Science in our Beliefs and Belief in Our Science
People often ask me what science my programs are based on, so today I will share some of the science that influences the programs I offer.
Better breathing is the missing pillar of health.
The incredible best-selling book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art draws on ancient medical texts and cutting-edge research to show that simply making adjustments to the way we breathe in and breathe out can reduce or reverse autoimmune diseases like psoriasis, snoring, anxiety, and asthma, reduce blood pressure, enhance peak athletic performance, and rejuvenate our internal organs. Better breathing allows us to soothe our nervous system, control our immune response, restore our health, and live longer.
How this science influences my programs: Many people unconsciously hold their breath in stressful situations or when on a computer for extended periods of time. I am a certified breathwork facilitator and incorporate this science and many other bodies of research into the breathing exercises I tailor to each client's specific needs and desired outcomes.
Breathwork is an active form of meditation that anyone can do anywhere and influence calm, joy, and resilience.
Where your attention goes, energy flows.
Dr. Daniel Siegel takes an in-depth look at the science that underlies meditation's effectiveness, and teaches how to harness the power of the principle "Where attention goes, neural firing flows, and neural connection grows". In Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence - A Complete Guide to the Groundbreaking Wheel of Awareness Meditation Practice, Siegel reveals how to practice to focus attention, open awareness, and cultivate kind intention that helps you grow a healthier brain and reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in your life.
This book offers practices that will enable you to become more focused and present, as well as more energized and emotionally resilient in the face of stress and challenges.
How this science influences my programs: Together with my clients, we explore attention, focus, and intention and practice developing these skills so that you are more aware, focused, and present, leading the greater outcomes and an enhanced sense of well-being.
When we transform our conscious and subconscious thoughts, we transform our lives!
Epigenetics is revolutionizing our understanding of the connection between mind and matter. In his book Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles, stem cell biologist and best-selling author Dr. Bruce Lipton shares the latest research in cell biology and quantum physics and empowers the reader to use this knowledge to create a healthy, joyous life.
How this science influences my programs: I share practices and techniques to rewire your brain and body in just a few sessions and experience lasting transformation.
Stress makes us sick!
Robert M. Sapolsk shows the science of stress, why we feel it, how it's felt, what happens within the body, health risks of stress and its affects sleep and addiction, insights into anxiety, and the impact of spirituality on managing stress in his famous book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping.
The diseases that plague us are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us sick.
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers explains how prolonged stress causes or intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. It also provides tools and guidance to better manage our stress responses.
How this science influences my programs: I share techniques to guide you toward the parasympathetic nervous system and ways you can shift into rest and relaxation. In sessions, I guide you to clear and shift energetic layers of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual body.
You aren’t doomed by your genes or hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life.
We're often not even aware that we've developed habits for everything. We ARE creatures of habit. By the time you reach the age of 35, Dr. Dispenza shares in his book, you've memorized your own set of behaviors, emotional reactions, and thought patterns that have become 95% of your identity, which means 95% of who you are BEING is sub-conscious and automatic! By repeating the same thoughts and actions every day after day, "we begin to hard wire our brain into very specific patterns that reflect our external world."
This new science empowers all human beings to create the reality they choose. In the book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One, renowned author, researcher, and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to show you that you can break the habit of being yourself and truly change your mind. In order to change and consciously create, you have to think beyond, think greater than the environment and conditions in your life.
How this science influences my programs: The fallacy we've been led to believe is that worry, fear, resentment, anxiety and all those survival emotions that create chronic stress in our lives are normal. They are NOT normal, and they are making us - and our world - chronically ill.
Your thoughts have consequences so great that they create your reality. Neuroplasticity demonstrates our brain is malleable and has the ability to change and adapt by changing, reorganizing or growing new neural pathways. I guide you through practices to “rewire” neural pathways and bring you to your desired outcomes.
There is a prescription for thinking and acting that leads to quantifiable results.
Psycho-cybernetics means "steering your mind to a productive, useful goal so you can reach the greatest port in the world: peace of mind".
In this famous book, Dr. Maxwell Maltz demonstrates that when the mind has a defined target it can focus direct and refocus and redirect until it reaches its intended goal. We simply have to develop our perception of the expected outcome.
Maltz explains how self-image has complete control over one’s ability to achieve (or fail to achieve) any goal. He shares techniques for improving and managing self-image - visualization, mental rehearsal, relaxation - that have informed and inspired countless readers for more than 50 years.
How this science influences my programs: You are not set in stone. Your mind is fluid, malleable, and adaptable. Your Identity can be redesigned with intention, self-discipline, and accountability. You can reprogram mindsets and limiting beliefs that previously kept you stuck. The Level of Identity, working on core beliefs or re-engineering the identity is where transformation occurs.
Humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality and our brains become more resilient and robust as a result of it.
Whether it’s meditation or a walk in nature, reading a sacred text, or saying a prayer, there are many ways to tap into a heightened awareness of the world around you and your place in it. In The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life, psychologist Dr. Lisa Miller shows us how.
The Awakened Brain combines illuminates the science of spirituality and how to engage it in our lives:
- With an awakened perception, we are more creative, collaborative, ethical, and innovative.
- An engaged spiritual life enhances grit, optimism, and resilience while providing insulation against addiction, trauma, and depression.
- The awakened life is the inspired life. Loss, uncertainty, and even trauma are the gateways by which we are invited to move beyond merely coping with hardship to transcend into a life of renewal, healing, joy, and fulfillment.
The Awakened Brain is packed with practical scientifically valid advice on concrete ways to access your innate spirituality and build a life of meaning and contribution.
How this science influences my programs: Your connection to a higher power, mission, and purpose is where the most intimate, most transformational work takes place. Yet many people don’t have any daily rituals for connecting. I lead you through proven practices that guide you toward locating that connection with your innate connections and spirituality.
You can change your brain and impact the world, just like Buddha and other great teachers.
The Buddha and other great teachers were born with brains built essentially like anyone else’s - and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world!!! This is so exciting because it means we have the same ability to change our brains and impact the world!
In the book, Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom, Dr. Rick Hansen explains how science now reveals how the flow of thoughts sculpts the brain. By combining breakthroughs in neuroscience with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you, too, can use your mind to shape your brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom. You’ll learn how to activate the brain states of calm, joy, and compassion instead of worry, sorrow, and anger.
How this science influences my programs: We can integrate modern life with these ancient teachings, and just like great teachers before us, we can choose to change our brains for greater happiness and inner peace. As we look lovingly at places where fear influences our mind, and where we are in pain and suffering, we allow correction to come guided by great teachers like Buddha and others who have come before us. It's incredibly empowering to realize we can master our minds, bring regulation to our nervous system, and cultivate more joy and ease, just like they did! I appreciate the blend of science and practice to explain why we think and act in the way we do, and how we can effectively create change for the better and improve our outlook on life.
The mind is powerful, but it can only get us what we really want if we open our hearts first. We can create anything we want, but it’s the intelligence of the heart that can tell us what is worth creating.
Part memoir, part science, part inspiration, and part practical instruction, Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart, Dr. James Doty shows us how we can fundamentally change our lives by first changing our brains and our hearts.
This book moved me to the core! It is the true story of Dr. James Doty's life from a childhood plagued with violence and poverty until one day he wandered into a magic shop and met a woman named Ruth. Ruth taught him a series of exercises (which would now be called meditation, mindfulness, and compassion but in this book is “magic”). She taught him to relax his body, open his heart, ease his suffering, and manifest his dreams. These techniques were so powerful they completely rewired his brain.
Ruth’s final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. I am so thankful he did! Through putting these techniques to work in his life, Doty became a brain surgeon and gained more power and wealth than he ever imagined, but neglected the most important lesson, to keep his heart open with disastrous results - until he had the opportunity to make a spectacular charitable contribution.
Often times we’ve reached our goals, yet we’re still chasing peace and happiness. When our brains and hearts are in collaboration, we’re happier and healthier, and automatically express love, kindness, and care for ourselves and others.
How this science influences my programs: Thich Nhat Hahn says “The longest journey we’ll ever take is the 18 inches from our head to our heart.” Research shows that the heart sends far more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart - and while both cognitive and emotional systems in our body are intelligent there are far more neural connections that go from the heart to the brain than the other way around.
Mindfulness and visualization are awesome techniques for journeying inward. They increase focus and help us make decisions more effectively. However, it’s the wisdom of the heart and the insight that comes with opening the heart that compels us to go outward and connect with others. There are many heart-opening practices for compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, love, and kindness that support us in being open-hearted.
In my private coaching practice, I offer a hugely personalized, in-depth, hands-on experience that helps you better understand and manage the complexities of your mind, and cultivate more joy and ease. Sessions combine transformative conversations, powerful relaxation techniques, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, energy healing, visualization, manifestation, concentration, and somatic practices that are practical strategies to develop a deep inner peace that does not depend on your circumstances, and for real-life transformation through cultivating the specific skills that will fast track your success and get results based on modern science, ancient wisdom, and positive psychology.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can work together, click here to book a Discovery Call!
I am an avid reader, and I’d love to hear your recommendations. Hit reply and let me know your favorites! If you’d like to see the rest of my favorite books related to well-being, here’s a book list I believe you’ll enjoy.
Hi, I'm Kelly. Your Empowerment Coach and Mindfulness Mentor. I am an experienced wellness leader, a former 18-year veteran of a successful commercial real estate career, a wife, a mom of 2 teens, a certified meditation teacher, a breathwork facilitator, and an energy healer.
I help high achievers manage the complexity of their minds and cultivate more joy and ease. If you'd like to explore whether my private program, Anchor Yourself Accelerator, is right for you let's connect. I combine empowerment coaching and mindfulness practices to help you create a life you love.
You can learn more about the program by clicking here, or book a free, no-obligation discovery call using the button below
Clients share:
“If my anxiety was a 10 it's now below a 1."
t completely shifted my perspectives and opened me to new ways of being new possibilities, and more opportunities.”
“My anxiety massively decreased, and my overall mood and sense of well-being dramatically improved within a few sessions!”
“I have much greater clarity and confidence, and I have been able to make significant changes towards freedom and authenticity.”
“I learned how to create a life that feels good without needing to struggle. I am less judgmental and more curious. I make fewer assumptions, take things less personally, know what I truly want, see my future more clearly, and see many more possibilities.”
“Coaching has completely transformed my family life. Family dinners are way better, and it’s amazing how we’re all much more connected, I have a much more nurturing, compassionate, understanding relationship with myself, and I know I am a better mom, wife, and person as a result of my work with Kelly.”
