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October 15, 2003MIND, BODY, SPIRITWriters share techniques for better living in new bookByRecord-Eagle staff writer Russell LeBlanc was in his senior year of chiropractic school when he discovered that transcendental meditation could help him perform better on his tests. Cathleen Follansbee was a 30-something administrator when she learned that transformational breathing and hypnotherapy could dramatically improve her asthma.
Now the pair has written a self-help guide called "The Key to Me: How to Live the Life You Choose" ($12.95, Spiderweb Publishing). Based on their workshop teachings, the book claims to unlock the mysteries of living a fuller, richer life. "We have the intelligence, the spiritual, the mental and the emotional capacity to have and do and be anything we want," said LeBlanc, 48, who operates Community Chiropractic Health Center in Lake Leelanau. "We have a lot more at stake in how we create our reality than we thought." Published in June and now available on-line at Amazon.com as well as in local bookstores, the book is the result of three years of work and a Northwestern Michigan College course in self-publishing taught by local independent publishing guru Jerry Jenkins. At its core is the notion that there are four aspects to human beings: the mental, the emotional, the physical and the spiritual. Understanding and integrating those aspects helps to create a happy, healthy and abundant life, the authors maintain. "It puts together this common thread, from the point of you have a thought to how it perpetuates the emotions you carry and how those are responsible for the physical reactions you have," said Follansbee, a certified hypnotherapist, alternative health practitioner and co-owner of the countertop company Traverse Tops. "The spiritual flavors who you are." Added LeBlanc: "Who and what we are is a lot more than just our physical self. Ultimately we're not really physical beings that have a physical experience on earth but spiritual beings that use thought and emotion to create a physical reality." While much has been written about the integration of mind, body and spirit, Follansbee and LeBlanc say their book differs in its simplicity. At just 108 pages and four main sections - each with a summary of highlights at the end - it's an easy read in one sitting. "We've taken very complex concepts and we've refined it and explained it in a way that's simple and concise," said LeBlanc, a member of the board of directors for Leelanau Memorial Health Center and of the corporate board of Munson Medical Center. Follansbee said the goal was for people who might be intimidated by other, more eosteric volumes to pick up the book and use it as a springboard for further independent study. "It's not new information but it's pulled together in a very simple way. It's like a Dick and Jane, a primer," she said. "A primer for energy anatomy." The realization that physical health is tied in to mental, emotional and spiritual health came to LeBlanc a little bit at a time. But it wasn't until attending Life Chiropractic College that he first began to explore the power of positive thought and the idea that health is "more of an inside job than we thought." He said the progressive school emphasized the art and philosophy of chiropractic science and brought in guests who exposed students to a variety of different ideas that forced them to stretch their awareness of what may or may not be. "The art and philosophy of chiropractic science is that it's the adjustment of the spine that relieves the nerve interference and allows for full expression of innate intelligence. And it's innate intelligence that facilitates function and creates healing," he added. Nothing brought that home to Follansbee more powerfully than when she began exploring emotional methods of healing, such as transformational breath work and hypnotherapy, to relieve her asthma. Now she uses those same methods and others - Reiki, esoteric healing and YuenEnergetics - to help clients in her own practice. Besides her home office in Cedar, she maintains a practice in the Los Angeles area, where most of her clients are actors. Follansbee, 47, said the ideas presented in "Key to Me" are "a lot of the things that I talk to my clients about" and ideas workshop participants have begged her and LeBlanc to write down. To assist readers and encourage independent study, the book also includes exercises, quotes - from ancient Chinese proverbs to New Age guru Deepak Chopra - and a suggested reading list. "Over and over and over in our classes people would light up," she said. "Afterwards they'd say, 'We're so sad it's over, you need to write this down. I want this name and this name.'" While some of its wisdom may be beyond the average reader, the book makes many things crystal clear: to energize their lives, reduce stress, understand their feelings and create greater happiness, people must first be aware of their thoughts, words and attitudes, "clear" their energy and "heal" their baggage. By relinquishing attachment to past events and worries and concerns of how they picture their future, they can move toward the concept of living in the present moment, the authors claim. That's especially important in the stressful 21st century, Follansbee believes. "We're on a fast track and we even teach our children the more things they can learn, the more sports they do, the more, more ...," she said. "That in and of itself is stressful. "I also feel, though, that there is a movement back toward community. There is a movement toward this realization that everything shouldn't have been thrown away, that everything new isn't necessarily improved. And more people are coming to a place of wanting to stop and reflect and see what it is that they value."
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