Bone Deep

Many years ago, on a March day in a year when spring was visibly transforming the long winter, I dragged myself to my acupuncturist.  I was so fatigued, had no energy, was completely kaput.  I was despairing because part of me so wanted to enjoy the outer transformation underway and I couldn’t, I was feeling so bone weary.  I knew Babs would help me; she is not only a gifted and seasoned acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, she’s a magnificent all-around healer.

Babs did her magic with her needles while telling me a story. She said, in Five Element Theory (classical Chinese Medicine), it’s believed that a cataclysmic summoning is required on Earth’s part to have Spring arrive.  Just think of it:  from small bulbs and meandering roots, trees and flowers require an extreme awakening and tremendous force to produce their transformative glory.  Where does this energy and force come from?  They get it from all the four and two-leggeds walking on top of the earth.  Hence, why it is a common occurrence that humans feel so wasted by the time Spring is underway.  We are food for Great Mother Nature.

So, it’s not only all those winter carbs we lean on or the post holiday overimbidements we are paying for necessarily.  How do we bolster our flagging selves, enrich our blood, our kidney qi in preparation for this auspicious time of year?

Babs prescription for me was bone broth.  This is something I start to make in January for comfort and continue on in February and March for my kidney qi, wellness and well being.  Bone Broth is a vital adjunct to any diet, especially those struggling with autoimmune disorders, leaky gut, joint and digestive problems.  This is an ancient remedy for what ails you.  The Chinese talked about it many millennia ago, Hippocrates associated it to gut healing, Jewish mothers everywhere have been passing down their chicken soup recipes for hundreds of years.

Benefits of Bone Broth

Many of our modern diseases are rooted in an unbalanced mix of microorganisms in our digestive system, mostly due to SAD (Standard American Diet) -- a diet that is too high in sugars and too low in healthful fats and beneficial bacteria.  Leaky gut is the root of many health problems, especially allergies, autoimmune disorders, and many neurological disorders. The collagen found in bone broth acts like a soothing balm to heal and seal your gut lining.

Bone broth is also a staple remedy for acute illnesses such as cold and flu. Recent studies on cartilage (the abundant base of homemade broth), show it supports the immune system in a variety of ways.  It's a potent normalizer, a biological response modifier, activates macrophages, Natural Killer cells and lymphocytes.  Bone broth contains a variety of valuable nutrients in a form your body can easily absorb. This includes:

Calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals	Components of collagen and cartilage
Silicon and other trace minerals	Components of bone and bone marrow
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate	The "conditionally essential" amino acids proline, glycine, and glutamine

Healing benefits of bone broth:

Reduces joint pain and inflammation, thanks to chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage and collagen.

Inhibits infection caused by inflammation, bacteria and viruses.

Fights inflammation: Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine all have anti-inflammatory effects. Glycine has calming effects, which may help you sleep better, Arginine is effective fighting septis.

Promotes strong, healthy bones: bone broth contains surprisingly low amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals, but it plays an important role in healthy bone formation because of its abundant collagen. Collagen fibrils provide the latticework for mineral deposition and are the keys to building strong and flexible bones.

Promotes healthy hair and nail growth, thanks to the gelatin in the broth. Feeding collagen fibrils homemade broth can even eliminate cellulite.

How to Make the Most Nourishing Broth

The more gelatinous the broth, the more nourishing it will tend to be. Indeed, the collagen that leaches out of the bones when slow-cooked is one of the key ingredients that make broth so healing. If the broth gets “jiggly” after being refrigerated, it's a sign that it's a well-made broth. To make it as gelatinous as possible, add chicken feet, pig's feet, and/or joint bones.  All of these contain high amounts of collagen and cartilage.

Shank or leg bones, on the other hand, will provide lots of bone marrow. Marrow also provides valuable health benefits.  So ideally, you'll want to use a mixture of bones. You can make bone broth using organic chicken, whole fish or fish bones (including the fish head), pork, or beef bones. If you're using chicken, enjoy the roasted flesh first then throw the carcass into a pot, covering with water. Add a small amount of vinegar to help leach the minerals out of the bones. To ensure the broth is really gelatinous, add some chicken feet when you use the carcass of a roasted chicken, as some of the collagen will have been leached out already during the roasting process. You can also add vegetables of your choice into the pot.

The most important aspect of the broth-making process is to make sure you're getting high-quality bones.  Ideally, you'll want to use organically raised animal bones. It's worth noting that chickens raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) tend to produce chicken stock that doesn't gel, so you'll be missing out on some of the most nourishing ingredients if you use non-organic chicken. People living in the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania are truly fortunate to be surrounded by lots of conscientious farmers.  Finding connection with these folks ensures good agriculture sourcing.  Many of these small-operation farms raise their livestock according to organic principles even if their farm is not USDA certified organic (the certification is expensive). Talk to them.                                 Sample Beef Broth Recipe

Below is a classic beef stock recipe excerpted from Nourishing Broth, including lamb and venison variations. For more nourishing broth recipes, consider Hilary Boynton and Mary Brackett's new GAPS cookbook,



The Heal Your Gut Cookbook: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Intestinal Health Using the GAPS Diet.                                                            

•   About 4 pounds organic beef marrow and knuckle bones

•   1 calf, beef, or pig foot

•   3 pounds meaty bones such as short ribs and beef shanks

•   1 small can or jar tomato paste (optional)

•   4 or more quarts cold filtered water

•   1/2 cup vinegar (leaches minerals out of the bones)

•   3 onions, ends removed  (skin may be left on)

•   3 carrots, peeled if not organic

•   3 celery sticks

•   1 bouquet garni made with parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf, tied together

•   1 tablespoon black peppercorns, or green or white peppercorns, crushed

Directions

1.    Place the knuckle and marrow bones and optional calves foot in a very large pot (or ideally, a crock pot), toss with vinegar and cover with cold water. Let stand for 1/2 to 1 hour. Meanwhile, place the meaty bones in a stainless steel roasting pan. For a particularly aromatic stock, brush the bones with tomato paste. Brown at 350 degrees in the oven, about ½ hour. When well browned, add these bones to the pot. Pour the fat out of the roasting pan, add cold filtered water to the pan, set over a high flame and deglaze the pan. Add this liquid to the pot. Add additional water, if necessary. Bring to a simmer and carefully skim any scum that comes to the top. Afterwards, add the vegetables, bouquet garni, and peppercorns.

2.   Simmer stock for at least 12 and as long as 24 hours. (Again, if you do this in a slow cooker/crock pot, you’ll be able to leave it while you go about your other business).

3. Remove. Strain the stock into a large glass container. Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat that rises to the top (use it instead of butter or oil in cooking). Transfer to smaller containers and to the freezer for long-term storage.

Note: The marrow may be removed from the marrow bones a couple of hours into the cooking, and spread on whole grain sourdough bread. If left in the pan for the entire cooking period, the marrow will melt into the broth, resulting in a broth that is cloudy but highly nutritious.

Variation: Lamb Stock

Use lamb bones, especially lamb neck bones and riblets. Ideally, use all the bones left after butchering the lamb. Be sure to add the feet if you have them. This makes a delicious stock.

Variation: Venison Stock

Use venison meat and bones. Be sure to use the feet of the deer and a section of antler if possible. Add 1 cup dried wild mushrooms if desired

much of the above info was gleaned from www.mercola.com, including broth recipe
for more info on the power of bone broth:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/05/bone-broth-recipe.aspx

Nature's First Aid Kit (Part I)

Sun with a coronal mass ejection. Photo credit: NASA

Now that warm weather is here, many of us are undoubtedly out and about more.  This is the first of two posts which will deal with practical, natural ways of dealing with (sun)burns and sprains.  My "II" post on this subject will address scrapes and minor cuts, bug bites and poison ivy.  Many of these "remedies" are common sense and/or things your grandmother did.  All of  them are non-toxic and work with the body's own healing awareness.

Of course, prevention as always, is fully encouraged. Wear hats and sunscreen 30 (Sandalwood-Santalum album-- essential oil added to sunblock enhances Vitamin D) applied frequently when  you know you'll be outdoors, light natural fabrics with long sleeves to limit sun exposure, for example.  Carry a "brew" of home-made bug spray like you carry a bottle of water through the warm months.  Although it is easy and convenient, don't succumb to buying (or using) products you wouldn't ingest; like Deet for insect control.  There are as effective natural products one can buy or make that won't accost your central nervous system.  Your body's healing sensibilities will thank you.

Besides prevention, the single biggest thing that will optimally improve the outcome of your first aid efforts is a quick response.  The sooner you address the burn, sprain or bug bite, the sooner the healing starts.  Don't wait around to see if your malady manifests.  You know you've been bitten by mosquitoes, the post itching will be much less if you address the truth of the matter immediately.

(Sun)Burns:  Everybody should have a miracle Aloe plant growing on their kitchen window sill. Applying aloe to a stove burn or sun burn, takes the pain and redness away immediately. Forget the over the counter sunburn cream, fresh Aloe is the first go-to in all minor burns and sunburns.  Determine the area size of the damaged surface, go to your aloe plant, find the Aloe "arm" that is saying "take me", thank it for all its miraculous blessings and snip off the size required.  Peel one edge of the spiny side off, split open the piece and rub continually on the burn surface. You will be amazed at how the body absorbs the somewhat slimy-gooey flesh that is Aloe. Keep repeating until pain and redness is gone.  I sometimes take a band aid and apply it over the Aloe piece on the body surface so it will stay put, freeing me up to go about my business.  Purchased Aloe in a jar or bottle is just not the same as fresh Aloe and you won't see anywhere near the positive impact on the burn from such products.  Get an Aloe plant.  It's difficult to kill an Aloe; it requires just a little light, poor soil and infrequent watering. (Mine has sometimes gone months without a watering.  Ach! forgive me dear Aloe).

If Aloe is not available, keep by the stove a 4oz roller top bottle of a burn-specific aromatherapy concoction^ which includes German Chamomile (Matricaria recutitia), Evening Primrose oil, Vitamin E and Tamanu (see resource list below).  This is also very good for post-chemo radiation burns. Roll on judiciously and frequently until pain and redness diminish.

Thinking outside the box until you get a box to think inside of:  If you are up the creek with no Aloe, no "burn" aromatherapy roller bottle handy, put the burn under cool/cold water until the pain subsides and apply moistened Chamomile tea bags to the area (while you gather yourself and call a neighbor for some Aloe).

Regenerating damaged skin:  Burns often produce external scarring.  Combining Helichrysum (Helicrysum italicum) and True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) with Tamanu.^  Applying frequently will help the skin regenerate.*

Common Sense:  Increase fluid intake (hydration) and Vitamin C (cell regeneration) with increased exposure to sun and when experiencing a burn.

Sprains:  Once you've twisted an ankle, wrist or other joint, immediately fill a large plastic bag with ice, sink the injury in it and elevate it.  Many people are afraid the bag of ice is going to be too cold for the body to handle.  The injury is going to be putting off so much heat, the ice will be a lukewarm puddle within 40 minutes.  You want to limit the swelling and inflammation from the get go; ice and elevation are key. Take Arnica homeopathic pellets (Hyland's Arnica Montana 30x -- 250 Tablets), 2-3 every 10-15 minutes for several hours. After the first hour of icing, apply Arnica gel/cream (Boiron Arnicare® Arnica Gel) or preferably Traumeel (Heel Traumeel® Homeopathic Gel -- 1.76 oz) to the injury and apply bags of frozen peas (less dripping wet, holds cold much longer than ice or those silly frozen gel packs that go warm after 5 minutes) to the injury (use ace wrap or bandannas to secure), keeping it elevated.  You are going to be icing the sprain every 20 minutes while awake for at least 24 hours.  It will probably feel good to keep doing it for another 48-72 hours. Do what feels good. Take some Rescue Remedy flower essence (Bach Flower Remedies Rescue Remedy Stress Relief Tincure -- 10 mL) if possible the first 48 hours, a dropper full in a glass of water 3 times a day.  This is for shock and trauma (and grief); helps the energy layers to settle down, and move back to homeostasis.

Sprains require babying.  If you push too fast and too soon,  you will set yourself back.  Keep off the injury as much as possible the first week, keep it elevated every chance you get. When you elevate it, apply the above-mentioned homeopathic cream/gel (for pain and inflammation). Touch it often.  Let the healing in your own hands inform the area that has been hurt, as it will inform you.  If the injury is to your lower body, use a cane, walker or crutches to stay off of it at least for a few days.  Use a light weight air brace to help with mobility. Your body will very naturally let you know when you don't need these accessories any longer.

Getting Acupuncture frequently for the first two weeks will help balance your energy systemically and improve circulation.  If there is any doubt it is more than a sprain, or you aren't seeing at least gradual improvement daily, seek help from a conventional healthcare practitioner. Approaching a sprain with a judicious attitude (following the above with patience and forbearance) will often most likely shave off a week to three weeks in the healing process.

As always, it is always best to consult with your health care practitioner when taking herbal medicines or when considering any before-mentioned health practices.




*When using any essential oil, avoid contact with eyes and broken skin.  Flush with milk (not water) if inadvertently gets in eye.
^ these essential oil based products can be purchased through Integrated Medicine of Philadelphia directly.  Contact:  mkGermaineFraser@gmail.com for further product inquiries

Resources:
For essential oils, tamanu, primrose oil:
HERBARIUM Herbal and Nutritional Supplements including Bulk ...  (great! info & service)
Appalachian Valley Natural Products


for discounted homeopathic creams and products:
Vitacost.com

A Redeemable Injury

Two weeks of limited movement and a lot of stillness. Two weeks of forced sitting, mandatory repose, elevating an injured foot.  Two weeks of watching the garden grow, the weather moving through it. Examining where and when the light and shadows hit the raised beds at what time of day and subsequent thoughts on what plant would want to go where.  Listening to rain fall on new leaves, gutters pouring their contents upon porous brick, cats claiming territory on dark nights. Two weeks watching the foot, touching the foot, wondering about the surprising green areas and the purple stria surfacing in the most unlikely places.  How the swelling increases than subtly improves, how small indications of articulation return.  Two weeks of quiet fascination of the body's adaptation and mending process, of nature's burgeoning insistence.  Seeing, hearing and sensing things I never would have known if I wasn't glued to a chair, leg propped for hours a day, looking at the same things in a near empty room over and over,  obligingly renewing themselves for me.  Upon arrival to the acupuncturist, I uncharacteristically zero in on the same therapy chair several days a week.  I depend upon that chair.  The chair with a view of the under canopy of a tall tree seen through a skylight.  I depend upon that chair with a view.


And then there was the gross motor movement experience.  The strange sensations of the rest of the body making the compensations necessary to walk, accommodating the injury. Two weeks of not experiencing grace or flow or a right relationship with the other functioning parts.  Two weeks of a host of new and unfamiliar tensions. Missing flow in myself.  Watching much older people move in their own semblance of grace and having a longing for what I remember to be myself in movement.


And some unexpected things happened.  The forced stillness and the watching had me falling in love, or at least appreciation, with the house, specifically the light in the house coming through the tall windows in various beguiling ways through the day.  I fell in love with the dear foot and all its surprising revelations and its natural knowing.  The miraculous tendency to go toward healing and return as it does, in its quietly triumphant way, to Function. I realized a benefit of a 35 year meditation practice, the experience of moving in and out of a busy mind back to the body over and over and over.  Somehow, a tendency for an active inquiry and an interest in the Now had become planted in willing soil along the way.  And that somehow, transferred onto a life off the sitting cushion.  These days show me I am interested in what Is, frequently.  There is a curiosity inextricably linked to a type of joy that actively lives in me. Even in somewhat bleak circumstances for a kinesthetic-based person to be made to grossly limit her movement for days on end, I somehow fell in-interest if not in love with intriguing aspects of the ordinary.  Incredible.


Depending upon that chair with a view.  The (healing) touchstone, the place that helps a resonance with Other, nature. The place that softens the accumulated tensions, allows breath to surface into its rightful rhythm. The place of Return.

"Seeing what is small is called insight.

Abiding in softness is called strength."- Lao Tzu

Grief as Medicine

Keri Cheran, "It hurts to talk About Our dead and gone".  Purepecha of Michoacan 

Municipality Cheran

I'm compelled to write about grief again as it is such an apparent and present state in the culture at large.  As I've said in previous posts, not only is it misunderstood, there is little support for it.

Grief is assumed when there is a death.  The cultural understanding is one will be very sad for a few days to a few weeks, a little less sad for a few months and "back to one's self" within a year at the latest.  These cultural guidelines are at best random and at worst, ridiculous.
Grief transpires not only at the experience of death, but in the process of dying (ones own dying process or witnessing it in another), in large changes such as separation/divorce, big moves and major transitions such as teen to adult, leaving college, transitioning to middle age or old age, living with made choices or non-choices.  Grief happens after injury or surgery or major illness, at the loss of a job (even a bad one) or a career.  And grief is re-awakened at every loss' anniversary or holiday.  As they say, every loss is a reminder of all the previous losses before it.  Grief is everywhere.  But in this culture, even though grief is seemingly at one door or another, many people are literally at a loss as to how to recognize it, how to work with it, how to know it and how to move through it.  It is foreign, because the expectation of what it is and what it looks like is not recognized.

Grief is unrecognized mostly because it is so varied and unpredictable.  It looks/feels like deep lethargy, paralyzation or numbness. It can also be an excruciating aliveness to the subtle; the way light falls on a tree, the memory of an odor, the nuanced subtlety of sand in one's toes.  Energetically, grief can cause the body tremendous fatigue and exhaustion.  Once this is seen and noted, one expects this for a few days.  But often, it presents in an incredibly labile way.  One might have a strong sense of themselves, their usual energy pattern in the morning and total exhaustion covers them by mid day.  And the next day the energy patterns might be reversed-- or not; it's often unknowable.  It requires a type of acceptance, a willingness to roll with it and an abdication of control; very difficult skills for most people, especially if one is responsible for a deceased's property.  Sometimes in the grief process, "the black hole" days are endless and too frequent to be tolerated (probably why most people will do almost anything not to go there.).  Other times, grief sweeps over you lightly for a moment and keeps moving on. There is no recipe for grieving.  There is no guarantee that if you do the work, it won't surface again.

Serge Prengel describes it well in relation to Kubler-Ross' seven stages of grief in the death and dying experience, The 5 - or 7 - stages of grief & loss: The grief cycle & the grieving ..., as a roller coaster of chaotic feelings.  This characteristic differentiates grief from depression.  Grief is extremely energetic, whereas depression's characteristic energy pattern is -- well, depressed. Unexpressed or unprocessed grief will turn to depression like unprocessed anger and fear will turn to depression.  Faith and an honoring of the Self is often the only motivator in opening the grief door.


So then, how do we process grief? As mentioned above, it is rolling with it; being with what is, as it is, even in the sometimes unusual expression of it or the inconvenient timing. This is inevitably, at least part of the time, an excruciating and uncomfortable business; like being in an undertow for a prolonged period of time. Having empathic others for backboards to verbalize your experience is helpful.  Following the body and voice's cues, no matter how strange, bizarre and incomprehensible may be another way of rolling with it, if you can give yourself the time and space.  

healing in the grief nest

There are several essential oils (eo) very useful in grief.  The classic eo for grief is Helicrysum. Angelica and Petigrain are also deeply restorative.  Used in bath salts, lotions/oils or in diffusers at night, could be very helpful in taking the edge off, supporting the organism in its process.  Having bodywork done by a trusted other during this time would be nourishing.  Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Acupuncture, massage, reflexology are all ways to return, to experience a semblance of yourself again, releasing static tensions.  Maintaining a breath-centered practice like Qigong or Yoga, swimming or walking is a way of clearing staid energy and getting one's flow back.  Movement is a big stress reducer, and if possible, would be good to have in play regularly.  And of course there is always blessed sleep. 

Bach Flower remedies are a subtle way to support the taxed organism. Rescue Remedy, the crisis and emergency remedy, is a combination of flower essences equivalent to an emotional first-aid kit, containing five single remedies: Rock Rose, Clematis, Impatient, Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum. Star of Bethlehem is the quintessential Flower essence for shock, loss and grief;

Grief is a constantly shifting storm front to weather. It's a soul-growing process.  Somehow, we are better for knowing it, but often don't know this until a long while after.

Grief is itself a medicine.  ~William Cowper

suggested reading:

Unattended Sorrow: Recovering from Loss and Reviving the Heart

(anything by Steven Levine is good on this subject)

On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler\

Paying for Health

A History Liberated

The health insurance industry purports that over 90% of insurance monies paid out every year go toward serving the 5% chronically ill in this country. For the 80% of us that rarely use insurance, who are well and healthy, we have poured money for decades into a system which we have benefited minimally from. We have done this basically because we fear getting caught in a catastrophic scenario.

We are conditioned to think others are responsible for our health.  Many people pay into an insurance policy, which then is supposed to (mostly) pay for visits to doctors and facilities. When this is the scenario, most people are resistant to seek care that won't be paid for by their insurance. Even holistic folks, people who believe in prevention, understand the roots of stress and its impact on health and that their insurance doesn't pay for prevention-- they often only want to go to practitioners that insurance will pay for.

This is a mindset we buy into.We have abdicated control and responsibility of our health to those who don't really care about us, don't have our best interest in mind and who take the stand that we are beholden to them.  It's a very dysfunctional relationship that dis-serves us.  In this position we aren't allowed to determine what is best for our health; the type of healing and direction we think is the most sound.  Our options are extremely limited under this umbrella'd corporate mentality.  What are other possibilities we could invest in?

It takes a lot to change a mindset.  One's healthcare values need to have a determined awakening.  Having excellent, consistent outcomes with the experience of Complimentary/Alternative Medicine (CAM) is probably essential. With hundreds of thousands of people turning to CAM for care rather than conventional medicine and at least that many people uninsured, as well as thousands of physicians disillusioned with the insurance industry relationship, mainstream healthcare folks are beginning to think outside the box and get creative.

Some physicians and psychiatrists have begun not accepting insurance, sidestepping the mire entirely. Others have created a "care" program where a patient pays a hefty ($2-2.5K) a year and are promised to be served unconditionally in the office and hospital during that time.  Progressive states like Oregon and Minnesota have healthcare providers creating their own "health co-ops" including a wide range of practitioners from massage therapists, acupuncturists to physicians Health Cooperatives Gain Backing as Alternative to Public Option.  One joins the co-op for a fee and is expected to take advantage of all of the practitioners during the year.  It is a health co-op; the understanding is one does prevention and doesn't wait for disease to show up to see a practitioner.  The attempt is to change the mindset of how we look at taking care of health and disease.

Making CAM affordable for all socio-economic backgrounds is imperative.  There are "community acupuncturists" that operate on reasonable sliding scales.Community Acupuncture Movement Goes Co-Op | AcuTake  They practice as they do in China, in community.  Meaning, several people at a time are treated in one room at the same time.  This is a pretty foreign concept in America's hyper-HIPPA age.  But the idea is, that a shared healing in the same space actually potentiates all the healing in that space. The sliding scale is $15-35 and you are encouraged to stay in the space (needles in) for as long as you feel is needed for the treatment. I've experienced acupuncturists in a private setting for $125 and have also have experienced this community acupuncture.  They are both effective and healing environments.

Many people who primarily utilize CAM for health decide to disengage themselves from the insurance system (at least partially).  They acquire a high deductible, low monthly fee catastrophic (hospital) insurance and then self insure themselves for maintenance visits  (gym fee, yoga classes, massages and CAM practitioners) by creating an interest earning savings account dedicated to health, which of course, they control and which they feed with a percentage of their income. They often can negotiate conventional care fees (doctors, dentists) because they pay cash for their visits and are not related to insurance reimbursements, which for the most part, is a big headache and time-consuming paperwork for the practitioner.

Our bodies are designed to self heal.  Obviously, awareness and providing  excellent nutrition is part of this.  Those hesitant to pay for organic or take the trouble to buy from local agricultural vendors because of the cost or inconvenience would be wise to reconsider.  Although organic has now become a trend and can be "brand"-manipulated by corporations taking advantage of the trendy buzz-word, it is food that is more nutritionally sound and less taxing on the body.  One has to have some knowledge and consciousness about it and realize Monsanto-owned (pesticide/GMO central) Whole Foods may not be the only place to get it.  Sometimes choosing local produce (not certified organic) is a better choice over big agricultural organic farms operated far afield or in another country.  Small, local farms often don't have the legal and fiscal stamina to jump through the certification process so don't, even though they don't use pesticides on their crops. A previously mentioned book (see Food Glorious Food), Omnivore's Dilemma, is a must read to understand the workings of American agriculture and the food industry.

Many people, even with the understanding of the benefit of decreased pesticide use and minimal mineral depletion in organic can't make the jump to paying more for it.  Same with hearty (not easily squeezed) breads which can cost up to three times more, but which are nutritionally superior to store brands.  Shocked at seeing your pre-pubescent daughter's nine year old friends sprout breasts and start to menstruate? (related to hormones in meat and dairy) Making choices, such as starting with organic dairy and working oneself (and one's family) to other food sources such as minimal amounts of organic meat and produce is a prudent approach. Looking at food (natural medicine per Socrates) as an investment in one's health is one approach for those with tight budgets.  Also, looking at quality grocery buying from the radical (for most) perspective that quality always trumps quantity; buy better food and eat less.  This surprisingly, is a shocking notion to many people I counsel, probably because we are so indoctrinated in this (obese-prone) culture to be consumers and food associations are hard-wired in us since birth.

Paying for health.  It is our being duty to sustain and maintain this vessel we travel through in this life.  It is our being duty to bring awareness, mindfulness to what we put in our mouths and how we choose to treat the organism when it is unwell.  It is our being duty to maintain a relationship with it; a right relationship so it thrives and is optimally sustained.  Relationship. Responsibility. Respect.  Making the necessary inner and outer payments to keep ourselves well is our first duty to ourselves.

Community Acupuncture Documentary Trailer - YouTube

Community Acupuncture Network

Energy Field Surveillance

Double-sided Chakra illustration

Everything is energy.  We are an energy field.*  We are constantly emitting and/or receiving energy.  Our energy field doesn't stop at our body's edge, but continues seven layers beyond.  These energy fields are impacted moment to moment by our experiences of ourselves and the world around us, by all degrees of stress and trauma.  These surrounding energy fields thin out, even get "hole-y" depending on what kinds of stress we are subject to.  Compromised energy fields impact the subsequent layers until it reaches the body's physiological level.  If the integrity of the layers of energy fields around us aren't addressed, our bodies are then subject to the accumulated dis-ease and will begin to manifest illness.  In my mind, "prevention" begins with an awareness and consciousness that I am energy, that I am surrounded by energy and need to take care of these energy fields impacting my physiology, that which constitutes my life force, my vital energy.

Our body's adapting mechanism is a double-edge sword.  On one hand, stress happens, we (sometimes) note and sense it and then our bodies adapt to it.  And then stress happens again and very efficiently, the body adapts to it again.  And so the pattern goes.  We are constantly adapting to stressors and also accumulating layers upon layers of it without resolving it.  This impacts our energy fields and life force as mentioned previously.  An akin metaphor would be, we enter a room with a bad odor.  The body notes it but within seconds adapts and "gets used to it"; the olfactory stops noting the bad odor (even though the odor has not gone away).  This is very like how the body deals with stress. Our bodies are designed to adapt, adapt, adapt, giving us a false sense that the stress is no longer present nor been absorbed.

So, what is required are three things: a more acute sensitization and awareness that my being is currently being subjected to difficulty, or stress, a sense of internal (and external) groundedness that acknowledges the disturbance and finally that care is taken.

Meditation or mindfulness is a very useful practice in this regard.  By slowing the mind, feeling-center and body down, sensitizing our awareness, we begin to have a consciousness of the subtle and oblique in ourselves.  With regular practice, the organism becomes "primed" in this awareness, so outside of our meditation time, a relationship within ourselves to ourselves (and occasionally others) is more likely in experiencing this subtly in our every day activity.

Many of us as young parents (of a certain generation) taught our children about the "uh-oh feeling". That feeling one gets, that's not seemingly justified, but none-the-less real.  We taught our children to respect that uncomfortable sense in oneself and seek help and safety even if those surrounding us at the time didn't have a similar feeling. This "uh-oh" feeling in my mind, is somewhat related to intuition, but I also think it's a body awareness that is quite subtle,  possible messaging from our energetic field.

Kirlian Bio-electrography (electricmagnetic energy field)

                        of an disturbed and intact human body

An experience I had recently ties all of this in to a cogent (for me) understanding.  Over the course of several weeks I had a series of stressors/trauma that ranged from mundane to quite disturbing.  As a "good and responsible" adult, I shouldered all of it and kept moving through, so-to-speak.  This good body, adapted beautifully (as it always does).  It adapted and I continued to function ostensibly quite normally.  Along with these events, there was a part of me keeping track of these harsh occurrences, just noting them, noting my organism's mild to reactive response.  After a period of meditation, several weeks down the road I had a very light "uh-oh feeling".  I sat up to this sensation and listened a bit closer.  Something in me (one of my more quiet voices) laid out the accounting of these hostile experiences I had been through one by one and validated there had been a rough accumulation this organism had sustained.  An inner-eye did a cursory once-over of my body while quietly sitting there and the impression was, my energy fields were not quite right; thin in areas and maybe even a bit hole-y.  This brought my awareness to "how am I feeling".  In a less sensitized state, the answer would have been "fine".  But in this more quiet state I became aware of not quite feeling myself, the energy was ok, getting by so-to-speak, but I felt a type of internal laboring. Now, in tandem with this more acute awareness of myself, there also was present she who tends to be in denial, is ok with everything and doesn't like to make a big deal, and is only concerned with carrying on (with no fuss) and maintaining the convenience of not altering anything.  My "assessor", the thorough note-taker, was in charge (thankfully) at the time, and decided it was time to take some care.

I did three specific things toward “smoothing” out (both reinvigorating and nourishing) my energy field. Over the course of the next three days, I took an aromatherapy bath, did a session of QiGong and went to an acupuncturist.

Aromatherapy’s essential oils (eos) work on a vibrational level. My aim in using them was to have the deeply relaxing, replenishing chemistry of these eos work on my energy field.  I took the bath at 2pm and slept afterwards for 4 hours (unusual for me), waking very refreshed and feeling renewed.   My night sleep was not disturbed but a normal, 7-8 hours.

QiGong is also a type of energy medicine.  “Qi baths” basically draw energy up and over oneself, connecting oneself to the earth and the heavens (per Chinese ideology).  “Scattering Rice” is pulling energy into your belt line (dantian) and releasing it behind you.  Done repetitively (along with the deep breathing that is part of all Qigong work) this ‘rights’ and balances one’s energy.

On the third day I visited the acupuncturist.  During the session, I fell asleep for an hour and was ‘rosey-colored’ when I awoke.  I did a few low key errands afterwards and noticed a subtle, sublime feeling of joy and that my sense of myself, my “inner smile” as the Taoists say, had returned (I hadn’t realized it was missing).  I walked around the co-op with a buoyancy and a sense of deep, quiet happiness. I slept 11 hours that night.  My energy fields are feeling pretty intact at the moment.

Preventative medicine for many people is getting an annual check up. I think a broader awareness and attention to one’s energy fields should be a big consideration in addressing prevention. As was illustrated we are dealing with varying aspects of ourselves;  there is an assessor, a denier, parts of ourselves that sense the delicate, other parts that are rather obtuse, only wanting the comfort of sameness. We know stress impacts our health. Why wait until we have a full blown symptom or disease? Why not take care by addressing one’s energy field before the damage effects our physiology?

*Human Energy Fields