The Global Conversation

Tag: Path to Peace

  • The healing power of auriculotherapy

    Many of you are aware of the amazing health and wellness benefits of acupuncture.  I have a close friend who is a master acupuncturist and she has traveled all over the world to master her craft.  She has treated me for various things over the years, and I am a big fan.  Auriculotherapy is similar to acupuncture, but is only treated on the surface of the ear and there are no needles used in this type of treatment.  Much like acupuncture, there are only a couple of contraindications.  For safety reasons, auriculotherapy should not be performed on those who are pregnant or anyone who has a pacemaker.  Auriculotherapy is completely safe on all others.

    I am bringing you this article today because not very many people have heard about auriculotherapy.  One of the most beneficial aspects of the treatment is the sedation effect.  When we become stressed with our day to day living, our mind tends to go into what is called fight-or-flight syndrome.  The symptoms of fight-or-flight syndrome are shallow breathing, increased heart rate, and our awareness is heightened.  Our adrenal glands go into high gear and adrenalin is pumped into the blood stream to prepare us for battle.  During this state of heightened awareness, we live our lives through the lens of fear.  We are constantly on the defensive and looking for our enemies.  Our ability to be creative is diminished, and rational, cognitive thinking is impaired.

    After long periods of fight-or-flight syndrome, our body begins to break down.  The negative thinking becomes firmly entrenched behavior, creating a vicious circle of stress-inducing thought.  Chronic illness such as irritable bowel syndrome, indigestion, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, and addiction are common companions of fight or flight.  Many seek treatment for the visible symptoms and are then prescribed drugs that simply mask the body’s attempts to show us there is something that needs our attention.  By treating the apparent symptoms and not addressing the chronic state of being we have developed, the other symptoms begin to get worse.  This is the never-ending cycle that so many people are now caught up in.  We have become a society that has medicine cabinets full of drugs to “fix” things that can be easily corrected with a lifestyle change.

    Many people fear that reducing their stress means less productivity. Our culture has us believing that our health and well-being is secondary to our financial security.  Yet with the rising cost of health care, soon, if not already, it will be far more costly to neglect our health than continue a lifestyle that requires us to overwork and overproduce. Having a healthy stress management ritual helps us to be more productive in our work, emotionally available for our friends and family, and open to hearing our higher self and the soft hints of our intuitive nature.

    Holistic wellness methods such as acupuncture, auriculotherapy, chiropractic, naturopathy, yoga, and meditation, to name just a few, are surefire ways to stop the fight-or-flight syndrome in its tracks.  Stress can never be eliminated; in fact, we need stress in our lives to provide a contextual field and propel us to our natural state, which is self-improvement.  Our society has all but given up on the natural path to wellness in favor of the quick fix in the forms of pills and surgeries.  While I do understand that there are situations that call for the medical community to step in and help, I am of the belief that if we practice healthier, holistic lifestyles, the need for traditional medicine would be minimal.  Stopping chronic illness starts at arresting our fight-or-flight response and finding a state of relaxation.

    The first point treated in auriculotherapy is called the Shen Men.  The Chinese have had awareness of this point for over 5,000 years. When the Shen Men is stimulated using the micro-current tool used in auriculotherapy, the mind becomes sedated, allowing for a greater connection to our soul voice. When the mind is “out of the way,” the body’s ability to heal is unlimited. Furthermore, the panic mode brought on by our fight-or-flight mechanism is virtually eliminated, easing us into a normalized state of being. Sometimes simply being reminded of what it feels like to not be worried or anxious is all it takes for a person to understand just how stressed out they really are.

    There are over 350 reflex points in the ear referring to every system, organ, and limb of the body. The procedure is quick and painless, although some would describe it as mildly uncomfortable. The results are immediate and undeniable.  For a quick and relatively painless session, relaxation is induced and fight or flight is arrested for the time being.  If the person receiving treatment has any mild aches or pains, the therapist can locate and stimulate corresponding points and ease the discomfort.

    Used in many treatment facilities, auriculotherapy has shown remarkable results in patient retention.  On average, patients attending 28-day treatment facilities typically only stay around 10 days.  Studies show that facilities who offer advanced relaxation therapies like yoga and auriculotherapy have almost 100 percent retention.

    For those wishing to quit smoking, auriculotherapy offers an easy way out. The hardest part of quitting smoking is the discomfort of withdrawal. By stimulating the correct points we can trick the brain into releasing endorphins, the exact same feeling we get when we are smoking, without the nicotine to produce it.  After just a few treatments, the body normalizes its production of endorphins and the withdrawal stage has passed.

    If you are looking for a stress management protocol, try looking into auriculotherapy and see for yourself.  Typically, you will find this treatment being offered in chiropractic offices and holistic wellness centers.  The average treatment takes about 20 minutes to ½ hour.

    I am bringing you this article today for two reasons:  The first is as an informational piece.  I feel this is a valuable tool to have in your holistic health toolbox.  The second reason is to tell you that at our Path to Peace recovery retreats, we offer this service for no additional charge daily. For someone wishing to quit smoking, who plans on attending the retreat, this could be a great way to kick it off.

    Our next P2P retreat is coming up quickly.  This one will be held in San Jose, California, from September 19 – 22nd.  After that, we will be taking to the east coast in Orlando, Florida, from October 24 – 27th. Click here for more information and registration for these retreats.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • Came to believe

    Just about everybody knows someone who is addicted to something, and I am not talking about the soft addictions that limit our connection to our highest self.  I am talking about hard core addictions that are affecting the lives of not only the addict, but also many lives around them.  Addiction takes no prisoners and it spares no lives. Families are torn apart, friendships are dissolved, businesses go bankrupt and employees lose their jobs.  Children are left without parents and parents lose children to drug related tragedies.

    Many of us have been asked to help someone who is in need of treatment, only to find that after a few days of sobriety the person has returned to their past behaviors.  I know of one person who has spent over $200,000.00 on treatment programs for his son only to have him end up using after all was said and done.

    Addicts are not soulless-bad people who willingly harm others for the sake of doing so.  They are suffering with a disease that affects their mind, body and spirit.  They are doing what they feel they need to do in order to survive and they live in fear of having to change their way of life.  They are afraid because the disease of addiction strikes at the center of the brain that operates through our subconscious; the same part of the brain that controls our heart beat and our breathing as well as many other survival functions.

    If you have ever watched the television shows such as; Addicted, Intervention, or even My Strange Addiction, you will see the cold hard truth of what it is like to be under the spell of addiction.  You will see, “Continued use, in spite of negative consequences” up close and personal.  Still, without having the experience yourself, you can never truly understand what is going on in those persons thoughts. The behavior appears to be completely insane, and it is.

    Insanity is defined:  Repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.  The addict truly thinks that the next drug is going to fix them and they will never need to use again, hence the term “get my fix.”

    What I have found in my experience, as well as in the experience of others, is that insanity is temporary. The second step of the Twelve Step programs is; Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  So how do we do this? How do we come to believe?  How did you come to believe?   Have you always believed? Do you still not believe?

    When I first came to sobriety, and was confronted with this step, I did what many others have done; I went on faith.  If it worked for others it could work for me – unless they were lying!  Yes, I didn’t believe yet, but I was willing to give it a try.  What I have come to understand over the years of being clean is that to be fully sane, is a lifelong process. I return to sanity in bits and pieces only to awaken to other areas of insanity.  Through the enlightenment of unhelpful behavior patterns exposed in my life, my level of joy and freedom are increased.

    To be fully sane, is a lifelong process.

    Faith is simply taking someone’s word for something and being willing to give it a try. It doesn’t mean just trust me and don’t question me.  Faith is not going blindly on what others say.  Faith is temporarily putting aside current beliefs to experience another way of doing things.  Faith, with experience, turns to belief.  Belief, with experience and awareness, turns to knowing.  When you get to a place of knowing something to be true, you have found peace.

    So this is what I am here for, to help others to take a leap of faith, and support them through their process of coming to believe, and then walking beside them as they get to know, who they really are and what they wish to do.  This is life in recovery.  This is the path to peace.

    In June we kicked off our first in a series of CWG on recovery retreats.  A small group of people all shared a life-changing event.  If you are in recovery and not experiencing great joy and freedom or are still suffering with addictions, please consider giving yourself this experience.   Our next retreat will held in San Jose, California, Sept 19 -22nd, 2013.  On October 24 – 27th, 2013, we will have another retreat in Orlando Florida.  Click here for more information on these life-changing retreats.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • It’s not what you eat, it’s what’s eating you.

    I haven’t talked much about food here on this blog because — well — I don’t consider my food consumption to be anything to brag about.  I do not eat perfect by any stretch of anyone’s imagination.  I also feel terribly uncomfortable discussing what is “good” and what is “bad” in regards to diet.  But I do want to speak about how and why we eat what we eat, as well as what is going on behind the scenes, which could be extremely helpful to those who are seeking better health and more happiness.

    When I was younger and still in my active addiction, I began having indigestion problems.  I know, hard to believe that a person drinking himself into oblivion every day would have an upset stomach every now and then, but I digress.  My heartburn was pretty severe, and I was convinced to go see a doctor to have it looked at.  His words were very simple and have stuck with me to this day:  “Kevin, it’s not what you eat, it is what is eating you.”

    At that time in my life, I didn’t think about what I ate or why I was even eating.  The only thoughts I  had were “I’m hungry” and “what is available?”  The truth be told, it has only been a few years that I have placed much consideration into what my diet was and how it could be affecting my health.  The results of my looking into the connection between food I was eating and my health could not be denied.

    My diet prior to this awareness is quite startling when it is seen in black and white.  In the morning, I would have a huge cup of coffee, sweetened with the “pink stuff” (Sweet ‘n Low), and diluted with half-and-half. I followed the coffee up with two everything bagels.  Mind you, this was an everyday meal of mine for 20-plus years!  There were random variations from this breakfast,  but not much.

    Lunch was either a whole sub sandwich or fast food, preferably from Mcdonald’s as I had found that Burger King didn’t sit well in my stomach (go figure!)  Either of the choices would have included a large Diet Coke and chips or fries (large, please!)

    Now, somewhere between lunch and dinner would be a mandatory stop and a 7-Eleven for a Super Big Gulp of Diet Coke and 1 or maybe 2 packages of Twinkies or the equivalent Hostess-type snack.   Dinner would typically be a meat and potatoes variety meal with the occasional substitution of fish or pasta.  Most days a nice big bowl of ice cream would conclude this daily battering of my body.

    Please note that water was not part of any of the above meal plans.

    You would think with a diet like that I was most likely obese.  Think again.  I was about 20 pounds overweight, but I carried it fairly well.  You see, I was really active.  My job was physically demanding.  I live in a hot tropical climate so I would burn a lot of calories. This kept my weight pretty consistent.

    What didn’t stay consistent was my health.  In 2007, I started to have trouble with tingling fingers on my right hand.  I lived with it for a while, and then my left hand started to go numb as well.  I started seeing a specialist, who would give me steroid shots.  These worked at first for a few months.  Then I would slowly start losing the feeling again.  The diagnosis was carpal tunnel syndrome.  I dealt with this the best I could for a few years, and the doctor finally told me that the only thing to do moving forward would be surgery.  I didn’t elect that option as I was worried that I may lose the function of my hands.  I was a trim carpenter, and without the use of my hands, would find myself out of a job.  So I decided to just live with it.

    In March of 2011, I developed a new problem.  From what seemed like out of the blue, I couldn’t raise my right arm up and hold it level to the ground.  If I lifted up with my left arm, it would fall right down as soon as I let it go.  I was urged to go to a neurologist to get it checked out, and the resulting diagnosis was three herniated discs in my neck.  I was devastated, afraid, and depressed.

    Just three months earlier my wife had convinced me to go to yoga with her.  Yoga, for me, was love at first try.  I felt at home in the yoga room and went to class no less than 5 times a week.  I was feeling good about myself and my diet had drastically changed from what it was above.

    I was drinking roughly a gallon of water a day and rarely had  diet soda anymore. I was incorporating more salads into my diet and red meats virtually vanished from our meals.  My sweet tooth had gone into remission and I had melted off 35 pounds in those 3 months of yoga.  I continued to use the “pink stuff” in my coffee and didn’t think too much about it.

    The damage from my unhealthy diet was done prior to the herniated discs.  My MRI showed bone degeneration in my C3 thru C5 vertebra.   All was not lost, though, and this was just the beginning of a very cool journey for me.

    The day I was told of my herniated disks, I drove to my yoga studio to let my teacher know I wouldn’t be able to do yoga anymore.  I was an emotional mess and felt my joy and passion were taken from me.  My yoga teacher then told me of this doctor who was literally right across the street and how he had helped her get through a similar issue.  My despair was turned to hope in the blink of an eye!

    This injury turned out to be the biggest turning point in my life since I had become sober.  I began to see the signs that my soul was sending me.  I not only saw them now, I paid attention, I listened, I asked for more signs, and learned to express gratitude for them.

    Within 3 months, I not only had regained full strength and range of motion in my right arm but my hands were also completely healed of the numb, tingly sensation that had plagued me for the last 4 years.  I had eliminated the “pink stuff,” “yellow stuff,” and any other harmful chemicals completely from my diet.  I replaced sweeteners with raw honey or Stevia.  My morning breakfast was a giant serving of fresh fruit smoothies blended right in my own kitchen.  This way I had full control of all the ingredients.

    Health and nutrition for me become synonymous.  I also caught on to one other thing about eating.  When I was conscious about my food choice, I felt really good about myself.  Is it raw or organic?  Does it contain artificial sweeteners?  Does the food I am eating contain words I could never even pronounce?  I have become aware, conscious, and full of intent with my eating.  Be it “good” or “bad,” I am aware.  I make the conscious choice and I remind myself of the consequences.

    I am the last person to judge someone on what they are eating.  I will never do that.  I will be the first person to share everything I have come to know with those who seek the knowledge.  I believe we are what we eat and I no longer feel like I have Twinkies for fingers!  There is a connection between consciously choosing our food and a happy, joyous, and free life.  My body told me for many years in a variety of different ways that what I was putting into it was harming myself.  It took a big scare for me to wake up and listen.

    In our Path to Peace Recovery Retreats we look at nutrition very deeply and examine healthier ways to eat without sacrificing fun and flavor.  As a matter of fact, the food I eat now  and the manner in which I eat is extremely satisfying on all levels.

    You see, I am a recovering addict.  My disease does not know the difference between alcohol, pot, cocaine, heroin, meth, food, sex, power, or victimhood.  The disease of addiction is a brain disease that runs rampant when left unchecked.  The results are always the same:  negative consequences or recovery.  With support, recovery is a path to peace, joy, and freedom like no other.

    In June we kicked off our first in a series of CWG on recovery retreats.  A small group of people all shared a life-changing event.  If you are in recovery and not experiencing great joy and freedom or are still suffering with addictions, please consider giving yourself this experience.   Our next retreat will held in San Jose, California, Sept 19 -22nd, 2013.  On October 24 – 27th, 2013, we will have another retreat in Orlando Florida.  Click here for more information on these life-changing retreats.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information at  To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • Control Freak

    Have you ever had one of those days where you are just skipping along, happy as can be, and seemingly out of nowhere a fun-wrecker comes in and attempts to steal your joy?  Are you the kind of person who has to exert some sort of power or control over others in order to feel somehow better than them or above them?  Do you know a person who is constantly putting other people down so at a later point he can swoop in and raise them up to fulfill some sort of hero role?  Some people will go as far as to become physically abusive to their spouses and children to maintain the illusion of power.  There are many more examples of power-trippers, and please feel free to share your experiences with us in the comment section below.

    Most often we think of “power-trippers” as having very low self-esteem and assume they are using the behavior as a mask for their supposed insufficiency.  The truth is they are addicted to something much more destructive and insidious: dopamine.

    Dopamine is the great “I am.” It is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter that, when flowing, produces a feeling of euphoria. Dopamine is our ego.  To understand this better, when a cocaine addict is using, the chemical response in the brain is to release more dopamine into our system.  So the person who has learned how to control that release simply by exerting control over others is just another drug addict who is under the spell of their drug of choice.

    There are not too many power addicts walking through the doors of 12 step programs to get their addictions under control.  Many of the people who have this affliction will take it to their grave with them.  There is also very little sympathy out there for these type of people, nor should there be; however, without the help of loved ones, addicts suffering seldom have the opportunity or the encouragement to make changes in their lives.  Without the understanding of what is triggering the nasty behavior of the “power-tripper,” family, friends, and loved ones eventually exit from the relationship.

    Compassion is what is needed to help the person suffering with this disease.  Yet without the knowledge of what is going on, most people cannot muster up the motivation to be compassionate.  Ultimately, life is about our interpersonal relationships.  Most of us would consciously choose not to be in relationship with a person who is constantly controlling everything and everyone around them.  Yet unconsciously we find ourselves having to work or socialize with power mongers fairly often.  So why is this?  What could the possible benefit to the continuing evolution of mankind be?

    Love.

    What greater practice could there be than loving a person who is exhibiting unloving behaviors?  Where we get mixed up is, what does “love” look like?  Do we give in and let the person treat us badly?  Is “taking one for the team” ever a productive or effective way of loving someone into wellness?  No.  Love is strong, love is confident, love is trusting in the way of the universe.  Love knows that each individual must walk his or her own path, and that we can influence but we cannot manipulate.

    There is much room to explore this topic together.  Please take some time to comment down below about your experience as a power-tripper or with a control freak.  Have you or someone you know recovered from this disease?  How do we spot this behavior before we get in to deep?

    Last month we kicked off our first in a series of Path to Peace recovery retreats.  A small group of people all shared a life-changing event.  If you are in recovery and not experiencing great joy and freedom or are still suffering with addictions, please consider giving yourself this opportunity to soar into grateful recovery.  Our next retreat will held in San Jose, California, Sept 19 -22nd, 2013.  Click here for more information.

    (Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website for more information at www.Kevin-Spiritualmentor.com  To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)