Alternative Health

Fighting towards Enlightenment

04/24/2012 16:28:00

The path to enlightenment requires not only a strong mind, but a strong body as well. At some point I had weakened both my mind and body to a place where if I moved my body in any sort of strenuous way I would have an emotional break down. So, I focused on developing a strong mind by practicing non attachment and objectivity for myself, my clients and hardest of all my family. My journey started with a move to Edmonton, where you have ample time to be alone with your thoughts. After nearly two years I decided maybe it's time to work on the body again.

When we think about strength and enlightenment Hatha Yoga automatically comes to mind. Unfortunately, it has never been my favorite thing to do. I prefer meditation and yoga nidra (the sleep that's better than sleep) In the Himalayan tradition they have a class called joints and glands which focuses on the motion of the joints in a slow deliberate fashion using the breath and prana to move the different body parts. I liked this approach, but it's hard to take it seriously, which is the wrong attitude to have. Because I haven't been able to do much physically other than walk when I dance or am in circus, I'm never strong enough or flexible enough or just in general good enough! I lack a lot of basic strength in my abs and flexibility in my hips, which spells disaster for anything I do including hobbies such as scrambling or snowboarding.

I've thought about Kung Fu for awhile now to strengthen the body. One of my colleagues in Edmonton even taught it, but I couldn't bring myself to take classes. Finally, I decided to try Hung Gar classes at the Chinese cultural center. The difference is incredible! I love my classes and the people in them. My instructor is classically trained so he teaches all the correct hand and feet positions. I practice on my own as well, though I think I may have to video tape the patterns so I remember them. They focus on proper technique and revelations of consequences faced if you have poor form, which I like. In four months, my hip flexibility and ab strength have increased substantially.

As far as the path to enlightenment goes the thought of fighting my way there fits a lot better given my heritage and caste. Kshatriyas are traditionally warriors. Arjuna the hero of the Gita was also from this caste and he had to fight his uncle and cousins for a kingdom. He was taught the art of war from a young age.The priest who lectured my class about the Gita explained that the story was allegorical. Arjuna wasn't fighting his family instead he was wrestling with aspects of himself that rendered him unable to do the right thing. Challenges such as this can't be faced alone, so Krishna came to guide on this inner journey.

My journey has become significantly easier now that I'm in a community that isn't seeking enlightenment, but are all sensitive enough to recognize the glimpses of it that come from a collective consciousness supporting discipline, training and a calm mind. The energy is completely different in Kung Fu than in Yoga. It's never about the poses, patterns or clothing, instead it's always about improvement and just when you think you've got it you discover you can further refine it to bring out subtle elements. Hung Gar has no levels or belts; instead, we're all always learning and helping each other to reach an enlightened state together.

Does Body Talk Work?

04/09/2012 16:10:00

I was looking at my analytics and under the search terms someone looked up Body Talk doesn't work. When I first came across this last year with some friends, I had to gather more information, because as far as I knew Body Talk was a life changing event for me and for most of my clients. One woman, Cathy, I treated said something profound to me. "It's not just the modality, it's the practitioner as well." You can find her testimonial here. It makes sense on so many different levels. A staff in my hands is an unwieldy stick and in my teacher's a deadly weapon.

I wrote a post about choosing a complementary care practitioner and one of the first tips was to find out how much time the practitioner works on his/her self. One of the guiding principles of Body Talk is to observe without judgement. Only through doing a lot of inner work do we realize how many things we judge constantly and how to let go of those beliefs for ourselves and our clients. The minute we become wrapped up in someone else's story we lose our ability to observe without judgment. For me as a scientist, I have some extra training about not taking events personally. As I remind my clients, the rock fell and just because it fell on my glasses doesn't change the fact that it fell.

As someone who is used to charts, systems and theories Body Talk is amazing. It uses established modalities such as Chinese Medicine, physiology, anatomy, astrology, astronomy, chemistry, emotions, environment, memories among other things to help its practitioners relate to their clients through at least one of the disciplines, which is why I find it hard to believe a treatment wouldn't work. With me treatments can get pretty darn intense and they can go well over the recommended 20 min-40 min, because bodies feel they are understood.

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Demonstration of a Body Talk Treatment.

Body Talk is a holistic therapy that uses the "innate wisdom" of the client and practitioner to identify and treat weak communication links within the body to facilitate healing.

Just Breathe

04/04/2012 16:10:00

I've been playing with ideas for the helpful hints to healthier living booklet. By far learning how to breathe properly ranks number 1 on my list. With our breath we take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, but how we breathe has a number of physiological/psychological effects. For example when we need someone to calm down we tell them to take deep breaths. Slower breaths allow our bodies to relax.

On a more symbolic level we take in parts of our environment and release beliefs and ideas that no longer serve us. The diaphragm works as an energetic pump allowing energy as well as air to circulate through out the body. When we are under stress our breath is one of the first systems disrupted in order to produce more energy to either fight or prep for flight. Most of the time under stressful situations if we can remember to breathe properly we can cope with the situation much better. Deep breaths originating from the diaphragm keep the body and mind intimately connected, which has huge implications when dealing with split personalities and post traumatic stress.

A coping mechanism people have is to create a second self who gets to deal with all the difficult emotions until we're in a safe place to deal with them, while they cope with everyday stresses such as paying bills. Normally, people move in and out of these personalities relatively effortlessly, especially if they have proper breathing techniques; however, if we are under prolonged periods of stress we forget how to breathe and how to face our problems. In many cases during these times, people may develop respiratory problems.

So, how do you know you're breathing properly? When you inhale your stomach should fill with air and when you exhale air leaves your abdomen. It can be quite the work out especially if you don't normally breathe this way. Once you've mastered this, you can imagine your breath scanning your body for different sensations. You can visualize the breath optimizing energetic levels to promote healing to those parts that need attention. If you spend a lot of time sitting at a desk have a small plant close by to maximize good air quality. NASA has good list of air scrubbing plants.

For those who do Hatha Yoga Makarasana or Crocodile pose is a great way to relax and to train yourself to belly breathe. You can also lie in Savasana or Corpse pose (yup exactly what it sounds like. Lie on your back and pretend to be dead.) with a bean bag on your abdomen. When you get really good, your instructor may graduate you to sandbags. <---True story.

This is a cool video about the anatomy of diaphragmatic breathing. ~S

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3D view of diaphragm

3D Yoga - View of diaphragm during respiration. Demo for "Mechanics of Respiration" CD ROM. Visit www.3d-yoga.com

My Anti 90 day Body Vi Challenge

04/02/2012 10:18:00

Only 4 of my face book friends have decided to do the Body Vi 90 day challenge, but man they make it seem like it's a team of a 1 million, which it probably is. Multilevel marketing works incredibly well. To control the amount of seriously annoying crap on my wall, their posts are no longer displayed. For those who don't know about Body Vi think slim fast or other weight loss product in an MLM format. When I think about all the reasons other than the frequent and annoying posts cluttering my wall and the I'll pretend to like you as long as you join my team so I can make money off you, comes something more sinister. "I'll take away your power to do what's right for you and give it to a shake. I will convince you that you can't live without me." Plus it doesn't sound like it works very well. Oh of course you get the so and so lost 90 lbs, but a FB friend said she lost 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Seriously? I lost 15 lbs in the same amount of time, by just making sure I ate protein within 30 min of waking up.

It's time for me to join the masses and work on my own 90 day challenge. I've done enough inner work over the last three years to say to myself in true Cover Girl fashion "I'm worth it" and if I believe what my body says I deserve it! This has less to do with being skinny and more to do with "How will anyone know who I am and what I can do if I stay hidden in my protective layers?" I've always been successful at dropping sizes, but the numbers on the scales are a complete enigma for me. I have one hell of a time convincing friends that a size 10 weighs 173 lbs, but here I am. I don't need to be heavy to stay grounded. I know I'll change on the inside as well as the outside, but this time I'm ready. I've always maintained that weight issues are never about food, but how we feel about ourselves. Taking Kung Fu has really helped me understand the concept of strong and beautiful. I don't need to be protected with layers of fat. I can protect myself from within.

The method? 4 Hour Body Diet plan will form the basis of it, since I've already had wild success on it and was told to make it a permanent lifestyle change back in 2004. Your insides feel so clean, it's unreal. As for exercise, we'll stick with Kung Fu and meditation. I promise I won't photograph my meals or post daily on what I've been eating. Instead I'll post a picture and measurements at the end of 30 days to keep track of progress, unless I have any major breakthroughs, of course.

~ S

Revealing Shadows

03/25/2012 23:24:00

From Rob Brezney and his horoscope for Libra: The Argentinian writer Antonio Porchia said there were two kinds of shadows: "some hide, others reveal." In recent weeks, you've been in constant contact with the shadows that hide. But beginning any moment now, you'll be wandering away from those rather frustrating enigmas and entering into a dynamic relationship with more evocative mysteries: the shadows that reveal. Be alert for the shift so you won't get caught assuming that the new shadows are just like the old ones.

Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.

This forecast has me thinking about many different things all at once. I've been experiencing horrible amounts of pain in my rib cage, which my friend is celebrating because she has been trying for MONTHS to get them to move. In them we found ancestral shadows about love tied to obligation, which is totally how I felt. Shining some light on the shadows, we went through good things about love including how strings actually keep us safe, which I've never thought about before (but really should have. I cave which involves going over dark ledges with ropes for safety, very symbolic)

Another huge shift in perspective for me is the concept of suffering in exchange for growth. Pain is nothing more than an attempt for the body to bring attention to issues that haven't been explored. When you can get to the bottom of issue, the pain goes away and you heal rather nicely hopefully with a clearer head and new ideas. My colleague kept pointing out that my lesson was to "GENTLY" accept a shift in perspective. Lessons don't have to hurt, if I can let go gracefully.

Moving forward I will do my homework to Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day.

Here's to being more joyful in learning lessons!

Self healing Book(let)

03/21/2012 17:38:00

I've been playing with the idea of releasing a self help booklet in the same spirit as my 150ish Wedding Tips, something short, sweet and easy to follow. My dad has a lot of books from India that are like that, just short things to read. Even though they are short, they pack a lot of meaning. It's not uncommon for me to have to either take a break to think about it (or in some cases a nap, because my brain exploded) or reread entire sections to make sure I received the gist of what the book wanted to say.

My booklet won't be of the blow your mind variety, unless you never knew it was so simple to change your life lol. It'll be just a collection of advice I routinely hand out to clients anyway, so they can take it home in booklet form. I would like to open it up to other healers as well as a promotional item. Just like the wedding booklet they can put their logo and information on the back of the book to hand over to their clients for a fee, of course.

At first I looked at 5 tips, but that didn't seem to be enough, so I'm looking at 10 tips. I can't quite decide how I feel about adding in a self diagnosis section. It's not to replace the advice of those who have spent $$$$ on education, but it will guide you to the root cause of what on earth you were thinking! I might make that a separate book in a healing series. Until then Louise Hay has a book out on the subject. I thought it was okay. The ideas from Body Talk are grounded in Chinese medicine, so we can see a correlation to the meridian system as well.

The other piece of advice that I'm leery of is nutrition, because I totally feel for any program to be successful the body and mind has to come to the conclusion that it's something they both want, not just the mind imposing rules. Maybe that will be book 3, because actually food cravings tell you a lot about your mental/emotional state. The Chinese are brilliant and John Veltheim is absolutely brilliant for making TCM so accessible! I amazed some parents by telling them what types of food their kids liked based on their emotional states.

This has been a thought provoking post. Now to get to work!

This Healing Business As a Therapy

03/11/2012 20:59:00

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chasejarvisLIVE: Ramit Sethi

Chase welcomes business guru Ramit Sethi to The Garage to share his advice for what it takes to be successful as an artist.

I've sent a copy of this to many clients so I figured why not post it on here too. What kind of therapy is this? Well, many of the people I treat would never bother doing something for themselves, but for other people they would definitely go that extra little mile, so I always encourage them to do things like write an e book (because I know they won't journal) or create a service that helps people shine (because I know they won't follow their passion for themselves) People like Ramit Sethi put business into a simple perspective that anyone can follow. For me it was "business demystified".

Recently, I talked to my brother who was looking for a business opportunity that he could manage himself. He has epilepsy, grand mal seizures a few times a year as well as a hearing impairment. What I suggested to him was to write down resources he found helpful for him and his family as well as how becoming a parent has changed how he views his illness. Since he's been dealing with this for nearly 20 years, he knows who might be interested in a resource like this, where they hang out etc. Plus he can add things about how our parents felt dealing with his illness and how his wife manages. While he's not the most eloquent of writers as long as he can communicate what he wants to say the magic is in the editing.

For him it's great therapy, because he can write his ideas, thoughts and feelings down (I've been asking him to do this for YEARS, but I'm just his sister), but now he even admitted that he's been thinking about a similar project, especially now that he's a dad. Shocked the heck out of me that he actually asked for my honest feedback (like I give any other kind) and has plans to talk to his specialist about his project. Just for him to be a bit more independent and proactive is great to see.

One of the great things about developing your own products is dipping into the pool of creativity that seems to dry up when we enter the "work force". For people with lower back pain, creative projects will ease some of it. It doesn't have to be a business per se, but making something with your hands for others to enjoy often lessens the pain. People never seem to have time to do anything really except work and get sick. All I'm suggesting is we skip the "get sick" part by taking an hour or two per night to help yourself stay in a healthy mindset.

Therapy at the Hair Salon

03/08/2012 18:12:00

After a busy few days I decided to get my hair cut and colored since I had a groupon anyway. I've been to see Megan at Mousy Browns down town Edmonton location before. I love her decisions so I just nodded my head to her suggestions with the choice of color and cut.

There's a number of things that make a trip to see her therapeutic:

1) I rarely talk about myself, after all my job is to find out what your body is trying to tell you, but here's a captive audience who cares enough about to remember what my work, hobbies and interests are even after two months. Okay so not a lot of people explore caves for fun, but still I was impressed and yes I plan to rebook. We don't have enough human contact in our day to day lives. We're always rushing around and even at the grocery stores we use "self check outs", so it's nice to have someone who remembers you and your stories.

2) If your stylist doesn't give you a scalp massage find one who does! Scalp massages are quite important, because they move the fluid in the meninges, shock absorber for your brain especially when you snowboard without a helmet and bang your head falling off the T bar (not that I would ever ride without a helmet...after that incident). Fluids hold on to memories and emotions so by paying attention to them in the form of a fantastically deep (if you can handle it) scalp massage releases anything that was stuck. It's better if they were trained to identify the emotions, so they would process faster and trust me you can't put two coherent thoughts together forget figure out what emotions got stuck. I'd love a 20 minute scalp massage.

3) Just a wash and cut is quick, but a cut and color gives you two hours to pay attention to yourself (or in my case treat people). We never give ourselves down time to process whatever is going on in our lives, which tends to explain why I have clients. I cheated and was looking stuff up on my phone and helping Megan with her sore shoulders, but really leave the phone in the purse and make the effort to pay attention to yourself. Practice your breathing after all your hair is processing, take some deep breaths and process some emotions!

4) Interestingly, in Megan's shoulders was a desire to change the way people look at hair and make up. Instead of looking at it as a way to cover up or hide our natural looks or to portray a false image, the goal of aesthetics should be to not only help self esteem, but to bring our beautiful inner selves to the surface. Generally, if we look good we feel good. It can't be helped especially when people complement us. So yes consider a trip to the salon as a way to bring out that inner beauty normally dormant in all of us.

Even if you don't need a hair cut, take a day to be beautiful :)

The Cure is U

02/21/2012 23:07:00

Kind of cool video. Here's a short selection of the movie.

The Cure is U

Body Talk is founded on something similar, though I find it closer to the Yoga philosophies. We don't know what's bothering us. Yoga takes care of this problem using discipline and a series of techniques for us to start with to guide us toward our higher selves. Once we have this "bird's eye view" on our problems we can get a handle on what's been going on in our bodies via our beliefs and by what comes into conflict with those beliefs.

Body Talk is a bit of a finer tool. Using this technique you can pinpoint certain stories and specific beliefs that relate to illnesses and injuries. Chinese medicine is amazing at predicting what sorts of issues and habits a person may have and what injuries they are likely to suffer.

While I believe the cure for any and all diseases is within us to discover. It's nice to have some help and guidance.

~ S

What's in a name? Letters.

01/29/2012 19:22:00