My mom called the other night and asked me if I have always had my gifts/talents of figuring out and "knowing" what is wrong with my patients. Be them humans or animals. I said well, Mom, it is a long story. Once I got started recalling and telling my mom the story I realized I should write it down because maybe there is someone in the world needing to hear it. So here goes.....
I spent many years in school learning facts, learning how to think, how to store and retrieve information in my brain. I graduated valedictorian from grade school, 15th out of 565 students in my high school (the highest ranking student not in all accelerated tract classes), I graduated in the top 5% in college and received the Biology Award. I graduated from chiropractic school with a 3.999 grade point average. So, I had clearly learned how to use my brain. Once I had established my human and animal chiropractic practices I would use all that I learned to help my patients utilizing the techniques I had learned and when need be, refer them to appropriate specialists. Then things started to change. I remember working on a human patient and I was sitting at the head of the table. As I attempted to stand up I could not get my body to move. It was as if someone/something was pressing down on me and keeping me on my stool. I tried to stand up a few times but was not successful. Not wanting the patient to worry I casually placed my hands back on the sides of his head and neck to make it seem like I knew what I was doing and to buy myself some time to figure out what the heck is going on. The patient had come in with a strange array of pain symptoms that did not follow any pattern and after adjusting him I was going to stand up and have him sit up and walk around a few minutes to see how he was doing. Well, that is not what the universe/innate intelligence had in mind. So, as I sat there once again with my hands on the sides of his head and neck I finally gave in and said "OK, what am I missing?" At that point it was like 3 giant lights lit up on various points on his body. As I sat at the head of the table I kept my right hand on the side of his neck and moved my left hand to a place on his sternum/breastbone and held it there a moment. Then I moved my left hand to a place on his left ribcage and held that for a few moments. All the time trying to act cool, calm and collected like I knew what I was doing........ I then felt some stillness come over his body/energy. I took a breath let it out and said to myself, ok I hope that is all. This time when I tried to stand up I could !!! How strange I thought to myself. The patient got up and walked around delighted that his issues where resolved.
Another time early on in my learning curve, a family brought in a young dog about 8 months old that they were taking to training classes. The trainer they were using knew me and the work I did with animals so when the dog started to refuse to lay down in the sphinx position (on his chest) she suggested to the family to come and see me. Cindy did not believe it was a training issue because the dog would do everything else you asked of it. I remember walking into the exam room with this cute chocolate lab wandering around with the family. I introduced myself and chatted a little to give the dog a chance to smell and check me out. The dog was very sweet and didn't mind me touching him all over. I was perplexed because he was in great shape with no real spinal misalignments. I did notice his ribcage was narrow but he was a young male dog and it takes a while for the ribcage to expand and fill out. I let him wander some more around the room to buy myself additional time since I was unsure what was the cause of his problems since all the areas I was taught to check were fine. He comes over to me and sits in front of me and I say to him,"Chance, what is bothering you?" At that moment my hands went to his breastbone and I began to move it around and realized it was misaligned forward towards his nose and his rib cage was not moving in and out when he was breathing. IT was like he could only take shallow short breaths. I wrapped my arms around him and gently lifted up on his breastbone with an adjustment. When I moved my hand away Chance took an enormous deep breath in, let it out and flopped chest down on the floor. His body for the first time could relax. He just laid there and it looked like his body melted into the floor. After what seemed like forever but really only a few moments he got up and came over and licked my face. I couldn't hold back my tears because I could sense that full life force was now in his body. As I talked with the owners, Chance walked around the room taking deep breaths as tried out his new body by laying down in many places then getting up and trying a new place. It was as though he was trying out his new body. On his second visit to me the owners said he was doing great. In fact, they said they never realized how quickly he used to fatigue and since his adjustment he has had so much more energy.
It was a Saturday afternoon and I had just finished my human office hours and a client had called who's kids were in town to visit and wondered if I could see their golden retrievers before they left. I had adjusted both dogs before when they were in town. This time the one boy was "just not right" says the owners. The only thing I found odd was a misaligned atlas (first vertebra in the neck) and a line of swelling down the right side of the dog's neck all the way to the chest. Not being a veterinarian I suggested that once they got home to call their vet to have this odd swelling checked. As we were standing there talking I continued to observe the dog and it was eating at me what was really wrong. I was saying in my head Clyde, what is going on with you? Can you just show me because I can't figure this out." By this time I was sitting on the top step by the back door of the office and the dogs were meandering around smelling as the owners and I talked. Out of the blue Clyde puts his front feet on the step directly in front of me and opens his mouth really wide. As you can imagine, I froze not knowing what to expect as a large golden retriever approached with his mouth wide open. He stood there, for what seemed like eternity with his mouth open. He eyes were soft so I then knew he meant no harm. I said "What's up Clyde?". Some voice in my head told me to tilt my head down and look in his mouth since clearly that is what he is trying to tell me to do. When I did, I saw that the roof of his mouth was swollen and hanging down. Clyde let me put my fingers in his mouth and feel the lump. It was soft and squishy but firm. I kissed him on his head and said thank you for helping me. That explains the swelling along the one side of his neck, swollen lymph nodes. The family took Clyde to the vet the next day and luckily it was an injury and subsequent infection in the roof of his mouth probably due to chewing on a stick.
I have countless stories of the universe guiding me when my academic knowledge and learned skills were not enough.
I do have to admit that it was not easy to give in and trust the guidance I was being given. I was taught to use my brain to figure things out. I was taught to use reasoning skills and the techniques I had spent years learning and mastering. Then life took a turn for what most would interpret as for the worst, but for me it saved my life and put me on the path I was supposed to be on, doing what I am supposed to be doing.
I have written in other blog posts about my health journey so please feel free to go and read those older posts. I am still on that journey. But for now I want to share with you the blessings it has and continues to give me. As my health declined and I lost the ability to write, read/comprehend, and my hands and body was cramping, swelling, increased pain..... it got to the point that I could not think using my fine tuned brain. To think was like trying to see thru chocolate pudding or walk thru mud.
I remember one day very clearly when I was working in my human office when my life changed. By this time my feet hurt so badly that the only shoes I could wear were hiking boots or barefoot. My hands were, most of the time, slightly curled and I hid them in my pockets until the patient laid on the table and I took them out of my pockets and uncurled them as I placed them on the patients body. I was having difficulty remembering the steps to follow in the technique I had studied and used for years. What was about to happen changed my life forever. My patient was laying face down on my exam table and I went to the foot of the table to begin my exam as I had always done by evaluating leg length. I uncurled my fingers by pressing them on my legs and I placed them around the patients feet. At that moment I realized I had NO idea what to do!!!! I panicked for a brief moment as I assessed my situation. I could not dilly dally because I had a patient laying on the table that expected to be taken care of not take a nap while I contemplated my life. I had hit a crossroads very suddenly and since my goal in life has always been to help people and animals to the best of my ability I needed to figure out how to do that in spite of the fact that my brain and the way I had always thought thru problems was being taken away. Little did I know, it was for my own good and opening me up to an entirely different way of operating in my own life and my practice. Change is not easy and some of us go kicking and screaming and at times need to be hit with a sledge hammer. I was now at a pivotal point with a client in my care waiting for me to do something and the sledge hammer was being swung in my direction.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and prayed that I would be guided to see and feel what was wrong with my client and my hands would be guided to be able to help them. What other alternative did I have? Failure was not an option. Giving up was not an option in my book. When I opened my eyes I "saw" these points on the body that needed attention. I moved from spot to spot adjusting and doing whatever technique needed to be done in a flow that was being guided from outside myself. It was amazing. It was so easy. It required very little energy on my part. I actually felt like I was cheating. I felt like I was given the answers to a test and didn't need to study. For many years I would feel guilty that I was "cheating" by the way I just "got" he answers. Sometimes, the place(s) on the body light up or jump out at me and catch my attention, sometimes my hands move to certain points in what seems like a random pattern. Other times I hear a command, "Go check the head area"..... However the information comes, I have learned to listen to it and follow it. Otherwise, I can't move like the time I was frozen in on my stool at the head of the table until I did what needed to be done from that position.
I have found that when working with the animals this process is easier. Once the animal's trust and connect with me and I ask them what is wrong they usually throw the body part at me that needs help. They also move their bodies under my hands as I am working on them guiding me in the most precise adjusting direction.
I pray that if you are being guided to change anything in your life that you have the courage to listen and follow your innate intelligence's whisper before it needs to bring out the sledge hammer or worst of all you miss the opportunity.
I will continue to share countless stories from the last almost 20 years since that day.
