The Lightning Process –
The trigger for my recovery from 14 years bedbound with CFS/ME was the Lightning Process (LP is sometimes used as an abbreviation on this page). |
I've heard that the Lightening Process works for between 1/3 and 2/3's of the people who do it. I know a woman who is bed-bound with CFS/ME and she and I have compared our histories prior to getting cfs. I've learned that a lot of people who develop CFS/ME have had a history of antibiotic (ab)use, vaccine overload, eczema (allergies) as children etc (my scenario). When I got sick I had quit my very stressful job to travel in SE Asia, and I got incredibly sick with parasites, dysentery etc while away. My entire system was wrecked from the pharmaceutical drugs, including the anti-parasitic drugs that I took after I got home, which caused further symptoms such as numbness and weakness in my limbs. In contrast, my friend who is bed-bound with CFS/ME has no history of antibiotics, eczema and had worked at a health food store prior to getting ill. Her CFS/ME seems to have started more from emotional trauma. Are NLP and the Lightning Process effective for CFS/ME following emotional trauma rather than physical trauma - which is my situation?(though I know that stress and adrenal burn-out played a huge role in my situation). Thanks! |
Dear Jennifer,
Below are my thoughts on the LP.
Medical History Profile of People With CFS/ME. Subgroups - What Was Mine?
For myself I fitted the medical history profile of several groups who get CFS (or M.E. as I prefer to call it). These are as follows:
ME / CFS and allergies
I had a history of childhood allergies, with the symptoms being catarrh and stomach problems. They were not disabling.
ME / CFS and general anaesthetic
In 1990 I had an operation to reduce swelling in my nose. It was as though I never quite fully came around after the general anaesthetic. As you will see below it turned out that I had Multiple Chemical Sensitivites, so this is likely to have played a role in my deteriorating health.
ME / CFS and vaccinations
I had a history of foreign travel – not extensive, but I had been to Israel, Egypt, Hong Kong. I had had vaccinations. I also remembered reacting quite badly to the BCG vaccination at school.
ME / CFS and MCS
After many years of illness with ME /CFS I realised in 2000 that I had Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). My quality of life improved significantly on reducing the chemical load in my environment. I was able to sit up more easily to be fed a meal and regained some speech. On looking back over my life, I realise I had had MCS all along. The increase in severity of ME / CFS and chemical exposure had been linked on at least one occasion. One doctor felt that my condition was triggered by MCS. Another thought the MCS was a symptom of the ME / CFS.
ME / CFS and working too hard
I worked hard and played hard. I remember a time when I had a very nasty virus which put me in bed for a day. It took a lot to do that. I then decided that I just had to do what was planned and got out and acted as though I was fine. I had a great capacity to push through symptoms.ME / CFS and Lyme Disease
After camping in a barn, I had found a tick buried into me. It was earlier in the same year of the operation. I had pulled it off. Apparently, when you do it this way, the dying tick injects something into your system.
Years after I became ill, something small and dark worked its way up to the surface of my skin. Quite possibly another tick had been successfully living in me for those years. Lyme disease could be another possible cause of my symptoms of ME/CFS.
I don't consider that I had suffered any particular trauma at the time of becoming very ill, although certainly there had been events in preceding years. I believe it can be very powerful to look for an emotional trigger for illness, but the LP does not particularly work with this idea.
I would say that it was after I got ill and – in my experience – it is the same for many, that I had to deal with more emotional trauma. Despite this, please note, I still got better.
(I say this because sometimes when we are ill and pursuing alternative means, we can think we need to become sorted out before we can heal. Look around you. There are many people suffering with painful emotional trauma who are walking around in relatively good health!)
If you want to look for the symbolism of illness or the emotional trigger for illness, I highly recommend Peace For Life by Sandy Newbigging. You can preorder it on Amazon. I got a copy after hearing him as an inspirational speaker in June 2011. Sandy has developed something called Mind Detox and also radiates joy about the benefits of meditation.
Another book to look at emotional triggers for illness is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. I know people who refer to this book at the first sign of illness.
Both these books are available through this site:
My recommended health books buying from USA
My recommended health books buying from UK
CFS Triggered By Physical Trauma - Does The LP Work For This?
I don't know the statistics for recovery from CFS. So please take the following as my opinion.
With regard to the Lightning Process and CFS induced by physical trauma or emotional trauma, it claims to work with both.
I personally can't see why the process would work better with emotional trauma.
The Lightning Process helped me regain physical health. In the 3 days training, I did not work on any history of emotional trauma. The LP would not be my process of choice for dealing with emotional trauma. For emotional release work, I would recommend the Journey Process or the EFT technique.
Primarily in the LP training we were taught to apply the technique to physical symptoms, though there was a lady there who was working with an emotional issue of grief rather than ME/CFS.
The stated aim of the Lightning Process is simple: to help you live the LIFE YOU LOVE.
How Does The Lightning Process Work?
The training teaches you the process so you can apply it. It is not interested in answering the question: "how does the Lightning Process work?", so again please take the following comments as my own opinion.
It is good to be clear that the LP is not a therapy, but a training programme.
Why does the Lightning Process work? The originator – Phillip Parker – does not in fact claim to know why. He was finding he was having a lower success rate in helping people with ME/CFS than other illnesses – physical or emotional. He started to dread these patients! He worked to develop a system to help them.
Please note, he is claiming that he had a good success rate in helping other patients who were physically ill as well as those dealing with emotional or confidence issues.
To understand my view on how the Lightning Process works, it would help to first read the page on
the Robert Ader experiment on rats .
This experiment proved a connection between our neurology and our immune system.
The fact that such a connection exists shows that we can influence our immune system through our beliefs.
(The LP is not a spiritual process, but, in my view, it is working with a spiritual law – that our beliefs and expectations (our faith) can quite literally impact on our reality.)
For more on How Does The Lightning Process work? go to the section on What Other Techniques Does The LP Draw Upon?, or just keep reading.
Click here for the next page on the LP - The Placebo Effect
More articles on Thoughts and Health
The home page - How To Explore Our Spirituality
Also visit this great website by my colleague
Strength Quotes Quotes about strength to provide encouragement in hard times.
BOOKS THAT
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Psychology Self Help Books.
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SPIRITUALITY ABUNDANCE
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Manifesting Abundance Books.
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