I did Mel's course 1 year ago when I had Long Covid really badly. I was in such bad shape. The Switch was life changing. I cannot recommend this course highly enough or urgently enough for people to do it. It truly works.
I did Mel's course 1.5 years ago after struggling to recover from ME/CFS for almost 3 years. I had read a lot of literature before doing this, because I was so skeptical: but there is a relationship between the mind and body. 📢 Do not lose a decade before giving this a shot 📢 But you have to be prepared to do the work. After learning to regulate my nervous system by reducing my anxiety, I full recovered - I could walk, exercise, and eat anything without having a crash. It has given me the awareness, energy and capacity to deal with much of what got me sick and stuck in the first-place: maladaptive coping mechanisms from trauma, or what I now call an inability to listen to my body and emotions. I continue to use her course in my daily life, in combination with good nutrition, TRE, inner-child work and exercise.
I'm so happy for you! Thanks for sharing your story here. Really interesting to read your summary of what you uncovered and all the things that you use in your life to be well ;0))
I can certainly vouch for Mel and her course, The Switch. I did the course in September 2023, and it has literally changed my life. I can run again, lift weights again, and go about my life like a "normal" person! Thanks again, Mel, and thanks to you, Raelan, for getting her on!
Something else ive noticed in these recovery stories..... most who recover are not financially unable and they have someone to help. I wish someone wld ask me if i needed a cup of tea. 😮
@@micheledevilliers3474 Wow! That's so good. I hope @cinderellawarrior2323 sees this! When I'm well again I'd love to be able to volunteer practical help to people who have no one to support them. I just have to get well first!
I'm so touched and moved by the brutal honesty and raw courage from you both in this interview (And Raelan, I'm so so sorry to hear about your mum) For me, it is the transformation of trauma in to triumph after the 'darkest night of the soul' that is so inspirational to many including me. You truly are the gift that keeps on giving!
Thanks for your lovely words. At the time, I told no one that I felt so low. Not even my mum or my best friend. It is so many years later that I am speaking out and sharing the painful truth. My mum is at least feeling blessed that it is her love that kept me going...
So sorry to hear that you have also gone through a head injury and ME. It's brutal! So much emotional dysregulation from the head injury that really compounds all the stress response and exacerbates ME.
Thank you for these testimonies, it's incredible! I'm French and in France we hear very few interviews with people who recover and very few about brain retraining. All the resources are in English so it's always more challenging!
I think it's the same the world over that there are very few recovery stories being shared. This is why Raelan's work is so wonderful and I really applaud what she does! Perhaps there is a need for some interviews to be translated?
Love hearing new recovery stories that provide hope, but always sceptical when it leans on selling a course. Especially a 4 days course for $1,300. That is definitely steep when it’s a long shot. The cheaper option doesn’t include ‘deeper’ trauma work and states it isn’t enough for a chronic condition.
You are correct that the cheaper options don't include the trauma work, though the trauma work isn't necessarily required by everyone with a chronic condition. I have had many people who made a full recovery from chronic illness just from my 2 hour webinar, which amazed me! But if people are aware that they have a big unresolved trauma history, then it is more likely that they will need a bigger intervention. However, even if the webinar helped someone get a 40-50% improvement, that would already make a big difference to their life. I also wouldn't say doing The Switch is a "long-shot". Approximately 80% of clients report "excellent" or "good" health after the course. Only about 3% get no improvement.
@@honorburza9110 I'm surprised you think that's expensive for 20 hours of live training in a small group, 3 group follow-ups, half an hour of individual follow-up, and email support for a year. My hourly rate is about a quarter of what doctors charge. I think people forget sometimes how many costs we have to cover when running a business - just the annual outgoings for website hosting, email server, phone line, admin support, IT support etc is $70,000, before I earn a single cent. Add in the big costs of building a website in the first place, paying three artists to develop all the characters and artwork for the slideshow of the 4-day course and you're up to another $60,000 just with start-up costs. I have just spent $40,000 on my film maker to film the 6 week webinar series for me. I feel very confident that I am providing a fabulous course with life-changing possibilities at a very fair price. If someone has then recovered and been able to get a job again, they've paid back their entire course fee within a couple of weeks and then they're in credit. My clients have regularly said to me that that was the best money they ever spent in their life.
The late Dr. John Sarno who has helped hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) out of chronic pain and other chronic symptoms was shunned and even ridiculed by the other doctors at NYU where he practiced.
That is very sad to hear, but also comforting to me when I feel so frustrated when I receive negative reactions from support groups when I know that I help so many people. I didn't realise Dr Sarno also got so much flack - he's awesome and has certainly helped a lot of people!
Hi I have had CFS for 31 years and it’s been hell as one with cfs knows. I’ve tried everything, but brain/ body work. I’m really excited to hear that there is something I haven’t tried yet that is helping others to recovery. After all this time I was starting to give up thinking there is nothing left. My hope of ever recovering was being drained out of me. I feel too exhausted to try another thing and be disappointed again. At the right moment of desperation I found this channel where there are people who have recovered. I thought being unwell this long was hopeless. Does your “switch” program cover NLP? My anxiety and brain need the work! I know that to be TRUE! I’m desperate please tell me where to start. I could use a good recommendation as I’m too tired to research. Thank you! I appreciate this you tube channel beyond measure! So happy I just found it a few days ago. God Bless Raelan and all your guests! You make a difference. ❤
Gosh! You poor thing suffering for 31 years ;0((( 11 was bad enough! It's great you've finally found some hope though. Yes, The Switch is NLP based. All the links are in the info box above this movie so that you can find out more. You might like to start with the free 45 minute webinar. On Raelan's interviews, each movie has links at the top for the programme that was discussed in the interview, so you can find out about different options and decide which programme and which trainer feels the most resonant for you. There are a number of different programmes available on my website, ranging from free to small price webinars to the full live training programme, so you can pick which level of help you think you need. I would love to be able to help you recover. I know it's possible!
Hi Mel! Thank you for sharing your Story:) I was wondering what your physical functionality lever was before doing the NLP? Because you still must have the muscle strength to be able to suddenly walk around all day. I never understand how people get from being bedbound all day to suddenly walking around, from this physical point of view.
At my worst, I could not have walked for more than 5 minutes. By the time I did the course, I could (on some days) walk for an hour on the flat, but I couldn't handle any hills. My recovery was then rapid after my course. I was walking for many hours while sight seeing around Europe within a few weeks. For my clients who have severe ME, we have to start them much slower than I did. I might work in 10 minute increments with someone once a week for several months before they are ready to attend the course. At that point, their healing tends to speed up a lot, because they have got their body out of the stress response. The key thing is to not build up exercise until the body's stress response has been calmed down. Once that is down, healing happens much more quickly. Some people calm that stress response very fast, such as this young girl. Many years ago, I had a client with fibromyalgia. She had not moved any part of her body for 4 years. She had to have carers to even brush her hair and toilet her. She moved her hands on Day 1. She stood up for a few seconds on Day 2. She walked 15 steps back to her car on Day 3. She walked for an hour a few days later. She went ROCK CLIMBING two weeks later. That blew my mind! She was only 15, so maybe her youth helped her muscles to rejuvenate more quickly, but I was amazed that she could gain muscle use as fast as that. Her movie is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HimSHY-8soY.htmlsi=w7XHuc96GuYZy-6Z
Big hugs to you. I'm glad you feel seen. And I'm sorry that you are feeling all those awful feelings that I used to feel. I wish you all the best. Your life will get better!
I was in a support group. and there was one guy who got better. and nobody was listening to him. they all talked about new pills and new medicine. so strange. never went back.
It's so sad! I could never understand that mindset myself. When I was sick, all I wanted was to find ANYONE who had recovered and find out what they did that worked. This support group mindset has shocked me over and over. Good for you leaving if it didn't have the mindset that you were looking for. There must be some good support groups out there where people are genuinely seeking answers and helping others to find them, but I have heard more bad stories where people resist hearing recovery stories
I'm glad I shared when I see that it has helped you and given you hope. My heart goes out to you going through such a hell illness. Things will improve!
To teach you what "The Switch" is requires 20 hours of training. ME is a complex illness that cannot be resolved in 20 minutes. The purpose of Raelan's interviews is to provide hope to people and to signpost them to many options that can help them, and then it's up to you to feel into which techniques you feel drawn to, click on the links at the top of each interview and go and find out more
Thankyou Raelan. Love this. I would love to hear some recovery stories from people who dont have support from a partner, friends or family. That would include financial support. In the study that you have mentioned involving the recovery stories that you have collected, is it possible that the researchers could also look at the social and economic situations of the recoverees to see what the commonalities are. As a single, older woman with limited financial resources, no partner or family support and tenuous living arrangements, I need some hope and for others in my situation to be able to find their way to recovery. Many thanks agsin for your wonderful work.
That sounds really tough for you ;0(( There is a free 45 minute webinar on my website, plus lots of other short info movies that might help you. Plus there is a 2 hour webinar that is still pretty low cost that can help a lot, even if you can't afford a full live training course. There is also a page on my site called The Recovery Project that has 26 interviews that are about 30 mins each, with lots of people talking about what they learnt about themselves and their life that helped them to recover. I'm sure other trainers also offer options for people of lower means too.
People's resistance to hearing about long COVID recovery comes from a lack of emphasis on prevention through masking and asking for air ventilation in public places.
Hi! The way I did it is I bought Dr. Howard Schubiner's book called Unlearn Your Pain (or chronic symptoms of any kind). He has a 28 day process of therapeutic journalling called Emotion Awareness and Expression Therapy. It was amazing. It's all laid out
I had slept everyday for 3 hours from 3-6pm. Those naps stopped on Day 1 of my course. That was the time of day that I felt the most tired, so I spent a LOT of time practicing the techniques through the afternoons to keep calming my stress response, get my energy levels back up, clear brain fog etc. I had so much optimism though! I just knew that everything I had been taught made so much logical sense and I could see a pathway forward. It was just a matter of doing the practice. Each night, I wrote down my list of positive changes and every single day was significantly better than the day before. I was overseas so I was also very distracted from my regular environment and life of illness, which I think helped me. I was going out doing sight seeing and getting enthralled in what I was doing and proving to myself that I could do it. I had to work really hard that first week. I would say I was doing my techniques about 30 times a day, but they always helped, so it felt worthwhile to do them
I don’t think Mel specifies in this interview but it sounds like she recovered using LP? And then I wonder if she is teaching just the LP or has added some other elements that she finds helpful?
The Switch has a small amount of overlap with LP in that they both talk about the role of stress in chronic illness and about illness thinking patterns in the present. The Switch also talks about the role of emotions, both present and past, and it has a whole day dedicated to learning how to listen to body memory to access the original trauma that caused the illness pattern in the first place (which is often not the cause that people were expecting!) and then to release old trauma using The Deep Switch. We also work through lifestyle factors for a whole day (again, no overlap with LP), and have only the briefest overlap on the last day talking about illness beliefs and then we go into Core beliefs, muscle testing for beliefs, accessing Core States, creating a new life that is alignment with your Core State. So there would not be more than 25% overlap between these programmes
@@empowertherapies Thanks for taking the time to explain this, Mel. Does the muscle testing get done remotely? Does the patient muscle test themselves? Thank you. (Just trying to fully understand that part.) All the best!
Yes, I'm so sorry! I was not at home the day of the interview and used a different computer. I had no idea the audio was bad until I listened to the recording. I will not use that computer again!
I really hope you recover! Though I imagine you will then need to earn money, like everyone else. Doctors charge for their services. So do we. We all need to pay our mortgages. And there are HUGE costs in developing programmes like this. Even this year, I have just spent $40,000 on filming my new 6 week Switch Webinar Series. Money is a reality in this world.
@empowertherapies I wonder if The Switch will help with chemical sensitivities? I had long covid which got 70% better but in the process I developed MCS which is as annoying and debilitating as CFS… I tried DNRS and didn’t work, I get a good feeling about The Switch but no mention that it can help chemical sensitivities… also, would it be as effective if I do the 6 week webinar instead of the 4 days? I’m currently in the UK.
Wow! Very inspiring. I'm thrilled to see a NZ'der on here. I'm also from NZ! I've been sick for 6 years now, and unfortunately Mel's information didn't filter down to my regular GP Doctor in Whanganui. Doctor couldn't do anything to help me for the first 4 years, and then she referred me to a Doctor who was newly specialising in Chronic Fatigue, but I was already with a NZ Functional & Integrative (F&I) Medical Doctor. The new Doctor's Clinic couldn't tell me what they were offering that was any better than what the F&I Doctor was already offering me, so I didn't persue it. I tried to get support in NZ but there was no home help that the Doctor could tap into, so I reached out to a Respite Care organisation but everyone in the nearest support group were sick and currently not operating. There weren't many options and I haven't met anyone else is NZ with CFS. That's been my experience. Raelan's channel has been a constant source of hope and inspiration. I'm currently doing a Brain Re-training Program, but if I need any further help, I will definitely look into Mel's Course. Thanks so much for coming on Mel, and thank you for the interview, Raelan. Best Wishes to all. 💛🧡💜
Maybe people feel gaslit when you speak of recovery, if they’ve not been able to? Even though it’s obviously not what you’re trying to do. I don’t know, it’s just a thought.
Sure it’s a thought, but it’s not productive or helping you in any way. I take time to grieve my illness, but I’m way past feeling gaslit by someone sharing their recovery story.
For me what was infuriating was that I didn’t believe any of them that they had it truly as bad as me. A part of watching recovery stories that changed my mind was I realized how similar all my symptoms were to everyone else and how relatable it was. Then realizing they all had different but ultimately very similar ways out. I went from feeling like I was being blamed for not being well and that I was simply being shown a direction with many different paths up the mountain. Just my personal experience. I’m nearly 100% now.
Yes, I'm so sorry! I used a different laptop than normal, cos I was not at home when I did the interview, and I had no idea till I listened to the recording that the sound was so bad. I'll never make that mistake again!
I agreed, I think people who manage to improve so fast were stuck in some anxiety cycles. I had both anxiety and long covid adm I know the difference. I cured my self from anxiety years ago, cannot do it with long covid, where there is clear damage on a cellular level in my body.
Not true at all. I was diagnosed by a CFS specialist. I was on an invalids benefit for 11 years. My blood cortisol levels were triple the normal healthy rate. I had all the physical symptoms that anyone with ME/CFS would expect to have. I was definitely physically ill. People with ME hate being told that their symptoms aren't real, and yet those same people are often the people who then make those claims about their fellow ME sufferers as soon as they recover. Don't belittle anyone's illness. All ME is real. But the body is fantastic at healing when the stress response is exited.
I feel like this is giving false hope to people who really suffer from ME. It's a very complicated illness that has many sides to it , that simply can not be treated and healed from in the soace of weeks. I myself have tried a shrink, spiritual healer, and hypnosis . Temporary relief . I've worked with many blood tests and excercuses . Gut health . You name it . I've tried everything in the book and what's not written yet . 25 years of ME and its not improving . I feel like this high success rate she claims and the tieframe is not true.. False hope for people who are so desperate to get better
I'm really sad to hear how tough and long your struggle is, and even sadder to hear that it sounds like you have given up hope. However, the fact that you watch these interviews shows me that there is some part of you that is still open to the idea that people with severe ME can get better? I would encourage you to stay open to possibility. You have tried many things but you could never have tried everything that is out there, and what if there was something that was the answer for you? That's how it was for me. Nothing worked. Nothing worked. Nothing worked. But then suddenly, I had the answers that did work for me. It doesn't work for everyone. But it does work for most of the people who come to me. Now that's not a reflection on overall success rates for anyone with ME. My figures are a reflection on success rates of people who first of all voluntarily chose to take part in the programme, and also people who I assessed as likely to be successful in it. I don't accept people into the programme who I don't think are likely to succeed. I don't think it's ethical to take money from people if I don't feel there is a high likelihood of their success. Therefore, if The Switch was administered across the board to 100 people with ME without those two selection criteria, the success figures would be lower. I can promise you that I follow up all my clients for a year and am reporting honest success outcomes of the people who have done my programme. Many of these people had been told they were incurable by doctors, and all of them had tried so many treatments that failed before they came to The Switch. Please stay open to hope...
The things you've tried are not addressing the root cause, which is limbic system dysregulation caused by chronic stress/ suppressed emotions. Don't give up. Find a brain retraining coach, get the guidance you need. EFT is also really helpful .
You can view it that way, or you can view it that every video is offering solutions to you. If you only heard recovery stories but there was no way to take any action, you'd be no better off
How is recovery not possible if the 10 percent of people recover lol the people that don’t recover and says it’s not possible are just weak and miserable
My experience has been that around 80% of my clients recover, not 10%. The ones who don't recover are never told they are weak and miserable. I feel really sad for the people who don't get their recoveries and I try to help the person problem solve to see what might have got in the way. Sometimes, it's really obvious, but sometimes, it seems they did everything right and it's really strange that they didn't get what they needed. I try to think of other approaches that might also help the person. I never give up on recovery for people. Bodies are designed to be self-healing, so we just need to figure out what's in the way of recovery. The people who won't listen to recovery stories, who block people from sharing recovery stories in support groups and go round saying that people who recovered were clearly never sick in the first place are the ones I have issue with. They are the ones who have unfortunate power at keeping other people stuck in limiting belief patterns and staying sick too. The people who are still seeking answers and trying to recover - all credit to them! They will eventually find a way...
It’s this kind of belief and judgement that makes it difficult for people who are still suffering with this illness to hear about the few who do get better. It’s a very complex condition and there’s no one solution to recovery, if that was the case then yes no one would still be suffering.
@@Truerealism747 that's true Tom. Every person has a different experience. Though having worked with thousands of people now with all these and many more different diagnoses, I have found that there is a very common thread through all my clients - their bodies are stuck in extreme stress responses. How that stress response manifests varies from person to person, but the underlying pattern is very similar. When people calm their body out of this stress response state, the body is amazing at healing itself from any of these 3 diagnoses and from dozens of others. Bodies have fantastic innate healing abilities when in a calm enough state to action their own resources
