RELAXATION&
PROPER BREATHING
I think it helps to think of Wellness as a Journey, Not a Destination. I am among millions who are on this journey. I consider any type of illness, injury and pain as something that comes into our life to teach us something valuable. I believe they present us with opportunities to learn and grow. Whether we accept them or struggle against "what is" makes a huge difference in the quality of our journey.
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Intellectually, I always considered the breath important, but I still didn't quite grasp how significant the breath is to our well-being. The idea that proper breathing could lessen pain and that relaxation techniques could help heal the body was something I never quite believed, that is, until I became a Hypnotherapist.
When you trigger the relaxation response through your breathing you are in essence, telling your body that it is time for cell regeneration, repair and healing. Your immune system is refueled and strenghtened by proper breathing and relaxation so the more time we devote to this the more opportunity we give our body to heal and remain healthy.
The way we breathe normally is far more likely to signal our fight or flight mechanism than it is to signal our body to relax and repair, Implementing breathing and relaxation techniques can lead to profound changes in a person's ability to take control of their health by discovering the power of their own heart to create well-ness.
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I HELP PEOPLE USE THEIR BREATH TO STIMULATE THEIR BODY'S NATURAL ABILITY TO HEAL.
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I never believed that breathing could help me manage my pain until I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis. Bladder pain can be one of the most uncomfortable types of pain there is, but because many pain killers irritated my stomach I resorted to other natural alternatives. In my first hypnosis course for pain management I learned how crucial proper breathing techniques are for decreasing discomfort. I was skeptical at first, but after 5 years of personal experience I am a convert.
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Relaxation, triggered through the breath, blocks certain pain pathways to the brain and may help people learn to manage their pain better.
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PAIN MANAGEMENT
If you would like to watch a wellness video on Viking T.V and listen to me speak about Pain Management, click on this link.
Viking TV - NEW | Sunday Wellness with Alexandra Svalastog | Viking.TV
Pain and discomfort caused by medical procedures and injuries is the easiest to understand and deal with because we know why it's present. Pain becomes scarier when we do not know why we have it, or why it isn't going away.
Pain always has a purpose. It should never be ignored. If it does not go away you should first consult your primary physician. For this reason, I require that any clients who would like me to help them manage the pain bring a referral from their doctor. I need to know that you have talked to your doctor, and that he or she is okay with our sessions for pain management.
Jeg trenger tillatelse fra din behandlende lege for å bruke hypnose til smerte håndtering eller smerte lindring. Uansett din medisinske tilstand må jeg be om å få skriftlig tillatelse fra legen din før vi starter vårt samarbeid.
I DO NOT TREAT PAIN. I educate and teach people tools and techniques that may ease their disomfort, reduce their pain or help them gain greater control over its' presence in their life. My intention is to help all clients improve the quality of their life, even if discomfort is present.
Jeg behandler ikke smerter. Jeg lærer mennesker måter og ferdigheter de kan bruke for å få bedre kontroll over ubehaget og redusere smertene. Jeg hjelper dem med å minske lidelsen og forbedre livskvaliteten.
I once lived with chronic pain, so I know how easily it can take over our life. Physical pain can steal our dreams and leave us feeling hopeless and helpless. Pain can rob our present moment and damage our quality of life.
The term pain management is misleading because in truth, working with pain is not about managing it. We want to deal with it by overmedicating, numbing, distracting, ignoring, or escaping it, but pain exists to be understood. Working with clients in pain is about helping them to befriend the enemy and discover that it has a good intention. Pain is a messenger and a master teacher, a catalyst that can trigger good, healthy change in their life.
Why try hypnosis for pain relief?
Research shows that hypnosis is effective in lessening the intensity of pain. I recommend that my clients google hypnosis for pain mangement and read all the published studies that support the use of hypnosis for pain relief. Being able to use your mind to make your body feel more comfortable is a powerful thing. Appropriate hypnotic suggestions may help change your brain and your body's response to pain and help you feel more comfortable.
Hypnosis, EFT, NLP, Breathing Techniques, Relaxation, Cognitive Restructuring (changing the way we think about our pain) and other more effective coping strategies can help you gain a sense of greater control over the pain, so you can feel better.
What does working with hypnosis for pain involve?
Vital aspects of the work include educating clients about how pain is processed in the brain and learning to use hypnotic techniques and tools such as mindfulness and our very breath to change the brain’s perception of pain.
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Tension, fear and stress are not good for pain. Proper breathing and relaxation techniques can come to the rescue anytime, anywhere. The trick is to learn how to call these superheroes when you need them. Relaxation helps inhibit two pain pathways to the brain, The Delta and C-Nerve Fibers. So the more relaxed you feel the less tense and stressed you feel, and this can translate into Less Pain or No Pain.
Hypnosis puts our imagination to work in a powerful way and learning how to use imagery to shape the pain experience can result in a significant reduction or elimination of the pain and discomfort.
How does pain happen?
Few people realize that we do not experience pain until the signals reach our brain. Once this happens many areas of the brain, the Thalamus, Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Insula, Prefrontal Cortex and the Somatosensory Cortex, involved in thinking, emotions and physical sensations are engaged. During hypnosis, I use suggestions which target these areas and help improve the way your brain processes your pain. in other words, your Pain Experience. I develop suggestions using feedback I receive from you which may help reduce the intensity of the pain, and the negative role it plays in your life.
Two things happen when you injure your finger. First, nerve endings called Nociceptors are activated. These send signals which travel up through the spinal cord to the brain. Second, once these signals reach it, you experience the sensation of pain. But what you experience and how intensely you experience that sensation depends on how your brain interpreted that signal.
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When you cut your finger your emotions, thoughts and behavior can all affect how much that finger will hurt. If the first thing you do is react with fear, like I used to do and fast forward to a bad case scenario involving Sepsis and terrible infections, then chances are it's going to hurt like hell. On the other hand, if you stay calm, breathe in a way that activates your relaxation response and deactivates the fight or flight, it may hurt a lot less.
Pain signals get sorted depending on our thoughts and emotions, and the more negative our state of mind the more intense the pain experience becomes. You may not be able to do much about the fact that you cut your finger, but you can influence how your brain will sort that signal. How? By remembering that your emotional state has an extremely influential role in how you feel pain.
Physical pain has an emotional component.
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Our negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, maladaptive behaviors, and emotions such as anger and fear can worsen and intensify the pain. Clients can experience greater freedom from the pain by building a more empowered mindset and letting go of old stored and stuck feelings. I help clients heal the emotional pain and release the feelings that just seem to trigger, aggravate, and feed the pain and discomfort.
What happens when we have chronic pain?
From a neurological and cognitive perspective, the more negative thoughts we have about the pain, the bigger and stronger those pain neural networks in our brain become. And the more dominant they become the harder it is to think of anything except the pain. Hopelessness is chronic pain's best friend.
Whether the root cause of our pain is emotional or physical, Physics tells us that the more energy and focus we place on what hurts the more it will hurt and the longer it will last. Our focused attention on the pain can make it grow, so I teach clients how to use Mindfulness to shift their focus to everything good in their life that is NOT the pain.
Our beliefs and expectations about pain can influence how intense it becomes, and how long it lasts.
Expectations play a role. If your pain gets worse in the mornings because that's what usually happens, then with time you start to expect it in the mornings. This expectation signals your brain to give it to you on schedule.
Research shows that worst thing we can do is believe that our pain will never go away. If we see it as the enemy that defeated us and constantly think about the terrible consequences that this lost war is having on our life, and all the bad things that will happen if the pain never goes away, we create even more stress and tension in our body which worsens the pain experience. And as we experience more pain we become more fearful, and this can lead to even more pain. This cycle is one that can seem impossible to break unless we learn how.
Hypnosis can help us improve our attitude towards pain, With a better attitude and better coping skills, it is amazing how much better many people generally feel about their life, even if they still have some discomfort.
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I help clients create a healthier understanding of the pain, so they can learn to view it from a greater emotional vantage point.
This can help clients learn the lessons pain brings, improve their relationship with it, and experience greater relief and wellness. When the source of our pain is perceived differently and accepted from a wiser perspective it can lead to some remarkable insights and healing.
When people struggling with pain change how they perceive it, they can experience that pain and discomfort differntlyThey can expereince far less or no pain, even if the diagnosis does not change.
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When I used the tools and applied the knowledge I teach others, it changed my whole attitude and understanding of the role of physical pain in my life. Once I learned its' greater purpose and message, I experienced greater wellness. Today I can honestly say that I feel healthier and happier than ever, despite of and because of two chronic conditions.
The way you feel and process pain is unique to you.
Two people who sustain the same injury at the same time, in the same place can still experience the pain differently because what is going on emotionally is unique to each one. Part of what I do during a session for Pain Management is educate you about how pain works, what you may inadvertently be doing, saying or thinking that may be making it worse.
Avoiding exercise your doctor or physical therapist recommends and activities that once gave you joy and added value to your life, because you are afraid it might worsen the pain, becoming overly reliant on other people, or expecting doctors to fix the problem while you wait and do nothing, may negatively influence how long your pain will last and how much you hurt.
My wish is to help you find ways to bring more emotional and physical comfort to your life. As a team we can develop specific suggestions, unique to your situation, lifestyle and health that reflect improved and more empowering thoughts, beliefs, attitude and behaviors. I will use these suggestions during our hypnosis session and incorporate them into a hypnosis recording that you can listen to daily to bring you deeper comfort and relief.
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Depending on the personal preferences of my client I may also incorporate techniques such as EFT or Tapping, MIndfulness and Somatic Healing Hypnotherapy.
Exploring and healing the deepest source of your physical pain has the potential to heal your life.
When we can learn to open the channels of communication and connect, speak, and listen to the pain with the ear of our heart, we can discover the true source of the pain. This inner exploration can generate powerful insights, core transformation and gift us the opportunity to become greater than the pain by connecting with that divine part of us that is greater than the physical and emotional pain and discomfort in our life.
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STRESS MANAGEMENT
The Corona virus is now the tiger in everyone's backyard. The problem is that our body does not know when it will be safe again so we are stuck in survival mode.
The stress hormones your body releases when a predator is present can save your life but they can just as easily harm you. When running away is not an option our body has to learn to live with the enemy breathing down its' back. And it does, but the price we pay costs us our life force. We may be breathing, but inside we don't feel very alive or free.
Since the body cannot tell the difference between the stressors in your life and a true predator it lives in a state of getting ready to run or fight. It doesn't know that the job you hate, the boss making you miserable, the feelings of guilt, anger or unworthyness inside you are not a bear ready to attack. The body goes into "emergency mode" and releases chemicals and hormones that help you deal with all the things you don't like and subconsciously pose a physical or emotional threat.
The bad thing is that there is no energy left over to heal and repair. When you constantly live like the bear is just outside your home you don't breathe right and you don't get enough oxygen and you unconsciously tense your muscles 24/7 in preparation for the next bad thing to come along, whether it's a headache or a bank statement.
But what happens inside of us when we feel threatened? Well, our bodies release cortisol, the stress hormone, because it is secreted in higher levels during moments when we want to fight, hide or run away. Too much cortisol can contribute to all sorts of not so good things. It can worsen the pain of Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritic, cause fatigue, migraines, back pain, nail biting, digestive problems, and skin problems, but you probably already know this from experience.
When we constantly repress emotions such as fear, we unwittingly stress the body in ways that open the door to disease and chronic pain conditions. Hypnosis can be a way to find old, accumulated emotions that need to be processed and released. During a session it's amazing the many layers of stress that can be released from the body, leaving my clients feeling more free and light hearted than they ever thought possible.
Stress Management involves finding ways to manage all the chronic stressors in our life so that our backyard does not become a breeding ground for tigers. Keeping cortisol and adrenaline levels normal can do a lot for our well-being and there are many things we can do to make sure our bodies produce more of the pleasure hormones.
I teach clients Acceptance and Mindfulness, Relaxation and Heart breathing and Self-Hypnosis.
If your body lives in a self-perpetuating, never-ending, cycle of tension and fear you run, when you should be walking towards a solution. The hormones of stress scramble our brain literally. Our brains emit High Beta brain waves that make clear, good thinking impossible. For example, I teach students valuable techniques so that they can bring their tired, panicked brains down to mid range beta right before an exam. In this state the brain finds logical solutions and stored information much easier to retrieve. A brain in high beta forgets what it memorised a moment ago.
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Any physical or mental stress whether it is caused by overwork, an injury, the toxins in our environment or the food we eat ends up affecting us emotionally. If our stomach hurts or we become overtired, we feel the consequences. I teach clients valuable tools that help them deal effectively with emotional stress.
IMAGINING CHANGE
If you would like to watch a video on Viking TV where I speak about visualization techniques click below
I CAN TEACH YOU TO USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO EMPOWER YOUR MIND, YOUR BODY AND YOUR LIFE
The greatest gift we have is our imagination, and it is one we have yet to completely unwrap. Imagining change is the first step towards changing anything.
Discipline and desire are not always enough to create change. We have to mentally rehearse our way towards change.
If you are wondering why using your imagination has not worked for you it is because not all imagining is created equal. Effective imagining is crucial to change work because it influences your subconscious mind in very real ways.
The best way to change is to rehearse what that change is going to look and feel like everyday. When you practice doing things differently, feeling the way you want and thinking about what you want instead of thinking constantly about what you don't want, all in the privacy of your imagination, CHANGE HAPPENS.
The key is to convince our brain and body that things are already different.
Thoughts create a biochemical and physiological response in the body. Just visualizing eating a lemon, the tartness of it, the juiciness of the pulp and this simple imagining triggers a salivary response in your body. If done properly, this technique can create powerful change in your body.
When most people visualize about anything, they are really looking at themselves or the object of their imagination on a T.V or movie screen. But in order to use our brain to make change we need to learn how to visualize effectively. If you can't step into the body of that actor in your own mental movie, you are not doing it properly.
If you want to visualize your way to better health or any change you have to channel your emotions and senses to turn images into fantasy. Smelling, hearing, seeing and touching makes it real in your mind.
It's like thinking about a nice vacation in Italy as opposed to fantisizing about it! The fantasy has you seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing the buzz in the restaurant as you eat that delicious pizza!
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The phrase, fake it til you make it, is what effective visualisation is all about. What people don't realise is that the perfect training ground is in your head. Once you learn how to create visually, there is no such thing as faking it. Because as far as your mind body is concerned, it´s happening for real!
The visualization practice I teach is a kind of mental rehearsal with 3 steps. It's you setting the intention for the change you want to see in your life, practicing it in your head, speaking better, feeling better etc...Experiencing the change. In other words, not just seeing yourself doing it, but feeling yourself doing it, thinking it. To visualize with purpose is to experience something in your head that feels exactly like it does when you experience it in real life. How do you feel when achieve something in reality? When you finally get well? The sicker you were then the happier, more relieved and grateful you would feel. So then, when you visualize you have to feel just as joyful and relieved and blessed.
Without emotions anything we imagine remains inert. It is like plugging a phone into a defective socket. It will not charge. Your imagination will not charge suffciently to trigger change or attract the desired outcome.
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Change work also involves taking desired change into the future. I believe that time is not linear, the future you affects the present you and the present you affects the future you. In hypnosis you can learn to repeatedly visualize going into the future you wish, living life as the person you aspire to become. Having made the changes that allow your future self to behave, think and feel the way your present self would like.
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SELF-HYPNOSIS
Selv-hypnose er en trygg og veldig effektiv måte å oppnå forandringer i helsen, oppførselen, tankegangen og følelsene hos personer med normal mental tilstand.
Hypnotists are often accused of brainwashing people on T.V and in books, but the truth is we brainwash ourselves into thinking all sorts of things that may not be true. We can go about our day repeating negative thoughts about how undeserving or imperfect we are without realizing what we are doing. We can mindlessly auto-suggest how awful, guilty, broke, scared, tired and angry we are. The brain learns by repetition and you become more of what you keep telling yourself you are.
Think of self-hypnosis as positive, mindful brainwashing. We can use it to brainwash ourselves into thinking, feeling and behaving the way we want. perhaps more happy, healthy, loving and confident. I practice self-hypnosis everyday, and it makes me a strong believer in what any of us can achieve when we use the power of our mind to create better health and a better life.
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The best way to change is to rehearse new behaviors, feelings and thoughts in your imagination. And that is basically what you do during self hypnosis. Hypnosis puts the imagination to work in a very specific and goal oriented way.
Hypnosis is really about the power of suggestions we give ourselves. My special area of interest is teaching people to use self-hypnosis to improve their emotional and physical health.
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In some ways we are not so different from computers; we are only as emotionally, physically and mentally healthy, as the data we were fed from day 1 in-utero. The beauty of hypnosis work is that you are able to gain access to old, hidden programming and begin to update it. When you practice self-hypnosis regularly you can begin feeding your super computer, the subconscious mind, data in the form of phrases that tell it what you want and who you want to be, instead of what you don't want and who you don't want to be.
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We can work together to create powerful, life changing suggestions that your mind and body can absorb 100%. We tend to complain about how little control we seem to have over what shows up in our life. Invest in your present moment by learning and adding a daily practice of self-hypnosis. It can be an amazing way to take control of your life by feeling differently about who are, where you have been and where you are going.
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The Power of Intention is a fascinating thing, as the book, The Intention Experiment by Lynne Mctaggert clearly demonstrates. 5-15 minutes of self-hypnosis practice sends a clear, meaningful intention about the reality you want to create, manifest and attract in your life.
Dr. Joe Dispenza helps people understand that what you imagine mirrors what shows up in your life. When you do self-hypnosis you create the perfect background for improving your imagining skills, skills which trigger and maintain good change. And the more you rehearse in your imagination the positive changes that you want to see in your life, and give thanks in advance for these changes, the greater the probability that they will manifest.
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The first thing I help clients with is goal setting. We are experts on what we don't want, but often we need practice defining a precise, clear goal of what we do want, imagining that we have achieved it and feeling those emotions of happiness and empowerment.
One of the things I ask clients to do when they practice self-hypnosis is to experience their future self so clearly, that their body is tricked into thinking the changes have happened. Your future self can become your body's greatest resource because the future you in your imagination is always influencing the present you and the present you is always influencing the future you.
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WELLNESS JOURNEYS
I custom make wellness/relaxation journeys for individuals based on their personal likes, dislikes, life situations, and health issues. These inward journeys invite our body's deepest, most divine intelligence to communicate what we need to do to bring physical and emotional wellness into our lives.
Good, healthy communication is at the root of healthy relationships. This is certainly true when it comes to the relationship we have with our mind-body. It has valuable information to share about how to heal if only we would take the time to learn how to listen.
Illness can bring it own message and wisdom, and during hypnosis I can help you enter into a dialogue with your body and tap into its inner wisdom and guidance.
Your body has a divine, inner intelligence and wisdom that can help you heal and find solutions to conflicting or confusing issues. I can help you tune into it so you can benefit from its' messages. Everyone has an Inner Healer and their own Wise Counsel; how that presence reveals itself to you is unique. With my help you can take yourself on a journey to find peace and communicate with it.
Paul Aurand, Director of the Holistic Healing Center in New York City developed a technique called Body Wisdom which stimulates the body's natural ability to heal. David Quigley, creator of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, developed a technique called Somatic Healing which allows your Subconscious Mind to help you heal. I trained with them and use these powerful techniques to help clients speed their own healing and take control of their health.
SPIRITUAL
WELL-BEING
Spiritual well-being is important because it has direct bearing on our physical and emotional health. Spiritual health adds enormously to our energetic health which is essential, because we are at our most fundamental level, energy!
At some point as humans we experience a restlessness and yearning that feels soul deep. But often we are just to busy doing, achieving, surviving financially and meeting all our other obligations to pay attention to that feeling. Pain may be a necessary part of being human, but as I have read, suffering is optional. It may not always seem that way, but it is more of a choice than we realize. I believe that strong spiritual foundations contribute to an inner wisdom and faith that can take the edge off our suffering. Hypnosis can allow you to connect at the deepest levels to that part of you that is greater than you and yet a part of you.
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There is a type of happiness called Eudaimonic happiness. This comes from feeling a sense of purpose and direction in life. Researchers have discovered that it is this type of happiness is associated with very positive activity in immune cells.
When we get lost in our lives and lose sight of the bigger picture we tend to suffer more. Hypnosis often facilitates an inner journey that provides people with more clarity regarding their life's mission and a renewed focus on their soul's intent.
I love when clients come to me with the goal of learning more about the reasons why they decided to come into this world. What were they born to do? Are they fulfilling their life's purpose? As we age these questions become more urgent and significant. Often we feel like we are just cruising through life with no real purpose; accomplishing many things on a human level, but somehow not attending to the even greater agenda of our soul. Ticking many boxes, but not the one that counts.
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I help facilitate in-utero journeys for those who wish to travel to the very begining of their present life. While in the womb it is far easier to connect with our soul, ask questions, get more clarity and steer our lives in a better. more focused and productive direction.​ My clients benefit tremendously from the insight and information gained. This greater awareness helps them make sense of their own life situations and to manage them in a more resourceful and resilient way. This type of journey can gift us enormous potential for healing and positive change.
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7TH PATH
SELF-HYPNOSIS
The 7th Path Self-Hypnosis (copyrighted) system is a holistic, Mind-Body-Spirit approach to making powerful positive changes in your life. It was developed by Cal Banyan, Board Certified Hypnotherapist and Certified Instructor of Hypnotherapy and CEO at the Banyan Hypnosis Center for Training and Services in Dallas, Texas. As a certified 7th Path teacher, I am able to offer this amazing, life changing self-hypnosis program to people who would like to build their spiritual muscle in order to work through and process emotional and behavioral challenges at their own pace and in the privacy of their own mind.
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Our past can often influence our daily life in negative and unconscious ways. When we overeact, we tend to bring anger from the past into the present moment and into our future without realizing it.
7th Path Self Hypnosis allows us to work through all the situations and events from the past which are still unresolved and release buried emotional stressors that may be contributing to unhealthy habits, unhappiness and poor health. You can practice it to make any changes and achieve any goal. It removes limiting, unconscious programs that result in you living a limited life and helps you "re-program yourself for success".
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It is perfect for people who want to feel better about themselves and want to release the guilt, anger, resentment and fear that holds them back. Practitioners of 7th Path are able to stay connected to a power greater than themselves to make positive changes that extend from the deepest parts of their being to every area outside their lives so thay can think better, feel better and do better.
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For more information please contact me.