The Politics of Healing

As I drove home from the office last night, people were celebrating in the street. Barak Obama had been elected our new president and there was excitement in the air. People seem particularly passionate about the change our country needs and who would be best suited to produce the desired results. I had many people, including clients; ask me who I would be supporting.

There's an old saying, “In business, never talk about religion or politics.” People can be quite opinionated about these subjects. If you bring up those topics for discussion you may have the opportunity to bond with someone who shares your opinion or distance yourself from someone who doesn't. From a diplomatic standpoint, it's wise to steer clear.

In his book, “The 12 Stages of Healing”, Dr. Donald Epstein summarizes various stages of healing or states of consciousness people experience. The second stage of healing, he calls polarity. In this state of consciousness we look outside of ourselves for our solutions or fulfillment. In this stage, we don't take full responsibility for our own experience. For instance, I might experience happiness if I attract a wonderful new relationship or job. If my happiness is based upon these circumstances outside of myself, and I lose the job or relationship, I would also lose my happiness.

In a state of polarity we tend to look at opposites and see things only as wrong and right, good and bad, black and white and so on. Initially, when the relationship, job or doctor makes everything better for us we love them. Alternatively, when they no longer fulfill or fix us, we blame them.

Stage two is prevalent in healthcare. Patients put the power and authority in the hands of their doctor, hoping to be “fixed”. In this way, they relinquish responsibility for their own health in hopes of being saved from the disease or symptom that has afflicted them.

Sometimes politicians use the stage of polarity to jockey for position and win elections. They do this by pointing out how bad their opponents track record is or how the opponent's values are opposite of yours. For instance, a politician might use the platform of Christian family values because it can polarize and compel people to vote based only on that issue. Interestingly, the polarized platform usually becomes much less relevant once the election is over.

When thinking about the election and the needed change in our country and the world, an Albert Einstein quote comes to mind. “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it .”

In our medical based model, we look to our doctor to remove our symptoms. If we look at the state our healthcare system is in, it is easy to see that the model simply doesn't work. If an individual wants to change their health, they must begin to change themselves and the environment, internally and externally, that created their current state of health. Even if one is successful in quelling their symptoms, if that is all that changes, the original or another symptom will inevitably return.

In a state of polarity, we look to our politicians as our saviors. We hope that they will be the ones to fix things for us. The reality is that politicians are just a reflection of society. Politicians and their policies are merely symptoms of society that emulate the traits of the collective consciousness of the people they represent. It is understandable that people want a change in the government and its policies but if a sustainable change is to occur, we must look at changing ourselves and our own state of consciousness.

Along with the excitement of Obama's victory, comes the trepidation of uncertainty. Will our new leader guide us to better times? Even Obama agrees that a changes is something that must come from all of us as he states, “This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”

As a Network practitioner, one of my goals is to help individuals move toward self empowerment. As my clients' spines and nervous systems become more flexible and adaptable, they are able to make changes in their own perceptions and behaviors, automatically. They begin to move out of consciousness of polarity and in to one of transformation. That is the key to changing their lives.

Clients of Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration consistently report ever increasing levels of wellness. As we move out of the “healthcare” model and into the wellness model we realize and embrace our own responsibility for our health, our lives and our community. The Center for Holistic Health is a wonderful resource for wellness care.

When Awareness Fades, So Does Our Health

During a recent trip to New York , I spent a night at a childhood friend's house. At about 6:45 the next morning, I heard the sound of an alarm clock which was coming from my friend's room. The noise was loud enough so that it could be easily heard throughout the house. The alarm continued to sound for approximately 90 minutes before it was finally shut off. I had experienced this on another occasion while staying with this friend, so I wasn't concerned about the fact that no one was paying any attention to the loud pulsing siren.

As you can imagine, the repetitive, “beep, beep, beep, beep…” was fairly annoying. Although it seemed that my friend and his wife had no problem continuing their slumber, I was to lay awake, unable to escape the unrelenting irritation. Or, so I thought.

But then, something began to happen. It was a very gradual occurrence. I didn't even realize it was happening. Within about twenty or thirty minutes the noise began to fade. But it wasn't the noise that was fading. The volume of the alarm remained constant for the full hour and a half. After a while, however, I began to unconsciously tune it out. It was almost as if it wasn't even there anymore. However, if I refocused my attention on the alarm, I realized the signal was as loud as it ever was.

Everyone will, from time to time, experience symptoms in their body. The symptoms are meant to alert us to the need for change. It might be that we are overwhelmed with stress or that we need to modify our behavior in some way. Either way, the symptom is prompting us to become aware and take the necessary action.

At this point, we have a choice to make. We can listen to our body and make the necessary changes, we can ignore the symptom or we can even attempt to cover the symptom, which is the philosophy of a medical based approach.

When we ignore and attempt to cover our symptoms we become less and less in tune or connected to our body. We are less able to respond to the subtle cues that our body is trying to give us. If attention is not given, the next round of symptoms can be even more severe.

Many times we feel successful if we can just get some relief, even if our pain or symptom isn't completely gone. We begin to accept this as our new standard. Each time our health diminishes a little more.

The previous evening, I asked my friend how his joints were feeling. He has suffered from Gouty arthritis for the past several years. As I watched him struggle to climb the stairs, he said, “I'm doing really great, almost completely better.” The following day we had a conversation about his overall health. At the age of 37, my friend, who is a smoker, is on medication for his arthritis, his previous heart attack and to help him sleep because he is too stressed. Despite his need for all of these prescriptions, his doctor told him he was very healthy. I'd hate to see what it would take to be unhealthy in this doctor's eyes.

I couldn't help but think about what a fitting analogy the ignored alarm was for my friend. Unfortunately, I think his story is one that is lived by many.

Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration help our clients develop strategies to navigate their bodies symptoms and use them as beacons of change. Only through awareness and adaptation can we reach our full potential.

You Don't Need to Think to Be Aware

Very often, when clients or patients lie on my table and receive a Network Spinal Analysis entrainment, they become extremely relaxed. Sometimes they drift off into what many describe as another place. I call it “checking out”. Checking out is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it is not the most desirable state for a Network entrainment.

Some ask, “Isn't the whole idea to become as relaxed as possible?” While I am in favor of a client becoming relaxed, I don't want them to fall asleep on the table. Unlike many modalities in which the patient plays a completely passive role, NSA works best with a patient's awareness and participation.

Just before I begin the Network entrainment, I ask the participant to refrain from incessant thinking and to remain awake and aware through the process. I often get protests from this request. “How can I be aware if I'm not thinking?” This brings up a very interesting point of differentiation. Thinking and awareness are very different.

Thinking utilizes your mind and Awareness is more about paying attention. When having a conversation with someone, you would speak and alternatively listen when the other person was speaking. However, if you decided not to stop talking, even if the other person was speaking, you would have a difficult time hearing anything they would have to say. In this case, you would be focused primarily on your own thoughts and words.

For some people, thinking is an endless loop of internal conversation. Science has documented that people have more than 60,000 thoughts each day. It can become nearly impossible to pay attention to anything else. A major goal of NSA is to help a person become more aware of their body. It is only through greater awareness that change is possible.

Like every other concept in NSA, this principle applies to life as well. If we go through life constantly stuck in our endless thought patterns and judgments, we are less able to really pay attention to what's happening. When we're not fully aware, our ability to change and adapt is compromised. The inability to change and adapt results in stuck patterns in our body and our life.

Network Spinal Analysis facilitates an individual's ability to become aware of the stress and tensions stored in the body. Once this heightened awareness is created, the body automatically develops strategies to release these tensions and adapt better to future stressors.

Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration are two of the most amazing methods available to help people achieve greater states of wellness. The unparalleled results of Network Care are well documented in a University of California study and monitored and matched everyday at the Center for Holistic Health.

Join us on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, 7:30 PM, at the Center for Holistic Health in Decatur to experience a free introduction to this miraculous work.

Wellness is a Habit

Statistics show somewhere between eighty five and ninety percent of all disease is lifestyle related. Lifestyle is simply an accumulation of habitual behaviors. Those behaviors can come in the form of the food we eat, what, if any, type of exercise we participate in, our mental emotional patterns, the way we behave in relationship and everything we do, think and feel.

Most people come to the Center for Holistic Health because they would like to have a better life experience than the one they are currently having. It could be that they would like to change a physical symptom such as high blood pressure, headaches, pain, digestive problems or lack of energy. Sometimes they are experiencing anxiety, depression or a lack of focus. Some people are simply looking to enhance the way they experience life. Their desires might include being more inspired, passionate, joyful and in tune with their intuition and life's purpose.

If our symptoms and experiences of life are dependant upon our lifestyle then it would stand to reason that if we wanted to change our experience, then we would have to change our habits. This is the concept of wellness.

Traditionally, when people seek care in the classic medical model, the focus is placed on mitigation or removal of the symptom. That's one model and certainly a common one, but it does fall short in some areas.

To begin with, there is no such thing as a magic bullet. For instance, even if one is able to reduce high blood pressure with medication, that medication may also cause collateral damage to the body and other symptoms as well. This forces one to decide which is worse, the original or the new symptoms. I'm not sure about you but this doesn't seem like an ideal scenario to me.

In addition, reducing symptoms without changing underlying conditions will never result in the experience of more inspiration, passion and joy.

Wellness, on the other hand, offers, not only a shift in the symptoms one is experiencing, but in the condition or state that lead to their manifestation in the first place. Wellness also opens the possibility of an even healthier and more vibrant state of existence than one previously had.

In order to achieve any goal, including wellness, one must have a strategy or road map to get there. Network Spinal Analysis is a method specifically designed to create a shift in physiology, perception, experience and behaviors which results real changes. These strategies include discovery, transformation and awakening.

First we must discover how we've gotten to where we are. What are our habits that have resulted in our current experience? How do we react to stress? Are we aware of how we hold tension in our body and how to release it?

Once we have discovered how we have lived life to this point, then we can begin to enact change. From our new found awareness we can begin to release old patterns while creating more flexibility in our system and in our lives. This is the only way a real shift or transformation in our habitual experiences can occur.

When we have become more flexible we can then begin to focus our attention on more depth, wisdom and richness in our life experience. In this way, we have moved beyond survival and can awaken to our full potential.

Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration are two of the most amazing methods available to help people achieve greater states of wellness. The unparalleled results of Network Care are well documented in a University of California study and monitored and matched everyday at the Center for Holistic Health.

Join us on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, 7:30 PM, at the Center for Holistic Health in Decatur to experience a free introduction to this miraculous work.

How Long Does it Take to Heal?

Matajura wanted to become a great awordsman, but his father said he wasn't quick enough and could never learn. Determined, Matajura went to the famous dueller Banzo, and asked to become his pupil. "How long will it take me to become a master?" Matajura asked. Suppose I become your servant, to be with you every minute, how long?"

"Ten years," said Banzo.

"MY father is getting old. Before ten years have passed, I will have to return home to take care of him. Suppose I work twice as hard; how long will it take me?"

"Thirty years," said Banzo.

"How is that?" asked Matajura. "First you say ten years. Then when I offer to work twice as hard, you say it will take three times as long. Let me make myself clear; I will work unceasingly; no hardship will be too much. How long will it take?"

"Seventy years," said Banzo. "A pupil in such a hurry learns slowly."

Patients will often ask their doctors how long it will take for their pain or symptoms to go away. Based on the doctors' experience in treating people with similar symptoms, they can render a guess about how long it should take for the patient to feel better. The contract between the doctor and the patient is that it is the doctor's responsibility to remove the pain. It is not usually part of the contract to find out what's behind the symptoms. This is the basic format of the medical model.

Sometimes when the contract is not fulfilled, patients may get fed up and seek the services of a holistic practitioner. There are a few possible reasons for this. Either the pain doesn't go away, it doesn't go away fast enough, or it goes away but returns.

People contact me regularly because they heard about how someone else's symptoms resolved, and they would like the same results. Whether they are aware of it or not, they have entered the realm of deeper inquiry. The first leg of the journey of healing is discovery. We must find out how we have arrived at this point. Then, instead of just removing the symptom, we can work toward a change in the behaviors or circumstances that led to it in the first place. In this arrangement, the patient becomes more involved and empowered in his or her own process.

The majority of people who seek Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) are happy and very willing to trade being fixed for becoming more empowered, even if the resolution isn't immediate.

For some, there is an expectation that NSA is designed to get rid of their pain immediately. Even though this is a common outcome, it usually occurs when the patient learns to find and release his or her own tension.

I had a client with chronic back pain that was in part caused or exacerbated by the fact that she would sit with poor posture for long periods of time so she could study. She wanted to know when I thought her back pain would subside. Her back was hurting because her body was calling for a change. NSA will actually help us become more aware of the changes we need to make, not numb a person from pain.

She felt that if she took breaks or shifted her behavior she wouldn't get enough studying done. At first she was completely inflexible about there being any other possible solution. I asked her what would happen if she changed her story. What if, by taking more breaks and keeping her body in more of a state of ease, she could actually be more effective when she was studying? She had not considered this.

If my hand is placed upon a hot stove, I would be grateful to experience pain. It would indicate the need for me to remove my hand from the stove. Without the signal, my hand would burn up. If somehow I could remove someone's pain without them discovering why it is happening and what needs to change, am I really doing them a favor?

Recently, on her second visit, another client was pressing me for a prediction of how long it would take her to get “better.” She had neck pain that, by her testimony, was stemming from her inability to deal with her mother's death. Like everyone who seeks healing, she had a process of discovery and release that she needed to experience in order to resolve her symptoms. The time process for this will be different for everyone.

It might be noted that NSA offers ever-evolving strategies for healing and growth. Even if the pain resolves in the first visit, there is always more room for healing and growth. To ask how long it will take is sort of like asking, how long will it take for a tree to grow? A tree will continue to expand its roots and develop new foliage until it dies. One could argue that we are here, in this life, to continually grow and expand as well.

If that philosophy makes sense to you, then NSA was made for you. If you've been away for a while or have never tried NSA, call and book your appointment today. You'll be glad you did.

A Stroke of Insight

In the medical model our main concern is to remove symptoms and restore the body to its previous state. From a wellness or healing perspective we may actually want to gain some insight from our symptoms so that we can learn, grow and evolve. I often tell clients that within every symptom there is a gift.

Jill Bolte Taylor is a medical brain researcher who had the experience of a stroke which she later describes as a gift. There is a video available on the internet called “A Stroke of Insight”, which tells the story of Taylor's experience. During her stroke she lost use of the left side of her brain and consequently experienced an increase in the qualities of the right brain.

As she explains during her seminar the left or more linear part of the brain is used for separating and categorizing our world. The right brain sees the beauty and connection of everything in the world.

During this episode she experiences a level of peace and connection that she never knew was possible. Some of what she shares reminds me of my experiences at Transformational Gate seminars receiving multiple Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration sessions.

Taylor makes the point that we don't have to have a stroke to consciously choose how we want to use our brains, choose our experience and effect those and the world around us. So check out the link below and let us help you get a little more connected at the Center for Holistic Health.

Dr. Gene

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

Myths of Healing

Throughout different periods of our life we tend to have different belief systems. For instance, when I was a child I believed in Santa Clause. At some point I realized that my parents were the ones placing the gifts under the tree. For most of us it is likely that as we grow and evolve, so will our views and beliefs. However, some beliefs tend to remain with us through most our lives even if they don't work for us. Cultural beliefs are particularly difficult to change since they are so entrenched in society's story. In his book, "Healing Myths, Healing Magic", Dr. Donald Epstein writes:

There was a time, not too long ago, when our ancestors believed that the sun and the moon, the rivers and the forest, were sacred. Rhythms of Mother Earth were sacred. Stories, dances, or songs told the history of their people. "Their roles in life were guided by a rich tradition of folktales, legends, and myths." Even though the word myth means story, these prevailing myths or stories of a society are considered its norm or "reality," and are sacred.

For example, if someone breaks your heart, you cry. If someone runs into your car, you become angry or annoyed. If you have a body ache, you take aspirin. These are all acceptable responses for our society and our bodymind. What if you laughed when someone broke your heart or you danced after someone ran into your car or you turned up your favorite music as loud as you could when you had a headache? People might think you are crazy, you might not care, because now you are refusing to respond the way you may have been programmed to respond. Our physiology responds with a story about how things are supposed to be. Choosing to respond differently opens the door for possibilities.

Have you ever woken with a runny nose, congested sinuses, and swollen eyes, coughing and wheezing? What type of health care will you seek? Traditionally, we seek health care when there is a health problem. Depending on the treatment that you believe works determines the type of health care you will seek.

If you seek the advice of an allergist, you may be told that you are the victim of an allergy. Once you are told that you have an allergy, for example, you can experience the symptoms, and go on living your life. If someone asks about your runny nose, you can respond, "Well, it's because I have this allergy." If you choose to see a nutritionist for the same problem, you may be told that the problem is an impoverished nutritional state, instead of an outside substance producing the allergy. As a result, the nutritionist might suggest a different diet or nutritional supplement. If someone asks you about your symptoms, you can respond, "I have a food allergy." And, if you decide to see a chiropractor, you may be told that the messages between the brain and respiratory passages are impinged upon by interference of the spinal nerves. The chiropractor's story centers around the need for messages from the brain to reach every vital organ and part of the body so that our life force will express itself properly. And if someone asks you about your coughing and wheezing, you can respond, "I have a subluxation in my spine." All of these professional diagnoses may be correct, but what is your story behind these diagnoses?

If we have a physical symptom or psychological distress, traditionally our goal is to battle it, cure it, or control it. Unexplainable and uncontrolled expressions of emotion, symptoms, breath, or body are considered problematic and require intervention by a specialist. Once the specialist applies her magical treatment to assist us in achieving comfort, this allows us to continue living our life as we normally do, without making changes to our story: attitudes, beliefs, or lifestyles that may have contributed to the problem in the first place.

Even though we experience an illness through our biology, our psychology and a strong cultural component is responsible for a significant part of our response to circumstances, as well as the development and duration of symptoms and disease is linked to our views and experiences of our world. For example, your family doctor has discovered that you have the same terminal illness as your father had. According to your doctor's experience and beliefs, he will tell you have a certain number of days, months, or years to live. If you accept this diagnosis because your father did, and you might, it becomes your story. And so on and so on.

We cannot forget that the powerful placebo is 30 to 70 percent effective. The New York Times reported several studies that show the placebo effect at work: Venezuelan children with asthma had a 33% lung function increase by smelling a placebo. In Japan , people exposed to fake poison ivy developed real rashes. Patients who received arthroscopic knee surgery or were told they received the surgery produced similar levels of pain relief. 42% of balding men taking a placebo either maintained their hair or increased the amount of hair on their heads. Scientific America published a report where one group of patients received surgery to treat angina pectoris symptoms (severe pain and constriction about the heart), and enjoyed a 76% improvement. The placebo group had an incision made and were told they had the procedure performed. They had 100% improvement.

Although we may not be able to escape from our culture and our stories "Healing Myths, Healing Magic" inspires you to become the storyteller of your own life; to recognize and empower those stories that help your life flourish, so you can experience a greater level of health and well-being than any previous story has allowed.

Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration help individuals develop flexibility in the bodymind and the opportunity to create a shift in their self perception. I invite you to journey with me and entertain the possibility that you are more powerful, loving, creative, prosperous, compassionate, and healthy than you have ever imagined. See you at your next entrainment.

“Healing Myths, Healing Magic” is available for purchase at the Center for Holistic Health.

Make Consciousness, Not War

It has been said that one cannot fix a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it in the first place.



When I read a book or see a movie or observe life around me, I notice how that observation or event relates to the wellness paradigm. While reading Ekhart Tolle's book, “A New Earth”, I read a passage that depicts a perfect example of wellness and holistic care versus illness and traditional medical care. It can be found on Page 75 and reads as follows:

“These days you frequently hear the expression ‘the war against' this or that, and whenever I hear it, I know that it is condemned to failure. There is the war against drugs, the war against crime, the war against terrorism, the war against cancer, the war against poverty and so on. For example, despite the war against crime and drugs, there has been a dramatic increase in crime and drug-related offenses in the past twenty-five years. The prison population has gone up from just under 300,000 in 1980 to a staggering 2.1 million in 2004. The war against disease has given us, amongst other things, antibiotics. At first, they were spectacularly successful, seemingly enabling us to win the war against infectious diseases. Now, many experts agree, the widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics has created a time bomb and that antibiotic-strains of bacteria, so-called super bugs, will in all likelihood bring about a reemergence of those diseases and possibly epidemics. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association , medical treatment is the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in the United States .”

Tolle points out that the more we put energy into fighting things we don't like, the more they become empowered. Fighting does nothing to change the environment which spawned the condition in the first place.

The focus of Western medicine is fighting disease. Yet, in spite of the vast resources being directed toward this fight, there is no reduction in the amount of disease people are experiencing. In fact, we find new diseases and new strains of existing ones.

So what are better alternatives to fighting conditions like disease, poverty and crime?

In his book, Tolle proposes raising consciousness rather than waging war against these undesirable conditions. Treating illness as an enemy and perceiving it as evil often makes the conditions worse. Tolle doesn't advocate ignoring conditions at hand, but ultimately, without changing the consciousness or the environment that led to the situation, our efforts will be futile.

If the body is overstressed, toxic or unhealthy it may become a fertile breeding ground for any number and variety of diseases. One option is to fight and try and get rid of these diseases. Another option is to help restore the body to a healthy state.

The focus of the wellness paradigm is on raising consciousness about how we approach our environment, our bodies and our lives. From this place of awareness and acceptance, we navigate a more constructive and holistic solution. Instead of fighting the symptoms or conditions we experience, we establish positive strategies for optimal living and being. Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration offer positive strategies for adapting to stress and creating a deeper connection to our innate wisdom.

Ekhart Tolle's books, “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth,” are available for purchase at the Center for Holistic Health.

Do We Have a Choice in Healing?

I am in a profession that continually affords me the opportunity to witness people in their healing processes. To witness someone in the healing process does not simply mean to notice that s/he is experiencing a symptom. We don't have to look too far among our friends, family or even ourselves to notice someone with physical symptoms.

In an old paradigm, the Medical or Treatment model, symptoms are seen merely as a nuisance, something to be removed or eradicated. Symptoms are treated, and success is determined by whether or not the symptoms are resolved.

Part of my role as a wellness practitioner is to help my clients and practice participants observe the symptoms they may be experiencing, from a new perspective, the Wellness or Holistic Paradigm. In this new paradigm, symptoms are seen as signals or guideposts, used to redirect our behaviors and create whatever change is needed in our lives. These changes may need to come in the area of nutrition, physical, chemical or emotional stress, our relationships, releasing old traumas or being in line with our soul's purpose, to name a few. The Wellness or Holistic Paradigm is all about recognizing symptoms as a call for change and exploring the messages they have for us.

I was speaking to someone the other day who was inquiring about Network Care. When I asked him what he would want from receiving care, he simply said that he didn't want to be in pain. Who could blame him? Is there anyone who really wants to be in pain? After some more inquiry on my part, he went on to say that he just wants to be comfortable.

As the day progressed, I thought more about that statement. Did he mean that he just wants to be comfortable in the physical sense or in all aspects of his life? In my understanding, there is a direct relationship between the experiences of our lives and how we experience our physical bodies.

It seems that life constantly presents us with challenges or opportunities for our own personal growth. If we never experienced any challenges, our opportunities for growth might be very limited. Some might even go as far as to say that Life, God or the Universe will present you with these very challenges, whether you like it or not.

I've heard life described as moving down a path. If we just stop and sit down on the path we a liable to get run over. I wondered if we actually have a choice. Are we able to slide by in life without any discomfort? I've heard Network Spinal Analysis developer Dr. Donald Epstein say that if you're not doing what you're supposed to, if you're not living your soul's purpose, then it is supposed to hurt, and nothing is supposed to make it stop. Ouch! .

During my second visit with clients, I review their physical findings, progress and future strategies. We then decide whether my care is what they are looking for. I always state, in some form or another, that if they don't want anything to change in their lives, they may want to reconsider taking the path of healing, for true healing will always bring about change.

Whether or not we want to pursue the path of healing is an individual choice. However, if life is prompting us to make a change and we ignore its signals, we are likely to become very uncomfortable. If we continue to ignore the signs, our symptoms are likely to become unbearable.

Maybe we don't have a choice. Maybe if we truly want to be comfortable and fulfilled, we must choose to find ways to listen to our bodies, to life, and roll with the changes instead of fighting against them. Maybe we can choose healing.

What's The Goal of Healing

Years ago, when I first began to study and practice Dr. Donald Epstein's work, it was called Network Chiropractic. Through research and trial and error, Network Chiropractic has evolved into a technique that is now called Network Spinal Analysis (NSA). One difference between the two techniques is that there is no longer a structural adjusting component or the neck and back popping that is usually associated with chiropractic techniques. The other main difference is the introduction of levels of care. Each level of care is associated with a new strategy for clients to learn as well as expected clinical and self reported outcomes.

The levels of care provide a framework and roadmap for the direction of each particular visit. It also helps goal-oriented practitioners to have something to work toward. Although it is great to have working goals, there is a downside to being completely goal-oriented.

One day, I had a conversation with a client who was very concerned about how far she had gotten in her clinical outcomes each visit. If she didn't reach the same or better level strategy as she had on the previous visit, she felt like she had failed. After noticing this response a couple of times, we had a conversation about it.

The truth is, based upon the number and frequency of visits she had had, her progress was as good as or better than I would have expected. But success was not coming fast enough for her. Through a more in depth conversation, I discovered the same theme in other aspects of her life as well. So I inquired, “What if you reach this goal, then what happens?” She answered, “Well then I can start the next thing.” This went on for a few rounds before she realized that this strategy could never truly satisfy her.

Within each level of care in NSA care there are gifts, information and strategies to be learned and integrated. Each person receiving care is unique and may require more or less work in any particular level. With this in mind, it would not be appropriate to rush to the next level simply to get there.

Even if an individual has worked in an advanced level of care, there are often times when basic care strategies need to be reinforced or addressed with more depth. Tiger Woods, arguably the best golfer in the world, is on the practice range every day practicing his swing. While it's obvious he knows how to swing a golf club by now, he can always achieve a greater level of depth in that particular strategy. A similar logic can also be applied to healing strategies. NSA clients will constantly move back and forth between level of care strategies, depending upon their needs on any particular day.

In NSA, as in life, if everything is about getting to the next level or goal, an individual can miss out on the gifts and learning that take place along the way. As Dr. Epstein says, “It's great to set goals, but it's not about reaching the goal, it's about the person that you become along the way.”

Robert Updegraff, author of Be Thankful for Your Troubles, writes, "Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them."

We've all heard the saying, “Life is a journey.” NSA and Network Care provide a system that guides individuals through the journey of their own healing process, as in life, wherever it may go and however long it may take.

Bridging the Gap in Healing

Several years ago when I first began practicing, a client told me about a conscious living group that she was attending. Given my mainstream upbringing, I wasn't even sure what that meant. As far as I was concerned, to be conscious simply meant to be awake, and after all wasn't everyone awake?

Now there's an interesting question. In one sense, to be awake simply means that we are not sleeping. According to the dictionary, to awaken means to rise up and take action. Finally, being awake can mean to come or bring to an awareness; become cognizant. For example, when one awakens to the realities of life.

Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to read many books on the subject of consciousness. Being in the field of wellness has also afforded me some interesting experiences that have helped to open my understanding of the concept. No doubt, this is a journey that I will continue to expand upon.

I recently had a conversation with a client about bridging the gap between awareness and the ability to act upon that awareness. One of the main concepts I promote at the Center for Holistic Health is becoming aware of the body and what it is trying to tell us. Initially, the body's signals are subtle. Many times we are not even aware that it is trying to tell us something. This is usually because our attention is placed upon a multitude of other things. This is easily understandable in our fast-paced culture.

When we don't, or are unable to pay attention to our body, the signals can become louder. This is an attempt to get our notice so that we can change whatever is needed. This call to awareness can come in the form of symptoms. For example, if an individual is too stressed at work, they may begin to develop headaches, ulcers, indigestion, or other symptoms.

We often receive emotional signals as well. If we are not acting congruently with what we know is right or if we are fighting against the flow of life it can cause us mental and emotional anguish. Dr. Donald Epstein says, “All of our problems arise from our inability to experience our experience.” Sometimes we fight against the flow of life and hold onto the idea of how we thought things should be. Sometimes it can take us days, weeks, months or even years realize the wisdom of the universe and let go of our attachments. If we can learn to let go of those attachments, the quality of our life experience will be greatly enhanced.

I often think about this concept in terms of our environment. What if we could be more aware of the subtle signals of the environment? It seems that we usually wait until there is an imminent crisis before we begin to enact a positive change. I'm sure there are volumes that could be written on this subject. Carbon monoxide emissions, environmental toxicity and destruction of natural habitats and species are just a few examples that come to mind. Here in the state of Georgia , it seems as if we had to wait till our lakes were dangerously low before we really got serious about conserving water.

One way consciousness could be described is by where we place our focus and attention. When our attention is stuck and fixated on events of the past that we cannot change, it hinders our ability to be awake and aware of the needs of the present moment. The present moment is the only time when we are able to take action to change and adapt to our world.

In a state of elevated wellness and consciousness, we are better able to direct where we place our focus and attention. When we are unable to do this, we are, in effect, unconscious. However, we can work toward heightening awareness of our internal signals and acting appropriately. Wellness is about bridging the gap between the two.

Letting Go and Healing

I was raised as a Catholic, and there is one aspect of my religious upbringing that has always stuck with me. When asked about this, the answer I usually give is that I'm a big fan of Jesus. Through my years of exposure, it seems to me that the main theme of his teachings is love unconditionally, love without judgment.

Unconditional love is wonderful in theory, but how often can we actually practice such a premise with ease? There are two answers. First, that it is easy. We need only to choose love in each moment. Secondly, it can be very difficult unless we are willing and able to let go of our attachment to a given outcome in a situation.

One reoccurring theme for me when working with clients is to ask, “What is it that we can get or learn from our body's symptoms or challenges?” We might also ask, “What is it that we can learn from life's challenges?”

For some time now, I've had a conceptual understanding of the teaching that there are gifts in every experience we have. Even though people in our lives may have wounded us, the experience offers us wisdom that we would not have received otherwise. It was only recently at a Network seminar that I could actually feel this experience in my body. This was one of the most wonderfully powerful and freeing experiences I've ever had. For the first time, I could truly feel love and gratitude for the people in my life that I felt had wounded me most deeply.

I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to see the Dali Lama a few months ago when he was lecturing at Emory University . In addition to being moved by his wonderful nature and the wisdom of his teachings, I was intrigued by another Buddhist tradition, the meditative construction and subsequent destruction of a Mandela made of colored sand. All week long the monks worked on creating an extremely intricate Mandela. Anyone who saw it could bear witness to how absolutely beautiful and amazing this piece of art/work was. Yet, at the end of the week they destroyed it. Because we are attached to the outcome for things of beauty to have permanence, our first thought might be to wonder how the monks could bear to destroy something so beautiful. However, this tradition teaches the lesson of impermanence and non-attachment.

My favorite author, Elkhart Tolle, writes in his book, “The Power of Now,” about the practice of meditating on the experience of your own death. While this may seem like a morbid exercise, it can free you from your attachments to life and/or your fear of death. Death is inevitable. However, once we have let go of any fears we have of dying, we can we truly experience life.

When we experience an attachment to an outcome instead of looking at an experience for the gifts that it has to offer, we set ourselves up for mental anguish. This will deteriorate the quality of our life experience and can even lead to symptoms in the body.

Essentially, most spiritual leaders and teachings have similar messages. In order to truly experience the joy of life and relationships in each moment we must be willing to let go of our attachments. It is only when we fully let go of our attachments that we can experience true unconditional love.

Is The Dog Whisperer Holistic?

I have often commented that the concepts I work with and teach in Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration are not exclusive to these methodologies. In fact, as I look around I constantly see these principles showing up in print, video and in life. These holistic or life principles and could easily be applied to any discipline.

The other day I was watching television with my friend Jason. He turned to the National Geographic channel and asked if I had ever watched a show called “The Dog Whisperer”? I had heard about the show prior to that but had not had an opportunity to see it before then.

The “Dog Whisperer”, Cesar Millan, has an uncanny ability to help rehabilitate dogs with behavioral problems such as aggression, unrelenting barking or jumping on people. As I watched the program I noticed the concepts he taught to the dog owners were totally congruent with what I would teach to my own clients.

Dog owners bring their pets to see Cesar when they desire to change an unwanted behavior. The first point Cesar makes to the owners is that the animal's behavior is a way of sending a distress signal. Somehow his needs as an animal are not being met. The first idea I share with clients is that their symptoms are a call for change. Instead of just attempting to remove the symptom, or behavior, we can look at the circumstances that are causing our bodies or dogs to behave in that manner. This could be a change in diet, exercise, the dynamics of our relationships, or an owner's relationship with their dog.

One of Cesar's techniques is to introduce the behaviorally challenged dogs into his pack of well behaved dogs. One of the reasons he does this is because the energy of the pack is calm. Just by being in the presence of the calm pack, the misbehaving dog will automatically begin to change its own energetic state and behavior. Cesar is employing the concept of harmonic entrainment. Harmonic entrainment is the matching of vibrational tone or energy. When the hyper, nervous or aggressive dog is placed among the calm energy of the pack, he will automatically begin to adopt the same tone and demeanor. Network Spinal Analysis uses the phenomenon of harmonic entrainment to help create a more relaxed physiology for its clients. Transformational Gates are seminars that participants can receive Network care in a large group setting for the same reason. The results are automatically much more powerful.

Cesar also understands that more often than not, a dog's behavior is a reflection of the owner's behavior. Part of his protocol focuses on retraining the owners to be calm and assertive. Many times we wonder why we have so much stress and drama in our lives. We feel like victims of circumstance. However, if we can learn to create more peace within ourselves, we tend to attract less stress and drama into our lives.

Finally, Cesar does not believe in a quick fix and says the best way to find a solution to your dog's problem is to show real love. If we look at the problems we are having with our animals or in our lives, our bodies or our relationships with judgment and blame, it is very difficult to find real solutions. If we can approach them with love, patience and commitment, we have an opportunity to create a shift that is more likely to become a long term change.

Reorganizational versus Restorative Healing

Once again the holiday season is upon us and as always I feel blessed to be invited to a number of holiday gatherings. While I wouldn't consider myself an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination, I do enjoy being social and making new acquaintances and friends. When meeting new people it seems inevitable that they will ask “the question”. “What do you do?”

The simple answer, of course, would be to say that I'm a chiropractor. However, in my experience, that either conjures up images of twisting and popping of the neck and back or elicits another common response. “I have a bad “blank” (insert body part), can chiropractors fix that?” Neither is very descriptive of anything close to my practice.

At that point I have a choice to either smile and nod my head or engage in a more in depth description. It can be a bit of a challenge to give a short but informative description without giving a full consultation right there next to the cheese and crackers. Why?

There are basically two reasons for this. To begin with, even though evolutions of what has become Network Spinal Analysis have been around for a quarter of a century, it still falls outside the normal cultural “box”. It's not exactly a common profession like being an accountant or lawyer.

On top of that, many of the words that could be used to give a description have different meanings, depending upon who is using them and what is the general public perception. It's almost as if there is a turf war to claim the newest buzz word that will draw people to a particular service.

The word health is a perfect example of this. Even though health is defined as a state of optimal physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease, “health care” is almost exclusively focused upon the removal of symptoms and disease. Let's face it, mainstream healthcare has very little to do with optimal well being.

How about the term “Wellness”? To me, Wellness is the generalized self perception of health of the individual across the domains of physical, emotional, mental, stress, life enjoyment and overall quality of life and person's subjective perception of their sense of self. So, people think, “wow, wellness, that's got to be a step up from just waiting till something goes wrong”. But I'm sure everyone has heard commercials describing wellness as the early detection of disease.

To confuse the issue even more we can join two words in an attempt to create a more precise definition. Some of my favorites include alternative medicine, holistic health and holistic medicine. The problem is that these words are going to mean something different to everybody. I would say holistic health is an alternative to medicine, rather than alternative medicine. And, if you ask me, holistic and medicine don't even belong in the same sentence.

Some other terms I could use along with the previous might include energy healing or mind-body work. Once again, while these terms may touch on some aspects of my work, they can be quite ambiguous since they can take on many different meanings.

Recently, Dr. Donald Epstein, author, lecturer and founder of Network Spinal Analysis and other disciplines, has coined a very descriptive term describing and delineating differences in the types of care that an individual can seek. The term he now uses is Reorganizational Healing. The antonym for this would be Restorative Healing.

Any type of care that seeks to restore you to your previous state or that is focused upon the removal of symptoms would fall into the category of restorative healing. Almost all health care providers would be in this camp.

The focus of Reorganizational Healing, on the other hand, is to help a person move to a state that is better or more organized then before they became symptomatic. I always say to my clients, “If I wave my magic wand over you and your symptom goes away, but you don't learn, grow, change or alter you life in any way, did I really do you a favor?” If there is no net gain in wisdom, we are bound to repeat the same life patterns and express the same symptoms. If you are successful in quelling your symptoms, your body will find another way to express that change is needed.

In addition to that, one can receive reorganizational healing regardless of whether or not they have any kind of disease or symptoms.

Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration are methods that fall into the category of Reorganizational Healing. In fact, the principles of Reorganizational Healing could be applied to almost any discipline. It is really a matter of purpose and outcome.

I don't know if the holiday party conversations will be a whole lot shorter, but there will certainly be no mistaking these terms.

Health Care Providers Using Fear Tactics

by Dr. Gene Clerkin

Last week one of my practice participants called to ask if we could schedule some time to meet. She said she was feeling pressured about her electing to receive Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) care. Of course, I agreed and we scheduled a meeting for the following day.

The next day I found out that the pressure was coming from a chiropractor. Several months earlier she was offered a free exam, including an x-ray. The x-ray revealed a diminished disc space in the lower lumbar spine. He told her that she needed to get under his care to resolve this problem, or else the problem would get worse. He warned against the potentially devastating and degenerative effects of not receiving chiropractic care.

Although I certainly could rebut the fear-loaded testimony he gave for need of his care versus the care she was already receiving, I'm more interested in exploring another concept for now.

It is very common amongst health care practitioners to utilize the same approach as the chiropractor. And to the credit of all who use it, it works. Practice management companies in the chiropractic profession know that, in addition to its diagnostic use, x-rays do wonders for patient compliance.

I think it would be accurate to say that most patient compliance, in all medical fields, is based on the fact that patients are afraid of what will happen if they don't follow orders once they are presented with negative test results. To put it another way, patients make decisions based on the fear that symptoms will persist, become worse, harm them or even cause death. I'm sure there are times when this is an appropriate response. If you're standing in front of an oncoming train, the fear of death is an extremely effective and appropriate motivator. However, fear based responses are certainly not appropriate for every symptom your body expresses, and for that matter, every situation that life presents.

Symptoms are the body's call for attention and change. They can teach and direct us as to what lifestyle or behavioral changes are needed. If our only motivation is to extinguish symptoms out of fear, we will most likely miss the body's message. This can result in the return of the original or a more pronounced symptom with no net gain in insight.

If we adopt the same strategy in life, we will settle for surviving instead of thriving and growth. It seems that throughout life, we encounter situations that require us to re-evaluate and shift our focus, direction or behaviors. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we didn't have to navigate these situations from a mindset of fear?

Remember, in fear or a stressed physiology, we are accessing lower brain centers while drawing resources away from the more evolved higher brain. This is important when considering decisions about our health and life. Access to the higher brain enables us to process more information and gives us the ability to create and consider choices that may help us adapt to and grow through life's experiences.

To put it simply, being stuck in a fear based perspective disengages and disempowers us. Yet large segments of our society, like conventional medicine, operate heavily in fear based models. The truth is that most people don't even realize it. They just accept it as the way it's always been.

In my client's case, she had adopted the ideals of the wellness model and chose not to fear her body. This is sometimes a difficult road to take in the onslaught of the cultural norm. History has shown that cultural perspectives can and often do change. However, new ideas tend to generate resistance. Galileo was ostracized for suggesting that the Sun was the center of our solar system because his ideas were contrary to the cultural “truth” of the time.

Methodologies such as NSA that are based on a wellness model direct attention toward positive strategies rather than the fear of inaction's consequence. The wellness model is certainly not the most widely accepted and utilized model in today's culture, but it offers us the growth and life enhancement that fear of survival simply cannot.

Is There an Invisible Force That Connects Us?

by Dr. Gene Clerkin

Several years ago I heard about an interesting phenomenon called The Hundredth Monkey. The Macaca fuscata monkeys had been observe in the wild for many years. In 1952, on the Japanese island of Koshima , scientists began dropping sweet potatoes onto the sand to see what the monkeys would do. One young monkey, who found the taste of sand objectionable, washed her sweet potato off in a stream before eating it and then taught this trick to her mother. Soon, all the young monkeys on the island were doing this and then elders began imitated their children. One day, a tipping point was reached – let's say it was the hundredth monkey – and all the monkeys on the island began washing their potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But that's not all. Scientists observed that monkeys on other islands and even the mainland began washing sand from their sweet potatoes as well. Their deduction was that when a certain critical number achieves awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind. There have since been disputes to the validity of the experiment, however, similar phenomena have been observed in humans in other experiments.

There is a very popular experiment that illustrated how Transcendental Meditation performed by a group of 4,700 was able to reduce the crime rate in Washington , D.C. by 23%. I believe this experiment is more widely accepted in the scientific community.

These two examples and other similar experiments point to the idea that there is something other than what our normal senses can pick up, call it telepathy or collective consciousness, which appears to somehow connect us to each other.

Network Spinal Analysis works on a principle called harmonic entrainment. Examples in nature would include flocks of birds and schools of fish who “know” how to move together, or women residing in the same household whose menstrual cycles become synchronized.

If you come home and your partner is angry, you need not even see or hear him/her in order to feel the energy or vibration (vibe) s/he is emitting. If you remain in proximity, your vibrations will begin to match or entrain to each other's. Similarly, if you work in an excessively stressful environment, your physiology will match the rest of the group.

Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) simply helps your brain to entrain to a more peaceful vibration or place.

Parents tend not to want their children hanging around the “wrong element.” This is because parents know that children's behaviors tend to match the behaviors of the surrounding group. In addition to the psychological effects of peer pressure we harmonically entrain to each other's vibrations. This in turn affects our structure, which has a direct effect upon our behaviors. Flexibility in our structure creates flexibility in our perceptions, choices and behaviors. Conversely, entraining to a vibration that puts our physiology in defense automatically means that we're not fully accessing our higher, more evolved brain. Given this scenario, we are less likely to think or act independently or even consciously consider our actions fully.

Interestingly enough, because people receiving NSA gain greater nerve system flexibility, they automatically begin to shift their behaviors. It could be said that in addition to accessing their higher or conscious brain, they are entraining to their own internal signal.

As people progress in Network care, their general tone and vibration become different than that of most of the people and the environment around them. Consequently, while they may leave the office in a certain vibrational state, they may not be able to maintain it if constantly entraining to the environment around them. This is, in fact, the case for all of us.

One of the things I do for my own personal well-being is to attend seminars called Transformational Gates. Hundreds of attendees receive Network Entrainments and other supportive practices in a room with eighty to one hundred entrainment tables. If you are lucky enough to attend a Gate, it quickly dispels any doubt in your mind that we have an undeniable connection to each other.

I've also noticed that my practice participants who attend Transformational Gates and smaller versions called clear days are more able to maintain a higher level of care in the office. This higher level of care and the associated strategies learned are statistically congruent with experiencing a higher quality of life.

Undoubtedly, we affect and in some way even need each other. Many indigenous cultures, tribes and civilizations throughout history have gathered for dance, for ritual and to entrain to a vibration of love, gratitude and support for each other. Many people gather at churches, temples and synagogues for their spiritual nourishment. Collectively these rituals support and manifest the concept of community. But as in the story that opened this article, it all begins with one monkey, one breakthrough idea or energy. NSA can help that breakthrough be for you.

What Can We Learn from a Five Year Old?

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting a friend in the burbs who has a couple of young daughters that know me as Uncle Gene. Visits usually include hide and seek, chasing through the house and tickling and burying the kids under the sofa pillows.

On this particular day, as I was holding and tickling his five year old, Sarah Kate, I fell backward and caught her bare leg and foot between me and the wrought iron chair I was sitting in. As you can imagine, with her tiny leg being caught between my weight and the hard chair, she became justifiably hysterical. When we asked if she was okay, she just shook her head, “no,” with a terrified expression, and cried. Of course, I felt terrible, and wanting to help, I calmly said, “I'm sorry, Sarah Kate. Can you tell us, on a scale of one to ten, how bad your leg is hurt?”

My original intention was to assess if she would need any drastic medical attention. It turns out, she was okay, but something very interesting happened during the exchange. Within about three seconds, she went from a hysterical state to a light whimper, stating she was ok. Instantly, I realized that when I asked the slightly more complicated question, Sara Kate's consciousness shifted out of her automatic, fight or flight state to a place where she could access her higher brain in order to answer.

This little incident is really a great analogy for what happens to us in our daily lives on a more subtle basis. The physiological mechanism of fight or flight is exactly the same as the stressed physiology that many folks live in for their entire existence.

Just to clarify, there are times when that physiology is totally appropriate. For instance, the other day, while moving furniture and electronics in the office; I accidentally grabbed hold of a plug that was half in and half out of the wall. I quickly jerked my hand away when I felt the hundred and twenty some odd volts running through my fingers. It was an automatic reaction, and a good thing too, since it would have taken too long for me to access my higher brain and consider a mode of action. Luckily, the body is set up to access the lower, more reactive brain for these very situations.

The whole incident had come and gone within a second. It wouldn't have been appropriate for me to stay in that reactive state after the incident was over. But that is exactly what happens to so many people who are overwhelmed with ongoing or peak stressful events. Even after the event is over, the heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar stay elevated. Our breath becomes shallower, our muscles tighten down and resources are directed away from the higher brain to take care of the “emergency.”

The higher brain, or more specifically, the prefrontal lobes, provides us with the ability to love, process new information, be creative and make self-assessments. These are all functions that we do not generally have access to in crisis situations. A majority of the time, people are actually unaware that they are even in a stressed physiology. In addition to all of the physical detriments that manifest with stress, our perceptions and behaviors are altered. Not only do we have a limited perspective on life situations, but we are less able to develop conscious strategies or options to deal with our life situations.

Methods such as Somato-Respiratory Integration and Network Spinal Analysis are designed to help individuals gain greater access to their own resources and navigate life in a more conscious state. Just as young Sara Kate was able to access her own higher brain and consciously consider her response and behaviors, we have the opportunity to do the same and navigate our lives from a place of resource instead of crisis.

Not Everything is Healthy in Health Magazines

One of the so-called advantages of having an office like the Center for Holistic Health is the abundance of free magazines that are sent to us each month. When the magazine people call, they seem dumbfounded when I turn down a free subscription to Glamour or PC Gammer. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Health Magazine in last weeks mail.

As I flipped through, I immediately noticed a number of prescription drug advertisements. Each of the eighteen ads had two full pages, one for the ad and one for the fine print. While the conditions to be treated varied, the possible side effects were quite comparable. The most common included headaches, depression, nausea, vomiting, musculoskeletal and joint pain, dizziness, respiratory tract infection, nerve system problems, immune problems, lupus like symptoms, blood problems, heart failure and of course, liver and kidney changes.

With a list like that, I might take my chances with the original symptom.

I suppose one could argue that the benefits out weigh the risks involved, or that the percentages of occurrences are relatively small. That’s an easy argument to make if you’re not the one. That’s also assuming the reported results from the drug manufacturer are accurate. Plus, these results are based on a particular amount of time. For example, the results may indicate that 5% of the people develop liver problems over a ten-week period. Who’s to say what that percentage will be at eleven weeks, or twenty weeks, or even a year? Who cares, right?

My uncle went to the doctor complaining of pain. He apparently had liver spots from having been on medications for quite some time. The doctor said, “Oh, that’s normal”. It may be that it’s the norm, but it’s certainly not normal and it doesn’t make it good.

I recently read an article from the Associated Press, discussing whether a particular diabetes drug should be “pulled,” in other words, taken off the market. The pharmaceutical company’s results contradicted an FDA advisory scientist’s report that called the drug unsafe. Who do you believe? I don’t know, but I’d have to seriously question any test result where there is a profit is at stake.

It’s important to note that most of the conditions treated with advertised drugs, and most health conditions in general, are lifestyle related. It stands to reason that there is a substantial enough cross section of “Health” readers with these conditions who will utilize the medications, and justify the cost of advertising.

I understand that advertising dollars are needed for any magazine to exist. It just seems ironic that a magazine titled “Health” would have so many advertisements that do not support the idea of health at all.

Someone may use a particular drug to achieve a desired change in his or her symptoms and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But the advertisements present the drugs as the solution. It would be unfortunate if the consumer remained unaware of the possibilities of increasing health rather than just treating symptoms.

In all fairness to the magazine, there were a number of articles and information directed toward improving one’s health. Talk about mixed messages, though. It’s sort of like having a “say no to drugs” sign on the medicine cabinet.

The Center for Holistic Health offers a number of holistic services, including Network Spinal Analysis, Somato-Respiratory Integration, Acupuncture, Massage, Reflexology and Nutrition, that encourage an integrated and empowered sense of well being and health to meet almost anyone’s need. Whether you’re trying to move though your symptoms or increase the quality of your life, consider becoming in charge of your own healing and find out how we can help.

Continuing With Network Spinal Analysis Even When It Doesn't Feel So Good

By Linda Lewis

Little did I know that when I walked into Dr. Gene's office in Woodstock three years ago that such profound changes would happen in my life. Or that it would become a journey that would not only heal my body, but reach into the depths of my being and heal my heart, my mind, and my soul. Give me a greater ability to find peace and ease in my experience of life. And ultimately find more compassion and love for myself and others. And for me, it has not only been a journey, but a bit of a wild ride on the way, with the top down and up and down some pretty big hills.

My back was in pain, but I had never been to a chiropractor before. I decided it was time to see one, and for several years I had passed by Dr. Gene's office and thought if I ever did go to one, that is where I would go. I anticipated a few weeks of adjustments and my pain would disappear. Network was completely new to me. I was skeptical from the beginning, knowing that those light touches would no way fix my back. I thought, OK, I will go for a month, Dr. Gene seems like a genuine and caring person and seems to believe in this work.

That month became a few more, and so much was happening that I was amazed. Not only was my back better, but I was feeling so different mentally and emotionally. Like a heavy weight was being lifted off me, burdens and emotional pain that I had carried for years began to vanish. Things I had wrestled with and tried to find solutions to began to change. I had more joy and a greater sense of peace of mind. I was feeling more alive and vital.

I was also getting more in touch with myself and my feelings. There were times when I would leave the office and cry for a few hours, but it would pass and it seemed to be cleansing. The range of my emotions was widening, and with the intense highs from my entrainments there also came some intense lows. All along I was growing and learning a lot. Dr. Gene is a wonderful facilitator and teacher. He genuinely cares about everyone in his practice, which seems to be a rarity.

I felt that I was making progress in my life, and that real changes were happening with each entrainment. I could feel the effects for days. I was feeling the trans formative power of the work. I was healing.

Then for weeks, actually a couple of months, things began to flatten out for me. I had the blues and cried more and more each time I left the office. There were times I felt like I was in the dark night of my soul. So much was surfacing that I felt like I was in a constant battle with myself. I didn't feel that I was having growth in a positive direction anymore. I had been in regular care for a year, and I decided that was enough, I would find something else to do that would make me feel good. So I emailed Dr. Gene and said that I would be discontinuing my care at the office. I would come in the next week to discuss it with him, but in my heart I did not plan to continue. It just didn't feel good anymore.

That was a long week and I did feel hollow and achy inside. What if I could really experience all that I had heard Network could do? It was working beautifully for a while, why not now? ...

When I met with Dr. Gene, he was, as usual, incredibly patient and nonjudgmental. And he told me what I was experiencing was not unusual for level two of care. And that there was probably more there for me. He listened, and understood. And I decided to trust and continue for a while more. I am glad I did.

Sometimes we have to experience grief, anger, despair, and frustration and walk back through some of the dark nights of our past in order to experience the full range of joy today. I for one had learned to dampen down my emotions in order to feel less suffering in my life and in the lives of those around me. I am a nurse and regularly see more pain and sorrow than I had imagined was out there. And if we live long enough, we will all go through our share of pain on one level or another.

Before coming to Network, I thought that I had matured enough to not feel so much emotion, and could be strong by not feeling so much. I had effectively boxed myself in and narrowed my choices in life. I could avoid feeling fear by avoiding the things I was afraid of. But I was constantly achy and in pain, and knew that I was living at a lower level of functioning than was available. My joy for living was diminished. I did not want to grow old feeling this way.

A few months prior to finding out about Network, I decided it was time for change in my life and I had nothing to lose by living more abundantly. I prayed for answers and for a clear path to follow to experience change in my life. I knew it was either curl up tighter inside myself in defense, or start living the life I knew was out there. I was ready for freedom. It was like coming out of a web, breaking through chains, cracking open my heart. Restoring my strong sense of compassion and love that was there all along but had been veiled by the fear of living .

Sometimes it is intense. Sometimes it hurts. But that is Ok. There are also intense feelings of bliss. It has been quite a journey. I never regret continuing with care. It has been the most powerful tool for transformation and liberation that I could imagine. I'm still a work in progress. I know that there is more to come. I have so much thankfulness and gratitude that there is something that works so well. And that I can feel so much now.

Alternative Medicine Isn't Always Holistic

Many people contact the Center for Holistic Health looking for an alternative approach to addressing their health problems. This is usually after the conventional approach they tried hasn't worked. Many times they're not even really sure what holistic means. I recently gave a consultation that exemplifies this point perfectly.

A woman came into the office complaining of pain and numbness radiating down into her arm. The condition was even beginning to cause her to have a loss of strength in the arm and hand. Another client had referred her, telling her I could work magic.

Throughout the consultation, I tried to lead her down the road of exploration into why she was experiencing these symptoms. Unfortunately, she didn't seem too interested in engaging in that exploration or much conversation at all. She just wanted her symptoms to go away.

When I asked, she insisted that she was completely stress free. Now, this is certainly possible but highly unlikely, especially in someone experiencing the symptoms that were plaguing her. After thirteen years of examining people, , I was well assured of what I would find. As expected, she had a high amount of tension stored in the area of the spine that produced the nerve supply to the symptomatic area. Based on my findings, I could also tell that it was a long-term manifestation. I let her know that this was something that didn't occur overnight.

After the exam, I began to work on her, helping her body to become aware of and release some of the stored tension. The release of tension was obvious to the both of us. She even commented about the difference she felt.

The following day I received a phone call from the woman. She said she didn't think the holistic approach was going to work for her. Her symptoms did not go away after the first visit, so she was going to try something different. I thanked her for calling to let me know of her decision to end treatment, but reminded her that a holistic approach is not associated with a quick fix; it is a long-term solution.

In reality, she had made the choice not to take a holistic route before she ever called the Center for Holistic Health. Like many, she was under the impression that holistic meant a natural, less invasive and even magical way of achieving the same goals as one would in the medical minded approach. While I don't sit in judgment of people's decisions to pursue a particular philosophical approach, the act of making choices without the full understanding of their ramifications is unfortunate. I would call that unconscious behavior.

Many people would like to plug a holistic practice into the medical model they are currently using. If your desired outcome is to reduce symptoms without exploration into the contributing factors, then the medical model is congruent with your goals. However, if your desire is to change the circumstances or behaviors that resulted in your symptoms, and to learn to adapt and grow, then a holistic approach is what you're looking for.

It is important that people understand the difference between these models, and that they embrace how the choices they make will affect their quality of life. When individuals have a better understanding, only then can they make informed or “conscious” decisions.

Is Holistic Non-Christian?

by Dr. Gene Clerkin


This past weekend, my colleagues, Jennifer and Brenton, and I headed down to the Alive Expo with a box full of business cards, flyers, brochures and signs in tow. We were to spend the weekend stationed at our booth imparting information about holistic health and wellness, and, of course, sharing information about the Center for Holistic Health.

Even though the hours of the Expo were long, I felt extremely energized throughout the weekend. Teaching people simple concepts about how they can improve the quality of their lives really lights me up. It's also very interesting to hear the different perspectives, ideas and beliefs that the general public has about holistic health and wellness. I feel compelled to share a few stories to illustrate how individuals perceive the intersection of their religious views and wellness, and to ultimately illustrate how the pursuit of wellness and faith do not pose conflicts in thought or practice.

I was sharing the concept of getting more in tune with the wisdom of the body with a woman who had some health challenges. When I asked her what she thought about what I had said, she replied that she gets her healing from scripture. She felt that if she was more diligent about reading her scripture it would help her transcend her health challenges. Out of curiosity, I had to ask, “Why are you attending a health and wellness expo, if you believe that you are to get that from scripture?”

Several years ago, I had a woman walk into the office looking for a quick adjustment to get her out of pain. Apparently, she had been receiving quick fixes for years. I agreed to take a look and see what I could do. This poor woman had the most rigid spine I had ever felt. I couldn't even get her to relax enough to turn her head. When I suggested using focused breath to try and introduce some ease into her system, she became very concerned that I was teaching a “new age” concept and that it would conflict with her religious views.

Why do we think that using breath and movement is evil while putting synthetic poisons in our bodies is as natural as can be? There is something wrong with this picture.

Just the other day I had a client call to say she was going to discontinue care because she was a Christian. She had come in for a couple of visits and was actually experiencing a change in her body. Since she just couldn't understand how such a light touch could cause these changes, she became suspect of it, so I inquired as to what exactly didn't jive with her religious beliefs.

Her concern was that the healing energy used in Network Spinal Analysis might be coming from an evil force. While Network practitioners do not actually use outside healing energy, their system does assist the brain in locating tension, or energy that has been stored in the body. When this tension is released, one can experience the feeling of energy flowing through the body. It's not good energy, or evil energy, its just energy that's no longer stuck.

I was raised in a Christian faith and have had the opportunity to study teachings of Jesus. Never have I come across any Christian teachings that conflict with concepts of holistic health and wellness. In fact, the concepts are really the same. They are actually just concepts of life, and they would work no matter what your religion or belief systems are.

It seems sad to me that people would deny themselves an opportunity to experience more ease and peace in their lives because they are fearful of something with which they are unfamiliar. Each time I've encountered this type of resistance, I've asked the person where s/he perceives there is a conflict, and s/he is unable to come up with anything that's truly non-Christian or against the teachings of any other religion. In conversations, I've come to realize that people are just expressing fear based upon someone else having told them that holistic is non-Christian.

Since love is basically the opposite of fear, and God is about love, it's ironic that fear would stand in the way of people learning about methods to increase their level of wellness and enhance their experience of life. It's simply not logical that a religion would want anyone to be denied strategies to help them get out of a stressed physiology, especially when doing so would actually help them to have a more fully developed experience God.

Inner Peace: Is it My Responsibility?

by Dr. Gene Clerkin

I recently started working with a practice participant who was dealing with a number of stressful situations in her life, including a major family illness. After a couple of visits, I consulted with her to review her progress and to share how Network Care could help her live a less stressful life. Something very interesting occurred during our conversation.

After receiving a couple of Network entrainments and experiencing what that could feel like, she was confronted with the possibility that she might actually achieve a state of ease in her life. Surprisingly, the possibility of experiencing more ease in her life frightened her more than the inability to do so.

When she reached this realization I could tell something was wrong. When I asked her about it, she said “I'm not sure it's fair for me to feel peaceful while the people around me are in turmoil.” She also wondered if we shouldn't be stressed out about all of the problems we have in our society and our planet.

I suggested that even if she didn't feel like she deserved to be peaceful, doing so would actually better serve those around her. Think about it. Would you rather be around someone who is stressed out or someone who is more peaceful? This would be especially true if you were dealing with a life threatening illness.

When we are stressed out our physiology is set for survival and, among other changes, our resources are directed away from the pre-frontal lobes, or higher brain. Our ability to reason, process new information and create new strategies is severely hindered. It stands to reason that our resourcefulness for others and ourselves would be limited as well.

Based on the principle of harmonic entrainment, we also affect each other though vibration. If you walk into a room you can feel when someone is stressed, even without talking to or looking at them. You can feel their “vibe,” and if you stay in proximity to them your vibe will begin to match theirs.

A few years ago I conducted a seminar on “presence.” During the seminar, we touched on the aspects and importance of being present as well as some strategies for achieving greater presence. In our post seminar discussion, we all agreed that there was tremendous personal benefit in being present, and this brought up an interesting point about our responsibility in practicing it.

“Living in the now,” as Ekhart Tolle would say, creates peace, not only within us but in those around us as well. If this is true, one could argue our inherent responsibility to aspire for presence within ourselves. So, even if we don't feel like we are worthy, I believe we owe it to each other and the rest of the planet to work toward reducing our stress and experiencing greater levels of peace.

Making sense of nutrition

by Trulie Ankerberg-Nobis, M.S.

Over the years that I have been studying and counseling others in nutrition, I frequently hear people complain that nutrition information and recommendations are confusing and too frustrating to implement. I can sympathize with this sentiment. When one week a study saying that fiber prevents colon cancer (and so one should increase fiber intake) and then the next week another study comes out saying fiber does not prevent colon cancer, which do you believe and which dietary changes should you make?

As a registered dietitian, I have had the requisite training and knowledge to comb through the confusion and help you come up with realistic changes that can add to your health. While public diet recommendations are aimed at populations, registered dietitians can help with creating a personal nutrition plan for individuals who have unique needs and goals. In the meantime, here are some principles to follow to ascertain whether the latest nutrition and health headline is worth making changes for.

1. Is this the first time you have heard this claim being made? Not all brand new nutrition news should be tossed out the window. But there should be some skepticism that this research may not play out to be the final truth. New studies need to be validated by further study. Also, newer studies are often smaller and have less statistical power than studies building on previous studies. But when another study comes out saying to eat more fruits and vegetables, this is a claim you have probably heard before and further validates the truth that more fruits and vegetables should be eaten.

2. Check the source. The study should be published in a peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of the American Dietetic Association or American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . Unpublished studies or those that have not been published through a journal where it has been scrutinized by other nutrition experts may not be a valid. Anecdotal evidence needs to be tested in order for it to stand the test of time. Individual testimonials may be true but have not been separated from confounding variables to establish cause and effect relationships.

3. Studies done on animals have less validity than those done on human beings. It may be interesting to hear that rats lose weight consuming herbal supplements, but since we live in a very different world with different bodies than rats, it is best to wait to see if the same results ring true for human studies. Test tube studies are usually done on human cell lines making it more valid than those on animal cells, but the results would still need to be tested on human subjects before the results can be applied.

4. If the study is a review of many studies, it will have more validity as it evaluates a collection of studies on one topic. A meta-analysis is an example of this. For example, a recent meta-analysis on supplementation with various vitamins resulted in a collection of data with several hundred thousand people. People should take notice of the results of this kind of study and consider the results and recommendations.

5. Keep in mind that many media reports about nutrition research are highlighted as a way to increase ratings and sell newspapers/magazines and not to ensure you receive good nutrition information. If the conclusion seems outlandish or “too good to be true” it should be read with a critical eye.

Given these strategies to determine credible nutrition information, you should be able to better wade through the confusion. If you are interested in also gaining more nutrition knowledge to navigate through the grocery store or peruse menus for foods that will also contribute to your health and well-being, my services would be beneficial.

What is a registered dietitian and why should I choose one? A registered dietitian (RD) is a person who has completed a bachelor's (4 year) degree in food science, nutrition, dietetics, or other approved accredited program through the American Dietetic Association. The dietitian has also completed a 900 hour internship including hours in a clinical setting, passed the five parts of the association's registration examination, and maintains competency through continuing education. While all dietitians can call themselves nutritionists, not all nutritionists are Registered Dietitians. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist but not have completed any education and training standards.

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Trulie Ankerberg-Nobis, M.S. is a registered and licensed dietitian. She offers personal diet counseling, supermarket tours, pantry makeovers, and cooking classes for healthy & delicious plant-based meals. Trulie works with clients to help them meet their goals for healthy eating and food preparation.

Her areas of expertise include weight loss, diabetes, heart disease, allergies, cancer, pregnancy, lactation, vegetarian, raw, and vegan eating styles, athletic training, eating disorders, and children and infant nutrition.

She has worked as a staff dietitian for The Physicians Committee for Responsible in Washington , D.C. and was research coordinator for Dr. Neal Barnard' s revolutionary Program for Reversing Diabetes study. She is an experienced public speaker who can address a wide variety of health-related issues.

Trulie is currently offering 20% discount off the initial consultation and 50% off a computerized nutrient diet analysis. You can access these coupons through her website AtlantaNutrition.com.

Wisdom vs. intellect

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?

Experiencing the true vibrancy and beauty of life

Each morning en route to the office, I have to make a left turn from Briarcliff on to Ponce De Leon. Anyone reading this who has to make the same turn knows that it's not an easy task since there's no turn signal at the traffic light. On one particular morning, I noticed a car across Ponce and facing me that was waiting to make a left turn in the opposite direction.

Unbeknownst to the woman in that car, another car was quickly approaching from behind. By the time the person in the approaching vehicle began to slow down, it was too late. The car waiting to make the left was struck from behind and sent rolling into the intersection.

Obviously, the driver of the approaching vehicle wasn't paying attention. In fact, I'm sure that's most likely how most of the accidents around the Atlanta area occur. As you know, it's easy to be preoccupied by any number of distractions of our modern culture. I'm sure most of us have experienced our thoughts drifting while driving or while performing any of our other daily tasks.

Clearly, the person in the approaching vehicle was thinking about some other situation, either in the past or the future, and not focusing his/her attention on the task of driving. You could describe this as a lack of presence.

Upon witnessing this incident, I remembered something Dr. Donald Epstein said. “All we can ever really do is to decide where we are going to focus our attention.” To put it another way, life is really about where we are choosing to place our focus, on a moment-to-moment basis. This principle holds true whether we focus on our body, our relationships with others or upon tasks we are performing.

Whenever we are not present, it is impossible for us to fully experience the true vibrancy or beauty of a situation. This is because our mind would be focused on a different place or time, even if it were imaginary. In this way we are missing the experience of life as it unfolds.

How would it affect our relationships if we could be more present and attentive to those we are with? How many accidents could we avoid? How much more productive could we be if our minds didn't wander off while we we're trying to complete a task or project? How different would life be if we were present enough to pick up on the subtle cues of our own body's wisdom?

If we could all work on being more present, I'm sure we would experience the world and each other is a much different and profound way.

Let your heart be your guide

A couple of months ago, I attended a social gathering for of a group of people on the path to higher consciousness. When I arrived, there was a group of about twenty people gathered in the host's living room. Each person had an opportunity to speak about who s/he was, why s/he had attended and what goals s/he had. Several of the people spoke about how they were working toward living a more conscious life.

The phrase “conscious life” basically meant making healthier decisions for themselves, others they might influence and the environment. It was interesting to note that most all of them had a basic idea of what to do. It became a question of how they could actually implement their ideas in the context of the current cultural paradigm and their own patterned behaviors.

When my turn arrived, I felt compelled to talk about my personal and professional desire to help people become more connected to their hearts. I mentioned that living a conscious life was an automatic thing if one was to be more connected to him/her heart.

While many people may think that the heart is just an organ designed to pump blood through the body, it is so much more than that. Experts in the field of Neurocardiology claim the heart contains up to 60% or more neural tissue, the same kind of tissue found in our brains.

The heart, just like the brain, has intelligence, albeit different from cerebral intellect. The heart's intelligence is holistic rather than linear, and responds in the interest of well being, sending intuitive prompts for appropriate behavior to the brain's emotional system. The intellect can function independently from the heart – as in stress situations — and block the subtle signals of the heart. Remember, it is our emotional system, not intellect, that prompts us to take action.

If we as individuals and collectively as a culture were constantly in stress or survival mode, it would make it difficult if not impossible to benefit from the guidance of the heart's wisdom. One could argue this is the case as evidenced by the current state of our society.

Problems that have stemmed from intellect without wisdom cannot be solved by intellect alone. If we as a society are to overcome our challenges and become more kind to each other and our environment, we must first achieve a level of peace and connection to our own hearts. Environmentally and socially conscious choices would then be automatic.

Does holistic health work 100% of the time? Yes

It has been said that healing is putting right relationships that have somehow come out of balance. Almost every day, I receive calls at the Center for Holistic Health from individuals inquiring about how holistic health can help them move beyond the symptoms they are experiencing. People wonder whether the answer to their problems lies in a particular herb or type of energy work. While it is true that these things may serve as vehicles to enhance the healing process, ultimately, there must be a change in how people perceive relationships — within themselves and with others — for true healing to occur.

I often find unique ways to invoke the concept of relationship in my practice, since it helps individuals understand body dynamics. For example, we can think about the different parts of our bodies as our children. When we don't pay enough attention to our children, or parts, they begin to act out in the form of symptoms. If we treat the symptoms without addressing their cause, that's like telling our children to just shut up. Chances are our children will continue to behave in ways designed to get our attention.

When working with practice participants, my first responsibility is to help them re-establish a connection or relationship with their own body. Please allow me to explain. The pre-frontal lobes, also known as the higher brain, are the most advanced part of the human brain. This area is also the residing place for expressions and perceptions of love, creativity, reason, purpose and self-assessment. Whenever the brain gets overwhelmed with either the content or the amount of information coming in, it will protect itself by disconnecting or shutting itself off from the undesired information.

This mechanism, called frontal lobe check out, is perfectly natural under stressful conditions. However, the overload of information is then stored in the body to be processed at a later time. When we experience extreme or prolonged stress, it becomes difficult for us recover from or even realize that this disconnect is occurring. Ultimately, if we are disconnected and don't have full access to our higher brain, we cannot truly be whole.

I teach people a technique called Somato-Respiratory Integration (SRI) to help them re-establish their connection or relationship to the body. SRI is essentially an exercise in presence directed into the body, since we must be present in order for any relationship to flourish. I'm reminded of a TV commercial in which a woman is trying to speak to her husband. He says, “I'm listening,” but his attention is completely focused on a football game. Likewise, if we direct all of our attention to the conversation in our head, there will be very little left over for the body. The key is to open up the lines of communication.

Just as people in successful, long-lasting relationships don't dwell on the negative in their partners, we must be able to listen to our bodies without judgment and proceed toward healing in an honoring and non-threatening manner. Keep in mind that symptoms are signals that something needs to be explored, and ask yourself, “How open am I to communicating with someone when the first thing s/he does is to establish that I am wrong?”

Given this kind of opposition, you'd most likely not be open to too much communication. Likewise, when working to develop a connection to an area of the body after some neglect it's important not to be too forceful. Only love can conquer hate, as it were, so instead of forcing areas that are stuck, my practice focuses upon enhancing areas that are more at ease. This enables them to exist in relation to, communicate with, and free parts of the body where energy is stuck.

Relationships are powerful tools for discovering greater aspects of the self. When true healing occurs, there is always something gained or learned from the experience even if we are unable or unwilling to see the lessons that are available for us in the moment.

Relationships and healing are also congruent in the area of personal growth since both involve a greater depth of experience. As we gain greater depth in our own healing process, we realize that healing is ultimately all about our relationship with our self and with others. Ultimately, the term holistic health encompasses our relationships to our body, other people, our environment and the whole web of life. Every judgment, action and inaction, attention and intent affects this web of life as well as our own lives.

Dr. Gene's Shortlist to Healthy Living

I often receive phone calls or start new clients looking for advice about what to do to become healthier. Since every person is different and information about what the best diet or exercise program is always changing, I hesitate to give rote advice about what they should or shouldn't do. For that reason the focus of my wellness practice is to help people become more self aware and more in tune with what specific needs they have for their body and their life. With this approach they can navigate health decisions using logical concepts and by listening to their own body's needs.

That being said; there are some general concepts about treating the body well that I'd like to share. The following is a list of ideas that one can consider to enhance their health.

1. Breathe Deeply. Oxygen is the single most important thing that our cells need to stay alive and thrive. It sounds simple enough but the fact is that if you are not breathing deeply enough to open the diaphragm; you are not fully accessing the lower third of the lungs which contain a large percentage of the alveoli. These alveoli serve to exchange oxygen into the bloodstream.

2. Drink More Water. If you experience dry mouth or thirstiness or if your urine is not clear, then you are dehydrated. Some experts say we should drink at least half our body weight in ounces of water daily. One thing to consider is the purity of your drinking water. Since it is likely that most tap water is polluted, you will probably want to drink water that has been run through a reverse osmosis system for purity.

3. Eat More Whole and Raw Foods. There are valuable nutrients and enzymes that are destroyed when food is cooked. Raw foods are easier on our system as well.

4. Cut Down on the Toxins. The least amount of chemicals going into your body, the better off you'll be. There are chemicals in everything from our food to our personal products. Preservatives, artificial sweeteners, pesticides and hormones, drugs, alcohol are among the many toxins. You may not be able to get away from all of them but you can continually work toward eliminating them from your environment. Use natural products and eat organic food whenever possible. It is also a good idea to consider some kind of cleanse.

5. More Good Fats, Less Bad Fats. Make sure you get an adequate supply of essential fatty acids. Every cell in your body requires fats or lipids, especially brain cells. The good fats are the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids which can be derived from fish, flaxseed and olive oils, avocados, almonds, hazelnuts and pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Fats to be avoided include margarine, butter, cheese, eggs, milk, vegetable oils and shortening.

6. Consider Supplementing. On one hand there's a pretty good chance that even if we eat well, our foods probably don't have as much vitamins and minerals as they used to. The question becomes the quality of the supplement you take and whether you are actually able to absorb and utilize them. Supplementing is definitely something to consider though.

7. Keep your pH balanced. In order to function properly the body must maintain a very specific pH level. High acidity can lead to numerous health problems. Animal proteins, coffee, sugar and alcohol are a few of the things that create an acidic environment in the body. Try cutting down or out the acidic foods and adding lots of greens. Alkaline boosters can be taken to help balance the body pH. You can monitor your own pH using a simple litmus test.

8. Exercise. This one goes without saying but I figured I'd mention it anyway. Exercising decreases chances of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease, while increasing energy levels and self esteem. I believe people are much better off engaging in an exercise that they actually enjoy.

9. Take Care of Your Body. Our modern lifestyle tends to create a significant amount of stress that gets stored in our bodies. If you don't take care of your body you can't trade it in for a new one. There are many types of bodywork available to help you release stress and tension from your body. Try some different types and find which of them work best for you.

10. Be Present. In my opinion, this is probably the most important thing you can do. The stress and resulting physiology created by continually replaying the past and worrying about the future is detrimental to physical and emotional well being.

There are probably many other things that can be added to this list and some things that you may disagree with. If you are looking to increase your health then they are worth exploring. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach either. Try one thing at a time if that works better for you. And if you need, you can always get help from a qualified natural health practitioner.

Good luck and have a Happy, Healthy New Year!

Beyond Maintenance is Wellness

When I first began playing the guitar, I was happy just to hold the strings down enough to create a clean sound. Then I just wanted to learn a few simple songs. It wasn't long before I became bored with that and was prompted to learn more complicated chords and songs and even some lead guitar. I also remember aspiring to play out to an audience and being nervous about the prospect of doing so.

Someone asked me recently if I still got nervous playing on stage. I think there will always be a few butterflies, but nothing that would keep me from getting up there on stage. Remembering all this got me to thinking about my progression to that point, and how it made a nice analogy to wellness care and to life in general.

When I was in school, I learned about three basic phases of chiropractic care: crisis care, corrective care and maintenance or preventative care. Within this progression of care, we initially try to help a person out of pain or whatever symptom s/he is experiencing. The objective then becomes to get the spine back to acceptable functioning, and finally to maintain it in that state.

If you look back at your life, you'd likely recall times when you may have been satisfied with the person you'd developed into with regard to emotional maturity, financial success, spirituality or relationships. But consider this, would that same level of personal development serve you now?

For instance, think back to a time when you were in your late teens or early twenties. What was the quality of the romantic relationships you had at that time? What kinds of behaviors did you engage in when in relationship at that time? If you engaged in a new relationship today without having grown or changed at all, do you think your old behaviors would contribute to the success of your current relationship or one that you are presently seeking?

I'm sure your answer would be a resounding no, unless you're still in your teens. I suppose if you were forty and still had the mentality of a teen, you might want to date one.

I think that in most aspects of life it is part of human nature to continually grow and learn. Whether in playing sports, a musical instrument, academically, scientifically or in relationships it's natural for us to strive for more and more depth of experience.

Wellness care is much like life in that respect. The goal isn't to fix you, get you back to where you were, or even maintain you in any particular place. Wellness care is about developing more evolved strategies for adapting and thriving in life.

One of my practice participants asked me an interesting question the other day that was one of several impetuses for this article. He asked if people ever graduate from care. In other words, do people ever get to a place when they can stop care? I explained that people can and do stop care when they reached their goals… or if they haven't.

What makes wellness care different than maintenance care is the fact that one can continually grow and set and achieve new goals. In fact, the University of California found that, tracked over a nine year period, people receiving Network care appeared to have no ceiling to the level of wellness they could achieve based upon self reported outcomes.

In my own experience, I find that when I receive care my life is better. Not only do I feel better physically and emotionally, I also notice that I continually grow in all areas of my life. I often wonder if that's not what life is about.

Light my fire!

I really wasn't nervous about it at all, since many of my classmates had reported doing it years before. In fact, I didn't even think about it at all until Tony Robbins began to talk about it in detail. He said that your basic stove may get up to about six or even seven hundred degrees while the hot coals we were to walk on that evening could be anywhere from twelve to twenty four hundred degrees. That little tidbit of information caught my attention.

The seminar I was attending was called “Unleash Your Power Within,” and it was directed toward breaking through the limitations we have that keep us from attaining our goals. The fire walk was really a metaphor for overcoming fears and perceived obstacles so that success, as defined by our goals, could be achieved. Hey, if you can walk on fire, what can't you do? The key to successfully making it across the course was to bring your self into, what Tony called, a “peak state.” It was also very important to remain focused, since failure to do so could result in burning your feet.

Throughout the weekend, we were asked to identify our goals and the limiting beliefs we have about achieving them; to develop strategies that create a different mindset and physisology to overcome those beliefs; and to create the ability to take ideas and convert them into action. I found it interesting that many of the concepts and strategies discussed were congruent to the types of ideas I share with my practice participants.

Most of us will, at least from time to time, have great ideas about what we want to do to achieve particular goals in our lives. Many times these goals never actually come to fruition. What's usually missing is the action step. The question then becomes, why or what is it that drives us to act? The answer is emotion. It's no coincidence that advertisements are directed toward eliciting our emotions. According to Robbins, researchers at the University of California found that monkeys could learn a task at an astoundingly greater rate when the pleasure centers of their brain were stimulated.

An easy way to achieve this peak emotional state is dancing to an upbeat song. Personally, I like to play the Jackson Five's I Want You Back or Sublime's Love is What I Got, before I affirm my goals for the day and my life. The more we achieve peak states, the more ingrained they become in our systems and the easier it is to re-access them. It's important to note that while people often feel like victims to their feelings, you may choose this state at any moment once you have a strategy to achieve it. Simply put, if you're feeling depressed, put on your favorite song and dance.

Another important step in the Robbins' workshop was for us was to identify how our limiting beliefs have affected our lives up to now and how they would affect us in the future if we didn't change them. Two of the most common and basic limiting beliefs we have are “I'm not good enough” and “I can't be loved.” It's easy to see how these types of beliefs might hinder our ability to achieve life goals. In the workshop, we went through a process of intensely focusing on the effects our limiting beliefs have had for us and really feeling this in our bodies. It was very similar to the “Suffering” stage from Donald Epstein's “Twelve Stages of Healing.” Robbins called this process Creating Leverage for Change. In other words, we must have the impetus for wanting to create a shift in our lives or we probably won't make it happen.

As I went through this process, focusing more and more on the negative outcomes my limiting beliefs have created in my life, I began to experience intense pain in my back. Upon reaching the pinnacle of this feeling, I shifted my physiology back to a peak state and began to visualize exactly what I wanted without the constraints of limiting beliefs. This part was very similar to Epstein's stage four, “reclaiming our power.” I was actually able to clearly visualize my ideal future, something that has eluded me for a majority of my life.

The seminar was a great reminder that we can choose our thoughts, state of physiology and the outcome of our lives. Now whenever I feel a little overwhelmed, I just think back to the moment before I walked across those hot coals, bring myself back to that mindset and realize that I can do anything I decide to do.

The questions we ask determine the answers we get?

In his private practice in the early 80's, Dr. Donald Epstein found that very gentle touches to specific areas along the spine could result in significant changes in a person's physiology. In addition, the people he treated had amazing shifts in their consciousness and transformation in their lives. Since his technique adopted ideas from a number of chiropractic theories, he called it Network Chiropractic. By monitoring results through his clients' reported outcomes, Epstein found that clients were not sustaining the shifts or changes that they'd experienced in his care. Consequently, he's been continually modifying and adding to the work he now calls Network Spinal Analysis.

One, if not the most significant developments in the evolution of Network Care has been the emergence of the spinal gateway. A gateway is a point where the areas of rapport or relative free energy contacted by the practitioner become more and more energetically sensitive. Practitioner contacts to these gateways assist the central nervous system in moving from stress physiology and defense posture toward one of adaptive self-assessment and reorganization. As the gateway develops, it becomes so energetically sensitive that a person will begin to respond well before an actual contact is made. If you observe Network practitioners working, you will notice them mindfully approaching the gateway from as far as a few feet away before making contact. These gateways even become sensitive to the thoughts of the practitioner and the person receiving care.

Over the last several years, I have read numerous texts and publications about the connection, power and influence of thoughts upon perception and outcomes. Deepak Chopra, Ekhart Tolle, Edgar Cayce, Catherine Ponder, Joseph Chilton Pearce and Louise Hay are just a few authors that come to mind when thinking about this work. While each author has a slightly different spin, I think they would all agree that whatever we focus upon in our lives tends to expand. Negative thoughts produce negative outcomes and positive thoughts produce a positive life experience. I'm sure we can all think of people that constantly focus upon the drama of their lives and continually create more of the same. Conversely, people who are positive most of the time seem to have an easy flow about their lives.

There is a direct correlation between our state of mind and the questions that we ask ourselves. For instance, if a person who was depressed took notice, s/he would find that questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” or “What's wrong with me?” were at the forefront of his or her thinking. While there are very few people who don't feel down or depressed at times, and I can't think of too many people who truly like feeling that way, how often do we actually consider changing the questions?

Network Care is classified into progressing levels of care offering different strategies to correlate with a person's state at any given time, and Epstein has classified the different states people experience in the healing process, and ultimately in their lives, into four seasons: Discover, Transform, Awaken and Integrate.

Questions in the Discover season, or state, might include, “Why me?” “Why doesn't this end?” “Why did s/he do this to me?” and “Why do I keep doing this?” Questions in the Transform season, or state, might include, “How can I express more of my courage?” “What's on the other side?” and “How can I resolve this?” Finally, in Awaken and beyond, the questions might include, “How can I express more love?” “How can I grow the gratitude?” “What is the gift in this?” and “How can I more fully express my soul?”

As a practitioner, it is extremely important that I'm mindful and aware of my own state because it completely affects a participant's ability to progress. Basically, I have to monitor the questions in my own head while I'm working. For instance, if I'm working with people in the Transform level, attempting to bring them into Awaken, my questions must hold the space for that transition. If I ask myself, “How can I fix this?” which is a Discover question, it would actually hinder their progress to the next level. I actually would want to be asking an Awaken question to help move them from Transform to Awaken. By the same token, if participants are asking themselves Discover questions while working in Transformation, that will inhibit their progress as well.

In fact, the questions that we ask ourselves all the time in our daily lives completely affect our states of mind and existence. You can try this out for yourself. Spend the day tomorrow monitoring how you feel and what questions you are asking in you mind. If you don't like where you are, try changing the questions. Write me and let me know how it goes; I'd love to hear your feedback.

The reason we no we should but can't

I remember someone saying to me long ago that everyone's got to have at least one vice. I don't know if this is true, but it certainly seems that most of us do. The other day when that memory recurred to me, I began to think about how many different things we do that are essentially patterned responses.

I've had clients who have taken seminars designed around breaking patterns. This, of course, was based on the idea that patterns are bad. I've often wondered why we have them in the first place if they are not good.

I can think of plenty of patterns, or habits that I have, that seem to work pretty well for me. For example, I've found that I like to shave immediately after showering, but only every other day, or my face gets irritated. After that, I apply a moisturizer but only after I've cleaned my ears with a Q-tip, since my fingers would be too slippery otherwise.

I realize this is light fare and not very exciting stuff to share, but it's a good example of some simple habits I have that serve me well. I think that's really the question we have to ask ourselves after all, “Does this habit/pattern serve me or does it not?”

Sometimes habits are not only what we do but what we think as well. We may habitually get angry about the things in our life that we don't like. While anger may be the catalyst for our change, it may also create a physiology that deteriorates our health and well-being.

Our habits are really just conditioned responses. They make life easier in some ways, because once we learn something, we don't have to go and figure it out all over again. In other words, once the higher brain figures something out, that information is stored in the lower brain for easy access. If this were not the case, we'd be so consumed with figuring out our everyday routines that it would be a challenge, if not impossible, just to get through that day.

Some habits that may have served us at a particular time in our life may no longer serve us now. For instance, if an authority figure repeatedly raised his or her hand and slapped you when you were a child, it wouldn't take long before you reacted to protect yourself. Years could pass and you might find that someone completely different may reach over you for a coffee cup and you would respond in the conditioned manner from childhood, even if there were no threat.

To give you another example, maybe someone teased you about an outfit you were wearing as a child. You might have had a perfectly justified protective emotional response at the time. As an adult, however, if someone makes an innocent comment about your outfit, and you respond emotionally, in the same manner you did as a child, before you even have time to consider their motive, it would be just another example of a patterned response.

I think we can agree that patterns can be good or bad depending upon the effect they have on our lives. This is important, because the fact is that most diseases are lifestyle related and could be altered if not completely avoided by simply changing our habits and patterns. What's amazing is that even though everyone already knows this, it's still difficult for most of us to do anything about it.

I believe that one of the reasons for this is the amount of stress that perpetuates our culture. Stress has many devastating effects on us, not the least of which is its gripping effect on our ability to change habits and patterns that no longer serve us. In fact, a great indicator of someone's wellness is in his or her ability to adapt and change to an ever-changing environment.

When we are stressed, we are essentially in a state of defense. In that state, we can't fully access our higher brain, which happens to be the part that helps us assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of our behaviors. We know what to do yet we can't seem to do it. I'm sure everyone has experienced this at one time or another.

It's good to see that many people are beginning to seek tools that can help them deal with life's stresses more effectively. I also see many more practitioners and centers offering a variety of different programs in this arena. I would encourage everyone to find places like the Center for Holistic Health that address these needs, monitors one's progression and ultimately do what feels right to them.

One's ability to develop tools to release and adapt to stress more effectively will ultimately translate into increased adaptability and a better quality of life.

Is that 'energy work'?

I was manning our information table at the Atlanta Yoga Conference the other day when someone asked me, “Do you do energy work?” It's a question I've been asked many times in the past, and it seems simple enough, but my answer has changed several times over the last twelve years.

Initially, when I first began practicing, my answer to this question was a resounding, “No.” I didn't want to associate myself with “energy workers.” My stance was based on the ambiguity I perceived in most of the energy work that I had observed and experienced. This is not to say that it was in any way invalid. At that point, my focus was really in the physical and physiological realm, and I wasn't quite sure how energy tied into it. I also felt the term had a stigma associated with it that my mainstream clientele might shun.

After some time practicing, my answer shifted to, “Everything is energy work.” That was a pretty safe statement based on the fact that all physical matter, broken down to the molecular, atomic and subatomic levels, essentially is energy. I believe Einstein's famous E = MC 2 , supports this theory. Therefore, even if you are working in the physical realm, you are doing energy work, that is, if in fact Einstein's theory is true.

As I learned more and developed as a practitioner, I began to see how the tension that people held in their bodies was stuck, or stored energy. Through the physical, albeit extremely light, contacts I employed in my work, I could help the body to release that stuck tension, or energy. One could argue that this is indeed energy work.

In the last several years, I have come to realize the significance of energy and one's ability to really work with it. Given my former resistance, it's almost ironic that one of the main goals I have in working with clients is to help them become aware of their own energy.

While the physical matter that makes up our flesh and blood is really just energy, there is also a different energy that animates our physical body. You could think of the components of a light bulb, glass and filament, as your physical body. Obviously, without the electrical energy running through the filament, the bulb would not illuminate.

As human beings, we also have an energy that runs through, illuminates and animates us to the state we describe as life. If that energy becomes interrupted or blocked, the expression of life is inhibited. If it were to become completely blocked, there would be no life. Fortunately for us, it's not an all or nothing proposition. What is unfortunate is that most people are at least partially blocked.

After all this time I am still amazed to see the body take my input, consisting of light contacts and specific positioning, and reorganize itself to the point that it can dissipate stuck tension and energy. What's even more amazing is seeing how this release of energy can enhance a person's experience of life.

So now when I'm asked if I do energy work, I pause for a moment, smile and say, “Yes.”

How dare you hug in public!

One of the many things a Gate provides is a wonderful sense of support and community. You will often see people hugging. I've heard Donny tell the story of how the hotel where they held the first Gate did not want them back because there were too many incidences of “unprovoked hugging.” HA! A friend sent me this video of related content; I hope you enjoy it.

Watch it here or on YouTube.

The Universe is Intereacting With You

This past Labor Day weekend, I made my annual trip to Denver for the Transformational Gate healing seminars that are open to anyone in Network Care. For me, each Gate is a unique and wonderful healing experience. My past Gate experiences have always been inspiring, creative, awesome and fun; this year was no different.

I've always felt and have known that there is a cosmic connection that we all have the ability to tap into. I'm sure we've all had the experience of merely thinking of someone only to have them call that day. For me, this is a daily experience.

To give you an example, I just experienced this phenomenon moments ago. Earlier today, I was singing a few verses of a song to a friend to see if she knew the song I had referred to in our conversation. Just now, my thoughts wandered momentarily back to that episode and within a few seconds the same song began to play... out of a 1,700 song mix.

In The Biology of Transcendence, Joseph Chilton Pearce writes about idiot savants, people with well below average IQ's who are somehow able to access incredible amounts of information within a very narrow field. For instance, an automobile savant could name the make, model and year of every car in a crowded parking lot, with no prior knowledge of what cars were there or even an extensive knowledge of automobiles in general. There was a famous pair of “calendrical” savants who could tell you the day Easter fell on a thousand years ago. Again, these are people with no prior knowledge or even the capacity to understand any of the information they are conveying.

Pearce explains that, without the distraction of a constant thought stream, idiot savants can tune into informational “fields,” that are apparently out there and available, and become clear channels for information by using well-developed parts of their brains... Individuals like Edgar Cayce or Jesus must have been savants, just not idiots.

Earlier in August, I attended an SRI seminar that highlighted Epstein's twelve stages of healing. Some of you may know that I have been writing songs for the each of the twelve stages. If I sit down and try and write a song, it usually doesn't come to me. As Epstein was going over Stage Six, everyone's focus was on the same information. That's when it happened; in an instant I had the Stage Six song completely composed in my head. Where did it come from? I don't know but my best guess is that I tapped into an informational field created by the collective thoughts or consciousness of the group.

So, back to the Gate.... At the very end of the Gate seminar, they raffle off a certificate for a free Gate. Since I had brought a table with me, I was eligible to win. Just before they pulled the winning ticket, I turned to my friend Matt and said, “I won it.” Then, the moment before they drew the ticket, I knew that I had won. I felt it very distinctly in my body, as fleeting though it was. When my name was called, it was not so much surprising as it was a conformation what I had felt moments ago.

I've asked a couple of “participants” to share their experiences of the Gate. This was the first Transformational Gate for each of them.

The Transformational Gate
by Linda Lewis

I recently returned from my first Transformational Gate. What a wonderful experience! I doubt there is anything quite like it. It was all that I expected and more. Actually it is difficult to describe the Gate in words. It is something you feel, experience, and becomes a part of you. The Gate is a tremendous time of healing, change, and growth. And it is a lot of fun, too. It is like going to the biggest party you have ever been to, and being the guest of honor. And so is everyone there. Or a huge family reunion where everyone is so glad to see you, because you are a part of them. I am already looking forward to going again.

The entrainments are powerful, with so many being entrained at the same time. The energy in the room is incredible. There is a tremendous freedom in knowing you can feel and experience all that you need to in a loving, supportive, and nonjudgmental atmosphere. It is amazing to think of the amount of healing and transformation going on at the same time by so many. My heart felt like it would burst with gratitude just to be there.

As the weekend progresses, you realize how much is going on within yourself. Changes, growth, inspiration, liberation... so many things words are not enough to describe it all. Leaving unwanted patterns behind, gaining new strategies for truly living life in all its fullness. I experienced more love and compassion for myself and others. A wide open feeling for giving and receiving love. Feeling more often what I think of as bliss out of the blue, those times when I take a deep breath, and am flooded with a sense of joy and peace. Feeling more altogether. Sure, there are also more tears. That seems to go with the business of life. Seeing into the hearts of people, feeling their pain, and understanding. There was a time at the Gate during a singing meditation, the tears kept pouring down my face, and I knew they would never end. So I quietly went back to sit in a corner of the room. The next thing I knew several loving women had their arms around me. We hugged, we cried together. That's the Gate. It's a very loving, nurturing environment.

I also attended the SRI seminar. I wanted to stay for it not only to understand more about SRI so I could apply more of it in my life, but I anticipated it being a chance to assimilate the intensity of the Gate and relax before getting back to my routine. I was wrong! The seminar was also incredibly powerful and intense. We didn't just learn the 12 stages of Healing, we experienced them. I do SRI regularly, mostly the first 3 stages, the others in the book didn't seem to work for me as well. I will never doubt the benefits of SRI again. I wanted to get a better feel for my own rhythms. Now I seem to have more intuition, better instinct, for what I need to do with SRI and when. And I may go through several stages in a day. It works.

For myself, the Gate and SRI was a time of spiritual growth and connection. How one event can do so much still amazes me. I found places in myself that had shut down, closed off. Cracking through that armor doesn't always feel good, but oh, when it cracks open and the light shines in you and out of you, all you can do is bask in awe and gratitude.

At the Gate you laugh, you cry, you hug, you dance and you sing. It is a totally cleansing and fulfilling experience. I loved being there!


Swing, Gates, Swing
by Debora Ott

My friend Greg would snap his fingers and shout, “Swing, Gates. Swing,” whenever he'd hear a jazz riff that moved him and he'd pick up his guitar and jump in, like Double-Dutch, playing the changes and deepening the musical groove as it touched him from heart and soul. The explosion of notes blended bounced and rebounded with sound as it released from the players, shifting the energy in the room.

Last month, I attended my first Gate. Transformational as promised, filled with energy and sound. I got to jump in and play when my heart moved me. Got to jump in and play, tune up and in with 6 different NSA practitioners from around the country. In community, with row upon row of adjustment tables tended by angels, we got to be on the same sheet of music, rush without moving, be supported and encouraged to do the real work, learning to breathe like a slender reed in a whistling world.

Break it down: 2 plus days, rain, blue skies, mountains and sun. Fun. Six adjustments, SRI, Chi Gong, Yoga, Music, it was an end of summer camp for the soul. The Angel Wash, a final love note, was perfection. All the love coming back to me as I walked the line, eyes closed. A woman grabbed me and whispered, “Let your angel out,” and I did. There's nothing tentative about human nature, nothing tentative in the divine music of the soul.


The Gate
by Laurie Ledbetter

Wow, it is something... my body just feels so different. I had been having this major consciousness shift this past year with my studies in the Kabbalah that has taken me to a completely different reality. Now I feel like my body has caught up with it all, we are in sink. The heartmath is wonderful and is a great tool... but the "GATE” is like a total overhaul... Flushing out the shit... cleaning out the pipes... getting rid of a lifetime of calcification of the outer coating the soul. IT'S FREE AT LAST! Now the soul has got its body back! I definitely know where I will be spending at least one of my vacations every year. I think my next one is going to Eurogate at Como, Italy.

I wanna do it!

At one point in his private practice in NY, Dr. Donald Epstein no longer found the term “patient” to be an appropriate or accurate description of the members of his wellness practice. He decided to hold a contest in his office to see who could come up with the best word to describe his clientele. In case you are wondering, the winning term was “practice member,” and from that point on Epstein began to call his patients “practice members.”

This was an important shift, since the word patient is defined in the dictionary as “someone who is under medical care or treatment,” and medical care is, of course, the diagnosis and treatment of symptoms or conditions. In the wellness model, a person may seek care without any need or desire for medical treatment. S/he may even be without symptoms, since many people seek wellness care purely for the life enhancing benefits that go along with that type of care. These benefits might include:

Better adaptation to stress

* Increased positive feelings
* Decreased moodiness
* Less depression
* More interest in life
* Fewer concerns about small things
* Improved ability to think and concentrate
* Less anxiety

As I struggled to find an accurate descriptive term for the people who participate in my wellness practice, I wasn't completely comfortable using the term “practice member”; something about it seemed a bit strange to me.

Clearly, “patient” won't do, and whenever someone says anything to me about “my patients,” my standard answer is, “I have no patients”. While it may be a marginal attempt at a humorous pun, it is also very true. I had begun using the term “client,” but even that doesn't sound quite right either.

I recently met a couple of chiropractors who had just opened an office nearby. Apparently, they are practicing in the wellness model because they came up with what I think is the best term yet — “participant.” They don't have patients, they have participants. I like it so much that I'm going to use it for my practice.

Participation is one of the most important aspects of a person seeking care in the wellness model. Normally, when someone sees their medical practitioner, they take more of a passive role in the process. I know I've mentioned before how many times I've heard someone say, “My doctor put me on this” or “My doctor gave me permission to do this.”

Do you remember being a kid and saying, “I wanna do it!”? As children we strived for the ability of and the right to self empowerment. We wanted to do it, whatever it was, for ourselves, and if for no other reason, then to prove we could.

In the wellness model, people are empowered in their own process. They are the decision makers. Instead of having a procedure done to them, the practitioner acts as more of a facilitator, guiding them through the process of healing. They begin to develop a trust and understanding of their own body and a deeper connection to their motivations and joy in life.

They are true participants in their process and in life... and from now on that is what I shall call them.

What does that have to do with me?

A couple of weeks ago I went to see the debut of Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. The evidence presented in this movie about global warming and its effects upon the future of the planet gives us an extremely powerful wakeup call. At least one would think so.

Despite the evidence, which, by the way, is universally accepted in the scientific community, our government refuses to see that there is a major problem requiring drastic action. Their response is to call it a natural swing, even though scientists are reporting record breaking numbers for heat indexes and tropical storms across the board.

As I looked at satellite pictures showing the melting of the polar caps, I wondered how we could let it get this far without noticing the changes. More importantly, upon noticing the symptoms of our modern society, I wondered how we could have sat by passively without altering our path.

While the evidence was shocking, I can't honestly say I'm surprised by the extent of the situation or by most folks apathy regarding it. In my observation, people generally see symptoms as an inconvenience to be pushed aside or swept under the rug as quickly as possible. The mentality of our culture has universally influenced our perceptions and resulting behaviors to the point of critical proportions.

Part of wellness is having an ever increasing awareness of what our body needs and wants. The more acutely aware we are the less need for more drastic or intense signals or symptoms to effect change. Better to hear the lion's roar than to feel his breath, as it were. To put it another way, you don't want a heart attack to be the first sign that you're too stressed. Unfortunately for many, it is the first symptom they notice. Sometimes, even such a drastic sign is not enough to illicit change.

Another aspect of wellness is one's realization of the relationship to the bigger picture of life. You affect everything and everything in turn affects you. This includes your relationship to yourself, others, to our environment and planet. We are so intimately connected to our environment that its health and function directly effect our own.

Just as a majority of the population fails to heed the warning of their own symptoms as a need for change, so it is with the symptoms of the planet. Generally speaking, if we feel like we are not responsible for the symptoms that we experience in our bodies, it only makes sense that the same dynamic would (and does) play out when it comes to our responsibility to what happens to the planet.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine about which issues would determine his political vote. One of his issues was how the political out come would affect his financial picture. I pointed out to him that if this global conundrum wasn't quickly addressed the economic views of any given politician wouldn't matter much. Global warming and the associated change in weather patterns will have devastating effects upon countless species, human life and ultimately our economic stability.

From that standpoint, it doesn't really matter whether you're left, right, Conservative, Liberal, Democrat or Republican. All of our political, religious, economic and financial concerns are minuscule when measured against the fallout continued global warming will wreck upon our current way of life.

Unless you've been living under a rock, (and you might be doing just that to try and stay cool) then you've most likely seen all the news reports of record breaking heat around the country and world. If only we could ignore it, maybe it will go away?

But that's not what's happening. Countless species are heading for extinction because they are unable to adapt to the quickly changing environment. While many people don't really care too much about it now, they may change their tune when it begins to affect the food chain. Damage and claims due to the weather are continually increasing causing astronomical monetary and human losses.

How many people have stopped to consider what is going to happen if, and more likely when, the polar caps melt? A multitude of coastal cities will be under water. (It's already beginning to happen.) What effect is that going to have on our economy?

When the symptoms become too great to ignore in our bodies or on our planet, we will eventually come to the point where we will be forced to make a change... if it's not too late.

Time out!

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting with some friends who have two young children. The mother was telling me that her son, who we'll call Johnny, had some challenges with focus and attention currently not significant enough to warrant the label of ADD/ADHD. When I inquired about which methods or strategies she used to deal with the situation I was pleasantly surprised.

Whenever Johnny has difficulty listening or focusing, she sends him to his room for what she called a “sensory time out.” He goes to his room and bounces his back on his bed five or six times. He can also hug himself, or someone else, real tight. The method basically helps him bring his attention into his body.

After listening to her I said, “Oh my God, that's just like SRI” (Somato-Respiratory Integration). Of course, SRI is a little more involved but the basic concept of connecting to the body is the same.

Whenever we are not present, which includes times of depression, anxiety or inability to focus, among many others; we are effectively having a conversation in our head. When our attention is on the conversation, we have very little attention or presence in our body.

SRI utilizes a combination of breath, movement and focused attention directed to specific parts of the body. One of the many results is a deeper connection to one's own internal body rhythms. As I say often, it is impossible to be focused on your body rhythms and mental conversation simultaneously.

In my experience, I would say that an overwhelming majority of the people I work with are quite “disconnected” from their bodies. This isn't all that surprising to me based upon how busy our lives have become. What is a little surprising and somewhat disturbing is the fact that this epidemic is even affecting our children. The increasing numbers of children being labeled with ADD/ADHD is sadly alarming.

It is good to see that at least some other disciplines are beginning to take a body centered approach to this problem. I encourage everyone, adult or child, to seek a system like SRI that helps develop simple tools for increased body awareness, connection and focus.

Do you ever feel out of synch?

In his book, The Biology of Transcendence, Joseph Chilton Pearce discusses, among other things, how the millions of “frequency entrained” heart cells together create an electromagnetic field known as the heart energy.

I found his writings on this subject particularly interesting because the work we do with clients utilizing Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Resiratory Integration is based on exactly the principles Pearce illustrates.

He describes how a single heart cell placed under a microscope will pulsate evenly for a time before it eventually fibrillates and dies. When a second cell, also fibrillating, is placed in spatial proximity, the two cells actually stop fibrillating and resume their regular pulsing in synchrony with each other.

The fact that the two cells weren't touching indicates the presence of a field that appears to transform disorder into order, entraining to the rhythm of life. Pearce goes on to talk about the concept of entrainment:

When brain and heart frequencies entrain, they enter a synchronous, resonant, or coherent wave pattern. Though rare in adults, such entrainment is critical to full development of our human nature, and new research is revealing how this can be achieved. In the example opening this chapter, entrainment between two heart cells lifted them from chaos into order. The same entrainment of heart frequencies occurs between mother and infant during breast-feeding and other close body contact. In a state of full frequency match, the body, brain, and heart produce a single coherent frequency pulse or wave form, and a similar resonance occurs between infant and mother.

The heart certainly has intelligence, though this calls for a new definition of the word to differentiate it from cerebral intellect. The heart's intelligence is not verbal or linear or digital, as is the intellect of our head, but rather is a holistic capability that responds in the interest of well-being and continuity, sending to the brain's emotional system an intuitive prompt for appropriate behavior. Intellect, however, can function independently from the heart – that is, without intelligence — and can take over the circuitry and block the heart's more subtle signals.

The procedure that someone in Network Care receives is called an entrainment. The entrainment is designed to help a person to release defensive patterning and synchronize with the body's peaceful inherent signals. In this care, the body actually develops respiratory and muscular waves that break the patterned responses dictated by the previously locked structure.

If someone is in defense, and a majority of people are, it is difficult if not impossible to overcome the survival-based logic of the intellect and fully connect with the wisdom of the heart.

Energy of unresolved events, stresses and perceptions held in the body limit our flexibility as well as our ability to pick up the subtle but important internal cues that help us adapt to an ever-changing environment.

Advanced Network Care is all about bringing greater awareness and connection with the heart rhythm. As the heart signal becomes more pronounced, individuals receiving care report being more fully able to make healthier choices for themselves, being more compassionate, vital, creative, self aware, and responsible to human culture.

You're only hurting yourself

This morning, just as I sat down to write this article, a telemarketer called and asked, “May I speak to the person in charge of your printer supplies?” I politely replied, “Can you please take us off your list?” He told me if I didn't want to receive phone calls I should just disconnect my phone, and then he hung up without giving me a chance to reply. I had to laugh at his logic though.

I found the incident particularly funny since I was going to write about telemarketing calls for this month's newsletter. Last week, I got a telemarketing call from someone representing a copier company. Since I've received calls from this company before, I recognized the script. It reads something like this: “This is John, yeah, we're sending out the catalog. We just need to check the serial number on your copier, could you check?”

Of course, I don't have a copier, which is what I told them the first several times I got the call. I usually try to be as pleasant as possible, but my mischievous side takes over now and again and I'm likely to say, “Copier, what are you talking about? Who did you say this was? I don't know what you're talking about.” I suppose it wasn't really right for me to have fun at the expense of the person on the other end of the line trying to make a living, but nobody's perfect.

The fact is I really feel disappointment for that person, not because he is making his living telemarketing, but because the script he is required to read leaves him doing it in a dishonest fashion. I imagine that he doesn't realize the significance of being out of integrity, but I have no doubt he experiences its effects.

Integrity is an aspect of wellness we don't often hear about since it is not often discussed.

I recall my good friend and colleague Dr. Wayne Leyshon referring to this many years ago when he said, “Your life doesn't work when you're out of integrity.” It immediately made sense to me even if I didn't understand how it tied into wellness at the time.

People experiencing greater wellness initially feel a more peaceful state of mind, less depression and anxiety, and an increase in positive feelings about themselves. As they progress, they report quality of life changes such as confidence in dealing with adversity, more guidance by their inner voice and, of course, compassion for others. I think it's safe to say that compassion and deceit are incongruent.

But here's the catch — while wellness means ever expanding levels of awareness in your body, your life and the world around you, the more wellness you are experiencing, the more intolerant you will be of things that are incongruent with your body, mind and soul. This concept can be expanded to include all of humanity. When I was a kid, I remember seeing a bumper sticker that read, “As long as there is oppression, no one can truly be free.” While I was certainly not in support of oppression, I didn't realize at the time how it had any effect on me. From a spiritual sense, we begin to realize that we all come from the same Source, and to hurt another is congruent to hurting yourself.

I don't think it's possible for someone to feel true compassion for others and, at the same time, try and trick or deceive them. When you are aware of your body you immediately feel your own physiological reaction to all of your thoughts and actions, positive or negative. When you are living and acting without (or “out of”) integrity, you can't experience a state of inner peace and the physiology indicative of it. When we have a physiology of dis-ease and a relative disconnection from really feeling our body, eventually we will experience some kind of symptom as a way for our body to get our attention.

By sacrificing his integrity in order to boost sales, the telemarketer is unknowingly deteriorating the quality of his own life. I don't know him personally, but I would be willing to bet that it is showing up in some fashion, whether in physical symptoms or life situations. My hope for him and for all of us is that we recognize the symptoms as signals for self reflection and change.

I can't commit to that: Making healthy choices

One day a guy — let's call him Bill — called after having been referred to the Center for Holistic Health by a friend. Bill was experiencing back pain and was beginning to have trouble lifting his leg. Previously, when this had happened, Bill would see his chiropractor and that would take care of it. Bill then returned to his normal life. Only this time, it wasn't going away.

I invited him in for a consultation to further discuss his situation and determine some options. It turned out he'd been experiencing similar symptoms off and on for about fifteen years. He also shared with me that he'd been going through a particularly stressful time in his life.

I talked to Bill about how stress physiology and its global effects manifest in the body. He already knew that stress causes increased heart rate and blood pressure, shallow respiration and a tightening of the spinal muscles. He didn't even seem surprised to hear that it causes a reduced blood supply to the higher brain. This was probably because he was also experiencing some mental forgetfulness. Bill appeared to resonate with my description of Network Care and the effects it would have on stress physiology. Finally, he asked me how many visits he would need to commit to.

Those of you who know me or have read my articles understand that I'm not a proponent of the quick fix. We all shape our health over time. Since the factors involved in creating health — or dis-ease for that matter — are various and cumulative, why would we assume that years of patterns could be shifted and “fixed” instantly? In addition, the last thing I would want to do is remove his body's warning system without any learning or change in behavior on his part.

Based on his history, I told Bill that he'd most likely be looking at a couple of visits a week for several weeks to complete basic care. Bill said, in an extremely pleasant manner, “I have to be honest; I'm just not someone who can commit to that.” I appreciated his honesty, and, since I don't subscribe to the kill the messenger philosophy, I was able to tell him I had no attachment to his decision as to whether or not to begin care. Basically, he was saying that he had a history of not being able to commit to something like this and in order for him to do it he would have to change his normal behavior; he just wasn't sure he could do it. What is interesting here, of course, is the fact that Bill's inability to change and adapt in his life is most likely the cause of his discomfort, and exactly why he really needs care.

Clients have heard me say many times that the degree of flexibility in one's structure is directly proportional to the degree of flexibility in one's life, and this situation was a perfect example. Inflexibility in one's structure directly effects neuro-peptide binding on the cellular level. This, in turn, has an effect on one's available behavioral responses. For more information on the subject, refer to The Molecules of Emotion by Dr. Candice Pert.

Many times in life, we get attached to a story about ourselves, or an explanation of why things are the way they are regardless of the relevant truth. Our inability to change our story and adapt to the ever- changing landscape of life can wreck havoc on our physiology. If we are brought up with a particular belief system and those beliefs no longer work for us or match our evolved body/mind it creates a mental struggle and results in a defensive physiology and associated inflexibility of structure. Many of the symptoms we experience are a direct manifestation of this mechanism.

If we think about it and look back on our lives, how many times have we changed what we thought or believed about religion, politics, relationships and life? How many times have we reconsidered — in the light of new evidence or heightened awareness – what our choices might be? That is what you might call growth.

This is Dr. Gene. What's this Doctor's Specialty?

Several months ago, a client took me to an open house where she worked. She had an awkward time introducing me because she was unable to explain our professional relationship. She said something like, “This is Dr. Gene Clerkin; he's my back doctor,” or “He helps me learn how to breathe.” While I love and appreciate her as a client, I couldn't help but think that if a great client — who I believe understands the benefits and methodology of this work — has trouble formulating a description of Network Care, then everyone else probably does too.

While most of our clients are successful in achieving their goals and are happy with the amazing results they can experience with care, they often can't explain it to other people. This is not the ideal situation for a referral-based practice using a methodology little known to the general public. That being said, I thought it would be helpful to share a couple of easy explanations for Network Care with you.

First, Network Care is a profound healing work that helps to the body transform from a state of stress physiology to one of ease, safety and wellness. People in Network Care experience significantly greater physical, emotional and psychological well-being. They also develop the ability to make healthier choices and have a happier more productive life.

Or one could simply say, Dr. Gene is my wellness coach. His techniques help me get more in tune with my body, reduce stress and enhance my life.

In God we trust: Vitalistic Principles

The other day, I had a conversation with someone about healing which eventually became a conversation about spirituality. I recalled being back in school and working on cadavers. While staring in amazement at the masterpiece that is the human body, I remember very clearly saying to myself, “Wow, there's no way this just happened by mistake.” I believe that was one of the most defining moments of my future beliefs, personally, spiritually and professionally.

D.D. Palmer, the healer who created chiropractic, based his philosophy on a major premise. It states that there is a universal intelligence in all matter constantly giving to it all of its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence. In other words, without intelligence, matter could not exist. This sounds a little strange, but most theists might unknowingly agree and call that Universal Intelligence God.

I always liked the analogy that Reggie Gold, D.C. used to illustrate this principle. It went something like this: If we found a watch on the sidewalk, we could choose to believe that the elements in the structure of the watch came together randomly to create the intricate timepiece.

While anything is possible, I doubt most people would dispute the fact that the watch was, in fact, designed and assembled by the watchmaker. Why then would we think that the universe, in its grandeur, or the human body for that matter, could be anything but designed intelligently? Either the universe operates randomly or with intelligence as Palmer's premise supports.

If we do support that premise, then it must logically apply to all levels of the web of life. Our decisions about how we interpret our body's symptoms and what actions we might take are completely influenced by whether we trust what's happening. In other words, when we exhibit “symptoms” we all must ask, “Should I trust that my body knows what it is doing?”

One of the great things about having a major philosophical premise to work from is that it can be applied in all situations including how one eats, things one does for oneself, one's relationships, the environment, and everything else. People who are experiencing wellness have a tendency to trust in the process of life.

To me the principle is really a spiritual one that applies to all aspects of life. The question is, do we trust in the process, or are life's flavors met with fear and struggle?

*Note: This article is not meant to support either the creationist or evolutionist point of view.

Serendipidy: God's Guidance

As people work toward developing strategies to increase wellness, they experience a wide array of positive changes. One of my favorite changes in clients is an increase in serendipitous events in their lives. It is a characteristic that increases in relation to the degree of wellness a person is experiencing. In reference to Network Care, it shows up more in higher levels of care or when a person develops greater somatic awareness and strategies.

Several years ago, I wanted to get a PA system. I had been playing guitar and singing for several years and wanted to take it to the next level. At the time, it seemed a rather large purchase and I was unsure about whether I could justify spending the money. I called several music stores to price the particular system I was interested in, until I found a store that had the system for three hundred dollars less than all the others. I decided to go there, check it out and see what happened.

I was able to hook up and try out the system, and since the guy at the counter was a musician as well I asked him to play a song so I could see if it was what I was looking for and get a better idea of the sound quality. After he finished, he mentioned that I could take the system home and return it if I didn't like it. I figured I had nothing to lose. When he rang up the charge for the system, he realized it was on sale and was going to cost even less than I had expected. He didn't get any argument from me.

Because he mentioned that he played regularly at a local Atlanta establishment, I asked him how he got started and what I could do to get some gigs. Another customer overheard our conversation and handed me the business card of a local booking agent. He said if I called him he could set me up with some paying gigs which I thought was quite fortuitous.

I paid for the system, loaded up the car and headed for home. When I turned on the radio, Poison's “Rose” was playing. It had been about ten years since the last time I heard that song, but what I thought was really interesting and significant was that it happened to be the same song the music store guy played for me when he demonstrated the system. I immediately took that a positive sign that I had made the right decision in purchasing the system.

Later on, I sent a demo tape to the booking agent and began playing out shortly thereafter. The PA system paid for itself in less than a couple of months. Because music has been such an enjoyable experience for me, it turned out to be one of the defining decisions of my life.

I share this story with you because most of the time when we have decisions to make we refer to the conversation in our head in which we repeat the same thought patterns over and over, for the answer. The other alternative, and one which occurs more frequently in someone experiencing wellness, is to refer to our bodies and to the serendipitous guidance provided by the universe.

When we are “in our heads” our thoughts and behaviors are usually associated with fear and stress physiology. When we are not stuck in our heads, our guidance comes from observation and trust which is less available in a stress physiology. One of the aspects of wellness is choosing to make decisions based on trust rather than fear. In a defensive physiology our decisions tend to be more survival based and the wisdom of the body and our connection to a transcendent source are less available.

Personally, I believe these serendipitous events are occurring all the time. We just have to be aware enough to realize they're happening. Once you are, these coincidences don't seem so random or strange anymore. It's nice to see and experience this as one of the many benefits of a greater degree of wellness.

Community: An important aspect of healing

Every few months, the Network practitioners from the Southeast will get together and offer a “Clear Day.” Participants can do some yoga, SRI and have the opportunity to get entrained three times. Basically, it's a wonderful and gently structured day that is dedicated to peace and deepening your inner connection. Each time we have a Clear Day, I'm reminded of another important aspect of healing; building community. Sometimes, when we are on a personal healing journey, our friends or families don't really understand what we are engaged in so it's nice to connect with other individuals who do.

Seeing everyone interacting with each other at the last Clear Day, I was reminded about this very important aspect of a connected life - community. There is a banner posted in the bathroom at the Center that reads “How to Build Community”, followed by a hodgepodge of various community building ideas. I thought I would share them with you.

Turn Off Your TV, Leave Your House, Know Your Neighbors, Look Up When You Are Walking, Greet People, Sit On Your Stoop, Plant Flowers, Use Your Library, Play Together, Buy From Local Merchants, Share What You Have, Help A Lost Dog, Take Children To The Park, Garden Together, Support Neighborhood Schools, Fix It Even If You Didn't Break It, Have Pot Lucks, Honor Elders, Pick Up Litter, Read Stories Aloud, Dance In The Street, Talk To The Mail Carrier, Listen To The Birds, Put Up A Swing, Help Carry Something Heavy, Barter For Your Goods, Start A Tradition, Ask A Question, Hire Young People For Odd Jobs, Organize A Block Party, Bake Extra And Share, Ask For Help When You Need It, Open Your Shades, Sing Together, Share Your Skills, Take Back Your Night, Turn Up The Music, Turn Down The Music, Listen Before Your React To Anger, Mediate A Conflict, Seek To Understand, Learn From New And Uncomfortable Angles, Know That No One Is Silent Though Many Are Not Heard, Work To Change This.

List courtesy Syracuse Cultural Workers

Does Everyone Have Subluxation?

A couple of years ago I had a booth at a local town festival. At one point, a girl who looked to be in her mid twenties came up to me and said, “I already know what's wrong with my spine. I have subluxation.” She assumed, of course, that because I was stationed at the booth with a spine model that I was there to find out what was wrong with hers. In fact, I was actually out there to tell people how they could enhance their lives regardless of what, if anything was “wrong” with them. That's when I stopped bringing my spine model out to trade shows and festivals.

I had to chuckle to myself though. Apparently, the chiropractor she had gone to told her she had a condition called subluxation that would be a detriment to her health and wellness. While that was most likely true, the reality was and is that everybody has subluxations. Her chiropractor and every other chiropractor practicing could find the same condition in almost every single person that walked through their doors.

The fact is, that when you seek health practitioners' advice about symptoms you're experiencing, no matter what type of practice they have there's a pretty good chance they'll find what they're looking for within their own practices model for diagnosis and treatment. For example, if you see a medical doctor, s/he will find an imbalance in body chemistry. The acupuncturist will find blocked energy channels and a disturbance of chi, and the chiropractor will find misalignments of the spine altering nerve function and so on. There is nothing inherently wrong with this.

Our Decatur office is located very close to the ever-expanding Dekalb Medical Center. While driving by the other day, I noticed a sign out in front of the new maternity center that read “patients in labor.” Seemed normal enough at first, I guess, but it certainly speaks to a matter of perspective and brings up an interesting point.

By definition, the word “patient” refers to someone who, based on presenting symptoms and perhaps following a battery of tests, has been diagnosed, and is being treated for a disease or ailment. By using the word patient to describe women in labor, the implication is that having a baby is equivalent to having a disease or ailment. (This, by the way, is why I prefer to use the word client instead of patient.) In our culture, even birth and death have been pathologized when in fact they are as natural as natural can be. In fact, most symptoms that the body displays are not about what's “wrong,” rather they are created by the body to serve its own purpose and to convey information. One of the reasons I like offering a wellness approach is that it's not based on eliminating symptoms or having to find something wrong in order for it to be applied.

Most “health” modalities look at a symptom as an enemy that must be controlled and vanquished. Here's what author Donald Epstein has to say about our predisposition to avoid taking responsibility for our own health and listening to our bodies in his book “Healing Myths, Healing Magic”:

"If we have a physical symptom or psychological distress, traditionally our goal is to battle it, cure it, or control it. Unexplainable and uncontrolled expressions of emotion, symptoms, breath, or body are considered problematic and require intervention by a specialist. Once the specialist applies her magical treatment to assist us in achieving comfort, this allows us to continue living our life as we normally do, without making changes to our story: attitudes, beliefs, or lifestyles that may have contributed to the problem in the first place.”

The application of both Network Spinal Analysis and Somato-Respiratory Integration is based on enhancing the parts of the body that are working well. Most times, people in this type of care find resolution of their symptoms and the insight and strength to help them create the change that their body so desperately needs.

Stress! It's an epidemic!

The other day, a man stopped in to the office to inquire about holistic care. When I asked him what his goals were, he said “I don't know. I'm basically healthy.” By healthy he meant that he'd only been on four different medications for the past twenty years. As we spoke, I noticed he constantly looked away and up in the air. He also had trouble maintaining his train of thought. After significant investigation, I was able to pry more information out of him – it turned out that his back, feet and ankles hurt every day.

I proceeded to perform an examination which, among other things, consisted of noting where and how much tension he was holding in his body and also to measure the level of his body awareness. I was not surprised to find all the parameters I use to measure tension were at their highest levels. As I went through this exam with the client, I pointed out the different areas of tension to help him establish body (somatic) awareness. The client couldn't feel anything.

When you think of it, it's amazing that anyone could have had that much tension and be absolutely unaware of it. This degree of disconnection is called Alexithymia. The chief manifestations are difficulty in describing or recognizing one's own emotions, a limited fantasy life, and general constriction in the affective life. Alexithymia is a disturbance in affective and cognitive functioning that is common in psychosomatic disorders, addictive disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

People like this are generally rigid and unable to change or adapt. They are also less likely to be in tune with their environment and their relationships. Since they lack awareness and disregard their body's signals, they are unable to adapt or change even if their behavior or their life in general is not working.

While this particular client was one of the more extreme cases I've seen, this relative disconnection is quite common. In fact, almost every one I see has some degree of disconnection or lack of awareness in his or her body. The effect this has on our culture and society cannot be underestimated.

When we are in a perpetual stress mode, all of our attention is on the conversation in our head and we miss out on the subtle cues and wisdom of our body. This “disconnect” — which inhibits our ability to grow and adapt to an ever changing environment — is a detriment to us as individuals and to society as a whole. The very frightening fact is that this disconnection from our internal cues, our inherent rhythms and ultimately our humanity is at epidemic proportions. It is wrecking havoc with our physiology, our environment and our species. Someone should alert the authorities! Hey wait, that's us!

How to choose holistic health

This morning, on the way to the office, I heard a story about a study that was conducted by the National Academy of Science which found that fluoride, which, as most know, has been added to our drinking supply to help strengthen our teeth and bones, might actually be harmful to us instead of being helpful for our teeth and bones as originally thought.

Every time I hear one of these studies I have to laugh to myself as I think, I could have told you that. But how would I know that without having done a study myself?

Very often, clients that consult with me are seeking advice about their diet, exercise program or what types of holistic procedures they should try. Instead of telling them what I think they should do, I prefer to arm them with the ability to reason their own solutions.

Many practitioners will give rote advice about diet and exercise regimens. That would be great if it weren't for the fact that no two people are the same. While a specific diet might be great for one person, it might not work for another. Then how do we know what's best for us?

I recommend a combination of sound reasoning and listening to your body for its own specific needs.

There are two basic methods of reasoning - inductive and deductive. Inductive reasoning is based on gathering bits of information, considering them, and then reaching a conclusion. Deductive reasoning is based on the logical thought progression from a major premise or accepted idea to smaller concepts or conclusions. If your major premise if faulty, you can expect that all other ideas stemming from it will be false too. Likewise, faulty bits of information would render inductive reasoning ineffective.

For example, there was a time when the accepted truth was that the world was flat. Anyone disagreeing would most likely be burned at the stake or at the very least be ridiculed. Now we know otherwise because every day as new knowledge is gained it replaces previous understandings and subsequent advice or procedures based upon those truths or understandings.

I heard once that every year scientists learn more about the human body than in all previous years combined. Given this, it might be worth noting that our current healthcare system leans heavily toward inductive reasoning. The Physicians Desk Reference, which is published by pharmaceutical companies, lists all information known about the medications they distribute including uses and side effects. It's interesting to note that the mode of action for almost all of the medications listed is unknown. In other words, they don't know how they work. Why not, you ask? Simply, because as much information as we have learned about the human body we still don't know much at all. If we did, then our healthcare system might not be in such shambles.

Great. So now what? If we can't rely on compiled information or conflicting research studies, how are we supposed to make healthy decisions for ourselves and our children? To sum it up in one word: Think!

Using a combination of inductive and deductive reasoning, we need to make conscious decisions based on what actually makes sense, not on what somebody else tells us. Information is a good thing, but it must be used with wisdom and common sense.

For instance, let's consider what we put into our bodies. We don't need a study to tell us that synthetics or chemicals ingested or absorbed in the body are going to be harmful. Logically, we would want to eat wholesome (preferably organic) foods and stay away from anything that has preservatives or other chemicals or food that is processed including fast food. Bottom line, you don't need a research study or a course in nutrition to deduce this.

Last, and most importantly, we must listen to what our body wants and needs. Remember, we are all unique and have different and specific requirements. No expert knows your body like you do. Most of my work is based on helping clients to develop an awareness of their body and its needs. When they develop that internal awareness then they automatically make healthier choices that are right for them.

A great spiritual teacher once said “You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” Personally, I'd rather teach my clients how to fish for themselves.

The Law of Attraction

I have an article taped to my bathroom wall that is positioned where I have no choice but to look at it every day. It contains several of what author Dr. John Amarro calls the laws of life. The first one is called the law of attention, and it states, “Whatever you focus your attention on will grow.”

As Network practitioners and SRI facilitators, my colleagues and I put this law into practice every day. Practitioners of most modalities, at least those that I'm aware of, approach their work differently – they find what is not working and attempt to fix it. In general, they will go to the area of most fixation or stuck energy in order to break it free. First comes the diagnosis, what is wrong, and then comes the treatment. We work in completely opposite manners.

Unless you've been living under a large rock, I'm sure you've heard the advice, “think positive.” That basically means put your focus on what is working in your life instead of what is not working. If your focus is always on what isn't working or what you don't have then that generally becomes and continues to be your reality.

Transferring this advice to the practice of wellness care, instead of going to the area of stuck energy, or what's not working, we look for the area of free energy or, what is working. The light contacts of Network are designed to bring the brain's attention to what we call spinal gateways. Basically, these are areas of report or places where the nerve system is willing to accept input. Because the brain is focused on the free energy, it begins to grow and that is what will dissolve the stuck energy parts.

Somato-Respiratory Integration (SRI) is a self-awareness tool that uses focus, breath and movement to help the brain become more connected to internal body rhythms. As in Network, we are not forcing areas that are stuck; rather we are finding the areas that are able to move and bringing the brain's attention to them. Once again, by keeping the focus on what is working those areas will expand and spread.

I find the analogy of relationships most helpful in explaining this to clients. If you and I are in a relationship and I ignore you for a period of time we become “disconnected.” If I want to have a good relationship with you, I'm bound to realize that ignoring you is not the way to make that happen so I decide to try and open up communication with you again. The problem is that you are likely to be apprehensive about opening back up to me. If I am too forceful, I may hinder any chance at all of re-establishing our relationship. A better strategy is to begin by creating some safety between us first. As you feel safer, you will be more likely to trust me and open up once more.

Most every client I share this analogy with seems to think it makes a lot of sense. This is, by the way, what the whole idea of wellness is based upon. Why is it then that a majority of people adhere to the fear-based medical model in matters regarding their health and life? Remember, whatever we focus upon will grow. If we are afraid of our body and afraid of life we will constantly struggle against it.

Can't you fix the pain first? Seeking Alternative Care

Every so often, a client, especially one who's been to a chiropractor, will ask if I can “crack” their neck. My answer usually sounds something like this; “I could, but I'm not going to.” On the surface it might appear that I don't have compassion, but I assure you that I do have my reasons.

What would be the harm in a little thrust aimed at getting rid of the pain? In some ways there's no harm at all, but in other ways, it could be detrimental. I know that sounds a little extreme so allow me to explain.

Sometimes working within the Wellness model can take a bit of discipline. Since the medical or treatment model is by far the most prevalent model in our culture, most people expect you to practice in it even if you are a holistic or wellness practitioner.

To begin with, unlike treatment, wellness is not designed to fix you. It is designed to help you self-correct and create whatever change is needed in your life, among other things. For example, when raising children, if a parent always does everything for them and they never have to figure anything out for themselves, they will never learn and will most certainly have trouble becoming self-sufficient. Likewise, in a wellness practice, particularly with Network Care, instead of fixing a problem, a little guidance toward the source serves one better.

In the body and in life, if we are stuck or not moving, we need something to initiate change. If the energy is flowing properly in the body, it will then be available to create that change. When we are feeling pain, it almost always means there is stuck energy. A Network practitioner actually utilizes this stuck or stored energy as the fuel source to create change. Sometimes when an individual is in care s/he will begin to feel some discomfort as the brain becomes more aware and energy builds in her or his body. If we can help an individual access it, then it becomes their fuel for growth and change. The natural response, influenced by our culture, is to look for the practitioner to relieve the pain. I don't know too many practitioners, wellness-based or not, including me, who wouldn't like to “fix” it, but that one small thrust, or whatever procedure one might use, while easing the pain, might rob clients of an opportunity for transformation.

Just yesterday, I was confronted with a similar situation. This particular client had been progressing very nicely through care. The stuck energy had been steadily changing and moving up her spine and into her neck and she was feeling it. She immediately shared her uncomfortable symptoms with me, no doubt with hope that I could get rid of them. What we did instead was to work on helping her brain become more aware so it could do something with it. This will help her to create change in her structure which will ultimately help her create change in her life.

Of course, I did spend some time with her, explaining the concept which seemed to ease her concern and distrust of her body's process. I am no stranger to pain, and I know, from experience, that pain doesn't feel as bad as the fear that often accompanies it. It was interesting to watch her shift from a state of fear associated with “illness” behavior, to one with more trust, which is seen in wellness behavior.

The question always arises: “Can't you help get rid of the pain and then work on wellness?” Many do but, at what cost? In our culture we are constanty bombarded with the fix-it mentality of the medical model. While it is perfectly ok and even necessary at times to get “fixed,” it is completely opposite the wellness model. Wellness is about learning how to listen to what the body is trying to tell us through its symptoms. One small detour could, and most likely would, derail much of the education I've provided to my clients and deter them from making what could be a major change in their lives. As tempting as it would be to be all things to everyone, I think it's too important to ignore the bigger picture that healing has to offer.