What I feel to be the “beauty” of what I offer in my practice thru Natural healing is not relying on the disease diagnosis/treatment model. I do not diagnose diseases or prescribe any treatments for them. What I do offer is the model to help balance the body so it will heal itself. I utilize certain basic therapies that remove underlying causes of disease and use them to help the body heal itself. These basic therapies fall under the titles:
• Activate
• Build
• Cleanse
• Direct Aid
I was taught these principles, I have applied them in my own life and I encourage my client’s to apply these same tools.
I believe that the Activate therapy is a very critical step in the healing process. I encourage my client’s to begin by visualizing and believing that they can be well. Effective natural healing acknowledges the simple truth that the body has been fearfully & wonderfully made with a built in natural capacity to heal itself. That is evident and has presented itself throughout our life thus far. Have you ever cut yourself? Did you have to go crazy with major assistance for that cut to heal? Have you ever broken a bone? Even if you had that broken bone set in a cast, the cast itself offered zero healing benefits, it just kept the broken bones in alignment while the “body” went about mending the area that was broken. So there is positive proof that the body in fact is made by design to keep itself healthy, repaired and running well.
My goal as a natural practitioner is to champion my client’s towards believing in that built in healing capacity. Positive thinking goes a long way, the next steps we incorporate is to enhance that built in self-healing ability which resides in all of us.
I want to touch on faith…. Even those who don’t have a strong religious foundation actually have to begin to admit that they initiate faith each and every day. We take it on faith that a new day is going to be there for us when we go to bed & open our eyes the next day. We take it on faith that when we inhale we are taking in life giving air. We have to lay a hold of the fact that what we do not already have as if we actually already have it. The strength of that inner faith is what can move mountains and display what others claim to be as miracles. There are people who were told after an injury they would never walk again, and by sheer faith & determination they proved that statement wrong, yet there are others who are given the same statement and they never walk again. What may be the turning point from one to the other, possibly their level of faith to believe in the strength & healing power of their own bodies.
You have to be willing to employ a positive attitude and have positive emotions. Those thoughts & emotions radiate a vibrational energy that like a stone tossed in a pond carry a ripple effect, that ripple can be negative or positive, that is all down to the thoughts & emotions of the individual. So glass half empty or half full that becomes a personal choice. My job as my client’s practitioner is to encourage my client to be the champion I know they can be, however, I cannot heal anyone, I can equip them with tools, but their willingness to apply those tools rest in their hands. I always want more for my client’s than I sometimes believe they may want for themselves. However, in all honesty, I have no “skin in the game” so to speak, what I do have though is MY integrity to my work, my belief in what I offer because I have applied it in my own life and seen and experienced the benefits of incorporating the very same tools for the improvement of my own health.
So I want to address what positive thinking may look like. When we have positive thoughts it actually provides an electrical stimulating impulse that moves through our nervous system and can activate the healing energy of our tissues. (we are totally electrical beings, without that nervous system, our muscles and organs won’t work).
Negative thoughts however send a totally different kind of stimulation to our tissues, which can result in them working in a dysfunctional manner. Truth be told most of us have to work extra hard on manifesting more positive speech as the negative seems to come so much easier.
• My spouse drives me nuts
• My neighbor makes me sick to my stomach
• My friends are against me
• I feel stabbed in the back
• That makes me want to throw up
You have to get rid of the negative talk.
I think you get the idea I’m trying to make. When we continue to repeat in our thoughts and speech with such a negative barrage our body can literally respond to these subtle messages by causing the very pains & illnesses our thoughts are telling us to create. That’s why it is so important for healing that we don’t identify directly with a named disease. When we see disease for what it is, which is a process demonstrating that one’s system is out of balance, it is easier to heal.
When we on the other hand see the disease as something that is part of us, something that has taken over or control of us, then a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, then gets the opportunity to take over. Statistics have proven that cancerous tumors grow faster once someone has been told they have cancer. This is because that person’s fear and worry actually depresses the immune system, which in turn makes the disease worse. So here are a couple basic activating therapies you can use to promote healing in the body.
#1. Affirmation & visualization:
Affirmation simply put is being in the present tense that affirms what you want as if you actually already had it. So I I had a broken bone and I wanted to speed up the healing of that bone I would state & affirm “my bone is whole & strong.” Notice the present tense “my bone IS”. This is so vital to making positive affirmations work because it is laying hold of what you desire in the present tense. If you say, “ my bone will be whole and strong,” this puts the fulfillment in the future, not the present and doesn’t convey the same power. If a direct statement like that is difficult to use, then a less direct but equally effective statement would be, “my bone is healing as it should.”
So this is what positive affirmation should look like:
• My body is healthy & strong
• My body is healing as it should
• I am fearfully & wonderfully made
• You body is recovering nicely
Visualization actually involves getting into a more relaxed state & breathing deeply while you picture the final result you desire in your mine. It is super important to actually see yourself having what you want right now, not in the future. Many Cancer Clinics have their Cancer patients practice visualizing their white blood cells gobbling up the cancer cells & destroying them. It has been proven in studies that employing visualization actually enhances the immune system.
When you use both of these techniques they are enhanced when you practice deep breathing & relaxation. When you breathe deeply, tissues receive more oxygen, which fans the spark of life & increases the flame of life throughout the body. Breath is called the “breath of life” because it is intimately connected with the vital life force within us. To breathe is to actually connect with feelings of being alive, shallow breathing causes a person to stifle their feelings by deadening the body.
So start your healing process by breathing deeply & allowing your body to relax. Then you can pick one of the next methods for “laying a hold” on the health you want before you actually have it.
#2 Stress Management:
I think we can all identify with what stress looks like which is:
• Worry
• Tension
• Fear
• Frustration
It feels like pressure. The world we live in makes it difficult to avoid stress. There are bills to pay, our car breaks down when it is the least convenient, overload with responsibilities at work (overworked & underpaid syndrome), marital issues, stress with the children the list seem never ending and each new day can present another element of something to feel stressed out about. It’s estimated that up to 90% of all visits to the doctor is for stress related health issues. So learning how to manage what obviously is always going to be around, makes sense.
Before you can manage something you actually have to understand what it is. When our brain perceives stress it sends a chemical message to the pituitary thru the hypothalamus which triggers the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH then prompts the adrenals to start producing hormones like epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol. Epinephrine actually doubles as a hormone & neurotransmitter. It tenses our muscles, increases our heart rate & blood pressure, dilates the bronchial tubes & speeds up our breathing, shuts down the digestion & other functions not essential to immediate survival, and prepares our body for action mode.
Cortisol reduces inflammation, which is meant our body to deal better with injury & pain. Although its role in reducing inflammation is important, when to much cortisol is released it can causes premature aging, depress immune function & extended over production can cause the muscles to waste including causing the brain to shrink so many will notice memory loss, brain fog aspect. These stress hormones also cause a rise in our blood sugar levels & increases the blood clotting factors which makes the blood thicker.
So it’s easy to see how chronic long term stress can become a major player in tons of health problems, including poor digestion, constipation, tension headaches, neck & shoulder pain, low back pain, ulcers, high blood pressure, blood clotting, increased risk of infections, asthma, diabetes, excess weight and even cancer & autoimmune disorders. In fact, I’m willing to go out on a limb and suggest that a large percentage of all the illness we experience probably has a stress connection. So, reducing stress is one of the basic things we can do to improve our overall health. In fact, relaxation is critical for the healing process.
It’s apparent that to eliminate stress from our lives probably isn’t going to be a reality, but learning how to reduce it’s impact on our health is doable aspect. What are some of the avenues that can be applied for coping better with the effects stress can have on you physically:
I’ll offer you:
• #1. Breathe: I mean breathe deeply, it’s simple, it’s free and you can do it anywhere. If you stop and take stock of what happens when you are feeling stressed, you will notice that you re either holding your breath or breathing very fast & shallow. When you concentrate on breathing slowly & deeply, you will activate the parasympathetic nervous system and help reduce your stress levels. Repeat in your mind while breathing in…. I am and while thinking as you are breathing out relaxed.
• #2. RELAXATION RESPONSE:
• Dr. Herbert Benson in 1975 published his book titled “The Relaxation Response.”, He showed a simple, non-religious meditation technique that could help patients with insomnia, heart problems, high blood pressure & chronic pain. He took the mystery out of the subject, showing that all one needed to do was consciously relax the muscles, breathe slowly & deeply and find a repetitivbe phrase to keep the brain occupied (i.e. repeating the word “one” over & over in one’s mind). Just taking 20 mins. A day for this exercise will dramatically reduce your stress level. Start by getting comfortable and sit or lie down. Visualize all your muscles in your body relaxing. Start breathing slowly & deeply while counting your breath (in, one, two, three, four & out, one, two, three, four). Then pick a single focus for your mind, such as the word “one” or “peace”, You can pick what ever one word resonates with you. But what this does is it will quiet that “monkey brain” to stop & quiet the mind. When we are in the thick of a stressful moment, I find our mind is either in the past going thru all the coulda, shoulda, woulda, regretful thoughs, or we have tossed ourselves into the future already worrying about all the what if’s yet rarely does any of those what-ifs come to be and we wasted all that time focusing on them, realize ALL power is in the now, The past is history, the future is still a mystery, but the actions you take today is where the power resides because the actions of today will shape your future. The past cannot be changed so let it go, just let it go, I have personally found that when I force myself to be present in the moment most of my fear melts away and I actually feel empowered because I can’t change the past, I can’t read the future, but my here and now, I can deal with…
• #3. SUGAR & CAFFEINE:
• It amazes me how when we are under stress mentally the majority of us crave comfort foods which typically are going to be “junk foods”. Sugar & caffeine top the list for most people. They may give you that brief pick me up, but they are going to drop you like a rock just as fast. Coupled with the fact that they add more stress on the adrenal glands which are already tired and then you end up on that conveyor belt called burned-out. So avoid those sugar treats, and carbohydrate snackies and instead go for the protein and quality fats like nuts. If you feel like you cannot function without your caffeine, realize your adrenals need some system support and supplement with Adrenal Support: http://www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com
• #4. H2O:
• Yep water.. many of my client’s are what I label as clinically dehydrated, our body needs water, you can go days and days without food, but water is essential, yet people are drinking stuff all day long, unfortunately it rarely seems to be water. Drinking more water can actually make you feel calmer and you sleep better. When you are dehydrated your anxiety levels increase.
• #5. Exercise:
• Why does our body produce those stress hormones? Well, they are gearing your body up to take action, physical action and that’s what makes modern stress such a big problem. The stress hormones gear out body to run, fight or physically work to fight the problem, but our sedentary lifestyle doesn’t offer us the ability to burn off these stress hormones in physical activity. So exercise gives the opportunity to “work off’ those stressful feelings. You don’t have to go join a gym if money is an issue, clean out a closet, go for a walk, scrub the shower or the kitchen floor, clean the garage, wash the car, even better wax the car. Do something physical.
• #6. FEED YOUR NERVES
• Our nervous system a.k.a. Nerves, they need nutrition just like any other part of our body. What do they need? They the healthy fats, butter, coconut oil, nuts, olive oil, flax seed oil avocados, Omega-3 essential fatty acids. The vitamins they require are the B-vitamins which when we are under stress we burn them up like crazy. Vitamin C & pantothenic acid are needed to support the adrenals. Nutri-Calm (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com) is a great combo product that supports the health of our nerves. HSN-W (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com) has silica which helps the nerves become more resilient because it strengthens the myelin sheath that is the protective coating on our nerves, I refer to it like the protective coating on our electrical plugs that house the wires, if that coating gets damaged and wires are exposed the current running thru the wires can arch out and cause a fire. Same thing with our myelin sheath and our nerves.
• My clients have heard me talk about adaptagenic herbs and what they do is the modulate the signals that are sent from the hypothalamus and pituitary glands causing a reduction of adrenal output of adrenaline and cortisol, which lowers stress levels. They help to break the damaging fight or flight chain reaction patterns in which the body can get stuck due to chronic stress. So by reducing the cortisol levels, these herbs also help boost the immune system. Eleuthero root (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com) is an adaptagen. Studies have proved it helps increase stamina, endurance & energy, improve concentration &stimulate male hormone production.
• Gotu Kola, American & Korean Ginseng, Suma, Schizandra berries are all adaptagens. Some of these are in a combination form in the supplement Adapta-max (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com), Nervous fatigue formula (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com) and SUMA Combination (www.harvestedhealth.mynsp.com). Adding some of these herbal adaptagens can literally make you feel more at ease.
• #7. REST & RELAXATION:
• This one is not to be underestimated. We’ve pretty much determined that you probably won’t be super successful at avoiding stress, but there are ways to reduce how it effects you. When we do something that is pleasurable our body releases hormones & neruotransmitters that counteract the effects of stress. Doing something that gives us pleasure creates more positive benefits than a stressful experience can cause harm. So instead of reducing stress, we should be deliberate in creating pleasure & enjoyment in our lives.
• Anxiety issues are off the charts in our world. Part of that reason is we are overloaded by “choice”. That may not please most of you but the truth of the matter is, we are. We are constantly on the go and truth be told most of us don’t make time for pleasure & recreation. You have to plan time to do things you enjoy it is super important to your emotional and physical health.
• When I bring this up to clients who have just ran down their list of I can’t spend time in the kitchen to eat better because I have… blah, blah, blah… Most of us are too busy to be sick too, but when sick shows up and knocks you off your feet guess what your doing, you are in bed, or stretched out on the couch and where are all those things that you stated you couldn’t move or change, they are waiting for you. I promise…. Steven Horne (AHG), gave an example “ If a wood cutter doesn’t take time to sharpen his saw or his ace, he will find himself working harder & harder while becoming less & less productive. Rest & relaxation is “saw-sharpening” time, it makes you more productive with the rest of your day. If you are busy, you can’t afford to not take time for rest & relaxation.”
• And let me assure you that saying you relax while watching television that really doesn’t count. Majority of TV programs are going to stimulate not relax, they are loaded with action, drama, stimulating background music, or topics too close to our own already stressful lives that just keep our thoughts on the stress when we relate to what we are watching. So TV doesn’t count folks, sorry. Instead, soak in a hot but, go for a massage, listen to relaxing music, take a walk in nature. Laugh and giggle. Take the time to eat slower and actually taste and enjoy your food vs. inhaling and barely chewing. Anything thing that makes you happy, brings you pleasure is going to counteract the effects of stress and reduce your anxiety.
Tomorrow, I’m going to cover the “B” which is building…. If you are connecting and relating with what I’m covering and you’d like detailed help & assistance with applying these tools in your life to improve the quality of your life using a more natural approach. I’d be honored to work with you, you can start that process by going to http://mkt.com/harvested-health-llc which is my service website and you can book your 1 hr. consultation when I get notified, you will get my schedule, we get YOU scheduled and we are rolling forward. So as always, thank you for liking, and sharing my podcasts.
As always,
Healthfully yours,
Jodi Barnett N.H.C.
QFA Clinician, Nutrition coach,
Raw Food coach, Student:Doctor of Naturopathy
Harvested Health LLC
Harvested Health LLC. 