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 

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.

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​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!

What do you mean when you say enervation?
Enervation is word that describes long term adrenal fatigue resulting in endocrine dysfunction and a wide array of manifestations of symptoms. Some subtle some not so subtle.

How does one become enervated?
Enervation is the result of too much adrenaline and too little serotonin. One falls into this condition as a result of being out of touch with the body and what the body needs.

How does that happen?
Adrenaline is stimulating. It's job is to give you the extra umph to get going when an emergency calls for it. It makes it possible for you to ignore injuries and fear in order to survive an event. That's a good thing. But, when your life situation, circumstances or lifestyle choices puts you into constant fight or flight response with adrenaline pumping continuously over time you become anaesthetized. You are unable to discern what your body needs.  Basic things like resting, breathing, eating...you are literally out of touch with what you need.

What is fight or flight?
The fight or flight response in a cascade effects of neurotransmitters that gets your body ready for action putting the body in a state of hyperarousal. This is an acute response for a limited time. Healthy people and wild animals are predominantly in the "alpha state" This describes a brain wave pattern that allows you to be calm and alert at the same time. This is a fluid state of being that allows you to respond and when the situation resolves you are able to return to a state of calm peacefulness.

How did I get stuck in the fight or flight response?
There are a lot of varied factors that lead to chronic fight or flight.

• Abusive situations whether it's a job, a marriage, partnership, family life, sexual abuse, living in a country that is at war or in conflict, serving in a war or conflict.
• Financial stressors or self imposed financial standards or relentless materialism.
• Messages from parents as children can lead to deep fears about being inadequate, feelings of shame or guilt. Pressure to achieve a certain station in life or rise to parents expectations.
• Experiencing situations that are frightening to you, even if it's just a chronic low level fear you may not be completely aware that you have.
• Working in a job you don't like, hate or do not feel fulfilled. Unable to find the right vocation.
• Being a work'aholic.

All of the above can be factors. The difficulty arise when a person is out of touch with themselves because of the high adrenaline levels. You don't feel any of this adversely, or so you think you're okay....but, over time the damaging effects of too much adrenal will take it's toll.

What does that mean?
It means that symptoms will begin to arise. A symptom is your body's way of getting your attention. Symptoms manifest so you can feel that something is not right and make a course correction. Failure to pay attention to the symptom at a lower level means you'll go along like everything is okay. The body will continue to produce symptoms until it gets your attention.

It is possible to ignore symptoms until the body no longer has the energy to create them! We have all heard stories of people dropping dead of a heart attack, as though it came from nowhere! Of a person being diagnosed with cancer and dying shortly afterward, when all their friends would say they seemed like they were in perfect health. These life threatening illness don't come out of nowhere. They are the result of years of tuning out the body's messages. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the ultra-sensitive individual. Often ostracized for their sensitivity these individuals are overly sensitive from years of overstimulation of the adrenal complex and the endocrine system as a whole gets out of whack.

How can I recover?
Recovery takes a dedicated effort to support healing. It means slowing down so you can become more aware of how tired you really are. It requires a willingness to enter into the healing field. 

The healing field is an energetic reality that you create for yourself. Finding the right practitioner to support your healing process that you can trust. Learning how to be with what you feel, processing those feelings naturally in your dreamtime at night while your sleeping. Becoming more mindful of what you need and giving it to yourself...self love and acceptance. Letting go of control and surrendering to what is, rather that some notion of what you think should be!

​Bridge to Health Wellness 
Offer 5 modalities designed to restore body, mind and spirit.
DETOX - PURIFY - SUPPORT - HEART - UNWIND
These modalities create a "bridge to health", feeling better and enjoying life more
Guiding you back to an evolution to your true self, your inner voice.
Learning that you can trust yourself to know what is best for you.
​It's all about moving out of fear. 
Some modalities can be offered remotely
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