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Surviving the “Death March”

Stress Management for Proposal Professionals

Presented by Jennifer E. Roberts

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Views on the “March”

• Is your experience of those last stages of proposals like a funeral march?

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Views on the so-called March

• Or this? New Orleans Funeral Procession

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Agenda and Topics

• Conquering Fear

• Motivation

• Overcoming the strain of time limits

• Empowering the 5 senses

• Mind over matter

• Exercises for mind and body

• Environment

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Activities and Ground Rules

• Experiential session

• Leave self criticism at the door

• Mobile phones silenced

• Bring your sense of humor for joke breaks

• Sharing breaks in pairs or triads

• Participate in exercises

• Activate your imagination

• Raffle for balance ball. Win extra tickets when you tell a joke.

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Welcome to Flight 1.11(insert your proposal)Use of the oxygen mask (not included on some turboprops which do not fly high enough to need supplemental oxygen in a decompression emergency) with associated reminders:

that the passenger should always fit his or her own mask before helping children, the disabled, or persons requiring assistance

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About care and self respect

Where are you leading others?

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Does Stress turn you into this?

Godzilla 1954

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Or can you destress like this?

Relaxed cat

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What keeps you up at night?

• (Besides late writers)

• Confusing RFP instructions and arguments

• Unrealistic deadlines

• Blame, shame,and justification cycles

• Personality conflict

• Last minute amendments

• Pair off for 2 minutes sharing

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SHARE WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR

Sharing Break

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Realities of proposals• Procrastination

• One person's deadline is a proposal manager's all nighter

• Lack of sleep

• Bad food, too many carb and sugar snacks

• Uncomfortable war rooms and hotels

• Sitting and lack of exercise

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Overcoming the prime stress emotion

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Fear: Snake or Rope?

• Mistaking the rope for the snake, fear came to a man

and made him call somebody else to kill the snake. His

nervous system began to shake; his heart began to

beat... All these manifestations came from fear, and he

discovered it was a rope, and they all vanished. The

mind which saw the rope and took it for a snake was

not under a delusion. If it had been, it would not have

seen anything. One thing is taken for another, not as

something that does not exist.

• "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari"

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Fear vs Reality

• When we interpret requirements in our RFP, are we seeing reality?

• If our reaction is fear, we lose perspective

• Centering the mind and calming our physical reactions increases focus

• Share in pairs—what are your fears? (Public speaking, spiders, heights, elevators…etc.)

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Self care in limited time

Simple ways to rejuvenate

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Exercises for mind and Body

Increase Focus

Reduce stress

Rather than numb the brain and emotions, recharge your focus and exercise body and mind

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Exercise—Basic standing posture

• Remove shoes

• Stand in place

• Rock front and back on feet, feel heels and toes

• Arms hang at side, shoulders loose

• Look straight forward

• Imagine silver cord pulling from ground straight up through crown of head

• Experience your balance -feet are on contact with ground

• Lean from waist to right, then to left

• Arms hang at side, shoulders loose

• This is a basic "tree pose"

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Exercise: Neck rolls-be gentle

• At the start of your project, writing

• Bend head to right 3 times

• Repeat left

• Drop head forward 3 times gently

• Drop head gently back 3 times

• Roll head - 3 times right, 3 times left

• Smile

• From Edgar Cayce's writing

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Head neck stretchHold head and lightly tilt to left and right to stretch neck

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Roll head

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Head roll continued

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Head roll continued

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Continued chair stretches

• Stretch in chair right to left

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Side turn in chair

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Side turn in chair

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Standing and floor stretches

Sitting for long periods wreaks havoc on hips

Try stretches in your office or home regularly

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Please secure a rolling chair against a wall or desk. Stretch inner hip, repeat for right and left.

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Hamstring stretch following hip stretch

Please be sure your rolling chair is stable

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Floor stretch

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Raise arm for more of a stretch

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Hamstring stretch

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Upper body stretch using yoga strap (can substitute a belt or bath towel)

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Back stretch using strap, belt or towels

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Self hug

Need I say more?

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Send the love to others

Vocalizing to release emotions

• To clear lungs and stress

• The misunderstood and misused disappearing "H"

• Lessons in choir--sing Hallelujah with "H"

• Say loudly Ha Ha Ha

• Force breath with a push from diaphragm

• Or more discreet, slow yawn "haaaa"

• Stretch arms out like you're yawning

Joke Break

• Practice your “HA HA HA”

• How do you get down from an elephant?

• Why don't whales use deodorant?

• How many proposal managers does it take to change a light bulb?

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Sitting

• First, to sit in the posture In which you can sit

still for a long long time. All the nerve currents

which are working pass along the spine. The

spine is not intended to support the weight of

the body. Therefore the posture must be such

that the weight of the body is not on the spine.

Let it be free from all pressure. (Swami

Vivekananda )

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Spine - Autonomic Nervous System

Spine is the conduit of your nervous system,

relates to all organs and glandular systems

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Sitting

• Lotus posture relieves pressure on spine and aligns energy flow, releasing blocks

• Try this every day at home

• Gaiam ball chair relieves back end pressure

• Standing desks used by many high tech companies

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Balance ball chair

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Standing desk

The health benefits and risks

seated desk are disputed. Research has linked health risks with both sitting and standing for prolonged periods.[1] While many studies have examined the risks of prolonged sitting due to a sedentary lifestyle or prolonged standing due working conditions, these studies do not directly answer whether or not using a standing desk provides more health benefits than risks, because they do not distinguish work or recreation at a standing desk from blue-collar work or sports.

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Postures for spine alignment

• The "Sun Salutation” (Surya Namaskar) is an ancient and proven series of poses for maximum spinal health

• Meditators sit for long hours, developed for spinal health and strength

• Any of the poses are good

• We will do standing poses

• You can do anytime, anywhere

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Postures for excellent spine alignment

Surya Namaskar "Sun Salutation"

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Exercise-Standing poses

Standing poses from Surya Namaskar

You can do this anywhere, at a desk, in a conference room

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SHARING IN PAIRS2 minute break

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Breathing to Focus and Reset Fear reaction

• Close eyes

• Focus inner sight on the "movie screen" inside eyelids

• Close right nostril, inhale through left 5 times

• Long slow inhale,long slow soundless exhale

• Alternate - hold closed right nostril - 2 times

• Do this 3 times

• Credit: Dr. Vanaja Reddy

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Breathing for stress relief and higher brain function

Use your lung capacity to the fullest

With techniques that maximize benefits you were made to experience!

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Breathing

Then there are various sorts of breathing exercises.

One consists of three parts: the drawing in of the

breath, the holding of the breath —stopping still

without breathing —and throwing the breath out.

Some breathing exercises are rather difficult, and

some of the complicated ones are attended with

great danger if done without proper diet. I would not

advise you to go through any one of these except the

very simple ones.

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Breathing

Take a deep breath and fill the lungs. Slowly throw the

breath out. Take it through one nostril and fill the lungs, and

throw it out slowly through the other nostril. Some of us do

not breathe deeply enough. Others cannot fill the lungs

enough. These breathings will correct that very much. Half

an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening will

make you another person. This sort of breathing is never

dangerous. The other exercises should be practiced very

slowly. And measure your strength. If ten minutes are a

drain, only take five (Paramahansa Yogananda)

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Basic soundless breathing

• Place tip of tongue up on roof of mouth-palette

• Gently and deeply inhale with making sound on inhale or exhale

• Exercise: divide into groups of 3

• Two people talk, one breathes

• Are you are less susceptible to external noises?

• The tongue pressure on your palette helps to reduce hearing and vibrations

• Like a mini escape • Credit Dr. Vanaja Reddy

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Leonardo’s Helmet for Stress ReductionFrom Leonardo DiVinci’s drawing of Archangel St. Michael

Helmet represents how thoughts move and divert around brain

Visualization for protection

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JOKE BREAK - 3 VOLUNTEERS

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Reduce stress and recharge with the senses

Sight-color

Hear Sound-live music

Feel - get warm fuzzies

Taste - get healthy

Smell-aromatherapy

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Color me calm and Productive

What you see—Color scheme for daily activation

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Color advantage• What do you wear to a funeral? Black is negative

energy

• Black blocks the good rays of the sun and contributes to osteoporosis

• Color brings in and conveys good energy.

• The following slide is a daily color scheme. You can try this with scarves or ties as you progress through your wardrobe

See me—Daily color scheme

• Monday - white

• Tuesday - red (or orange-the red family)

• Wednesday - green

• Thursday - peach, beige , brown, cream

• Friday - yellow

• Saturday - blue and black

• Sunday - bright pink/magenta

Hear sounds, music

• Live sounds and music are the best

• Listen to nature sounds

• Live performance

• A=432 Hz, known as Verdi's 'A' is an alternative tuning that is mathematically consistent with the universe.

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Taste

• Feed your brain

• During times of high brain activity, avoid stimulants and depressants

• Sugar turns into a crash

• Stock your war room with protein and vegetables

• It's easy to get gluten free

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Feel-touch

• War rooms, offices , and hotels can be sterile

• Bring a little fuzziness into your touch

• Fuzzy slippers or socks

• And what's better than your dog or cat?

• Do stretches and give yourself a hug

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Hurrah for fuzzy slippers

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Sniff sniff

• Improve your environment and mood with fragrance

• Aromatherapy, you can get anywhere

• Grapefruit or tangerine for cheer

• Lavender calms

• Camphor, eucalyptus, peppermint clear sinuses and comfort sore muscles

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Three - way sharing

Share your favorite color, fragrance, music, or your pet—cat, dog, or other

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Motivation and Time Management• “Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the

task which has been set before us is not above our

strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond my

endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and

an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”

• Winston Churchill

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Relativity of Time

• Time is relative

• Motivation and focus

• Shortest route

• When you're sharp, focus improves reaction time

• Tasks don't take as long

• Exercises and visualizations

Overcoming Sleep Deprivation

• Sleep is necessary for our health

• When time robs you of sleep, some meditations and visualizations, along with gentle exercise, can rejuvenate you

• Many health problems from lack of sleep

• Sleep properly with back support

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Motivation

• The best defense against the crunch of time is a strong offensive line

• Motivation sets up for success

• Proposal Managers know to front load milestones in the schedule

• Here are a few "mind over matter" visualizations

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Right and left brain hemispheres

Exercise for Brain connection • Connect the left and right brain - analyst and

creative solutions

• Raise left hand above head palm up

• Right hand palm faces the floor

• Imagine a line connecting the left and right hand

• At the end of writing or project, reverse• Credit to Manin Erixon-Stanford-Merrit, VeinsofSilver.org

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Motivational Pyramid

Red motivates and energizes, pyramid is solid, balanced

Credits to VeinsofSilver.org; Manin Erixon-Stanford-Merritt

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Golden Sun DiskEnergizes the Pineal gland in center of head, increases speed of thought and focusCredits to VeinsofSilver.org; Manin Erixon-Stanford-Merritt

Why brain activation reduces stress

• Increase gland function in brain

• Change brain waves

• Control stress hormones

• Access same hormones and brain waves that are generated during sleep

• Controls appetite

• Increase feelings of peace

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Scientific physical centers

Pineal and Pituitary glands

Pineal Gland

• The pineal gland, also known as the pineal body, conarium or epiphysis cerebri, is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces melatonin, a serotonin derived hormone, which affects the modulation of sleep patterns in both seasonal and circadian rhythms. Its shape resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join.

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Pineal and pituitary gland

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Pituitary Gland

• The pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 grams (0.018 oz) in humans. Located just behind the bridge of the nose, it is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain.The anterior pituitary (or adenohypophysis) is a lobe of the gland that regulates several physiological processes (including stress, growth)

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Pituitary Gland

Hormones secreted from the pituitary gland help control: growth, blood pressure, certain functions of the sex organs, thyroid glands and metabolism as well as some aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, water/salt concentration and the kidneys, temperature regulation and pain relief.

Pituitary Gland

Pineal and Pituitary work together

• Pineal gland is cone shaped and is located in the middle of the brain behind and just above the pituitary gland. The pineal gland contains pigment similar to that found in the eyes and is connected to the optic thalami, hence it controls the action of light upon our body.

• The pineal gland is located in the posterior end of the third ventricle of the brain and the pituitary gland is located in the roof of the third ventricle.

• It is said that the joining of the essences of these two glands in the third ventricle is what opens the Third Eye.

Brain waves

• Theta waves (4-7 cps) occur in sleep and are dominant in our highest state of meditation. We normally only experience theta waves as we drift off to sleep, during some dreaming, and as we return from the depths of delta sleep. The pictures we perceive as we drift off and awaken are in theta wave. During theta wave meditations, we are in a waking dream where vivid imagery flashes before our inner vision.

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Lotus posture showing energy centers of spine and associated colors and musical notes

The 7 Energy centers and endocrine glands

• Root chakra (1st) — Reproductive glands (testes in men; ovaries in women); - about base survival

• Sacral chakra (2nd) — Adrenal glands; regulates the immune system and metabolism.

• Solar Plexus chakra (3rd) — Pancreas; regulates metabolism.

• Heart chakra (4th) — Thymus gland; regulates the immune system.

• Throat chakra (5th) — Thyroid gland; regulates body temperature and metabolism.

• Third Eye chakra (6th) — Pituitary gland; produces hormones and governs the function of the previous five glands; sometimes, the pineal gland is linked to the third eye chakra as well as to the crown chakra.

• Crown chakra (7th) — Pineal gland; regulates biological cycles, including sleep.

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Hand positions to control stress

Also called “mudras"

Do these when you need a boost

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20 minutes of simple recharge

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Conclusions and summary

You can't control everything,

But you can control how you react

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Speaker Contact

• Jennifer E. Roberts, CF-APMP

• Proposal Manager, ManTech

• Herndon, VA

• jennifer.roberts@mantech.com 703-488-2085; 202-494-4362

• Personal: thejenr@gmail.com; 703-855-8260

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Credits and Resources

People, books, resources

Resources, Books

• Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda

• Swami Vivekananda, various writings

• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma

• Edgar Cayce, various writings

Credits

• Mignon Manin Erixon-Stanford-Merritt

• Reverend, Shaman, owner at Veins of Silver, LLC and

• Smithsonian Internet

Coordinator

• VeinsofSilver.org

• Woodbridge, Virginia

Credits

• Dr. Vanaja Reddy

• Hyderabad, India;

• Chantilly, Virginia

• adityagaddam90@gmail.com

Yogarjun/Yoga Therapist, and a highly regarded Yogini and

Guru from Hyderabad. Certified Yoga Alliance teacher, and

Naturopathy practitioner, she is the first & youngest woman

to receive the Yogarjun Award

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Credits

Rolston James,

Army veteran,

personal trainer, coach

YMCA, Reston, Virginia

Email healfitmass12@gmail.com

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Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902),

born Narendranath Dutta (Bengali: [nɔrend̪ro nat̪ʰ

d̪ɔt̪t̪o]), was an Indian Hindu monk and chief disciple of

the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a

key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies

of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world[4] and is

credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing

Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during

the late 19th century.[5] He is perhaps best known for

his speech which began, "Sisters and brothers of

America ...,"[7] in which he introduced Hinduism at the

Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in

1893. He later travelled to the United States,

representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World

Religions. Vivekananda conducted hundreds of public

and private lectures and classes, disseminating tenets

of Hindu philosophy in the United States, England and

Europe.

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Parahamansa YoganandaParamahansa Yogananda (Bengali: পরমহংস য োগোনন্দ) (5 January 1893 – 7

March 1952), born Mukunda Lal Ghosh (Bengali: মুকুন্দলোল য োষ), was an

Indian yogi and guru who introduced millions of westerners to the

teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography

of a Yogi published in 1946,

Yogananda was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to spend a major portion

of his life in America. He lived there from 1920—1952, interrupted by an

extended trip abroad in 1935–1936 which was mainly to visit his guru in

India though he undertook visits to other living western saints like

Therese Neumann the Catholic Stigmatist of Konnesreuth and places of

spiritual significance en route.

In 1920 he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship and in 1925

established in Los Angeles, California, USA, the international

headquarters for SRF.

Yogananda wrote the Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the

Christ Within You and God Talks With Arjuna — The Bhagavad Gita'

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Edgar CayceEdgar Cayce was born on March 18, 1877, near Beverly, south of

Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was one of six children of farmers Leslie B.

Cayce and Carrie Cayce.

Cayce directed his activities to provide readings centred around health.

As a humble individual full of self-doubts, Cayce never profited from his

mystic gift. He read the Bible every day, taught Sunday School, and

helped others only when asked. Many did ask, and over the years he

produced readings that diagnosed health problems, prescribed dietary

regimens, dealt with psychic disorders, and predicted future events

such as wars, earthquakes, and changes in governments. Enough of

his diagnoses and predictions proved true to silence many skeptics and

to develop a wide following.

In 1929 the Cayce hospital was established in Virginia Beach,

sponsored by a Morton Blumenthall, a recipient of the trance readings.

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Jennifer E. Roberts

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