Helen
16 months ago my son got engaged. We were delighted by his choice of bride, but when talk turned to the wedding day I wondered how on earth I was going to cope. I’d had M.E. for 11 years and although not bedbound was extremely limited in what I could do. Social visits were generally restricted to 1 hour; I could only stand for a few minutes at a time; noise or large groups of people seemed to ‘fry’ my brain. Sunday morning church was a priority for me, but I often wasn’t well enough to go and if I did would have to spend the rest of the day on the sofa. Sometimes the music and singing were too much and I had to leave. I had no idea how I was going to manage a wedding service, let alone the reception, with lots of people and all the inevitable chatting and emotion.
Last Saturday my son got married. He left from our home, with all the normal bustle and excitement. There were over 200 people in the church, I stood to sing for all the songs & clapped and cheered with everyone else as they were proclaimed ‘husband & wife’. I was on my feet a lot chatting to guests, waiting for photos and then it was on to the reception. 163 people in a big barn! Lots of fun and noise and laughter; a meal, speeches and then a ceilidh. And I danced. Not once, but several times! A brilliant, happy, special day that I was able to participate in to the full. AND the previous day we’d been for a meal at the bride’s home (nearby) to meet some of her numerous relatives AND the following day we went out to lunch with some more of her family.
What had happened in the meantime? 7 months ago I attended the Lightning Process course, run by Heather, and it is not an overstatement to say that it has radically changed my life. I’m now living a ‘normal’ life, doing the sort of ‘normal’ things that most people do. Last Autumn a friend told me about 3 people she knew, who had suffered from M.E, but were all now well and leading full lives. They had all used the Lighting Process. For the first time I began to have hope that I too could be well. As I looked into it further, reading Phil Parker’s book and the information on Heather’s website, it began to make sense. It seemed that my brain pathways had become ‘stuck’ and there was a way to get them ‘unstuck’. Amazing, but I reasoned if it worked for other people there was no reason it would not work for me. (I do want to stress to people reading this that Phil Parker says quite clearly that M.E. is a physical condition. No-one ever said, or implied, that the problem was ‘in my mind’)
Before doing the course I couldn’t imagine how I would manage 3 whole days of teaching and practice, but I reasoned that if others could do it, then so could I. From the first day I began to be able to do more things and it just went on improving. Not always smoothly, but the emphasis is on it being a training and a ‘process’. Heather has always been available at the end of the phone, giving me as much encouragement and support as I needed.
When I first read other people’s testimonies and thanks I did think some of them sounded a bit OTT. But when you have experienced such a life change it is hard not to sound a bit hyper! So many of my friends at my son’s wedding were using words like ‘amazing’, ‘brilliant’ – and it is! So I naturally feel so grateful to those who enabled it to happen. I’m so thankful that Phil Parker (and I’m sure there were others) put in all the hard work and perseverance to understand what is going on with people who have M.E. and find a way of resolving it – and very grateful to Heather, who has been consistently encouraging and friendly.
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