Upcoming Events and Some News!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, because things have been busy in Brilliant Life!  First off, I have a bunch of events coming up in the next couple of weeks that I would love to share with you.

Open Healing Night - Wednesday, October 3rd, 7:00 pm

This event is for all of you who have been thinking of giving me a try, or know someone who you would like to introduce to my unique and gentle style of Chiropractic, but weren't sure for whatever reason.  Now is your chance to receive an adjustment for no charge.  Come and discover what your friends and family have been raving about.  See how gentle and honoring Chiropractic care really can be.  And realize just how healthy you can be too!  See you there.

Introduction to the Landmark Forum - Saturday, October 6th, 2:00 pm

Landmark Education has been in the field of education for decades, and they deal with what really matters to people, in all areas of life.  Do you want to become more powerful and at the same time, discover more self expression and peace of mind?  It sounds amazing and transformative because it really is.  At this event, you will work on a real problem that you are dealing with and bring new possibility to it in a way you'd never imagined possible.

Healing from Within - Wednesday, October 13th, 7:00 pm

Where does healing really come from?  How does it work?  How does Chiropractic fit into that, and what is Dr. Paul doing with those light touches?  These questions and more will be answered at this informal gathering and talk.  There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and answers, so come prepared.  And if you have friends or family that you have tried to explain this work to, this is another great option to educate them and perhaps introduce them to this amazing work.

More news to come, but that's enough for now!  Take care everyone.  Health and happiness!

Icing Injuries? Not me!

I have an unconventional view of icing injuries.  The traditional medical view says that if you sprain your ankle, you absolutely should put ice on it to control the inflammation and keep swelling and pain down.  The rationale is that this will make you more comfortable and keep the rest of the tissues healthy by preventing any sort of edema and pressure from inflicting further harm than the original insult.

I think that's crazy.

Let me say that again.  I think that's crazy, IF your goal is healing.  If, for example, you are an athlete, and you want to get yourself back out on the field as quickly as possible, and you don't care that you've just damaged tendons or ligaments or whatever, then great!  Ice away that pain and inflammation, let the body throw scar tissue down later and then do a bunch of rehab to treat an injury that will likely trouble you for years afterwards.  But at least you'll get to perform!

Okay, that sounds harsh, and I know it.  It's a perfectly valid choice if the goal is performance.  In the athlete's case, that's how they earn a living!  I get that they need to sacrifice their body for that.

But what about the rest of us?

Consider: What if, there were an intelligence at work in the body?  What if the body already knew how to deal with an injury because it had thousands, if not tens of thousands of years practice perfecting a system that works?  Do you really think it's making inflammation because it's wrong?  No.  Here's what inflammation (acute inflammation, that is) does with an injury.  Pain and Swelling!

Ouch!

Pain: By making it hurt, you are less likely to step on it.  That means you aren't as likely to continue to injure it.  Great plan!  When you dull the pain with ice (or an analgesic or muscle relaxant or ibuprofen) you are no longer in communication with your body and don't know your real capacity.  The risk for further injury is higher that way.

Swelling: Not only does this bring fluid to the area, but it splints the affected limb as well.  The fluid brings in all kinds of white blood cells to clean up the damage, prevent and heal any infection that might have occurred, and generally clean up and start the healing process.  It also allows for more fluid to clear out, thus removing toxins.  Stopping this process will halt all of that.  And what do we do without the swelling to splint it?  Of course we wrap it another splint.

Both of these further the case for healing.  Putting up your foot is a great idea, and in fact, I've found that when I injure myself like that, it simply feels better to elevate it.  No drugs necessary!  And it's likely a good thing to do so because of the increased fluid flow back to the heart, speeding the toxin clear out.  When the foot stops feeling pain, maybe you're ready to walk on it again!

But don't take my word for it.  Just try it next time you're hurt.  See if it helps.  The last time I did, I healed an injury site that I had been chronically injuring repeatedly for almost 20 years.  Haven't hurt it since.

Primal Challenge 2012

Due to the enormous success of the first challenge back in October of last year, I have decided to run another one!  The 30 Day Primal Challenge is an attempt to change eating habits to a more paleo style of eating, following some of the guidelines of the Whole30 and the Primal Blueprint.  (For those books, order from the links or see my lending library)  For those of you who don't know what that is, its looking at what our paleolithic ancestors might have eaten and extrapolating out to today what foods might we eat that would be similar to that.  The premise is that our genes have evolved over thousands of years eating those kinds of foods, and certain more modern processed foods have only been around for a few hundred, or at most a thousand years.  A thousand years is just a blink of an eye in evolutionary time.  So, we are effectively taking advantage of what our genes are already adapted to, and this results in greater health and wellness.

What it looks like is this:

1. Eat lots of plants
2. Eat meat
3. Avoid grains of all kinds (wheat, rice, oats, corn, etc.)
4. Avoid legumes of all kinds (beans, soy, peanuts, etc.)
5. Supplement as needed with nuts, seeds, and fruits

That's about it!  There are some fine details that I will go over in a special presentation on Monday, September 17th at 6:30, once adjusting hours are all done.  Please attend if you are interested in the process to freshen up on the rules of the program and make sure you know how to do it!

There will be a sign up sheet at the front desk. Feel free to bring questions to the presentation.  I know for many of you this will mean a major shift in your eating, but the best way to get over it is just to jump in and do the best you can.  There will be mistakes and cheats, I imagine, but all there is to do is get back on the horse and try again for the rest of the challenge.

The challenge will last for 30 days, from the 24th of September to the 24th of October.  (Yes, the 24th of October counts as the 30th day.) That should be plenty of time for people to get back on the candy at Halloween if you so desire, but I'm hoping that you will lose your taste for sweets during this process, and won't even be tempted!

Please join us!