My Slow Medicine Journey

Slow Medicine. This is the title of a book by Dr. Michael Finkelstein. I highly recommend it as a guided in-depth exploration of one’s health, using the author’s 77 Questions for Skillful Living. Dr. Finkelstein, via his personal experience, discusses how Western medicine is great for acute injuries and minor illnesses, such as broken bones and sinus infections, but it has failed us in coping with chronic illnesses and long-term health issues, especially those related to lifestyle. He takes a “whole person” view of care and treatment, which is nearly impossible to find in today’s Western doctor population.

Please understand that I am not placing all the blame for our generally sad state of health on doctors. Much of it falls on lack of responsibility on the part of the patients as well. The general mentality is that folks really don’t want to change to get better, they want the doctor to fix it. It’s a lose-lose situation.

One of the maddening things I’ve noticed over my lifetime is that for many folks, if their doctor told them to jump off a cliff, they’d go do just that, no questions asked. The doctor knows best, and they close themselves off to other possibilities. Here’s a well-ignored fact: no doctor has ever healed anyone--we all, ultimately, heal ourselves. Our amazing bodies do the healing.

So why not simply work with our bodies, minds and spirits to heal ourselves? It takes too long. That’s “woowoo.” It’s not covered by insurance. I don’t want to change my diet or exercise or whatever. If I’m taking responsibility, I have no one to blame but myself. I can’t find anyone to support my efforts. On and on it goes.

Here’s a personal story of slow medicine. For several years I had an ache in my left hip, bearable, but fairly constant. I had unfortunately settled into the mentality of “I’m getting older, I’m gonna hurt somewhere.” Occasionally I would take an over-the-counter pain reliever. I maintained my usual activities of swimming, yoga, golf and walking, though the ache limited my walking to a mile at a time. I did not go to the doctor about it, because I knew he would look at my date of birth and say “arthritis.” (I’ve witnessed this too many times in my older-adult yoga student population.) I am extremely opposed to a doctor labeling me with a condition.

At the beginning of 2016, I decided that I’d had enough of the aching and embarked on finding a way to get rid of it. I started with my chiropractor, where I learned my sacrum was out of alignment, and we’ve cared for that with regular adjustments. Those started out weekly, and now I see her every 2-3 weeks. That was a beginning in taking care of the structural alignment problem. I also continued my regular monthly massage, focusing on the muscles around the hip.

There was a lot of following my intuition in this journey, as well as noting guidance offered to me along the way by others. One of my yoga students told me about Whole 30 (whole30.com), a diet-exploration plan that intrigued me. When I learned in May that another super-health-conscious friend had done the Whole 30 program, I was inspired to do it. It gave me valuable insight into how foods affect my body, with the added bonus that I had 25 fewer pounds for my hip to carry around. This same Whole 30 friend also told me about the Melt Method, a body movement system that works with the fascia, the connective tissue throughout our bodies. In September I began a daily regimen of using the Melt techniques, easy to do in about 20 minutes a day. That has been an incredibly important piece of the healing puzzle, and I can say that I rarely have hip pain anymore. I am up to walking two miles easily again.

However, after years of compensating for the hip pain, the muscles surrounding it, especially in my thigh, are still quite tight. Enter my amazing massage therapist again. I asked her to work on my IT band (muscle running along the outside of the thigh), and she applied kinesiology tape to that. It’s the stuff you see on the shoulders of basketball players. Who knew?!?! It has had a huge effect on my leg mobility, stiffness after sitting a while, and muscle tightness. I also learned that I can buy the tape online, and there are videos showing how to apply it to many parts of the body. Another piece of the healing puzzle falls into place. Holy cow, self-care, I love it.

This has been a year-long journey so far. I knew it would not be a quick fix. I’ve learned a lot of valuable information about myself along the way. I’ve made changes in what I eat. I’ve worked hard at maintaining an attitude of health as opposed to illness. No drugs or M.D.s were used in the process. Best of all, my hip rarely hurts anymore, and I’m convinced that if I continue using the techniques I’ve learned, that my muscles will relax. My body knows what to do if I support its innate healing capabilities. Yours does, too.
Knowing our vibrant health,
Leta

Let's Hope This is the Bottom

     As I have moved through the grieving process relative to the election, I have placed my focus on the statement, "Love is the only solution." When I'm tempted to drift off into negativity, I just keep repeating, "love, love, love, love." I firmly believe that those of us who are conscious enough to know this as truth have a responsibility to promote love in the world. Those who hate are unconscious.
     I had an exceedingly comforting realization yesterday. I am a recovering addict. As such, I have personally hit, and witnessed many others hit, the "bottom." The bottom is a hellish place. In fact, it is so awful that, finally, the addict decides that changing is now a better option than to continue the addictive behavior. While it's a miserable place to be, it's also a place of hope, a place of choosing to find a better way to live.
     I hope that collectively we (U.S.) have hit bottom. That the racist and religion-inspired hatred (yes, that's an addiction) is having its last hurrah. Yes, it's ugly, but I believe that's not how we want to be as humans, and we'll find a better way. In my own recovery, hitting bottom was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Let's hope that's the case for our country.
     Love, love, love, love,
            Leta

What a Roller Coaster Ride is this October!

     I usually LOVE October. It's birthday month for both my husband and me. The weather is generally awesome. Having grown up in the heavily-forested mountains of Pennsylvania, I am still in love with fall colors. And then there's the baseball playoffs. With the Cubs in the playoffs this year, I am in baseball nirvana. I'd usually not ever want to rush through my most beloved month.
     However, this year, October can't be over quickly enough, getting us to and past Election Day. I am nauseous sick of all of it, both on a state and national level. I am embarrassed as an American that a vile person such as Donald Trump could get a major-party nomination. President Obama is the highest-quality human being to hold that office in decades, and I'm sick of hearing him being bashed. And I didn't even have the stomach to watch the debates!
     I've decided for my sanity to remove myself from any more political readings, news, etc. and to concentrate on enjoying the rest of this month. That includes a retreat weekend that will truly get me "away from it all," hallelujah.
     GO, CUBBIES!
          Leta

I Didn't Get Shot

     Does fear rule your life? This is a very powerful question to ponder. I believe we are way more influenced by fear in our daily living than we realize. As Albert Einstein stated, "The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe."
     I was golfing with a group of women I did not know well, and in casual conversation, I mentioned that I was going to Chicago for a long weekend vacation (including Cubs game at Wrigley). The first thing one of the women said was, "I hope you don't get shot." I was flabbergasted. If that's not living from fear, I don't know what is.
     I totally believe that the Universe is as friendly as we make it. Living in fear attracts scary things. Living in friendliness attracts friends and good experiences. I've traveled all over the world and had outstanding experiences everywhere. To have refused these adventures out of fear would have stripped my life of its extraordinary richness.
     Please don't think your fears don't matter. They matter to you, obviously, but they also matter in the bigger picture. It's folks living from fear that increase hate, distrust, and violence in our world, the "us vs. them" mentality. We go a long way toward helping our world by making the decision for "friendly."
     Your friend,
           Leta
 

Living in Your Head or Your Heart?

     I highly recommend Dying to Be Me, a book by Anita Moorjani. She describes her near-death experience after dying (so it appeared to her family and doctors) from cancer and then returning to life, completely healed. She talks at length about what she learned from this happening. Here is a quote from page 147 of the book:

     When we live completely from the mind over a period of time, we lose touch with the infinite self, and then we begin to feel lost. This happens when we're in doing mode all the time, rather than being. The latter means living from the soul and is a state of allowing. It means letting ourselves be who and what we are without judgment. Being doesn't mean that we don't do anything. It's just that our actions stem from following our emotions and feelings while staying present in the moment. Doing, on the other hand, is future focused, with the mind creating a series of tasks that take us from here to there in order to achieve a particular outcome, regardless of our current emotional state.
     I have discovered that to determine whether my actions stem from "doing" or "being," I only need to look at the emotion behind my everyday decisions. Is it fear, or is it passion? If everything I do each day is driven by passion and a zest for living, then I'm "being," but if my actions are a result of fear, then I'm in "doing" mode.
     When we feel off track, we think there's something wrong with us--something we have to do or get in order to right ourselves--so we go searching outside for answers. We look to others in the hope that they'll fix us. We may feel better a a little while, but it's usually short-lived, and we eventually end up feeling worse. However, when we really start to tune in to who life intended us to be--and we're attuned to the emotions that motivate us--we connect with the soul of our magnificence. We feel clarity when we allow this connection and take our power back, and our lives start to work. 

           Being joyful,
               Leta

Thought for a New Day, New Week

     This comes from David Goldberg: "... consider that no amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future."
     Relax, enjoy, be present.
            Leta

Paying Attention to our Bodies

     I was reading a Yoga for Healthy Aging column, and Jill Satterfield (yoga teacher) used this phrase: "the physical feeling of this is enough from the often-confused mental/emotional sense of this is enough." This really impacted me. Just last night I told a friend that I have this voice in my head that keeps saying, "You should do more." It drives me nuts.
     Our culture is SO about "not enough." We don't have enough, we don't do enough, we simply aren't enough. It drives me nuts. Because of this mentality surrounding us, as well as internal, family or other influences, we often override our body's sense of time-to-rest with the "often-confused" mentality to push ourselves more. This is not a good long-term plan--it leads to stress and all sorts of life complications. 
     Only we can decide when enough is enough, and then actually stop. This is a very valuable skill to cultivate. Ms. Satterfield closed with this: "listening to ourselves—body, heart and mind—is probably one of the most valuable supports we have in taking great care of ourselves."
     Self-care is not selfish!
              Leta