We can "release" a negativity. But in order to make a real change, it takes new knowledge, otherwise you may just be unwavering and determined about something that is based on old information.
Resolve = find a solution
We can release and replace. That's the whole point of chiropractic!
Welcome to Impact Coaching 2023
This
Year→ Discard the inaccurate definitions that do
not serve you.
This
Year → Give your brain/body credit for the
real
work it does for you.
This
Year → You decide the patterns that you prefer to
live with.
**
Your brain learns everything you teach it.
**
Chiropractic re-wires the brain, but you reinforce what patterns
get re-wired.
**
The adjustment “clears the slate.”
What
you introduce or follow up with matters.
IMPACT
COACHING * 2023*
Brain
First Is Body Freedom
The whole point of chiropractic is to adjust the spine so it can unwind the stress of your life, giving you a refreshed energy to live the whole human experience --- regardless of pain, whether you are in pain or not in pain.
......
Chiropractic was birthed out of a different philosophy.
You can't mix it with the paradigm that already failed you.
If you're living with frustration and feel as if we're all destined to have sickness and disease, please leave that mind-set at the door.
You are invited to walk through the door with a fresh set of eyes.
The whole point of chiropractic is to adjust the spine so it can unwind the stress of your life, giving you a refreshed energy to live the whole human experience --- regardless of pain, whether you are in pain or not in pain.
That's it. Now, enjoy my musings. You may relate.
.......................
Another rant, here. But this is when I really get into deep thought.
The local newspapers and TV news stations everywhere report the high flu count. But don't forget, they began warning you months ago that a tough season was on its way here. So .... a self fulfilling prophesy.
The local paper reported on the how full the hospital was. And, I am perplexed, because a hospital is full of sick people. Imagine that. It should not be news. But yet it is.....for a special reason, and that is to get you hyped up and afraid. And for 99% of people, they never get sick, but the media wants you to have the fear festering in the back of your head, wearing out your nervous system.
This highlighted sickness that is given a special name, (even though the symptoms are not special at all,) is apparently on the rise and you need to be ready for it as if it is a burglar trying to break down your front door.
Yet, there is no news alert if heart attacks are on the rise. Cancer jumps haven't made the headlines. Diabetes is increasing every year, but it gets ignored.
I am pointing out a huge disparity in health reporting, or awareness. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The repeated message becomes your nocebo. If it's on the news and you believe it, you will be at risk of joining the statistical pool of sick people.
You don't have to join.
Especially when the information is wrong. Yes! I said it. It is not the way you should be viewing your brain and body.
We've been told a sad story. We've been told that symptoms are bad and lead to disease. Even in chiropractic school when I thought I was taking a different journey, the message was very similar. While chiropractic used natural methods to "get people well," the teaching was still the same. I was taught there is bad health and good health. We were taught how to detect "abnormal." In the end I was taught how to write a fantastic treatment plan. But, does that mean the person "gets well?"
I was taught to look for "red flags." I'm still haunted by my relentless search for "red flags." Let me say here that this vocabulary is part of the nocebo effect.
If someone says, "I don't want to give you my cold," you have a decision to make. Because no one gives you a cold. You create the runny nose and sneezes within your brain. Maybe you don't want to be left out, excluded from the symptoms....Hmmm. Maybe you feel empathy for someone..... Maybe you are sharing the same feelings of rejection or unappreciation..... We share beliefs and experiences. But do we really share germs and endanger each other? That's not my world. In fact, the last two years supports that. You'd think in my office where I am touching people all day long and "breathing down their necks" I would have been in the hospital every two weeks!!
Belonging to a group is hardwired in our brain for survival. But there are certain groups we need to separate ourselves from.
I've chosen to separate myself from the "sick group."
But the negative programming is frustrating me. It's everywhere and it's out there for a reason.
When I say I offer you health freedom. I am giving you a choice.
You can pursue this further with the Brain First / Body Freedom Protocol
......
Chiropractic was birthed out of a different philosophy.
You can't mix it with the paradigm that already failed you.
If you're living with frustration and feel as if we're all destined to have sickness and disease, please leave that mind-set at the door.
You are invited to walk through the door with a fresh set of eyes.
1-
Pain is a Purposeful Pattern. Rather than interrupt it
with artificial means, determine how the pattern is protecting so you
can decide how best to support it.
2-
Injuries repair themselves in days to weeks, provided the muscles are
toned and organs are working efficiently.
3- Most of the time I am
dealing with people whose bodies were not prepared for stress
events. We are usually in “catch up mode.”
4-
Fight-or-Flight is a valuable nervous system pattern but it can
exhaust our reserves when we take it for granted.
5-
Drugs and surgery do not alleviate prolonged Fight-or-Flight
which is why we must pursue a different approach for our long term
well being.
(Prolonged
Fight-or-Flight is mistreated by mainstream health care because they
are too narrowly focused on the effects rather than the cause and
misplace the blame on inflammation.)
6-
Calling nervous system patterns a disease or sickness ignores the
true nature of the body's systems, incites a fear response that
worsens the situation further exhausting the body. (More need
for “catch up mode.”)
7-
Chiropractic helps people in pain by re-engaging the prefrontal
cortex. The adjustment interrupts a stress pattern like a switch
and shifts the brain to repair/rebuild. However, cellular
movement is painful as the body is rebuilding tissues and excreting
waste. Appropriate repair avoids the disappointment of weakened or
poorly re-formed tissues/joints. We can support this process with
chiropractic maintenance, nutrition, and stress management.
Improving comfort is
a more reasonable approach than stopping pain prematurely.
Let's move
from “Catch Up Mode” to “Wellness Mode.”
“Catch
Up Mode” = Replenish Reserves
“Wellness
Mode” = Maintain Reserves
I ask my folks to look at their health differently. I ask them to understand the innate wisdom of the body's self regulating system. I ask them to work in sync with this system, and not against it. It foes require to replacing old vocabulary with new.
(image: girlicity.com) You don't have to be unsure about chiropractic. You only need the desire to live your best life. While that is an over used saying, you can't be at your best if your brain's survival system is running on fumes.
Chiropractic was birthed out of a different philosophy.
You can't mix it with the paradigm that failed you.
If you're living with frustration and feel as if we're all destined to have sickness and disease, please leave that mind-set at the door.
You are invited to walk through the door with a fresh set of eyes.
The whole point of chiropractic is to adjust the spine so it can unwind the stress of your life, giving you a refreshed energy to live the whole human experience --- regardless of pain, whether you are in pain or not in pain.
(Image courtesy: Sweetzer and Orange Store / Amazon) From time to time I read obituaries of people I used to see in my office. When I reflect on their passing, most of them are folks who "dropped out of care." They may have come in only once or twice.
In chiro-land we use the term "dropped out of care" because the service we provide is based on a wellness paradigm that professes the importance of following nurturing protocols for the rest of one's life.
To us chiropractors, someone dropping out of care is a big failure. We blame ourselves for not being good enough teachers. We weren't effective at explaining the profound connection between the brain and body. We aren't inspiring enough when we discuss how much impact the chiropractic adjustment has on the neuro-plasticity of the brain. For example, chiropractic adjustments result in positive changes on a person's follow up EEG (recording brain activity). That's pretty spectacular. The discussion can be done on a very personal and relevant level without using complicated terminology.
Many years ago, when I first saw one person in my office, I had huge concerns that were bothering me more than the initial complaint of back pain. I voiced that concern with the spouse. Did I explain it adequately? I knew the back pain would not clear up in one or two visits because there were more "problems" blocking the healing process. The nervous system was bogged down. I wanted to pursue a more involved plan of action.
And, the insurance coverage was limited. Most people will only go as far as the insurance pocketbook, which I find very misleading to the public. But I know dentistry deals with the same thing.
The spouse had a medical background which I thought would help us talk it out. But, no. The response was: it could only be back pain. It's as if the back is completely separate from the rest of the body.
Dentists, deal with that as well. It is believed your mouth has nothing to do with the rest of the body (unless you have a heart problem, then you need a ton of antibiotics).
Mental health has the same hiccup. Mental challenges are assumed to need treatment separate from the rest of the body. I chose chiropractic because there is the realization of the link between the mind and the body. But, old thoughts hang on....
I never saw this person again after two visits. I read the obituary about 2 years later and I was sad. I was sad for the two years lost with this person.
I have the wonderful opportunity to see my peeps weekly for decades and walk their journeys with them. Yes, they have their family physicians who work with them for years and years, but chiropractic is different.
When we look to enhance the brain's perception of the outer and inner environments of a person, it is also an opportunity for personal growth which also has a deep impact on a person's life. When folks come in for weekly maintenance, the growth is exciting. It is shared among everyone else in the waiting room. It is a time to celebrate the innate powers of the body. It is a time to foster a positive outlook which is very important to longevity.
However, it's a free country and people who aren't interested in what I offer can go in a different direction.
I saw a recent obituary of someone who I haven't seen in about 2 years as well. This person had many stumbling blocks that kept her out of the office. She enjoyed her visits. I loved watching her progress. She was upbeat and very appreciative, but she missed appointments and eventually stopped coming. (Could have moved away, or had new stresses...I don't know) So, there's another 2 years of lost interactions. A lost relationship.
Chiropractic is a connection. The spine connects to the brain. But we are connected to each other. We're here to help each other and share the journey.
I hung a poster on my office door that says:
Pain is an Uncomfortable Way to be Comfortably Distracted
This is a message to remind us that there is an underside to our pain and health problems. We may be living a repetitive theme of personal loss, grief or anxiety of life events that take hold in our bodies as chronic pain. So let's not overlook the other sources of our bodily pain. The nervous system doesn't lie, but we need to translate its language.
Your closeness to your best friends and family plays a role in each others' health. Be there for each other.
I have the opportunity to do so with my long term practice members.
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas (like aging)
(image courtesy: novapublishers & book depository) When folks come to me, I know they want to use the language they are used to. So, I hear it. The dreaded A word.
Arthritis.
Arthritis is one of those labels that are misused, much like cholesterol. We can measure cholesterol with a blood test and think we can use it for diagnostic, disease prediction purposes. Which time has told us is another assumption gone bad, (yet is still a great way for pharma to profit).
We use X-rays to diagnose arthritis. Well, most of us in medicine and chiropractic do. Now, I realize, if you don't have a broken bone, don't overthink it. Typically when someone hears a doctor say arthritis, a wave of panic ensues. But we know an X ray or MRI does not correlate with pain or future pain.
It reminds me of an interview I heard with Dr. Terry Wahls of the Wahls protocol. She bounced back from a severe malfunction that left her in a horizontal wheel chair (for a while).
After she regained her mobility and returned to work, she stated her brain scans looked exactly the same. It had the same "plaquing" on her brain that endowed her with the label of multiple sclerosis. It is her belief that different parts of her brain took over as she nourished her body with whole foods. She has quite an interesting story that should help the public change their ideas of how the body works. Save yourself from the dread and fear when people throw these labels back and forth. (Images courtesy: terrywahls.com)
A tight joint and a birthday milestone over age 50 gives you the wonderful title of arthritis.
You know I don't buy it. When I used to run 5K races, 80 and 90 year olds used to blow me away. How can that be?
But in the last few years, people don't just have arthritis anymore. They have lupus, Lymes, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid.
People wear these titles as a badge of honor. They'll take offense if you don't remember their special diagnosis. People might be offended when they read my comments here, but I don't like the direction the medical system is going in. We are amazed by these strange afflictions and don't seem to have protocols to reverse them. Or do we?
I had to learn a grocery list of arthritis types. Apparently there are over 100 types, but my school had to narrow it down to about 20. I'd still be in school today trying to memorize their similarities and differences. And how does that help people get healthier? It doesn't.
Let's actually live in the real world. We can remove the embellishments of labels, findings, symptoms, and just give the body what it is lacking.
This lacking comes from an energy drain that is not properly replenished at reasonable intervals. This is how I describe the stages of the nervous system so we can learn how to partner with our brain and body.
Everything the brain does is appropriate for the situation. It prioritizes its needs based on the level of stress it encounters, (real and perceived through brain memory). Body responses don't happen to you. A disease doesn't happen. It is intelligently chosen by your brain.
When we are in the fight or flight-sympathetic state, we burn through our reserves. When we are in the vagus-parasympathetic state it is our opportunity to rest, digest, rebuild. Too much stress puts the rebuilding part on hold. When that stage is suspended, we lose minerals, bone density, muscle strength, organ efficiency.
Chiropractic helps you get back to an appropriate balance between these 2 states. I call chiropractic a way to renovate patterns that are more draining rather than sustaining.
When you are ready to do a pattern renovation of the brain/nervous system/body, let's get started.
** I had a copy of that Spine Dictionary in my office. I just tossed it in the trash can about a month ago. I thought it would be cool to keep it on my shelf in the office for reference or teaching purposes. I probably looked at it once when I first bought it. It didn't serve me. ***
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas (like aging)
Image Courtesy: https://www.turbotenant.com/blog/normal-wear-and-tear/ But remember, you are not a house!
Allow me to gripe some more. Hopefully it is educational and constructive.
Wear and Tear
In chiropractic school this term was spoken so much. Too much. We had a class called NMS something or other. I think it was neuro-musculo-skeletal pathology. Everything was caused by wear and tear, or micro-trauma, or repetitive strain.
Ugh......please no more.
How were we supposed to help people get better?
1- Chiropractic adjustments
2- Prescriptive exercise
3- Nutrition (for inflammation and tissue integrity)
And we just chalked it up to too much wear and tear.
Not very empowering. Just come back if you injure yourself again with repetitive strain, or more micro-trauma. Please incorporate these life style suggestions if you'd like to be more productive and energetic. And, please figure out a way to make your job not kill you. (Yes, I'm serious. People put their work above their health and family......)
As students we went into detail about the biochemical changes of injury and how the macrophages come in to clean out the area to help heal the muscles and joint structures. Etc. Etc. Blah, blah, blah.
Funny thing is, we learned that immobilization is the worst thing for a person's joint health. And we can teach that to our practice members. Movement keeps the joints hydrated. I much prefer the phrase, use it or lose it. (Neuro-plasticity..... another topic for another blog posting.)
We also teach them that pain medications destroy cartilage and other soft tissues. Why add fuel to the fire?
Just like bone on bone, wear and tear is some kind of terminology that gets you off the hook. It's too late. The damage is done. It's irreversible. In fact, I typed wear and tear in google for medical terms and it is called normal wear and tear.
I found some medical articles using wear and tear arthritis. A medical dictionary ascribes wear and tear to dental changes in the teeth, caused by bruxism (teeth grinding).
Microtrauma is a microscopic injury to muscles, bones, soft tissues. I suppose if you wait long enough, it becomes macro-trauma, something you can see and feel.
"Wear and tear" seems to have taken on a life of its own.
Mostly I don't like the fact that it sets the stage for a depressing outlook. We can take wear and tear to a whole new level of despair and demoralization. We can now call it stenosis. Now you're in for a real treat because surgeons salivate over your X-rays and reserve the surgical suite for you.
Here's the thing: arthritis was not a big deal when I first started in practice. People knew they needed to take care of their joints. They knew they needed to move more. But they were not overwhelmed.
Now 22 years later, and I know I am not delusional, arthritis has taken on a new personality. People are hyper-upset, very fearful, often depressed, and the word "aging," tags along.
It has gotten to the point where I feel I am not successfully explaining to my folks that it's not the end game. They have so much potential to be more functional, but the mind is blocked.
Something has happened in a couple of decades where I now see people with the most helpless attitudes. Learned helplessness!
Another thing I've noticed: When I first opened up my practice, most people said, "I hate taking medicine." And they were not taking medicine. Now people say, "I hate taking medicine," and they produce a long list of prescribed drugs-- that they take.
So, people in the past stood by their comment that they did not want to take anything. They really meant it. Now, people begrudgingly swallow synthetic pills on a daily basis and accept it.
Is it because I see so much more obesity and diabetes? People come to me with joint pain, yet it's just the tip of the iceberg. *** Their joints are a reflection of the rest of their body. There's so much anxiety, fatigue, high blood pressure, and "auto-immune" disease attached to the "wear and tear," of their bones.
It's time to end my griping with a positive outlook.
We are meant to be moving. If you are convinced you are a victim of wear and tear, you are not moving enough.
Also, your joints do respond to fight or flight stress, even mental stress. When your body goes into survival mode, your spine compresses. It's a physiological response dictated by the brain to move you out of perceived danger.
Here's the caveat. You're supposed to get out of fight or flight quickly and resume tissue rebuilding. If that doesn't happen, your tissues will be prone to injury from doing simple everyday activities. And, if your nutrition is lacking, your new tissues are made out of junk!
What feels like wear and tear to you, is to me, poor replenishment. This is the direction we need to take.
Wear and tear is a cop out phrase. It's equivalent to,"I give up." But you don't have to feel stuck.
When I meet people who want to improve their functionality, I go to the brain first. If you are in a high stress situation, we have to modulate the nervous system so you can actually resume the rebuilding phase of the nervous system stages. Some people may not be aware of the ultra-high stress they are dealing with. The body will not rebuild when it is in a hyped up state of survival mode. The body gives us hints so we can learn from it and make the necessary changes.
Your nervous system is unique to you. Your past exposures to stress, along with the emotional decorations you lace it with determines how quickly or slowly you revert to the energetic state of rebuilding. There is no one-size fits all answer. This is a self exploratory / self growth approach woven into your chiropractic care.
Let's move beyond the vocabulary that doesn't serve you and dive into the empowering approach of brain-based chiropractic.
*** Please remember, chiropractic is not a treatment for joint pain. Chiropractic allows the brain to shift gears back to homeostasis and rebuilding. I know people typically focus on joint pain, and I teach them to look at the bigger picture from the brain's point of view regarding healing priority.
Brain First *Is* Body Freedom
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas (like aging)
**
Irresponsible for doctors to say: “bone on bone”
**
Doctor in Missouri took over 1,000 knee x-rays.
**
Only 1 had true bone on bone (less than 00.1%).
**
In a study of 100 pain free people who had a spinal MRI – half had
bulging discs but were fine.
**
Degenerative change is not a predictor of pain.
**
Location of pain is not always the cause of pain.
**
Spine Surgeon, David Hanscom says changing your brain is more
important. Surgery is often a failure.
The brain
sets priority.
Follow the
Brain First Protocol.
Brain
First is Body Freedom.
I've keeping track of terminology we need to drop, or redefine. It's time to get rid of "bone on bone." It's mentally destructive, and not to mention not true. People who believe bone on bone, give up. They stop enjoying life. Sadly, people with this mind set are not easy to work with. Their nervous system's are stuck in a chronic cycle of energy depletion.
We know your Xray or MRI does not predict pain. It does not explain pain. You can read about the 1,000 Xrays from Core Medical Center's website. Just google the myth of bone on bone.
The MRI study demonstrates this concept as well. I don't have that study at my fingertips right now, but it was done more than 10, possibly 20 years ago.
I've seen many so called "bad" MRIs but that doesn't mean you have to give up being active. If you are not feeling well, or moving well, there is an approach to work through these challenges. It all depends on how well you move your brain, feed your brain, and talk to your brain. Does this sound familiar? It may take some real work that you haven't tried before. It will take patience.
And by the way. When it comes to describing health or symptoms, it's not bad, it's not good, it just is. And I say this because this annoying evaluation as if you are getting another report card in school is not productive at all.
Your body is just doing what it innately needs to do for the situation. If you pile on some emotionally label that just triggers your nervous system to go into fight or flight, you are just digging yourself a deeper, depressing hole.
I've mentioned David Hanscom in previous blogs, or videos. When he says anxiety and anger is a pain generator, it's time to pursue that avenue.
When folks tell me they slept wrong, or did too much movement pulling weeds in the garden, I know we have a lot more to peel away in understanding the situation.
The second you become aware of a pain and blame it on something you've done recently to cause an injury, your brain goes into self critical mode. It is natural to feel a little anxious. It comes out like this:
How am I going to get through my next task of _________?
You can fill in the blank. It could be work related, family related, a long trip, You are on a time deadline, you're trying to repair your house. As soon as you question your ability especially your future functioning, your body kicks in a rebuilding response that feels as if your body is revolting or trying to get revenge.
When your confidence takes a hit, this is a very important time to stay upbeat and understand the body is doing something very natural. It is reinforcing itself to make you stronger.
It will need your cooperation. It needs a calm mind. It needs rest. It needs quality raw materials. It needs time to detox the old cells of inflammation (what we call the construction crew).
When you learn how to best move your brain, feed your brain, and talk to your brain, you will be an effective partner with your brain.
Ah Ha !!! This is the hard truth about the media. They keep important matters under wraps until it is too late. Then the media acts as if it is doing you a favor by reporting on it.....years... decades too late.
This is media-malpractice. Or you can just call it plain old deception.
What I am about to discuss here on my blog today is nothing new. For me, it is old news. But for most of America, the people are in shock!!
Allow me to give you my take on Matt Walsh's recent video:
(By the way, let's see how long it stays up on YouTube.)
Just a reminder here: If you wonder why I go on on these tangents, not related to chiropractic, that's because they are not tangents. They are important. They are very much important to me as a chiropractor because chiropractic is about how the brain is perceiving your environment. If your brain's perception is not what you like, you need to change it. We use chiropractic to set the stage for new learning, new experiences, and efficient healing/rebuilding.
Here we go. Matt Walsh relives the Tom Cruise/Matt Lauer confrontation about psychiatric medications in a Today show interview from 2005. Mr. Walsh commends Tom Cruise for being "right on the money," that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance and that no one has really tested people for proof before putting them on a psychiatric drug.
The conversation played on Matt Walsh's video centered around Adderall and Ritalin. What wasn't included was Tom Cruise's criticism of Brooke Shields' use of medication for postpartum depression.
Tom Cruise mentions psychiatric abuse, the history of psychiatry, and the drugging of children. He adds that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance and he has gone far back in the research to understand how the faulty theory took on a life of its own.
So, Molecular Psychiatry published an umbrella study last week showing there is no evidence that low serotonin is correlated with depression. Please take note, this study was a collaboration of scientists from the U.K., Switzerland, and Italy. Would this have happened in the U.S.? I highly doubt it.
On a side note highlighting the bias in American research, the researchers who published findings that popular drugs caused mitochondrial damage revealed it was very difficult getting published because it was an ugly truth about prescription medications. Academic freedom and peer review are jokes. (I'm not laughing.)
There is a strong, rich pharmaceutical lobby. You understand which groups pay for TV advertising. Remember that.
I recently read an article discussing the questionable ideas about inflammation. Inflammation may NOT be the enemy or the cause of diseases, such as atherosclerosis. The author had surprising findings that led to a backlash. Publishers don't want to upset the apple cart when old ideas are shown to be wrong. Doctors are in a panic if their entire career is based on faulty information.
Many have questioned the biological theory of mental illness for a long time. I was one of them. For example, Linus Pauling was one who had strong opinions, and experiences with Orthomoleculuar Psychiatry. Peter Breggin also knew drugs were not the answer. I wrote about him in my Doctors Who Jumped Ship Series.
This news story about the debunked serotonin theory can no longer be hidden, thanks to Molecular Psychiatry. The news has to report on it, finally. In addition, I will mention, Molecular Psychiatry is the same journal that highlighted subluxation based chiropractic (a brain specific niche in chiropractic) as a very successful approach to addiction treatment, with longer lasting results (2001). We have so many safe treatments that are the opposite of the brain damaging poisoning of psychiatric drugs.
My master's degree was not about drugging. I was learning how to introduce people to new ways of thinking, helping them work through their problems so they could be self empowered. My goal was to help people grow from their challenges. (Not numb them from their challenges.)
That's why I first studied to become a teacher at SUNY Cortland. My passion was short lived because of a compelling talk in my creative discipline class taught by Dr. Thomas Lickona. That one day, it was brought to our attention that Japan had a very high rate of student suicides.
This reminded me of our neighbor to the south, Cornell University. The gorges and bridges have been sites of many suicides. Although, Cornell does not have a higher rate of suicides among colleges, it's still a sobering thought. During my freshmen year at Ithaca college, one week before Thanksgiving break, a student jumped to his death from the 13th floor of the East Tower. That may have had an impact on me.
So, during my fourth year of college discussing suicide rates for Japanese students, I was wondering if I really wanted to be part of any kind of high pressure educational system. I knew then I was going to eventually become a counselor.
The emphasis on medication for mental illness threw me for a loop. In my position as a therapist, I quickly learned the ins and outs of psychotropic medication.
When I first heard of the biological theory of mental illness, I was confused. I didn't learn it in my master's program and it was just a given in the psychiatric world. I wondered how it was known that someone had an imbalance of brain chemicals? I wondered if people really had chemical imbalances in their brains, shouldn't they be dead? I mean, it's a legit question worth asking. No one talked about measuring these chemicals. Would you have to cut open the brain? But if you had 5 out of 10 symptoms, according to the DSM, (a big fat book that makes you look really smart) congratulations! You are depressed. Now take these toxic substances....forever!
It became depressing to me. People got worse. They did not get better. They were called non-compliant if they complained about side effects or quit taking them. Family members belittled them. It was not a pleasant environment sometimes. And when professionals are fed up with someone's darkness, ship them off to the hospital so you can have a break. It's not a break for the patient. It is a nightmare.
I ran a support group for people labeled "bi-polar." They were devastated that they could no longer cry. This was a medication side effect. They became robots. Many were severely preoccupied with suicide feeling as if it was their only way out. Their lives were miserable. But I had strong empathy and my eyes were wide open to the over emphasis on drugs stripping away people's self respect and independence.
And, the mind-body connection was ignored. When patients fell through the cracks because they talked about physical pain, they were sent off to internal medicine. When their tests were normal, they were told it was all in their heads. Bounced around with no one taking a real interest in their misery.
I decided I couldn't participate in a system that I would never send my family members to. Black box warnings weren't a thing until 2004, but I saw the writing on the wall. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were bad news. I knew this back in 1995. And it took so many decades for the institutions to admit it was a fraud.
I left my job to go to chiropractic college. I learned on my own that chiropractic had a successful history helping people with mental challenges. Chiropractic hospitals were a huge success until they faded away, thanks to the drug monopoly.
It's also disappointing how my chiropractic forefathers in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s have whittled chiropractic down to a back pain specialty. Nothing special about that. They abandoned the successful chiropractic hospitals. They gutted the real approach to whole body health just to feel accepted in the sandbox rather than stand up for health freedom OR TRUTH.
The interesting follow up on the Tom Cruise sound bytes is he is being criticized for being a scientologist. For some reason his opinion should be barred from public discourse. Yet, he is certainly allowed to do his own research and come up with a conclusion.
I am a chiropractor, and the same goes for me. How can I be so critical of a health care program? Because I look at what doesn't make the news. I look at the information that's placed on the back shelf. I dig for the buried stories that aren't popular.
Many medical frauds could no longer be hidden away. Illegal research such as Tuskegee eventually was revealed. The deception of Thalidomide couldn't be hidden. A Chocrane Review published this year (2022) shows 94% of established interventions are not evidence based. Are you following the crowd just because it's the thing to do?
Let's look over the timeline of voices trying to get the truth out:
Linus Pauling - 1960s
Peter Breggin - 1970s to the present
Tom Cruise - He happened to have an opportunity on a talk show in 2005, yet he is told to stay in his lane. But this is everybody's lane.
I don't want to be told there is only one option for my health. You don't want your loved ones suffering because of misleading information.
Matt Walsh touches on subjects that get people emotionally riled up. I get especially riled up over deceptive medical practices that are obviously dangerous. Poison is not progress. It never will be.
Do you want to build your health in a way that is logical? Are you interested in working with your body, not against it? Yes, this requires you to redefine health, and redefine treatment approaches. I redefine what pain and sickness really means, so you are not at a loss and full of fear. You already have the tools. You just need to learn how to use them.
I teach that. I teach you to ask the unpopular questions and not shrink away from unpopular answers.
Chiropractic is a teaching method. I teach you to make different choices. I teach your spine to help your brain perceive the environment properly.
You're eating what everyone tells you is healthy, right? So, why do you feel awful????
I just listened to Darren Schmidt's two latest videos and had to upload them here on my blog.
What really makes a difference with people is not taking loads of tests to come up with names of diseases like Lymes, toxic mold, heavy metals, or cancer.
What matters is how strong is your nervous system? And is your nervous system stuck in fight or flight (which leads the body to exhaustion and an inability to recover and rebuild)?
You may be in a chronic state of ultra-hyper fight or flight. You don't even have a "fighting chance." The approaches you try may be feeding into the ultra-hyper fight or flight.
I utilize chiropractic and nutrition to help the nervous system navigate the rebuilding process.
It's a different way of thinking.
I particularly like how Dr. Schmidt presents the topic of dietary mistakes that rob you of your resilience. If you don't recognize that a routine is harming you, you might put the blame on something else, totally missing the mark.
If you're "missing the mark," because old information is still wrecking you, let's talk about it.
Who would have thought vegetables could be so surprisingly unhealthy ..... check this out.
And this video talks about feeding the body after a long time of lack, along with toxic exposure. (We are all at risk!)
Today I was sitting in my car parked at Wegmans about to go inside. A couple walked past my vehicle and headed up the street.
I was very familiar with this couple and would have said, "Hi," if they weren't trucking along at a steady pace. I've known this couple for more than twenty years.
When I was in chiropractic college, I worked part time at two agencies that served people with developmental disabilities and/or mental illness. I haven't been employed with these agencies since 2003 but I run into my previous clients all the time.
They're cheerful, talkative, and always delighted to see me. So, when I was still sitting in my car at Wegmans, I marveled at their energy. There they go. I realized, they have got to be in their 70s by now. They both retired from their jobs a few years back.
They were high tailing it down the street as if no one bothered to tell them they are in their 70s. They think nothing of it. I've never heard them complain about anything. They just appreciate every day.
They think nothing of it.
They don't have hyper-wired limbic systems. They are the calmest people I know. They aren't linked into the modern societal thoughts of peer pressure, impressing others, or even jealousy.
They think nothing of it.
They didn't hear the message to slow down, grumble, and sit in front of the TV. They might watch some TV, but they don't drive, so most of their time is spent outside. And they walk all over the place.
They think nothing of it.
Whatever subtle messages the rest of us have buzzing in our brains grinding us into an unhealthy state of function, they don't have it.
Remember my biggest message: brain first is body freedom, because brain first and the body follows. And while we tend to be preoccupied with pain, we must accept that pain is a pattern. It is much more healthy to change a pattern than stifle a pain with no acknowledgment of the useful purpose of the pain.
Chiropractic is a very profound tool we use to re-teach the brain.
If you were as devoted to your brain (via the spine) as much as my friends walked on a daily basis, what would your health be like?
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas (like aging)
The most revealing comment I get from my patients is that they find it very frustrating that they can't convince their family members and friends to come in to see me.
This is not specifically about the benefits of chiropractic care and the Brain First/Body Freedom Protocol, but it highlights the difficulty people have with change and taking a deep look at new ideas that aren't familiar.
I have practice members (my preferred title for the folks who come to me) who came from chronic, messy life styles who were dramatically turned around.
I say chronic, messy life styles because it a more useful way to describe their challenges. They often have very severe disease diagnoses that automatically leads them to put up mental barriers. They remain stuck behind medical terminology that prevents them from breaking down their situation into workable solutions.
That's a mouthful so, I'll explain a bit more. I am not accusing my practice members of having messy life styles. It is a a delicate way of describing the "locked in" situation they feel trapped in by a medical consensus that is not empowering. The pharmaceutical approach does not get to the crux of the problem. The real burden is an over-extended, exhausted nervous system.
Naturally after months of hard work, practice members who put in a ton of sacrifice toward their self improvement, are excited and want to share their success with their friends and family.
However, it's more like an alien coming down from outer space trying to communicate in an unrecognizable language. They get no where.
I feel for them because I have the same frustration level. I hope I am explaining what I do in a way that is positive, inspirational and doable. People don't want to try something that sounds too difficult.
And the pharmaceutical world convinces you that there isn't much else out there. The mainstream world repeatedly states chronic illness an be managed but not improved. Nice message, right? Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. (Sarcasm.)
I tell my practice members to relax and don't over-talk. Just let your friends and family watch you. Wait for them to ask questions then give them a little bit of information so they don't run and hide.
Every individual nervous system has it's own tipping point based on past experiences. You can only learn new things when the pre-frontal cortex is relaxed and ready to take in new information.
Don't give up, but don't stay sad, either. It took you a little while to seek out something new.
People continue to come to my office for months or years and receive the most basic chiropractic care until the light bulb finally turns on and they take the deeper dive to help themselves in more dramatic ways.
I'm staying as patient as I can be, too.
Expand your talents beyond your comfort zone every day.
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable, Un-serving Ideas
My blog posts seem to be so negative at times. But I figure, happy people are doing so well, that they are not scouring the internet looking at health care blogs.
Then I have a huge hope that folks want to take a more proactive role and try to learn more about themselves each day. I'm a dreamer.....
But the realization is, we do not appreciate good health until we've come through some kind of challenge that knocked us off our feet for a while.
When folks come to me they are usually in some kind of a crisis state in which they are upset, fearful, impatient, annoyed, or all of the above. The first step is to swim through the emotions because a hyped up brain cannot problem solve.
That's what we do. We calm the nervous system so it can get back to the everyday work of homeostasis, rebuilding, digesting, etc.
After the rain storm, thunder, and lightning, it is a welcomed sight when the sun returns, especially with a rainbow.
If you've come through the storm of pain, just remember, it's darkest before the dawn. You will feel worse before you feel better. That's just how the body returns back to balance.
If you don't understand the body's language, you tend to resort to approaches that are harmful. And folks convince themselves it is necessary in the short term. But, the short term becomes long term. I'm not a fan of that.
If we translate our pain correctly and make choices that are in sync with normal body responses, we actually feel more empowered, and connected to the innate intelligence that is always working for us 24 hours a day.
Everything the body does is correct for the situation. Even if you don't like it. Let's understand the situation and partner with the brain and body.
Brain First * Body Follows
Brain First is Body Freedom
Learn the 5 Signs
Learn the 4 Challenges
Learn the 3 Routines
Learn the 2 Reasons
Learn the 1 Big Idea
--Dr. Lisa
Your Health Freedom Coach
Liberating Your Nervous System from Unacceptable Ideas
Whoa......what am I thinking? Don't I know this is all real? It's in the medical textbooks, Robbins Pathology, and the Merck Manual.
What is it about words? What makes them so special? How we use these words can take us down a long and winding road of disappointment.
What does diabetes mean? "sweet urination"
What does arthritis mean? "arthrites" of the joints, "itis" disease
What does hypertension mean? "hyper" above, beyond
"tension" a stretched condition
Cancer in Latin means crab or creeping ulcer, because the swollen veins around a tumor look like the legs of a crab.
If you really "break it down," these terms are just descriptions of normal body responses when there is stress. Diagnosis and prognosis are truly meaningless. If you get hung up on them, you put your body into a fear response that is unproductive.
You don't have a disease. How did you receive it? By mail? By telegram? by UPS? By proclamation?
You don't have a disease. You have a nervous system. Simple as that. You have a body, a brain, and an opportunity to live ambitiously.
You have a nervous system. That is the only true statement any doctor can say to you.
You have a nervous system assessing your environment.
You have a nervous system responding to your memories and emotions.
You have a nervous system.
Your body responses change every day...every minute. Your blood sugar goes up and down all day long. Your blood pressure goes up and down all day long. Blood vessels move and remove substances all day long. Tumors grow and shrink constantly.
Responses change and fluctuate. Your nervous system responds.
