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Gentle, vitalistic chiropractic in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn

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Holiday Food Washing: Make Your Own

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Holiday food washing. You went out of your way to buy the freshest, most delectable, foods for your holiday recipes.  And you’re going to use…what?…commercial food wash to clean them?

Noooo!

Commercial fruit and vegetable washes often contain harmful ingredients and are no more effective at killing bacteria and microbes than fresh water mixed with 9% vinegar.  It is easy and probably better for you to clean you fruits and veggies using natural “Do-It-Yourself” items that you probably already have in the cabinet at home. Natural cleaners lack the harmful chemicals found in so many commercial washes and soap.

However, you have to use different methods for different items. Fortunately, these fall into three easy-to-identify categories and solutions.

FOR FOODS WITH A SKIN: WHITE VINEGAR

Plain white vinegar is C-H-E-A-P and easy to find.  If your produce has a skin, white vinegar is the perfect cleaner.

Clean your sink, put the stopper in, add your fruits and veggies. Fill your sink with filtered water – not tap.  Add 1 cup of white vinegar. Let it soak an hour, use a gentle scrub brush on them, rinse.

Be sure you let them dry completely on paper towels before putting them back in the fridge.

FOR GREENS: SALT, LEMON JUICE, THEN VINEGAR

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in 2 cups of filtered water and add the juice of one lemon. Using a spray bottle, spray the greens, let it set 1 minute then put them in the “vinegar water” in the sink.  Let them soak for around 15 minutes, rinse, and dry completely before putting in the fridge.  A salad spinner can help get the water off.

HINT: put a dry paper towel in the greens container to help soak up humidity and moisture.

BERRY CLEANER: LEMON JUICE AND WATER

Berries have sensitive skin and soak up flavors.  Lemon is probably the least nasty-tasting cleaner that berries can absorb.

Spray the berries in a mix of 2 parts filtered water to 0.5 parts fresh lemon juice. After they are well coated, soak in filtered water (NO VINEGAR! UGH!) for about 15 minutes. Again, let them dry off before storing in the fridge

Now you’re good to go!  Make your masterpieces!

 

How are you stepping into your 2018 goals? Start with last year’s

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How are you stepping into your 2018 goals? Start with last year’s.

Most experts say that we quit our New Years’ resolutions (NYRs) within the month of January.  I think we place a lot of weight – no pun intended – on January 1 being the start of our “whole new me.”  Our bodies don’t really know that it’s January 1. It’s just another day to our health.

So right now it’s mid-December. We’re starting to negotiate with ourselves.

“I’m going to park myself beside this chocolate fountain because starting January 1, it’s a whole new me.”

“I’ll cut back on dairy and grains after January 1 because I’m going to so many family dinners that I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Or even…

“I’m going to join the gym on January 1, but I’m going to start January 15 because it’s going to be so crowded in the first two weeks because of NYRs and I don’t want anyone to see me.”

Look at that last one. WE KNOW that NYRs fail! Yet we still make them! We are the most clever, talented, heartfelt, creative, emotional, and illogical beasts on the planet!

Okay. I’m not going to fight this particular tide. But what I am going to do is to make a suggestion:  If you want to know how to stick to your NYRs this year, you have to start with two things: your “why,” and last year.

Look backward.

Que the time machine. Look back to this time in December of 2016.  Besides the obvious sociopolitical changes (don’t look back at the politics right now; you’re going to turn to salt!), you had an ideal for yourself that you were going to go get!

Did you?

What were your wins?

Mark down your successes. What were your goals for 2017 that you actually made happen? Type or write them down.  What were you able to tick off your list?  What changes did you create that actually came to pass?

Once you get this down, make an inventory of the conditions, both inner and outer, that allowed this change for yourself. How did you do it? Where did you find the strength to make it happen? Who helped you? What helped you?

Now think about these wins. How do they make you feel when you think about them? Accomplished? Proud? Draw on that good feeling and use it for setting your goals for 2018.

Write this down: Success breeds success. The feelings the success you have over the accomplishments of this past year is crucial to creating your success in 2018.

What did you not do?

Take a look at what goals that you failed to accomplish in 2017.

Take a good, loving, honest look at them.

Did you fail because you just stopped trying? Did you set them too big? Did you believe that they could happen? Did they feel too hard to do, or did you feel like you weren’t up to the task?

Maybe it was something else. Did something change in your world that had to take priority? Were you faced with challenges that called your energy away from the task you set for yourself before the challenge?

Maybe it wasn’t time.

Maybe your innate intelligence told you that the goals you didn’t accomplish in 2017 were goals that actually had to be put aside until the proper time.

Maybe you had to take care of a health challenge before you could take on the goal you set for yourself. It might be that you did the right thing by putting it off.  Maybe you and your body just wasn’t ready this year.

In any case, if you are quiet and really give yourself time to listen to that inner voice, your inner voice will be honest with you. Your innate intelligence will deliver the truth if you give it the honor it needs to speak to your inner self.

When you finally come up with the answers, write them them down so you can look at them. This will help you clarify how to craft your goals for 2018, and help you look for pitfalls to your future success.

Above all else, be patient with yourself.

Adopting a lifestyle in which you honor your body and spirit takes mental practice. You can’t be expected to learn to play the piano in two weeks. Give yourself the emotional room to make an honest commitment to your goals.

Have a blessed holiday week!

Bring Your Voice to Life

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Your voice is strong.  Bring your voice to life.

I believe there is a place for your passion in this world.

If you think that others have already paved the way, and that your voice doesn’t matter…

LOOK AROUND

For every aspiring healer in the world, be they chiropractor, medical doctor, spiritual director, energy healer, yoga instructor, financial advisor, teacher, space organizer, nutritionist…you get my drift…

…there are THOUSANDS of people just like you who are trying to do the same thing – heal the world – and, despite the many voices speaking words of encouragement and love,

THEY DO NOT HEAR THEM.

It’s because they are waiting for you to deliver your voice – your point of view — to the healing conversation.

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by what is happening around us.  Hate, destruction, manipulation, and greed often seem to have won the spirit of humanity, to have stripped us of all reason and compassion.

IT. IS. NOT. TRUE.

You hold the key to our freedom.

We all do. We each have a key, unique and personal to our nature.

The world needs you to use your key.

IF ALL YOU SEE IS DARKNESS

If you feel like you are fumbling in the darkness, desperately searching to unlock the door to your successful entry into the world of world health and healing,

GET STILL.

Turn off the news.

Turn away from the noise around you and turn inward.

If only for ten minutes a day, listen only to your breath and the sound of your heartbeat.

MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE FOR ANSWERS.

When we feel that overwhelm, that’s what we project into the void.

Overwhelm is  not what we want to bring to the world, is it?

I know you want to bring love and healing.

We all do.  And, we all want that for ourselves.

One law of nature that is true, that sees itself realized over and over…

YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE OUT.

It’s not a new message, but one that bears repeating.  Over, and over, with many words from many different mouths.

The gifts of love, gratefulness, compassion, and forgiveness know no equal at any time. Like the many faces of Divine Light that we wear, our gifts of love are unique for each and every one of us.

Remember: there are billions of people in the world, with billions of points of view.

We all need your voice of love.  We all need your light.

Even if you think your voice is small now, exercise it.

Massage it.

Bring it to life.

Bring it to LIFE.

I love you. I believe in you.

A Lesson For Us All

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The following story illustrates one of two huge reasons why it’s hard to change our eating habits:

  • We talk ourselves into believing we are addicted to them.
  • We actually are physically addicted to them.

In this blog post, I am going to address #1.  I’ll address #2 in a future blog post.

Food is an easy comfort.

All we do is reach for it and consume it.

Food becomes a reward we give ourselves for putting up with, and making it through, yet another dissatisfying day.

it’s the same attachment that some of us have with alcohol and drugs.

To ask ourselves to give up our eating habits is asking us to give up the one pleasure that we allow ourselves.

We are so attached to that addiction that we actually tell ourselves that our eating habit is our choice, and we actually embrace the addiction.

We submit.

We succumb.

We release the struggle for a better way, and we accept — for better and for worse — the way we have.

I want to tell you a story.

It is a terrible story.

Last week, a man I know lost his girlfriend to heart disease.

She was not obese. She was not “obviously” ill.

She was relatively young, she was financially successful, and she died — shockingly and instantly — in her lover’s arms.

Let me fill in the details.

I’m going to change the names.  We’ll call him Paul.  We’ll call her  Joyce.

Paul is 43 years old. He is an acquaintance.

He is in the “acquaintance” camp because he’s kind of unbearable.

He’s judgmental. He makes ugly jokes that are designed to hurt, then he says he didn’t mean anything by it.

He’s sneaky. If he can get away with manipulating a situation to his benefit, he will.

He talks about people behind their back, and then when that person is in front of him, he will shower that person with praise.

We all have our stories…

He has a story about that. He suffered abuse at the hands of an ex-spouse, who took everything – his money, his child, his dignity – and moved to another state.

Since then, he’s become a bit unbearable.

Don’t get me wrong. I am sympathetic.  However, that doesn’t mean that I am willing to suffer his abuse.

So I don’t.

About two years ago, Paul re-met an old lover of his from his college years, Joyce.

Joyce had her own story.

She was smart – too smart for her life choices.

She had once worked as an editor for her local newspaper. The newspaper was purchased and went in a direction in which she didn’t agree, so she moved on.

Eventually, she got a job that paid very well but was extremely unrewarding.  She was the director of a bunch of managers at a company whose mission she disagreed with.

She made a lot of money but was never satisfied with her life.

She had had long-term lovers but never married. She was sensitive about what people thought about her, but she didn’t hesitate to tell others what she thought they were doing wrong with their lives.

If you tried to engage her in discussion, she accused you of being insulting. If you tried to respond to one of her criticisms, she told you that you were being defensive.

Joyce and Paul had one thing in common.  Food.

They each had allergies. He has allergies to dairy and wheat. She had allergies to nuts and legumes.  For their allergies, they listened to their respective doctors and were on a great deal of many different drugs.

They also both hated vegetables and they both loved sugar.

So, they spent a great deal of their time and energy together searching for and sharing sugary, starchy foods that met their allergic profiles. When they ate meat, it was processed meat, as cheap as they could find.

That’s actually quite a niche, isn’t it? That’s not easy – finding sugary, starchy foods that are dairy free, wheat free, nut free, and legume free, while at the same time avoiding fresh vegetables. That takes effort!

Neither smoked; that’s one good thing.

However, neither exercised. They didn’t even like to walk around the neighborhood. They drove to the corner store.

They complained of this ache and that ache, of this or that trip to the doctor.

They complained that the doctor could never “find anything,” and would take the pain killers that were prescribed.

But, whenever I tried to tentatively suggest natural, lifestyle changes in answer to Paul’s complaints, he would chuckle at me and say, “I know that’s what you do for a living, but I don’t want to be bothered; and sorry, but I just don’t believe in that stuff.”

So, we didn’t see much of Paul after he started dating Joyce.  When they were together at a party or a function, we chatted politely for a few minutes and moved on.

On the few times we saw Paul when they weren’t together, Paul would grumble about Joyce.

He would complain and tell unflattering stories about her habits.  Afterward, he would declare, “Well, it doesn’t matter. She’s as good as I’m getting. But I’m sure as hell never getting married again. She can forget that!”

It is difficult being close to people like that. It is not emotionally rewarding.

Time went on.

I haven’t seen Paul – or Joyce – for the better part of a year.

Last week, it was reported to me that Paul and Joyce were in the kitchen, putting together a meal.  According to Paul, they were having an argument. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he reported. “We were just pecking at each other, you know,” when she stopped short and grabbed her chest.

He ran to her and caught her in his arms, just as she was falling.  They both tumbled to the floor.

She died in his arms.

She was 42.

Friends say that Paul is a wreck right now.

The last thing I understand he said to a group of people he visited was, “I wasn’t very nice to her. I wish I had treated her better.”

Was it her eating habits that killed her?

Given that she had seen doctors on multiple occasions to get evaluated for “serious diseases,” I could guess yes.

But I would hazard a more nuanced guess that her eating habits were only part of the story.

You see, food habits, like any habit that hurts us, are symptoms of bigger problems.

Those problems are inside.  They require self-reflection and a willingness to see oneself honestly.

So, the way we relate to food is often a reflection of the way we feel about the way we live.

You never know when the result of a life not-well-lived it’s going to happen.  But in retrospect, you can always say that you saw it coming.

You never know when you’re going to die, but you can often have a direct influence on its length and quality by intentionally living well.

I am 51.  These things are becoming very clear to me in my own life.

As Claire Fitzpatrick, private citizen, I have been to too many funerals of forty- and fifty-something friends and acquaintances to not notice these patterns.

As a chiropractor and nutritionist

I have seen people turn themselves around.

It is the most gratifying thing in the world to know that I have been a small part of their successes.

However, when I have a patient in my office who wants something I don’t offer – a “quick fix” – someone I can’t reach, someone who is a lot like Paul or Joyce, I shake my head and sadly move on.

I can’t help anyone who doesn’t really want help.

I can’t “walk the walk” for them.

Sometimes, the patient isn’t like Paul or Joyce.

Sometimes, the patient is someone who lives with, and takes abuse from, people like Paul and Joyce — someone who has no kind, loving support.

Sometimes, the patient is sweet, giving, lovely, shy, and lonely. Food is their intimate friend.

Sometimes, the patient is sad, depressed, anxious, and suspicious; someone who want to believe in themselves but ultimately sabotages themselves with excessive food (and, very often, with drink).

Sometimes, they want something better for themselves, but they don’t try.

Or, when they do try, when it becomes emotionally difficult to sustain the effort (as it always does), they lack the will to continue and they quit.

These are the cases that break my heart.

I have all kinds of tools to give. I can show how to use them.

For instance, as of this writing, I am hosting a 28-Day Rapid Reset Challenge (click here for details).

But ultimately, any tool I offer will fail if it is not used.

 

I’m not a psychologist.

I am a chiropractor.  I’m sort of a “neuropsychologist” for the body.

However, I do work with psychologists, and I recommend them often. We tend to see a lot of the same people.

You know, I have seen this over and over: Physical pain is worse when we have emotional pain.

Pain — physical and emotional — is frightening and isolating, and so it often becomes part of one’s self-identity.

Physical discomfort is easier to manage and eliminate if one has faith in oneself.

I wish I could reach into your heart and fill you with self-love and belief.

We walk beside you as you heal; but ultimately, we all walk the inner road by ourselves.

The best I can do is be here, continue to tell you how much I believe in you; and that, when you’re ready, I am honored to help.

Try to Speak Their Language

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This morning, I visited a business networking group in a suburb of Amsterdam called Amstelveen.

First of all, I was late.  I was so late.

The Dutch, like New Yorkers, are very prompt.  They pride themselves on three things: orderliness, cleanliness, and timeliness.

I have cleanliness down.

Orderliness and timeliness are challenges for me.

When You’re Too Excited…

Last evening, knowing I needed to get up about 5:30, I went to bed at 9:30 and promptly laid awake for 45 minutes.

Then I woke at 2 in the morning; at 2:45, I decided it was time to meditate (I have free meditations here).

I dropped back off to sleep at about 4.

So guess where I was in my sleep cycle at 5:30?

R.E.M.

I’m talking deep, R.E.M., “you-ain’t-waking-me-for-a-fire,” kind of sleep.

After three “snoozes” and an inner, semi-conscious grapple that lasted 25 minutes, I finally dragged myself to the bathroom at 6:15.

The meeting was at 7:00 a.m.  In the email, they had advised that I really should be there at 6:45.

The trip from home-to-meeting, if I made the train, was 33 minutes.

Uh, Yeah…

I’m good, but I still can’t bend time as well as I’d like. Still, against all odds, I ended up arriving at 7:20, after everyone had already sat down and began networking.

In Dutch.

“Spreekt Jij Engels?”

I’ve been studying it for over a year now; and still, I only have a toddler’s grasp of Dutch.

I blew into the room and I knew enough to say, “Het spijt me; ik te laat (I’m sorry, I too late), before I found my seat…

…a spot in the middle of the room where a nice little printed table tent, a plastic container full of member business cards, where a little advice note on meeting etiquette – in Dutch — lay waiting patiently for me to arrive.

The president of the meeting introduced me in Dutch as I hurried to my seat. I heard my name, “chiropractie,” “New York,” and “wonen te Amsterdam laast maand” before the fellow gave me a break and asked me, “Is that right?” in English.

“Yes.  Ja. Yes,” I stammered as I navigated my big back pack, my handful of keys (remember my legendary set of keys in New York? Somehow, I’ve managed to collect a set of 20 keys for the locks in the city of Amsterdam), and my jacket around my seat.

The room of 50 business people then proceeded to conduct the whole meeting in adult – not toddler – Dutch.

“I’m an Amrrr-ican.”

Look. I know the reputation that people from the United States have.  English is the primary language, and although we have the opportunity to learn other languages in school, it is not mandatory. So it is rare that an American will speak other languages fluently.

I’m guilty.  I know just enough Spanish, French, German and Dutch to say “beer” in German, to order it in French, using Dutch pronouns, and adding, “por favor,” at the end.

Not So In Europe — And Everywhere Else

In the Netherlands, English is a mandatory language. Particularly in Amsterdam, everyone speaks English to at least a seventh-grade level of understanding.

So, I knew going in that everyone in the room would understand me if I spoke English.

But I also know that we, in the United States, have a bit of a reputation of not bothering to learn another countries’ culture and language.

There’s good reason for that.  I forget the exact number — 20 or 30 percent — but very few people from the United States ever visit a foreign country.  So, when are we going to use another language?

That is changing, however, as more and more people from different countries emigrate to the United States, and do business with U.S. over the Internet.

The World is Getting Smaller

I remember a networking group to which I was a part in Connecticut.  There was a woman from Ecuador – I’ll call her Lisa – who probably knew as much English as I know Dutch now.  She was a member of our group.

Lisa’s native tongue is Spanish; yet spoke nothing but English every single meeting.

She struggled and apologized and struggled some more to get her message across in English.  This is back when Google Translate was not even a thought in a developer’s head.

Everyone loved her for it.

Ten years later, she is still a member of that same group, and doing very well for herself.

Toddler Dutch

Like I said; my Dutch is kiddie Dutch. And I have Google Translate.

I thought of Lisa.

When it came time for me to stand up and introduce myself, I typed my speech into Google Translate on my phone, and I proceeded to read my speech in probably the worst Dutch pronunciation this group has ever heard.

I got an ovation.  When I gave an exit testimonial about how much I appreciated their hospitality – again, in Dutch – I got another ovation.

I also got an invitation to come back to the meeting, a few one-on-one appointments with members to get to know one anothers’ businesses, and a man who is fears the “cracking” sound that chiropractic sometimes makes who would like to try my services.

Not bad for a few minute’s effort.

Try To Speak Their Language

The Dutch are also very honest, straight-forward people.

More than one person said I was “very brave” to stand and speak to this room in Dutch; that other English speakers just “walk right in,” and “proceed to do everything in English.”

I don’t know if what they meant was that I was “brave.” I think what they were saying is that it was very considerate of me to try to speak to a group of people in their language, a language which I clearly have no mastery.

I learned a long time ago that, whatever way I perceive a situation, someone else perceives it a different way.

“Fix it, Doc!”

Most people come to a chiropractor because they are in pain, they can’t get out of it, and someone told them a chiropractor might help them.

That’s all they know. They want to get out of pain.  That’s why I first went to a chiropractor, too.

I’m now on the other end of that spectrum. I went through the physics, the chemistry, the organic chemistry, the biomechanics. I went through the neurology, the anatomy, the kinesiology, the art, science, and the philosophy of chiropractic.

Chiropractic now means something very different to me than to the average person on the street.

Bringing the Mountain to The People?

I once thought it was my job to bring people from “get out of pain” to “the sole purpose of chiropractic is to reunite man the physical with man the spiritual,” during the first visit.

At first, I had a lot of trouble recruiting patients to my practice.  People ended up going to “the pain guy” – whoever it was — down the street.

People don’t speak that language right away.  They may never learn that language.  You have to walk with them along their road before you point down the path of yours and begin to explain its twists and turns.

If they are called to “the mountain,” like me, they will have to make the effort to learn the language.

That takes time.  I was a chiropractic patient for fifteen years before I went to school as a chiropractor, and I didn’t speak the language when I went in.  It took me time to learn that language as well.

What Language Do You Have to Learn?

Do you need to learn how to speak your partner’s language? Your boss? Your child’s?  Whose perspective are you so bent upon converting to your own, that you are forgetting how to listen to them?

Find out where people are. Take the time to understand the language they are using when they speak to you about their struggles at work, school, on the playground, in the internet world, at home.

Meet Them Where They Are.

I once saw a chiropractor spend the entire first visit with a patient in his crowded waiting room, because it took all the effort in the world for that patient to even make it through his front door, let alone the examination room.  He examined and adjusted the patient right there, and got him to a place where he could walk around a few feet without excruciating pain in his back and legs, all in front of his other patients.

This doc is one of the most philosophical, spiritual chiropractors I have ever met. I barely understand what the hell he’s talking about when he speaks about the nature of chiropractic to a roomful of other doctors of chiropractic.  He’s way out there in the stratosphere, when it comes to chiropractic neurology and philosophy.

Notice, I said he had a crowded waiting room.

His Patients Know He Cares For Them

His patients, at first, don’t know that, when he finds the problem and addresses it, that he’s opening communication between their central nervous system and the rest of their body, that he’s clearing interference so that the body is able to heal itself more efficiently, and that, in his mind, he’s tapping into the forces of divine creation of which Rumi and Hafiz wrote about with such eloquence.

He first meets them where they are…in his waiting room, scared and in pain, hoping that somehow this guy can fix it.

Nothing brings that home than to try and explain chiropractic care in another language to a group of strangers who aren’t even looking for help.

In every ministry – be it parental, political, spiritual, intellectual, financial, legal, whatever…there is no way that we are able to deliver the message of health and healing if we don’t figure out what the person believes is wrong with them.

Faster Horses? Or A Better Way?

You know that famous quote about Henry Ford who said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

At least he knew their desire.  He knew the meta-message behind that request: that they wanted a better, faster, easier way to get from here to there, and they didn’t know how to go about it.

You know how to go about it.  But people don’t know need to know the method behind your genius.  They just want to know that you hear them, that you care, and that you will do everything you can to eliminate their trouble.

They Really Just Want to Know That You Care

And they want to know when you can’t. They want to know that, even if you can’t, you care about them.

And that’s the real meta-message. People want to know you care about them.

You do that by meeting people where they are, and trying to speak with the language they understand.

They don’t even need you to be fluent in their perception. They just need to know you’re trying.

Because, you really do care, don’t you?

Posture: The One Word that Can Change Your Behavior Instantly

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Posture.

You just sat up, didn’t you?

The word, itself, reminds people of the importance of good posture.

We all know that good posture is important.  But why?

Here’s Why

Do you know that your posture can literally determine your mental health? Your emotional health?

How successful you can expect to become?

Here’s one thing I notice about living in Amsterdam, home of some of the tallest people in the world: A good majority of them stoop over.

A lot.

They do the same thing that New Yorkers do, regarding cell phones (known here as “mo-bile” phones). They walk down the street, bent over the tiny screens, typing as they walk…walking into traffic, bikes, me*…

[pullquote align=”normal”]*…by the way, that makes me crazy. I wish these people would just pull over to the side of a building and do their business. Why do these people walk down the street like a zombie, colliding with everything like its nothing?* [/pullquote]

…but I digress…

However, many Amsterdammers tend to slump over without the phones.

They slump over while talking to friends, while eating at a restaurant, sitting at their desks, when speaking in front of a room full of people…its as if they have an imaginary ceiling over their heads, and they have to perpetually duck as to not hit it!

Then I watch the older Amsterdammers, those in their 50s, and 60s, let alone their 70s and 80s, trying to walk down the streets.

Many of them shuffle, their upper backs now deformed after years of stooping, and the gravitational weight of their forward head carriage has worn down their low backs’ ability to stabilize the rest of their body, so their legs are weak from nerve system interference.

Many of them have walkers, or are even in wheel chairs.

Goodness knows about their ability to go to the bathroom, have sex, or even climb the stairs, let alone their ability to enjoy the sailboats in the canals or the beautiful parks on bicycles.

It’s really sad to see, because the Dutch are a very proud people.  One can see, as they make their way slowly down the street shuffle by shuffle, that their lack of independence at a relatively young age is extremely humiliating to them.

It’s unnecessary

It’s so unfortunate, because it is so easy to fix.

One simply needs to adjust their spines and change their posture. And keep doing it.

Americans are not immune.  We slump.  A lot.

It affects everything we do.

It even affects our hormones.  Forward head carriage and slumped shoulders are primal stances of fear and depression.

When we slump forward and rest our weight on our rib cage, we are telling our bodies that we are in danger and that we are helpless.

In contrast, sitting and standing straight, head held high, shoulders open, chest open and available, tells our bodies that we are not only all right, but that we are strong, happy, and victorious.

posture

Amy Cuddy, researcher at Harvard University, and her team, tested this theory out in a series of famous studies; the results of which she presented in a famous TED talk in 2012.

She and her team found that testosterone and cortisol levels improved dramatically after just TWO MINUTES of what they called, “high-power positions,” vs. “low-power” positions.

postureposturepostureThat’s huge.

When we carry ourselves straight and tall, strong in our core, our brain and spinal cord are able to function with less interference and are able to clear waste products from our cerebral spinal fluid into our lymph nodes. This is crucial for brain and body health.

Posture affects

The following quote is attributed to The American Journal of Pain Management. I can’t confirm right now it that is true; if it is, it was written in or before 1991.  However, the quote is said very concisely:

[pullquote align=”normal”]“Posture affects and moderates every physiological function, from breathing to nervous system function, and despite the considerable evidence that posture affects physiology and function, the significant influence of posture on health is not addressed by most physicians.” [/pullquote]

Can you imagine if it is true? That we’ve know this for at least 30 years?

You know that there is a lot of worry about the increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s disease these days.  Did you know that recent research suggests that brisk, purposeful walking 30 minutes a day can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 60%?

There’s not a drug out there that can come close to matching that.

How much more effective do you think these results would be if we employed open, strong, proper posture to our walking?

No shortage of help

There is no shortage of postural and fitness professionals who teach the importance core strength and postural alignment.  Yoga teachers, Pilates teachers, all the martial arts, therapeutic exercise, strength training, Rolfers, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Technique…of course, the list goes on.

When we have been stuck in a rut of poor posture, chiropractic care is crucial to the success of any program of postural success.

How Chiropractic Helps Posture

When we hold our bodies in any position for a long period of time, the body creates fibrous connective tissue to hold us in that position because it thinks we want to stay in that position.

Even the bones will grow extra bone to try to stabilize the body in a position in which we repeatedly place ourselves. That’s called osteoarthritis.

If the spine starts to do that, the extra bone can grow into the spinal canal and the foramen where nerves pass. That’s when we can get severe nerve interference.

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If you find it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve healthy posture, it is critical that you get chiropractic care.

Chiropractic care breaks up the adhesions in the spine and joints of the body. It allows free movement of the vertebrae, and thus minimizes interference to the nervous system at the junction of the brain/spinal cord and the peripheral nerves of the body.

It allows the success of using every other technique.

But you can start today. Right now.

Here’s how.

Standing

Get up against a wall, feet shoulder-width apart.  Touch the back of your head and your rear end to the wall. Roll your shoulders back until your shoulder blades are flat against the wall. Drop your shoulders.

That weird feeling you’re feeling is proper posture.

At your desk

The top of your monitor should be level with your eyes. Your legs, arms and hands should all be at a 90-degree angle with the rest of your body. Your keyboard should be close. Make your spine straight by lifting yourself up from your pelvis and tummy. Breathe into your tummy, not your shoulders.

And get up and shake it out every 15 minutes.

Walking down the street

Put the phone away, or use headphones to talk, straighten up and walk forward.

Using your phone

Bring the phone to eye level – not your head to phone level. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. So what? Are you afraid of a little upper body strength

When talking with short people (like me)

Stand tall, look down at me with your eyeballs. As long as your manner is jolly and not snobby, I won’t take offence.  Make me straighten up to talk to you.  It’s good for me, too.

It will make us both jolly. Literally, it will make us happier, healthier people.

For Two Minutes

If you can do any of the above and hold if for just TWO MINUTES, you can improve your health by a magnitude!

Imagine if you hold it for longer? Hours? Days? Months? Years?

How happy and healthy can you make yourself if you do just this? Absolutely free?

C’mon. Straighten up. It’s worth it.

Sometimes Being There is Enough

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One of the reasons I chose chiropractic as a profession is that I like to fix things.

I think I got this from my mother. Whenever I asked a question, she had an answer.

Sometimes, it was a wrong answer. But to her, that wasn’t the important thing. The important thing was to have an answer. To be of service.

She was letting me know she was there.

Bless her heart: I don’t think she knew she was doing it.

I think her mother also had an answer for everything.  I didn’t have the privilege of knowing her mother very well, but the family stories suggest that answers flowed like water from MeMa O’Grady.

It was her way of showing she cared.

Being of service has always been a strong calling in my family, on both sides. We have a rich tradition of spiritual leaders, former police officers, writers, health care providers, volunteer caregivers, teachers, veterans, artists, musicians, etc…in our family.  The O’Gradys and the Fitzpatricks have a history of service, and of wanting to serve.

Of course, I adopted the habit. Being of service drives everything I do.

So I know that of which I speak when I say, you don’t always have to fix the problem.

The important thing is not always the answer.

The important thing is being there.

My patients brought that lesson home to me over the years.

When I first got into practice, I thought I had to know everything. That I had to have all the answers.

The first time I was able to bring myself to say, “I don’t know,” was a huge relief.

Sometimes the subluxation — a subtle, physical interference to the nervous system — manifests because of an emotional block, like the feeling that we are facing our challenges alone.

Chiropractic is like that. When the nervous system is free to express itself, sometimes what happens along with the physical release is a revelation.

When that happens, I have learned that my place is to witness and hug.

 

We don’t know how to fix everything.

None of us do.

None of us really know what its like to walk in our neighbors’ shoes. None of us truly understand the perspective of our children, our partners, our parents. None of us can fix all of the others’ problems.

We all go through transitions that are painful, sometimes irreversibly so.  It is the way of things.

Some things cannot be fixed, even if we desperately want to fix them.

Sometimes, all that’s required of us is our presence, to witness and to let the one in pain know that we are there.

Be love. Be there.

I know this message will reach someone who needs it today, right now.

Trust me.

Be love. Just be there.

Chill Out in Five Minutes or Less

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I made a Facebook video, “Chill Out in Five Minutes or Less,” last April.

I embedded the video below.

But first…you need to know that the reason I posted it isn’t the reason I gave in the video itself.

I want you to know why I posted it.

I posted it because something happened to a woman on Facebook.

Last April, a woman with whom I am friends (but I don’t really know all that well; I met her at a conference years ago) on Facebook begged her Facebook friends to please be gentle.

It was regarding the death of a murderer who had just killed an innocent man.

This woman, 60 years of age, had grown up next door to the murderer and his family.  The parents and siblings of the murderer were her friends.

Her post was a preemptive plea.

The news had just broken and she was anticipating the venom that can arise in these matters.

She knew the family was going through their special version of hell.

I was going to quote her, but she has since removed the post.

Apparently, the plea fell on blind eyes and people posted vicious responses. That’s why she removed it.

I’ll try to paraphrase her post from my memory.

In essence, she wrote:

“Please be kind. I know it is in our nature to verbally attack and condemn people and situations of which we only know little. Please be respectful of the families who in this case are truly innocent, have to deal with the aftermath. Please know that they are truly remorseful for the victims of their family member’s actions and wish them only peace and love. Please respect their humanity.”

Reacting vs. Responding

When we are outraged, it is easy to forget that, sometimes, people need kindness and understanding.

This is a great big world with many people. They are living many stories.

Sometimes, these stories collide.

Social media often provides a sense of separateness, as if the people to whom we respond aren’t real.  That they aren’t human. That they deserve viciousness that we would never dare utter to a soul face to face.

When we feel that rage, it is crucial that we take a breath before we react.

When we pause and take a moment to respond, we are taking charge of our emotions.  We are taking charge of our morality.

We are taking charge of our inner and outer health.

Reacting online is a type of road rage.

I sometimes fall into this trap.

I sometimes hear a news report and I inwardly fly off the handle.

It is during these times I apply the technique outlined in the video below.

So in the video, I lied. A little.

In the video, I told my viewers it was about getting rid of headaches.

And it is.

But that’s not why I made the video that day.

I really was thinking of the woman who pleaded for written mercy and who was denied that mercy.

It was for her that I made the video.

Reacting with hatred hurts everyone.

What happened to her, to her friends; indeed, to the victim, seems endemic these days.

Whether online or in the flesh, people who react violently and ignorantly seem like they are in our face 24/7.

Of course this has an affect on our outlook, the way we see the world, and our health.

There are tons of studies that show that rage hurts our physiology, as well as the physiology of everyone who is a receiver of that rage.

Rage itself is a killer.

I, too, have to remind myself that the only way out of the morass of moral chaos is calm, stillness, compassion, and peace.

The video below teaches how to chill out in five minutes or less. It teaches how to gain that peace quickly.

Chill Out in Five Minutes or Less

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If the above link doesn’t work, you can watch it here.

There is no downside that I know of regarding following its instructions. The worst that can happen is that you fall asleep.

The best is realizing that you have control of your inner situation, and if that’s true, that you have control of your outer situation.

Use this technique. It is my gift.

It is my gift to you and to me.

Let’s all remember to take a step back and focus on our own journey before we insult and judge those who we feel “safe” to condemn.

This is my mission:

To help us clear our nervous system of stress so we can get to the business of living well.

If we can live well, we will gear our efforts toward helping each other rather than hurting each other.

Over the last ten years, I have helped many people reduce interference to their brain and nerve systems via chiropractic adjustments, lifestyle adjustments, and mindset adjustments.

It is the single most important thing in the world to me.

I am opening my chiropractic practice this week in Amsterdam. I am SUPER EXCITED about that!!!

I am also so grateful that technology has gotten us to a point in which I am available around the world through my online coaching company, JOY! Health and Bodyworks.

What I do in JOY is everything I do for my patients in the office, minus the chiropractic adjustments.

Those you need to get from your local chiropractor, and I can help with that. I also help you find practitioners like psychologists and counselors to aid the process as well.

Those are just some of the bonuses with working with me in JOY!

You can take a look at my programs here.

You have a blessed day. Talk to you soon!