Enkindle Wellness

Author: Ken Stewart

  • Noticing – with Curiosity

    We say things we regret, we feel things – anger, resentment, jealousy, that are toxic to ourselves and others; and we act on impulse instead of with forethought. How can we change this destructive behaviour?

    The answer is: to take note of what is happening and be curious about it.

    This is a deceptively simple instruction that nonetheless has tremendous power. What does it mean? And how do you do it?

    Being the witness, the watcher, the observer, has been a part of meditative practice for centuries, but what this really means is not often explained in a way that makes practical sense.

    The main source of both personal power and peace of mind is taking responsibility for your own responses.  You must take full responsibility for the response you create to whatever is happening. If you cannot fully acknowledge that you are creating your own response to everything that happens, you are a helpless victim. Only when you take responsibility is there a possibility of doing something about your situation or creating something different.

    So, first, you must acknowledge that whatever you experience in life, it is your response that matters. Life may provide the stimulus, but you create the response. Sometimes this response comes from an unconscious part of you, one you seemingly have little or no control over, but nonetheless, it comes from you rather from a force outside of you. If you are having any discomfort or suffering in life, it is because somewhere, on some level, there is resistance to acknowledging your own role in it.

    Here is where the concept of noticing, of being the observer, comes into play. If resistance is the poison, noticing is the antidote. If you can step back and notice whatever is happening, with no judgement for the outcome, the resistance (and suffering) disappears.

    All personal change involves the practise of noticing, which involves a deeper awareness of what is actually happening.

    All personal change involves the practise of noticing, which involves a deeper awareness of what is actually happening. Most of us have very elaborate strategies designed to keep us unaware, but there is a very simple way to defeat them.

    Firstly, try to step back the next time you are feeling any kind of discomfort, and say to yourself, “here I am, feeling angry” (or whatever it is you are feeling) and then simply notice yourself being angry, without trying to stop it or change it, without any agenda for what should happen. Just observe your own response.

    Secondly, try to feel in your body where you feel the anger, guilt or whatever you suffer. Notice where exactly in your body you feel it. Become genuinely curious about it. Bring your attention to bear on whatever is happening for you in that moment.

    Whatever uncomfortable feelings you are having, you’ve probably been having them for a long time. But I would be willing to bet that you have never really watched them with the type of interest necessary to discover what is really happening. You’re probably too busy beating yourself up or blaming someone else.

    Once you begin to exercise curiosity about your responses to certain situations you begin to shift away from suffering. And as you get better at noticing it becomes obvious that there are different choices about how to respond to the same situation. It takes practice and willpower because our suffering and discomfort is deeply ingrained. But take heart – it will become increasingly effortless to transform a situation of pain and suffering into something that calms and empowers you.  

    “A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.” ― Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

    People with “higher consciousness” or “expanded awareness” are those who have mastered this principle of noticing with curiosity.

    You can do it, too. Start practicing.

    It is common for people who experience the care I provide to comment on how much easier it is for them to be aware of their responses, thoughts and judgements after a few sessions.

    They report feeling “more connected” which reflects a release of the bodily tensions that restrict their ability to notice their responses. This is the process of healing.

    You may be wondering what else you can do to help with your ability to notice. Here are some simple ways which I recommend you look into:

    Please feel free to contact me, Ken Stewart 0428 660 038, if you would like to discuss the care I provide and the techniques I have mentioned here.

  • What is Healing?

    To heal is to become whole. The words “healing” and “curing” are commonly used interchangeably, but their definitions are different.

    Curing is a restoration of health, an absence of symptoms, and a remedy of disease. It’s a return to a previous state of health. This is the aim of our health care system – to take you back to the state you were in before the symptoms or disease. Which, of course, was the very state of “dis-ease” you were in when the symptoms began (and may well have contributed to their onset in the first place.)

    Healing, on the other hand, is a restoration of wholeness — not the level of wholeness before the diagnosis, but a restoration of wholeness that is new, different, and comparatively better than before the onset of disease. Healing is not the removal or cessation of symptoms, but rather an integrative process that transcends the physical; and includes emotional, mental, and spiritual vitality.

     Healing can be defined as a personal experience of the transcendence of our suffering.

    Suffering, arises from our being attached to our thoughts. Whenever there is pain of any kind – the pain of aggression, grieving, loss, irritation, resentment, jealousy, indigestion, physical pain or illness; if we look deeper, we find that behind the pain there is always something else. There is always something we’re holding on to consciously or unconsciously. Typically, this is an idea, thought or narrative that we have created about ourselves.

     “I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional.” -Byron Katie

    If we are able to see that the process of healing begins with summoning the courage to let go of our thoughts and beliefs (even when they seem so natural and persistent) then we are empowered to undertake the process of healing. Consequently, we may notice that all healing is self-healing and the practitioners we call on for help are facilitators of our very own healing process.

    Science has not proven where our thoughts come from, but it is clear they are really just a flow of energy despite how concrete they appear. So the healing of our suffering derived from our thoughts needs to be a process concerned with the flow of energy.

    Healing is a lifelong process of many ups and downs. As a part of this process it is common for symptoms, e.g. a particular pain, to fluctuate. It is also common that changes in energy flow in the body can trigger a de-toxification process which can, in turn, lead to symptoms such as headaches and nausea.

    There are thousands of methods of facilitating healing and many practitioners who call themselves “healers”. When “healers” follow a set ritual or technique to produce their “healing”, I believe they are limiting the power of their process because it is expected to occur in a pre-determined manner.

    The less the practitioner uses ritual, technique or attachment to the outcome, the greater the potential for healing. With the Network Chiropractic and Profound Tension Release modalities I use, the techniques become a basis from which I work. As I progress with the people I see, the “treatments” become less about the technique and more about the person. There is a weaving of the healing and curing aspects into the person’s experience. The result can be both a reduction of their symptoms and the healing of other aspects of their lives.

    “If you try to fix anything about yourself, it is a form of judgment. Judgment more than anything keeps us forever imprisoned in separation. A more effective approach to healing is to allow everything to surface into conscious awareness and responsible expression and to do so with the love, acceptance and compassion that arise out of Presence.” – Leonard Jacobson

     

  • What to Expect From My Practice

    What to Expect From My Practice

    Providing relief for people who present with symptoms, as outlined below, is fundamental to my practice. But most of all, I am interested in seeking and treating the underlying causes of their pain and discomfort. Network Chiropractic Care and Profound Tension Release remain as the effective basis of my practice.

    A yearning for greater creativity and expression is a constant experience for many people.

    Time and again, people express to me their frustration at not being free to be more constructive in their lives. A yearning for greater creativity and expression is a constant experience for many people, including myself. My journey as a chiropractor has led me to investigate ways of addressing this issue.

    Throughout my 30 years of Chiropractic experience I have worked to expand and develop methods to help people improve the quality of their lives. Quality of life is measured in many ways and my “work” is to help people find and maximise their own quality of life.

    Over the last few months I have been training in methods of deeper healing which I believe will assist people to reach levels of wellbeing such as they never thought possible. My learning has always been integral to my practice and most of what I have learnt recently has reinforced knowledge that I have acquired as a practitioner over many years.

    Please be assured, however, that I will continue to provide the treatment you are used to. Deeper methods of healing will be an option for those wishing to participate. I will be announcing these options soon.

    People’s experience of pain and tension in their bodies and limbs is not separate from their emotional and mental blockages and/or over-activity.

    We are all multi-faceted humans, held back in our progress by pain and restrictions in our bodies and our minds. From my observations of thousands of patients, I believe that people’s experience of pain and tension in their bodies and limbs is not separate from their emotional and mental blockages and/or over-activity.

    Typical symptoms of people who come to see me include:

    • Poor posture.
    • Back and neck pain.
    • Stiffness and pain in the peripheral joints such at the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists.
    • Pain and tightness in the calves.
    • Restricted walking or running style.
    • Jaw pain, stiffness, locking and clicking.
    • Chest and abdomen pain.
    • Restricted breathing and rib pain.
    • Lack of energy, lethargy, feeling “down”.
    • Poor sleep.
    • Feeling stressed and generally tense.
    • Feeling anxious or out of control.
    • Feeling that no-one understands what’s going on.
    • Headaches, migraines, dizziness and “brain fog”

    I am enjoying working from Bundaleer and have had great feedback from people who see me there. I will be announcing a new and additional element to my practice in the coming weeks. I look forward to seeing you at Bundaleer Homestead

  • Questioning Our Thoughts

    Consider this:

    A thought is harmless unless we believe it.

    A belief is simply a thought that we’ve been attached to, often for years.

    It is not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering.

    Our stress is not due to the world around us, but what we believe about the world around us. When we believe negative thoughts – we suffer, and when we don’t believe those same thoughts – we don’t suffer.

    If something is “just a thought” then how much power does it actually have on its own? The amount of belief that we choose to endow upon a thought is what gives it its power! If we can strip a thought of its power, then it loses its meaning. And a meaningless thought cannot cause stress.

    We are often encouraged to “let go of our thoughts” (especially if they are upsetting or negative.) But what if we challenged their truthfulness? What if we decided to call their bluff? What if we didn’t let go of our thoughts but questioned their validity?

    The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with “what is” (reality).

    The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with “what is” (reality). It is futile to want reality to be different than it is. And yet, if you pay attention, you’ll notice that you believe thoughts like this dozens of times a day. “People should be kinder.” “Children should be well-behaved.” “My husband (or wife) should agree with me.” “I should be thinner (or prettier or more successful).” These thoughts are ways of wanting reality to be different than it is. If you think that this sounds depressing, you’re right. All the stress that we feel is caused by arguing with “what is”.

    No one wants their children to get sick, no one wants to be in a car accident, no one wants to be weary of their friends and despairing of the world around them. But when these things inevitably happen, how can it be helpful to mentally argue with them and chastise ourselves for lacking strength to overcome our thoughts? Yet we do it, because we don’t know how to stop.

    We can’t help thinking, just as we can’t help breathing. We know that we aren’t breathing consciously but what happens if we realise that our thinking, like our breathing, is part of a bigger picture too? Thoughts just appear. They come and go, like clouds moving across the sky. They cause us no harm until we attach an unquestioned story to them as if they were true. Then further noticing reveals that thought and our thinking isn’t personal – it “just is” … and it’s universal.

    We have the ability, if we choose, to question the validity of our thoughts and in so doing lessen their burden. Who knows, in so doing we may even change the world – or certainly our understanding of it!

    If your beliefs are stressful and you question them, you come to see that they aren’t true – whereas prior to questioning, you absolutely believe them. How can you live in joy when you’re believing thoughts that bring on sadness, frustration, anger, alienation, and loneliness?  ~ Byron Katie

    The Work.

    There is a simple and powerful  process of inquiry, developed by Byron Katie, which is a effective way to question our thoughts and beliefs in order to become free of them. “The Work” consists of 4 questions that can be asked every time we become aware of a thought that argues with reality e.g. “My partner should care more about his/her health”. The key is to take time with each question and notice the feelings that come up. If is often better to write the thought and the answers down.

     1. Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to question 3.)

    2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)

    3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

    4. Who would you be without the thought?

    This is followed by a “turnaround” where the thought is reversed e.g. “I should care more about my health”.

    There is more detail about and help for doing “The Work” on the website:  Do The Work. It’s all you need and is free. Downloadable tools for The Work can be found at: Tools for The Work. There is even a mobile phone app which can be used to inquire into any thought that we notice. A really good article which gives the background and steps us through “The Work” is The Little Book.

  • Be Aware of What You Feed the Field

    We are all part of a vast web of connections – the field – that encompasses not only life on this planet but the solar system and beyond. While this has been understood for centuries in most cultures of the world, it is only just being accepted by modern science as it discovers methods of detecting and measuring the field.

    We all live in a field of energy that reflects back to us, not what we think in our minds, but what we feel in our hearts.

    It is now known that the heart is 100,000 times stronger electrically and about 5,000 times stronger magnetically that the brain. It therefore creates a significant field around itself that is detectable outside the body. This field has been shown to interact not only with the fields of plants, animals and other people but also with the electromagnetic and subtle energy fields of the earth.

    Science is now confirming that the earth’s fields are carriers of biological information that connects all living systems and, in turn, that living systems affect the global information field. As individuals, our energy contributes to the global energy field though our thoughts, emotions and intentions.

    The global energy field is affected by the mental and emotional energy that people create when they think and feel in their everyday lives. This is what I mean by “feeding the field”.  We can improve the field by taking responsibility for our own energy, thoughts and emotions. The field will then reflect back to us in a more positive way.

    “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” –Dalai Lama

    To do this we must take action to create a state of coherence where the heart, mind and emotions are aligned and in sync. This has significant health benefits both for us as individuals and for the global energy field. As a result we can become mentally and emotionally more resilient and flexible and increase our higher awareness, wisdom and intuition. Network Chiropractic, as I practice, has been shown to increase peoples coherence.

    Inner-Ease Breathing Technique – a simple way of increasing your coherence.

    (1) Notice and acknowledge your feelings as soon as you sense that you are out of sync or engaged with common stressors— feelings such as frustration, impatience, anxiety, overload, anger, being judgmental, mentally gridlocked, etc.

    (2) Take a short time out and do heart-focused breathing: breathe a little slower than usual; pretend you are breathing through your heart or chest area. (This is proven to help create coherent wave patterns in your heart rhythm—which helps restore balance and calm in your mental and emotional nature while activating the affirming power of your heart.)

    (3) During the heart-focused breathing, imagine with each breath that you are drawing in a feeling of inner-ease and infusing your mental and emotional nature with balance and self-care from your heart. It is scientifically proven that radiating love and self-care through your system activates beneficial hormones and boosts your immunity. Practicing this will increase your awareness of when the stressful emotion has calmed into a state of ease. The mind and emotions operate on a vibrational level. Slowing down the stressful vibration helps re-establish the cooperation and balance between heart, mind and emotions. (Like an old electric fan that rattles until you turn it to a slower speed, which often quiets and restores the unbalanced vibration.)

    (4) When the stressful feelings have calmed, affirm with a heartfelt commitment that you want to anchor and maintain this state of ease as you re-engage in your projects, challenges and daily interactions.

    Inner-Ease Breathing Technique from the HeartMath Institute
    https://www.heartmath.org/resources/downloads/the-state-of-ease-e-book/

  • Our Dance Between Stability and Movement

    Our bodies communicate information from one area to another via the connective tissues, a continuum of fibres and cells, reacting to each other, passing messages in a process that is twenty times faster than the nervous system. This is an instant reactivity. Take the example of an insect flying onto your eyelash. The blinking of the eye is so fast it is beyond that which is mediated by the nervous system.

    Our Connective Tissues are essential to the dance between stability and movement – crucial in high performance, central in recovery from injury and disability, and ever-present in our daily life from our conception to the last breath we take.

    In addition, these ongoing reactions are truly electro-magnetic. There is within the body a process known as a piezoelectric response. As soon as any tissue is bent or stretched, there is an outpouring of electricity (energy) that, in turn, creates a magnetic field. Thus a circuitry is created through which energy flows. This constitutes the piezoelectric response and provides the basis for acupuncture meridians. These meridians support the flows of energy from the piezoelectric effect, but they also support many other kinds of regulatory flow, including those involved in emotional expression. This flow of electromagnetic energy is also the basis of transmission of information and even the evocation of the chemical reactions within the body.

    Energy flows best when everything is coherent (when our cells are communicating unimpeded by blockages and tension.) This is the ideal “zone” of exceptional human performance, or the “zone” of exceptional human health.

    Furthermore, this flow of electro-magnetic energy can be detected beyond the body, creating electro-magnetic waves that some people call the “aura.” We all have experienced certain “vibes” and even speak about “being on the same wavelength” as someone. Most of us are sensitive to a good environment or an unhealthy environment, a good person or one who may not be so good. This is an energetic exchange between people or between a person and their immediate environment.

    Our body’s connective tissue matrix is a tensegrity structure (tension + integrity); that is a dynamic balance between the rigid bones and the elasticity of the soft tissues. If we put strain into a tensegrity structure and the deformation will get distributed all over the structure. Where will a tensegrity structure break under strain? At its weakest point.  If our body is a tensegrity structure, the ‘load’ that is causing pain or strain in the low back may be sourced in the foot or the shoulder – so we have to be able to see the pattern to know where to intervene. See my blog article How Did the Diplodocus Hold It’s Head Up? for more about the Connective Tissue Tensegrity Matrix.

    The techniques I use are designed to release tension in the tensegrity matrix. Positive changes to this matrix are more likely to occur with a very gentle specific contact than with a forceful one, because a forceful contact may cause the matrix to go further in a rigid protective mode. With the release of tension there is a greater flow of energy throughout the body causing increased strength and flexibility and improved function of organs, the brain and nervous system, the blood and lymph systems and the digestive system.

  • How To Tell If You Inherited Emotional Trauma and How To Break the Pattern

    Epigenetics

    With new discoveries in epigenetics now making headlines, many of us are asking an important question: What are my children really inheriting? Can my baggage, the unfinished business I don’t deal with, pass on to my kids? Without knowing it, could I be hurting them?

    To answer this comprehensively, we need to look at the science. The newest research in epigenetics tells us that you and I can inherit gene changes from traumas that our parents and grandparents experienced. It goes like this. When a trauma occurs, our bodies make a physiologic change to better manage the stress. This adaptive change can then be passed down to our children and grandchildren biologically preparing them to deal with similar trauma. This can be a good thing, unless of course, the inherited changes create even more stress.

    If our grandparents, for example, were traumatized from living in a war-torn country—explosions going off, people getting killed, the rattle of gunfire close by—they could pass on a survivor skillset to us—a body on hyperalert, reflexes to react quickly to loud noises, and other such protective responses. This skillset would be helpful were we to also live in a country at war. However, living in a safe environment where this inheritance isn’t useful, the constant hypervigilance can create havoc in our bodies.

    Our parents’ and grandparents’ pain—their fears, their angers, their grief, their shutdowns—can all unwittingly become ours.

    So here’s the bad news: Yes, it’s true. Our parents’ and grandparents’ pain—their fears, their angers, their grief, their shutdowns—can all unwittingly become ours, a legacy we can perpetuate in our family. And here’s the sad part: few of us ever make the link between our issues—our unexplained fear, anxiety and depression—and what happened to our family members in a previous generation. Instead, we believe that we’re the source of our problem, that something must be wrong with us, or broken inside us, that makes us feel the way we do.

    These unconscious patterns, along with whatever business we leave unfinished, can then pass on to our children

    And it doesn’t end there. These unconscious patterns, along with whatever business we leave unfinished, can then pass on to our children, and even to their children. What could be more painful than to see our children suffering, knowing that he or she continues the pain we’ve left unattended?

    Is there any good news? Absolutely. There are actions we can take that can help break the cycle.

    Here’s the short list of things you can do.

    Heal your own stuff. Reconcile your broken relationships with your parents, as well as with your child’s other parent. When we find someone’s behavior challenging, it’s helpful to consider the traumatic events in his or her family history. Remember, the residue of pain can pass forward. And children, because of their great innocence and loyalty, are easy targets. Children can unconsciously carry what’s unresolved between their parents, and mirror it in their own relationships. Or (as we’re learning from epigenetics), they can relive what’s unresolved behind the parents.

    Shake the family tree and see what falls out. What family secrets have been hidden? What stories didn’t get told? What traumas have never fully healed? It can be important to know these things, especially if we’re unconsciously reliving elements of traumas that don’t belong to us. Some family history questions to consider can be found at: Family History Questions.

    Tell your kids what you know about the traumas in your family. Tell them the terrible things happened to you, and whatever you know about what happened to your parents and your grandparents. They could be the unwitting recipients of painful feelings from the past. When you tell them what tragedies smolder in the family history, it can come as a great relief to them—especially if they make the connection that they’ve been carrying what belongs to you, or to your parents or grandparents.

    I once worked with a guy who unconsciously attempted to atone for the crimes his grandfather had committed. My client had attempted suicide three times. Finding himself still alive after the third attempt, he sought help. When I pointed out that he had been attempting to pay the ultimate price for crimes he never committed, he turned to me and said: “I don’t have to die? You mean it’s not me who needs to die?”

    I’ve found that if we ignore the past, it can come back to haunt us. Yet when we explore it, we don’t always have to repeat it. We can break the cycle of suffering, so that our children can be free from having to live our pain in their lives.

    by Mark Wolynn This article was first published on June 13, 2016 in Mark Wolynn’s Blog

    Ken’s Comments

    After working with people for a while, I find that they often comment about having cleared much of the “baggage” they feel they carry from childhood. Once this is acknowledged, it is common for them to realise that there is additional unresolved “baggage” and “emotional triggers” that seem to arise from somewhere deeper. My experience suggests that these could be inherited epigenetic triggers from past generations of their family.

    What I find amazing (and supported by cutting edge research) is that these inherited triggers can be healed in the present. Addressing our inherited emotional baggage, therefore provides the opportunity to avoid passing emotional pain on to our children and our children’s children. It can be challenging, but people express relief and satisfaction in clearing what they describe as stubborn patterns of behaviour. I regard these courageous people to be Transition People ,  because they are taking action on behalf of the future.  I have written about Transition People in an article which can be found at:  Are You a Transition Person?

  • Embracing the Darkness

    The Tao doesn’t take sides;
    it gives birth to both good and evil.
    –Tao Te Ching

    The darkness, the void, the space that the mind is terrified to enter, is the beginning of all life. It’s the womb of being. Fall in love with it, and when you do, it will immediately be taken from you, as you witness the birth of light. The Tao doesn’t take sides. It embraces both the darkness and the light. They’re equal.

    The Master can’t take sides. She’s in love with reality, and reality includes everything — both sides of everything. Her arms are open to it all. She finds everything in herself: all crimes, all holiness. She doesn’t see saints as saints or sinners as sinners; they’re just people who are suffering or not, believing their thoughts or not. She doesn’t see any difference between states of consciousness. What’s called bliss and what’s called ordinary mind are equal; one is not a higher state than the other.

    What’s called bliss and what’s called ordinary mind are equal; one is not a higher state than the other.

    There’s nothing to strive for, nothing to leave behind. There’s only one, and not even that. It doesn’t matter how you attempt to be disconnected, that’s not a possibility. Believing a stressful thought is an attempt to break the connection. That’s why it feels so uncomfortable.

    All suffering is mental. It has nothing to do with the body or with a person’s circumstances. You can be in great pain without any suffering at all. How do you know you’re supposed to be in pain? Because that’s what’s happening. To live without a stressful story, to be a lover of what is, even in pain — that’s heaven. To be in pain and believe that you shouldn’t be in pain — that’s hell. Pain is actually a friend. It’s nothing I want to get rid of, if I can’t. It’s a sweet visitor; it can stay as long as it wants to. (And that doesn’t mean I won’t take a Tylenol.)

    Even pain is projected: it’s always on its way out. Can your body hurt when you’re not conscious? When you’re in pain and the phone rings and it’s the call you’ve been waiting for, you mentally focus on the phone call, and there’s no pain. If your thinking changes, the pain changes.

    I have an Israeli friend who is paralyzed from his neck to his toes. He used to see himself as a victim, and he had all the proof — the mind is good at that. He was certain that life was unfair. But after doing The Work for a while, he came to realize that reality is just the way it should be. He doesn’t have a problem now. He’s a happy man in a paralyzed body. And he didn’t do anything to change his mind. He simply questioned his thinking, and his mind changed.

    He simply questioned his thinking, and his mind changed.

    The same kind of freedom can happen to people who have lost their husbands or wives or children. An unquestioned mind is the only world of suffering. I was once doing The Work with some maximum security prisoners in San Quentin, men who had been given life sentences for murder, rape, and other violent crimes. I asked them to begin by writing down their angry or resentful thoughts: “I am angry at ________ because ________,” and then I asked each of them in turn to read the first sentence he had written. One man was shaking with rage so uncontrollably that he couldn’t finish reading his sentence, which was “I am angry at my wife because she set fire to our apartment and my little girl was burned to death.” For years he had been living in the hell of his anger, loss, and despair. But he was an unusual man, who really wanted to know the truth.

    Later in the session, after he read another statement he had written — “I need my daughter to be alive” — I asked him The Work’s second question: “Can you absolutely know that that’s true?” He went inside himself for the answer, and it blew his mind. He said, “No, I can’t absolutely know that.” I said, “Are you breathing?” He said, “Yes,” and his face lit up.

    And eventually he discovered that he didn’t need his daughter to be alive, that beneath all his rage and despair he was doing just fine, and that he couldn’t even absolutely know what the best thing for his daughter was. The tears and laughter that poured out of him were the most moving things in the world. It was a great privilege to be sitting with this amazing man. And all he had done was question his own beliefs.

    By Byron Katie

    Byron Katie
    Byron Katie

    For more about Byron Katie go the her website The Work by Byron Katie.

    Published in the Huffington Post at Huffington Post; Embracing the Darkness

  • Profound Tension Release

    Profound Tension Release (PTR) is a technique developed by Chiropractor Dr Ken Stewart, for releasing tension within the connective tissues of our bodies.  Tension in our bodies develops as a response to injury and trauma arising from physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual stresses we inevitably experience throughout our lifetime.

    Profound Tension Release is based on an understanding of the body as an interactive, interconnected, energised (energetic) and highly sensitive entity. The connective tissue network forms a three-dimensional matrix of structural support within the body. It contains and shapes the body, holding the organs in place and aligning the spine and the joints, while allowing mobility. Every muscle, bone and organ in the body, including our brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves, indeed every cell in the body is encased in and supported by connective tissue.

    When a person presents for Profound Tension Release, I will ask questions about their life and symptoms and then use that information while carefully observing patterns of tension in their posture and movements. I will explain how one movement can affect other movements in the body. For example, lifting a leg may cause the body to lean to one side, or turning your head may cause one elbow to tense. These movements are called “compensations” and they are our body’s best attempt to adjust to its restrictions (due to injury or trauma). Often these compensations may have been present for years but have gone unnoticed until they reach the point of causing pain or noticeable restriction in movement.

    Profound Tension Release technique involves the practitioner applying gentle hand pressure to the specific area in the body at the source of the compensations already detected. These specific points vary from individual to individual – they can be within muscles, bones or organs and often manifest in different places during the course of the treatment as the tension unwinds and the body readjusts. A light sensation, either locally or somewhere else in the body, might be felt and usually a person will experience a peaceful feeling accompanied by an urge to stretch in order to create a release of tension. People often yawn during their treatment and feel tired afterwards.

    For further information go to: http://enkindlewellness.com.au/profound-tension-release/

    Typical symptoms of people who seek relief from connective tissue tension are:

    • Poor posture.
    • Back and neck pain.
    • Stiffness and pain in the peripheral joints such at the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists.
    • Pain and tightness in the calves.
    • Restricted walking or running style.
    • Jaw pain, stiffness, locking and clicking.
    • Chest and abdomen pain.
    • Restricted breathing and rib pain.

    Other symptoms can develop from the above restrictions such as:

    • Lack of energy, lethargy, feeling “down”.
    • Poor sleep.
    • Feeling stressed and generally tense.
    • Feeling anxious or out of control.
    • Feeling that no-one understands what’s going on.
    • Headaches, dizziness and brain fog.
    • Discomfort in the abdomen and pelvis.

    By focusing on the connective tissues, Profound Tension Release reinforces the idea that the body is interconnected and operates as an active “whole” or matrix. A wholistic body knows what every other part of the body knows (every cell, every interior of every cell) and is interactive. It is this wholistic approach that our conventional scientific and medical research fails to appreciate.

    The connective tissues provide the pathways for blood vessels, nerves and acupuncture meridians to travel through, so that energy, nutrients and hormones can be delivered to each and every cell in the body. It also provides a pathway for lymph vessels, thus enabling toxins to be carried out of the cells to be eliminated. I advise that people drink plenty of water after a treatment in order to flush the connective tissues after their release.

    How many treatments will it take to experience tension release?

    Individuals adapt differently to Profound Tension Release technique, depending on variables to do with the depth and longevity of their embodied tension, their lifestyle, level of fitness, diet etc. Dramatic release of tension can be experienced but more usually a person will progress through a series of visits. Assessments are made during each visit to determine progress towards the person’s goals. 4 – 6 visits will see significant positive change.

  • Heart Wisdom

    “
    Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
    ~ Miles Kington

    Qualities associated with wisdom include: a clear-eyed view of human nature and the human predicament, emotional resiliency, the ability to cope in the face of adversity, openness to other possibilities, forgiveness, humility, and a knack for learning from lifetime experiences.

    We can learn about wisdom from its qualities. It is difficult to have a succinct definition because wisdom is something that wise people live rather than think about.

     

    If wisdom were an Olympic event then the gold medal winner would most likely be about 60 years old.” Stephen S. Hall

    Wisdom and the Heart

    Modern Western scientific thinking, until recently, has limited the heart’s function to that of a mechanical pump. Historically, the heart was ascribed a far more multifaceted role in the human system, being regarded as a source of wisdom, spiritual insight, thought, and emotion.

    Intriguingly, scientific research has begun to provide evidence that many of these long-surviving associations may be much more than metaphorical. Recent studies have shown show that the physiology of the heart, specifically a high variability of heart rate during low physical activity, is related to less biased, wiser judgment.

    Human heart rate tends to fluctuate, even while a person is sitting. Heart rate variability (HRV) refers to the variation in the time interval between heartbeats and is related to the nervous system’s control of organ functions. Researchers found that people with more varied heart rates were able to reason in a wiser, less biased fashion about societal problems

    Optimum heart rate variability (HRV) is directly related to the efficient use of energy and our health in general. An optimal level of HRV reflects healthy function, adaptability, flexibility and resilience. This leads to a decrease in stress related disease and premature aging.

    The wisdom associated with optimal HRV includes the ability to recognise the limits of one’s knowledge, to be aware of the varied contexts of life and how they may unfold over time and to acknowledge others’ points of view.

    So, how can we increase our HRV?

    • Network Chiropractic Care has been shown to increase HRV as session by session we release deeply held stresses and our heart, along with every aspect of us, functions in a more relaxed and coherent way.
    • Rest, relaxation and sufficient good quality sleep.
    • Getting out in nature and fresh air and taking off your shoes to become more grounded.
    • Go for regular exercise.
    • Breathe deeply. (See alternate nostril breathing below.)
    • Taking considered action in the direction you are being called to follow.
    • Listen to calming music that you love. (Avoid TV watching especially in bed.)
    • Engage in creative activities.
    • Look to carryout “in the flow” activities that give a balance (and push your boundaries) between challenge and your skill level. See http://enkindlewellness.com.au/living-in-the-flow/.
    • Practice connective tissue stretching activities like yoga and palates.
    • Practice meditation.
    • Eat healthy, natural foods that decrease inflammation in your body (see below)

    Alternate Nostril Breathing

    • Place your ring and pinkie fingers at your left nostril and your thumb at your right nostril.
    • Block the left nostril using your ring and pinkie fingers and inhale through your right nostril.
    • Block the right nostril with your thumb and exhale through your left nostril.
    • Inhale through your left nostril, keeping the right nostril blocked.
    • Continue for 9 more rounds.

    Foods that Increase Inflammation and therefore decrease HRV>

    • Sugar
    • Processed fructose (HFCS)
    • Grains – e.g. wheat, rye, barley
    • Vegetable oils such as peanut, soy or corn oils.

    Foods that Decrease Inflammation and therefore increase HRV.

    • Fish oils
    • Dark leafy green vegetables
    • Blueberries
    • Green tea
    • Fermented vegetables and traditionally cultured foods
    • Shiitake mushrooms
    • Garlic
    • Spices – cloves, ginger, rosemary, turmeric