Deep Thoughts Culminating a Unique year

 Why is this time so scary?

Why is this time so different?

Sickness has never scared me before, why now?

Is it real fear or society induced fear?

Life can end at any moment. Life can change on a dime. This has always been true.

Is it because everything is turned upside down? Red is no longer red. Blue is no longer blue. Top is bottom and bottom is top. Truths are lies and lies are truths.

How does one stay steady in a turbulent sea?

How does one have the strength to weather the storm?

Is my hull strong enough?

The isolation is comforting, but isn't their strength in numbers? Maybe the number is 2. Me and You.

Two footprints in the sand and sometimes there is only one set, is that when you are carrying me.....

Gifts From The Universe Come In Strange Ways

 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.   

Dogs in Motion

  A short and to the point blog post.  Here is a link to an amazing talk with video of dogs moving from  a study by Dr. Martin F. Fischer.  

                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAvOPCp6Itk 

Variety is the Spice of Life

Tool Box of Life

30 years later, I still hear my chiropractic mentor, Dr. Getzoff, saying to me "Donna, I don't care what technique you use because they all work."  Dr. Getzoff used SOT, Sacral Occipital Technique, which I also went on to become advanced certified in and continue to use as part of my technique package to help people and animals.   I also remember a fellow teacher, horse owner and Epona instructor Bari Bannister telling me that she mixes 3 different kinds of feed for her horses because what one is lacking the other(s) make up for it. Thus making a well balanced feed.  Bari used to say that once you start isolating and changing one supplement here and there you can throw off the entire balance of the feed. 

This all got me thinking that we can do the same to ourselves by fixating on one healing modality as having all the answers.  By fixating or narrowing our approach, we can ultimately be causing a restriction, constriction of our body tissues, energies and thoughts.......  For instance, if I only had a hammer then my only way to fix anything is either hit or if I was lucky enough to have a claw hammer I could also pull certain things out of a given size.  But still, my options for use is limited.  A hammer is ok for use on surfaces that are hard but not appropriate for using to remove a lump from a sofa cushion.  You get my point.  Also,  if you only have a hammer in your tool belt you will only develop muscles associated with using a hammer.  Very different than the muscles you engage when using a screw driver.

Personally, I have found in my own health journey that Variety is the Spice of Life.  For instance, I might do Tai Chi/QiGong for a week or so then change and do Donna Eden's daily energy routine, then switch and do a different TaiChi/QiGong style, ride a bike, walk on a trampoline, do body rolling.......

To think one form of exercise or body work will provide me with all I need to stay healthy and balanced is not accurate.  Many clients ask about Yoga, Alexander Technique, Pilates or even other chiropractic techniques wanting to know which is the best.  I do not believe there is a BEST.  Each technique has advantages, disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses as to what they can and can not do.  Digging your heals in and defending only 1 actually creates rigidity and 
imbalance in the body, mind and spirit.  The exact opposite as to what you are ultimately trying to accomplish which is strength, flexibility, adaptability while trying to achieve optimal health.  

Loosen your thoughts and beliefs then watch and experience your body and mind follow.

The REAL Meaning of being Healthy

After seeing the fear in the eye's of the breeder, who's 7 week old puppy I had just adjusted when I said to her that her puppy was not as healthy as it could be as a result of the misalignments she had of her cranial bones, upper neck and mid back vertebra.   At first I didn't understand the breeder's reaction.  Yes, misalignments have a huge impact on the functioning of the entire nervous system.  And, since the nervous system controls every other system in the body  (digestive, immune, endocrine....) the effects of misalignments are far reaching and potentially cumulative.  

 What I did not realize is that her definition of HEALTH or HEALTHY meant absence of disease.  So,  if I say her puppy is not as healthy as it could be, she thinks it is sick.   What has our media done to us to make us think that health is a just an absence of disease or symptoms.  That is not true at all.!!!!!

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.  (WHO definition)

When I got home I called my client to further explain the concept of health and it's relationship to her adorable puppy.  

Let me put it this way.  Our society, media, medical establishments, and drug companies bombard us with ads that convey the message that if you have a symptom you are unhealthy.  Thus you must take something to get rid of the symptom.  WRONG and UNTRUE for many instances.  

Let's look at a fever.  A presence of a fever is :

1) a proper response of the immune system to attempt to burnout/cook/kill a virus or bacteria.  

2) it is evidence that the immune system is surmounting an army of t cells, and antibodies to fight the             invader.

If we take medicine to lower the fever we are in essence dampening our own bodies ability to fight off the invader.  It is like taking away the bullets from a gun and expecting the gun to fire.  Sure there are times when a fever is detrimental when it goes too high and can cause damage to sensitive body organs and must be addressed.

Let's look at coughing.   Which lately is looked down upon but a very necessary function of the body for many reasons.

1) shows us that we have properly functioning cilia (little hairs) in our bronchioles (tubes) in the airways and lungs that can feel particles that should not be there and is trying to get them out!!!

2) it also causes vibrations that  in turn help loosen any debris in the airways and lungs to help it make it 's way out or give better access to the immune system to attack it. 

If we didn't cough our lungs would be filled with large amounts of dust, pollen, animal dander, viruses and bacteria just to name a few that would eventually clog them up and cause serious health issues.  Coughing is a sign our bodies are working perfectly.

So,  now you can see how my client's views of health and mine are so drastically different. 

I realize just how important is was the I took the time to explain that misalignments, especially as a puppy, can affect the entire body setting them up for less than optimum health for the rest of their life.   Because the cells of a puppy are so rapidly dividing the stress of the misalignments could affect the expression of the DNA thus influencing how all the cells of the body would mature and function.

.

The Effects of Stress on the Immune System

Knowledge and understanding are important to help us make educated and informed decisions regarding ourselves and our animal's health.

https://youtu.be/qUaHzvpZJDk 

 

In these crazy times, I don't now about you, but, I am looking for joy thru my animals. When I take Spike, my 10 yr old Alaskan Husky, out for out jaunts thru the state park and I see his ears perk up, his tail wagging as he gets excited about the prospects of tracking a new bunny or he catches the smell of something interesting in the breeze - This brings me joy!!!!  To see Spike fully engaged in the moment with his entire being, not having a care in the world or about the rest of the world happenings is beautiful and inspiring. 

For many of us the activities that we were previously engaging in with our dogs are either no longer happening or they are occurring with restrictions and in atmospheres surrounded by caution and rooted in fear.

As a result,  not as many opiates are being produced in our brains to make us feel good.  We are not smiling as much which also impacts our brain chemistry.  In a nut shell, we are experiencing decreased fun, decreased joy, decreased smiling, leading to decreased opiates, decreased serotonin, and decreased dopamine.  This directly leads to feelings of depression, sadness, and just blah......

The scary part in all of this, is that it negatively effects our immune systems!!!!!

Did you know that we have opiate receptors on our white blood cells that are very important for keeping our immune system healthy and functioning at peak performance.  When we are experiencing the blah's it will directly lower the opiate levels in our brains and immune systems.  This is the work of Candice Pert PhD, who wrote the book "Molecules of Emotions"  in 1999.

Let's look at some of these chemicals and learn what they are,  what they do and how can we increase them in our body and brain.

Serotonin is a very important neurotransmitter  (nervous system communicator) in the brain and body that is believed to help regulate mood, social behavior, digestion bowel movements, sleep, memory, sexual desire and function.  Serotonin is the key hormone that helps give us the feeling of well being and happiness.

Dopamine is a messenger molecule that plays an important role in the brain for executive function (putting things in order), motor control, attention, motivation, arousal, reinforcement and reward.  Your dog understands this one because every time he/she does something positive they are rewarded with a treat and their dopamine levels go up.  No wonder our animals are happy and smiling at us all the time. Wouldn't it be nice if someone gave us a treat every time we did something good?  The world would sure be a more positive place.  Well, are animals do give us a treat and help raise our dopamine levels because when they are happy we are happy.  Wow, so every time my dog goes out to the bathroom and comes back in and I give him a treat in fact I too am raising my dopamine levels.  Humm..... I see more trips outside to pee are in everyone's future.

Opiates are the molecules that are produced in the brain as a result of exercise.  We all have heard of the saying "runner's high".  I am sure you have experienced aches and pains yet, after exercise, an exciting situation or even a dog class you forget about those aches and pains .  Where did they go?  Well,  this happens because your body /brain was enjoying your activity and produced natural pain killers called endorphins that blocked the pain receptors and miraculously - no pain.  Additionally, these opiate molecules are found on white blood cells (WBC).   This very important because opiates bind to the WBC  and help your immune system function better.  Amazing!!!!!

So,  how might we go about elevating these various neurotransmitters in our bodies naturally -  simply by engaging in activities that make us smile/happy.  Whether it is playing ball with your dog in the back yard,  watching your dog enjoy life to the fullest, weeding your garden, taking a walk,  listening to the birds,  cleaning your closet.........  Give yourself a pat on the back for just getting up in the morning and feel your mood go up.

Heck,  we give our dogs treats for going outside and peeing.  Why not give ourselves a treat/pat on the back.  A treat or pat on the back goes a long way in helping our dogs and us feel better.

Please find something or make something happen in your life everyday that will make you smile and bring joy which will directly increase your serotonin, dopamine and opiate levels thus improving  your mental outlook, immune system and reduce pain.

My next post will be a 4 part video series titled "Making Lemonade out of Lemons".  It is inspired by my clients who shared with me their struggles around losing many of the things they enjoy doing in life either because they have been cancelled or the way in which they must now participate is surrounded by precautions, restrictions and at the root of it all fear. 

Here are a few of the topic to be discussed:
🔹The effects of stress/fear on the immune system, brain and body.
🔹Ways  you can improve your health to avoid getting sick.
🔹Exercises for the 2 legged to improve balance, stability, agility and eye - hand coordination so you will be better prepared than you were,  to return to your activities.  As a bonus these exercises will also help keep away dementia.