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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Wellness Account
April 3, 2013
Paying attention is the first step to wellness. Our individual health is like a bank account. We deposit good constitution and healthy habits such as whole fresh food and solid rest. When things go wrong it is impossible to tell which check has overdrawn the account. If you take out more than you put in this will always be the result. Rather that be too crazy about diagnosis and specific remedies, a good overview can help sort out the most crucial from the unimportant. How and why do you use your own resources to damage your health?
Our bodies consist of an advanced bundle of cells and energy connected to create this network of life, feeling and emotion. We are a conduit to something fantastic and sometimes unimaginable; a Responsive Universe…. Our bodies are our best friends. We need to listen to our bodies signals – wellness is the only true focus. Are you listening?
Please check out my latest article published at MindBodyGreen which focuses on listening to our bodies and how we can positively respond to those signals…
Do You Listen To Your Body’s Signals?
John C. Bader
About the Book: www.responsiveuniverse.com
Now Available: Amazon Barnes & Noble
Healing vs Stagnation
February 19, 2013
— 3 Comments
There is a tendency to avoid truth and maintain status quo in an effort to stay in control. This habitual use of the lowest common denominator to define reality is detrimental to wellbeing. Bernie Seigal notes in the above video that to forget is to get something for yourself. To forgive is to give something to another. The gift that everyone has to give is responsibility. We have selective memories and stories that we tell about ourselves and our circumstances. The story about the wound is the one that keeps the wound alive, whatever it may be.
Woundology is the currency exchange that places value on damage. The currency of pain only has value if you accept it and give it. Carolyn Myss coined the phrase and noticed a growth of the epidemic. Her work as a medical intuitive has been to explain and teach Why People Don’t Heal. I believe that there is a codependent heath and fitness industry that feeds the insecurity and pain as a way to make a living. I have seen this in action, although I do not think the participants had awareness of their folly. If your health and fitness story is not a clean, clear and happy one, the good news is that you can change it. Change your story by refusing to allow the past to define your present. Trade in the wounds for a brand new set of possibilities.
Dennie Allin, LMT, at Supportive Care for Healing
February 3, 2013
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Dennie in the treatment room
As the privileged substitute for the Supportive Care for Healing at the U of A Cancer Center I was called last week to fill a cancellation for a massage appointment . I normally go for all the exotics, but it had been a long time since I had had a regular massage, so I accepted. The charming, talented and way cool Ms. Allin delivered on all counts. She has a regular practice at Tucson Touch Therapies on Pima Street. She has been associated with supportive cancer care for many years. An organization called Sunstone brought supportive care to hospital patients years ago and she started with them. My little spa world at the hospital is a remnant of that Sunstone energy, surviving very well. I am the luckiest of hospital spa bunnies because my care is subsided and I don’t even have to go to cancer doctors. Those of you who know me personally will not be surprised that I have found an excellent niche as a sub. I am a value shopper of the most discriminating kind. I am thrifty, but never cheap. This is the best deal in the healthcare universe. I am now so good at my job that this week I called before the cancellation was made for my Friday acupuncture session. So if you want a fabulous healing hands on treatment call the TucsonTouch Therapies office at 520 881-7337 and ask for Dennie. If we start to feel the need for another sub at the hospital, I will let you know. For the moment I have it covered, and I am very happy with my position.
U of A Cancer Center
Drugs, Guns, and Risk
December 22, 2012
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If Mr. McMurphy doesn’t want to take his medication orally, I’m sure we can arrange that he can have it some other way. But I don’t think that he would like it.-Nurse Ratched
The shadow America does not want to face is our mental health system. Mental health treatment has been a barbaric system of emergency drug administration with no hope for cure. My parents could afford the best available when they needed help in their last years. The problem was finding any ethical and effective treatment for them. Everyone was ready to charge big bucks, but nobody had any real therapy (or even care) for the patient. They had unlimited access to all drugs, but no access to careful diagnosis or medical ethics. When I volunteered for the VA my Vet was long-term suicidal, and there was no available help for him either. I am sure there are some quality programs somewhere, but before going out and spending twice as much money giving people twice as many drugs, why not evaluate the efficacy of the treatments used now? I am going out on a limb and say our neighborhood system of mental health treatment is damaging to all concerned. Random pharmaceutical drug use is not healthy, mentally or physically.
In my neighborhood, here in central Tucson, where you can virtually buy drugs in the middle of the street and there is probably a weapons concierge who will bring a selection of guns to your house for purchase, a 6-year-old was found with a loaded gun in has backpack at school. His dad was arrested for an old felony charge so the kid who said he did not know how the gun got into his backpack is now probably a foster kid while his father serves time. This is the reality for the youth here, and they may or may not know how the gun got there, but they know it will not be the last gun they will see. This deep, sociological, complex problem will be resolved by government programs with an arsenal of pills. Is that, in any way, believable?
We also have a very large mental health center available to the public and funded by Medicare. It is close to a public bus stop with a convenience store on the corner. People from all over the city can come, buy enough alcohol to be over the limit, and be admitted for the night to the mental health clinic. If they are not at the limit, they simply walk back to the store and buy another pint of liquor. They will be given prescription drugs as a result of the entry to the clinic which they can sell right there in my neighborhood. The clinic is supposed to make sure that the patients leave the area, but of course there is no way to enforce that rule. So the patients are released to repeat the cycle. Spending twice as much money on this will create at least twice the insanity and grow creepy petty crime around here. It is a risk to continue to pretend we are treating mental illness or Vet suicide. Money spent on this denial while asking for more funding is running from the reality that systems profit from status quo, and not from change. We need fundamental change, comprehensive. Stopping the madness will involve stopping the flow of drugs as a substitute for therapy. This is a war on drugs worth fighting and well within our power.
Restorative, the Yoga of Contentment
October 27, 2012
— 4 Comments
What does the word restore man to you? Do you think of groceries, batteries, credit, or your spirit? When stress exhausts your spontaneous zest for life, how do you recover ? If bombed out cities can be restored, so can your severely wiped out spirit. There are many methods available, but restorative yoga is an easy to learn, simple to use sequence that brings bliss to most people almost instantly. A good class will introduce the props and the various poses. The teacher can make sure the student is properly aligned and taking personal limitations graciously. This YouTube teacher gives a good guide to the uninitiated.
After some instruction one can decide which props to own. This collection can grow over time, and none really wears out, so the bolsters and straps are good investments. I also have learned how to deconstruct a hotel room to create the temporary props I want in the moment. Folded blankets and pillows work well when they are all that is available.
The undisputed queen of restorative yoga is Judith Hanson Lasater. She is a delight as a teacher. If she comes to your town I highly recommend that you seek out her workshops. She has that yogini presence that is precious in and of itself, but her compendium of knowledge is unique and powerful. She is a physical therapist, was thrown out by Mr. Iyengar (I always love the heretic) and a brilliant author. Living her yoga, indeed, is her conduit for teaching. She is a shining example of balance between the active and the restorative parts of life. If you are not lucky enough to see her in person, all of her books are excellent.
“[Let] go of your attachments: your attachment to being right, to having total control, or to living forever. This process of letting go is integral to the process of becoming whole.”
― Judith Hanson Lasater
The Yoga Coast of California
October 15, 2012
Self Realization Fellowship, Encinitas
I am visiting the super highly charged driving world of So Cal. Here it seems to me that all my friends are driving at least half of their waking hours. I am a Tucsonan, and almost a non driver when I am at home. I can bike to almost everything I like to do, and a typical month of milage amounts to less than 150 miles total. I have been in Encinitas for 5 days and have done more driving than I do in a regular month at home. I knew the gas prices had been raised. I knew they did not establish any more parking places for me at the beaches. I knew I would become irritated with all the traffic and the never ending search for parking space. Why did I decide to enter this zone? I consider this zone to be the very best place to drive, ironically. The access to the beach is the obvious excitement, but by no means the only reason to visit and drive to the many attractions.
The natural food lifestyle and vegetarian ,organic, all pure, eco-enhanced products abound. I laughed when I observed a big sign advising that the hot dog on a stick stand had two vegetarian options, veggie dog, and cheese on a stick. Gluten free everything is everywhere, at elevated prices. Surf equipment, beach styles, brew pubs, and hip action sports programs are all over the place. I do look at the ‘fornians as lotus eaters, but enjoy coming out to chomp a few lotus myself. The casual and the sporty people mingle with little distinction in style between the super affluent and the full time surfers. In fact, it seems like the common goal is to become affluent so one can afford to live here and surf every day. Little formality and a taste for the well designed, the gourmet, and the latest of everything defines the coastal lifestyle. This is not a good place to try to assess people’s wealth or status based on the way they dress. Dressing for success here is likely to be baggies and a very rad board.
The concentration of so many of the best yoga teachers in Encinitas is not an accident. Paramahansa Yogananda built a temple on a cliff overlooking the sea here in 1937. His hermitage was a gift from a devotee who acquired the property for the purpose. The building was on the side of a cliff and eventually sustained damage that was too costly to repair, and had to be demolished. Today the center and meditation gardens are extensive, but the buildings are safely set away from the stunning view the first hermitage possessed. The Self Realization Fellowship continues to be a thriving center bringing visitors from all over the world to study or simply enjoy the gardens. I always spend a few minutes and a few dollars in the book and gift store there. The selection of books, art, and clothing is outstanding and the free stuff from the teachings is also available in English and Spanish. You don’t have to be a yogi to appreciate the history and the impact the swami had, and still has in this area.
Yogananda’s first hermitage
swami’s view
Iatrophobia
August 15, 2012
Dr Robert Fulford, DO, my primary care physician for years
I am openly afraid of doctors. I avoid contact with them, except in social settings, where I am fine with them. I know they don’t want to practice medicine during social times, and I certainly don’t want to talk about the way they practice. I go to the dermatologist, the dentist, and the optometrist. I have no issues with those office visits. I am fond of teeth cleaning, and go 4 times a year. If I wonder about a symptom in my own body, however, a medical doctor would be the very last person I would ask. I have relied on my friend who is a chiropractor to diagnose, treat, and advise me for the last 20 years or so, since Dr Fulford retired. Now Dr. Sue, my chiropractor friend, is leaving to go to work for the VA in Las Vegas.
While dog walking with my neighbor a couple of days ago we discussed the state of medicine and how things have changed so drastically. I told her I was fine with Dr. Sue leaving because she has introduced me to a very cool MD who practices emergency medicine and acupuncture near my home. I walked home and promptly created a mini medical emergency by chopping off the tip of my index finger while cutting a watermelon. Dr. Eric was already on my mind, having been so recently mentioned as medical savior, so I called him. I found some Neosporin and bandages, did some first aid, then finished making melon juice. Things looked bad to me initially, but when I learned Dr Eric was not going to be in his office for another week I had little pain and the bleeding had been stopped. I said thanks for calling and told him I would come in next week if I have gangrene. I have met him and taken a young friend to his office for acupuncture in the past. I had a very good impression of the way he approaches health. I am satisfied that he will take care of me at the same time I am totally freaked out at the idea of strange doctors in a hospital. The good news is that my finger is healing well without even an aspirin needed.
Maybe there are people with unreasonable fear of doctors, but I like to think of my own as a practical one. After having Dr. Fulford as my primary physician, then Dr. Sue, I believe I have learned enough to distinguish dangerous docs from the ones who do no harm. I feel lucky not only to be healthy, but also to have had the best care in the past. I hope to need as little as possible in the future.
Yoga Sutras
June 12, 2012
In ancient India the practice of yoga developed as taught from guru to students. The Yoga Sutras were written by Patanjali including some aphorisms and wisdom from the past with his own observations. Modern schools of yoga can be traced, in many cases to one man, Krishnamacharya, whose son, TVK Desikachar is teaching yoga today. The voice of Krishnamachayra accompanies BKS Iyengar in this video from 1938.
The student was not only physically challenged, but also was a scholar of ancient texts. Sanskrit chanting was part of the daily discipline. It is possible to attend the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram today.
Paracelsus, the Luther of Physicians
June 3, 2012
Paracelsus was born in 1493 Einsiedeln, Switzerland. His father was the physician at Einsiedeln Abbey, a Benedictine baroque monastery with a grand history. His father was his first teacher. When he arrived at University of Basel medical school he was familiar with alchemy from working with his father. He left Basel quickly after he was accused of heresy , and became a wandering healer, traveling all over Europe.
Some of the contributions he made to the science of medicine are well known. He is attributed for introducing opium into use as medicine. He is credited with being the first physician to seriously consider dosage as well as the particular part of the medicinal plant being used. His theories included science as well as natural magic, all part of the healing culture of his time. The Doctrine of Signatures is an important concept he used to explain and research how plants interact with humans. He expanded on the work of former herbalists as he taught and worked in different countries. His travels included a visit to China.
His practice included both magic and science. He understood and worked with elementals, which were a common belief in his time. He took this concept farther when he posited that we have both a sidereal and an elementary body, linked while we are alive. He was both controversial and well respected. I learned about him when I traveled to Switzerland for the first time. I adore the tiny mineral water spa town of Bad Ragaz, where he practiced for a time with the local Benedictine monks, who operated a healing center using the mineral water spring. The Quelle Paracelsus is now a modern medical and therapy center of the highest quality. I have been many times over the years and always enjoy walking up the Tamina Gorge to experience the well preserved museum and springs. There is a small chapel up there dedicated to Mary Magdalene that I love for it’s charm.
For his time Paracelsus was radical and disruptive. His ideas about health and alchemy clashed with the medical schools, but accomplished many cures that were unusual for the time. The springs he recommended that I have visited, Bad Ragaz and St.Moritz, have enjoyed long healthy development around the mineral waters for centuries. This dedication to “the cure” creates a magnet for the best therapists and medical professionals to be drawn to live and work in the beauty and the elegance of these special places.
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