My Theory About Why the "Big Toe" Works

I have been attempting to help people stop smoking, improve confidence, be excellent for 31 years, and know for sure that anxiety and fear are the usual blocks to changing emotions and behaviors.  When I read Jill Bolte Taylor's book, "My Stroke of Insight", suddenly I realized that her description of being totally in her Right Brain functioning for 4 hours meant that Fear was not present during that time.  So I wondered if switching brains from Left to Right would block fear.  I tried the intervention on my weekly video cast and it was 100% successfull.  So the next week I tried it again. By now about 50 people had tried switching brains to erase fear, and it always worked.  Finally one person said, "I can still feel a little anxiety, but it is much less."   You need one exception to be sure the rest  of the reports are correct. 

When your attention is in the present moment, the NOW, you are in your Right Brain.  So for this intervention I ask that you stay in the present moment for 90 seconds, since that is the time that Dr. Taylor writes that old emotions will "drain out".  Once your old fears have drained out, then you are calm, collected, peaceful, even in some cases, euphoric. 

Dr. Taylor, a neuroanatomist,  was conducting brain research at Harvard University when she woke up one mroning with a stroke in her Left Brain.  She waited 4 hours to call for help because she felt so joyful, was fascinated with her experience, and felt no fear. 

Here are the quotes from Dr. Taylor's book that lead tme to test this idea of erasing anxiety by switching brains. 

p.41 "I met a growing sense of peace"

p.41 "blanket of tranquil euphoria"

p. 41. "the portion of my brain that registered fear, my amygdale, had not reacted with alarm"

p. 41. "comforted by an expanding sense of grace"

p. 41. "my consciousness soared into an all-knowingness, a 'being at one ' with the universe"

p. 42 "sensed the composition of my being as that of a fluid rather than that of a solid....I now blended in with the space and flow around me."

p. 43 "my memories of the past and my dreams of the future evaporated " (She could only compute now)

p. 43 "as my consciousness slipped into a state of peaceful grace, I felt ethereal."

p. 44. "Oh my gosh, I'm having a stroke, and in the next instance, 'Wow. This is so cool!' "

At this point, only her Right Brain was fully operational, and while she knew she was in danger of losing her life, there was no fear. 

I have a theory that the unconscious is the product of the Right Brain. One way to think of this, that works well for me, is that the sub-conscious is made up of information such as our telephone number and house address, nearby and available when we need them, but not in use at every moment. Then the unconscious is the end result/conclusions of our Right Brain impressions.

I just checked out my theory on Right Brain access as a way to interrupt a well-seated pattern, and once again it worked. The stability of negative patterns seems to rest on anxiety. Erase anxiety and its role in the pattern, then the pattern becomes somewhat fragile and open for change. I tried this with a smoker, who was ambivalent about quiting.  She knew she should, but, she had smoked for 30 years. She did not immediately quit, but within a few months, she stopped completely. 

Genie Z. Laborde, Ph.D.
www.influence-integrity.com
650-322-2799

 

Goldman Sachs VS. Greg Smith and Integrity

When I saw the editorial in the New York Times that Greg Smith wrote about how the Goldman Sachs culture had changed  for the worse in the 12 years he had worked there, I know it was going to make waves.  The following day the front page of the NY Times carried the story.  This means one person's words still have power.  More power than the US Governement with all its Security Commissions charged to investigate the culprits of  the bank and investmnet crisis on Wall Street.  The Commissions  fined a few a little,  put a few in court, arbitrated settlements. and called it quits. 

Now investment clients are asking themselves, "How does this affect me and my savings?  When an entire culture is focused on making mega bucks for the investment business, without regard for my needs or best interests, should I continue to place my money at their disposal?"

It's time for integrity to arise again.  Business without integrity will not survive.  People learn. 

Marketing on the Internet

If you are in business you probably have been told that you must "market and sell on the internet". 

This is easier said than done.  I was told that I must have a web "presence"  by the experts. 
So we 1. Hired a film maker to produce short videos for You Tube;
2. I wrote blogs galore;
3. Joined 40 + discussion groups on LinkedIn;
4.  Got accepted  for a biography by Wikipedia;
5. Have 150,000+ notations under my name on Google;
6. Wrote free articles for WIP;
7. Negotiated a Mobile App;
8.Conducted one hour free video interactive presentations on difficult and powerful people skills, almost every Wednesday,  for almost three  years;
9. Received an e mail  from a  Russian V.C. saying my quick intervention on fear of flying had been a life changing experience for her;
10. Received hundreds of thank-you e mails for the free video casts;
11.  Gathered 435 people in my professional group on LinkedIn, and  224  Friends on Facebook; 
12.  Attracted 33,000 people to watch one free video.

Today we  were notified that we have a  $17.00 credit from You tube.  When  the royalty sum  reaches $100.00 we will get a check. 

On Saturday, I attended a 12 hour workshop, called a "Do-A-Thon" where the keynote speaker said, "It is very difficult to switch from free to paying with  money on the internet."  Did you know that? Nobody told me that.  We've given away hundreds of thousands of dollars of free and valuable education.   Our plan was to charge money for the more advanced skills.  Our plan has a glitch. 

This week-end I collected seven $1.00 bills from seven participants in the "Do-A-Thon workshop" for a 90 second  brain intervention I taught live.  Our team collected another $1.00 bill from a stranger on the street for the same bit of  user friendly brain instruction. There's a message in there somewhere.  Could it be that education works best live?  Or that $1.00 is a good price for 90 seconds of life-changing instruction?  Or is it that if you give thinking skills away free, there is little or no incentive to buy more advanced skills  later? 

Erase Anxiety With Your Big Toe

This account is from someone I have never met, who has read "Influenncing with Integrity" and has been in internet contact with me.  The account is writtten by a Corporate Manager  about his grand-daughter who is having behavioral problems.

Genie,
I followed your script as closely as I could.

First, we had a session together at the nearby mall where I bought her a book I promised she could have, which she picked out and I approved. On the way back  I told her that I am learning about how the brain works and that I had learned the brain has two parts. When I told her that the right brain helps us be creative with music, art, etc. and helps us be happy, her interest picked up, and she said she was interested in learning how the right brain can be used.

In a quiet, undisturbed room, I led her through the “big toe exercise” you described. Being mindful that at least 90 seconds are needed, I extended the exercise to almost three minutes. At the end, I asked how she felt. She replied “different,” so I asked “How different?” She said she felt calm and relaxed but that her brain was tingling. I asked whether it was the whole brain or just one side, and she relied “the left brain.” I asked about other sensory differences (in 10-year old language as best I could), but she replied that she had feelings but couldn’t describe them. Finally, she said, “I feel like a different person.”

I invited her to practice on herself to strengthen her skill, but she demurred, and I didn’t pursue. Then, I told her the right brain has no fear and that the exercise will also help her whenever she’s feeling frightened or worried about something. She expressed interest in a nonverbal way. Then she snuggled up to me for a while on the sofa where I was sitting.

While my son and she were leaving to drive back to their home, I reminded her that the “big toe exercise” was always available to help her be creative or deal with a worry or scary situation, and she nodded affirmatively. During the interlude between the exercise and the leaving, she seemed to be very calm, but I might be projecting what I wanted to observe.

Genie, thanks ever so much for your kind, generous help!!!

The Line Between Manipulation/Hypnosis and Influencing

This is in answer to someone who is advertising Hypnosis as a Communication Strategy:

Have you looked up the meaning of manipulation in a dictionary? I will save you some time. Here it is: "To influence or manage shrewdly or deviously:  To tamper with or falsify for personal gain."

Even if you think you are being "shrewd" with hypnosis, there is still that element of deviousness and falsifying for personal gain. That is the part of the use of hypnosis/manipulation/NLP that we all pay dearly for in the business and personal marketplace. I have had three giant corporate verbal contracts cancelled because someone higher up than our client found out our seminars contained NLP. These cancel-ers knew enough about the reputation of NLP to not want NLP inside their business. Who? Bell Northern Research, Eastman Kodak and at first, IBM. I finally managed to re-sell 2 of the 3.

IBM was a close call. The executive who finally approved our contract which lasted 19 years had written a letter to all training departments in IBM over his signature saying that any seminar with NLP elements was to be cancelled immediately. In response to this letter, my IBM person made an appointment for me to meet with this executive, who was  HR Director of IBM. This sale was definitely a test of my skills. I did not use hypnosis nor manipulation to change his mind.

If I understand you correctly, you are  saying that hypnosis is simply a protocol for "how you perceive".  This  would be hard to defend or even impossible to defend. Here is the definition of hypnosis: " artificially induced sleep-like condition in which an individual is EXTREMELY RESPONSIVE to suggestions made by the hypnotist." Using hypnosis in communication is manipulation, and that's how NLP acquired its bad reputation.  People either love NLP or hate it.  No middle ground.  A large number of us are using NLP for positive changes in beliefs and behaviors.  I would like to teach you to be one of these good behavior advocates for these powerful skills.

My position on this is that by being skillful in rapport, outcome setting, clear communication and using honesty, integrity, and straightforward talk, you do not need hypnosis. Anyone who falls back on hypnosis is a manipulator and is harming me and my business because his/her actions affect me. All those who have signed up for the group, NLP with Integrity  seem to agree with me. We are all trying to clean up the manipulators' acts.

We all affect those we communicate with more than we know. You do not need hypnosis in communication. You really only need the ability to dovetail. This works every time.


I hope that you  recognize  hypnosis is not a protocol for perception. It is a protocol for the hypnotist to impose his will on the receiver. Erickson was doing therapy at his patients request; that is
not manipulation. Hypnosis is great for therapy. I assisted John Grinder in teaching hypnosis to 60 therapists. It is definitely useful for therapeutic interactions when all agree on its use. Manipulation is not helping a child achieve his/her goal. That's a kind deed. Manipulation is using the NLP strategies without regard for what the other person wants.

To end on a better note and maybe give you a chuckle:

                                            CHANGE THE WORLD

                         I've joined all these net groups who want to change the world

                         None of us want to change ourselves. Inconceivable!

                         We seem to have a chip embedded, before we're born

                         To shape others to our template, before we adjourn.

The best use of the NLP skills is on ourselves.  Then our "template" is worth teaching to someone else. 

TEN STRATEGIES FOR USING THE ABILITIES OF THE RIGHT BRAIN

Mind and matter are two parallel streams of development arising from a common ground beyond both. There is an implicate order and there is an infinite sea of energy, and this unfolds to form space, time, and matter.

David Bohm, physicist

1. WHIRLING DERVISH ENTRANCE DANCE
Open the door to the Right Brain in a centuries old physical movement. Do not do this at your office unless your door is locked.

Do you remember as a child how you would spin around and around and then maybe fall to the ground? That is what the whirling dervishes do to open the Right Brain.

The Mystic Gurdjieff used this at his Institute outside Paris to do the same thing. This is the physical way to discover how your right Brain processes information. Music helps if this is available, but not absolutely necessary.

If you have a complex problem, you might want to spend a few minutes whirling around, then lie down and spend another ten minutes noticing what is going on in your mental computations.

Keep a notebook to record any information. Especially the data that does not make logical sense. You ,may find a metaphorical solution to your central complex problem.

2. ASKING YOUR BODY TO FIND THE ANSWER

Once you have formulated the question, then find a quiet spot and ask the question to each part of your body. Keep a pen and paper nearby to jot down the answers. Start with the right foot, then left, then one leg, then the other leg, then one knee, etc. Write down the answers in a column. When completed check the entire list for useful insights. This exercise breaks the hold on your decision making that your Left Brain has acquired through the years.

3. HYPNOGOGIC SOLUTION

Tonight, when you are half awake and half asleep, give a creative task to your Right Brain to solve while you are sleeping. Remind your right Brain to give you the answer by 9 am the next morning and to give you a good nights sleep now.

4. TRY THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
As long as the unvarnished truth is not endangering anyone else, use it.

5. FIRST LOVE ENERGY
If you are feeling slightly under the weather, just say out loud, “think about my First Love” then take a moment to do so. If you have any negative memories around this thought, edit them out. Only positive memories are allowed. Notice the chemical change in your body as positive thoughts take over

6. TELL A SECRET

Tell someone you trust a secret that you have been reluctant for anyone else to know. Disclosure of a secret raises the energy level of trust between you and you will feel your own energetic response as the energy you have been using to hide this is released. How about a fear you once had, but no longer have? Do not tell a secret that will harm you or anyone if it is known. Here is a safe example of an old fear that has lots of psychological implications. For example, “When we studied Pompeii in school, I used to dream about volcanic eruptions. There would be hot lava creeping up to my feet. What do you think about this?”

7. CREATE A PLEASURE DAY FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE
Tell the other in advance that you want to create a perfect day for them. Ask for their input as to what they want on this day? Get plenty of details then you embellish these.
Notice how you feel as you show someone how much you care. See that you enjoy the day as well.

8. HEART INFORMATION

When you have to make a decision during your day, check out the information from your heart before voicing the decision. Heart information is often different than Left Brain logical data. Use both for balancing the Left and Right Brains.

9. USE DRAWINGS TO SET YOUR OUTCOME EACH MORNING

The Right Brain loves images. Images trigger the Right Brain. What is interesting about how the brain works is that if it knows what you want, it will search all available data to code what will help you gain your goal. So if you give the Right Brain an image of what you want, the Right Brain’s natural processing will become your best assistant. Buy a set of pastels and a drawing tablet. Keep them in a drawer so no one asks questions. Each morning draw an image that signifies to you what you hope to accomplish that day. You will be amazed at the results.

10. TEACH ONE OF THESE TO SOMEONE ELSE

When you teach a mental strategy to someone else, you learn a lot. Notice how your comprehension and understanding of a concept deepens as you transfer it . Enjoy your teaching role.

Right Brain Breakthrough for Balance

One important behavior you could adopt without much effort is to balance your Right and Left Brains. Our culture admires logic, analysis, looking to the past to predict the future to such an extent that our entire culture leans to the use of the Left Brain and forgets to use all the treasures in the Pandora's box of the Right Brain.  Recent  insights into the peace, bliss, joy, and love of the Right Brain have alerted us to the possibility of tapping these for our daily use.  Creative people have talents that most of us admire, and by using our own Right Brains along with our Left, we can become more creative, peaceful, full of joy, and operate with more empathy for others.    

To my mind, this information should change the world overnight, but few believe this. However, the potential is certainly there. Hypnosis, meditation, guided imagery, creative problem solving, abrupt emotional shifts, and even, hands on healing are all simply skills or attributes of your very own Right Brain.

There is no fear in the Right Brain. The Left Brain is designed to keep you safe so is full of fear. Being in the NOW is the key to using the Right Brain. The simplest and easiest to execute move is focusing on your body; however, simply looking at the world around you also brings you to the present.

Jill Bolte Taylor, the neuroanatomist, states that 91% are Left Brain dominate, so there is a large audience for this information.

I have used this to stop a child from pulling out her hair (a 12 inch circle of bald spot on the top of her head showed how good she was at this.) Fear and tension were the causes of the hair pulling. I have taught this to more than 100 people and they all say it works, but they forget to use it. One smoker has pretty much stopped by switching brains, though she says smoking no longer interests her, she still lights up now and then. She says she is an obsessive type, and that explains her inability to totally stop.

My theory on smoking is that most people smoke to stop negative feelings. Negative feelings are usually based on fear, so by removing the fear, the whole process could be stopped. I may be right and I may be wrong. The jury is still out.

Conflicts and wars come from fear, so if everyone used their Right Brain as much as their Left, we could cut back on these. Maybe?

I have taught hypno-therapy, gestalt psychology, hands-on-healing, NLP, meditation, and it was a shock for me to discover that each one was dependent on the ability to switch brains from the Linear Left Brain computation to the Collage-based Right Brain computation. Anyone can do it.

The experience of Jill Taylor when she had her Left Brain stroke is the basis of this information. The implications are still unfolding. Thanks for listening. Regards, Genie

Genie Z. Laborde, Ph.D.
www.influence-integrity.com
650-322-2799