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THE ROOT CAUSE OF DEPRESSION AND HOW TO HEAL IT

By Azriel ReShel on Friday July 27th, 2018

The Disease of Disconnection

We all know it, that dull ache of pointlessness, overwhelming sadness and a deep lack of
interest in life. The fog of listless pain that blows in and then settles, trapping us inside it.
Most of us have suffered at some point in our lives from depression. Be it a mild version
following a major life event, or a more prolonged episode that can get so severe it entraps us
in an ever compressing world of hopelessness to such an extent we consider ending our own
lives. Depression is one of the biggest issues in our world today.
With record numbers of people suffering from the dark cloud, and soaring suicide rates,
depression is a crippling disease reaching epidemic proportions.
Well-known author and journalist, Johann Hari, suffered from depression as a teen, taking
anti-depressants from a tender age. Told, like so many others, his depression was the cause of
a chemical imbalance in his brain, he later studied social sciences and embarked on a quest to
discover the truth about the cause of his depression. He swallowed antidepressants like
millions of others, and after 13 years of pills, without much change, and a broad investigation
into the true causes of depression, he is calling for a different approach.

The Chemical Imbalance Myth

His amazing journey involved hundreds of interviews in over a dozen countries and led him to
discover that almost everything we know about depression and anxiety is wrong.
Almost everything we know about depression and anxiety is wrong.
I started to research my book, Lost Connections: Uncovering The Real Causes of Depression –
and the Unexpected Solutions, because I was puzzled by two mysteries. Why was I still
depressed when I was doing everything I had been told to do? I had identified the low
serotonin in my brain, and I was boosting my serotonin levels–yet I still felt awful. But there
was a deeper mystery still. Why were so many other people across the Western world feeling
like me? Around one in five US adults are taking at least one drug for a psychiatric problem.
In Britain, antidepressant prescriptions have doubled in a decade, to the point where now one
in 11 of us drug ourselves to deal with these feelings. What has been causing depression and
its twin, anxiety, to spiral in this way? I began to ask myself: Could it really be that in our
separate heads, all of us had brain chemistries that were spontaneously malfunctioning at the
same time?
He says that between 65% and 80% of people on antidepressants are depressed again within
a year.
We’ve been telling ourselves this chemical story for 35 years and every year depression and
anxiety gets worse.

The Power of Connection

Searching for answers to his own depression, he began a quest to solve the depression puzzle.
Many people are told their depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.
To find the answers, I ended up going on a 40,000-mile journey across the world and back.
I talked to the leading social scientists investigating these questions, and to people who have
been overcoming depression in unexpected ways–from an Amish village in Indiana, to a
Brazilian city that banned advertising and a laboratory in Baltimore conducting a startling wave
of experiments. From these people, I learned the best scientific evidence about what really
causes depression and anxiety.
Drugs don’t heal the underlying causes of depression. In most cases, like Johann Hari’s, people
aren’t even asked what’s going on in their life, or if there could be a possible cause of the
depression. Johan’s research is strongly grounded in his own experience. He has battled the
depression demon for much of his adult life and has a keen understanding of what it is to be
depressed and all that entails.
I found there is evidence that seven specific factors in the way we are living today are causing
depression and anxiety to rise–alongside two real biological factors (such as your genes) that
can combine with these forces to make it worse.
During his journey of discovery he found scientific evidence that depression is caused by key
issues with how we live. Seven of the nine depression causing factors he discovered are all
rooted in disconnection. Disconnection from meaningful work, from other people, from
meaningful values, and from childhood trauma. Disconnection from status and respect, from
the natural world, and disconnection from a hopeful or secure future. Depression at its deepest
roots, stems from a lack of connection. It is a disease of disconnection.

So What Does Heal Depression?

Understanding the root cause of depression is a vital first step in being able to cure it.
Our longing for connection is innate. It never leaves us. Perhaps depression and anxiety are an
early warning signal, an engine light alerting us to the malfunction in the car.
Johann Hari says depression is a collective problem caused by something that has gone wrong
with our way of living and our culture. These conditions show us there is something very
wrong with the way society works. And, they give us an opportunity to make vital changes in
our lives. He advocates reconnection, or what he calls a different kind of antidepressant.
Depression at its deepest roots, stems from a lack of connection.
Depression and anxiety might, in one way, be the sanest reaction you have. It’s a signal,
saying you shouldn’t have to live this way, and if you aren’t helped to find a better path, you
will be missing out on so much that is best about being human.
His new book suggests seven reconnections. We need to reconnect to other people, to social
prescribing, to meaningful work, and to meaningful values. Reconnect to sympathetic joy and
overcome the addiction we have to the self. We also need to acknowledge and overcome our
childhood trauma and restore our future. It seems what’s called for in healing depression, is a
complete and radical reconnection. To someone who’s depressed this may seem deeply
overwhelming. But in a way it’s about rebuilding our lives. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes
and saying: I want something different. I know there’s more out there for me, I know there’s a
different way and I don’t have to do it alone.
After I learned all this, and what it means for us all, I started to long for the power to go back
in time and speak to my teenage self on the day he was told a story about his depression that
was going to send him off in the wrong direction for so many years. I wanted to tell him:
‘This pain you are feeling is not a pathology. It’s not crazy. It is a signal that your natural
psychological needs are not being met. It is a form of grief–for yourself, and for the culture
you live in going so wrong. I know how much it hurts. I know how deeply it cuts you. But you
need to listen to this signal. We all need to listen to the people around us sending out this
signal. It is telling you what is going wrong. It is telling you that you need to be connected in
so many deep and stirring ways that you aren’t yet–but you can be, one day.
Once again, as with most things in life, the map to finding our way out of pain and back to
wellbeing, is connection. As humans we are built for connection, for love, and for intimacy.
As humans we are built for connection, for love, and for intimacy.
What this evidence was telling me was that this search for quick individual solutions is a trap.
In fact, this search for individual solutions is part of what got us into this problem in the first
place. We have become imprisoned inside our own egos, walled off where true connection
cannot reach us.

Stopping the Dark Slide of Depression

His research, from experts and people all over the world, found that the real path
to happiness is to dismantle our walls, and that part of overcoming our depression and anxiety
is about coming together. In his own healing journey, Johann Hari made a conscious decision
to reach out to others when depression set in, and to do something for someone else instead
of something for himself.
I learned something I wouldn’t have thought was possible at the start. Even if you are in pain,
you can almost always make someone else feel a little bit better. Or I would try to channel it
into more overt political actions, to make the society better.
Amazingly he discovered doing something for others stopped the slide down into the darkness
of depression. It comes back to the same thing: We need to reach out to others, not try to
build ourselves up alone.
If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a
human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of
us, together, to begin to meet those human needs–for deep connection to the things that
really matter in life.
For more information read Johann Hari’s New York Times best-selling book Lost
Connections and watch Johann Hari: The Antidote to Loneliness.

https://upliftconnect.com/help-people-depression/

HOW TO REALLY HELP PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION

By Robin Tran on Tuesday September 13th, 2016

Four Ways to Talk to Someone With Depression

I’ve suffered from depression for as long as I could remember, but that’s difficult for me to say
out loud – not because I’ve ever shied away from sharing my life experiences, but because
part of me believes that I’m making my depression up.
For many years, well-intentioned friends and family would unknowingly gaslight me, telling me
in numerous ways that I wasn’t actually depressed. Gaslighting, for those who don’t know, is
the practice of psychologically manipulating someone so that they question their own sanity.
I’d lament about my feelings, yet my closest friends were quick to tell me that if I just changed
my attitude, my depression would go away.
Tragically, my loved ones truly thought they were helping. My guess is that they were fearful
of validating my feelings – something I desperately needed them to do – because they thought
validation would exacerbate my negative moods. Perhaps they were afraid they’d be indulging
my condition.
Their solutions, whether they realized it or not, generally consisted of encouraging me to shove
all my feelings deep down inside. To them, they weren’t gaslighting me. They were merely
demonstrating “tough love”.
To them, they weren’t gaslighting me. They were merely demonstrating “tough love”.
But their tough love approach never helped. In fact, it has caused irreparable damage to my
psyche to the point where I no longer believe my own feelings. Even sitting here, with
thousands of negative thoughts flooding in, I still think I can snap out of it with positive
thoughts if I were just strong enough to do so.
If my friends and family knew the negative effects their tough love would have on me, I don’t
believe they ever would’ve utilized their tactics.
Instead, they could use more compassionate and validating language, which would likelier
achieve their desired outcomes.
Maybe you’ve tried your own version of tough love, and it’s time to reevaluate your approach
too. Here are some tough love phrases that gaslight people with depression, and ways they
could be substituted with more empathetic language.
More compassionate and validating language would be likelier achieve the desired outcomes.
1. ‘Get Over It – You Have a Great Life!’
Speaking openly about depression makes many people feel uncomfortable.
Folks aren’t accustomed to dealing with people who experience, and admit to, their raw
emotions. Their impulse when they’re met with real emotions is to shut down the conversation
before it can even get started.
They do this by reminding the depressed party about all of the good fortune they have in their
lives. The undertone of what they’re saying is, “You should be more grateful,” but what they
really mean is, “Please stop being depressed because I don’t like how it makes me feel.”
This could be for a number of reasons. It could be general discomfort, because some people
feel uncomfortable with what they deem is “oversharing.” Likelier though, it’s because they
would rather not see someone they care about having such a rough emotional time.
The impulse to want to “fix” the problem is partially due to people’s perceptions that emotions
are “weak”, while “logic” is strong. While an overabundance of emotions isn’t always
useful, completely ignoring one’s emotions will definitely be detrimental to one’s health.
People aren’t accustomed to those who experience, and admit to, their raw emotions.
Besides, “logic” cannot operate without emotions behind them, because we, at our essence,
are emotional creatures.
It’s better to be honest with your emotions if you don’t know how to help a depressed person.
Before delving right into “problem-solving” mode, it’s much more helpful to simply say this:
“I’m sorry for what you’re going through.”
By admitting this simple emotion, you introduce solidarity instead of condescension, and it
serves the same function as trying to lift someone’s spirits. The difference is, the language is
more empathetic and less judgmental.
Sometimes, all people really need is a little bit of compassion, sympathy, and empathy. This
may or may not stop the depressive spell, but at least you can take comfort knowing that you
shared a connection with someone you care about, and you made them feel less alone.
This is much more useful than unintentionally invalidating someone’s experiences, making
them feel even worse than before.
“I’m sorry for what you’re going through”.
2. ‘Here’s What You Should Do’
Reiterating one of my previous points, the inclination to problem-solve is reflexive in many
people. When they hear that someone is depressed, they want to offer advice immediately.
While some of the advice can be useful – such as encouraging yoga, exercise, meditation, etc.
– it’s extremely condescending to give advice before any type of validation.
Without realizing it, when somebody offers unsolicited advice, they’re implying, “You wouldn’t
be depressed if you tried harder not to be depressed.”
What they don’t realize is that sadness is different from depression. Sadness, in actuality, is a
healthy human emotion that happens as a reaction or reactions to events.
Depression, on the other hand, is a chemical imbalance which doesn’t necessarily require a
trigger, and it is much more pervasive than temporary sadness.
Sadness is different from depression.
Everybody feels sadness at times, but not everybody has depression.
So the intention of offering unsolicited advice, telling depressed people that “this is what you
should do,” is to give someone the tools to hopefully dissipate depression. But since depression
doesn’t necessarily have a cure, these pieces of advice may ultimately be futile.
Instead of offering advice at the very outset, you can instead say this: “Let me know if there’s
anything I can do to help.”
By using this verbiage instead, you validate someone’s experiences and emotions by letting
them know that you feel for their pain and that you would like to help. It’s likely that there
really isn’t anything you can “do,” per se, but the offer is always nice to hear.
Sometimes, it’s best just to offer the support and, if need be, to listen.
More importantly, by offering to help instead of offering advice, there’s no presumption that
you know the solution on how to get better, and there is no pressure from you that you want
them to get better on your timeframe. You aren’t implying that there are solutions, because
advice implies that there are cures that depressed people simply aren’t using, which, once
again, is gaslighting someone and invalidating their feelings.
You hopefully take off some of the pressure, and you let them know that you’ll be there for
them no matter what.
It’s likely that there really isn’t anything you can “do,” per se, but the offer is always nice to
hear.
3. ‘What Happened? Why Are You Depressed?’
This is another seemingly innocuous phrase used on people who are depressed. The reason
why it isn’t a harmless question is because by asking someone “what happened,” you are
implying that a trigger must’ve caused the depression.
This implies that a trigger is required to spark depression and/or depressive spells. But that’s
not how depression works for everyone. For many people, depression comes out of nowhere.
I’ve spent countless hours trying to rack my brain during depressive spells. “Why do I feel this
way?” I’d ask myself, instead of accepting the reality that I feel the way I feel.

After years of others gaslighting me, I unknowingly started gaslighting myself. Many times I’d
feel incapacitated and I’d punish myself further with self-harm, both physically and mentally.
“You shouldn’t feel this way. Nothing happened for you to feel this way.”
Instead of asking somebody “what happened,” the same good intentions can be accomplished
by saying this: “I’m sorry that you’re depressed, and there’s nothing wrong with you for
feeling this way.”
The reason why this is important to say is because there are many stigmas and a lot of
shame associated with having depression. Depression is horrible enough to experience on its
own, and adding shame to it is an unnecessary burden.
You are helping to minimize the shame and reminding them that while their experiences are
difficult, their reality is also valid, and their worth as a person stays intact no matter how many
depressive spells they have.
You are helping to minimize the shame.
4. ‘You Should Get Up and Do Something!’
What many people don’t realize is just how debilitating depression can be. Last year, I went
back to look at my calendar, and I realized that for a full year, I had called out sick from work
once a month around the same day every month. Those days, my depression was so severe
that I couldn’t even get out of bed.
When I told people that I was suffering from debilitating depression, their inclination was to
tell me to get up and leave the house. Take a walk around the neighborhood. Go to the store.
Socialize with friends.
While I appreciate their intentions, I always felt like they didn’t really believe me when I told
them about how horrible these spells can get. They would try to relate to me with stories
about how sad they’ve felt at certain instances in their lives and how, by leaving the house,
their sadness went away.
The thing is, I completely understood what they were trying to say. They were trying to tell me
that by staying cooped up in my apartment, I was making my depression worse. There may be
a grain of truth to this, but they were missing the point entirely.
Depression is more than a feeling. It can be an all-encompassing heaviness that has real
physical manifestations, such as lethargy, periodic crying, headaches, and nausea. What
they’re telling me is that I can overcome “sadness,” and this was insulting because there have
been many instances when I had gone to work while being sad, or had forced myself to leave
the house when I didn’t feel well.
Once again, depression and sadness are not the same things, and they thought that they had
the magic cure for my experiences.
What many people don’t realize is just how debilitating depression can be.
Instead of trying to make someone “do” something, you can instead say this: “Try to
be patient with yourself.” If people’s intents are to speed up the recovery process, it
may seem counterintuitive to tell someone to be patient with themselves. It goes
against our “tough love” culture which tells us that any sign of vulnerability is a form
of weakness. Patience and self-care are dismissed as passive options for weak
people.
The reality is, the only times I’ve ever been able to power through depressive spells has been
through patience and self-care. By taking the pressure off myself that I “had” to get better as
soon as I could, I was able to slow down, breathe, and process my depression at my own
pace.
I didn’t have to worry about a friend of mine making me feel even worse for being debilitated,
as if I didn’t already feel horrible and useless enough. The self-criticisms only kept me in bed
for even longer, because I spent so much time trying to talk myself into believing that I should
be “getting better” more quickly if I were more physically proactive.
Sometimes, that just isn’t possible.
It may seem counterintuitive to tell someone to be patient with themselves.
You should try to be compassionate when communicating with someone who suffers from
depression, because chances are, they’re finding it hard to feel compassion for themselves.
Don’t make it even more difficult.
I believe that although depression doesn’t necessarily have a “cure,” it can be more
manageable depending on the support people receive from their friends, family, and loved
ones. Now that I’ve done away with people who utilize “tough love” tactics, my spells are
absolutely easier to cope with than they ever have been.
Depression is still crushingly difficult, but the despair doesn’t feel quite as heavy, because my
current friends don’t invalidate my experiences.
By using more compassionate language, they make me feel less alone.
Conversely, tough love always made me feel even lonelier, more ashamed, and burdensome
on everybody in my life. I firmly believe that most people don’t want their depressed friends
and family to feel this way, and hopefully, by providing more compassionate language in place
of “tough love,” people can feel validated and loved – and they can feel less alone.

https://upliftconnect.com/countering-stress-depression/

COUNTERING STRESS AND DEPRESSION

By His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Sunday June 12th, 2016

Understanding what disturbs the mind and how to heal it

At a fundamental level, as human beings, we are all the same; each one of us aspires to
happiness and each one of us does not wish to suffer. This is why, whenever I have the
opportunity, I try to draw people’s attention to what as members of the human family we have
in common and the deeply interconnected nature of our existence and welfare.
Today, there is increasing recognition, as well as a growing body of scientific evidence, that
confirms the close connection between our own states of mind and our happiness.
On the one hand, many of us live in societies that are very developed materially, yet among us
are many people who are not very happy. Just underneath the beautiful surface of affluence
there is a kind of mental unrest, leading to frustration, unnecessary quarrels, reliance on drugs
or alcohol, and in the worst case, suicide.

There is no guarantee that wealth alone can give you the joy or fulfilment that you seek.
The same can be said of your friends too. When you are in an intense state of anger or hatred,
even a very close friend appears to you as somehow frosty, or cold, distant, and annoying.
However, as human beings we are gifted with this wonderful human intelligence. Besides that,
all human beings have the capacity to be very determined and to direct that strong sense of
determination in whatever direction they like. So long as we remember that we have this
marvellous gift of human intelligence and a capacity to develop determination and use it in
positive ways, we will preserve our underlying mental health. Realising we have this great
human potential gives us a fundamental strength. This recognition can act as a mechanism
that enables us to deal with any difficulty, no matter what situation we are facing, without
losing hope or sinking into feelings of low self-esteem.

On loss and exile

I write this as someone who lost his freedom at the age of 16, then lost his country at the age
of 24. Consequently, I have lived in exile for more than 50 years during which we Tibetans
have dedicated ourselves to keeping the Tibetan identity alive and preserving our culture and
values. On most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet none of these challenges
gives grounds for giving up. One of the approaches that I personally find useful is to cultivate
the thought:
If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry
about it.
On most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet none of these challenges gives
grounds for giving up
In other words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, you do not need to be
overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more
sensible to spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than worrying about the
problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no
point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyway. In that case,
the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be for you. This formula, of course, implies
directly confronting the problem and taking a realistic view. Otherwise you will be unable to
find out whether or not there is a resolution to the problem
Taking a realistic view and cultivating a proper motivation can also shield you against feelings
of fear and anxiety. If you develop a pure and sincere motivation, if you are motivated by a
wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any
kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively with less fear or worry, not being
afraid of what others think or whether you ultimately will be successful in reaching your goal.
Even if you fail to achieve your goal, you can feel good about having made the effort. But with
a bad motivation, people can praise you or you can achieve goals, but you still will not be
happy.
Again, we may sometimes feel that our whole lives are unsatisfactory, we feel on the point of
being overwhelmed by the difficulties that confront us. This happens to us all in varying
degrees from time to time. When this occurs, it is vital that we make every effort to find a way
of lifting our spirits. We can do this by recollecting our good fortune. We may, for example, be
loved by someone; we may have certain talents; we may have received a good education; we
may have our basic needs provided for – food to eat, clothes to wear, somewhere to live – we
may have performed certain altruistic deeds in the past.
We must take into consideration even the slightest positive aspect of our lives.
For if we fail to find some way of uplifting ourselves, there is every danger of sinking further
into our sense of powerlessness. This can lead us to believe that we have no capacity for doing
good whatsoever. Thus we create the conditions of despair itself.

Negative thoughts and emotions disturb peace

As a Buddhist monk I have learned that what principally upsets our inner peace is what we call
disturbing emotions. All those thoughts, emotions, and mental events which reflect a negative
or uncompassionate state of mind inevitably undermine our experience of inner peace.
All our negative thoughts and emotions – such as hatred, anger, pride, lust, greed, envy, and
so on – are considered to be sources of difficulty, to be disturbing. Negative thoughts and
emotions are what obstruct our most basic aspiration – to be happy and to avoid suffering.
When we act under their influence, we become oblivious to the impact our actions have on
others: they are thus the cause of our destructive behaviour both toward others and to
ourselves. Murder, scandal, and deceit all have their origin in disturbing emotions.
Negative thoughts and emotions are what obstruct our most basic aspiration – to be happy
and to avoid suffering
This inevitably gives rise to the question – can we train the mind? There are many methods by
which to do this. Among these, in the Buddhist tradition, is a special instruction called mind
training, which focuses on cultivating concern for others and turning adversity to advantage.
It is this pattern of thought, transforming problems into happiness that has enabled the
Tibetan people to maintain their dignity and spirit in the face of great difficulties.
Indeed I have found this advice of great practical benefit in my own life.
A great Tibetan teacher of mind training once remarked that one of the mind’s most
marvellous qualities is that it can be transformed. I have no doubt that those who attempt to
transform their minds, overcome their disturbing emotions and achieve a sense of inner peace,
will, over a period of time, notice a change in their mental attitudes and responses to people
and events. Their minds will become more disciplined and positive. And I am sure they will find
their own sense of happiness grow as they contribute to the greater happiness of others.
I offer my prayers that everyone who makes this their goal will be blessed with success.

https://upliftconnect.com/creative-brains-depression/

ARE CREATIVE BRAINS MORE PRONE TO DEPRESSION?

By Esther Rivers on Sunday August 28th, 2016

Neuroscience shows a link between creativity and mood disorders

Those of us who have experienced depression understand its loneliness, its breathtaking ability
to make us feel as if we don’t belong or have no real direction.
But science is showing us that there may be more to this frustration than meets the eye.
Those with creative brains tend to experience the world in different ways than others.
Evidence is rising to connect creative minds with depression and other mental health issues,
but not for the reasons you may think. Though the mad artist and the creative mind have
often been associated with mental health problems, science is showing that creatives feel
depression due to their brain’s interactions with their environment – not because of their work.
Some creative types may feel they are unusually prone to depression, when really we are
experiencing quite a natural reaction to the world around us.
Are creative types more prone to depression?

Creative brains work on a different level

According to neuroscientist and author of The Creative Brain Nancy Andreasen, less creative
types tend to adapt quite quickly to situations and surroundings based on what they have been
told by authoritative figures, while those with creative minds experience things quite
differently:
“This flexibility permits them to perceive things in a fresh and novel way, which is an important
basis for creativity. But it also means that their inner world is complex, ambiguous, and filled
with shades of gray rather than black and white. It is a world filled with many questions and
few easy answers. While less creative people quickly respond to situations based on what they
have been told by people in authority — parents, teachers, pastors, rabbis, or priests — the
creative person lives in a more fluid and nebulous world.”

Creative brains (top) respond differently

We experience the world with a different viewpoint: we question, ponder, and analyze.
This can, unfortunately, lead to feelings of isolation, social alienation, or depression because
we are different, and maybe because we feel we are strange or weird.
What might seem a ‘normal’ environment, for a creative type, can be stressful and introverted
in our complicated approach to society.

We are not alone

Such feelings of isolation are understandable, and there are many people who feel this same
way all over the world. We all need to find others like us in order to feel a true sense of
belonging.
In the same way that politicians would probably feel uncomfortable and somewhat distressed
at a dance school, so too do our creative minds feel disillusioned when it comes to fitting in
somewhere we don’t feel we belong. Without the right tools, and the right encouragement and
support to aid us in understanding that our differences are what make us special, we can very
much begin to give in to the throes of depression.

Embracing your creativity

Andreasen says that there are a few things we should remember when it comes to our creative
minds. We must acknowledge our gifts, our talents, and under no circumstance let them go to
waste. We need to treasure our talents and nurture them, as if we are tending to a precious
garden. If we block out our talents, we are blocking out our true selves, which can lead to
severe depression.
We must also embrace our strangeness – because we will likely always seem odd to someone
who is less original than we are. Being weird is far more interesting than being normal.
And surround ourselves with our people!! Our creativity will flourish, not to mention the fact
that we will be loved and supported for exactly who we are. Andreasen admits that it is far
more likely for creative types to be prone to mental illness which comes from “a problem with
filtering or gating the many stimuli that flow into the brain.” Some creatives tend to shy from
human contact because of highly sensitive personalities. But by understanding and
embracing our uniqueness, we are helping to gain some ground in the fight against depression.

https://upliftconnect.com/ancient-cure-depression/

THE ANCIENT CURE FOR DEPRESSION

By Sara Burrows on Monday March 14th, 2016

Counteracting the health impact of a Civilized Lifestyle

Depression is a global epidemic. It is the main driver behind suicide, which now claims more
than a million lives per year worldwide. One in four Americans will suffer from clinical
depression within their lifetimes, and the rate is increasing with every generation.
It robs people of sleep, energy, focus, memory, sex drive and their basic ability to experience
the pleasures of life, says author of The Depression Cure Stephen Ilardi.
It can destroy people’s desire to love, work, play and even their will to live.
If left unchecked it can cause permanent brain damage.
Depression robs people of sleep, energy, focus, memory and sex drive
Depression lights up the pain circuitry of the brain to such an extent that many of Ildari’s
psychiatric patients have called it torment, agony and torture. “Many begin to look to death as
a welcome means of escape,” he said in a Ted Talks presentation.
But depression is not a natural disease. It is not an inevitable part of being human.
Ildari argues, like many diseases, depression is a disease of civilization. It’s a disease caused
by a high-stress, industrialized, modern lifestyle that is incompatible with our genetic
evolution.
Depression is the result of a prolonged stress-response, Ildari said.
The brain’s “runaway stress response” – as he calls it – is similar to the fight or flight
response, which evolved to help our ancestors when they faced predators or other physical
dangers. The runaway stress response required intense physical activity for a few seconds, a
few minutes, or – in extreme cases – a few hours.
“The problem is for many people throughout the Western world, the stress response goes on
for weeks, months and even years at a time, and when it does that, it’s incredibly toxic”,
Ildari said.
Living under continually stressful conditions – as many modern humans do – is disruptive to
neuro-chemicals like dopamine and seratonin, which can lead to sleep disturbance, brain
damage, immune dysregulation and inflammation, Ildari says.
Living under continually stressful conditions

Civilization is the disease

Epidemiologists have now identified a long list of other stress-related diseases as “diseases of
civilization” – diabetes, atherosclerosis, asthma, allergies, obesity and cancer.
These diseases are rampant throughout the developed world, but virtually non-existent among
modern-day aboriginal peoples.
In a study of 2000 Kaluli aborigines from Papua New Guinea, only one marginal case of clinical
depression was found. Why? Because the Kaluli lifestyle is very similar to our hunter-gatherer
ancestors’ lifestyle that lasted for nearly 2 million years before agriculture, Ildari said.
“99.9 percent of the human experience was lived in a hunter-gatherer context,” he added.
“Most of the selection pressures that have sculpted and shaped our genomes are really well
adapted for that environment and that lifestyle.”
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle
In view of nearly 3 million years of hominid existence, since homo habilis first began use of
stone tools, our genus has undergone rapid environmental change since the advent of
agriculture about 12,000 years ago. And in the last 200 years, since the industrial revolution,
our species has had to cope with what Ildari calls “radical environmental mutation”.
While our environment has radically mutated, our human genome is essentially the same as it
was 200 years ago, Ildari says. “That’s only eight generations. It’s not enough time [for
significant genetic adaptations]”.
“There’s a profound mismatch between the genes we carry, the bodies and brains that they
are building, and the world that we find ourselves in,” he said. “We were never designed for
the sedentary, indoor, socially isolated, fast-food-laden, sleep-deprived frenzied pace of
modern life”.

The Cure
Though he’s not entirely opposed to medication, Ildari says we can throw all the drugs in the
world at the depression epidemic, and it won’t make a dent.
Anti depressant use has gone up 300 percent in the last 20 years, but the rate of depression
has continued to increase. One in nine Americans over age 12 is currently taking an
antidepressant, and one in five have been on them at some point.
The rise in youth depression
The answer, Ildari says, is a change in lifestyle. He says the results of his six step program
have exceeded his wildest dreams:
1. Exercise
2. Omega 3 Fatty Acids
3. Sunlight
4. Healthy Sleep
5. Anti-ruminative activity
6. Social connection
In his presentation, he emphasized the importance of exercise and social connection, as they
are two of the hardest parts of the program for modern Americans.

Exercise is ‘not natural’

Ildari says the results of exercise on depression are so powerful that if they could be reduced
into a pill, it would be the most expensive pill on earth. The problem is 60 percent of American
adults get no regular physical activity. Ildari says it’s not their fault. Between long days at
work and household and family responsibilities to attend to, who has the time or energy to hit
the gym?
Long days at work and household and family responsibilities
The dirty little secret about exercise, Ildari says, is “it is not natural”. We are designed to be
physically active “in the service of adapted goals,” not to exercise on a hamster wheel.
Hunter gatherers get four or more hours of vigorous physical activity every day, but if you ask
them they will tell you they don’t exercise, Ildari says. “They don’t work out. Working out
would be crazy to them. They live”.
“When you put a lab rat on a treadmill… it will squat down on it’s haunches, and the treadmill
starts to rub the fur and the skin right off it’s back side,” he said. “When you stare at a piece
of exercise equipment, there is a part of your brain that’s screaming out: ‘Don’t do it! You’re
not going anywhere!’”
Going on a brisk walk
If you can’t go out gathering your own nuts and berries or hunting your own meat, Ildari
recommends brisk walking with a friend. Walking for 30 minutes, three times a week, has
better effects on depression than Zoloft, he said.

Social Connection
Another huge factor in modern depression is the lack of social connection in our modern
nuclear-family bubbles. “Face-time with our loved ones puts the breaks on our stress
response,” Ildari says.
The problem is we’ve replaced face-time with screen-time.
Our hunter gatherer ancestors spent all day every day in the company of their loved ones.
Unfortunately illness, including mental illness, triggers people to isolate themselves, which only
makes depression worse.
“Resist the urge to withdraw,” Ildari says, “because when you’re ill, your body tells you to shut
down and pull away. When you have the flu, that’s adaptive. When you have depression, it’s
the worst thing in the world you could do”.

Rewilding and Tribal Living

What Ildari didn’t mention in his Ted Talk is how difficult his cure is for most modern humans
to attain. Sure, we’d all like more fresh air, sunlight, exercise, a better diet, better sleep, less
monotonous work, and more interaction with loved ones, but who has time for all that?
We’d all like more fresh air, sunlight, exercise.
I’m stuck here staring at my screen typing about it in an effort to make a living for myself, and
many of you don’t even have time to read this article because you have 50+ hours-a-week
jobs of your own. Meanwhile, immediate-return hunter-gatherers work an average of 17 hours
a week. In this world, we certainly can’t just quit our jobs to be less stressed, when the
financial stress would create more stress.
In my opinion, the answer lies in baby steps. Baby steps away from dependence on civilization,
and toward nature, earth skills, and self-sustaining communal living.
These are things I plan to learn more about while building this website. I’m excited to share
what I learn with you, and hope you’ll share your knowledge with me.

https://upliftconnect.com/talking-about-depression/

WHY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DEPRESSION

A Young Comedian provides an Eye-Opening Insight into Depression

Every thirty seconds someone in the world takes their own life because of depression.
Today this silent epidemic is affecting more and more people across the globe.
And the severity of depression is largely unknown as no-one is talking about it and millions are
suffering in silence.
https://youtu.be/-Qe8cR4Jl10

Kevin Breel was just a teenager when he shared his moving and heartfelt story about his
journey with depression. He is now the author of the memoir: Boy meets Depression.
A high achiever, captain of his sports team, popular with lots of friends, and a stand-up
comedian, Kevin was the last person people would imagine to have depression.
But, as he says: “Beneath my smile there was the struggle, beneath my light there was dark,
and beneath my personality there hid an even bigger pain”.
Depression is not something you feel when something in your life goes wrong, real depression
is being sad when everything in your life is going right. Listen to his powerful talk on how we
all should be speaking about this massive problem in order to solve it.

https://upliftconnect.com/antidote-for-depression/

THE HIDDEN ANTIDOTE FOR DEPRESSION

By Nanice Ellis on Saturday December 26th, 2015

Depression is the unavoidable by-product of not being who you really are
It is no secret that depression is a worldwide epidemic, but did you know that a hidden cause
of depression is the fear of self-expression? If you often sacrifice self-expression in exchange
for acceptance, appreciation or approval – or to avoid negative consequences like rejection or
conflict – you may become depressed.
Every time you shut down self-expression in order to get your emotional needs met by others,
you are actually rejecting your Real Self – cutting yourself off from your intrinsic source of
energy and power, and thereby diminishing your natural state of peace, joy and love.
The result is often what we refer to as depression.
But, why would we ever do this to ourselves?
From birth we are taught to believe that in order to be accepted, appreciated, or to get any
emotional needs met, it is necessary to follow a set of rules, regulations and limiting beliefs
that were handed down to us from parents, teachers, religion, culture and society.
If we fear that others will withhold love and approval if we don’t conform, we are likely to
restrict our self-expression whenever it contradicts with the pre-existing ideals of those around
us. We may even feel as if our survival is at risk – making us believe that self-suppression is a
better choice than self-expression. Unfortunately, when you constantly repress your Real Self,
there is a huge unseen price to pay.
Depression is the unavoidable by-product of not being who you really are and a
direct result of repressing your Real Self.
Is depression a result of repressing your Real Self?
When The Need For Peace Turns into Depression
Yes, it can be wonderful to choose peace over adversity, but if you are habitually choosing
peace in order to avoid conflict, you may be sacrificing your Real Self.
Negating yourself or your preferences, in order to avoid conflict with others, may sound
evolved and selfless on the surface, but when we look deeper, we see that continuously closing
yourself down in order to avoid conflict causes chronic depression.
Self-expression is a sign of spiritual evolution.
Self-expression allows the Divine to shine through you like a priceless work of art.
Choosing peace over expression just might mean repressing Divinity.
Indeed, sometimes being our Real Selves causes others to feel uncomfortable and maybe even
to judge us for being different – and on occasion there could be conflict.
This is all true, but what is also true is that when you have the courage to express your Real
Self, you call forth a higher version of reality where you can truly be your Real Self.
Yes, this might mean overcoming the opinions of others on the way to this vibrant new land of
expression but it is nothing you can’t handle. When you get there, you will discover that there
is nothing easier than just being yourself. The people in your life will learn your new song and
the steps to your new dance, and many of them will sing and dance along with you, and those
who don’t will simply go on their merry way.
Your only job is to be You. If you are not going to be You, then who will?
Being You requires that you follow your joy, listen to your heart, and express yourself in all
ways that feel like YOU.
The importance of being your Real Self

Get Plugged In!

When we express our Real Selves, we are tapped into the source of who we really are and, as
a result, we are plugged into unlimited life force energy. When we hide our Real Selves and
suppress expression, we disconnect from this immense source of energy and power, and if we
do this for a prolonged period of time, eventually we become depressed, and it seems as if the
whole world is against us. This means that in order to fit in, be accepted or to keep the peace,
we often sacrifice the very life force that gives us the vision to create extraordinary lives and
the energy and enthusiasm to follow through.
Depression is a result of being disconnected from the Supreme Energy of the
Universe, but at any moment, you can get plugged back in, by choosing to be who
you really are.
Certainly, seek professional help for depression when needed, but don’t depend on pills or
doctors to save you. You can only save yourself by finding your Real Self and getting plugged
into a Universe that loves you.

Listen To Your Heart

You cannot live your life according to anyone else’s ideals, values or expectations; you must
choose to live life for yourself. Every time you suppress a desire to try something new, connect
with other people, laugh, have fun or create, you repress the life force energy within you –
shutting down the source of a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Depression is the long term consequence of not living your life the way “something
inside you” really wants to live it.
The way to live a “life worth living” is to live it from your heart.
You must throw out the concept of right and wrong, good and bad, sinful and saintly and begin
to discover your own personal truth that is not influenced by anyone or anything (as long as it
does not physically hurt you or others, the sky is the limit).
Impossible you might think – but it is what you have unknowingly been seeking.
You will not find the answer to your happiness in anyone else’s diary or vision board.
You can only find the answer for yourself – perhaps independent of everything you have ever
learned. If you want peace, bliss and a “life worth living,” there is no other way.
How far down the rabbit hole of self-suppression must you sink before you begin to question
the illusions you have been living?
Learning to strive for a life worth living
If you were to know me now, you would never imagine that I once suffered from chronic
depression. It began when I was just a child and it lasted for decades. Living with depression
was very much like having an invisible disability that affected every aspect of my life. I tried
everything to overcome it, and I sometimes had success that would last for weeks or months
but that dark cloud always returned. More than anything I wanted to experience joy and I
wanted to be at peace with myself, but it would take me years and years to find this
permanent cure.
People who lovingly express their Real Selves are simply not depressed. They are the people
who go through life singing and dancing. They have made the choice to live their lives from the
inside out and not care one bit about what other’s might think. Joyful people know that, in the
end, what they think and feel about themselves and their lives is all that matters.
They are the people who die with smiles on their faces and feel the deepest sense of gratitude
for having lived the best possible lives they could have imagined. You have the very same
choices right now.
You might be depressed because you have a history of oppression but as long as you blame
the outside world, you will remain powerless to heal yourself. Instead of trying to overcome
oppression, turn your attention toward expression. The way to climb out of the pits of
depression is by the ladder of self-expression. It is true, that when you are depressed, it is
often difficult to get in touch with self-expression, but if you can take small steps consistently,
you will make progress. The journey from depression to expression is one day at a time.
Every time you express yourself you are one step closer to emotional freedom.
The only thing that is required for an extraordinary life is bringing your Real Self to
the table.
The freedom to be your Real Self

What Is Required To Be Your Real Self?

Meet Your Own Emotional Needs
Until we wake up and become conscious, our emotional needs dictate our behavior.
The need for approval, appreciation, understanding and acceptance often rule our lives,
causing us to sacrifice ourselves in order to get these, and other, emotional needs met.
But, it never works, because if you have to hide your Real Self in order to gain approval, for
example, it is only your false-self being approved of, so you never really experience approval.
Instead you may even feel like a fraud.
As long as you expect others to meet your emotional needs, you will stay locked in a prison of
your own making. You unlock the doors of your prison when you stop looking to others, and
you meet your own emotional needs. How can you expect anyone to appreciate you, if you
don’t appreciate yourself? Ironically, as soon as you practice self-appreciation, the world will
reflect it back to you. If you are no longer needing others to meet your emotional needs, you
won’t have to change or hide yourself for any reason, or for anyone. You will be free to be
yourself – your real, true, authentic, beautiful self! This is the whole point.

Re-evaluate Your Life

When you finally decide that the cost of not being yourself is too much to pay, the first step to
take is a non-judgmental assessment of your current life. In order to determine where you are
out of alignment with your Real Self, a willingness to be honest is required in all areas of your
life. It is important to approach this evaluation with curiosity rather than judgement.
Judgment will lock you into negativity, while a sense of curiosity will begin to loosen your past
reality and allow you to start thinking about what is possible.

Listen to Your Inner Voice

Deep inside you is a voice that is whispering divine instructions to you. This still small voice
speaks through your secret desires, your creative drive and your greatest fantasies of a life
well-lived. You may think, “I don’t know what my inner-self is saying,” but this is only because
you have been suppressing your deepest desires for so long. When you don’t listen to that
inner voice, it becomes almost impossible to hear, but once you begin to listen and take
inspired actions, your divine voice will become louder and clearer.
Listen to your inner voice

Apply Unconditional Self-Allowance

It is time to release that inner critic that focuses continuously on everything that is wrong.
It is time to embrace yourself from a loving space of self-allowance. You don’t have to accept
anything. It is not about acceptance. But, if you can begin to allow yourself to be where you
are right now, you will likely experience a sense of peace which will allow you access to your
inner-self. From a space of unconditional self-allowance, you can find your truth, and
ultimately manifest that truth in ways that support your greatest and most extraordinary self.

Embrace Soul-Worth
When you base your self-worth on possessions, accomplishments or how you think others see
you, your worth is transient – and it remains inaccessible, as long as it depends on external
things. This type of artificial worth invokes fear and anxiety, even when you are experiencing
what you consider success. But how can you be your Real Self if your worth is contingent on
things you cannot control?
The greatest healing is to own your worth. Stop giving it away and stop looking for proof
outside of yourself. Look deep inside. Your worth is guaranteed and unconditional.
You have worth just for being. This is Soul-Worth! When you remember that worth is intrinsic
and unconditional, you gain access to personal freedom, where it doesn’t matter what the
world thinks or says. Imagine having the freedom to discover yourself and ultimately the
freedom of glorious expression.

Re-align Relationships
When you make the conscious choice to be the Real You, you may disrupt the dynamics of
current relationships where you have not been your Real Self. Some of your relationships will
begin to improve, while others will naturally fall away. It is normal to focus on what you might
lose but there is so much more to gain when you align with who you really are.
The relationships that remain and the new ones that will ultimately show up will be more
satisfying than you ever imagined. It is only by being who you really are that you can truly
connect with others. The most essential aspect of any connection is the Real You.
When you have the courage to be the Real You, positive energy infiltrates everyone around
you. As you express your Real Self, you invite others to do the same.
If you want to be the change you want to see in the world, this is it!
Small acts of self-expression every day can lead to emotional freedom

Practice Expression
When we are depressed, it is easy to go further and further into seclusion, but that only makes
us feel worse. Chances are, if you are going into seclusion, you are excluding more and more
things, people and opportunities from your life – this adds up to deeper depression.
When our lives are not an expression of our Real Selves, it is easy to shut down to everything,
but in order to rise above depression, it is important to include things in your life that might
make you feel better. You don’t have to expect huge changes in yourself overnight – you just
have to move step-by-step in the direction of self-expression.
If you practice even small acts of self-expression every day, you will naturally gravitate toward
emotional freedom. Dance, sing, paint, draw, write, make a video, dress in ways that make
you feel more like you, or express your hidden gifts and talents. Any expression of you will do!

Speak Your Truth

An essential aspect of self-expression is speaking one’s truth. It is not that you have to tell
everyone everything – that is not the point, nor is it helpful. The point is being willing and able
to verbally express yourself, without fear of consequence. The greatest consequence is to
sacrifice the beautiful gift of your life because you are too afraid to stand in your truth, and be
seen. What truth do you need to express to the people in your life?
Remember, speaking your truth can more powerfully come from a space of love.
Love for yourself, love for another and love for your truth.

Mind Your Own Business

It’s none of your business what other people think about you. Every time you alter your
behavior because you are worried about what others might think, you stop yourself from being
the Real You. As long as the opinions of others matter, you will never be free to be yourself.
You already know that you cannot please everybody, no matter how much you monitor your
behavior, so why not just please yourself? Yes, you can still care about others without
caring about what they think about you. As you are committed to being your Real
Authentic Self, you give others permission, and space, to do the same.
This is a priceless gift to those you love.

Take Chances and Make Changes

If you have not lived as your Real Self, your life and relationships are based on a false image.
Being your Real Self means taking chances and making choices that support you regardless of
whether others approve or not. It means that sometimes you go against the grain and do what
is right for you, simply because it feels right. The people in your life might negatively react but
it is your life we are talking about and your life is far more important than any reaction you will
get from anyone else. As you begin to re-create your life around your most authentic self, a
new freedom emerges that will carry you forth to an amazing new life.
Setting healthy boundaries allows you to be your true self

Set Boundaries
Believe it or not, boundaries allow you to be more of who you really are. When you set and
enforce boundaries, it allows others to understand what is acceptable and not acceptable to
you and what they can expect from you. When you say “no” and mean it, you free up time and
energy to say “yes” to all those things that are an expression of who you really are.
What boundaries do you need in order to be your Real Self? Keep in mind that some of the
most important boundaries are the boundaries that you will set with yourself, for example, I
will not judge, criticize or limit myself in any way.

Talk Nice to Yourself

You cannot overcome depression if you continue to think or speak negatively about yourself.
Every word you think or say is recorded in your subconscious mind and later played back
through the manifestation of reality. Carefully choose thoughts and words that support self-
expression.

Activate Your Senses

Our five senses are the way in which we connect with the world, and the way in which the
world expresses itself to us. But, often when we are depressed, we close down our senses and
refuse to participate in receiving life’s expression. Intentionally re-activating your sense of
hearing, taste, touch, sight and smell will assist you in moving out of depression, and back into
a receptive and loving world.

Meditate
In order to get reconnected with your Real Self, you need to go inside.
Meditation is one of the most direct routes to get there, and, as a by-product, it will allow you
to connect with your sixth sense as well.

Be In Nature
One of the reasons that it is so powerful to be in nature is that it is believed that the natural
DMT in your body communicates with the DMT in nature and this helps to rebalance your body,
mind and spirit.

Breatheeeeee
When we are depressed, our breath tends to be shallow. Breathing deeply for even ten
minutes a day can bring life back into your body. You can even imagine breathing in golden
light energy to all the cells of your being.

Move Your Body

I know that it is difficult to get moving when you feel depressed and lethargic but do your best
to do it anyway. Any kind of movement will do – dance, yoga, walking. All movement is
expression.

Express Emotion
When we repress emotions, over a long period of time, we become depressed. In order to heal
from depression, it is usually necessary to express your emotions. Often, beneath depression
is repressed anger that needs to rise and clear. You don’t need to be afraid of anger, as it is a
step up from despair. There are no good or bad emotions. They are all beautiful gifts of
expression.

Wake Up
You cannot be depressed and ‘awake’ at the same time, no matter how much you know about
being awake. You can only wake up by getting plugged into the source of who you really are –
and fully expressing that source.
When you make a commitment to being your Real Self, you access the power to naturally
transmute depression through the power of self-expression.
At first, you may not be able to discern between the Real You and the false you, but this is
only because you have grown accustomed to acting in ways that perpetuate the false you.
Being the Real You requires a daily analysis of what supports and empowers you and what
doesn’t. It’s like using an internal navigational device to set, and re-set, your course over and
over again – until you finally know your destination in life.
As the Real You naturally surfaces over time, your path will become clear and your choices will
seamlessly align with who you really are.

Stepping into your Power

I will be honest with you, there is a mountain ahead, and you must climb that mountain to
escape the valley of depression. It will take concentrated effort and energy that you probably
don’t have right now, but if you decide to step into your power as the creator of your life, you
will begin to access unlimited energy that will take you anywhere you want to go.
From the high peak on the mountain, life takes on an effortless flow that brings joy, peace and
fulfillment in every moment.
If I could speak to my past “depressed self,” I would tell her, “There is a bright light at the end
of the tunnel and you must do whatever it takes to get there. Listen to your heart, discover
who you really are, and find the courage to truly express your Real Self”.
You are meant to be happy and you are meant to create a brilliant and extraordinary life, and
no matter how it might seem, you can get there from here.

https://upliftconnect.com/depression-and-inflammation/

THE LINK BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND INFLAMMATION

By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND on Sunday December 13th, 2015

How depression relates to immune responses and the brain

Recent research is showing that the immune system and inflammation can play a large role in
depression. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection, injury or foreign invasion,
and when inflammation is triggered, the body produces many chemicals, such as cytokines.

Symptoms of flu and symptoms of depression

Think for example, about how you feel when you’re sick with the flu or a bad cold. It most
certainly affects your mood, you feel more tired, you have a reduced appetite, your sleep
changes and your sensitivity to pain increases. These behaviors are adaptive to make you rest,
and to free up available energy to fight the infection. Interestingly, this state looks a lot like
depression. Scientists have been studying these similarities, and what both conditions have in
common is inflammation.

Inflammatory cytokines in depression

In studies, both cytokines (which are inflammatory molecules) and inflammation have been
shown to greatly increase during depressive episodes, and in people with bipolar disorder, to
drop off in periods of remission. In another study, when healthy people are vaccinated for
typhoid, which causes a spike in inflammation in the body, they are temporarily put into a
depressed and anxious state.
What this means, is that in depression, we should also be looking for signs of inflammation and
the many possible causes of inflammation for a more thorough treatment and assessment.
There are many causes of inflammation
 Infection
 A diet high in trans fat
  A high sugar diet
 Any autoimmune disease
 Obesity (abdominal fat cells especially produce cytokines)
 Stress

Infections and the brain

The link between infection and the brain is an interesting one to discuss in more detail.
There is a condition called “PANDA’s”, (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Associated with Streptococcal Infections), which can cause profound mood and behavior
changes in children – obsessive compulsive behavior, violence, inability to focus and other
erratic behavior. This rare condition is brought on by a simple streptococcal infection (such as
strep throat). It is theorized that the streptoccoal bacteria may mimic brain proteins, causing
the body to produce antibodies that mistakenly target the brain. This condition is fairly easily
treated with antibiotics, and dietary strategies to lower inflammation, and the psychiatric
symptoms immediately go away. PANDA’s is quite an extreme example, but it shows us the
potentially profound effect of infection and inflammation on the brain and mood.

Autoimmune conditions and the brain

Another example is the autoimmune condition lupus, where studies have shown that 70% of
people who suffer from this autoimmune condition also develop neurological and psychiatric
symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, psychosis and dementia. The systemic inflammation
appears to cause both body and brain symptoms.

Food intolerance and your mood

In my 11 years of practice, I have had many patients whose mood has changed dramatically
by identifying key food intolerances. The most common culprit is gluten, which has clearly
been proven to affect the brain in many ways: depression, seizures, headaches, ADHD,
neuropathy and more. The hard part is that it takes 3 whole months of avoidance of an
intolerance food to make a significant difference in the brain. Given how much easier it
currently is to eat gluten-free, or free of other intolerances, it is definitely worth a try.
Other foods that can affect the mood include: sugar, soy, eggs and dairy on the top of the list.

Foods that help fight inflammation in the body

Treatment possibilities for depression

Clearly there is a potential link between depression and inflammation that should be explored
in detail, especially in cases of depression that are not directly related to life events.
My suggestion is to look for possible causes of inflammation such as infection, inflammatory
markers in blood-work, food intolerances, autoimmune disease, celiac disease and gluten
intolerance.
Even if nothing clearly is found, an anti-inflammatory diet, re-balancing digestive flora to clear
out gastrointestinal infections, and anti-inflammatory supplements such as omega-3 from fish
oils and turmeric extracts are worth a try, as all of this will reduce inflammation in both the
brain and body.

https://upliftconnect.com/treating-depression-with-tribal-wisdom/

TREATING DEPRESSION WITH TRIBAL WISDOM

By Tanja Taljaard on Tuesday November 10th, 2015

If we want to treat depression, we can learn a lot from community rituals

involving dance and drumming.
Chances are that you, or someone you know, has experienced being depressed.
It is estimated that on average, 1 in 6 people will experience depression at some stage in their
lives, and it’s the leading cause of disability worldwide. The symptoms can range from minor to
very severe.
Feeling the love, support and compassion of an entire community can be a very effective way
to address depression. There’s a lot to be learned by treating depression with tribal wisdom
from traditional cultures, rather then the strictly ‘individual’ way of western medicine.
Andrew Solomon had suffered from depression for many years.
In his attempts to better understand this illness, his journey has taken him across the globe,
interviewing many people who share his affliction.
His research took him as far as West Africa where he participated in a Senegalese Ndeup
ritual, a tribal ritual for depression, and concluded that it was probably better than many forms
of group therapy that he attended in the US. He describes the Ndeup as an astonishing
experience, even though he didn’t believe in the animist principles behind it. Moreover, he was
incredibly touched and exhilarated that all of those people had been gathered together,
cheering for him.

African Rituals that are effective in treating Depression

Many years later Solomon discussed his experience with a Rwandan man, still unable to
entirely describe which essential elements of the ritual so significantly lifted his spirits.
The Rwandan man explained that they have similar rituals in East Africa and, in comparing
these rituals with standard western psychotherapy, makes it clear why the African rituals are
effective in lowering depression:
“You know, we had a lot of trouble with Western mental health workers, especially the ones
who came here right after the genocide. They came and their practice did not involve being
outside in the sunshine… which is, after all, where you begin to feel better.
There was no drumming or music to get your blood flowing again – when you’re depressed and
low you need to have your blood flowing. There was no sense that everyone had taken the day
off so that the entire community could come together to lift you up and bring you back to joy.
There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and external that
could actually be cast out of you again. Instead, they would take people one at a time into
these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so to talk about bad things
that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave the country”.
Community dance rituals have been used for the good health of indigenous cultures worldwide
for thousands of years. Dr Bradford Keeney, cultural anthropologist and author of Bushman
Shaman: Awakening the Spirit through Ecstatic Dance, says “a healing context is one where
you create a swirling of the life force, an amplification, a movement, a transmission, an energy
field so that when another person steps into it, an awakening of their own inner healing
sources is encouraged”.

Mending the Soul to make us Whole

Shamans and Shamanic practitioners are said to treat illness by mending the soul, restoring
the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. They can enter supernatural
realms to obtain solutions to problems caused by foreign elements afflicting the community.
Furthermore, these rituals break down isolation through reconnecting the tribe. (For a great
discussion about what a Shaman is and isn’t, go here: Are you A Shaman?)
Solomon describes how, in the middle of his own Ndeup experience, he was told to say
something that moved him deeply: “Spirits, leave me alone to complete the business of my life
and know that I will never forget you”. These tribal rituals recognise that an external aspect
can cause mental illness, and that this spirit or unresolved issue causing the illness can be
‘cast out’.
There are many external factors that can bring on depression, such as isolation, poverty and
lack of education, limited access to health care or a lack of meaningful activities.
These causes are significant to the kind of treatment a patient could receive.
Instead of blaming the individual, or expecting them to ‘snap out of it’, we are reminded as a
community to examine his/her place in society and to look at what can be done to address the
underlying problems. We all have a role in creating a mentally healthy community that
supports recovery and social inclusion and reduces stigma and discrimination.

https://upliftconnect.com/are-you-a-shaman/

ARE YOU A SHAMAN?

By Ongodtengertei on Friday October 23rd, 2015

There are many people who claim to be but what does it actually take?
Are you a shaman? Let’s be honest: Probably not. Feel free to get angry and defensive, but let
me talk through this.
A lot of people claim to be shamans in the Mongolian style. Most of them have read books by
Michael Harner or Sarangerel. They say that they were “initiated by their spirits” and “felt their
calling” and so forth. It doesn’t work like that.

Here’s how it works in regards to Mongolian shamanism

Let’s start at the very beginning: What does a shaman do? A shaman is a person who becomes
fully posessed by their ancestral or heavenly spirits. During this time, their soul exits their
body (usually flying up to the heavens) and another spirit takes over their body.
This spirit uses the body to communicate. They will speak, eat, drink, sing, smoke, conduct
massage, even accupuncture, all through the body of their ulaach or medium.
When the spirit is finished they will leave. The shaman’s soul will return to his or her body.
He or she will have no memory whatsoever of what has occurred in this time.
So if you think you are “channeling” a spirit and it’s “speaking through you” but you remain
even vaguely conscious, you are not practicing our tradition and you are not a Mongolian
shaman.

So what does it take to actually be a Mongolian shaman?

You don’t get any choice in the matter. I don’t care how badly you want it.
First, you must have shamanic ancestry. This is blood lineage ancestry.
It may be many generations back, but it has to be there. That means that pretty much across
the board you must be Mongolian or Siberian. Remember this point, because it will be
returned to many times later. So if you don’t have shamanic ancestry, then you are not a
shaman in the Mongolian tradition. The end.
Second, you don’t feel your own calling. You are interested in shamanism? Cool. You feel
spirits? Excellent. You’ve seen ghosts? Congratulations. None of this makes you a shaman.
It just doesn’t.
Your calling happens when the spirits choose you. Now STOP! This doesn’t mean you can
say: “Oh, the spirits chose me! I feel them around me!” Because that is not how it
works! The spirits choice is indicated through an absolutely horrible experience
called “shamanic illness” which you can read about in this link. A shamanic illness is an
extremely severe, horribly painful experience that will continue for a very long time, often
years. It is so severe that people have died from it. In addition to the previous example, one of
my ongodtengertei (with spirits, which is to say: future shaman) friends is often crippled and
unable to walk when she has an episode. Another friend who is now a shaman described her as
like being constantly stabbed with knives. Almost every shaman and ongodtengertei person I
know has contemplated suicide as a way to solve the pain of this illness. That includes me.
Doctors cannot diagnose it, priests cannot cure it
You go to a shaman who’s spirits will recognize that you are with spirits and then they will
decide whether or not you are meant to be a shaman. Let me re-emphasize: it doesn’t matter
what you want, the decision is up to the spirits. If the other shaman’s spirits recognize that
you have spirits and that you are supposed to become a shaman, then you have to find a
teacher which may or may not be that shaman.
If you are one of those very rare people who is not of Mongolian/Siberian ancestry but is
recognized within our tradition as being “with spirits”, 99% of the time the recognizing spirit
will say “You have spirits, but I cannot teach you. Our traditions and ceremonies would be
innapropriate for your spirits as they are not Mongolian and it is not their spirits.”
In short: go back home and find your own ancestral traditions. They are your birthright. You
can follow them as much as you please.
Finally, you must be initiated under the guidance and proper full initiation of a qualified
Mongolian shaman who has become your teacher. And there are plenty of fakes out there who
would love to “recognize” your spirits and become your teacher for fame or money.
So I mean it has to be legitimate. You cannot practice without initiation, which is to say a
complete chanar or actual initiation by a shaman teacher with other shamans present and
helping you through it.
If you have not done all of these things you can be spiritual, you can be sensitive to spirits,
you can be a channeler or spirit worker or whatever you want to call yourself but you are not a
shaman in the Mongolian tradition and you cannot be one.
Sorry, but that’s the truth.
If you would like to contact an actual Mongolian Shaman, you can do so here: BlueSky
Shaman

Editor’s Note: The term ‘Shaman’ comes from the Tungusic language of Siberia and describes
those working in the Siberian/Mongolian tradition. The term was imported to the West via
Russia in the 16th Century.
Although it has been widely used to describe a complex phenomenon across many traditions, it
has often been used very loosely and is rarely used by other indigenous practitioners to
describe their practices. This article, though you may not agree with the author’s point of view,
represents an argument that the Mongolian shamans we contacted agreed with.
In order to avoid confusion, many people practicing similar, but different, traditions are
choosing to call themselves ‘Shamanic practitioners’, rather than ‘Shamans’.

https://ongodtengertei.tumblr.com/post/130539725016/shamanic-illness

How Shamans Dream the World into Being

By Alberto Villoldo on Friday March 11th, 2016

The power to dream is the power to participate in creation itself

We are what we think.
Everything we are arises from our thoughts.
With our thinking we create the world.
– Buddha
Whether you realize it or not, we are all dreaming the world into being. What we’re engaging
in is not the sleeping dream we’re familiar with, but the waking dream we craft with our eyes
open. When we’re unaware that we all share the power to co-create reality with the help of the
universe itself, that power slips away from us and our dream turns into a nightmare.
We begin to feel we’re the victims of an unknown and frightening creation that we’re unable to
influence or change. Events seem to control us and trap us.
Not the sleeping dream… but the waking dream
The only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it, too, is a dream, and
recognize our ability to write a better story, one that the universe will work with us to
manifest. As soon as you awaken to your power to dream, you begin to flex the muscles of
your courage. Then you can dream bravely: letting go of your limiting beliefs and pushing past
your fears. You can begin to create truly original dreams that germinate in your soul and bear
fruit in your life.
The Courage to Dream Bravely
Courageous dreaming allows you to create from the source, the quantum soup of the universe
where everything exists in a latent or potential state. Physicists understand that in the
quantum world of the universe’s smallest, elemental parts, nothing is “real” until it is
observed. But quantum events do not occur in the laboratory only. They also happen inside
our brain, on this page, and everywhere around us. When you observe any part of this dream,
the great matrix of energy, you can change reality and alter the entire dream.
Dreaming the world into being through the very act of witnessing it
Modern physics is describing what the ancient wisdomkeepers of the Americas have long
known. These shamans, known as the Earthkeepers, say that we are dreaming the world into
being through the very act of witnessing it. Scientists believe that we are only able to do this
in the very small, subatomic world. Shamans understand that we also dream the larger world
that we experience with our senses. Like the Aborigines, the Earthkeepers live in a world
where the dreamtime has not been pushed into the domain of sleep like it has for us. They
know that all of creation arises from, and returns to, this dreamtime.
The Dreamtime
The dreamtime, the creative matrix, does not exist in a place outside of us. Rather, it infuses
all matter and energy, connecting every creature, every rock, every star, and every ray of light
or bit of cosmic dust. The power to dream is the power to participate in creation itself. For the
Earthkeepers, dreaming reality is not only an ability, but a duty, one we must perform with
grace and love so that our grandchildren will inherit a world where they can live in peace and
abundance.
…so that our grandchildren will inherit a world where they can live in peace and abundance
Shamans of the Andes and the Amazon believe that we can only access the power of this force
by raising our level of consciousness. When we do so, we become aware that we’re like a drop
of water in a vast, divine ocean, distinct yet immersed in something much larger than
ourselves. It’s only when we experience our connection to infinity that we’re able to dream
powerfully. In fact, it’s our sense of separation from infinity that makes us become trapped in
a nightmare in the first place. To end the nightmare, to reclaim our power of dreaming reality
and craft a better reality, we need to have a visceral understanding of our dreaming power in
every cell of our body and stop feeling disassociated and disconnected. If we don’t get beyond
mere intellectual understanding of this concept, we’ll end up lowering the bar and creating a
far less glorious and beautiful experience of the world than we’re capable of crafting. It takes
courage to taste infinity.

Who Dreams the World?

The Earthkeepers believe that the world is real, but only because we are dreaming it into
being. When we lack courage, we have to settle for the world that is being dreamed by our
culture or by our genes — the nightmare. To dream courageously and be empowered, you
must be willing to use your heart and make a conscious decision to dream a sacred dream of
joy, peace, glory and having the life you want.
Excerpted with permission from Courageous Dreaming: How Shamans Dream The World Into
Being by Alberto Villoldo, PhD. (2008, Hay House)
Alberto Villoldo, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and psychologist who has studied the spiritual
practices of the Amazon and the Andes for more than 25 years. Author of numerous best-
selling books, including Shaman, Healer, Sage, The Four Insights, Courageous Dreaming and
Power Up Your Brain, Alberto is the founder of The Four Winds Society, and instructs
individuals throughout the world in the practice of energy medicine.

https://upliftconnect.com/shamanic-view-of-mental-health/

The Shamanic View Of Mental Health

By Jonathan Davis on Tuesday August 18th, 2015

Is there another way of looking at the mental illness epidemic?

In November 2014 the peak psychology body in the UK, the British Psychological Association,
released their new flagship report Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia. It was a
watershed moment in the mainstream treatment of mental illness, containing statements such
as this:
Hearing voices or feeling paranoid are common experiences which can often be a reaction to
trauma, abuse or deprivation. Calling them symptoms of mental illness, psychosis or
schizophrenia is only one way of thinking about them, with advantages and disadvantages.
– The British Psychological Association: Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia
With mental health problems reaching epidemic proportions in the UK and throughout the
western world, this document reads as no less than an admission that the current model of
mental health treatment has failed; and a cry for help to anyone with an approach that may be
useful. There are indeed a great many cultures who have had, and still carry, a deeper
understanding of mental illness. While these perspectives don’t fit within the boundaries of
rationalist reductionism, this has little relevance to their efficacy.
From American Indian shamanism* to esoteric judaism, this concept has dominated for
millennia. As it has now become clear, western civilisation is unique in history in it’s failure to
recognise each human being as a subtle energy system in constant relationship to a vast sea
of energies in the surrounding cosmos.
– Dr Edward Mann, Sociologist
Ancient indigenous shamanic practice
What Is The Shamanic View Of Mental Health?
Broadly speaking any form of awareness around mental health that includes spiritual, mystic
and/or mythic considerations could be included in a shamanic view of mental health. This
ranges from ancient indigenous shamanic practices to yogic methods involving kundalini
awakening, through to Jungian and transpersonal psychology (which draw heavily from ancient
cultures). Jung, for example, characterised schizophrenia and psychosis as a natural healing
process.
When conscious life is characterised by one-sidedness and false attitudes, primordial healing
images are activated – one might say instinctively – and come to light in the dreams of
individuals and the visions of artists… Schizophrenia is a condition in which the dream takes
the place of reality.
– Carl Jung
Another foundation stone of this perspective is the phrase made famous by Joseph Campbell:
‘The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight’ (an
idea borrowed from Jungian psychiatrist RD Laing). There has been a long history throughout
human culture of people having mystical experiences, and then becoming ‘weller than well’
as Dr John Weir Perry put it. The key here is that in these instances the person completed a
process that western medicine would have labelled as sickness and then medicated. They
instead passed through it and went on to lead lives without relapse into ‘psychosis’, instead
living a more fulfilled existence than if they had never gone though their temporary break with
consensus reality. Throughout history there have been examples of people who have gone on
to use their visionary insights, newly found drive and focus to create great social reform for the
benefit of all.

Psychospiritual Crisis / Spiritual Emergence

Proponents of transpersonal psychotherapy, like one of its founders Prof.
Stanislav Grof suggest that ‘spiritual emergence’ experiences are often misdiagnosed as
psychosis and medicated unnecessarily. Grof sites 11 different types of spiritual emergencies,
including the classic initiatory experience of the shaman, unitive experiences of oceanic
oneness, kundalini awakening, the crisis of psychic opening, and the messianic experience
common within what John Weir Perry called the ‘renewal process’.
Interpreted from this point of view, a schizophrenic breakdown is an inward and backward
journey to recover something missed or lost, and to restore, thereby, a vital balance. So let
the voyager go. He has tipped over and is sinking, perhaps drowning; yet, as in the old legend
of Gilgamesh and his long, deep dive to the bottom of the cosmic sea to pluck the watercress
of immortality, there is the one green value of his life down there. Don’t cut him off from it:
help him through.
– Joseph Campbell, Schizophrenia: The Inward Journey
John Weir Perry, who put these ideas into practice in a medication free facility
called Diabasis, suggests these experiences are a dramatic re-ordering of the person’s psyche
from a distorted state to an more ordered one. To me this is like cleaning a messy house,
sometimes it needs to get messier in order to sort everything out. Perry also said that ‘it is
justifiable to regard the term “sickness” as pertaining not to the acute turmoil but to the
prepsychotic personality… the renewal process occuring in the acute episode may be
considered nature’s way of setting things right.’ This is echoed by Jiddu Krishnamurti‘s
statement that ‘it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.’

The Problems Of Pathology, Symptom Suppression, Stigma and Trauma

Pathology: A fundamental difference between the approach of calling these experiences
mental illness, psychosis or schizophrenia and ‘other ways of thinking about them’, is the very
act of pathologising them. The labelling of something as a sickness, when working in the
realms of the psychospiritual can have a dramatically negative effect on what happens next.
Like a person experiencing an overwhelming psychedelic experience, a person in this kind of
state is highly influenced by their surroundings including what they are told, for good or for ill.
A suggestion that the experience is a sickness can become a self fulfilling prophecy.
Having been encouraged to see the voice, not as an experience, but as a symptom – my fear
and resistance towards it intensified. Now essentially this represented taking an aggressive
stance towards my own mind – a kind of psychic civil war, and in turn this caused the number
of voices to increase and grow progressively hostile and menacing.
– Eleanor Longden
Symptom Suppression: The next big challenge is symptom suppression. Critics of the
current model of care (who now seem to include the British Psychological Association) argue
that psychiatric medication merely suppresses symptoms.
Many people find that ‘antipsychotic’ medication helps to make the experiences less frequent,
intense or distressing. However, there is no evidence that it corrects an underlying biological
abnormality. Recent evidence also suggests that it carries significant risks, particularly if taken
long term.
– The British Psychological Association: Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia
Those of the shamanic or transpersonal persuasion go further in suggesting that medication
tends to ultimately prevent the person from completing a natural experience such as
the ‘process of renewal’ John Weir Perry describes. Instead this process keeps trying to
complete itself and symptoms keep reappearing, and then drugs suppress it again in an
endless cycle. It’s unsurprising that the phrase ‘you have a mental illness, and you will have it
for the rest of your life’ is so often heard by people experiencing psychosis.
Stigma:
They [shamanic cultures] have a cultural context. The physiological crisis, although it’s
difficult, it’s believed to be… they put it in a positive light. It’s something the person’s going to
come out of and be stronger in the end, and have more abilities in the end. The other thing
that’s a big advantage is – it’s not stigmatized.
– Phil Borges, maker of upcoming film CrazyWise

‘It’s something the person is going to come out of and be stronger in the end.’
Trauma: Thankfully, even in the western model there is a strong surge of recognition
occurring around the fact that trauma and neglect in childhood (and in adulthood) can lead to
serious mental health crisis.
We had a lot of trouble with western mental health workers who came here immediately after
the genocide and we had to ask some of them to leave. They came and their practice did not
involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better. There was no music or
drumming to get your blood flowing again. There was no sense that everyone had taken the
day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you
back to joy. There was no acknowledgement of the depression as something invasive and
external that could actually be cast out again.Instead they would take people one at a time
into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad
things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave.
– A Rwandan talking to writer, Andrew Solomon
The Bridge Between Two Worlds – Sickness or Acute Sensitivity?
Dr Joseph Polimeni states that ‘In most traditional societies those persons who were overcome
by hallucinations in young adulthood were more often than not destined to become shamans’.
If someone presented with symptoms we would call psychosis, the people of their tribe or
village would send them for training with someone who had learned a level of mastery over the
sensitivity that once overwhelmed them. Phil Borges states that ‘they have a mentor; they
have somebody who has been through this process that can take and hold their hand and say
listen, I know what this is all about and this is how you manage it’. In cultures around the
world, before western civilisation the idea of schizophrenia as a disease was, quite simply,
non-existent. The assumption was that a person experiencing the challenges known in modern
times as psychosis was in fact experiencing things that were actually real, but only able to
perceived by those who were gifted.
They have a community that buys into what they’ve gone through, and not only that, they
have an outlet for their talents – and many of these people have specific talents that the
normal person doesn’t have.
– Phil Borges, maker of upcoming film CrazyWise
To me it is clear that we live in a culture that immediately labels these moments of crisis as
sickness, and our culture has almost no level of acceptance for the people that go through
it. When face to face with a person experiencing involuntary states of non-ordinary
consciousness, most of us – to put it bluntly – just want them away from us. It’s almost as if
we fear that ‘crazy’ is contagious and we want it quarantined. It’s unfortunate that this
approach may be compounding the problem, however another way forward is re-
awakening. When I look at a person in such a crisis, I see a future potential mentor for
others. The more we can assist people in passing through their dark night of the soul, the
more guides we will have with lived experience to help others come through in the future. In
an upcoming article I’ll be writing about how shamanic training can assist people going through
‘spiritual emergency’.
For peer support and further information of this kind you can join The Shamanic View Of
Mental Illness on Facebook.

*We are aware that the term ‘Native American shamanism’ is culturally inappropriate. We are
also aware that the term ‘shaman’ as a blanket term is contentious due to issues around
cultural appropriation and will be exploring this topic in detail in a later article.

https://upliftconnect.com/integral-dreaming-collective-awakening/

Integral Dreaming, Collective Awakening

By Jacob Devaney on Thursday March 26th, 2015

A turtle born on the beach knows to walk to the sea, birds know their migration
routes, and whales have new songs to sing each year
These and other phenomena point to the idea that there is an innate wisdom in nature. There
is an emergent potential in creation that is often overlooked. How do things begin and what
are the precursors to birthing something new? When we look to the source of human
inventions, we see that visions and dreams are usually at the source of creating something
new. Science-fiction and fantasy stories from 50 years ago are now everyday realities for us.
The vast realm of our unconscious is latent with information that is yet to be manifested into
this world. How do we access it? Dreaming and meditation seem to be two potent ways to
access this information, while ceremony and art are the traditional ways that humans engage,
to enact this innate wisdom.
The overlapping space between the academic/scientific research and the artistic exploration of
dreaming is one of endless curiosity and depth. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon
with two pioneers in the field, Anthony Colombo and Daniel Deslauriers, and our talks seeded
what will become an ongoing discussion about the topic. I invite other bloggers, artists,
academics, and dreamers of all sorts to join us in putting our heads, hearts, and stories
together for this exciting journey of discovery!
By dialoguing with the dream image- and with others about our dreams- we cultivate the skill
to take on multiple perspectives- that of self and of the culture for example- and we gain a
greater awareness of the roles we enact culturally. -Fariba Bogzaran and Daniel Deslauriers in
Integral Dreaming, a Holistic Approach to Dreams
Anthony Colombo is Founder of Dreamspace, which guides groups through an immersive
experience where participants engage the brilliance of their dreams and imagination to co-
create the lives they truly want. Anthony has produced award-winning cultural and
environmental multimedia and taught interactive multimedia design, production and ethics as
a university professor. He has also worked closely with indigenous elders in Arizona and
Hawaii.
Dreaming comes to life when we collectively use our inner creative brilliance to co-create the
vibrant planet we all want. The greatest resource we have lives in the infinite potential of the
human spirit, imagination and dreams. -Anthony Colombo

Anthony Colombo (left) and Daniel Deslauriers (right)

Daniel Deslauriers is professor of Transformative Studies at CIIS (California Institute of
Integral Studies) in San Francisco and former chair of the East-West Psychology Program. He
teaches courses on consciousness studies (especially dreams), arts-based research, and
multiple ways of knowing. He is also the co-author of Integral Dreaming, a Holistic Approach to
Dreams with Fariba Bogzaran, Ph.D.
Exploration of this collective level may bring into awareness our past (the ancestral history we
share with others), our present (our current cultural and ecological embeddedness), and our
future (as the result of our present actions aggregating at a collective level). -Fariba Bogzaran
and Daniel Deslauriers in Integral Dreaming, a Holistic Approach to Dreams
As you can imagine, our conversations covered a whole lot of ground. One common thread is
the notion that somewhere in our past lies keys to understanding our present and co-creating
our future. Sense of self, and sense of place within the larger community is central to tuning
into the impulses that emanate from our core. The boundaries of the self can expand well
beyond our bodies to include the realm of dreams, or even an understanding that we are an
integral part of our environment both influencing and being influenced by it. Yet the center of
our being remains the same and any expansion of this sense of self must be in proportion to
our rootedness at the core within.
Karen Jaenke explains in her study, Personal Dreamscape as Ancestral Landscape, that dreams
have the power to reveal forgotten memory. She notes that a relationship to ancestors “forms
a central anchor for personal identity” allowing this sense of self to extend ” into a generational
awareness of connections, patterns, and stories woven into the relationship with land and
cosmos.” We are part of a greater web, all of life is emergent within this matrix.
People in contemporary Western societies often suffer from a form of fragmentation due to a
lack of contact with their own ancestry. Because most of our ancestors had a strong
connection with place, connecting with one’s ancestry often sensitizes one to a sense of place.
-Fariba Bogzaran and Daniel Deslauriers in Integral Dreaming, a Holistic Approach to Dreams
Memories Can Be Passed Down Through DNA video from DNews
I recently read a great article that talks about how scientists have found that memories may
be passed down through generations in our DNA. As a fan of Bruce Lipton and the study
of epigenetics we know that belief and experience plays a major role in changing our genes.
Some would argue that genetically passing on “memories” is a misleading statement, but
perhaps our understanding of “memory” could be expanded… Is the shape left in the canyon
long after the river that carved it has dried up potentially a memory left in the land? I explore
this idea in World Water Day, a Reflection.
With the recent globally synchronized meditation movement sparked by Unify and supported
through media by UPLIFT, as well as the many examples of crowd-sourcing that the internet
has facilitated, we are seeing the emergence of a global consciousness. Perhaps a collaboration
is in order… A dream this big can not be carried by one person, it’ll take an international,
cross-cultural community to piece it together. That’s where you come in! If integral dreaming
is the key to global transformation, then what is your part in this story? Perhaps you’ll need to
consult your dreams…
https://youtu.be/tbPwzII_g6o