Individualized coaching and resources for natural healing

Chances are that you or a family member have back pain or some musculo-skeletal problem like neck aches, headaches, shoulder pain, stiffness, etc., and the fatigue that goes along with it.

I’m going to teach you a simple sitting routine in this short email that is the first step toward freeing yourself from those problems.

Have you ever wondered why people in traditional cultures who carry heavy loads on their heads, babies on their backs and do manual labor all day, bending and lifting, generally don’t mess up their backs and get all kinds of musculo-skeletal injuries? Sure, nutrition, emotional health and other factors enter in..

But a major factor is posture. Not “exercise.”

And most of what we learn about how to achieve good posture is wrong!

Esther Gokhale (pronounced go-clay), a biochemist, acupuncturist and yoga instructor, observed what it was about the posture of ancient Greeks, native people, and pre-school age kids, that gave them their pain-free ease of movement. She teaches how to achieve that posture that provides strength and protects the spine, all without force, without going to the gym, but with simple corrections you can do during your daily activities.

Here is the first lesson:

Stretch-Sitting

This is a gentle stretch which decompresses the spinal discs, stretches the muscles out and encourages good circuation, and can make sitting at the computer actually a healthy activity!

• Sit in a chair with a straight back, like your office chair. Sit straight, all the way back in the chair.
• Now bend your upper body forward a bit and curve your rib cage. You can do this by first arching your back a bit, and then doing the opposite, not so you’re hunched over but just curved a bit.
• Grasp onto the sides of the chair with your hands, or the edge of the seat, and push down on it, until you feel your back slightly elongating. This gives your back a gentle traction that relieves pressure.
• Now staying elongated, release your hands and lean back again so your back is “glued” to the back rest, maintaining the slight traction in a relaxed, comfortable way.
• Bring your head back into a natural alignment. Don’t get hung up on correct position, just feel it.
• Now do shoulder rolls - one at a time, roll each shoulder a bit forward, up, over, back, and down to a comfortable position further back than it was before.

And now you’ve learned how to sit! Sitting this way won’t cause problems for your spine, and will help to alleviate any existing problems. Let me know how it goes!

Good chiropractic or acupuncture treatment can be a helpful adjunct to the Gokhale method, so if you have a significant problem, consider getting professional support. But a little may go a longer way.

Best wishes,
Karen

P.S. To learn more, check out my article Native Wisdom for Modern Spines, which includes a video presentation given by Esther Gokhale.

The Gokhale Method (pronounced go-clay)

Often the most powerful changes we can make are the most simple. Esther Gokhale, a biochemist, acupuncturist and yoga teacher, studied the habits and posture of native and ancient people to discover how we can move with the same strength and pain-free ease.

Manual labor in traditional cultures, past and present, doesn’t result in the kinds of back problems that we have with our western, modern lifestyle. To me, this is a fascinating thought, and it makes so much sense to learn about what traditional people naturally do that’s actually very different from what we’re taught about posture.

Esther’s method focuses on the position of the pelvis, which she says should not be tucked under as we’re told. She observed ancient Greek statues, ancient Indian figures, native people, and modern young kids before they’ve started school – they all have less spinal curve than we see in modern adults, and the rear end really in the rear! Also, the cervical curve is relatively flat.

Alexander technique is another excellent method for improving posture, but that focuses on the upper body. Esther’s method focuses more on the position of the pelvis, as this is where we ground ourselves, and then it’s easier to adjust the upper body from there. She says that we can learn to adjust our posture in ways that elongate the spine and take pressure off the discs, bringing great relief for many kinds of back problems.

And her method doesn’t take years of training, but can be learned in her workshops or even from her book. I began feeling better already just from watching her 1-hour presentation on youtube.

Again – most of what we’re taught about posture is wrong, and what a refreshing experience to discover some very simple adjustments we can do ourselves that can make a difference!

Watch a wonderful 1-hr presentation given by Esther to Google employees.

Gokhale Method website

A Short Introduction

Heilkunst is the complete system of medicine developed by the German medical doctor Samuel Hahnemann in the first half of the 19th century, and furthered with recent research. It means “the art of remediation,” and includes both the curing of disease and supporting the body’s innate capacity to restore balance. Its highest aim is to remove the blockages that prevent you from reaching your full potential on all levels of your being - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Heilkunst treatment works at the causative level to remove the roots of the disturbances that are affecting your health, not simply to suppress the outer symptoms. The practitioner can identify this deeper level of causation in each individual and provide the remedies that can reach there, while supporting the patient’s healing at every step of the way.

Homeopathy is just one small part of the complete Heilkunst system. And Heilkunst is not just another approach to add to the multitude of healing methods, but a map of the whole territory. Based on principles of nature that can be invoked in reproducible ways, Heilkunst is a truly scientific medical system.

Symptoms are not the disease

Conventional medicine, and even natural medicine to a large degree, is based on a material view of disease, which focuses on the symptoms and not their real causes. Many people think the best they can expect is to manage their symptoms as well as possible.

Because the conventional model sees the symptom as the problem itself, it uses suppressive treatments which drive the problem deeper into the system. The original symptom may be relieved, but the real roots of the disease are now even more deeply entrenched, to manifest again later.
Heilkunst understands that the disease symptom is a manifestation of a specific energy disturbance. Treatment reaches to the origin of the disturbance, which is on a deeper level than symptoms. It removes the underlying disease, and then the symptoms will naturally resolve.

Regimen and Medicine

We each have a life force which is dynamic - not material or chemical - and this life force has two sides. One side is the wisdom of the body that balances, supports and heals. All the natural healing methods work on this side - nutrition, herbs, acupuncture. This is the realm of treatment we call regimen.

But this healing is only half the equation. The other side of the life force is where the disturbances which we call disease are lodged. Disease is rather like a pregnancy - no amount of nutrition, herbs, exercise, acupuncture or energy healing can change that! Curing disease is the realm of treatment called medicine.

Disease can only be cured by using the correct medicines (remedies), chosen by the Heilkunst practitioner according to the curative law of nature, and at the proper time and in the proper dose for the patient.

Heilkunst Treatment

When you begin treatment with a Heilkunst practitioner, you are asked to provide a list of all the traumatic events that occurred in your life, from birth to the present time. We call this the traumatic timeline.

Natural law allows for the cure of these disturbances in the reverse order, so you’ll be treated for the most recent one first, going backward in time. Your life energy that was blocked due to that trauma will be reintegrated into yourself. There’s no need to re-live the past, but only to remove the blockages that prevent you from moving forward in an unencumbered way, and to allow for the adjustment to a healthier state.

You’ll also be treated for any acute problems you might be currently having. You’ll be counseled in regimen (diet, nutrition, sleep, water intake, exercise, and other lifestyle issues), to support the healing process. You’ll receive therapeutic education, to help you to understand your responses to treatment and to help you develop the soul/spiritual aspect of your health.

So this task of full remediation is not simply to take away ills and have people go back to their lives unchanged. It can be a deeply transformative process, which requires our deepening understanding of who we are and our life’s purpose. It requires guidance beyond simply taking remedies, and the Heilkunst practitioner has the skill and depth of understanding to provide that, in a completely individual way for each patient.

The Healing Reaction

Soon after taking a deep-acting remedy, many patients will begin to feel better in some way. Then about 10-14 days after taking a remedy, some may experience a slight, temporary worsening of symptoms or discomfort. This is the healing reaction, the body’s own inner healing power working to eliminate waste, rebuild tissue or whatever is necessary to restore balance after the curative remedy has done its job.

Regimen - particular foods, supplements, etc., whatever is needed - is used to help support this important function so you move through this phase with a minimum of discomfort. Most people will experience a greater sense of health after the healing reaction has completed.

You can refer to the additional article, The Healing Reaction, to help understand the real benefit of the healing reaction.

Nuts and Bolts

To a large degree, the remedies used in Heilkunst treatment are natural substances that are highly diluted and energized in a very specific way so as to bring out their therapeutic action and eliminate the possibility of iatrogenic (medicine caused) effects. These are commonly known as “homeopathic” remedies. They have undergone extensive clinical testing, published in compendiums called materia medicas or pharmacopoeias.

Dr. Hahnemann’s life-long research proved the remedies safe and effective, when used properly, and they continue to prove safe and effective throughout the 250 years since. The particular remedies that you need, in the sequence, dose and potency that you need them, are all determined by the Heilkunst practitioner.

Some remedies are given in liquid form in dropper bottles, to take one drop at a time, and other remedies are given in a powder form.

Patients may continue using any doctor-prescribed drugs without interfering with the Heilkunst treatment. By the same token, Heilkunst treatment itself doesn’t interfere with any other treatment that patients may choose to undergo, although with Heilkunst treatment many other treatments may become unnecessary, depending on the particular case and the patient’s preference.

If you don’t live near a Heilkunst practitioner, phone consults can be done very easily, and the remedies sent by mail. Treatment is no less effective this way, and is always completely individualized.

First I want to thank you for receiving the Guide for Self-Healing newsletter and allowing me to share my thoughts and experiences with you. I really appreciated the responses I received about what health challenges people have, as it helped me to articulate my mission statement at GFSH and how I can bring the most unique and valuable services to you.

Some of you reported that, “I do all really good things for myself - I eat organic foods, don’t eat sugar or processed foods, take cod liver oil and good quality supplements, but still I have these nagging health issues that just won’t budge.”

So I’ll get to this, but first, I have to level with you…

I talk so much about diet and supplements, and I know that sounds like my website is just another one of those..well, “alternative” healing resources where we substitute nutrition and herbs and all that good stuff for drugs and all that nasty stuff :).

And it’s true that I do teach people how to individualize their diet and supplements and figure out what kinds of natural healing methods are suited to them. And that is a unique service that I don’t see being done anywhere else, truly individualizing things for each person, with no bias for a particular product or method, just what this person actually needs.

So the news is that even then, that’s only the foundation, not the whole structure. Yeah, really.

I remember back in the mid-80’s when I was listening to Gary Null’s natural health radio program out of NYC, and he started saying something radical. I mean, I was studying homeopathy even then, and energy medicine, radionics, all that radical stuff. But what he said was the most radical thing I’d heard so far, and I never forgot it (and I paraphrase) -

“You could have the most ideal diet and supplements, but you’re going to be susceptible to illness if you’re under stress. In other words, the most powerful negative impact on your health is stress.”

I know, seems like a losing battle, and stress seems like a monster in the closet that we kind of want to ignore. But the message I want to get across is that we can make it more workable, and begin by cutting through our sabotaging beliefs.

Now we have cell biologist Bruce Lipton, and physician Ryke Geerd Hamer who show us exactly how this works.. it’s no longer just some intangible notion that somehow the mind affects the body, or that beliefs limit us somehow - we actually know the mechanisms by which beliefs and emotions change our physiology.

So this really brings me to my mission statement. Everyone thinks that natural healing is about diet, supplements, and using the various healing modalities like chiropractic, acupuncture, energy healing, etc. Those things are all valuable, and in my consulting work my aim is to put that foundation in place.

But many people in these times have rather complex health issues, even if they seem to be functioning “well enough.” Sometimes those active changes alone don’t work deeply enough. The whole issue of stress, or more broadly the emotional and spiritual aspect of health is being ignored, because it’s not tangible and not as easy to get at. (By spiritual I don’t mean religious, but your personal sense of life’s meaning and purpose and how you tap into that deeper purpose in everyday life.).

So, this can seem very complicated, but it doesn’t need to be.. although, there has to be an understanding that real healing is a process. My services really aren’t about quick-fix results, because you generally don’t get that without breaking the law (natural law :).

You can do things to help yourself feel better in the meantime, sure, but if you want the real deal in the longer run, if you have the patience and courage to go the path less travelled, not the path of least resistance, you can receive unimaginable rewards.

And if you don’t think you have the patience and courage, but you want to go this route, just remember that what is blocking your inherent patience and courage is only false belief, and your willingness to work through them is their death sentence.

Sit with that for a minute!

So I offer my services as the sherpa guide through the wilderness of what we call Regimen. Regimen includes diet, nutrition, supplements, exercise, sleep, drinking water, and lifestyle issues that promote balance in your life. That’s the foundation for any path to health - you can’t get far without it. The lifestyle issues include ongoing personal development, a process of understanding the deeper emotional issues that are blocking the full expression of who you are.

Thanks again for helping me to clarify what I’m bringing out in my consulting work more and more. I want to bridge the gap between the concrete world of nutrition (which, let’s face it, can get boring after a while!) and the whole wide open frontier of personal development.

We don’t need to split them up into separate camps and go to the nutritionist for diet info and then to the shrink for emotional support. It’s all connected, really, and I can help you feel a little less schizophrenically split with all the dizzying array of health-related stuff that you attend to.

I remember the feeling of overwhelm all too well. And it’s not because there’s too much work to do, but because it’s too confusing to be juggling so many different pieces and trying to make them fit together somehow - like trying to make the pieces of your life stick together with scotch tape. Talk about stress!

So, I’ll be talking more about Bruce Lipton’s work, www.brucelipton.com, fascinating stuff if you have any interest in biology.. or even if you have a limited tolerance for biochemistry (like I do) but you find it intriguing that your genes do NOT control your biology - that your beliefs about yourself and the world do. (Yes, a geneticist is saying that!)

For right now, here’s what you can do. Quick exercise. Take inventory. Look at what’s not working in your life, and ask yourself, “Has this or something like it happened before?” Maybe there’s a pattern there. Maybe there’s something that you contribute to it with false beliefs about yourself or about what you deserve, or limiting ideas about what is possible. You don’t have to figure it out right now. Just take a look and see where the patterns are.

Until next time,

Be well,
Karen