PD Revelation

[Updated – 1/8/22]

I've occasionally come across people with idiopathic Parkinson's who recognize the validity of the JWH protocol, but who nevertheless feel some central aspect of the approach doesn't apply to them. Perhaps they aren't aware of feeling unsafe, so they conclude that, with its emphasis on developing feelings of safety, the protocol isn't for them. Or perhaps they don't relate to the idea of being on pause, and so choose to pursue other routes toward possible recovery.

I hope those folks find success with other approaches. My concern is that they may be passing up the highest percentage option available to them. That is, I suspect they would in fact have a good chance of recovery via the protocol. Why do I say that? It's because I think it's probably not at all unusual for people to start out not really relating to pause or the safety issues involved. And yet those people can go on to get real results from the protocol. I know that has been true in my case.

If you've been on pause since early childhood, for example, it's essentially all you've ever known. It's the neurological mode in which you've spent all (or nearly all) your waking hours. So it's not surprising you might not be cognizant of the fact that you're stuck in a mode normally reserved only for near-death situations.

Similarly, if you turned on pause at a young age, the feeling of being unsafe may be so ingrained in you, so normal feeling, that you've never really thought of it as feeling “unsafe” per se.

In my case, I had no inkling I was living in any sort of unusual neurological mode. Nor did I have a great deal of conscious awareness of feeling unsafe. It was only owing to time in therapy when I was younger that I had a name for some anxiety issues. But they didn't dominate my life in any obvious way, and I was not aware of any conscious thought that I felt generally unsafe.

Once I got going with the protocol, however, examining my feelings more closely and experiencing some increased feelings of safety, I became aware that not far under the surface I did harbor a sense of being unsafe. That allowed me to progress toward still greater feelings of safety, leading eventually to the first time pause turned off for me.

And it was only once I felt pause turn off that I had a real appreciation of what it was really like, of how different it was from the off-pause state.

So if you're mulling over beginning the JWH approach to PD, I urge you not to pass on it just because you don't relate to the idea of feeling unsafe or the idea of pause. A felt appreciation of those factors may only develop as you progress in the protocol.

Update – 1/8/22: I neglected to mention above the self-tests offered in RFP to help you determine whether you might be on pause. For some folks who don't relate to the idea of pause those might be helpful in clarifying things. For me the results seemed ambiguous, perhaps related somehow to the fact that I waited a long time before you trying the tests. What made me certain I'd been on pause was experiencing it turning off! But let's face it, if you have idiopathic Parkinson's it's highly likely you're on self-induced pause.