July/August 2000
Articles on the theme "Exploring and Adventure"
The Way of the Adventurer
by Bob Gonzalez
The inspiration of the classical Greek
adventurer, Odysseus -- whom the Romans called Ulysses -- as portrayed in
Tennyson's poem "Ulysses."
Exploring with Wonder
by Kathy Houston
The adventure of life. Exploring it
with the wonder and imaginings of a child.
A Spiritual Adventure
by Rev. Pat Cross
Making a new start at any age -- an
exploration and adventure in consciousness... the ultimate eternal adventure.
Exploring the Adventure Within
by Ron Graham
The adventure of becoming One with
the universal mind of God.
Life's Adventures
by Linda Bothwell
From birth to falling in love, to Self-realization
Exploring Body/Mind Healing
by Ernesto J. Fernandez
An approach to healing that helps define
the best 'road map' and the best forms of treatment.
Exploring God as Process
by Rev. Pat Palmer
God as not only the source of everything
that is but also as the unfolding of every event that occurs.
Why Explore?
by Patrick Plaskett
How exploration helps us see the world
and ourselves differently -- and get more out of life.
Exploring the Self
by Edwina H. Holloway
The greatest adventure of all, the
excavation of our true Self.
A Learning Adventure
by Rev. Cydné Battreall
The story of a mother and daughter
in the adventure of a lifetime.
The Lure of Adventure
by Charles Larsen
What exploration and adventure consist
of. Achieving a state of mind to experience them.
Other Feature Articles
Natural Health Q & A
by Kim Gillespie
Concerning cocaine and drug abuse.
2000 & Beyond!
by David Findlay
What is... Sustainable/Organic Agriculture?
by Robert Roman
What sustainable/organic agriculture
is and why it is superior to commercial agriculture.
Minerals from Mother Earth
by Judy Power
Features stones for July and August:
jade and charoite.
Exploring Body/Mind Healing
By Ernesto J. Fernandez
Exploring body/mind healing is like going on an exotic adventure - to a place you always new existed and wanted to know more about, but didn't feel ready for. Preparing such a trip requires planning your destination, routes to get there, approximate travel time and expenses. The body/mind healing process, despite our best planning, may take us places we never expected to go, take longer than we expected, and exceed our allotted budget. For example, there are many ways to get to California: hitch-hike, peddle a bicycle, drive a car, ride a bus or fly in a plane. Any of these methods will get you there - the difference being in the effort, time and cost.
The same is true for body/mind healing. There are numerous exciting, effective and unique 'vehicles' or healing systems to get the traveler there. Each healing system provides many different paths to choose from. But how do you choose which vehicle and path to take when every practitioner claims theirs is the best?
To create a road map, ask yourself these questions (and ask your 'tour guide' health professional the same):
1. Which of the many healing systems do you use first, given the wide variety of health problems you may complain about (fibromyalgia, headaches, back pain, insomnia, chronic fatigue, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.)?
2. When in the healing process do you include other modalities? And in what order?
3. What is the optimal time frame for follow-up treatments? How do you avoid getting over-treated and risking a serious healing crisis?
How do you prevent a poor therapeutic response due to insufficient treatment?
It's easy to answer these questions incorrectly. Does this mean healthcare should carry a sign reading "caveat emptor" (buyer beware)? Does the client need to beware of healing decisions? After all, the practitioner (and client) is not all-knowing, all-powerful -though MDs are stereotypically portrayed as such!
To illustrate the difficulty in making a correct client assessment (reading the road map) and choosing the best treatment (vehicle), do the following. It will demonstrate that a single problem can have a multitude of possible causes. Let's assume you have left shoulder pain. Place your right hand on your left shoulder joint with direct skin contact. Now:
1. Focus your attention to the skin, feel its texture and temperature.
2. Then feel how the shoulder is affected by your breathing.
3. Shift your attention to the blood circulation and lymph circula- tion within the shoulder.
4. Focus on feeling the cranio-sacral rhythm in the shoulder.
5. Feel for the movement of Qi through the Lung, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Triple Heater and Gall Bladder meridians.
6. Feel for muscle tension.
7. Feel for the movements of the upper arm, the scapula and clavicle as you move your arm through different planes of movement.
This exercise identifies seven general categories with well over 100 possible specific causes of pain. Note that we are not even considering the emotional/psychological variables as well as dietary and physical activities, which would bring the possible causes of shoulder pain fairly close to 200.
With all these possible starting points and treatment paths, how can the consumer and health professional choose the most efficient, cost-effective path to pursue? The answer is amazingly simple: let the body tell you. The body/mind complex can communicate to you and tell you what it needs, in which order, and for how long!
The healing modality specifically designed to do this - letting the body talk to you - is called the BodyTalk system.
What is BodyTalk?
The BodyTalk system is used like a compass to help keep the health professional and client on course. Dr. John Veltheim, an acupuncturist and chiropractor, developed the BodyTalk system over the course of thirty years of study. It has been designed to:
1. Teach you how to communicate with a person's body/mind complex to identify what it needs, in what order, and how often.
2. Integrate the best of all alternative medicine healing systems without prejudice.
3. Simplify and magnify the therapeutic effects of other healing systems.
4. Provide the most ethical, efficient and cost-effective healthcare possible for the consumer.
5. Guide health professionals to drop their agendas as to what a person needs and how the body should heal, and instead let the body/mind decide.
6. Utilize cutting-edge technology, blending energy medicine, Chinese medicine, manual therapies, bioenergetic psychology and Dynamic Systems Theory.
7. Provide tools that can be easily integrated into any healthcare scope of practice.
8. Teach methods that can be easily learned by lay persons for use in maintaining their own health.
9. Provide tools for the journey that are easy on the practitioner's body and are, for the most part, painless for the client.
How does BodyTalk work?
BodyTalk uses reference/reflex points on the body to influence multiple body systems simultaneously. These body systems are influenced by:
1. Improving the circulation of Qi, blood, lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, other body fluids and nerve conduction.
2. Improving the communication between and within body systems.
3. Facilitating the synchronicity between and within body systems.
A breakdown in any one of these factors creates the conditions for disease to develop.
Certainly there are other body/mind therapies that also help improve circulation, communication and synchronicity. What sets the BodyTalk System apart is that it has effectively integrated the best of intuitive processes and cognitive objective indicators. It does so in a non-diagnostic manner to steer both the health professional and client. This takes much of the guesswork out of the healing process, and gives the helm back to the body/mind, where it should be.
In summary, letting the body/mind dictate the healing path effectively removes the need for a "caveat emptor." It makes you feel more confident of having taken the right path in your journey, the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Ernesto J. Fernandez, MA, LMHC, LMT, NCBTMB, is a massage therapist,
mental health counselor, health educator, professional speaker, and author
of "The Healer's Journey," with over thirteen years experience
in body/mind approaches. Tampa FL (813) 977-2832. www.chronic-pain-relief.com
Copyright (c) 2000 Altnewtimes,
Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this web site my be reproduced without written permission of Altnewtimes, Inc.
E-mail info@altnewtimes.com