TAKE BACK YOUR MIND

You have a deeply complex mind that was designed to take you down the amazing path of a fulfilled life.

Somewhere in youth most people step in the way of that. As children we are often censored, shamed and taught to look outside of ourselves for validation that we are “good enough” or worthy of approval.

We begin to change ourselves for fear of criticism and isolation, and quickly learn to define our lives by ideals set by power-figures.

The problem is that as you follow guidelines and norms set outside of you, it’s easy to lose a true sense of self. You quiet your inner voice and override it so often that you can lose trust in your own choices.

This causes some people to veer off the path of alignment and into an upbringing spent pleasing and conforming to others.

You may have chosen fields of study, hobbies, sports, careers, relationships, neighborhoods, home size, types of cars and even the way you dress based on other people’s opinions.

And one day, deep into adulthood, you wake up and think to yourself, “this can’t be all there is.”

Sound/Mind training is an epic journey back home to yourself. The young you who believed anything was possible… before life got in the way.

DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SOUND LIKE YOU?

You have a habit of saying yes when you really want to say no.

You often attract people who need to be rescued.

You are a perfectionist.

You look to others, outside success or the number on the scale for approval.

You over-give, over-function and put yourself last on the list.

You are often the first to volunteer even though you don’t have any more time.

You keep your true opinions to yourself for fear of confrontation.

You mistake being needed with being loved.

You are the one everyone seems to lean on.

You are heavily affected when people don’t like you.

You struggle to trust your own decisions.

Small setbacks can set off an anxiety-filled day.

You worry about what people will think of you.

You don’t want to bother people with your problems.

You rarely accept help from other people, preferring to do things yourself.

You routinely put on a brave face.

You secretly resent people for not giving back to you.

You’ve lost touch with what would truly make you happy in life.

You replay conversations with people over and over in your head.

You’re often emotionally exhausted by the end of the day.

You have a gold medal in pretending things are fine.

WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE EASILY ABLE TO HANDLE ANYTHING THAT COMES THEIR WAY?

Some people flow through life with “nerves of steel”.

They think differently, feel differently and act differently…automatically.

Some of these people were born with a higher capacity for resilience. Others were lucky enough to learn to become mentally strong during their childhood (Werner & Smith, 1992). Martin Seligman, who pioneered the field of positive psychology, calls this learned optimism.

These people meet the world on their own terms.

They have higher levels of external explanatory style (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995), exhibit an internal locus of control (Rotter 1966), tend to have higher parasympathetic tone (vagal brake response) (Kok & Fredrickson, 2010) and have a deep seated trust that they can adapt and respond to their environment no matter how bad things might get.

WHAT IF YOU’RE NOT LIKE “THEM”?

If you’re like me, you didn’t win the resiliency lottery.

I know what it’s like to fall victim to overreacting over the simplest things and feeling panic over situations that don’t seem to phase other people.

I know what it’s like to feel frustration and disillusionment with life. I understand the pressure of needing to be perfect in hopes of fitting in.

I have a longstanding history of major depression. (I even gave a TEDx Talk about it.) I deal with anxiety in and out of public places. I am an introvert. And I am shy.

Even with all of that, I live my life in the public eye as an international speaker, high-performance coach and advocate for living life on your own terms.

To be strong enough to do that, I had to retrain myself completely to take back my life and regain control of my thoughts and emotions.

The first part of that training came from working with licensed physicians and psychotherapists as they supervised my recovery from clinical depression.

I am not a doctor or a psychotherapist and I do not diagnose, treat or cure any type of illness. If you are feeling physically or mentally ill, please seek the help of a qualified and licensed professional.

The second part of my life overhaul came from taking back control of my mind, my thought processes, my self worth, the way I framed adversity (Ochsner & Gross 2008) and learning how to use science to hack my obnoxious nervous system.

I decided that my biology would not dictate what I could achieve in life.

I stopped believing people when they preached that life is hard, work is hard, and relationships are hard.

I took 100% responsibility for my decisions, my behavior and my emotional response to other people’s actions, opinions and feelings.

And finally, I chose a way of living, thinking and feeling that is customized to my dreams (the ones I was too quick to give up when I became an adult).

In short… but complete:

I learned how to live life on my own terms.

WELCOME TO SOUND/MIND TRAINING

Sound/Mind training is a transformational coaching program that gives you the tools and framework to master your internal thought processes, achieve higher levels of spiritual awareness and optimize your emotional responses.

Through a spiritual and psychosocial approach, you will learn how to build the level of emotional strength that enables you to respond calmly to even the most stressful challenges. You will also understand how to build a conscious connection to humanity which opens the doorway to a deeply fulfilled life.

You will release the need to live a life based on fear and control. Instead, you will ease back into alignment with your soul and purpose in this life. You’ll be amazed as this new alignment naturally improves the relationships around you.

You will learn how to stand firm in your own power, experience steady grace in your decisions and live a deeply beautiful life on your own terms.

Your thoughts and emotions have a direct impact on the activity in your autonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is your body’s “master controller” and is composed of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest response) and the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response).

When you have negative thoughts and feelings, you activate the amygdala which is an almond-shaped area of your brain involved in processing anxiety and fear. It is designed to protect you from true physical harm.

Let’s say you’re walking down a dark street alone at night and you hear a noise. You think someone might be hiding in the shadows.

Your amygdala picks up the threat far before you are conscious of it, and it sounds an alarm in your body to get ready for danger.

But the problem arises when seeing an e-mail in your in-box from your boss or an underhanded comment on Facebook causes you to react just like when you heard someone lurking in the shadows on that dark street.

It also happens when you replay a fight or stressful situation in your head, over and over.

The amygdala can’t tell the difference between an actual threat and daily life-junk. You end up with the same stress response, and that’s no good.

Over time, elevated activity of the amygdala due to daily life stressors leads to neurons strengthening the negative signals and weakening the positive ones.

This can mean that you spend more time in a sympathetic system “overreaction” instead of a calm and rational parasympathetic system response.

When you learn how to increase your parasympathetic tone, you can build your own calming response and better respond “on-demand” to stressful and upsetting situations with more resilience and control over your emotions. (Kok & Fredrickson, 2010)

MEET ERIN MATLOCK

Erin Matlock is a globally recognized master coach whose tri-phase spiritual, psychosocial and scientific approach attracts CEOs, media personalities, NY Times bestselling authors, elite athletes and highly visible entrepreneurs as she guides them through intense transition and rapid growth in their professional and personal life.

She is a life member of Mensa®, Founder of BRAIN SUMMIT, CEO of Brain Pages Inc and a certified music listening therapy provider. A dedicated activist and advisor, she has spent over a decade in leadership in the brain health, mental health, neurotech and transformational markets.

Named one of the Top 50 Human Behavior Experts to Follow, she is a popular international and TEDx speaker who boldly challenges the stigma of suicide and depression through deeply personal accounts of survival and public recovery.

STEP ONE

MUSIC LISTENING THERAPY

The Listening Program® by Advanced Brain Technologies provides the neurotechnology foundation of your training.

Your music listening therapy is delivered through the proprietary Waves multi-sensory headphone technology with simultaneous air and bone conduction stimulation.

This program stimulates regions in the brain and autonomic nervous system to bring self-regulation processes back into balance, reduces the production of stress hormones and activates the brain’s reward system.

It optimizes mental performance, enhances focus, creativity and productivity and rebuilds emotional strength.

READ THE CASE STUDY

Read Erin’s 10 week public case study to improve brain performance through evidence based music listening therapy that can enhance focus, creativity, productivity, memory, sleep and emotional strength.

STEP TWO

PROPRIETARY MINDSET COACHING

Developed over a decade of in-the-field mindset coaching with some of the brightest minds in the world, you will learn innovative, and often counter-intuitive, ways to master your internal thought and behavior processes.

You will learn how you unconsciously create your own reality (good or bad) and tap into a unique counter-balance that helps to overcome your biologically programmed “set point” for emotional strength.

You will obtain new cognitive skills to help you bounce back from adversity quickly and at the same time find the spiritual guidance and hidden gifts in perceived obstacles.

You will begin to see people differently, with more empathy and compassion. You will notice and understand the underlying patterns of their behavior and you will learn to detach from taking their words and actions personally.

STEP THREE

HEART RATE VARIABILITY TRAINING

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is the measure of time in between your heart beats.

Tracking HRV is a convenient and non-invasive way to measure your autonomic nervous system activity. Higher HRV indicates a better stress response and higher parasympathetic tone.

Lower HRV can be an indicator of chronic stress, illness, anxiety, depression and PTSD. (Kawachi et al 1995) (Kristal-Boneh et al 1995) (Carney et al 2001) (Paddock 2015)

You will learn 7 different ways to train and improve your HRV so that you can increase your ability to adapt and recover from physical and mental stressors.

STEP FOUR

AWARENESS AND ATTENTION TRAINING

Where you focus your attention leads to a flow of neural firing and the growth of neural connections. Science has shown that you have the ability to focus your attention in more efficient ways to induce neural firing in new areas.

Through this training you will use your mind and your newly trained attention to change the connections in your brain.

You will gain confidence in your trained ability to regulate your emotional response and better respond to unexpected personal challenges and adverse life events.

Through research validated mindfulness techniques you will learn to improve your response to your environment and create a perception of safety and security from deep within.

THE JAVELINA STORY

Join Erin for this short story about perfectionism and the self-sabotage that blocks us from easily manifesting what we truly want.

OUTCOMES OF YOUR TRAINING

+ How to respond to stressful, draining or annoying people with a surprising level of compassion and appreciation

+ Learn to stop the pattern of shame and critical self-talk that serves only to keep you in a state of negative momentum, sadness and frustration

+ Understand what changes in the brain will allow you control over your feelings and emotions

+ Learn to turn jealousy and envy into powerful allies that help you uncover exactly what you want in life

+ How to confidently and freely speak your mind to those closest to you so you leave the conversation with your composure and courage in tact

+ Learn to recognize obstacles for what they really are and watch as they open up new opportunities for your desired goals

+ What you must do to release the need for approval from outside sources

+ Understand that you are always being guided and learn to strengthen your own inner voice

+ Identify your core wounds and how they are repeatedly mirrored back to you…until you actively resolve them

+ Release the rumination and critical self talk that clogs your mind and ease back into your heart as you begin to wholly trust your own decisions

+ Unleash your hidden creative spirit and watch as it reignites your work, your health and your relationships

+ Redefine what impossible means for you and never again let anyone decide the potential of your life

+ The 6 word phrase that will instantly free you from the vicious judgement and criticism cycle

+ Understand why you spin from one thing to another without settling into your true purpose in life

+ Identify when you are acting in imposter syndrome and how to ease yourself back into a place of authentic confidence

+ Discover how to use your interactions with others as a gift to see deep within your unconscious mind

+ Learn exactly why you procrastinate and how to use it as a positive tool to reach your intended goal

+ How to effectively communicate your opinions and needs so you feel heard, understood and respected

+ Why you are hardwired to unconsciously sabotage the very things you want most… and how to outsmart yourself

+ How to overcome the feeling of not being enough and release yourself from the worry of abandonment

+ How to rebuild trust in your choices and decisions, as well as how to build trust in those around you

+ How to quiet the inner critic and instead feel your way through to the path of least resistance

+ How to stop looking to others for approval and release the need to please people

+ Learn to embrace failure and finally understand the innate guidance in each perceived loss

+ Find the courage to listen to the pull deep inside of you and begin going after what you truly want in life

+ How to be okay with people not liking you

+ How to deal with setbacks and disappointments without allowing them to derail your big leap forward

+ How to heal ongoing arguments and frustration with your family members, co-workers, friends and exes

+ Become fascinated by the sheer will and infinite potential of your human spirit

+ Reclaim your peace and find a sense of wholeness and completion from deep within your soul

Click Here For Enrollment Info

HOW DOES MUSIC LISTENING THERAPY WORK?

Watch as Erin and Alex Doman, CEO of Advanced Brain Technologies, show you how this training works, what your headset does and what a typical training trajectory includes.

STIMULATING THE VAGUS NERVE

Learn how bone conduction stimulates the vagus nerve to help bring the autonomic nervous system into a more balanced state.

TONE AND EMOTIONAL TRAUMA

Learn how your vocal tone plays a role in the emotional response of those you are speaking to.

Click Here For Enrollment Info

Thoughts From Erin’s Past Clients and Course Members

My internal compass had slowly been recalibrating for a number of months. On a very visceral level, I knew it was my time. Furthermore, I sensed that you were the one to accompany and guide me through this journey. My intuition was spot on.

My biggest takeaway is to trust my internal compass and that everything I need to be the absolute best version of myself is already within me and surrounding me. I can tune in to the energy that is already present by aligning my emotions with my goals and then taking action that supports my moving forward…closer to my desires.

I now also have come to realize that those that I know and love, even those that I’m close to, cannot be persuaded to join me on this journey…they have their own path to take…some may take my hand and others may walk away…but I know now that it’s not my responsibility to steer them in my direction.

Tina Cufaro

I built a resort in the South Pacific when I was 65. I am now 75 and I felt the need for support and inspiration. We swim with humpback whales for 3 months (half of July, August, September and half of October) and are fully booked but then take 9 months off.

I was thinking of doing 3 months here and building a wellness retreat in Tucson, close to family, and do a 3 month business there. However, having either place dormant for 9 months is not good for the property or employees.

I felt the need for support in the decision making process. I wanted help to find and release my blocks to making money.

Working with someone who knows they are a work in progress is so great, as we all are no matter how old we are. I am so proud of you and what you are doing.

I have learned to act on opportunities and to say yes to what feels right and no to what does not.

Patti Ernst

There are so many things I have learnt through your guidance, the biggest being a shift in perception of myself and what I am capable of. I have quite a journey ahead but with the tools you’ve given me I now know I’m in the strongest position to accomplish bigger and better things.

Mike Meinke

Distilling everything down to 1 nugget = If it’s not 100% yes, it’s a no. That means what & who I invest my time in, how I act, with whom I interact (who I consider my friends), how much I charge for my professional services (am I charging what I am worth?) how long I spend doing anything, and last but certainly not least, collateral damage.

Adeena Pelberg

My biggest takeaway was the “importance of cleaning up collateral damage.” As a result of this teaching, I undertook, during the period of this course, to address/resolve a painful betrayal issue with a good friend. The steps were taken, and I am at peace.

Pat Mattas, Educational Therapist

I actually didn’t know what to expect when I signed up. I felt drawn to Erin and somehow my inner guidance system (which I would learn more about) guided me to take this – so I said Yes and signed up. Thankfully I listened.

My biggest takeaway was cleaning up my collateral damage – I had no idea how much this has been blocking me and my health. Learning to trust and be guided by my inner guidance system.

Melanie Wood, OT Solutions

Erin is brilliant in her ideas and though she calls herself shy she is an excellent teacher with her bags full of entrepreneurial tricks and tools.

Habib Khan M.D.

Click Here For Enrollment Info

“I started The Listening Program to help me get my brain back after life, work, relationships, and depression took it away.

It’s like someone opened my head and cleared out all the junk that had been building up for decades. I got me back. The young me. The one who was full of life and free and believed my ‘good years’ were still ahead of me. The one who didn’t feel the need to conform and please.

I am handling stress in a way that is so far beyond calm. Almost detached, but in a good, protective way. I am seeing people in a much different light.

As someone who has felt out of place my entire life, I am now feeling a connection that gives me a much needed sense of peace. I still feel different, and I believe that is common for introverts. It’s just that I now feel whole.”

Erin Matlock, The Sound/Mind Experiment, Fall 2015

References

Buchanan, G. and Seligman, M.E.P. (Eds.). (1995). Explanatory Style. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.

Carney, R. M., et al. “Depression, heart rate variability, and acute myocardial infarction.” Circulation 104, no. 17 (2001): 2024-2028.

Kawachi I, Sparrow D, Vokonas PS, Weiss ST. Decreased heart rate variability in men with phobic anxiety. Am J Cardiol 1995; 75: 882-885.

Kok, B. E., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2010). Upward spirals of the heart: Autonomic flexibility, as indexed by vagal tone, reciprocally and prospectively predicts positive emotions and social connectedness. Biological psychology, 85(3), 432-436.

Kristal-Boneh E, Raifel M, Froom P, Ribak J. Heart rate variability in health and disease. Scan J Work Environ Health 1995; 21: 85-95.

Ochsner, K. and Gross, J. (2008). Cognitive Emotion Regulation: Insights from Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2008 Apr; 17(2): 153–158.

Paddock, C. “Low Heart Rate Variability May Influence PTSD Risk,” Medical News Today Sept 11, 2015

Peterson, Christopher, Seligman, Martin E. Psychological Review, Vol 91(3), Jul 1984, 347-374

Rotter, J. B. (1966). “Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement”. Psychological Monographs: General & Applied. 80 (1): 1–28.

Werner, E., and R. Smith. (1992). OVERCOMING THE ODDS: HIGH-RISK CHILDREN FROM BIRTH TO ADULTHOOD. New York: Cornell University Press, 1992. ED 344 979.

Disclaimer

Erin Matlock is not a medical practitioner and does not diagnose or treat any medical or psychiatric condition. She does not dispense any medical advice or prescriptions.

All products and services by Erin Matlock and Brain Pages Inc are for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on this page, any of our websites, or any of our content or coaching replaces medical or psychiatric care nor is it a promise or guarantee of any results.

You agree to fully research, and assume all liability for, any and all coaching, content, strategies and techniques we discuss, and you agree to seek the care of a licensed medical professional before moving forward with any changes. If you feel sick and need medical care of any kind, you agree to take responsibility for your health and contact your licensed health care provider.