Mike Dow - Your subconscious brain can change your life : overcome obstacles, heal your body, and reach any goal with a revolutionary technique

PRAISE FOR

Providing the brain with moments of stillness, silence, and serenity are essential in our modern world. Mikes technique is yet another tool to put in your arsenal of clinically validated practices.

Dr. Susan Albers, New York Times best-selling author of 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food

Working with the subconscious mind is the most powerful tool to transform our lives. Dr. Mikes technique is the best that Ive encountered and I highly recommend this book for anyone striving to improve their health, wealth, or confidence.

Naomi Whittel, New York Times best-selling author of Glow15

ALSO BY DR. MIKE DOW

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think, Act, & Be Happy: How to Use Chicken Soup for the Soul Stories to Train Your Brain to Be Your Own Therapist

Heal Your Drained Brain: Naturally Relieve Anxiety, Combat Insomnia, and Balance Your Brain in Just 14 Days

Healing the Broken Brain: Leading Experts Answer 100 Questions about Stroke Recovery

The Brain Fog Fix: Reclaim Your Focus, Memory, and Joy in Just 3 Weeks

All of the above are available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:

Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

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Copyright 2019 by Mike Dow

Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Ploy Siripant Interior design: Joe Bernier

Indexer: Joan D. Shapiro

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or other professional advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of diagnosis or treatment for any physical, emotional, or medical condition. The intent of the author is only to offer information of an anecdotal and general nature that may be part of your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you or others use any of the information or other content in this book, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for the direct or indirect consequences. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-5585-4

E-book ISBN: 978-1-4019-5586-1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1st edition, March 2019

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Your brain shifts between the conscious and the subconscious all the time. The most obvious transition is when you fall asleep and dream. The shift also occurs throughout the day. When you go to the theater and a two-hour movie feels like its over in a half hourthats your subconscious brain at work. Or consider a long road trip: when I drove from Southern California to Oklahoma for medical school, I couldnt remember driving through several cities on the routethats called highway hypnosis. My mind was on autopilot.

After a 40-year career as a psychiatrist, brain-imaging expert, founder of the Amen Clinics, and creator of brain-health programs around the world, I know a lot about the brain. At the Amen Clinics, weve been looking at the brain for over 25 years. You could say Im always in someones head!

The brain is a symphony of parts that work together to create and sustain a life. Yet most people dont think about their brains, much less the subconscious part of it. The subconscious is amazing and can do a great deal to create health and transformation between your brain and body.

Would you like to know how?

I certainly did.

I first became interested in the power of the subconscious brain when I was a second-year med student. One of my professors hypnotized a few of his students, placing them into a subconscious-dominant state. When he used the technique on me, I felt more peaceful than ever before. I quickly learned that hypnosis doesnt tune you out; it tunes you in.

Soon afterward, I took a one-month elective on hypnosis at the University of California, Irvine. My professor there showed us a video of an Indian psychiatrist who guided a patient into a hypnotic state and then used her subconscious brain to make the blood vessels pop up in her hands so he could insert a needle. It workedand I was fascinated. So during my first rotation as an intern in the emergency room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., I got the bright idea to try the technique myself.

At 6:30 A.M., I walked by a room where a woman was screaming. Since Im super curious, I popped in. The woman had a blood clot in her calf that was causing her leg to swell. The chief resident was screaming at the patient because every time she tried to start the IV needle, the patient screamed louder. So the chief resident was frustrated, and the patient was scared. And guess what happens to blood vessels when youre upsetthey clamp down! So I asked the chief resident, Do you mind if I try?

Ive been starting IVs for years. What makes you think you can do it? she replied. But if you want to try, hotshot, go ahead.

The first thing I did was say to the patient, Hi, Im Dr. Amen. I need you to slow your breathing. When you breathe too fast, all your blood vessels constrict, and theres no way were going to start an IV on your foot. So breathe with me.

I slowed my own breathing to show her how, all while thinking, The chief resident is going to kill me when this failsbecause I had no expectation this approach was going to work. But Id just seen the video in my elective class. So I asked the patient to focus on a spot on the wall to help remove all the distractions. I guided her to count to ten, close her eyes, breathe slowly, and then imagine relaxation. While I was taking her through this process, I told her, I bet you didnt know that if you focused on your feet, you could actually make a blood vessel appear and help me out in this situation. A blood vessel popped up as soon as I made the suggestion, and I was able to start the IV. The chief residents mouth just dropped open.

Thats when I got hooked on using the power of the subconscious brain to help people.

One of the first lessons in medical school was to do no harm and use the least toxic solution. If we could heal with words and without pills, how wonderful would that be? Thats what surgeons, ob-gyns, dentists, psychiatrists, and therapists have been doing for decades. In this book, Dr. Mike Dow will show you how to do the same as a supplemental way to create health, break or build habits, boost your confidence or success, alleviate anxiety and fear, and so much more. Ive seen subconscious brain techniques help people stop smoking, achieve and maintain a healthy weight, conquer insomnia, and relieve pain syndromes.