Enkindle Wellness

Category: Network Chiropractic

  • Living on the Edge of Chaos

    We all live on the edge of chaos every time something changes. It does not matter what the change is or when the change occurred. This change can be personal, national, financial, emotional, or psychological. It can be external or internal. When change happens we are forced to move to the edge of chaos to deal with it.

    This is particularly true if the situation forcing our change is new to us: divorce, bankruptcy, unanticipated wealth, death of a loved one, business failure, rules change, failed relationships, etc.

    Living on the edge of chaos is where all great ideas happen and real change (personal, professional, interpersonal) occurs. This is what we need to learn to deal with and manage so that it does not destroy us, force us into fear based decisions or make us complacent.

    Living on the edge of chaos forces us to think differently to solve a problem. Living on the edge of chaos forces us to make painful choices, to think differently about a situation, to solicit new inputs, and take new actions to fully experience the pain this change has caused.

    Living on the edge of chaos, for this change to be effective, requires that we take in information that may not have been important in the past. It requires that we take ownership of the situation, for in total ownership we are empowered to take the action required. If we do not own something we cannot effectively change it.

    Living on the edge of chaos requires that we think about the situation from a more global perspective. It requires us to see things as they are, not as we want them to be. It requires us to understand the impact of our actions on others. It requires us to make informed, responsible and deliberate choices.

    Out of chaos we are able to create a new higher sense of order that allows us to be flexible enough to better deal with the problems of being human.  Interestingly though, we are totally “in control” only went we are totally okay with whatever happens. We develop a sense of trust, not such that everything will be magically alright, but a trust that we will handle whatever happens in the best way that our resources will allow. We watch with awareness the chaos arising without judging ourselves. It does require us to note our actions and learn from our observations how we can act more faithfully from now on by being accepting of ourselves and being fair and objective. It’s a “tough love” approach.

    Network Chiropractic Care can offer support for a life on the edge of chaos. As we further develop in the levels of Network Care, in association with other positive actions such as observing our eating habits or changing our levels of physical activity or increasing community involvement or focusing on our relationships and our spiritual practices, we begin to find living at the edge of chaos is really interesting. In fact we welcome the chaos because we know that by accepting its challenge we become more able to contribute to the world.

    A commitment to Network Care can enable us to become more resourceful and therefore break through chaos and into a new way of feeling, thinking and acting. Network care can also enkindle the creation of the chaos necessary for change. More importantly however, it can be the facilitator for moving beyond the chaos.

    Adapted from “Living on the Edge of  Chaos” by Ron  Finklestein

    More Chaos

    To learn more about the chaos we experience, click on the link to this article: I Love Chaos Bill Harris . While the article is quite long, it’s well worth the read if you are interested in this subject.  Bill Harris is the director of Centerpointe Research Institute the producers of Holosync audio meditation programs. I have used these programs for about 6 years and have found them to be very powerful.

    Bill writes a blog which has many interesting articles written in his conversational style. Some of his more recent posts are more about political and financial topics, I find some of his most interesting posts are the earlier ones about the stages of development humans go through. You can access these by clicking on the month and year of the post on Archives section of his blog page.

  • “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.”

    “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.”

     ~ Dr Wayne Dyer

    Dr Dyer’s quote invokes the famous double slit experiment in physics. When scientists look, on a microscopic level, at a light beam passing through a pair of slits in a panel, their observation of the experiment changes the behaviour of the light beam from either a wave (movement of energy) to a particle (movement of particles) or vice versa. This is in the area of quantum physics, where science is not only stranger than you think; it is stranger than you can think.
    Our health is an example of something that can change as a result of the way in which it is observed. I’d argue that there are significantly different outcomes for our health depending on how one looks at it.

    The mechanical view dominates our society’s understanding of how our bodies function. This view tends to see the body in terms of its separate parts, albeit working together; and specialises in focussing on a specific part of the body when faced with a crisis. This view is reflected in our medical system.

    Alternatively, there is the wholistic view, which includes the mechanistic approach but adds a broader, more interconnected interpretation of how our bodies work.  Emotional, mental, social and environmental aspects are included in a wholistic perspective of health.  A wholistic understanding of health doesn’t “throw out” the mechanical view as there useful parts to this approach that can be included within the wholistic view.

    A good illustration of the differences in the two approaches is the way we look at our bones.

    Do you think of your skeleton as a whole lot of bones joined together, or a dynamic structure giving form and strength?

    After looking at an image, a medical practitioner would commonly diagnose “arthritis”, and would suggest that any pain experienced comes from the condition of the bones as seen in the x-ray. This interpretation reflects a mechanistic view.

    However, if we regard the body as a responsive, adaptable system we can describe what is shown in the same x-ray as follows:

    • there have been stresses that have impacted on this area of the spine
    • the stress may have occurred through an injury
    • the stress has a postural component and relates to other stresses – mental, emotional, nutritional (poor nutrition or the body’s response to toxicity.)

    Importantly, what appears on the x-ray relates to many aspects of one’s life and not just the bones in one’s neck.

    There is no scientific evidence of the presence of spinal degeneration seen on x-ray correlating with the patient’s pain or other symptoms.

    Judging from the x-ray, I would also suggest that the body has “done its best” to cope with the stresses in the neck. In fact, it is the body’s response to stress which has led to the diagnosis of “arthritis”, manifesting as pain.

    Looking at the same x-ray from a wholistic perspective, the observations change:

    • increased density of the bone around the joints is the body’s way of strengthening a weakness (seen as more whiteness on x-ray)
    • bone spurs – which are actually ligaments containing extra calcium which the body deposits to give strength and stability to a stressed joint.
    • disc narrowing and reduced movement – which has the effect of providing more protection to the spinal cord than a thicker, unstable disc.

    These things are the body’s way of adjusting (positively) to the negative effects of stress.

    The two different interpretations of the same x-ray provide choices about the way we look at ourselves and our health. The mechanistic view tends sees limited options for change as the “arthritis” is something that is immovably set in place. with relief coming from the outside in the form of medication. The wholistic model suggests our bodies (and our whole selves) have the ability to take control, learn, adapt and create change from within.

    The wholistic view includes the mechanistic view but adds the knowledge that “arthritis” reflects more than what appears in the image on an x-ray.

    A wholistic approach encourages a view of health from a wider perspective – one that embraces change – changing the way we look at things and in turn changing the way we choose to live.

  • Embodiment

    When we desensitize ourselves to our body, we tend to associate knowledge and wisdom only with our thinking mind. We try to think our way through life, giving ourselves a break from our minds every now and then by drugging ourselves, getting erotic, or otherwise using the body as a tool for distraction. Our bodies get so easily saturated with our mental activity—if someone asks us how we’re feeling, many of us tend to look up or away, scanning through our mind for the answer. As if the mind knows!

    Getting back to the body not only speeds our healing, anchoring and centring us, it also helps decentralise egoity so that we become more than embodied ego and its imperialistic holdings. Getting back to the body isn’t about having ego-governed relationships with our different “parts”—part of me wants this, part of me wants that, and another part of me doesn’t want either, and so on, revealing not healthy ambiguity but only self-fragmentation. Getting back to the body is about having a being-centred relationship with all that constitutes us.

    Our body is our medium for being in relationship with our environment (a physical body for a physical environment, a dream body for a dream environment, and so on). But embodiment is relationship. As we mature, we shift from sensing our body as a solid something to sensing it as something far from static, something through which we are revealed and expressed, no matter in what state we may be.

    When lost in thought, we have no body.

    When attention is brought to thought, we have a body.

    When attention is brought to sensation, we shift from having a body to being in a body.

    When attention is brought to perception, we shift from being in a body to being present as a body.

    When attention is brought to our overall presence, our innate wholeness of being, we shift from being present as a body to simply being, neither separate from nor identified with our body.

    By Robert Augustus Masters

    http://robertmasters.com/

  • How Did the Diplodocus Hold its Head Up?

    You may experience some neck tension with stress and prolonged sitting at the computer, driving or working at a bench. But think of the poor old Diplodocus, how did they manage to hold their heads up with a 7 metre long neck?  They didn’t have a tall frame on their shoulders and the cables that we see holding up the long boom of the cranes on high-rise building sites.

    The Diplodocus used a wonderful structural design which is actually the structural basis of all life forms. It is the structure of all parts of us from our DNA to our cells to our organs to our bones, muscles and nerves.  It’s called the tensegrity matrix.

    The term tensegrity (“tension” + “integrity”) was coined by Buckminster Fuller (best known for the geodesic dome). Use of a tensegrity design creates a structure with the strength, stability, and flexibility far greater than would be expected of its individual parts.

    In plants and animals the matrix is the material that forms the structure of every part, from within the individual cells to the whole plant or animal. It is the tissue that supports, connects, binds together and transmits information.

    This is a vastly different model from the conventional understanding of the body as a skeleton clothed in muscle and skin.

    The Diplodocus’ very long and flexible neck, able to move in all directions and support its head, was due to its tensegrity structure rather than the lever and pulley system we see in a building crane.

    The tensegrity model explains how cells and the whole body can move and respond to forces from the outside and forces within. It also utilises the body’s energy and nutrients to remain strong and flexible. It is known as the tensegrity matrix.

    When we look at our body as a whole, the matrix is made up of connective tissues. Connective tissue consists of cells and fibres which weave their way throughout our bodies surrounding our brain, organs, bones, muscles and nerves. Connective tissue also includes: bones, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, fat tissue and blood and lymph systems.

     

    In addition, the matrix has specific structural and electrical properties that respond to changes to its tension and shape. These changes have been shown to have a significant effect on everything from the function of individual cells to the function of the whole body. In humans, these changes can have a dramatic influence on health and wellness.

    The tensegrity matrix is amazingly resilient and flexible, allowing us to perform all kinds of activities – from simple bending to gymnastics. It is even capable of bouncing back into shape after significant forces are applied it. But there is a limit – sometimes the forces are too strong for our structure to absorb.

    Trauma, as the result of a physical injury or from mental/emotional stress, results in a change in tension and shape of the matrix. This causes a region of the body to become more rigid and have a decreased flow of energy (electrical charge). This isn’t always experienced as local pain, but as the rigidity continues it can result in pain and stiffness in other parts of the body that are connected via the 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.

  • When the Voice Gets Louder….

    When the Voice Gets Louder, You’re on the Right Track.

    Have you ever noticed that when you make the decision to start or actually do something new, especially if it involves a significant shift from your previous way doing things, there is an increase in the “chatter” in your head? Your inner voice may say: “You can’t do that”, “What will people think?”, “Nobody else does it like that”, “You’re stupid to think like that” ….and dozens of similar statements. My suggestion is that the louder the voice, the more likely it is that you’re on the right track.

    The voice in your head: the critic, the guardian – is the voice of your thinking mind.

    The voice in your head: the critic, the guardian – is the voice of your thinking mind. Its talk is derived from the past which it thinks will help you interpret the present and predict the future. Its role is to keep you safe – it’s about survival. It’s the guardian at the gate. It holds you safe as it holds you back.

    The information from your inner voice comes directly from past experiences and from what you have learned from those with whom you grew up. The voice may even speak from memories of events in the lives of previous generations. Recent research in the field of epigenetics (the study of how stress, diet, behaviour, toxins, and other factors regulate gene expression), has shown that severe trauma in one generation can be passed on to future generations.

    Your voice can appear very rational, logical and sensible; and while it has aspects of these qualities, careful observation will show that it is driven by emotions, mainly those that are immature or irrational, such as fears that come from childhood. This information is from the past and is out of date because it is based on the limited thinking of the child you once were. “The Work”, a process developed by Byron Katie, (see my previous blog) is a simple way to observe the voice in action.

    The part of you that your voice calls silly, irrational, crazy, dangerous, etc. is actually your intuitional, creative, authentic self.

    But who is this inner voice talking to?  What is the purpose of all this chatter? The part of you that your voice calls silly, irrational, crazy, dangerous, etc. is actually your intuitional, creative, authentic self. Notice that when something arises from this deeper aspect of you, it is not expressed in words but more in feelings and “knowing”.  Intuition, when it is noticed by the inner voice, (the “guardian at the gate,”) sets off the chatter referred to earlier. Paradoxically, the greater your intuitive desire to change, the more shrill your inner critic becomes. The louder the inner voice, the more likely you are to be on the right track!

    The challenge therefore is to accept your inner voice for what it does best (because it’s a futile waste of effort to try to get rid of it) and proceed, albeit with caution and care. Acknowledging your inner critic for what it is and does, allows you to move forward to a fuller life.

    By helping you to notice what is going on within you, and by helping you to identify the positive aspects of having an inner critic, Network Care can set you on the path of discovering your true and authentic self.

  • “I’m Stuck”

    It’s great when people come to see me and say they are “stuck” or “blocked” in some aspect of their body or their life. This is because realising you are stuck is the point at which moving forward is possible.

    “It seems as if I keep making progress then I hit a barrier, I feel like I’m running around in circles, I’ve tried EVERTHING, it’s SO FRUSTRATING!”

    If you think of something, it could be a pain (or any other aspect of your life), that you are experiencing (or have experienced in the past) a feeling of being stuck or blocked; observe the feeling that you “have tried everything.” And you probably have indeed tried lots of things, often treatments that are designed to “fix” the problem.

    These treatments will usually give symptomatic relief and psychological relief because a “professional” has told you they have found the source of your symptoms and given it a name (a diagnosis).  I’m not saying this is “bad” because it can be crucial and lifesaving.  But it is also the reason that our health care system fails many of the people who suffer chronic diseases and pain.

    When you are focused on and are receiving treatments aimed at “fixing” the problem you may get relief, but you continually dissipate the energy that is required to bring about real change. I know about this because I spent 20 years as a manual chiropractor, with the best of intentions based on my understanding at that time: trying to “fix” people’s problems. (Not to mention trying to “fix” my own problems.) I finally realised that I was only helping people to stay stuck in a “holding pattern” where they got relief from their symptoms (e.g. their headache) for a short period of time then the headache would come back because nothing had changed in their life.

    Fortunately there was the occasional person who did move out of that holding pattern and I noticed that these people often, not only resolved their symptom pattern but told me about changes they had made in their life – “changed my whole diet”, “left the job I hated” etc. These people inspired me to search for a way of working where I could help people break through their stuckness and achieve more of what they want to do in their lives. This is what I do now.

    Life creates layers of blockages within us. These blockages originally occur at times of stress, often when we are young and have a lesser ability to cope than an adult. These blockages are not bad things when they originally occur as they help us to be safe and to cope. Later in adult life they come out as symptoms and a restriction in our ability to be who we are capable of being. It is a lifelong process of clearing these blockages.

    When a person realises and expresses that they are stuck then the energy for change is available.

    Say out loud, with conviction; “I’M STUCK!!!”.

    Notice the energy that arises in saying this and a sense, in the background, that there is a spark of possibility that change can occur. Once that spark has occurred there is energy for change and my “work” can help you use that energy to move forward in the aspect of your life that is blocked.

    Once the energy for change is set free, you may find yourself wanting to say “Enough of this”, “I’m drawing a line in the sand”, or “I have a plan and I’m moving forward.” The energy that was bound up in the blockage is now flowing and creating real change.

  • Being vs Doing – Resolving the Paradox

    Being vs Doing – Resolving the Paradox

    The only thing you ever have is now.If we are “supposed to be” perfect in the moment how do we change ourselves and the world for the better?

    This apparent paradox is the old question of Being vs Doing. Wisdom calls for us to accept things as they are and at the same time we know that we want to change things. How can this be achieved? I have to say that I pondered this over for several years and the answer seemed to be there, like it was hanging in space, but I could not grasp it. I have since realised that I was trying to understand a “big picture’ concept using the “small detail” part of my mind. I will explain……

    I was inspired to understand the “answer” to this paradox, about 4 years ago, by a person who comes to see me. At that stage I had seen him a few times and one day, when I asked him what changes he was noticing with the Network Chiropractic Care, he said that there was a paradox (I don’t remember what the particular paradox was) that he had been searching for an answer to for many years and in the previous week he had finally understood it.

    The crucial thing I noticed was that when he said the words “in the previous week I have finally understood it”, he changed his posture to a slightly more erect one and tilted his head back a little. Clearly he had found the resolution of his paradox by accessing his “big picture” mind. The Network care he had received had made a new higher level posture more available to him and had contributed to his being able to achieve this insight.

    Most people who experience Network Care become aware of positive changes to their posture and often describe it using such words as “feeling taller”, “more connected”, “more grounded”, “more powerful”,  “more feminine / masculine”, “more at ease”, and many other positive descriptions.

    An aspect of the change in posture is the position of the person’s head becoming level, or slightly tilted up, (their eyes look straight ahead) rather than tilting down (to look at the ground in front of them). It is proven that we access a different part of our brain depending on the posture of our head.

    The tilted down posture gives more access to our busy mind, where we focus on practical detailed tasks and where we think more about our “problems”. In Network we call this the Lower Mind. The level or slightly tilted up head position accesses more of our Upper Mind. This is where our “big picture” thinking occurs.

    As an experiment try saying the words, “feeling taller”, “more connected” etc. that are in the paragraph above; first with your head down looking at the floor in front of you, then standing straighter, looking ahead and notice the difference in how you feel inside. Then try saying a few words like “I’m hopeless”, “I never get things right”, “it’s all his/her fault” (you can make up more it you want – we all have/have had plenty) using the two different postures. In the upright posture some of the “negative” thoughts may even sound silly.

    The Upper Mind is where we access our creativity and philosophical ideas. Here, you will notice, answers tend to come in moments of clarity or “Ah Ha’s” as opposed to the detailed logical progression of the Lower Mind’s processes. Our Lower Mind’s thoughts tend to be much more influenced, mostly unconsciously, by our physical and emotional injuries.

    This doesn’t make the Lower Mind bad or something to “get rid of” – it’s a wonderful, essential part of our make-up as a human being. But it’s important to realise that with Network Care we gain greater access to our Upper Mind and therefore have more choices about which aspect of our mind we use in different situations.

    Imagine writing a shopping list for a special meal you want to create. You tend to use your Upper Mind to get a “big picture’ of the combination of dishes you would like to serve and how you will present them, then you switch to your Lower Mind to think about the ingredients you have in the cupboard and which ones you will have to buy etc. i.e. the details. You might notice yourself switching back and forth between your Upper and Lower Minds to check that the details and the big picture are congruent.

    Now, back to the Being Vs Doing paradox. I agree with Eckhart Tolle who says:

    “The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.”

    When we talk about being in the present moment, we are describing the act of gathering our attention and energy in the here and now, focusing on what is around us and what is happening in our life right now in the moment.

    So if you are drinking a cup of coffee, you are noticing the flavour and temperature of the coffee and the feel of the cup in your hand; if you are reading this article, you are focusing fully on these words; if you are listening to a friend, you are giving all your attention to him or her and not looking at your phone or allowing your thoughts to wander.

    You cannot live in this world without doing. As you further develop the art of being fully present in the moment, then everything you do will become more purposeful and meaningful.

    The important message to remember is that by being fully present in each and every moment, you will be able to do your very best work and accomplish your full potential. Learn how to be first, and then your best doing will follow……..and the paradox will disappear!