Substitutes and complements ~ The Beacon for April 26, 2012

It’s summer time again and campfires await.  Although I don’t eat many hot dogs (perhaps one or two in a year) they are such a nostalgic treat.  The whole experience is a lot of fun to me.  The camp fire, the wiener stick and cooking them just right (enough to heat them without singeing them).  Followed by the chance to doctor them up with my choice of condiments.  For me I am a traditional guy, ketchup and mustard do just fine.  The sweetness of the ketchup along the tartness of mustard with the smokiness of a fire cooked wiener, it doesn’t get any better than that.   I have tried wieners with only ketchup – “No, not quite right.”  Wieners with mustard, again “Close but not it either.”  After my years of camp fires I am clear that ketchup and mustard aren’t a substitute for one another but they sure are the perfect complement. 

Sometimes clients ask – “Dr. Norm, is it okay if I do yoga after my adjustment, or how about running?”  “Yes, yes…” I respond, “… moving your body, stretching, and exercising are all great things to do as they help to compliment the adjustment.” 

Many clients will report afterwards, “Dr. Norm, receiving these adjustments seems to be the perfect complement to my yoga class.  I seem to be able to stretch so much farther than I could before.”  Just as eating healthy food a great complement to exercising, so too is yoga and running a great support to getting adjusted.  You will get far more from your adjustments and more from your workouts too.

Sometimes people really like one activity, event or modality over another.  And they think that it can be a substitute.  Can going for a run substitute eating a healthy lunch?  Or can doing yoga substitute for an adjustment?  No they can’t.  Remember they are complements to one another not substitutes.   Let me explain.

Imagine that you nourished yourself with a very expensive nutritional supplements and yet due to a spinal imbalance that happened years ago the nerves from your brain to your digestive system were blocked and as a result they were only working at 25%.   Absorbing only 25%, the supplements are still a good thing, but you would also have the most expensive urine on the block!   Alternatively, I have seen numerous yoga practitioners who on their first visit had a very subluxated spine.  Why would that be?   With all the repetitive movement if there is a pattern present in your nerve system there is a chance that pattern gets reinforced over and over again. 

Please hear me correctly, I am not saying that yoga is a bad thing, it is a great thing.  I think everyone on the planet should be doing it, it just doesn’t accomplish what chiropractic care does.  Yoga cannot replace chiropractic.  Yoga is a perfect complement to chiropractic care but it isn’t a substitute. On the flip side there are others who attend regular chiropractic care and yet put the same causative stressor in the bodies week in and week out.   Chiropractic does not substitute a healthy lifestyle it is a complement to it!   

Remember health is a result of a combination of factors, a subluxation free spine and nerve system is one of those factors, and with care and time you will realize how it is a perfect complement to your other healthy practices.

Have a beautiful weekend.

Dr. Norm

Mirror, Mirror ~ The Beacon for April 19, 2012

Mirror Mirror on the wall.
All my troubles seem outside.
But when I look at you to see.
You reflect me to see inside.

How much energy do we expend trying to change our outsides?  And in comparison how much energy do we invest nourishing our insides?  As with many things in life there is a giant paradox playing out before our eyes.  The illusion is that we think it is our outsides that need to change.  So we focus on running around trying to change this and change that.  Encouraging our loved ones to change, working real hard to try and build our business, fighting with policy makers trying to make change.  When changing our outsides is our focus things can look monstrous and never ending.  And how far do we get?

There is another way.  A way that has been spoken about for eons.  One taught to us in sacred texts and wise teachers.  One that is counter-intuitive and takes a discerning mind to see.  For the ego loves to see all our troubles on the outside, for that is plain to see.  But seeing our own role in things, how we truly are at source for all we see, now that is something extraordinary.  It is the road less traveled.  This road begins with acceptance.  It takes a willingness to be humble, curious,  and responsible.  It requires that we feel our feelings and allowing things to be just as they are.   And as we feel, accept, and see the truth, magic begins to happen.  Grace moves in, healing occurs, and transformation unfolds.   As we begin to change so does our outsides, but not through effort and force, but through the universal law of "Mirror Mirror". 

5 Simple Steps to Go Within.
1) Sit
2) Breath
3) Feel
4) Accept
5) Expand into (and through)

Namaste

Dr. Norm and The Lifehouse Team 

"Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them."--Marilyn Ferguson

Listening to Innate ~ The Beacon for April 13, 2012

It is becoming increasingly evident to me when most people talk about listening to Innate, what they really mean is that they are listening to pain.   Listening to pain and listening to Innate are actually two very different things.  Pain is the most obvious signal from our bodies.  Yes pain is instructive and is valuable for us to listen to.  Most often pain is a message from within that we are out of balance, out of alignment, that we need to make a change.  In these instances pain is a message that we are disconnected or disconnecting from Innate.  Sometimes pain is a result of change, of healing, of growth and is actually a good sign, as an example, as our bodies realign or we work out at the gym for extended periods.  Pain often accompanies growth, a very important fact to realize because if our whole goal is to avoid pain our lives would become increasingly small. 

Messages of pain most often are indicators that something is wrong.

Messages from Innate are guiding you to what is right.

Messages from Innate always bring with them a feeling of peace, of ease and of openness.  They tend to put a smile on our face.  There is often a sense of coming home, of everything falling into place when we hear them.   Messages from Innate tend to be quiet in nature, different from the messages from Ego which are demanding and loud.  Learning to listen to Innate is a refined art.  We must learn to quiet our minds and go within.  As we do our lives will blossom to be the grand masterpieces that they are intended to be.  Learning to listen to innate takes practice and discipline as much of the outside world is trying to take us away from Innate.  These are only hooks and distractions trying to pull you away from source.  As you do go inward and listen you will cultivate your inner guru a friend like no other who is there as chief steward of your life.

Remember you will go within or you will go without.

Innately yours,

Dr. Norm

Announcing our Second Annual - 30 Day Innate Intensive

Starting Wednesday, May 2^nd with a kick-off talk and party at the Lifehouse
followed by four weeks of support and intentional living. 

If you want to cultivate your connection with innate, to surround yourself with other connected people and to create focus and ritual this will be for you! 
Watch for further details to come.

Call 250 740 0333 to reserve your seat

Upcoming Events:
Level 1 SRI (Somato Respiratory Integration) – Thurs. April 19^th 7-10 pm $30
Health Essentials talk – Thurs. April 26^th 7-8:30 pm - Free
30 Day Innate Intensive – May 2012

Bunnies benefit from proper alignment. ~ The Beacon for April 5, 2012

One of my greatest joys as a chiropractic assistant is to see the growth, changes and transformation our community members experience here at the Lifehouse.  It’s amazing to see the shifts they make consciously and unconsciously both on and off the table and how it ripples out and creates ever expanding growth as their foundation strengthens.  Speaking of foundation, I’m especially encouraged and inspired by our families that create a priority around chiropractic for themselves and their children.  Wow!  These children are building strong healthy immune systems and resources to support themselves for years to come.  Imagine what your life would be like had you heard about and experienced chiropractic care and the benefits of a clear nervous system while your neurology was still in its development stages. 

Some of our young practice members have decorated our hallway to the adjusting space with beautiful and very creative bunnies (see photos). Knowing that “Bunnies hop faster, higher and are stronger with proper alignment - How many bunnies do you know that could benefit from chiropractic care?” 

Here’s that opportunity to connect with your family, friends and co-workers to help them establish a healthy foundation of wellness and healing for their younger one.  Please call our office to set up a first visit for your little ‘bunnies’ to meet Dr. Norm, have an assessment and connect to their Innate healer within.  It’s never too early to create a strong foundation of health and wellbeing.

Be well and enjoy a safe and Happy Easter with those you care about!

Heather & The Lifehouse team

Click here for Dr. Norm's youtube video ~ Benefits of adjusting children