Enkindle Wellness

Category: Network Chiropractic

  • Curiosity

    Curiosity

    “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  — Mark Twain

    I have long been interested in the phenomenon of curiosity. When I contemplate its meaning I realise that it comes from “presence”- being totally present in a given moment. Curiosity is an active meditation requiring an opening of the senses and a sharpening of the mind. The experience of being curious is a key ingredient to infusing life with meaning and purpose.

    Curiosity is an orientation that seeks what is novel in a situation. It embraces uncertainty, rather than struggling for control. There is evidence that maintaining curiosity in old age protects against cognitive and physical decline.

    I notice a sense of curiosity in the people I see at Enkindle Wellness. I often see a willingness to confront unfamiliar or challenging concepts and endeavours in order to seek a more meaningful and fulfilling life. This is an encouraging experience for me and for the people who come to my practice.

    “Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life” written by Dr Todd Kashdan is a book filled with studies and insights into curiosity.

    Dr. Kashdan draws issue with the “happiness movement” as an end goal. He advocates curiosity as a more authentic path for a happy and meaningful life. Being curious requires an openness to the unfamiliar and to uncertain outcomes. If just being happy is your goal, then you are closed off from the possibility of unexpected outcomes. Curiosity requires not just an attentiveness to the potential of a given situation but also a degree of risk.

    “When we experience curiosity, we are willing to leave the familiar and routine and take risks, even if it makes us feel anxious and uncomfortable,” said Kahsdan. “Curious explorers are comfortable with the risks of taking on new challenges. Instead of trying desperately to explain and control our world, as a curious explorer we embrace uncertainty, and see our lives as an enjoyable quest to discover, learn and grow.”

    We can exercise curiosity by seeking what’s intriguing about our world … about why things are important to us….about people we think we know ….about relationships that challenge us…. or even someone we’ve been married to for 20 years!

    One of the great barriers preventing us from delving into curiosity is fear. When faced with uncertainty or risk, it is much easier, and widely approved of, to stay confined in what is deemed to be safe. We are afraid to let curiosity take full reign. Sometimes we have to live with a little risk, fear or danger to become the individual, the family and even the nation we want to be.

    By being curious about what lies behind obvious situations we invariably find that things are more complicated or complex than they appear on the surface. Perhaps a good measure of curiosity might lead to an equal measure of understanding and acceptance. If we can see the world as a big, complex environment, we might begin to appreciate our interconnectedness and, in turn, be curious about why our own problems and issues might be small and insignificant in the face of a much larger picture.

    Being a “Curious Explorer”

    1. Try to notice little details of your daily routine that you never noticed before.
    2. When talking to people, try to remain open to whatever transpires without judging or reacting.
    3. Let novelty unfold and resist the temptation to control the flow.
    4. Gently allow your attention to be guided by little sights, sounds or smells that come your way.

    Photo: Night sky at Sherbrook River, January 2020

  • Kindness

    The way an individual interacts with others is directly linked to his or her physical, mental and emotional health. The physical, mental and emotional health of those sharing the interaction is positively affected too.  

    I wish to share some thoughts on kindness.

    Kindness is Contagious

    Kindness, like all emotion, is contagious. It is also proven to make you happier. When you’re kind to others, your brain produces feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters that promote the ability to build strong relationships with others, fostering positive feelings all around.

    If taking the feelings of others into consideration is one of the definitions of kindness, other worthy attributes such as sympathy, empathy, compassion, thoughtfulness, gentleness and caring also fall under its umbrella. So is being humane, as kindness should also be extended to animals.

    I am often impressed by the kindness displayed by people I see at Bundaleer, which caused me to ponder: what makes a person kind?

    Byron Katie, as usual, provided an answer: “The less you suffer, the kinder you naturally become.”  Compassion and suffering are definitely linked. But being compassionate is more complex than simply being kind; for “If compassion means wanting others to be free of suffering, how can you want for others what you may not be able to provide for yourself?” (See my blog The Less you Suffer the Kinder you Naturally Become)

    “The less you suffer, the kinder you naturally become.”

    I recently read an article by a psychologist who works with people who feel they are unlovable and undeserving of kindness or compassion. Dr Kirby from the University of Sussex examined brain scans of more than a thousand participants. He discovered strong positive benefits (production of neurotransmitters like serotonin) when people acted kindly, especially when there was no immediate gain for themselves.

    What interested me most was his finding that the act of being kind to oneself offered just as much benefit as altruistic kindness. “If I am being kind towards myself, the same regions (in the brain) light up if I’m receiving kindness from another person or giving kindness to another person,” Dr Kirby discovered. Being kind to other people can have multiple benefits, but it’s also just as important to be kind to yourself.

    Being kind to other people can have multiple benefits, but it’s also just as important to be kind to yourself.

    I find it fascinating that some people are very good at being kind to others but the very thought of being kind to themselves is foreign or threatening. What prevents us from being kind to ourselves?

    The barriers to being kind to ourselves lie in our reaction to physical, mental and emotional traumas experienced earlier in our lives (See my blog article When the Voice Gets Louder…). These traumas result in tension being stored in our bodies which blocks our ability to express or receive kindness.

    Releasing the stored tension, which is commonly felt as pain, restricted movements and lack of energy and direction, frees us to fulfil our potential to be a kinder, happier person.

    This is the very heart of the work I do with the people in my practice. I help them find and bring attention to the tension in their bodies and using precise and gentle techniques release the layers buried within. This process allows people to further accept and express their kindness and compassion.

    Kindness, like all emotion, is contagious.

    Image: Evening Clouds, Kyneton by Ken Stewart

  • Active Surrender

    Active Surrender

    People who come to see me are often experiencing a difficult period in their lives. Difficulties we all face in life as the result of challenges within families, health issues, social interactions and societal pressures often result in our becoming ungrounded and subjected to inflexible mental thinking and a body patterned with tension and blockages.

    This can bring out aspects in us that we may have experienced in the past or that we thought we had moved beyond. We can be thrown back into habits that we thought we had overcome – pettiness, irritation, fixations and frustrations.

    From the depths and darkness of these situations the Care I provide can enable people to switch on their light to illuminate a way forward. This requires active surrender.

    When most people hear the word surrender, they think of something negative: giving up, losing, being humiliated, or allowing yourself to be controlled or perhaps even imprisoned. However, when used in our context, surrender also means to give up but here it’s to give up everything that no longer serves you. To stop struggling against the things you cannot change, let go of the smallness of life, and more fully embrace its totality.

    Active surrender is when you stop forcing solutions on situations you can’t control and instead trust and have faith in your ability to adjust, adapt and cope. It’s stepping out of all limitations, expanding beyond your usual conditioning, and opening to infinite possibilities. And it requires active commitment.

     “Surrender is a gift that you can give yourself. It’s an act of faith. It’s saying that even though I can’t see where this river is flowing, I trust it will take me in the right direction.” Debbie Ford

    The ego loves to control everything. It creates the boundaries and limitations in which you imprison yourself. Surrender allows you to break free and step into the wisdom of uncertainty. With surrender, you can connect fully with your source where the whole universe collaborates to support you. You can become calm, eternal, infinite, joy-filled, and fearless.

    Active surrender has the following qualities: Faith, Patience and Awareness.

    Faith

    Faith is a state of total confidence and respect for all things. To fully surrender, you must have faith in yourself. No need to think of anything else but your connectedness to the Universe. Faith helps you accept everything—the good and bad equally.

    Patience

    You also need patience. The patience to allow things to unfold naturally with the understanding that everything you need will come your way at the perfect moment. Faith and patience complement each other. Each is both: the cause as well as the effect of the other. They are the means as well as the end of the other.

    Awareness

    Active surrender requires you to be aware. You need to remain focused and diligent, and overcome any doubts. While the normal concept of surrender is one of contraction, active surrender is one of expansion. The more you surrender, the more your awareness expands.

    Letting Go and Changing from Within.

    The first step towards active surrender is to become aware of the difference between the things you cannot change and the things that you have some control over. Making positive choices enabling you to practice the 3 qualities mentioned above requires self-awareness and care.Take the time to settle into quieter levels of the mind, reconnect with your essential self and assess your bodily discomfits and tensions. 

    Take the time to settle into quieter levels of the mind, reconnect with your essential self and assess your bodily discomfits and tensions.

    Increasingly in my work I am seeing people who have made the active choice to surrender to a higher level of awareness. I believe that I am assisting them in their journey.

    It is indeed a paradox that a choice to focus on a bigger picture begins with a focus on a smaller one………….a person’s individual awareness and care of themselves!

    Photo: Macedon Ranges from Bundaleer Homestead

  • The Truth Is In The Body

    On the radio I heard a discussion about a program that helped gambling addicts by using dramatic acting. A young man spoke about his addiction and his $1,000,000 debt. He said he had tried a variety of counselling methods to resolve his addiction but nothing changed until he joined the acting group. He said that by acting he had to engage his body and, “with your body there is a sensation that is so real – that’s where I felt the humungous shift in finding my own truth rather than reflecting and running away from it.”

    By connecting with his body he healed his addiction. His insight into the body’s role in healing prompted me to write the following article.

    Listening to your body’s GPS

    Do you listen in wonder to the voice of your car’s GPS giving you detailed instructions,”….at the next roundabout, turn right….in 500 metres you will reach your destination….”?   We seem to have unreserved faith in our GPS’s ability to deliver us to our desired destination.  We have confidence in its knowledge of where we are and its ability to take us where we want to go.

    Take a moment to compare the voice of your car’s GPS to the voice in your head – the voice that expresses the thoughts racing though our minds; “I think I recognise that house….. He forgot to put the rubbish out (again)…. I’m so stupid, why do I always do that…… No, I think it was to the right…..I didn’t get the milk…..I wonder why she said that…. Oh, look at that woman’s dress…..I must be lost …….” and on and on. It’s pretty obvious that the voice in your head, unlike your car’s GPS, has little, or no idea where you are or where you are going.

    And yet that voice in your head is the navigation system that most of us use to live our lives by – the so-called rational mind. We live by expectations and “shoulds.” 

    To expect the mind to be a trustworthy guide in life would be like expecting my computer to offer me empathy and wise counsel. I genuinely appreciate all the marvellous things my laptop can do, including helping me to write this article, but I would be quite insane if I expected it to tell me what to write. Yet this is what most of us do – we look to our thinking to tell us what to do.

    Our thinking can at times seem so clear and instructive. Yet our capacity to think is heavily compromised by our beliefs, our conditioning, our perception of society’s expectations and various unresolved traumas we have experienced. Thinking can make us feel clever but we cannot think our way to healing.

    “Few of us have lost our minds, but most of us have long ago lost our bodies.” Ken Wilbur

    Our thinking mind certainly has a legitimate role to play in our lives; it is invaluable in acquiring knowledge. But being knowledgeable doesn’t always serve us well. Knowing what to do with knowledge requires wisdom.  The rational mind is good servant, but a poor master. It is not our deepest truth teller and doesn’t always guide us in the best direction.

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

    Within us all there is a guidance system (our very own GPS) which we can consult at any time. Our bodies have a message for us and if we listen with the same awe and reverence that we give to the GPS in our vehicles we will find guidance and direction in our lives. This is easier said than done, I know. But we can start by paying attention to the body. Using its own special language in the form of physical sensations, it tells us exactly what we need to know.

    Most often, we only notice our body when we experience pain or other symptoms. Once we register pain or discomfort, we then put our efforts into getting rid of the symptoms.

    “A trembling in the bones may carry a more convincing testimony than the dry documented deductions of the brain.” Llewellyn Powers

    The body is extremely sensitive. If we carefully observe the reactions of the body, a whole world opens up. We notice subtle changes in heart rate, breathing, muscular tension, and digestion. We feel tightness, softness, vibration, heaviness, space.

    Notice where you are sitting right now – the weight of your body, your breath, the sounds around you. Let yourself be in this moment without a commentary. Or if there is a commentary, just notice it as such. What do you sense? How do you feel? …And what is your sense of that which is aware? Don’t think about it.

    Through the body we can have a sense of being in harmony or disharmony with whatever situation we are facing. Through the body we can feel in connection and continuity with the whole of life or dissociated, split off and alienated.

    Through the body we can feel settled or unsettled, at ease or uneasy. Through the body we can feel spacious or contracted, grounded or spacey, enlivened or deadened.

    We need to learn the language of the body – it speaks in physical sensations. Everything that happens in our bodies is an opportunity to respond. We can be guided or we can ignore. But first we must listen…..

    The inner guidance whispers while our conditioned habits are screaming.

    By listening to the body we can gain wisdom and be guided towards an awakened, authentic and creative life. Through the body we can experience our truth.

    During your care at Enkindle Wellness I will guide and assist you to notice and pay attention to subtle blockages and restrictions in your body that hold the secrets to your healing. A slightly restricted ankle, a twist in your body as you lift your knee, a restriction in one side of your chest with deep inhalation…… These tensions are the result of past traumas in your life and more often than not relate to symptoms that manifest in other parts of your body. My job is to help you to learn the language of your body.

    Like the former gambler on the radio, noticing a sensation in your body can cause a “humungous shift”. You move closer to your truth of who you really are.

    The radio program was on Radio National’s Life Matters “Tackling gambling stigma through theatre.”

  • What To Do About Anxiety

    Of the most recent 25 people who have come to see me for the first time, 44% reported on their intake form that they were experiencing anxiety. Almost all of these people were not experiencing clinically diagnosed anxiety nor were they receiving any treatment for the condition. Statistics tell us that over 2 million Australians experience clinically diagnosed anxiety every year.  Clearly it can be a serious condition requiring medical and psychological help.

    But where does that leave the seemingly large group of people, such as people who come to see me, who manage periods of anxiety themselves? It can have a real and debilitating effect on all aspects of their lives.

    Anxiety is often described as, “a crazy out of control energy” in the body, mind and nervous system

    In speaking with my practice members over the years, I have come to the conclusion that anxiety is often described as, “a crazy out of control energy” in the body, mind and nervous system. It produces symptoms which include: a racing mind, feeling “spacey”, poor sleep, irritability, defensiveness, aches and pains, poor concentration, constant worries, fear and breathlessness. I think most people have experienced anxiety at some point in their lives.

    From a Network Chiropractic point of view, I look at “conditions” such as anxiety as dysfunctions rather than diseases. From this perspective, common anxiety results from a current life situation bringing to the surface previous traumatic life experiences. Traumatic experiences from the past have been stored in the body and mind because the person didn’t have the resources or maturity to resolve them at the time of their occurrence.

    The original trauma, be it physical, emotional or mental (or a combination), need not seem hugely significant from an adult’s point of view, or even be remembered by the adult. Its significance is how stressful it was at the time it occurred, from the perspective of the  person experiencing it at that time. It’s interesting to note that of the new people mentioned above who reported anxiety, all but two reported experiencing childhood trauma. Their ages ranged from 14 to 57 years old.

    In my experience the “crazy energy” of common anxiety can almost always be resolved. The personal characteristics of the people who most successfully address their anxiety are:

    • An awareness that there is no quick fix – the journey is about personal development to become more of the person they know and want to be – not just “fixing” the symptoms.
    • Finding the courage to take on “stuff” knowing that there’s multilayered blockages which take time (months, often years) to get to the bottom of.
    • Confidence to take their own course, to be aware of powerful interests of control in our society (and often of the influence of family and friends).
    • Preparedness to experience the recurrence of symptoms along the way and realise that symptoms are a source of learning.
    • Determination to change their life for the better, despite the ups and downs and to become less judgemental of themselves.
    • A curiosity about ways from within to make progress: meditation, eating well, exercising appropriately, being kind, creating time for oneself, trying “presence” methods such as Byron Katie’s “The Work”.
    • Following through with healing arts – Network Chiropractic, Profound Tension Release and Tesla Metamorphosis for example are all designed to help you become more of what you can be by helping release stored anxiety patterns.

    The “crazy energy” becomes more directed (turns into a strength) and able to be utilised for positive results as the person becomes more grounded and less defensive.

    With the techniques I use, people report that the “crazy energy” becomes more directed (turns into a strength) and able to be utilised for positive results as the person becomes more grounded and less defensive. With time, people find the strength and enthusiasm to speak and listen more compassionately. They contribute more to the world than they did previously.

    Please contact me if this resonates with you and you would like to know more.

    Important

    If you would like immediate support for any issues or feelings that come about from reading this article, call either of the following 24 hour services.

    Lifeline Ph 13 11 14 https://www.lifeline.org.au/

    Beyond Blue Ph 1300 22 4636 https://www.beyondblue.org.au/home

  • “Feeling Old”

    During the initial stages of a first consultation, it is common for people to tell me that they are “feeling old”.

    They talk about experiencing “aches and pains”, restricted movement in their joints, lack of energy, stress, depression, anxiety and perhaps one or more chronic health conditions.

    In fact, if you are over 50 years old (and often younger), the above symptoms are regarded as normal in our society. They seem to be the standard by which people are judged by our conventional health care system. This situation is inevitable in a system that specialises in trying to fix people’s problems rather than empowering them to find the resources within themselves to live a more dynamic and resilient life.

    I believe that we all have the energy and potential within ourselves to make our lives more fulfilling. Occasionally our problems can be “fixed”, but we are more likely to improve our health by:

    “Accepting the things we cannot change, finding the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

    It takes great courage and insight to step away from a system that promotes dependence, insecurity and fear.  It takes energy and commitment to embrace the truth of the above quote (the Serenity Prayer).

    Taking control of our lives requires wisdom (see Heart Wisdom) combined with a positive determination. There are many studies showing that it is one’s attitude to aging that determines one’s quality of life and even one’s longevity. Having a positive attitude contributes enormously to our wellbeing as we age.

    A good starting point is to accept that our life at any one moment is the sum of all that we have experienced to reach this point.  Our ancestral makeup, our childhood, our physical injuries, our emotional and mental traumas, our relationships with others and our way of thinking about ourselves in the world are the very substance of our lives.

    In my profession, I can gain a snapshot of someone’s life through their posture.  Posture is a reflection of who we are – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, at any moment. The shape of our body is brought about by the tissue that holds us together while allowing our movements: our connective tissue. (see Our Dance between Stability and Movement).

    Much of our “feeling old” is from the long term build-up of tensions in our connective tissue as the result of physical, emotional and mental trauma. Over the years this leads to tension in the muscles and joints which in turn causes aches, pain and arthritis. We compensate for trauma in our connective tissue with subtle changes in our flexibility and movements. (Most of the time we are unaware that this is happening.) Our body is trying to do the right thing to keep us going but gradually the compensations build on earlier compensations until we experience pain and stiffness.

    The pain and stiffness is noticed because these compensations lead to inflammation and adhesions in our tissues. What we often don’t notice initially is that the inflammation and adhesions are also in and around our organs leading to organ pain and reduced organ function.

    I help people by carefully observing their posture and movements and encouraging them to understand the compensations that they are using to get by in life. I like to point out to people just how clever our bodies are at keeping us active, despite the wear and tear that we all experience. Then, by using a few sessions of Network Care, I focus on restoring the flow in the nervous system. The process of Profound Tension Release also has the ability to release the restrictions in the connective tissue system, to achieve the energy and freedom that we all have within ourselves to live a more enjoyable and effective life.

    We can all “live younger” by paying tribute to our body’s natural ability to adapt, by being patient with the process of change and acknowledging the profound capacity we all have to be energetic and wise.

  • 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

  • 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.