Wisdom Vs Intellect
By Dr. Gene Clerkin
A couple of months ago, I conducted a workshop for a group of senior citizens. Like most of the workshops I offer, it was based upon concepts of healing and wellness and how they relate and can be applied to everyday life. Since this particular group was associated with a local church, the topic was healing and spirituality.
I must admit that, in preparation for the presentation, I wondered if I could properly convey concepts of holistic health and wellness to a generation that would have most likely been thoroughly marinated in the medical model. After all, I'd heard the statistic that the average person over fifty is on several medications, and I'd seen the proof of this on the intake forms in my office as well. Something I hadn't considered, however, turned out to be my biggest ally. When I got to the seminar, I quickly realized that people that have been around for more than a few decades tend to have a great deal of life experience.
Throughout our lives, we are constantly gathering information. Some is gathered first-hand and experiential, and some is what I would call intellectual information, since it is incorporated into our belief system after we read about it in a book or periodical, or learn about it from another person. While intellectual information can be an extremely valuable it can be a hindrance at times, especially if the information we're getting is incomplete or false.
For example, people tend to think something is true if they read about it on the internet, but we must consider the source of the information we are receiving before we can determine if it is true. For instance, we've always heard that milk is a good source of calcium for strong bones and teeth. What we may not have heard is that this information comes directly from the milk and dairy association. Since their profit margin is directly affected by whether we accept this information as true, there is a high possibility of bias in their reporting of the “facts.” It is likely that they neglect to mention that anyone over the age of three lacks the proper enzymes it takes to actually extract the calcium from dairy products and utilize it in the body.
Another thing to consider is that information is always changing, particularly when it comes to the human body. It's mind boggling to me when I hear that each year scientists learn more about the human body than known in all the previous years combined. If that's true, then conclusions drawn at any one time, including the most recent reporting, may also be incomplete.
If you ask ten different nutritionists about proper diet, you will likely get ten different answers. It all depends upon where they attained their information and how accurate it is at the time. Since we are all different, there may not be any one diet, exercise program, treatment or relationship that is right for everyone. Plus, what works for us at one point in our lives may not work in another.
Then how do we know what to believe and what to do?
A holistic practice helps us learn how to approach health and life from a place of wisdom and understanding as well as intellect. Since a belief is a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing, and beliefs change and may or may not be true, wisdom can only be gained through experience. If we can learn how to listen to our body and be guided by it, then we will not be at the mercy of our beliefs or someone else's. For once we have experienced something, we move from the realm of belief to one of knowing.
I love holistic concepts because not only do they make perfect sense, they apply to every aspect of life. Instead of thinking about them just as holistic concepts, we could refer to them as principles of life. This gave me just the gateway I needed to talk to the folks gathered at the seminar, for who would understand principles of life better than a group of seniors?
Why are you eating???
By Andrea Schrage, MA, LPC, CMT
Sounds like a simple question, one that we easily take for granted. The simple answer is because I am hungry , but for many this is not usually the case. Here of some reasons that people tend to eat.
• It is morning and you just woke up.
• Your lunch break is at a specific time.
• Your family eats dinner at a specific time.
• You are sad, lonely, or depressed.
• You are celebrating.
• It is how you spend time with friends.
• Because you are bored.
• You are stressed.
• You might not have time to eat later.
• You don't feel loved.
If you tend to eat for the above reasons, you may find yourself overeating. There are a couple levels that must be addressed to work with emotional eating. First, look at your eating on a concrete level. Start by keeping a record of what and why you are eating. Do not make judgments about what you see, rather try seeing if you notice a pattern. If you are eating for a reason other than hunger, see if you can meet that need another way. An example would be if you are lonely, instead of eating, try calling a friend and making plans. If you are bored try to find a new activity that you enjoy versus automatically reaching for food. If time is a factor, see if there is a way for you to modify your schedule. Do you eat ahead, because you won't have time later? You may want to carry a bag with food that you like in it. This way you always have food available and you won't need to eat when you are not hungry.
Look back at your history with food. What were you taught about food and eating? What messages did your family tell you? What are your ideas about food and eating? Are these ideas and messages realistic? Do you evaluate your self by what food you eat? Thinking or journaling about these questions may give you a better idea of how you created your eating habits.
Are you even hungry? Learn to check in and see if you are physically hungry. We often eat to feed an emotional need or from a habitual pattern; if you take time to check in, you will be less likely to over eat. Take a look at what you eat. Do you only eat eggs in the morning? Have you been taught to eat a large meal with meat for dinner? Are you not allowed to have ice-cream or other certain foods? These automatic behaviors interrupt your ability to trust your body's natural cravings. An exercise to help tune into your body is to close your eyes and take several deep breathes. When you feel yourself quiet down ask yourself why do you want to eat. Notice if your stomach is hungry or are you aware of another feeling. If you are hungry visualize trying different foods until you find one that really feels right for you. If you have been restricting yourself of foods for many years, such as ice cream or chips, you may find that you are drawn to these at first. If you keep checking in with yourself before you eat, you will find that these cravings will dissipate. You will soon begin craving the foods that your body needs. If you watch most “thin” people, they tend to do this process naturally.
Author Geneen Roth suggests the following guidelines for eating.
• Eat when you are hungry.
• Eat when you are sitting down in a calm environment.
• Eat without distractions i.e. radio, television, books ect.
• Eat only when you want.
• Eat until you are satisfied.
• Eat with the intention of being in full view of others.
• Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.
The second level tends to be more emotional. Finding out why you might be distracting your self with food, will help you to work through the issues in an alternate way. Many people eat because they are hiding from relationships, avoiding sexuality, rebelling against the idea that thin is better, or to hide from painful emotions. This may have been a great skill to have when you were a child; it was a way to survive pain. As we get older, we can learn to have more choice about how to deal with our feelings. Learning to sit with discomfort, anxiety, or pain will allow the feeling to dissipate on their own. Learning to hear your body and respond to its messages may be something that you were not taught when you were little. As you gain this ability you will find that these emotions are tolerable and that you won't fall apart if you allow them some attention. It can also be helpful to look at how you view discipline. Is it tied to anger or oppression? Do you fight it because it triggers old hurts? Many of us didn't have parents who knew how to discipline from a loving place; most of it came from fear or anger. Eating can be an opportunity to teach your self to have loving discipline, which is helpful, is all aspects of your life. Reframe your thinking to see that when you eat less, you have more energy. Focus on how positive you feel from staying with your goals. Find what makes you feel grateful about the process and keep coming back to it. You may have feelings come up because you are not stuffing food over them, this is natural. Talk about your feelings and find support through a support group, therapy, or friends. As you learn to be conscious you will be able to make conscious choices about nurturing and feeding your self. A book to get you started with being present is Places That Scare You by Pema Chodren.
These changes will seem strange at first. We have lived all of our lives with schedules of eating and habits around food. These can be hard to change, but take your time. Change does not occur by berating yourself; it comes from patience, compassion and nurturing. So be gentle and enjoy a new relationship with your self and food.
Feel free to email questions to me at
AndreaSchrage@KarunaCounsleing.com
www.KarunaCousneling.com
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Health Care: It's Not What It Used To Be
By Dr. Richard Kaye
For the first time in history, an entirely new approach to health and well-being is emerging: true wellness care. We are participating in the birth and growth of an entirely new discipline. For centuries, the ultimate model of health has been categorized as an absence of symptoms. If you didn't hurt, didn't have an ulcer, high blood pressure, or a headache, you were considered healthy.
Then the field of “alternative” and “complimentary” medicine entered the arena, and laid claim to more natural ways to rid you of your aches and pains. Still, the model, the zero-point, was considered no pain.
Think of it this way, we are willing to pay professional trainers to get us in better shape. This is an accepted principle because culturally we understand the physical-you can't be too fit. What about our health? How many of us are not only satisfied with this zero-point, or an absence of pain, but because of that we declare we are in excellent health. Okay you don't have pain, but are you really at your maximum potential?
Now, for the first time, there is genuine groundbreaking clinical research demonstrating that the zero-point of not having symptoms does not necessarily mean excellent health. Rather, it is merely a starting point. Like a crack in the cosmic egg, new research is demonstrating that an entirely new level of human potential is predictable, available, and attainable, over time, through regular and consistent Network Spinal Analysis care.
Co-dependency upon a medical system that negates the body's own natural wisdom to heal, let alone flourish, may one day seem as outmoded as bloodletting does today. It's as if the full beauty of human potential is breaking out of its limitation and becoming a glorious butterfly.
Network Spinal Analysis, also known as NSA, is an approach to wellness that incorporates low force touch, applied at Spinal Gateways, to assist the body in developing new strategies for living, healing, and optimizing individual potential. Under care, two spinal “healing” waves develop that help improve a person's spinal and neural integrity and adaptability. Much like tuning the strings of a guitar, practitioners uniquely modulate these waves trough specific gentle touches. Over time this practice significantly advances a person' wellness and quality of life.
NSA Care is advanced trough a series of Levels, each producing, in the mind and body, specific new capabilities that include making healthier choices naturally, enjoying life more, and developing a healthier spine and nervous system. There is also a revolutionary outcome assessment approach that combines self-reported wellness profiles, with practitioner clinical assessment. This helps track and monitor the changes in the individual over time.
What a short time ago was perceived as a rogue sidebar to the chiropractic profession, NSA is now being validated as soon to be mainstream wellness care. Research performed through the University of California, Medical School at Irvine, proved that people under the care of Network Spinal Analysis practitioners, unequivocally, experience an improved quality of life. In addition, some of the top chaos mathematicians in the world now believe that these waves that run through those under NSA care, are the fundamental waves of all living things.
What is even more remarkable is that this new practice of optimizing human potential through the modulation of each individual's vibratory frequency could well be the instrument that triggers the vibratory shift of the consciousness of the planet to a higher level. Like the 100 th monkey phenomena, it is hypothesized that once a certain number of people on the planet are under consistent NSA care, a shift could in fact occur. Think of it as transforming a high school orchestra into the New York Philharmonic. That is the change in the nervous systems seen in those under consistent care. Which orchestra would you want to pay money to hear? With NSA practitioners around the world, and tens of thousands of people experiencing the benefits of NSA, the time could be closer than we realize.
I have been in the chiropractic profession for 27 years. A little over a decade ago, I chose to practice NSA because the shift in consciousness is more profound that bringing one to zero-point. Those of us who know Dr. Donald Epstein, the creator of NSA, and especially those of us who practice NSA, feel blessed to participate in the shift of health, healing, and consciousness.
We are no longer the fringes; we are neither alternative nor complimentary. We are the mainstream for people who truly desire to move well beyond the zero-point. One or our objectives is to facilitate an integration of an awakened heart and an enlightened mind, through the removal of the armoring around the nervous system.
This is the time to start making healthy decisions about your life. Decide to improve your physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health and well-being. Decide to participate in healthy, life enhancing practices. Decide to participate in processes that expand human potential. Decide to exceed your potential.
Dr. Richard Kaye is now retired, his Network Spinal Analysis practice was located in San Diego and Was featured on a PBS series segment exploring Network Spinal Analysis.
(This article was published in May 2001 edition of Vision magazine.)