Creating Wealth: a magical adventure

I thought this was worth sharing. We should all remember that we are in control of our experience. Consciousness has a way of giving back to us what we ourselves give away. Give away fear, and fear comes back to us. Give away Love and Abundance, and ...... well you get the idea :) read! and enjoy.

Love and Gratitude,

Andrew

PS - Don' forget, HEALTH is our greatest wealth...

original article here

"To begin, I would like to introduce a book to you, titled Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra. I found it, informative, inspirational, spiritual and concise. It came into my experience at an excellent time. I hope you’ll give it a read because I think we can all benefit from this kind of thinking.

Richard Carlson author of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”, penned the forward and I’d like to share a small portion of that with you. Mr. Carlson states: “Wealth consciousness is so much more than simply having the ability to make money. It's a mindset that involves seeing life, not as a struggle, but as a magical adventure where our needs are met with grace and ease. Wealth consciousness is a state of mind, a sense, not of believing, but of really knowing that what we need is available to us”.

There is one lesson which is very difficult for many of us to integrate into our lives although we do comprehend its meaning on an intellectual level. John Lennon expressed this lesson beautifully when he sang "the love you give is equal to the love you get". If you want to acquire knowledge, love, and wealth, it is necessary to learn how to give the same.

I realize how difficult that can be when you're trying to pay the bills and everyone from Uncle Sam to Aunt Suzie is after you for one thing or another. But giving does not have to be about dollars and sense. There are many ways we can give: every day, all day.

Americans and western civilization in general have been programmed to always be doing something. Movement is equated with success and not moving is equated with laziness. Perhaps we need to stop, listen, and be quiet. “Doing nothing” for 20-30 minutes a day can be as difficult as finding that 30 minutes a day to exercise. But it is important stuff. The crazier this financial/geopolitical mess becomes, the more we will need to find a way to earn money in order to survive. We will need to be creative and often times that creativity emanates from that whisper in our minds that comes when we are quiet.

One final idea from the book and I'm going to paraphrase this concept so as not to get lost in detail. And please think of these “goddesses” as metaphorical entities or whatever best coincides with your belief structures.

A student asks the spiritual master what is the secret to creating affluence?

“The Master answers that there are two goddesses that reside in the heart of every human being and everyone is deeply in love with these entities. However, there is a certain secret that you need to know and I will tell you what it is. Although you love both goddesses, you must pay more attention to one of them. She is the goddess of knowledge. Pursue her, love her, and give her your attention. The other goddess is the goddess of wealth. When you pay more attention to the Goddess of knowledge the other Goddess will become extremely jealous and pay more attention to you.

In other words the more you seek the goddess of knowledge, the more the goddess of wealth will seek you. She will follow you wherever you go and never leave you and the wealth you desire will be yours forever.

There is power in knowledge, desire, and spirit and this power that lies within you, within all of us is the key to creating affluence. Are you still with me!?"

What Is Health?

This simple yet elusive question is one I often return to in order to re-center myself in this effort. Is health a measure of the “absence” of something? Or is it better understood as the presence of something? In terms of absence, we refer to symptoms as a guide. We reduce the human organism to a series of histological, microscopic, and physical findings as to whether dis-ease is present. Orthodox medicine doesn't know what health is, only what the presence/absence of symptoms can tell them. This reductionist approach has resulted in a medical culture seeking methods to remove symptoms, and in their eyes, restore health. But what if there is more to the picture? What if removing symptoms results not in health, but merely the removal of outward signs of disease and dysfunction?

It must be said that symptoms, as commonly recognized by orthodox medicine, often occur near the end of the disease process, preceding many phases of dis-ease and dysfunction. It should be clear then that the removal of symptoms through pharmaceutical drugs or surgery (remove a wounded part of the anatomy and the symptom disappears...) is not what can be described as “health”. Rather, being symptom-free is just the beginning of the journey towards health.

Now if we consider health as the presence of something, a new paradigm of understanding is available for us to utilize. Instead of poking, prodding, and turn-your-head-and-coughing to find symptoms, health professionals with a vitalism approach will have a very different perspective. Looking at health through the lens of holism, determining health would involve gaining an appreciation for a person's physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. A passion for life, loving nature, kindness, generosity might be looked for in the healthy person. Instead of stating what is missing, doctors might diagnose and treat based off a person's energy level, range of motion, cranial symmetry, breathing, and/or spinal structure.

The crux of the matter is that orthodox medicine thinks in terms of what is NOT present. Following that line of reasoning we can view the allopaths as “taking away” symptoms or tissues (often times they take our immune strength and well-being instead). D.C.'s and other holistic healers view the patient in terms of what IS present. They look at the whole person, looking for avenues of giving, seeking ways to give more to the person so that after treatment the person is more “whole”. The underlying reality to this additive, whole-person model is the understanding that within each of us are better, more healthy versions of ourselves. More specifically, the goal of treatment for the chiropractor is to give to the patient in such a way that the patient's own body can more fully express health. This giving often comes in the form of adjustments, using bare hands or simple tools, which help alleviate disturbances in the body's nervous system – the body's master control unit. Chiropractors can also utilize advances in our understanding of nutrition and detoxification, which can help cleanse and nourish patients bodies, giving support to the fuller expression of health.

Health can then be better understood as not only the absence of symptoms but a more complete, full expression of the innate intelligence of the human body. To many this will be easy to understand, as the same forces which create health in our body create balance and plenty in the world around us. To many this concept is too large and too powerful to fit into their narrowed world-view. Health is a journey as we living beings are in constant motion. Health is not some tangible “thing” but a direction toward a better future for humanity. Relieving pain and symptoms is part of this healing process, only it is just the beginning. The destination is not the absence of symptoms but the presence of the innate intelligence of the universe through the human body. This is the foundation of chiropractic.

The Barrel of a Gun

One cannot spread democracy with the barrel of a gun, nor can one spread health with a bottle of pills. We need to address the shortcomings of the human condition with the same holism we would apply to our patients. Each human is a “cell” of the human family much like each cell is a unit of the human body. The effects of dis-ease in society can be shown to parallel the dis-ease of the human organism. As a society we do not need an authoritative fascist police-state to force us to be good citizens. If we give ourselves liberty, unalienable rights, and a strong set of critical thinking skills, then good citizens and a healthy society will be the result. In human health we do not need reductionist, synthesized solutions to symptoms. We need nourishment of mind, body and soul and healthy humans will be the result. We are a community in both the micro and macro sense.

We feed our bodies processed, reduced foods and toxic substances, we stress, and we are in general an ill bunch. In the same manner, we feed each other toxic thoughts and processed ideas, ideas and thoughts with all the nutrition removed, so that we are left starving for meaning and truth in our lives. Our bodies are burdened by toxins and lack of real nutrition just like our hearts and minds are collectively looking for a rewarding path to follow, something that will nourish our mental and spiritual bodies. We pray upon the weaknesses in our fellow man while we worship the morally corrupt. We suffer from physical cancer and emotional cancer. The two are self-reinforcing, increasing the disharmony between cell-to-cell, person-to-person, and people-to-planet communication and understanding.

If we are looking for a solution to our circumstances today, it would serve us to look in the mirror with an open and forgiving mind. Whether it be at the cellular or societal level, there are consequences for greed and sloth, for corruption and lack of leadership, for malnourishment and stress. Health permeates all levels of existence -- as above, so below say the alchemists. When we return to principals of vitalism in all areas of our lives, then the world will start to change. Change will happen across the entire spectrum, micro-to-macro, since in fact it is all ONE. There is hope in the realization that it is not the people or the cells, but the environment into which we place ourselves and our bodies that is the problem. Cells want to be healthy, but in the presence of abuse and stress they can become diseased. People raised with fear and hate are no different. There is no way to peace, peace is the way just as there is no way to health, as health is the way.

The Bakris Study

The Bakris Study was a pilot study performed by a group of medical physicians in Chicago, led by Dr. George Bakris, M.D., after whom the study is named. Their conclusions are very important for the future of chiropractic. The study demonstrated that a single chiropractic upper cervical adjustment, a specialized adjustment for the C1 or Atlas bone, lowered blood pressure in 25 test subjects with early stages of high blood pressure. The effect of ONE chiropractic adjustment had the ability to lower blood pressure as much as a traditional medical patient using two blood pressure medications in combination. Chiropractors have for a long time claimed that chiropractic care can help with conditions like hypertension. It is a powerful thing to have science, in an experiment run by medical doctors no less, confirm what chiropractors have been saying for many years.

The study was conceived after a local MD in Chicago was sending his patients with hypertension, or high blood pressure, to a chiropractor. It was reported by this MD that after receiving chiropractic care, the hypertension appeared to normalize in his patients. It was this anecdotal evidence that prompted the study. It is interesting to note that according to the Center for Disease Control, heart disease is the number one killer in the United States with over 650,000 deaths a year (iatrogenic death is the number one killer in the US, however that data is not published by the CDC). Hypertension is related to heart disease or dis-ease as the increased pressure damages the heart and can lead to more serious and deadly complications.

In the future it would useful to have much more peer-reviewed science available to chiropractors. Clearly science is a tool and can be used positively or negatively. If chiropractors are able to devise and fund studies concerning the myriad benefits of chiropractic care, then we would be able to more clearly communicate to the world what the profession has known for decades -- that chiropractic works!

Yours in Health,

Andrew

References:

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=79865
http://www.nucca.org/files/Hypertension2007.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/hypertensive-heart-disease
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/lcod.htm

What Does Chiropractic Need?

The following is a quote sent to me by a friend of mine. It captures very succinctly the status quo of chiropractic today. This profession is its own worst enemy and suffers from a lack of identity. As students its refreshing to see the perspectives of those who have gone before us. We need to sew the seeds of our success today by having the guts and the vision to stand up for chiropractic, for patients, and for the innate power of the human being. We can be more than we are today its just a matter of opening the minds of the chiropractors of tomorrow about the possibility of a future where health is the focus, not merely the treatment of the disease.

In a future where patients seek to minimize invasive and dangerous medicine, chiropractic will lead the way.

Yours in Health,

Andrew

Chiropractic doesn’t need fanaticism, chiropractic doesn’t need gimmicks, chiropractic doesn’t need dogma masquerading as philosophy and chiropractic doesn’t need medicine.

We don’t need medicine’s approval, permission or their misguided suppressive, mechanistic philosophy and belief system.

Chiropractic’s expressive, empirical (vitalistic) philosophy is far superior to medical thought and is far more effective in helping patients.

We don’t need students in chiropractic colleges confused about their philosophy, but we have that. We have students who don’t know what they can do for patients. We have students who don’t know whether or not to vaccinate their children, don’t know about natural childbirth or the subluxation or their place in the world as chiropractors.

If we are to be a light amongst the confused we need to have schools that give students the big picture, the big idea, as BJ used to say. To heal our professional schism we must understand the roots of the philosophy, art and science DD Palmer taught and let that guide our practice.

What chiropractic does need is to get sick people well, no matter what the condition, and keep them in tune with their innate expression, as much as possible.

-Ted Koren

Chiropractic & Functional Medicine

This past weekend, instead of sleeping in and taking it slow, I attended a seminar for "Kinesiology Applied to Functional Medicine" taught by Dr. Bob Rakowski. Dr. Bob is a warrior in the field of natural healing. He is high energy and knows the latest science and statistics by heart, which gives his message some weight. In addition to lecturing and traveling, Dr. Rakowski is a very successful clinician and has one of the best practices in the country. He treats world-class athletes as well as regular, everyday folks. It is obvious that his command of biochemistry and peer-review science, concerning the effects of adjustments and nutrition, are key ingredients to his success. When someone asks the question: "Do you have any research to back this up?" Dr. Bob is ready to respond: "How many references would you like? 20? 50? 100?" This understanding and scientific literacy is something to aspire towards, as it provides a foundation of understanding that goes beyond the borders of one specific and often narrow field of study. In his words, students must be "elite upon graduation" in order to make it and better serve humanity. Of course, we are given a golden opportunity to learn here...so lets get on with it!

It was an excellent seminar for all of us, esp. so for myself and three other classmates who were given some very practical information re: chiropractic, nutrition and health. Our curriculum at Northwestern Health Science University is very academic at this point, as it must be, in order to prepare us for board exams. However, it is inspiring to get hands on instruction about real-world chiropractic issues. It was a valuable experience, the best so far, and one that I look forward to continuing in the future. The science behind Applied Kinesiology (AK for short) is fantastic and in the months ahead the topic will be explored with more detail right here.

Yours in Health,

Andrew

Beginnig T2

Well in a few days T2 begins at Northwestern Chiropractic College. This time we are responsible for 27.5 hrs of studies in only 4 months. It is commonly understood that "full time" status is 12 hrs, so 27.5 is a 2x load from undergrad. The name of the game is to stay present in the moment. When something needs to be done, do it! Do things when they come to mind, that way they are taken care of quickly. I'll leave you with a photo of one of the giants of Chiropractic: B.J. Palmer. Anyone notice a resemblance?

Yours in Health,

Andrew