving the nose – how warm it felt as it left the body, how cold it felt as it entered the body, which nostril it came in through more strongly etc.  3 days focussing on the sensations felt at the tip of the nose!

After that we were taught to focus our attention at the top of the head and enquire, without thought, what the sensation of observing felt like.  As we observed the body did we feel heat, cold, joy, pain, light etc ?

From here we learnt to scan the body from top to toe and back up constantly remaining present to the observation of sensation.  Perhaps each scan took an hour to complete.  Sometimes it felt excruciatingly painful in my back and knees.  Part of the process was to learn to become dispassionate about this discomfort.  Sometimes harrowing thoughts and sadness kept intruding. Sometimes the boredom felt crushing and sometimes when you were able to be truly in the moment you felt utter bliss and pleasure.

At the end of each day we received video instruction on how to improve our practice.  Many of the key messages that came through during the 10 days have stayed with me:

-        The mind is lively and excitable.  It’s obvious that we have a brain to think and create with but it’s also clear that having periods in each day where we train ourselves not to think can be extremely relaxing.  It also gives you a sense of calm and understanding that you don’t have to clutter your mind with thoughts and clutter your life with so much stuff

-        Practicing not thinking helps us become more dispassionate.  This does not mean that we loose passion.  During the 10 days observing the body mind relationship you realise that pain and pleasure are often self created mind constructs.  They ebb and flow.  You learn to accept that sometimes there is pleasure, sometimes pain.  That’s not to say that there is no real pain in the world.  The pain of loss and suffering is real but the scanning practice that I’ve talked about here illustrates to us that pain and pleasure are certain throughout life but that these states are not constant.

-        The  practice teaches us to be empathetic and sympathetic to the pain of others but not to allow that pain and suffering to affect the balance and equanimity of our own mind.  This might sound cold hearted but a loss of hope and negative emotions can be contagious if you let them.  You can only be a source for positive change in yourself, loved ones and the world if you engage with the pain of others but not allow it to affect your underlying state.  A daily meditation practice helps you do this by reminding you that pain and pleasure states flow.

-        Similarly you appreciate that the bliss, joy and ecstasy of deep relaxation is also illusory, ie enjoy it whilst it lasts but don’t crave positive feelings.  Craving and desire inexorably leads to pain and suffering because inevitably at some stage in life you wont be able to get what you once had nor do what you once did.  The practice teaches you to stay open to new possibilities and not overly attach to one type of pleasure sensation again and again.  Pleasure can lead to habits, minor addictions, major addictions and suffering for you and others.  Not overly attaching to one pleasure allows the full world of possible sensations to be experienced.  As you focus your attention on one thing with your eyes  closed it enables you to be present to a stream of endless beautiful possibilities when your eyes are open.

-        Lastly towards the end of the 10 days we were instructed in the practice of a loving kindness meditation.  This practice teaches us to harness the good will and positive energy that has been accumulated during the previous 10 days and communicate it to all beings.  We are reminded that the practice of mindfulness and meditation is meaningless without positive intention.  Many people use spiritual practices as a means of withdrawing from the outer world and suppressing emotions.  Practicing meditation without developing kindness and compassion has been described as bare attention ( as opposed to bear attention).  You do these practices not to become isolated from but to become an active, engaged, positive member of society.

On day 10 we opened our eyes and I felt as though I knew my fellow participants in a very deep way.  I felt re wired, buzzing, energised and fully alive.  The next 3 weeks were spent with my family camping in the Rocky Mountains with my eyes wide open.  The world is so beautiful.  Enjoy all it has to offer.

Find out more about Vipassana mediation centres all over the world .  This is the one in British Columbia that I went to http://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schsurabhi.shtml

This week I’m going to introduce Kahuna philosophy and bodywork.  Kahuna was one of the first types of bodywork that I learnt back in Sydney (some 13 years ago).  The course was run by an amazing Irish woman, Nemara Hennigan and the training venue was in the beautiful South National park in Sydney.  As we were taught we could see the Pacific glinting, the sandy beaches and hear cockatoos and kookaburras playing.

Ka huna literally means light and wisdom.  It is the beautiful marriage of positive intention and knowledge and echoes the core teaching of Buddhism and Hinduism – that at our core, each of us is already perfect and all we need to do is develop practices that allow this beauty and radiance to shine through.

On day one of our training we spent many hours sitting on a beach doing a mindfulness exercise which involved brushing sand into piles and then brushing the sand apart.  We learnt to focus our attention and made our hands move with the action of a wave and gentle caress.  This brought to mind some key aspects of kahuna which have proved valuable in all areas of my life:

- When you do something put all your energy and attention into it at that moment

- Healing is soft and gentle –  it should cleanse and caress you like a wave

- As you brush the sand you stay connected at all times, your hands move in one direction and then turn without loosing contact.  This taught me many things.  In bodywork I approach the person gently and stay connected.  In positive psychology coaching and in my friendships I try to engage, listen and be dependable and supportive

The Kahuna centre in Sydney has explained the philosophies seven key principals in a beautiful way.  Over the years I’ve tried to bring each of these into my own life and into the way that work at Breathe London.  They also formed part of the basis of my interest in Positive Psychology.  Take a look at each of these and see if you can build these principals into your relationships and work.

IKE (ee-kay) - The world is what you think it is

Our thoughts make us who and what we are. If you want to change your situation, all you have to do is change your thoughts! Your body and your life will follow! Alter the way you see reality and you WILL alter reality.

KALA (kah-lah) - There are no limits - Be Free

Following on from Ike – ensure that when you think, you think without limitation! Don’t think about the things that you are “allowed” to have, or the things you believe are “just possible”. The most successful people think without limitations. Be free in your thinking! Whatever the mind of a person can conceive and believe, it can achieve! So THINK BIG.

MAKIA (mah-kee-ah) - Energy flows where attention goes - Be Focused

Have you ever noticed that the more interested you are in something the more likely you are to do something about it? Whatever holds your interest will also tend to attract your emotional and physical energy. The more successful a person is, the more you will find that they direct and hold their energy on something by conscious choice. They don’t wait for something to catch their attention; they go out and catch something with their attention. A person at all times has a choice as what to focus their attention on – so be focused on what you want at all times.

MANAWA (mah-nah-wah) - Now is the moment of power - Be Here

The past or future does not have any power because you can’t touch it, taste it, smell it, feel it or react to it in any way. For all practical purposes it doesn’t even exist! All we have right now is the memory of things, skills, pains, and experiences. It’s the memories that we respond to now – not the past itself. The memories exist in the present moment and you can alter your relationship to them – change your thinking about them and thereby change the effect on your life.

As for the future, no one knows what is going to happen. We can make logical or intuitive guesses but we don’t really know. However if we think of the future as a blank slate (rather than fixed or predestined) then we give ourselves permission to try anything.

ALOHA (ah-lo-hah) –  Be Happy

Aloha means many things, but in one word perhaps it’s best described as “love”. Love is happiness. Aloha is a caring for others as well as or as much as for your own self. Australians say, “no worries” – the Hawaiians use the idea of Aloha to define their society, their relationship with each other and their philosophy of life. It is with “aloha spirit” that all things are done. Not meant to harm and not meant to cause unhappiness to others.

MANA (mah-nah) - All power comes from within - Be Confident

Mana is power or energy. All power comes from within. Hawaiian belief is that Mana is the name for the one source of all the power that exists in the universe. This power is universal and flows through not only us, but through animals and plants, the foundation of the earth, the skies and planets, and everything that we know exists. It’s a life energy so to speak. This Mana flows through us and gives us the power to do what we believe we can do. The power to do anything that we decide to do and that we take action towards.

PONO (poh-noh) - Effectiveness is the measure of truth - Be Positive

Effectiveness is the measure of truth. A method, a plan, certain actions, when put in motion may work. If they work, that is all you need to be concerned with. There are many ways to do most things. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself into thinking that you can only accomplish something in one way or that there is only one truth. For instance, how many ways are there that someone could find happiness? A million? How many ways could someone cook a fish? Create a pyramid? Make money to buy a car? Because you see someone accomplish something using one method, do not believe that there is just that one method. There are likely many more ways to go about it. That there are always alternatives to what you’re doing is the crux of “Pono” – do what feels right for you.

I hope you found this useful

Love Andy

Thank you Nemara  for being such a wonderful inspiration . For anyone going on holiday check out her centre in Paddington http://www.sydneykahuna.com.au/

Our next relaxation and energy course is Sat 28^th January http://breathe-london.com/relaxationworkshop

In order to understand how I created the job that I love I’m going to introduce the key tipping points, courses I’ve studied, inspirational teachers I’ve met and books that have changed the way I think and feel.

The courses include Emotional intelligence psychometric testing and coaching, a masters in positive psychology, life coaching, Reiki mastery, Sivananda yoga, Hawaiian massage and Polynesian philosophy, deep tissue massage, vipassana mediation, mindfulness coaching, Iyengar yoga, Tai chi, scuba diving and many more

Each week I’ll explore each area to give you an insight into how each of these courses has improved the quality of my life.  I’ll also provide details on courses that you can attend and teachers that I recommend.

Transformation of the mind can never be pinpointed, it’s an ongoing process.  However there are often key moments which feel like tectonic plate movements.  One of the first that I felt was on a glorious Summers day walking across the Domain in Sydney in 1999.  It was a Friday and I was stressed about a deal that I was involved on.  As I looked into the distance I suddenly noticed how green the trees were in the botanical gardens.  They seemed to shimmer and vibrate.  Next I caught the sun glinting on the harbour and felt it also warm my cheeks.  Overhead a Qantas jet banked over the harbour bridge.  I felt my body and mind fill with light and burst with pleasure.  I felt connected with everything around me. My experience merged completely with my environment.  It was as though for the first time I was in tune with my surroundings. I felt a burst of energy which felt like the whole world was powering me.  I wept and life has never been the same since.

Now whether this event occurred because of the people who implanted ideas or because of the books I read or the courses I attended or because of predetermination I shall never know.  All I know is that every so often when I stop and observe the world I feel fully energised and blessed to be alive.

Have a happy and transformational new year

Love Andy

How can we start to take the steps to look after our body and mind?

Here are some simple changes that you can make that will have a huge impact on how you feel. Life is a wonderful roller-coaster and we need the ups and downs in order to feel pushed and strive for the next step. But sometimes it can all get on top of us. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to learn techniques to deal with stress and give you tools to cope with and enjoy life in the future.

Try out some of these today and start to take control of how you feel.

Talk about your feelings: talking isn’t a sign of weakness; it is part of looking after your mental health. So often, when we talk to friends or loved ones, we realise that we are not as alone as we felt. So many people are going through the same thing but are scared to talk about it too. By you opening up you suddenly realise that your world is full of people who care for you.

Eat healthy: it has been proven that there are links between what we eat and how we feel. Foods like caffeine and sugar can have an immediate effect on us, but food can also have a long-lasting effect on our mental health. It can affect the nutrition our mind is getting. Think of your body like a machine that needs looking after, what we put in needs to be able to nourish it.

Keep in touch: just as talking isn’t a sign of weakens, keeping in touch with friends and family can make you feel included and cared for. Often people have different views from you and they can help you to look at things from a different perspective. With the world growing and technology progressing we are more connected then we have ever been yet we feel more lonely and isolated than ever. Pick up the phone and talk to people, you will be amazed how much better you feel.

Take a break: take regular breaks, as little as 5 minutes. Get up, change the scene (break the state), walk around, take three deep breaths. By the time you come back you will feel calmer; it is a chance for your mind to unwind.

Accept who you are: you are you and that is a wonderful thing. You are a unique person, even if you are one of a pair of identical twins, you are still you. Good at different things. Accept that, for example, maths may not be your strong point. But where you thrive others struggle and vice versa. Understand your strengths and build on them.

Keep active: exercise is so important for our body and mind. It helps to release chemicals in your mind that eat up the stress hormone and make you feel good. Exercise boosts self-esteem and can help you concentrate, sleep well and look and feel better, helping you have a clear outlook on life. Exercise doesn’t have to be a session in the gym, it can be built into your day, like walking up the escalator or getting off the bus one stop earlier and walking briskly to and from work.

Listen to music: if you are feeling low put an upbeat song on and if possible sing along. Allow the rhythm of the music to flow through you. By the end of the song I am sure you will feel better than when it began. You are breaking the state and changing the rhythm within your body.

Sometimes in life we need a little extra help to let go of stresses and situations that we can’t seem to get past. Ask yourself, how much time do I spend de-stressing in the day? Life is good at putting the stress in, now it is time to learn how to take it out again. To see how Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you do this, please contact Erika.

By Erika Keat

Erika Keat is part of the Breathe London team, she offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP in London Waterloo.  For more information or to arrange a consultation please contact Erika.

Welcome to 2012, it is going to be a year full of excitement and opportunities. 2012 is the year the London is hosting the Olympics; it is a fresh start and can be filled with whatever you choose to fill it with.

This is the time of year when New Year’s resolutions are made. A lot of people will kick the smoking habit in January. This can be easier to do then you think. Quitting smoking should not be difficult or unpleasant; there is no need for nicotine patches or gum, all you need is your commitment to become smoke free and a one-off Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session.

While nicotine is a difficult substance to go without when giving up smoking, the nicotine from your last cigarette will be out of your system within 48 hours. It is that straight forward – a tricky few days and then a lifetime of freedom. So why hasn’t it been that easy when you’ve tried to quit before? Simple – you dealt with the nicotine addiction but didn’t deal with the psychological addiction of smoking. In fact, you probably put cigarettes up on some kind of pedestal. Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP are ideal for this, the fantastic combination of these therapies deal with the emotional and psychological aspects of giving up smoking, giving you all tools you will need to become a non-smoker.

You are 10 times more likely to remain a non-smoker if you give up using Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP; this is because during the session we will look at all your smoking triggers and make sure you have the coping mechanisms, motivation and determination to become a non-smoker. You can stop smoking in an easy and positive way.

Whilst by the end of the month a lot of New Year’s resolutions have slipped away, this year that doesn’t have to be the case. With a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session you can learn to start working with the power of your mind and help yourself to achieve your goals. You can learn how to manage your stress levels and start to turn around the negative self-talk and realise that you can achieve anything you put your mind to, whilst enjoying the life you have created.

Focus on the positive – 2012 can be your year.

By Erika Keat

Erika Keat is part of the Breathe London team, she offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP in London Waterloo.  For more information or to arrange a consultation please contact Erika.

This is my 49th blog of the year ( click here to see them all ). I started on the 13th January 2011 and have managed to write a post a week, publishing every Monday at 9am. Writing the blog has made me look more deeply into the wonderful world of hypnosis, looking at how it is portrayed in the news, how people’s  perception of it is changing, celebrities that have used hypnosis, different areas where hypnosis can be used, and approaching people with new ideas.

On a personal level it has also made me realise that I can write. Having dyslexia, I never felt that writing was my strong point, but I let go of the fear of failure and started to write.
I feel extremely lucky to do my job. I love the challenges I come across and find myself humbled by the people I meet and the strength they manage to find as they work with me to help themselves. I have worked with wonderful people this year, helping them to see that they can change the way they think and approach a situation to turn their life around. Many times I have walked out of the clinic with the biggest smile on my face, feeling very lucky to have been able to help someone help themselves.

I am looking forward to the clients I will work with in 2012 and to continuing on this wonderful journey.

Thank you! Enjoy the rest of the Christmas break and have a brilliant new year. Make 2012 the year that you start working with the most powerful tool you will ever be given, the power of your mind.

“Erika has helped me more than you can imagine possible. I came to her in the middle of a nervous breakdown suffering from deep grief and traumatised by my loss. She helped me work through all the pain, the complex issues, build on all the positives in my life with a calm gentle manner that has within months enabled me to look forward to Christmas with a smile on my face and genuine happiness. But more than this she has left me not needing her anymore!! – That’s what I call a good therapist!” M, London

“Erika has helped me to regain my positive outlook on life! I’ve gone from being stressed and confused a month ago to now feeling more focused and confident. With Erika’s help I’ve become decisive enough to make some big changes that have set up an exciting future for me. The results of our sessions have been better than I could’ve expected!” A, London

“I haven’t touched a cigarette!! Today is my 16th day as a non-smoker – I’m so proud of myself but don’t want to get complacent. The first few days were really tough, but since then it has got easier and I think about it less and less. I’ve even been out with people at work or pub and have just stood with them whilst they smoked and it’s actually been fine. I’m starting to feel better in myself, have a bit more energy and plan to start jogging next week. So thank you very much! I’m still taking it one day at a time but those days are getting easier.” L, London

“I just wanted to say thank you for all your help and excellent advice. I’m certainly feeling a lot better generally and couldn’thave done it without you. Thank you!” G, London

By Erika Keat

Erika Keat is part of the Breathe London team, she offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP in London Waterloo.  For more information or to arrange a consultation please contact Erika.

The more I work with clients the more I realise that so much of how we feel is down to our perspective. We can be sat in a room and nothing can change and yet we can make ourselves feel stressed as we allow our minds to worry about all the things we have to do. With Christmas round the corner a lot of people feel under an extreme amount of pressure and stress, but if we change the way we view things could we feel less stressed? Christmas is meant to be a time to spend with loved ones and have a few well-earned days off.

I came across this description of how to deal with stress and I thought it was worth sharing.

“A young lady confidently walked around the room, explaining stress management to an audience. She raised a glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’. …She fooled them all… “How heavy is this glass of water?” she enquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz.to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “And that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”

“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each time practiced.

 
“So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up tomorrow.

“Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, put them down for a moment. Relax, pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it, and conquer that stress!”

 
The power of the mind means that we can create stress from either a perceived threat or a real threat. If we never put down that glass of stress and allow our minds to be free to enjoy the moment we are in, we are never giving our body or mind the chance to unwind. The more we put down the glass of stress and allow our minds to unwind, the lighter the glass will become as it starts to empty, releasing the stress from the day.

It sounds so simple and it can be. I have worked with MDs of companies who seem to be carrying the world on their shoulders and no doubt have stressful jobs; even after one session they begin to see there is a different way, they can feel differently, they can feel calm and enjoy the success of their carriers. You can start helping yourself to manage your stress levels today – with a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika, you can learn the tools to manage your stress and bring back the feeling of relaxation and happiness in your life. With 2011 nearly at a close it is time to enjoy the festive period and start to put into practice how you want to being 2012. You don’t have to have a life full of stress and anxiety.

 
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing over the Christmas period, have a wonderful Christmas.

By Erika Keat

Erika Keat is part of the Breathe London team, she offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Breathe on a Wednesday between 2.30pm and 9pm. For more information or to arrange a consultation please contact Erika.

Eight years ago when we set up this business we were looking for a fresh challenge. I also wanted to experience what the Buddhists call Right Livelihood ie that my job not only supports me financially and enables me to grow as a person but also enable me to give back to society. I left the world of corporate finance at KPMG eight years ago.  Prior to that I had spent some very happy years in Australia.  It was in Australia that I first became interested in massage, yoga and psychology and over the last twelve years I’ve explored these areas in order to better understand myself and enable me to become a better therapist.

Three years after we started the business we came across the Colombo centre, a not for profit sports and community centre which uses its surplus to fund community programs in South London.  I thought it was a good idea to build a business in a place that promoted wellbeing to those in society that could least afford it. It also enabled me to feel that I contributed to my local community.  Having the Breathe business at Colombo means that we bring affluent people into a community centre .  Many of our clients value us because we offer a great personal service and because we have this strong ethical element.  Some of my city hedge fund managers now practice yoga with people who have lived in the local community all their lives.  I like this mixing.

Breathe has developed as an integrated mind body practice.  We recognise that physical and emotional issues often go hand in hand and we therefore have nutrition therapy, life coaching and hypnotherapy to compliment our physical therapies.  The idea was to create a business that provided our clients with empowering tools to help our clients help themselves.

My challenge for 2012 is to get more people interested in Breathe London and understand more about our ethics and values, where we came from and how we are building an integrated wellbeing practice

Have a wonderful Christmas break and fabulous 2012

Lots of love

Andy

The BBC reported last Wednesday that over 40% of cancers are due to our lifestyle. As you read this  don’t feel down hearted, but realise that you can take control of your life and help yourself to have a healthy future. Even changing a few things can help you to feel fitter and healthier and to give your body the best chance of remaining healthy.

Michelle Roberts, the health reporter for the BBC, wrote a fascinating article. To read it in full please click here.

“Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year -over 130,000 in total – are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.

Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.

Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men’s diets,while for women it is being overweight.

The report is published in The British Journal of Cancer.

Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject. Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: “Many people believe cancer is down to fate or ‘in the genes’ and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it.” “Looking at all the evidence, it’s clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change.” For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.

For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.

Prof Parkin said: “We didn’t expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn’t expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol.”

In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.

About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.

One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person’s job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos. Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking’s link with lung cancer.

But others are less recognised.

For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far out  weighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.

And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows. For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.

Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are caused almost entirely by lifestyle choices. But others, like gall bladder cancer, are largely unrelated to lifestyle.

The researchers base their calculations on predicted numbers of cases for 18 different types of cancer in 2010, using UK incidence figures for the 15-year period from 1993 to 2007.

Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said the report added to the “now overwhelmingly strong evidence that our cancer risk is affected by our lifestyles”. Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed “we can significantly stack the odds in our favour”.

“If there are things we can do to reduce our risk of cancer we should do as much as we possibly can,” he said.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: “We all know that around 23,000 cases of lung cancer could be stopped each year in England if people didn’t smoke.

By making small changes we can cut our risk of serious health problems – give up smoking, watch what you drink, get more exercise and keep an eye on your weight.”

Whilst not all cancers or any illness are completely preventable some cancers are. Start making the changes today to help your body and mind be as healthy as they can be – book a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika and begin to take charge of your health.

By Erika Keat

Erika Keat is part of the Breathe London team, she offers Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP at Breathe on a Wednesday between 2.30pm and 9pm. For more information or to arrange a consultation please contact Erika.

A number of recent studies on the stress response system have shown individual differences in the way we respond to stressors are much more varied than previously thought.  Many factors have been shown not only to influence what makes us stressed, but also to influence both physical and psychological reaction and coping mechanisms.  Influencing factors include the environment we grew up in as a child, social status, gender and the genes we inherit. 

The human stress response system, which has often been over-simplified in both academic and popular literature to describe the ‘fight or flight’ response, is now being recognised as encompassing a much larger physical and psychological realm than previously thought.  The fight or flight response has deep roots in our evolutionary past.  It occurs when activity in the parasympathetic nervous system increases (activating muscles needed to run or fight) whilst the sympathetic nervous system decreases (keeping our internal organs switched on, but in a kind of standby mode). 

Other stress-response behaviours recently identified include the “tend/befriend” response (seen significantly more in women) associated with turning to social networks of support when confronted with stressors, and social withdrawal and/or anti-social behaviour (seen significantly more in men).  Both these phenomena have been shown to operate at the same time (in some people) or instead of (in others) the fight/flight response.  The deciding factor, and the new buzzword in stress literature and indeed in other walks of life where “social” goals and activities have been thrust into the spotlight) is “context”. 

We can now demonstrate that meditation and yoga have huge benefits to mind and body

A new and holistic scientific approach is emerging that broadens the scope of the stress response system to acknowledge the social world, both from an evolutionary perspective, and in its current context.  This means for example, that the production and transmission of sex hormones and neurotransmitters actively used in our brain’s reward, motivation and control circuits (almost always unconsciously), are now often measured alongside more common metrics such as heart-rate or blood-pressure in experimental psychology and social neuroscience studies. 

One of the consequences of this new science of what makes us stressed and how we respond to our environmental pressures, is that more complex patterns are beginning to emerge that challenge classical psychology/psychiatry diagnoses and provide testable hypotheses to determine previously unproven benefits of alternative therapies or holistic practises such as yoga and meditation.  These are increasingly shown to mediate the effects of stress through what are known in neuroscience as interoceptive pathways.  These are pathways used (usually unconsciously) by the body’s physiological systems to inform other body and brain functions of their relative fitness or functionality.  Yoga and meditation practice has long been thought of by its practitioners to be the embodiment of a conscious exercise in interoception. We now we have the scientific techniques to prove the mental value of what sceptics have in the past regarded as simply a set of physical exercises.

“Stressed” people can be high performing happy individuals in many areas of their lives

But these physiological mechanisms only go part of the way towards building our unique stress response profile.  One of the more interesting findings, that stress response profiles (phenotypes) are more varied than previously thought and are highly correlated with activations in other physical systems has been labelled our “biological sensitivity to context” – and it means many more of our biological systems that have been previously disregarded when building psychological profiles are now seen as key determinants of the strategies we choose when faced with environmental stress.  In a recently published theory (Del Guidice, et al. 2011) four behavioural patterns emerge that are based in evolutionary life-history theory and are used to describe common stress-response patterns.  These don’t correspond so well to classical psychology’s stereotypical introverted/extroverted, high/low-stress-responsivity models, but they do correspond to findings that were previously seen as paradoxes, such as why people with very high stress-responsivity can be found performing very well in highly uncertain environments, but very poorly in low-stress environments.  Its all about context, and what we’ve become used to.  Also, the physiological and developmental changes we all undergo throughout our lives such as childhood growth, puberty, adulthood, menopause, etc., correspond to periods of high neural plasticity, when we literally carve out our future responses to stress from the biological and environmental tools we’re given (or create for ourselves).

 Developing a more tailored approach to stress management

Another consequence of joint research in psychology and the physiology of the brain in the context of social stressors is that emphasis on our biological sensitivity to context will provide more nuanced mechanisms for treating mental health problems related to stress such as ‘internalised’ symptoms of depression or low self-esteem, and ‘externalised’ symptoms like anti-social behaviour.  “Context”, encompasses a rather old-fashioned idea that’s suddenly been given a new lease of life and when taken together with the new data-rich environments currently being studied in social neuroscience (the study of how the brain works in conditions with a social context) provides a real opportunity to produce meaningful and coherent theories that explain common patterns of observed responses/strategies to stressful situations in a way that is consistent with cultural evolution and medical science – something that must surely be regarded as something of a holy grail to psychologists – and opens the way for tailored programmes of intervention through various means, such as life coaching, social engagement, nutritional change, in addition to medical and pharmaceutical help in resolving stress disorders.

 Today’s blog was produced by Tom TeWhaiti, co founder of Breathe London and Breathe Australia

Del Guidice, M., Ellis, B.J. & Shirtcliff, E. (2011) The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity, Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 35, pp 1562-1592