I recently had the opportunity to hear a group of three amazing female panellists speak at a Wellness Summit in Penticton, BC; the first question the trio was asked was “what is the number one thing people are looking for when they book an appointment?” Kate Horseman, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, replied…“FREEDOM.”
I can honestly say that in my 39 years…a word, one word, one single word has never impacted me the way “freedom” did in that moment. Of course the word freedom means something different for everyone, but for me it was truly what embodied wellness in that moment and what continues to show up every day on my journey since.
A Life Changer
For those who know me well know that a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with an unknown and undetectable virus that was wreaking havoc on my blood health and my immune system. To make a long story short – I was suffering from a lengthy list of symptoms, I had every test done under the sun (including blood work, ultrasounds, x-rays, and thyroid and adrenal panels), and had numerous appointments with my naturopath/internist/haematologist…at the end of it all it was determined that I had a “virus.” They were unable to tell me what, when and where I picked it up, only that I just had to trust my body would fight it off eventually. Reassuring right!
Health and wellness has always been in the forefront of my life…so tell me this – how does someone who eats cleaner than anyone else she knows, exercises everyday, hardly drinks, doesn’t smoke, has only had one broken finger (and it was just the tip) and hasn’t suffered any major injuries in her lifetime – had a virus that was taking her down!
Truthfully I didn’t buy it, not for a single second…don’t get me wrong I have immense gratitude for our medical system. The piece of mind I felt when they ruled out some big things (and trust me there were some big things) was priceless, but when it comes to a broader scope of diagnostics and understanding of just how complex the body is – our traditional western methods, in my opinion, had fallen short.
Let’s think outside the box a little…What about the notion of the mind-body-spirit connection interwined with the complex neuroscience that makes up each and every one of us (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology)?
In my opinion this is absolutely crucial, if not the MOST vital part of our overall health and wellbeing. For me…this was the true essence of what was going on in my body. Just how much of an impact did my life choices, my lifestyle, my beliefs systems, my behaviour, my pushing, my driving, my controlling, my striving to finish this thing – then the next thing, have on my health, my overall wellbeing, my immunity, my resilience – my everything. My FREEDOM.
The Mind-Body connection.
“You can not split mind from body”~ Socrates. He knew this then…so why are we only starting to connect the mind-body now?
Biological and psychological activities are not independent and cannot be thought of as a separate or autonomous mechanism. In the book “When your body says no – the cost of hidden stress” ~ by Gabor Maté, he says “there is no body that is not mind, no mind that is not body.” The understanding of the mind-body connection is critical not only for the diagnosis and treatment of illness, but for health – where every bit of information is paramount for understanding the big picture, the truth.
Psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology is the name of the discipline that studies the interrelated functions of our bodies’ organs and glands that regulate our behaviour and physiological balance. This complex system and all its interconnections link the entire mind-body: our nerves, our hormonal glands, our immune system and our brain centers.
It makes complete sense that this mind-body connection was a vital part of my “makes-no-sense” declining health. The accumulation of small amounts of chronic stress from school, moving, more school, exams, opening up a practice, thesis defence, and well add a break-up in there too…and my body just finally said NO! I had completely lost my ability to cope from a cellular and hormonal level and it truly impacted my physiological balance. And although I would say besides a crappy day here and there I really felt like I had things under control – I mean, what’s school and exams without a little stress, but I truly had no idea the silent toll is was taking on my body.
How chronic stress manifests in your body will depend entirely on your own story, your past medical history and yes, behaviour, beliefs, emotional triggers and trauma. The solution can be just as complex as the diagnosis, and it will vary for everyone. I am happy to report that with some life changes (still more to come), osteopathic treatment, some nutritional guidance, much needed rest, meditation and “mindful” exercise my blood work and my immune system have improved.
Osteopathy and Psycho-Neuro-Endocrino-Immunology
Since there could be a number of contributing factors to your overall health and wellbeing a multidisciplinary approach may be needed. If any of this resonates with you, I’d strongly recommend you consult your physician, functional MD, and/or naturopathic physician to get a bigger and more detailed picture of what may be going on. If nothing else, it is a good idea to rule out certain illnesses or pathologies that may or may not be contributing to your symptoms.
Osteopathic Manual Therapy can be a very effective, holistic, way to approach integrated neurosciences, to improve the impacts of stress on your overall health and immunity, as well as, heighten your potential of resiliency. Your Osteopathic Manual Practitioner will assess and use treatment techniques that will synergistically impact your body from a global but also specific perspective, through the interrelationships between the nervous, immune, endocrine and emotional systems. As you know the premise of Osteopathy is that the body is capable of autoregulation and healing itself; sometimes when things are complex and multi-layered your body just needs a little nudge or to re-establish a healthier place to work from.
Here are a few things that your Osteopathic Practitioner may want to assess and treat. Systematically we want to ensure that your structure is mobile (boney elements of your cranium, vertebrae and sacrum) and coherent with any neighbouring organs, viscera and/or glands. Secondly, your Osteopathic Practitioner will want to ensure that your vagus nerve, as well as, other important nerve plexus’ and axis’ are normalized and synchronized as an entire functioning unit. Another important component is to ensure that the vascular system is normalized; including, blood flow, lymphatic drainage and the fluid that nourishes your nervous system (cerebral spinal fluid). Finally, your Osteopathic Practitioner will normalize the superior control systems in the endocranium, the brain centres. This may include endocranial spasm work, normalization of the ventricle system and work involving the limbic system (where all of those memory and stress response systems are located). This full and entire approach is aimed to balance the autonomic nervous system (Becky introduced this system a couple blogs ago) and also to enhance coherence and boost the body’s ability to autoregulate.
If this blog is resonating at all with you and you’re female, another amazing resource you may want to consider is a book written by nutritional biochemist Dr. Libby Weaver, Rushing Woman’s Syndrome. She explains the true cost of constantly rushing; the day-to-day struggles women have to juggle families, career and the chaos of life, operating in a permanent state of stress that leaves your hormones in turmoil.
Freedom
I know for me, my health was a direct response to my inability to feel free…my constant drive to push, to succeed and to achieve came at a cost. I wholeheartedly trust that I am in the exact spot I am intended to be, doing what I am meant to do. My experience allowed me to grow, take a look at old beliefs and behaviours that were not serving me, and make important shifts in my life. This is my journey, but…
What would it look like if we spent more time listening, trusting and allowing, rather then pushing, striving, and trying to control outcomes? – having life support us.
What is if we stopped looking outside ourselves for answers?
What if we spent more time being, and less time doing in order to be – if we trusted and let go, if we were FREE?
Freedom from the expectations that society has placed on us, especially females of my age. Freedom from conformity. Freedom from proving ourselves. Freedom from expectations at work, at home, in our relationships. Freedom from ideas of deservingness. Freedom from pressure, the feeling of needing to live up to something we are not. Freedom from proving worthiness. Freedom to feel a certain way. Freedom from fitting in, dressing a certain way, looking a certain way, weighing a certain weight. Freedom from judgement. Freedom from validation for love.
What if we were free to live? Free to feel. Free to express. Free to be courageous. Free to move. Free to share unconditional love. Free to be vulnerable. Free to explore. Free to be adventurous. Free to create. Free to let go. Free to be. Free.