Americans are confused about food.
Americans were in denial about what to eat since I was young in the 1950's and still are now, more than ever just plain confused!
Having followed every government recommendations since the early 1900's Americans have been duped by the FDA, food lobby's and bad science. They have undertaken every crazy magic diet plan, pills or injections, adopted the most absurd and dogmatic ways of eating according to some philosophy about saving the planet, anti aging magic weight loss, cancer cures, etc.

My own research lab, my treatment room!
Within my practice I have encountered many individuals following any variety of so called experts or points of view about food to their own harm.

Here are some examples:

• Top of the list! A 50-year-old female on a keto diet to "heal her brain fog". She experienced an extreme version of "keto flu" and followed the advice of an Internet expert to drink more water. After a week she went into hypovolemic shock in my treatment room, and later died of a heart attack! Electrolyte levels of 3.5 Eq/L are dangerous...her level was below 2. Eq/L! Two days previous she had fainted. EMTs were called, the possibility that her electrolytes were low was overlooked! The cause of her death fad dieting!!!

 

• A 65 year-old female, a vegan her entire adult life was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. On further investigation, her doctor discovered that she did not have classic Alzheimer's, but instead was suffering from a brain that had shrunk from lack of long chain fatty acids. This condition was moderately reversible, but at her age full recover did not happen.

 

• An avowed strict carnivore required open-heart surgery due to repeated embolisms in his lungs. The surgeon upon reporting back to the family declared that he had never seen so much fat around a heart as he did with this gentleman. He was not surprised upon learning about this patient's carnivore dedication. He had other carnivore patients with a similar condition. The truth is seen by those who care for fad eaters!

 

• Chronic IBS client discovered he had cancer. Attempting to follow a liver detox, drank large volumes of celery juice! He reporting to me that he was so cold after drinking the juice he would shiver for hours. Celery juice is very yin, energetically cold and the opposite of what he needed. Rather he needed nourishing warming foods would boost his weight and support immunity. Out of fear and desperation he was following "an expert " to his own harm!

Give up eating dogmatically
A word about fads, dogmatic eating and extreme diets.
Don’t shoot the messenger but, these eating notions are not helping folks live longer and healthier lives. Highly restrictive eating of any kind is not healthy and is unsustainable.

Leaving off any food group because someone told you it will harm you is absurd and even foolish! For example...the “NO CARB’ craze. Yes, white bread and processed carbs are not even food! But, grains rich in zinc are essential to immunity and a well functioning gut and microbiome. They enhance neurotransmitter production and make us poop fabulously!
​
Here are a few of the most popular eating fads

• Keto, Atkins, Paleo followers are all running into long term problems for those ardent enough to stay on these diets that have nothing to do with what successful ancestral populations actually ate! Learn more with Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Diets, all about what our Paleo ancestors actually ate!
  

• Vegans at other end of this spectrum. This cult like group are showing consistently have higher rates of thyroid problems, depression, anxiety, body pain and low blood sugar. The lack of animal fats and even eliminating the relatively no harm fats such as cream, butter and ghee are absent from this way of eating. Veganism can lead to malnutrition, brain shrinkage over long term adherence and sugar cravings as the body looks for ways to boost energy.

• Raw food, don’t get me started. So many raw foods contain indigestible nutrient blockers that only a ruminant animals, like a cows with three stomachs to break these food sources. Humans have survived an evolve in part due to our ability to cook foods that would be otherwise difficult to digest. In moderation raw is good. But, as a sole source of foods, not so much. 

Here are some examples of eating gurus:

• Dr. Steven Gundry promotes the controversial and pseudoscientific lectin-free diet. Gundry has made erroneous claims that lectins, a type of plant protein found in numerous foods, cause inflammation resulting in many modern diseases.

 

• Cardiologist Robert Atkins, M.D., published "The Atkins Diet", in 1972, presenting a low-carb diet as ideal for weight loss and heart health. Dr. Atkins died of a heart attack! The low-carb mythology is debunked by nutritional research indicating humans are healthiest when consuming a range of 5 grams of carbs per lb. of body weight for the average active person, 8 to 12 grams per lb. for those in athletic training of more than four to five hours a day. That’s a minimum of 204 grams of carbs for a 150-pound person, twice as much as the Atkins plan advises! 

 

• Viktor Kulvinskas, radical food guru, author and raw food veganism represents a pseudo spiritual approach to eating that has paved the way for many anorexics to become very successful at nearly dying from malnutrition! What is lacking in this diet explains why this man is so gaunt and malnourished!

Don't get me wrong
There's a place for eating lighter, eating vegan for a spell, or focusing on more raw foods. Regular fasting, doing a juice fast or eating a mono diet for a week, 10 days maybe even a month is a good practice, not a lifestyle! There may be times of the year, we may feel like we want to eat more meat or grains. 

Cult like diet gurus create a staunch notion, "this is the only way to eat". That's just ridiculous! It's not normal for any being human or animal to eat according to some mental notion. The fact that most people fail in their following of these eating plans is an indication of the truth, your body will resist your effort to cause it to be malnourished. The truth is most of the folks are making BANK selling their plans, supplements, retreats and seminars. Cashing in on desperate people looking for answers...shameful!

Let me repeat that!! Stop eating according to some mental notion.
I have news for you...your body doesn’t give "a you know what" about your dogma and it will resist efforts to highly restrict your food. When you do this, you have eliminated the most important input you need in order to eat what is healthy for you. That is feedback from your body, it knows what you need to eat and when you need to eat it!

Best source of knowledge about what you should eat is your own body.
The human body has innate intelligence. You see this intelligent at work when you cut a finger and maybe you put a Band-Aid on it, but it basically heals on its own. We also see this intelligence at work in a baby who refuses to eat a certain food. This child has no particular prejudices. It simply knows it does not want to eat that food. The baby feels this way because of biological signals from the body that tell it I don't like this is not the right thing for me.

When we get sick with a cold or the flu we don't feel like eating! Fasting the body's natural way of healing at work. Every normal person will go through phases where they're going to eat more or less of something because it just feels right for them. During the spring and summer months people just generally tend to eat lighter! More salads and vegetables, more fruits, which are abundantly in season over the summer. This is the way human beings are!

When people are not hung up about their food dogma or not addicted to the standard American diet they're able to make healthy choices based on what they feel like they need. What a revolutionary concept!

In order to In order to discern what your body truly needs, you have to be able to pay attention to it. You can reset your natural instinct for what you should be eating by fasting! Allowing yourself to become truly hungry will help you to sort out what is best for you to eat as you will naturally be attracted to what will best serve your body's needs in that moment

We lose our instincts from years of eating junk and non foods, or an overly rich diet. Most of our eating is driven by either our sense of social accomplishment, "Look at me, I'm so rich I can have whatever I want!". Or, we're eating emotionally, turning to sweets in order to soothe our emotions and ease stress with a dopamine hit. Craving alcohol, carbs or cheese because indicates a candida yeast overgrowth is driving what you think you want to eat! 

The body is smarter than the brain
With awareness and a willingness to let go of your acquired notions about food your can tap into your body's intelligence and trust it's guidance. Modeling what you eat based on ancestral diets of populations who enjoyed long and healthy lives, is the best plan. Those healthy foods are outlined below.

General Dietary Recommendation is to eat whole foods.
Whole foods are those which are not highly processed.Observe the 80/20 rule with this. The occasional processed food is not going to kill you! If 80% of what you eat is healthy and whole food you’re doing fine! Many “natural” foods store offer a huge selection of highly processed food...not much better than what you find in a traditional grocery store.

Ideal ratios of protein, whole source carbohydrates and fats are:
10% protein, 60% fats, 30% healthy carbohydrates from whole food sources…grains, tubers, starchy vegetables, legumes and beans.

Fats are crucial to brain and nerve health. Animal fats are the highest sources of the fat soluble vitamins A. D. & K. Our best source of these nutrients come from animal fats.

Ruminate animals…cows, sheep, goats, bison, elk and deer eat grasses high in chlorophyll and other nutrients. Their three stomachs break down and ferment the grasses and other plants into high nutritional content which is stored in their flesh, fat cells and milk. This process benefits humans, who have an evolutionary relationship with animals and are, the ultimate omnivores.

When we eat animal fats (the only sources of long chain fatty acids crucial to our health) our cells thrive. They are buoyant and protected from external toxins, viruses, bacteria and fungi. Saturated fats are stable remaining solid in all temperatures. They do not go rancid and can be used with high heat without breaking down because of their strong chemical bonds.

Coconut, Palm and Olive oil along with sesame and flax oil (used in small amounts) are high in medium chain fatty acids also crucial to good health. These fats are semi solid at warmer room temperatures and solidify when colder. Coconut, palm and olive oils are saturated fats with a percentage of monounsaturated fat. They also do not become rancid…or gummy.

Processed seed oils such as canola, corn oil, safflower, rapeseed, sunflower, walnut, almond and avocado oils are monounsaturated fats. They are unstable on the shelf, prone to becoming rancid and do not hold up well to heat and become toxic ingested regularly. Avocado is okay but not the most ideal source of fat. Better to just eat avocados!

Hydrogenated oils are the worst. They are unsaturated fats stabilized by chemical processing for longer shelf life. Trans fats are are essentially non-foods and are responsible for the cascade of congestive heart failure, clogged arteries and diabetes.

The body absorbs these fats which create a clogging effect leading to anaerobic tissues and high rates of cancer in the US population. Americans consume more of these fats that any other country in the world…something to think about!

It is my hope to relieve you from the confusion about what to eat.

Go to my
What to Eat Freebie for the entire presentation and the What to Eat Guide!

Please share it with others.

Learn to Heal Your Life!

The truth is we all know this.

But, knowing this truth and being able to consistently move in a positive or forward direction are two different things. This is the conundrum of human beings. The Apostle Paul summed it up in his comment within the book of Romans 7:24-25,  "Oh, wretched man that I am who can save me from this death. That which I would do, I do not. That which I would not do, I do! " This dilemma is the experience of anybody who has ever tried to go on a "diet "! The minute you set yourself to go on some special diet or exercise plan what happens, you find yourself doing the opposite in most cases!

The secret of creating change is awareness!

It is not found in doing, it is found in awareness. When we become more aware of what drives our choices, of how our choices make us feel within our body, heart and mind and go further to connect The way we are now feeling to the choice we made. We begin to become motivated to choose differently.

Here's an example of Type II diabetic client.

• She was insulin resistant through her unconscious choices of inactivity, high protein diet in combination with processed carbohydrates, high amounts of sugar in the form of white flour and white rice. Try as she might to change her choices she struggled in the past before she met me.


• I recommended modified fasting. This involved eating a healthy breakfast of brown rice and vegetables with eggs. Through the day she was allowed to have 2 to 3 servings of fresh fruit, raw veggies and nuts. Each day ending the 8 hour eating period with a light evening meal of soup or veggies and a small portion of meat or fish. The timing was set up so that there would be a period of at least 16-18 hours of fasting between her next breakfast meal allowing her body to utilize the excess glucose during the fasting time of 16 hours.*


• Her determination made it possible for her to do this for about three days.  Amazed by the drop in her blood glucose and a corresponding drop in blood pressure she felt so much better! We discussed the difference in how she was feeling and what she was noticing about the fasting experience, the feeling of feeling better!

 

• Then came "failure", which is actually the process of succeeding very misunderstood by most people. She dropped back into her usual eating pattern. When she came back to see me what struck her the most was how crappy she felt going back to her former eating pattern.

 

• It was her ability to become aware by noticing how she felt with these two different ways of eating that paved the way for her to be more often successful at the modified fasting plan and heal her type II diabetes which requires a radical change in order to heal the overburden pancreas and reverse insulin resistance. 

Let's pick this apart
​To understand how she was able to shift away from what was not working for her into something that was better.

Success started with her willingness to try.

• All we needed was for her to be willing for a few days to do something very different. Whether she succeeded or failed was not the important thing.

Her failure was actually the beginning of her success.

• The failure set the stage for her to "notice" the difference in how she felt in her usual pattern of eating versus the semi fasting pattern.
• The difference was night and day. So glaringly obvious she could not miss it! The awareness makes it easier to evolve out of the old pattern. 

This client went on to be successful and altering her level of blood glucose to the point that she was able to come off of metformin, the standard type two diabetes, preliminary drug*.​

Awareness Homework
Doesn't everyone just love homework! This is not that...it is an opportunity to be more "with yourself". Awareness Homework assignments are little things I ask clients to do.
Whether they do it or not is less important that what they noticed in the process of doing or not doing! These assignments naturally promote awareness and since awareness is the vehicle for change it always works!

I often give an Awareness Homework assignment to become more aware of your breathing patterns. Connection to breath, our awareness of breath, and the level at which we're breathing plays a very important role in our health, well-being as well as our reactivity to stressors.

When we have a good connection to our breath and are able to access a deep, smooth, conscious breathing easily it's an indication that we are well rested, grounded, and centered within our ourselves. When in this state, we are less likely to react or overreact to the crazy making behaviors of others or the stress inducing situations that arise as a normal part of life.

Unfortunately, most of the people that come to see me are barely breathing. During Chi Nei Tsang sessions I monitor breathing. More often than not I observe a irregular breathing or a breath pattern that is so low they appear to be barely breathing at all!

Barely breathing is a form of a freeze response, breath holding!

• Why are we holding our breath? We hold our breath to avoid what we are feeling. Freezing is a way of checking out until the coast is clear. It is a natural response to trauma, but in "breath holding" this natural process has gone awry.

 

• Holding the breath becomes an unconscious way of avoiding what we feel. The moment I support a connection to breath big feelings come up for clients.


• Why do we avoid what we are feeling? We avoid what we are feeling because it seems too big to deal with, we are overwhelmed, even exhausted.​

Chronic holding patterns
Most people have their anal sphincter puckered up, are holding the jaw clenched down and the entire upper body and rib cage is usually very tight with little flexibility. This is bracing which sets up what is known as a chronic holding pattern. The body conforms to the chronic holding pattern, leaving us unable to access how we feel like a shut off valve. The psyche says I can't handle all of this so I'm just going to "push it down " and wait until it's over.

Reconnect to breath is a crucial aspect of my holistic method of healing. 
Sessions end with discussing the breathing patterns I noticed. I give them the homework assignment to becoming more aware of their breath, practicing each morning and each evening with 10 full conscious breaths. The assignment is to simply notice what is happening as they attempt to take 10 smooth even breaths.

There may be times when they are unable to actually connect with their breath at all. There may be other times when they're able to breathe quite smoothly. The noticing is the key to the ability to shift consciousness and find a new pattern.

The absolute imperative is for them to understand we are not trying to "fix" the breath. The breath will evolve as we become aware of what makes it challenging to find our breath and under what conditions is it easier. In the same way my diabetic client evolved out of her symptom these clients evolve into a healthier breath connection and they feel better. 

The power of noticing
We simply begin to notice when it is easier to connect and when it is not easy making us more aware of what leads to easier or more difficult. Getting a "feeling" for what positively or negatively impacts and alters the breath accordingly.

​Difficulty connecting to breath usually follows having an upset with someone, feeling overwhelmed, maybe we didn't eat enough through the day and our blood sugar is low, or we didn't sleep well. Noting the factor of negative affect allow  us to be more aware of how we live in our bodies and evolve into a better way of responding to life's challenges.

Whatever it is, it is in the noticing of what makes it better and what makes it worse that we begin to evolve effortlessly without "working at it". We become naturally drawn to what makes us feel better. ​

This is the secret of evolving.
The entire earth and all created things have been constantly evolving. Metaphorically, if the earth was a person, it never sat down and said, "Wait a minute, I've gotta make a plan for this. I'm going to make these changes and this is the way it's going to happen!". That's absurd!

Neither do the animals purpose or fret over the constant evolution of their species. They don't say, "Oh my goodness, I'm gaining weight, or my fur is changing color, my feet need to be smaller. I need to do something to change this." They flow within the natural environment, eat the food that is available, go hungry, feast, experience traumas and resolve them in much the same way we can.

You are not a problem to be solved
We force ourselves to live within a cage of our misconceptions and notions about fixing ourselves like we are a problem to be solved.

As we let go of the notion that we need to be fixed and we find ourselves content to simply become aware. What am I doing and how does it feel. This non-judgemental attitude liberates us from guilt and shame and leads to great success. 

Nobody ever said, "I'm gonna do this thing that makes me feel horrible and keep doing this thing that makes me feel horrible because I like the feeling of feeling horrible".

In cases with addiction people seem to be choosing what makes them feel horrible. Sadly, the addict is chasing a sense of comfort which they desperately need. They are mistaken in believing that the drug is going to give them that sense of comfort that it first offered them in the beginning of "using ".

Recovery for the addict is the same as for everybody else. Entering into a state of self acceptance, self-pity, which is compassion and a determination to simply learn to pay attention to how one is feeling. The process of awareness allows us to begin to digest our experiences and evolve into a more mature posture. Our compassion and self love begins to nourish us, and we begin to naturally seek that which makes us feel better, because we believe that we deserve to feel better.

A study which I can no longer find or access from many years ago, determined that there were three primary characteristics of people who were able to recover from terminal or chronically debilitating illness.

Those three characteristics were:

• A belief in a higher being, who is benevolent and cares for them.
• Having at least one individual who has taken on a care for them and encourages them and provides support.
• Believing that they deserve to be well and enjoy their life!

Where are you at
If you are facing symptoms, whether they are physical in the form of an illness or condition that you can't quite seem to shake. Or, an emotional or mental challenge such as anxiety, or depression. Possibly a spiritual challenge as in feeling lost without direction on unable to perceive where you should be moving toward in your life or perhaps a crisis of faith... is there really anything out there in the form of a divine being that loves me and is there to help and support me?

Often we are in all three of these states at one time!
​It sucks!! But you can trust that healing is possible. You can learn to adapt your thinking away from the idea that you are a problem to be solved and need to be fixed, you can become more aware of your breathing, which will then connect you to how you feel which will then support shifting your choices away from that which makes you feel bad...this leads to the power to change as an evolution of consciousness rather than working at it!

Find support
Consider exploring my Breathe Guided Meditation and Course as a way to start shifting away from a negative view of yourself into a more powerful way to be in the world and having more choice about how you're living your life!


 See Breathing and Feeling article for more insights about breath.

My blessings to all who come to believe they can Heal their Life
​

What do TMJ/TMD, Bloated Bellies and Constipation/IBS have in common?
This unlikely combination of symptoms all have in common one thing...they are representative of the body's desperate effort to get you to slow down!

Swimming in the pond of alternative health care with my fellow practitioners, we all observe and work with clients/patients who manifest variations of these three common symptoms. The level at which those who suffer with these symptoms are going to to get relief is heroic!

Millions are spending thousands of dollars on cures and treatments with no real relief and certainly without resolving the underlying cause. Look at the stats!

• Americans spend an average of about $4 billion yearly on treatments for temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ/TMD). Many patients face significant out-of-pocket costs, with some individuals reporting expenses exceeding $200,000 over their treatment journey.

 

• Approximately $136 billion is spent annually on gastrointestinal diseases, which include conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, SIBO and gut disorders.

 

• The all time high cost irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is  30 billion total economic of indirect costs related to absenteeism and lost productivity. For treatment, Americans spend an estimated $10 billion annually on direct medical costs for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Wrap constipation into the gut disorders and IBS, add it to the cost of cancer treatment, autoimmune disorders and that's an even bigger pile of money and health care costs we are all paying for.

What! That's insane. Here's a look at what that money gets spent on...

• Clenching and holding jaws so tightly TMJ/TMD sufferers are given Botox injections, mouth guards, electro stimulation ie. tens unit therapy. Many seek myofascial release and craniosacral practitioners to relieve the associated neck and shoulder pain that accompanies this symptom of the nervous system. Many patients with TMJ/TMD prescribed "tranquilizers" a.k.a. Benzodiazepines are oblivious to the hellish downside this form of medication comes with.

 

• The myriad of magic pills and cures for gut issues to be found online and on social media platforms is mind boggling. It is not uncommon for a client to come to see me having already been to multiple practitioners in a desperate attempt to relieve the unpredictable phenomenon of a bloated belly. Medical treatment revolves around the introduction of antifungals claiming that SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is the underlying cause of this disturbing difficulty. There may be an imbalance of flora in the small intestine, but that is not the root cause. Let us ask ourselves how did the bacteria get so out whack? Generally there is a preceding set of symptoms relating to constipation/IBS manifesting a digestive system that is not happy, therefor the individual is also not happy! There is no cure for most patients with gut issues because the underlying issue, unhappiness remains unaddressed. Antidepressant and anti anxiety medication use is a consistent precursor to gut issues in any cases.

 

• Those with chronic constipation a complex disorder manifested by the inability of the vagus nerve to provoke the signal that produces the normal usage to evacuate. It is not uncommon for patients with chronic constipation to have an average transit time for eliminating stools to anywhere from seventy two hours to seven days. A standard comment from an MD is likely to be, "that's normal for you.". This in response to what amounts to a backed up sewage system is absurd. The myriad of health issues related to constipation is huge. Take look at the Chronic Constipation blog for an indepth look at the suffering this condition brings.

 

• IBS, chronic constipation's evil twin is a nervous system sounding an alarm that the house is on fire. This symptom has the nourishment of food moving so quickly through the body it is release in waves of peristaltic spasms that over take the sufferer without notice. If you are one who suffers, you know you are living on guard constantly out of fear of an "attack". Treatment from the standard medical perspective starts with anti diarrhea medications, in some cases antispasmodics as well. Suffers are subjected to the FODMAT diet plan and are instructed to undertake multiple disciplinary efforts to overcome what is basically a case of "nerves", an old school term for being jittery and out of sorts with the world. There is a clue in that homespun diagnosis!

Enervation a feeling of being drained of energy or vitality
Is the common denominator for these conditions. Enervation is otherwise known as nervous exhaustion. This condition harkens back to the 1800's and sending someone off the coastal climes for a good long rest...right on! But, what exactly is nervous exhaustion?

That is, living in the body in a way that is overdrawing on the bank of stored energy the body expends for daily functions. This includes what we busily do each day to live and be in the world. It also includes the systematic maintenance of the organ systems to detoxify and restore themselves daily. When we have overdrawn funds from the bank, we are charged a fee as a penalty. Symptoms of TMJ/TMD, chronic constipation/IBS and gut issues are the penalty for doing over much...burning qi. Keep reading to discover how we are taking out more than we have.

As a wellness practitioner, I rely on the concepts of Taoist medicine in which the energetic manifestation of symptoms are the clues to resolving them. Nervous exhaustion is the manifestation of overspending Qi.

Let look at qi as understood by the Taoist's.
Qi is energy and information from source. However one chooses to define the energy that emanates and sustains all of the creation, it comes from somewhere! The "where" is Tao...the way. Tao is flowing and available to us as it is within us.

Tao is the source of all knowledge.
For the individual this would be wisdom and discernment. We find the knowledge the Tao offers us through awareness. As we come to be more attentive to awareness we are able to notice how we feel. How we feel is found in the visceral messages of the body. How do those who suffer these complaints feel?

• TMJ/TMD are feeling so overwhelmed they clench their jaws to the point of breaking teeth, igniting trigeminal nerve spasms and extreme referred pain. The clenching and grinding represent anxiety to an extreme. These patients often are completely unaware of how anxious they really are!

 

• Gut bloating is agony, it brings your day to a stop!  It is the nervous tummy ache we suffered when we didn't want to go to school, for whatever reason. This symptom manifests energetically as though it is saying, "stop the world, I want to get off"!  It is literally a spasm of the small intestines brought on by low production of salvia and weakened production of digestive enzymes. When the food we eat is not properly digested because of innovation, the small intestine, which is responsible for sorting out the undigested contents of the stomach is basically having a freak out! Undigested food molecules are getting into the bloodstream manifesting sensitivities to foods, allergies, and immunity issues. The small intestine is literally saying stop, something is wrong here! It feels like something is not right up top, because that is true...the body never lies!

 

• Constipation is a feeling of being stuck. Manifesting as an inability to release what you no longer need, stool. Metaphorically the constipation sufferers are literally stuck. The vagus nerve system that regulates evacuation of stool does so through a complex set of messengers. When one is exhausted and overwrought the vagal response is low or lacking tone. It's signal to release is so dampened the digestive system is unresponsive. Other symptoms related to low vagal nerve tone are GERD, acid reflux, gastroparisis, chronic hiccuping or coughing, spasms of the throat and psoas.

 

• IBS is the overactive version of this equation wherein the individuals fearfulness getters on the verge of panic! The urgency of the bowels is a symptom manifesting a state of overstimulation of the vagus nerve brought on by chronic flight/fight response. Evacuations are triggered by the elevated adrenaline of the fear response. IBS suffers are likely to swing back and forth mercilessly between not being able to stop going and not being able to go...constipation. The vicious cycle of this is in and of itself exhausting.

The consistent common visceral message of these conditions speaks to the level of exhaustion due to overstimulation of the nervous system, due to over expenditure of qi...the bank is overdrawn. This condition is so pervasive in our culture that few people recognize it as the root cause of most health problems!

Here it is...How do we become overdrawn on our bank of Qi?

• Doing too much, work'aholic, driven, materialistic urge to live beyond your means, a need to keep up with the Jones's, being in debt!

 

• Being a martyr! Sacrificing oneself for  the family, the company, for your partner. Doing obsessively for others as a means of feeling wanted, needed and secure.

 

• Striving to be the best, most fit, most well informed, most accomplished often driven by a sense of low self esteem, unmet needs of childhood.

 

• Believing that somehow someway you will be able to get everything done, fueled my the myth that if you have control over your environment and you get it all done all will be well with you...OCD a huge driver.

 

• Trauma and emotional pain another hidden driver, may not manifest in over activity but burns qi just to hold in the unresolved energetic charges that come with the inability to process through the fight flight response and rest the nervous system. 

I see these drivers manifested in all my clients who suffer from nervous exhaustion. Denial is what keeps them from seeing it. "I have it under control", "the endorphin rush from an extreme workout makes me feel better", "I will be able to slow down when I get to X. Y, Z!", "if only my_____, fill inthe blank wouldn't do this, would stop doing that everything would okay"

Add to this equation the qi burning layers of emotional states such as frustration, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, undigested hurt feelings and it's no wonder folks are cranky, drink too much and seek relief in zoning out or say yes to psych meds!

All the medications and meditation techniques and therapies and modalities won't do a person who's suffering from this condition any good at all until they learn not to overdraw the bank of qi. Going beyond that as they learn to cultivate qi they will gain an extra strength and stamina that will help them to maintain a healthy body throughout their lifetime.

What does that mean? This means first we have to learn not to overdo. Americans are always working at something to their own harm. We think because we push and push we're getting more done, but the truth of the matter is all that pushing is usually very ineffective and not moving us any further down the road of accomplishment. It is a very attachment to accomplishment that is a driver in this endless frenzy of overstimulation and over activity.

Cultivating qi means that we are actively able to achieve a state in which we can receive more wisdom, more intuition, more understanding and more power. This is a result of drawing close to the source of all energy, the Tao, God, the Godhead... by, whatever name you call it. It is the source of the life that we live. We were created to enjoy our lives and to bring joy to others. This source is LOVE. When we slow down we naturally become more aware of how we feel, we are able to receive the information that we would be best served by taking better care of ourselves. This is self LOVE.

The individuals who suffer from these symptoms of commonality are suffering, primarily from a lack of self love.
I can offer any one of these people a protocol that would resolve their symptoms in a relatively short period of time. It would seem miraculous to them, because it is miraculous. The body's ability to heal is beyond our understanding, and most of us fail to avail ourselves to the power of the body has to heal.

• Although I have the solution for your suffering, I cannot make you do the things to care for and love yourself into a state of recovery.

 

• The average person is so geared up with anxiety, frustration, angst, and emotional pain that they are completely unaware of how they feel, and therefore they cannot heal.

 

• Through my wellness practice, I teach people to heal...if they are willing to slow down and come back to themselves. Utilizing a multifaceted combination of holistic modalities I am able to facilitate a resolution of symptoms without fail, when the client becomes willing to feel. The results are miraculous.

Resistance
The average person's resistance can best be described as chasing down a kid who is completely exhausted and needs to take a nap. Literally getting to the point where one might need to sit on that flailing child screaming, I'm not tired, I'm not tired! Only to have them literally pass out from exhaustion within moments of being held still. RESISTANCE to what we need to feel better is another common denominator! What is your resistance all about? You cannot know because you don't know how you feel!


Vanessa Goldeen Wellness Consultant and Educator, author* and holistic practitioner is the founder of Bridge to Health offering Online Learn and Heal Courses as an affordable recovery option for those who seek healing.

Breathing, Sleeping, Laughing and Pooping a common sense guide to getting and staying healthy! Due out 2025, get in on the release announcement 

The beneficial therapeutic effects offered by the Chi Nei Tsang modality go beyond the physical. With focus on reconnecting to one's felt sense clients begin to evolve naturally into mindfulness, the ability to be fully present in the moment. 

Connecting to breath is essential in the improvement of wellbeing and is a focus of treatment and self care session. Conscious breathing makes us aware of how little actual breath we may be taking into our bodies as we navigate our day to day lives. Lack of oxygen accounts for much of the difficulty we have in terms of reactivity to stressors. Connecting to breath reconnects us to what and how we feel...the beginning of healing and being able to enjoy life more. 

Beyond a therapeutic modality Chi Nei Tsang can be used as a self care Yang Sheng practice. As a Qigong teacher and wellness consultant, I teach CNT self care to clients in sessions and as classes. 

Over and over again my clients remark on the seemly "magical" quality of their session. The effects of Chi Nei Tsang sessions are cumulative and offer sustainable progress toward improved or enhanced wellbeing. 

I am honored to be a practitioner through the TaoTouch Chi Nei Tsang organization and to be able to pass the wisdom and knowledge of these ancient healing tools onto my clients and students.

Get the book!
​"Yang Sheng the Art of Chinese Healing"                by Katie Brindle is a delightfully written and illustrated book that will support your practice of Yang Sheng. I was so pleased when I found Katie's book...one less book I needed to write!

She developed this book as a tool for her own clients and it is in my top three books I recommend to everyone who finds support with me. 

The definition of the word pales in comparison to living with unresolved trauma. Trauma comes in many forms and from many sources. We cannot judge trauma in relationship to levels of the experience of it. Trauma is relative to the recipetant. A personal foundation of strong support from a close and balanced family does much to mitigate a traumatic experience in some cases, but no always. Those whose suffering is epic may have layers of traumas piled into one body/mind that crushes the soul and breaks the heart.

Having been a person who experienced multiple traumas over many years I know all too well how challenging recovery can be. Trauma recovery is a journey of a lifetime. We never completely arrive, but we can come to enjoy our lives more, which is the goal of healing. 

Life is hard, joyful, aggravating, frustrating, blissful, filled with angst, we make forward progress and have backwards sliding...that's just it...LIFE. The most any of us can do is our best to get up every day and find a smile within ourselves. Traumatic experiences are a part of life and the intent of this article is to encourage the reader to understand that the body is equipped by design to resolve trauma

It's time for some common sense advice and guidance with the prospect of finding our way through traumatic events. Whether you have one isolated event, layers of trauma or a loved one who suffers.. this information comes from my heart to my readers with a hope and prayer that you will find within it a better understanding of how to tap into your ability to move toward resolution and healing.

"Trauma healing" supports are BIG BUSINESS
Offered primarily through the medical community in the form of therapies, medications, hospitalizations, and now even psychoactive plant medicines that are costing Americans... hold onto your seat, a whopping 232 billion dollars per year! That's a huge motivator to come up with treatment options to SELL to the public.

This article is written from two perspectives:

• My own journey which lead me through a wide array of therapeutic approaches from which I may have gleaned a tool or more often found what doesn't work. What doesn't work, or didn't work for me has been the best pointer to finding what truly begins to produce a change in the way one feels...the real progress of being marked by the feeling the past is finally in the past. where it belongs. The pathway to resolution came to me not by using a therapeutic method or tool, but from learning to be with what I feel. To sit with what is, a concept at the art of Taoist teachings...be with what is. When you can do that it will shift on its own.
• My work as a wellness consultant goes far beyond making suggestions as to management of lifestyle and nutritional recommendations. My practice is more esoteric as it is a student / teacher relationship integrating shamanistic aspects of a sacred counselor. I have worked with many individuals whose traumatic experiences although challenging, were able to be healed and recovery a sense of enjoyment of life. However it must be noted that "healing trauma" was never, is never...the goal. Any resolution of the effects of trauma came as clients came to place of trusting me and ultimately themselves. Before long, they are simply enjoying their life more and the dogged trauma issues began to fade away... no having a hold over them. 

I was prompted to write on this subject after making a comment on a "vagus therapy" post on Instagram. The post touted this a vagus nerve therapy as a treatment for trauma . My comment was, "I think we should stop poking at trauma. The need to fix a person suffering from trauma is not helpful". I received more likes and comments supportive and hostile than anything else I have ever posted to social media. I had struck a nerve. Most were supportive and wanted to know more, others were downright hostile!  One poster claimed that I should not be treating anyone with trauma unless I was a medical professional...wow! I responded, "human beings have been helping each other through trauma since the beginning of time and this is not the time to stop helping others who are suffering." There some serious brainwashing when the common opinion is that the medical profession holds all the secrets to recovery and that without them, we'll never make it!

I explained to this commentator that I do not treat trauma. I support people in the process of finding healing on any level including trauma and PTSD. This is a very different approach, a more oblique method than the variety of "therapies" out there. I believe the fundamental difference is that I don't see the traumatized as people who  needs to be "fixed".  They are having a normal human experience. As unpleasant as it is, it is nothing more than that. They are no different from someone who has a cranky gallbladder. They have a symptom that has gotten their attention. Symptoms are the call to healing which is a learnable process involving the evolution of consciousness through expansion of awareness. More on Healing Demystified

I have seen hundreds of individuals over the 35 years I have been working with others in the healing process. Many of whom, in spite of multiple therapies and medications continue to suffer the ill effects of being stuck in TRAUMA/PTSD cycle. 

If this is the expertise of the day why is success so elusive?

My consistent experience with clients who have undergone these various therapies is that in a period of  1, 2, 5 years or more later they are still suffering from anxiety, sleep disorders, digestive disturbances, autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue, malaise, depression. Neurotic difficulties with food, dysmorphia, OCD behaviors are often in play. These folks suffer with addiction issues to alcohol, drugs, work, sex, romance, shopping. They present often as hypervigilant, perfectionists, fears of success and failure along with a deep in need to be "in control"!

What is going on with that?

Many have are entangled with medications that take over the production and management of neurotransmitters. This leads to a whole other layer of trauma as medications often produce deepening levels of disconnection from self (depersonalization) and an inability to know how one feels. The ability to feel is our primary guidance system*. Without it we are literally LOST.

Medications that manipulate the microbiology of the endocrine system, neurotransmitters and hormones are straight from Pandora's box. They are designed to manage symptoms, but in most cases the end result is worsening levels of "symptoms". Anxiety meds classified as benzodiazepines are the most dangerous, posing physical addiction and are nearly impossible to withdraw from if taken for longer than 4 - 6 weeks. Engineered to require higher and higher dosages, these medication rank right up their with the wickedly engineered OXYcontin in terms of damage and addiction.

​Their cousins the "non" benzodiazepine groups such as common sleep aids like Lunesta and Ambien whose "non" category make them easier to prescribe are just as addicting! The side effects from meds create a cycle of MD's  "upping doses" or "trying" something new when one drug fails. It is not uncommon for medications to be layered, further adding the disruption of the normal microbiology. This is a nightmare for patients who, if not suicidal before meds, is likely to become so as a result of being on them!

When I finally see these folks they are not much further down the road to recovery than when they started. Many  are worse for the meds and therapies! They have a sense of hopelessness, a feeling of failure and are deeply confused. 

Why is this so?
The nervous system of a traumatized individual is fragile. It needs nourishing. It needs comfort. It needs sleep.
Trauma turned into PTSD is a powerful energetic force running in the background of the body/mind complex. Despite memory loss and dissociation the trauma experience continues to reflect its presence through the endless variety of coping mechanisms and self damaging behaviours that seem to defy the finding of peace. 

In spite of the many therapies, these clients are often still tangled up with symptoms that indicate that the background grind of the trauma, PTSD and its effect on the nervous system is still in play. This ramped up energy is trapped in the body/mind. It is literally undigested information that no longer serves the individual which they cannot shed. The churning energy expresses in symptoms of every sort!

Support the body first.
​
​It is my belief that any successful support for those who suffer trauma is to work as one would with any physical symptom. Supporting the physical body is always the place to start no matter what the complaints are.

Trauma sufferers are often depleted, overwrought and exhausted. This is a state know as enervation. It is physical and emotional exhaustion accompanied with higher than normal levels of adrenaline. The adrenaline acts as a stimulant to keep the person in a state of hyperarousal. This powerful hormone is anesthetizing. It reduces our capacity to feel our bodies thereby allowing you to rescue someone from a burning building or out run a predator and not feel what's happening in the moment! That's an effective system.

Enervation is a state of being stuck in the fight / flight / freeze response. The brain along with the supporting microbiology literally can not come down and return to the ALPHA brainwave state...calm and alert. Rather, the brain is running on chaotic BETA waves and is unable to reset. Hence the need for anything to bring one down ...alcohol, pot, numbing out, depression. The mind will go for what it needs...even if it's not the best thing. It grasps for relief. Coping mechanisms and addictions develop out of the deep need for the body to find peace. 

This inability to reset was studied by Hans Selye a Canadian Endocrinologist who first identified the stress response. Maladaptation of chronic fight/flight response overwrites the healthy body/brain controls to return to the calmness. The unrelenting state of maladaptation creates a shift in the microbiology. Essentially calcium and magnesium, the calming minerals are shifted out of the system in order to accomodate the adrenaline surge to action. When the danger has passed these mineral would come back into solution in the blood and calm is achieved. In chronic fight/flight calcium gets stored in places we don't want it and magnesium gets wasted.

​The affected individual cannot feel calm, even if they wanted to...it is not within their reach. This outcome is known as Selye's Syndrome. This explains why so many people are magnesium deficient and have disorders relating to accumulated calcium, such as stenosis....the body is only observing what the mind is projecting...I am still running, fighting or hiding from danger. Hyperarousal...fear!

Until the body microbiology can be restored to biological/mineral balance, no healing will happen. The derangement of sleep, constant hormonal activation, unresolved cortisol begins to make everything seem like a crisis which only compounds the plight of the traumatized individual. Sleep is our natural healing time. Too much adrenaline makes sleep challenged leaving us unable to heal.

In addition to supporting the reversal to Selye's Syndrome we must engage ourselves in the discussion of the wounded heart and soul. Experience has taught me that ultimately it is LOVE that truly heals.
​
The multitudinous array of therapies for trauma tend to operate according to a formula, a "formatted" method, if you will. When recovery is not realized the format breaks down. This therapeutic formula may not account for the nuances of an individual's mental, emotional and physical self.

In other words if these methods are not holistic they are unable in many cases to reach body, mind and soul. 

"Therapeutic" approaches... are often the result of studies focused on analyzing patterns of behavior in response to trauma. This is a clinical viewpoint with a blind spot. Medicine seeks to "fix a symptom" or in lieu of a cure offering palliative care when fixing symptoms fails. Consequently many "patients" are medicated with antidepressants, anxiety meds, antipsychotics and sleep meds. The medicated state does not lend itself to being able to feel and navigate the abstract world of the self, so essential to recovery is not accessible. Healing is by nature a response to awareness. The ability to connect with what your symptom is telling you is where we begin. Knowing what the symptoms message is allows us to evolve into an ability determine what we need and to give it to ourselves.

This discussion would be incomplete if we fail to look at the general health of the average American whose diet and lifestyle choices make us one of the sickest nations of the world. Poor nutrition means poor brain function. Unhealthy foods and unrelenting reactivity to stressors affects gut health. The all important function of the gut is to produce beneficial neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin which help us to DIGEST our experiences. Gut related neurotransmitters and a well functioning endocrine system give us our spark. Addressing shifts in nutrition and self care equals a new level of self love, that evolves through encouragement and experience. Once we get a feel for something better than what we have had, we are drawn to it, because humans naturally love pleasure!

For all the resources of the affluent which allows them to choose from the array of "healing modalities", their recovery rates are not better than their lower income counterparts who has much fewer options. Regardless of economic resources and therapeutic options the only predictor of regaining one's balance after trauma of any sort is the determination of the individual to face what they feel about their experience and begin to find a confidence and trust in themselves to recover.

This is a task that should be taken as it comes...not forced and focused upon. Reliving the trauma event only further engrains the experience in the psyche. Rather we can through education provide for ourselves and our communities the wisdom of understanding the injured person needs support and a sense of safety to begin to move out of the effects of their particular trauma experiences. 

Trauma is an inherent experience of all sentient beings.

The energy of it "unwinds" as the body and brain are able to release the shock response to it. In the case of protracted trauma one must move gently into supporting the physical and emotional body until...all on its own when safety is achieved the reptilian brain will clear the energy out of the system. 

In closing, it is not my intention to negate therapeutic options as ineffective.
​
It is my intention to debunk the commonly accepted understanding that a person cannot find relief, even healing on their own. I am taking exception with the continued victimization of the American public by the medical powers that be. This skewed perspective has developed to the advantage of the pharmaceutical and medical machines that need sick people as fodder for profits. People have come to accept premature aging, and are disconnected to the cause and effect of the metabolic syndrome disorders that lead to years of medication on its  slippery slope. It seems as though the average person has lost their ability to not only think for themselves, but to apply common sense to the care of their bodies and minds.

My message includes the need to that find one's connection to the source of the Divine mind within us. This is essential to the healing process. Studies on who recovers from chronic and life threatening illnesses demonstrate that a common denominator of those individuals is a belief in a power higher than themselves...a benevolent force and source of guidance that is available to them. They also believe they deserve to be healed and to enjoy their life.

This source of FAITH will come to all of us as we reach out in the darkness and simply ask for help. Help will come in the form of others who will support you, in changes of circumstances that foster personal growth. I have seen it over and over again..clients who say..."I am so glad I found you", "Why didn't my doctor ever tell me this?", "I never imagined that I could ever feel better", "I didn't know it was this simple"!

​*Antonio Damasio - The Feeling of What Happens

For all who suffer my prayers abide!
 Utilizing focus on supporting the physical body
​combine with the practices of Yang Sheng..nourishing life!
Join our community of “Bridge Crossers” today!

Wellness Consultant and Educator provides support in the healing process
through a variety of modalities and offers services remotely and locally in Scottsdale Arizona

Explore Healing Expeiences with Vanessa Goldeen
are available for a jump start toward a life filled with nourishment for body & soul!

Wellness Support / About Vanessa
I can help you find recovery... for more information feel free to email me at
[email protected]

Find us
Instagram: @scottsdalebridge2health
YouTube: @awakenandevolve
Check out the Healing Trauma Presentation and Series of talks!
Facebook: Bridge to Health and Awaken & Evolve Learning Center pages

​Sometime starting in 2024
I will be offering Learn to Heal online support group experiences as a way to
empower others to find what they need within!

What is the vagus nerve and why is everyone talking about it?

• The vagus nerve is the tenth cranial nerve (CNX) and is the longest mixed cranial nerve in the body.
• It's a pair of nerves that originate from the left and right side of the brain stem at medulla oblongata. 
• The Latin translation of the vagus is 'wanderer,' which aptly represents its pathway of meandering down the body into all the major organ systems.
• It functions as an intermediary between the brain and the organs.​
• It's vital role is an essential part of the parasympathetic (autonomic or automatic) nervous system is in maintaining overall wellness.
• It also governs the expression of fight, flight or freeze response. As well as maintaining calmness in the body when one is not in fight or flight.
• The vagus nerve is also responsible for the biological process of protecting the body against invaders, such as chemicals and pathogens.

​Everyone is talking about it because modern research has lead to a the understanding that Taoist Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Old School Naturopathic practitioners have always understood....enervation of the nervous system is the underlying cause of most illness. 

How did your vagus nerve become dis'regulated and lose tone?

• Infections and inflammation may play a role in that organisms can hijack this nerve pathway to the brain.
• Physiological and psychological stress over an extended period of time strains the vagus nerves.
• Ongoing trauma or unhappiness will affect vagus nerve tone.
• Overworking, exhaustion both mental and physical are detrimental to vagus tone
• Exposure to loud noise, living near a busy roadway or airport.
• Toxic, abusive and dysfunctional relationships affect vagus nerve functionality 

The most frequently offered advice for all of my clients in my wellness practice is STOP DOING SO MUCH! 

Why are we hearing so much about the vagus nerves these days?

• Nearly everyone suffers these days from issues related to exhaustion. The vagus nerve is going to produce the symptoms. The symptoms indicate a need to change and we all now know it's time for a change!
• Modern medicine has finally caught up to the fact that enervation is at the root of most health issues.
• We live in a time of a medical and marketing machines that are interested in offering expensive and exclusive therapies to take care of symptoms that they cannot offer a medication for.
• This medical machine proliferates the notion that only a medically offered therapy offers hope. It deters the idea that you can find healing yourself!
• We are also a fad oriented culture. If somebody tells us that we need to jump in cold water, then we're gonna do it every day and we're going to pay some salon or studio for a place to do that! 
• There are numerous devices being sold online to improve vagus tone ranging from $50 to100's of dollars. 

The fact that this information is available is a good thing.
The unfortunate side of it is the fact that there's so many snake oil profiteers making money from the process of improving vagus tone and not all is beneficial. This goes to back to my litany..."there is no magic pill". Including the myriad of therapies and manipulative techniques that are being offered for a variety of health issues. 

I say this and yet I am holding a class and creating a video on just that subject. However, my approach as always comes from the understanding that ultimately you are your best healer. As a Wellness Educator I am interested in one thing primarily: to give my clients and readers tools that they can use to be happy and be able to enjoy their life for a lifetime!

A return to age old adage..."a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is in order. In Taoist and Traditional Chinese Medicine getting sick is the failure of the practitioner and patient...period!! The aim in these approaches is ALWAYS to PREVENT, rather than to treat. Within my wellness practice I employ a common sense perspective with emphasis on what Taoist Medicine refers to as Yang Sheng. Through these teachings I am offering empowerment to my readers and clients which is certainly more precious than anything in this world!
With that in mind read on.....

Healthcare and prevention through Taoist teachings
Taoism predates Traditional Chinese Medicine as the oldest healing tradition on the planet. Taoism is a purely observational understanding that cannot be simply categorized as a religion, philosophy or medical system.  Taoist perspectives arise from the desire to live long, work out and prevent karmic debt. Wherein the expansion of awareness which leads to higher consciousness is considered the primary goal of one's life. All Taoist practices of self care arise from this notion and are collectively called Yangsheng

Yangsheng provides all the tools one needs to heal vagus nerve functionality and restore the body to an improved state of wellbeing. It is the cornerstone of my wellness practice with Bridge to Health..."Breathing, Sleeping, Laughing and Pooping" are the emphasis with all new clients. Once we establish these foundational adjustments most health challenges fade including lack of vagus nerve tone. Clients find themselves simply enjoying life more. 

Yangsheng derives from the the Huangdi Neijing (nei / jing defines as control of one's life energy) which is considered the oldest medical manuscript. It dates back to between 4,000 - 5,000 years. Describes within its contents is  a complete system of self care. It promotes the understanding that one is able to maintain optimal biological functionality at any age. It is interesting to note that many of the principles of Taoist Medicine have become the topic of numerous scientific Western studies. Researchers have time and again proven what the Taoist had discovered long ago. We are fortunate that through the lineages of Taoist teaching to have access to this profound information. 

What is Yangsheng?

• Yang is an active word/Chinese character form relating to nourishing, caring for, training, educating and cultivating. Its emphasis is on personal responsibility.
• Sheng emphasizes the act of living, growing, developing skills, utilizing natural instincts.
• Focus of yangsheng is balance.

In other words... Yangsheng is the practice of accumulating enough wisdom and knowledge to be able to properly care for oneself!

Western mindset failings have lead to the immature outlook of the average person in our culture!

• The Western way is a disconnected point of view precipitated by the belief we are to conquer and consume our way through life.
• This outlook leads folks to overextend themselves, over consume and become disconnected from the consequences of not using wisdom in the way they live their lives. 
• The result is a dependence upon a medical care system that profits from ill health and perpetuates the notion that the average person is not equipped to know what is best for themselves. 
• Cycles of ill health...physical, mental and emotional then plague families creating a nearly inescapable circumstance. 

Conversely Yangsheng promotes awareness as the primary healing tool. Diligence and commitment to one's own wellbeing as central to a well lived life. That self love is a spiritual and moral obligation of the individual as well as a duty to one's family.

The Yangsheng approach encompasses a variety of self care disciplines including

• The understanding of the principles of yin / yang as they relate to functionality of living organisms large and small. Respecting and maintaining balance of yin / yang is crucial to self care.
• Practices that improve the flow of qi / energy and information. The understanding of qi is much deeper than most people are aware...everything is qi. Qi is the energetic matrix all of creation arises from. You are an expression of qi. 
• Qigong literally to practice or master energy cultivation is a pillar of yangsheng as well as Neigong or inner alchemy. These practice integrate working with consciously cultivating breath.
• A variety of self treatment tools are utilized in daily or weekly rituals of self care including, acupressure tools such as gua sha combs and hand tools of various shapes and sizes. Bamboo tapping tools, stone or wood massagers as well.
• The use of water bathing and therapeutic treatments including foot baths, hip baths, hot and cold water treatments.
• Sound & music healing employed with instruments as well as tonal chanting and healing sounds are a key tool of these teachings as well.
• Emphasis is on the importance of sleep, moderate diet, pleasure, laughter, play, community and making adjustments in daily routine around the changing seasons.

Yangsheng promotes the ideal of what I call..."finding the middle path". Extremes in any form such as  over indulgence in food or alcohol, over exercising or working, excessive and obsessive sexual activity, irregular hours, falling into strong unchecked emotional patterns are all discouraged as these activities "burn" or dissipate one's qi leading to imbalance and inevitably symptoms!

​The cultivation of a quiet mind and strong Shen/Spirit are at the heart of cultivating one's ability to enjoy life.....being truly happy and healthy.

www.vagaro.com/bridgetohealthwellness/servicesLearn more about: Vanessa Goldeen , Bridge to Health, Wellness Support, Learn & Heal Consult
FDA WARNING: Vanessa Goldeen does not diagnose, treat or prescribe for any disease or medical condition.

Like any other physical health issue, anxiety has symptoms and those symptoms have an effect on the physical body as well. Fear is a basic biological process of an alarm that tells you something isn't right. It's a deep concern, a sense in your gut, or a full 5 alarm fire in the case of a physical threat, an emergency in which quick action is required to avoid harm to yourself or others.  It overrides the rational mind. The amygdala fires up, sending chemical messages to your frontal lobe, rational thinking becomes impaired by this arousal to take action. Adrenal pumps to empower you to take action. After it's over, your body unwinds with the help of the reptilian brain/limbic system and the whole thing passes, your body returns to normal and it's over.

Arousal of fear is a natural function of the sensory body whose purpose is to alert you of danger or potential for danger. In this way your brain can get out of the way so that you are able to move and take action without thinking about it. In the same way a Ninja or martial arts master is able to respond to threats with a defensive action that removes themselves or others from danger or subdues an attacker. This alert / alarm allows us to be empowered to avoid or overcome a situation that is dangerous, emotionally harmful or overly challenging to us.

However, the driver of the "anxiety mobile" in the case of generalized anxiety that does not appear to be in response to any immediate physical threat, is fearfulness. This form of fear is immobilizing leading to the "freeze response" or  adrenal driven "fight or flight". Protracted freeze response numbs one out making your feelings, your guidance system, unavailable to you. This is depression. Fight or flight unchecked is anxiety. The feeling is, you need to run, but there is nowhere to go...so you run in your mind instead!

Beyond the normal function of arousal we can become victimized by our own thoughts and worries, falling into a acute or chronic state of fearfulness. The energy of thoughts and worries is powerful and can make us believe things that are not real...irrational thinking. It also charges up our body with stress hormones and neurotransmitters that flood the system and literally make you feel ill. This cascade of stress leads to insomnia, fatigue, malaise, depression, digestive disorders, panic state, fluctuations in blood sugar. Anxiety can become debilitating to the extreme.

The medical profession's preferred way of treating anxiety is with medications for which they are substantially rewarded financially by drug companies. Treatment usually involves a combination of antidepressants and tranquilizers... Serotonin uptake inhibitors and benzodiazepines. In some cases of serious depression and debilitating anxiety a short term use of the medications may be helpful. But, the down side of these medications is a slippery slope that ultimately leads to more compounded health issues. The failure of medications points toward the need to work with the symptom rather than suppress it. As in the case of most healing, working with a symptom may mean taking time off to rest, to reflect, making space for recovery. This does not work well in our modern society that wants everybody to be productive all the time. Unfortunately, we pay a bigger price in the end for not taking care when symptoms arise.
More about the dangers of antidepressants.
More about the dangers of benzodiazepines.​

In the framework of Taoist medicine, we are equipped to look at the manifestation of symptoms based on the energetic expression. Often depression and anxiety go hand-in-hand.
​
​We begin by understanding that we feel the way we do for a good reason. This point is missed by modern medicine which seeks to fix the symptom rather than arrive at the root cause of the of the symptom as an energetic expression.

What is healing?

• Healing is a resolution of symptoms. 

What are symptoms?

• Symptoms are a warning. They are a disruption in our microbiology that point toward a need for healing.

Why do we search for healing?

• We search because internally, within our well of understanding, we know that ill health means that something is not as it should be. 

Symptoms get our attention inducing us into a search for healing.

• It is in this search that we have an opportunity to evolve, mature and grow out of or beyond our need to harm or withhold from ourselves what we need to be happy, healthy and enjoy our life.​

The bigger part of healing...

• Beyond supporting the body with nutrition or therapies, the bigger part of healing lies in the ability to find balance in one's life. To be released from notions about what you do not deserve and to gain the courage to live the life that suits you better.

The Body is Built to be Self Healing
This seems so profound until you understand that you may cut your finger or sprain an ankle and over time that injury will heal. It may need a little support like a bandaid or wrap, possible some ointment but, it will heal. This mechanism of self healing is the norm, disease is the abnormal. All the cells of the body have an innate intelligence to repair and heal. When cells die, new ones are generated to continue the process of life.

There are miraculous abilities of the body that few people have an understanding of, for example....

• When you expose your body to sunlight it naturally produces ozone in the blood, which is detoxifying in that it is antiseptic.
• The body also produces vitamin D with sunlight exposure.
• Sun gazing, looking at the sun with eyes closed induces the production of serotonin a crucial neurotransmitter that is an antidote to excessive adrenaline.
• Serotonin magically converts to melatonin when the sun goes down, to draw us to sleep.
• Dreaming which seems so random is the body's way of processes abstract emotions, emotional dilemmas, and excess psychic energy from trauma.
• Around about 4:30 in the early morning your liver begins to breakdown stored glucose to provide the body energy after the long fasting period during sleep.
• The body regenerates, repairs and restores all major organ and endocrine system during sleep.
• Intuition derives from the production of beneficial neurotransmitters in the gut. 
• Fasting which is a natural experience for all mammals increases the production of human growth hormone, strengthening the body...a literal fountain of youth.

​
​Resources to maintain health and healthy generations....
Add to this, the miraculous power of plants and herbs, rich sources of nutrition from a widely varied omnivore diet that supplies both animal and vegetable fats to sustain high functioning brains. Include the myriad of fungi in the form of mushrooms that are readily available to enhance endocrine and brain function and promote more efficient cellular metabolism. Going further into the world of fermented foods that support a health microbiome and are available in nearly all cultures across the planet. There is within these resources everything humans to be born and remain healthy for a lifetime. 

Perception is everything...
The current model of aging in modern societies is skewed toward medication dependence at such poor level of health that premature aging is seen as the norm. Currently in the US statistical analysis of medication use revealed that from the age of 9 years and up, the average American is taking 4 or more medications. In all but rare cases medications do not heal. Medications are used to address a complaint/symptoms which is in other words, a disruption in the microbiology ranging from acute to chronic. Medication does not, cannot heal what created the symptom in the first place and most often leave us with many unwanted side effects having not addressed the underlying cause. 

In defense of allopathic/pharmaceutical medicine...
Referring the the BTH on the state of health & wellness in America, "How did we get here?" Most people fail to  understand that the symptom is the teacher, so we turned to MD's to ease our many complaints. There was a time when doctors would encourage patients to make changes to alleviate stress, improve diet, exercise more...only to have this well given advice to fall on deaf ears. This leaves physician in a state of helplessness and discouragement that is the basis for the allopathic/pharmaceutical paradigm.

What is the healing field?

• The healing field is a state of being in which the individual becomes empowered to grow into a deeper awareness level and is able to see how their life choices and patterns have disabled them.

What is required to attain and maintain this state?

• Recognize and acknowledge that all is not well.
• Be present with one's self and understand that all healing begins with being able to connect to one's self in a meaningful and loving way.

Taoist Medicine 6 conditions for healing translate into all healing modalities. They are...

• Feeling of safety which allows us to be present in the moment and connect with our support systems (practitioner, friends, family)
• Safety allows us to quiet the mind adopting a posture of listening for guidance.
• In the quietness of listening we are able to feel and be fully present with our body, our emotions and our sense of purpose or lack of it. We become aware of unresolved emotional charges and blocks that may hinder us.
• Accepting what we feel no matter how irrational it may seem we come to realize we feel the way we do for a reason. We no longer judge ourselves critically, but simply are able to accept what is. 
• This level of acceptance leads to an opening of the heart that allows one to receive and give love. A flow of the chi, intelligence and energy that is love, heals! In this space we are able to allow the irrational emotions which can then clear form the body...releasing stagnant chi/energetic charges.
• From this place we begin to grow out of what hindered us. Our microbiology shifts into a state of happiness and we just begin to feel better.  An evolution in our consciousness has shifted us into a more grounded and centered state which we are empowered to maintain.

​Download the PDF at the bottom of the article to learn more.

A Brief History of Healing Practices
​As a Wellness Consultant and Educator my first hand experience with the healing process has given me a deeper understanding about the nature of healing. In this article I am sharing what I see and know to be true about healing. There is nothing scientific about this information, it is observational.

There are healing modalities from around the world that are purely observational as opposed to the scientific requirements or proof or cause upon which allopathic medicine relies. These include Ayurvedic & Taoist medicine/methodology, European based folk healing including the work of Sister Hildagard of Bingen whose writing on medicine in the 12th century mirror many of the same practice in Taoist medicine. From the European School we have many practitioners whose knowledge grew from the teaching of Pedanius Dioscorides a Greek physician of the Roman Army from 65 AD whose book "De Materia Medica" provided a foundation of knowledge that spread throughout Europe as the Roman army conquered the lands of the north.  

These various schools have similar healing practices with regional healers who employ local foods, plants and herbs along with physical manipulation of the body and an astute ability to observe the patient within the context of his/her daily life, family interactions and emotional states. This approach being truly holistic, treating the whole person body and soul.

These forms of observational medicine have commonality in the understanding that the body heals naturally and that symptoms are simply a disruption or shift in healthy microbiology. They also share a deeper knowledge of why and when will the body not heal. In other words what conditions of healing cannot be met and why. This preponderance leads to an expanding body of knowledge that gives wisdom to the practitioner and enhances their ability to facilitate shifting conditions with the patient in hopes of creating a healing experience. 

Many of these observational form of medicine developed thousands of years ago, when there was no modern medicine with the allure of "magic pills". Practitioners employ the use of medicinal substances within a holistic context that includes encouragement and imparting of wisdom for mind and body to their patients.

Most physician of today spend little time with patients, know little about their personal life and certainly rarely ever even lay a hand on a patient. Many of my clients report visits to MD's in which eye contact is never made and discussions are rare. This disconnect from patients hinders any potential for healing and finds it's basis in the "magic pill" notion. This perspective pervades medical therapies in the modern world which often dismisses any practice employing natural healing methods. 

As a Wellness Practitioner employing multiple modalities, I work holistically...treating body, mind and spirit. Watching with wonder at the response clients have as they grow in awareness and gain knowledge to keep them healthy for a lifetime!

Entirely preventable, type 2 diabetes and its predecessor insulin resistance create the greatest amount of suffering and healthcare expenditures in the US and around the world. Current statistic ranks this as the single most devastating health care issue now being faced by as many as 40% of the adult populations of the US and is rapidly growing in children as young as 3-5 years old. 

Type two diabetes it's a death warrant. It's a long slow painful downhill road leading to organ failure and painful death. It takes it toll on those who suffer and the family members and caregivers of those individuals. Overall costs of care for patients with type 2 diabetes is estimated at 245 billion annually in the US!

Literally drowning in sugar. Too much glucose in the blood leads to a condition called hyperglycemia.   When poor dietary choices lead to over ingestion of concentrated carbohydrates from processed flour based foods, potato and corn products such as chips, sugar/sucrose and corn syrup the inevitable result will be a fatty liver and an onset stage of insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance develops over time when excess carbohydrates flood the body with too much blood glucose. The glut of glucose in the blood sets up a vicious cycle in which the pancreas attempts to keep up with the amount of blood secreting more and more insulin. Correspondingly the endocrine system says something is not right here and it begins to turn off receptors for insulin, insulin resistance.

​This is a vicious cycle that generally ends in a diagnosis of type two diabetes and medications which do not cure. They stayed off symptoms for a while but eventually the body declines succumbing to the inevitable health issues seen in the graphic above.

​Type 2 diabetes is most often accompanied with a fatty liver. The liver strained from the vicious cycle of excess carbohydrate resulting in high glucose levels. It's stores the excess glucose within itself, developing fat within the liver. Fat deposits also accumulate around all the other internal organs in the body's attempt to store the excess glucose energy. The person who suffers is literally drowning in sugar!

This debilitating condition is easily reversed. Every person can accomplish this if they are determined and are willing to evolve and grow to understand the cause and effect of this illness has wounded them.