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Value yourself enough to take care of yourself

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32552197 - preventive medicine financial condition self assessment concept.Value yourself enough to take care of yourself  

How to create change and make better choices

As shocking as this may sound, many people don’t care or value themselves.  When you don’t value yourself you make poor choices for your health and your life because you have an underlying belief that it (meaning you) doesn’t really matter anyways.

The fastest way to create change and improve the health of our nation is by getting people to care about themselves enough to take care of themselves. Making sure people know they have something of value to contribute by being alive, and that they are worthy & lovable. When people know their inherent worth and value, just watch how their health improves, how they make better choices that support their vitality and ability to contribute their gifts.

We currently live in a system that thinks medicating and numbing all of our uncomfortable sensations, feelings and thoughts will heal us, when indeed it is the exact opposite.  When we numb feeling all the “bad” things we think about ourselves and don’t get the opportunity to feel and disprove them as true.  They lurk in the background without any momentum available to create change.  You must feel it to heal it!  When you start allowing yourself to feel again you begin to realize things (meaning you) aren’t as bad as you originally thought they were.

handsmakingheartBenefits of self-love

Vibrant health

The benefits of self-love, value, and worth are no small thing.  If you want extraordinary health and an amazing life you must get this.  This is not new age fluff.  It is the real deal.  Love is the only thing that will heal you ever.  Period.

Think of a time when you first fell in love with someone.  Remember how amazing you felt.  Everything worked easier and better.  What happened in this state is that you allowed yourself to feel love as reflected to you from another.  The secret is you don’t need another person to permission yourself to feel this way, you can be your “other” when you see your value and inherent worth.

There is a basic fear in many of us that we are empty inside, that there is nothing special about us and that we have no gifts or talents.  We are constantly trying to improve ourselves, learn more things, get more degrees, so that we can prove to ourselves that there is something of value inside of us.  Society praises us for this, so our behaviors get reinforced.  The problem with this is that after attaining all of this knowledge/skill we still feel empty inside because we haven’t learned the most basic thing of all, which is that just through your mere presence alone you are everything.  You don’t need special training or skills for this one.  It is simply who you are.  You are the energy that animates your body and the universe.  That energy is love.  It is what/who you are.  When you know this you will feel silly ever having believed you were anything else.  Your body will heal, your emotions will lighten and your mind will become clear.

The core essence of my mission on this earth is help people remember who and what they are.  Nothing is more exciting to me then seeing another gain clarity, find their heart again and heal like crazy.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, Chiropractor, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration, Boulder, Colorado

What does your spinal diagnosis say about you?

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44785944 - attractive woman with back pain at home in the bedroomWhat does your spinal diagnosis say about you?  

There are hundreds of official diagnoses when it comes to spinal conditions.  People are most familiar with low back pain, disc herniations, cervical or lumbar radiculopathies, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis and arthritis of the spine.  Each one of these has a different mechanism for how it shows up in the body.  The aim of modern medicine is to determine which condition is present based on signs and symptoms so that proper procedure can be performed.

People with spinal conditions often turn to a chiropractor when they 1) don’t want to have a surgery that their physician has recommended or 2) their medical doctor has told them that there is nothing else they can do for them except for pain medications.

One of the reasons that chiropractors are successful at helping people in these situations is because we look at the entire spinal system, not just where it hurts or has a “problem”.  We also evaluate the biomechanics of the spine, posturing, behaviors, thoughts and emotions that contribute to what is showing up in your spine.

There are no quick fixes.  Even if you choose to have a spinal surgery, if you don’t simultaneously make some changes in your life, your situation will likely not improve.  I believe this is one reason why so many back surgeries are unsuccessful.  Secondly, when you fuse or alter one part of the spine it will produce changes in how other parts of the spine function, which is why people often develop pain in previously asymptomatic areas of the spine after a spinal surgery.

How can something so gentle and non-invasive help?

Debunking the force myth 

We tend to think that if something physical is expressing in our body than we need something really physical to fix it.  There is also the idea that the more aggressive we are in our approach the more likely we will be at getting rid of it.  In this way of thinking the more force, aggression, doing or invasiveness = better results.

A-P-103Have you ever had the experience when you were trying to accomplish something, but you just couldn’t figure out how to do it?  You tried all your old ways of accomplishing, but nothing was working.  After exhausting yourself doing things and stressing out about it you talked with a friend to share your frustration and perhaps get some advice.  Your friend did not offer any advice but instead held an “invisible” space for you to talk while they listened.  At the end of the conversation you did not have an answer but you felt more spacious, clearer, and relaxed.  Your frustrations were heard.  The next day you went back to your project and saw a new perspective that you had not seen before, and alas you made some forward progress.

Your body works in much the same way.  When someone is present with your body, without trying to fix it, your body changes how it functions, postures and holds itself.  Chiropractic may be less aggressive and forceful than surgery or chemical alteration through pharmaceuticals, however when applied with presence its effects are much more profound.  The amount of presence you have in any endeavor is inversely proportionally to the amount of force you need.  The spine and nervous system respond to presence and the body will self-organize, self-regulate and self-heal when in the presence of presence.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration

Pain-free ≠ healthy body

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Pain-free ≠ healthy body 

What does it really mean to have a healthy body?

I often hear people say to me, “I don’t need a chiropractor because I don’t have back pain.” While being pain free is nice, it doesn’t mean that your body is healthy and functioning at its highest level.  Pain is usually the last indication that something significant is occurring in your body.  If you wait  until you feel pain in your body to tell you that something is going on, you’re not paying attention to critical cues along the way.

body-painNow pain is not necessarily a bad thing either.  What it is, is a warning sign, a message that says, stop what you are currently doing and do it different.  When you don’t heed the message and continue your life in the same manner you end up going down a spiral cascade to less and less aliveness and participation with life.

To have a healthy body simply means that you are responsive to its cues  Your body is incredibly resilient and adaptable.  When you are responsive, by listening and taking action to make needed changes your body naturally heals itself.  You will know you’ve made the correct change because you will experience more energy, vitality, openness and participation with life.

Why a healthy spine is critical for a healthy body

Your ability to listen and take action

Most people don’t understand the importance of your spine in regards to the health of your entire body.  Your spine is not just the bones in your back.  It is also the muscles and ligaments that support your spine, and more importantly it is your spinal cord, which is the structure that the bones protect.

48864734 - human spine x-ray view, 3d renderYour spinal cord is your life line.  It is the communication link between your brain and your body.  Without it you do not exist.  It is also what allows you to pay attention, be aware of yourself, the sensations and cues your body gives you and to to take needed actions to change behaviors and habits that don’t optimally serve your body or you.  It is also the communication link between your brain and every muscle, organ and cell in your body.  If your spine is not healthy your ability to listen and respond is impaired and thus your health and function impaired.

So how do you know if your spine is not healthy if it doesn’t hurt?  Tune into how tense you feel, how easy is it for you to relax, to sleep, to digest and eliminate your food, to turn off your thoughts, to think clear, to take action and make changes in your life.  If any of these things are challenging for you, your spine is not expressing full health.

One of the things that I do in my office is assess the health of the spine and its ability to help you be responsive and take action in your life.  Get the health of you spine checked by a chiropractic professional to ensure its functioning to support you optimally.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration, Boulder, Colorado

3 simple steps to find your heart

Dr. Amanda Love 4 Comments

50990725 - the 3d heart lost his wayFinding your heart  

Where did it go in the first place?

Wouldn’t it be nice to find and live from your heart all of the time?  But what happens when life is hard, people are unfriendly, and things aren’t working out like you want them too?  How do you find your heart despite the storm?

Sometimes life seems to spiral out of your control.  Situations arise that you don’t like or agree with and somewhere in the mess you fall out of your heart.  Even though you are aware that you’re in a downward spiral you can’t seem to muster the energy you need to get back into your heart.

Falling out of your heart is not a “bad” thing.  In fact I have found that it is necessary at times during this life’s journey in order to learn lessons that have then allowed me to see a new perspective, disprove a limitation and have greater appreciation for life.  However, having a way to reconnect to your heart and its intelligence at will is key to feeling empowered even when you feel disconnected from your heart.

Truths about love

The energy of the heart is love and there are some fundamentals to reveal about love. The first is to know is that love is always there.  Sometimes your focus is somewhere else, but love never left.  It is always present.  The second truth is that love has no judgments or conditions.  Even if you don’t agree or approve of yourself, or another person or their actions it is still possible to love yourself and others.  Lastly, love is abundant.  If you give a little away to someone you don’t run out of it.  There is no shortage in supply, only a shortage in the act of giving & receiving it.

3 simple steps to find your heart

In those times when love has seemed to disappear from your life or being there is an easy method to refocus and find your heart again.

found-heart

  1. Slow down.  The hearts pace is slower pace then the active (overactive) mind.  In order to step into the rhythm of the heart we need to stop filling every moment with an action or thought.
  2. Acknowledge something that feels good.  This may be a memory that makes you smile or gratitude for someone/something in your life.  Bring this into the forefront of your awareness.
  3. Allow yourself to feel good.  As you tap into and acknowledge something that feels good let your being feel it too!  Spread it through your body.  Receive it.

With these 3 simple steps you can refocus and reconnect to your heart, which makes everything flow with more effortless ease and grace.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC

Tension is not your enemy

Dr. Amanda Love 1 Comment

15832931 - woman having headache isolated on blackTension is not your enemy… 

Its your protector

Have you ever been aware of tension in your body?  The type of tension I’m talking about here is an  underlying tension that is consistently present.  You might feel it predominantly in your legs, neck, back, head, belly, jaw, or maybe even your entire being.   Perhaps you became more aware of this tension after an injury, or a life change or challenge, or whenever you feel “stressed”.

Have you ever wondered why this tension is present and what purpose it serves you?  Typically we are so busy trying to “unwind” and “destress” our tension away that we never stop to wonder why its really there at all.

Tension is energy that is bound or held “in place” in the body.  It serves the purpose to hold reality “in place” for you so that you can function in your day to day life without feeling too much.  Essentially so that you can keep going despite what is happening inside or outside or you.  It’s your shield, your protection from things that might potentially hurt you.  Oddly enough holding tension makes you feel safe and secure and like you are in control of your life.

39405932 - outer space. meditation. woman silhouette. vector illustrationTension

The barrier between you & YOU

The intention of tension is to serve you by helping you feel less discomfort, but there are also drawbacks to its presence.  Tension puts your body in “on guard” mode and triggers something called your sympathetic nervous system.  This is also known as the fight or flight response. In this state your body can’t physically heal, its hard to think clearly and emotionally you feel either overwhelmed or completely numb.  Connection to yourself or others, which is one of our most basic human needs, is impossible when you feel tense.

Tension is also the biggest barrier between your little personality “you” and your bigger all knowing “YOU”.  You can think of this as your higher self, soul, spirit, purpose or passion.  This is experienced as dullness, flatness, mundane routines, and fatigue.

Pulling up tension gives the “illusionary” feeling of control and blocks you from feeling some discomfort, but it also disconnects you from the things that make your heart light up and make your life worth living.  Again tension is not the enemy, so trying to get rid of it by rubbing or stretching it out is only a temporary bandaid.  What is required is an ability to remain open (not tense) and drop into uncomfortable feelings and sensations when they arise.  Instead of guarding/protecting yourself, you move forward through whatever is happening without getting stuck inside of it.

One of the things that I help people achieve is an open nervous system so that the body can stay open  and feel life as it occurs.  Through having an open nervous system your body can heal quicker, function better and experience higher states of well-being.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC

Stop avoiding uncomfortable sensations

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28919296 - concept of fear with businessman like an ostrichStop avoiding uncomfortable sensations  

… and liberate yourself

Uncomfortable sensations make us panic, whether we are are aware of it or not.  It is a biological reaction that our nervous system has in response to discomfort.  We do everything we can to avoid uncomfortableness.  If something hurts (physically or emotionally) we tend to jump over it, around it or look the other way.  We see this in our over-medicated medical culture.  Every time an unpleasant sensation arises we try to find something to stop it and get it to go away.  This is incredibly unfortunate.  This pattern of avoiding and getting rid (though may produce temporary relief), overtime creates numbness, flatness and disconnection as we search for more methods, tools, or procedures to stop us from feeling  uncomfortable things.

This will probably not be a surprise to you, but as you numb away the uncomfortable sensations, you also numb away the range of pleasant and blissful sensations that you can feel.  You narrow your range of feeling.  Because the mind and body are connected I see this mirrored in the body as people experiencing a limited range of motion in their body.  This can manifest as decreased flexibility in the spine or decreased motion in a specific joint such as the knee, shoulder, hip, wrist or hand.

Learning to be with uncomfortable sensations is a skill

You can do it in 1, 2, 3

Because we spend so much energy and time trying to avoid what is present (especially when its uncomfortable) we often feel exhausted.  Then when we finally hit a crisis point we look for the easiest method to restore us back to at least a functional level again because we don’t have much energy left for anything else.  This is the primary reason most people never fully heal.  They get themselves back to functioning and forget to address the underlying causes that got them into crisis in the first place.  Then 6 months down the road they find themselves in a new or similar crisis.  Its a vicious cycle.

The good news is that you can learn to be with uncomfortable sensations.  You can even start today!  Here are 3 easy steps to get started.

  1. Next time you have an uncomfortable sensation, either in your body or mind (feelings/thoughts), stop doing whatever your doing.
  2. Put your hand on the sensation if its in your body, or place your focus on it if it a feeling/thought
  3. Instead of trying to wish it away, slowly sink into the sensation/feeling as much as you can allow yourself too

As you make this a daily practice you will being to notice that you can go a little bit deeper into uncomfortableness each time.  If you do this you will begin to notice changes in your sensations and feelings without having to “fix them”.  You will also notice that your biological tendency to run from or need to try and change them lessens.  With this you will being to realize how powerful you are.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC

How to have a Diagnosis & Still Be Well

Dr. Amanda Love 1 Comment

What does having a diagnosis really mean?

Essentially all that a diagnosis means is that you have a pattern of signs and symptoms that have been given a name.

People have the tendency to get worried when they start to notice something in their body functioning differently than it used too.  The default thought is, “something is wrong.”  When you have this thought your body immediately goes into fight or flight, known as stress mode, which is the opposite of healing mode.

While it’s true that when your body begins to behave differently it is a good idea to pay attention.  I invite you though to reframe your thinking.  Instead of immediately thinking “What is wrong with me?!”, get curious.  Ask yourself, “What is really going on here?, What is my body trying to tell me?, What needs to change in my life now?”  This line of questioning will lead you down a very different path; a path that leads to healing and transformation.

Choosing to Be Well 

What does it mean to be Well?

There is tremendous power in choosing how you label and view your body.  The typical response to receiving a diagnosis is to also believe that you are “sick, ill or not well” and essentially that something is wrong with you.

Having the label of a diagnosis can also easily become the “reason why I’m sick” or “why I am the way I am”.  All of your power goes to the diagnosis and you are at it’s mercy.  It becomes the “why” for why you can’t or aren’t able to participate in life or show up in the world as you want too.

It is time to take your power back!  Instead of slipping into feeling like things can’t change or that you can’t do the things you want too remember that you have choice.  You can choose sickness or you can choose wellness regardless if you have a diagnosis or not.

Wellness is the active process of becoming increasingly aware, making congruent choices and evolving though a process of moving towards your full potential.  It has little to do with if you have a diagnosis.  Diagnoses can be great teachers for you in helping you see areas that need to change in your life.  In choosing to learn through your diagnosis, instead of letting it become your identity, you choose growth and forward movement into more of your potential.  That is choosing to be Well!

If you are ready to see what life is teaching you through your diagnosis we would love to hear from you and see if we are able to assist you in continuing to move towards greater wellness in your life.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC

Curing vs Healing

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Restore yourself to a previous level of function or Reorganize into a higher level

People often confuse the terms and concepts of curing and healing.

Curing is getting rid of something that is causing you discomfort so that you can continue your life the way you were living before.  This is what most “healthcare” systems and providers have as their basic goal, to return you to a previous state of being.  This is disease care/symptom management rather then health care and wellness promotion.

Healing on the other hand has little to do with getting rid of something and instead is about creating greater wholeness and connection.  It looks beyond the surface of “something is wrong” and asks the question “what is really going on here?”.

Let’s take a curing example.  Say you are a runner and your knee hurts so you go to see your medical doctor because you feel something is not right.  They tell you that you can take “xxx” drug, do “yyy” exercise or have “zzz” procedure done in order to get rid of the pain so that you can keep running.  You decide to do “yyy” exercise and your knee feels better for a little while so you keep running (doing the same thing you’ve always done in the same way). 6 months later the pain is back and now you have to decide your next course of action to try and get rid of the pain and thus begin the cycle of chasing the symptom.

Now for the healing example.  You are the same runner in the above scenario but this time you decide to stop and take a bigger look at what is really going on here.  You love to run, you’ve been doing it for 10 years and you also realize that something needs to change as your body is telling you this loud and clear.  You decide to stop, listen and connect to your body/knee (instead of trying to get the pain sensation to go away).  In listening you realize that even though you love running you need change some things.  First you realize that running indoors instead of outdoors would support your knees on a physical level.  Secondly you also realize that you’ve been wanting to increase the intensity you run and decrease the distance, which you can easily track on a treadmill.  Lastly you realize that you want to be more social and relational in your life, so you join a gym.  6 months later you feel grateful for the changes you’ve made to support your needs (and knees), your running faster than you ever have before and you’ve made several new friends that have similar interests in fitness that you do.

Sometimes things need to change and we wouldn’t have previously made those connections until we stopped and listened to what our body is to communicating to us.  We often get so focused on wanting to do things the way we want to them (very limited focus) and don’t see that there may be better ways and options that include more aspects of ourselves and our life.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC

Also check out a short video on this concept

 

Trust the Wisdom of Your Body

Dr. Amanda Love 1 Comment

What does it mean to trust the wisdom of your body? Think about a time when your body stopped functioning normally. Perhaps a body pain arose, or your digestive system had a sudden change, maybe you developed a skin condition or you got sick and never really healed fully from it. When these things occur we often feel concern about what this means for us. Sometimes we think of potential loss or limitation, and experience a general sense of powerlessness to how our body is expressing.

It is typical for us to go into “managing” mode. We try to find a reason why our body is acting this way. We look for a diagnosis, search for specialists to fix the problem, make appointments to get answers to our questions and hopefully solutions to our problem. We may try some procedures or techniques to remedy this problem and sometimes they seem to help and other times not. This can become an exhausting cycle, especially when it turns into a cascade of fixing one problem only to have it arise again after a short time. There is temporary relief, but then we find ourselves in the same or similar conditions down the road.

So how do we change the pattern? How do we discover what our body is trying to teach us so that we can learn the lesson and move on already? The first step is slowing down, getting quiet and starting to listen to your body. Your body has an intelligence of its own called life force. This intelligence is responsible for running all of the basic functions of your body. It is always at work even when symptoms occur. In fact symptoms are messages that contain information from your body’s intelligence. This is how our body talks to us. We have learned that symptoms mean that something is “wrong”. We get scared, go into fear about what is “wrong” with us and don’t trust how our body is expressing and therefore can’t learn from it. Let’s reframe that thinking to what symptoms really mean: 1. Stop, 2. Pay attention (listen), 3. Feel, think or do something differently. Symptoms are wakeup calls to say “Hey, pay attention right here, right now, this is important, don’t ignore me or try to get rid of me but instead listen to me, I am trying to help you”.

I have found that there are themes to symptom expression. In my own personal life symptoms have manifested in connection with something that I needed to change in my life. Wrist and back pain arose for me when I needed to make a change in my work life that I was scared to make. Skin problems developed at times when I felt insecure about my self-image and beauty and I needed to change the way I felt about myself. Severe dental problems occurred at times when there was a large amount of instability in my life and where I needed to create more stability for myself. We have the ability to look at these symptoms as “problems” or look at them as sources of information/energy, that when utilized, help us create the self and life that we want.

Network Spinal Analysis combined with Somato Respiratory Integration (together called Network Care) provide tools and techniques to help you discover your patterns and how your body is uniquely talking to you. The first step is to help you move from “fear mode” also known as fight or flight, into “relaxation mode” in your body. It is nearly impossible to slow down and listen if you are really scared about something being wrong with you. On a neurological level Network care helps your nervous system move from “sympathetic dominance” to “parasympathetic dominance”. From here you can start to listen instead of being hijacked with impending doom that something bad is or might happen to you. This is the starting point for gaining information from symptoms so you can use the energy contained in them to create changes that liberate you into a life of joy, inner freedom, extraordinary health and happiness.

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC, L.Ac

Posture & Joint Health: Don’t’ let Gravity Get the Best of You!

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Have you ever been told you have poor posture?

Do you experience pain in your back, hips, knees or shoulders?

Have you noticed that your head is forward of your body?

Posture is more than standing or sitting up straight. Posture has to do with how well your body can work with stress, recover from injury or illness, heal, and function optimally. Imbalanced posture leads to numerous health concerns, including problems with your joints and even your internal organs.

Gravity can wreak havoc on your joints if your posture is not in the best alignment. This creates pain and poor biomechanics that can lead to early degeneration. A common sign of this is when people’s head come forward of their shoulders and body. This condition is called “Forward Head Carriage” and is epidemic in our society. Forward head carriage puts abnormal stress on different areas of the mid-back and low back creating pain, discomfort, muscle tension and sometimes even numbness and tingling down the arms or legs.

“Forward head posture leads to long-term muscle strain, disc herniations, arthritis and pinched nerves.” ~Mayo Clinic

Forward head posture also puts significant stress on your spinal cord. The spinal cord is the bundle of nerves that connects your brain to your body. When there is stress on the spinal cord it tightens and begins to physically fray. That means that messages that travel down that cord from your brain to body (and back up) get distorted and sometimes even lost. Imagine the significance of this if one of those messages that gets lost tells your heart to beat rhythmically or your lungs to breath.

 

Dr. Alf Breig, neurosurgeon & Noble Prize recipient, did extensive research in the area of spinal cord tension and found that, “Loss of the cervical (neck) curve stretches the spinal cord 5-7 cm and causes disease.” Loss of the neck curve occurs when the head comes forward of the body. Below is a list of causes of imbalanced posture and potential effects on your body.

What causes Imbalanced Posture? Imbalanced Posture contributes to:
·         Physical trauma & repetitive motions

·         Emotional & mental stress

·         Chemical toxins in foods & the environment

·         Spinal cord irritation & pull

·         Inflammation in your body

 

 ·         Wear and tear on your joints leading to degenerative arthritis

·         Muscular imbalances creating tightness in some muscles and weakness in others

·         Increased pain & chronic pain

·         Nerve irritation

·         Decreased blood flow to the brain and other vital organs

·         Poor adaptability

August is “Posture Awareness Month” at BodyMind Alchemy. I invite you to check out our free classes that we are providing to raise awareness of the importance of posture and its implications on your health. Please visit: https://bodymindalchemyboulder.com/events-calendar/in-office-talks/ to find out how to register. Anyone who comes to our talks this month will receive a free postural screening and computerized assessment!

Dr. Amanda Hessel, DC, MS, L.Ac