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Nothing good gets away

This week, I was struck by an article that I read on The Atlantic about falling in love. It was a letter that an American author, John Steinbeck, wrote to his son while he was attending boarding school. His letter was in response to his boy telling his father that he had fallen desperately in love with a classmate. John Steinbeck’s response is beautiful and touching. Both respectful and fatherly to his son’s blossoming love, his final line struck me most…

Nothing Good Gets AwayNothing good gets away.

Four simple words and yet so powerful.

Nothing good gets away.

Just sit with that a moment.

There is profundity in simplicity. Like when a child expresses a observation that we often dismiss as mundane. An everyday occurrence and, yet, in the eyes of a child, a stunning discovery. Those four words stopped me in my tracks.

Nothing good gets away.

How many times have we thought we have struck upon the most amazing thing? It could be love, could be lust, could be a fleeting infatuation. At that moment, it feels like it is the only thing that is important. But, as time wears on…and layers get stripped away, there is an opportunity to examine this plane and decide – do I wish to go further?

With infatuation and lust, those layers tend to be superficial and the interest to go deeper fades away. But, when it is good, truly good, even if those layers may be difficult, there is the desire to keep moving forward. Those layers can take months and years to work through, but intrinsically, the heart intuitively knows when it wants to continue to explore – sometimes into deep, dark caverns of the human spirit.

Where I am going with this, is I want to implore you to think deeper about your personal relationship with love, lust and infatuation. I don’t want you to think about a specific person, but more, about your actual meanings of love, lust and infatuation. How do those three simple emotions relate to your life in more than a just sexual way?

There may be interests, your career, your personal self-illusions – that you have had that could easily fall into any of those three interests. Have you been truly been moving to the next layer or are you ruminating in one – not certain if you want to take the plunge into the next level?

Lust and infatuation are fun, but fleeting. Love transcends those first layers and, in the end, culminates into something beautiful. I want you to find what you truly love, because my friends, when it is good, it doesn’t get away.

Complementary Approaches to Managing and Preventing Influenza

In my ongoing process of posting the things I write for my graduate program in Holistic Health, I want to share with you my most recent paper…enjoy!

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ivebeensickInfluenza is a contagious respiratory infection that can cause major illness requiring hospitalization or even cause death.  While vaccines are available for this illness, there is a likelihood that the vaccine may not help immunity to particular strains that may develop over the course of the season.  Children and the elderly, the immunocompromised, are at most risk of acquiring this illness and, up until 2000, were the only groups that were recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to receive the vaccine (Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices, 2000).  The statistical data that surrounds mortality from influenza in the United States is vaguely interpreted by the CDC.  They do not require states to report deaths from influenza for anyone over the age of 18, and frequently, when the patient had an underlying health condition, seasonal influenza is not cited since secondary complications are the main cause of death. Finally, seasonal influenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications.  The wildly varying estimates of 3,000 – 49,000 deaths per year from the 1976-1977 to 2006-2007 flu seasons (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013) have made many people question why the CDC has changed its recommendation, suggesting that the flu shot be given to everyone as opposed to only those who are at high risk.  However, this paper is not intended to address the specific controversies surrounding the influenza vaccine or why people may choose to not receive it. Rather, this paper is a means to look at complementary approaches to preventing the acquisition of the illness and to make recommendations to alleviate the illness, should the reader unfortunately acquire it. The five main approaches addressed in this paper will include the use of certain types of dietary supplementation, the importance of nutrition, exercise, the use of nasal irrigation products, and the use of essential oils.

Supplementation

Supplementation to an otherwise healthy person’s diet is crucial during influenza season as many factors can contribute to immune suppression and the spread of the virus during the winter months.  In 2008, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) discovered the coating of the flu virus is like butter, which hardens and melts depending on the temperature.  During the winter months, this coating hardens with the colder temperatures, making it more stable and easily propelled through airborne transmission (e.g. sneezing or coughing). Once the virus enters the warm respiratory tract, the coating melts, thus allowing it to infect cells (Fox, 2008).  Despite the immune system’s winter-bombardment, there are a number of supplements that can help curb the collateral damage caused by influenza.

Active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) is one supplement that has been proven to bolster the immune system by increasing natural killer (NK) cells, the first line of defense in the immune system (Ritz, Nogusa, Ackerman, & Gardner, 2006).  AHCC is a proprietary medicinal mushroom blend that is intended to strengthen the immune system and is taken in capsule form.  This bionutraceutical formula contains several species of Basidiomycete mushrooms, including shiitake.  A 2013 pilot study showed that AHCC significantly improves the efficacy of seasonal influenza vaccination (Roman, Beli, Duriancik, & Gardner, 2013).

In addition to AHCC, another important supplement to consider is turmeric, which can assist in a preemptive strike towards fighting the influenza virus.  Turmeric is a plant in the ginger family and has a bright yellow coloring.  It is most commonly used as flavoring in Indian curries.  An important pharmacological agent in turmeric is curcumin, which has been used in both Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine for centuries.  Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that is also antimicrobial and boasts impressive daily nutritional values, including manganese, iron, vitamin B6, potassium, vitamin C, magnesium, and fiber.  It can be consumed in a dried, powered format, shredded from fresh turmeric root, or used in capsule form.  A fascinating study in 2009 showed that curcumin has the ability to interrupt virus-cell attachment, thus showing promising potential as an anti-influenza drug (Chen et al., 2010).

While curcumin has antimicrobial qualities, licorice root is yet another extremely powerful herbal remedy.  Licorice root, also known as “sweet root,” is a powerful herb that grows throughout India, parts of Asia, and southern Europe.  This herb is frequently taken either in capsule form or used in teas.  It contains the pharmacological agent known as Glycyrrhizin. Glycyrrhizin has been extensively studied and shown to be antiviral, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory.  It also helps to increase blood pressure.  In vivo studies using mice showed that while this powerful agent did not stop the influenza infection, it did help to alleviate the course of the influenza by increasing the body’s natural production of interferon (Utsunomiya, Kobayashi, Pollard, & Suzuki, 1997), a protein that inhibits virus replication.

Nutrition

There are also nutritional deficiencies that are known to lower the effectiveness of the immune system, thereby making the host more susceptible to many diseases, including influenza.  However, there are a number of ways through supplementation and nutrition that you can bolster your immune system.  While the minerals zinc, selenium, and iron are important for fighting all infections, there are several vitamins that are particularly powerful in fighting infections (Cunningham-Rundles, McNeeley, & Moon, 2005).

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that facilitates the intestinal absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate, and zinc, all of which help to fight infection.  The human body has the ability to synthesize vitamin D from unlight absorbed by the skin, but is not otherwise capable of producing vitamin D.  Vitamin D may be ingested through foods like cheese, egg yolk, fatty fish like tuna and salmon, and fortified foods like orange juice and cereal.  Supplements are another good way to obtain vitamin D, particularly in northern regions where sunlight is scarce many months of the year.  In a 2009 study, it was determined that patients with a blood serum of 25-hydroxyvitamin D higher than 38 ng/ml demonstrated significant health benefits by reducing the recovery time of influenza to two days. Patients whose blood serum concentrations were lower generally took nine days to recover (Sabetta et al., 2010).

Vitamin D is not the only vitamin that helps bolster the immune response. Vitamin C is a protective powerhouse.  Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C, is a water-soluble nutrient found in foods such as citrus fruits, tomatoes, kale, broccoli, and peppers.  This antioxidant protects cells from the damage caused by free radicals. It has been directly linked to decreasing the length of time to recover from an acute respiratory ailment such as the common cold or flu.  In one study, students with upper respiratory illnesses were given megadoses of vitamin C at the onset of their illnesses. Each hour, for six hours, they were given 1000 mg of vitamin C, resulting in 85% of participants finding relief from their symptoms (Gorton & Jarvis, 1999).

While vitamins D and C are two extremely powerful vitamins, there are many others that are crucial to overall health, including vitamin A and two B vitamins that are very potent antivirals including B1 (thiamine) and B3 (niacin).  Green juices are nature’s powerhouses for giving your body a super jolt of nutrients.  As Christine Roseberry, a Certified Holistic Nutrition Practitioner, explains on her website, “Just Glowing with Health,” a green juice daily helps to boost your immune system to fight the flu similar to how the influenza vaccine does.  She recommends juices combining broccoli and ginger, both of which contain flu-fighting elements.  The health benefits of broccoli, which is high in vitamin C, is also rich in flavonoids, zinc, and selenium, all that strengthen our immune systems.  Ginger is known to kill cold viruses, naturally contains two natural antibiotics, and can help to combat fever, chills, and congestion (Roseberry, 2013).

Exercise

Many studies have shown that exercise is an important tool for preventing major diseases – cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity – but it is also strongly linked to overall health and warding off common illnesses such as the cold or flu.  Keeping a regular exercise plan as simple as a daily walk or going to the gym every other day may have health benefits that extend into day-to-day wellness. Although it is not entirely known how exercise helps fight upper respiratory illnesses, there are a number of theories, including that physical activity flushes bacteria out of the lungs, thereby decreasing the chance of an airborne illnesses. Stretching and aerobic exercise also helps to move lymph fluid, which clears trapped toxins from the system (Richards, 2012). Additionally, as the heart pumps faster and circulates blood faster, it sends antibodies and white blood cells around the body faster than normal. Since they are moving around more quickly, it is speculated that they are able to detect illnesses earlier. Since the circulating blood is moving faster, it may also trigger a release of hormones that warn cells of invading bacteria and viruses.  The same mechanism that sends out hormones to warn cells of invaders also sends out other hormones that give the sense of well-being (Vorvick & Zieve, 2012).  Finally, the rise in body temperature may prevent bacterial growth, allowing the body to fight the infection more effectively.

Nasal Flushing

The use of saline nasal irrigation, either through the use of a Neti pot or by nasal spray, is another approach used to prevent upper respiratory illnesses that also helps to alleviate symptoms such as a runny nose and congestion.  Neti pots have been in use in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries and are just as common of a daily hygiene routine in India as brushing one’s teeth.  When regular saline irrigation is used, particularly after an upper respiratory event, there is less likelihood of recurrence. This was a robust and consistent finding with parameters such as symptom relief, medication consumption, and reported absences (Slapak, Skoupa, Strnad, & Hornik, 2008)  Mechanically flushing out the nasal passages is a good way to help move viruses out of your body before they are able to latch on to cells.

Essential Oils

Essential oils can be used as inhalants, used topically or, in some cases, taken internally.  Essential oils are not true oils as they do not have a fatty acid chain. They are, however, highly concentrated liquids that contain volatile aromas.  They promote overall well-being by alleviating stress, improving your skin and digestion, and can act as repellents to viruses.  Eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, and oregano oils can be used to help open up stuffed sinus passages and provide antiviral and antifungal benefits when used topically.  An interesting study done using a commercially available essential oil blend showed that, in-vitro, the oil has the ability to reduce the effect of the influenza virus (Wu et al., 2010).  This essential oil blend contains a combination of the oils orange, clove, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus leaf, and rosemary.  It is a compelling study that has potential for further uses of other essential oils in the prevention and management of influenza.

Conclusion

While influenza can sometimes be unavoidable due to exposure in medical, work, and school settings, there are many ways to bolster your immune system without vaccination regimens.  Ironically, in the years that I have received the influenza vaccine, I have gotten sicker than I have the years that I have declined it, thus my interest in natural approaches.  This paper explored a small fraction of my personal favorite modalities. I apply these in my everyday routine to help prevent and manage the side effects of influenza, many of which I follow year round but ramp up in early September.  In conclusion, natural supplementation of AHCC, turmeric, and licorice root are all powerful anti-inflammatories. Vitamin D helps the absorption of critical minerals that fight infection, and vitamin C helps bolster the immune system.  Aerobic exercise helps flush out the immune system by both moving lymphatic fluid and moving bacteria out of the lungs.  Mechanical methods of flushing viruses from the sinus passages by use of Neti pots and saline washes may help fight further infection and can alleviate congestion during illness.  Finally, essential oils can be used to alleviate the symptoms of influenza and, with further study, may prove to be novel antiviral and antifungal approaches to managing illness.  Naturally, these recommendations should also be paired with the standard good hygiene practices of hand washing, coughing or sneezing into your elbow, getting plenty of rest, and staying home from work or school should you become ill.

References

Chen, D., Shien, J., Tiley, L., Chiou, S., Wang, S., Chang, T., . . . Hsu, W. (2010). Curcumin inhibits influenza virus infection and haemagglutination activity. Food Chemistry, 119(4), 1346-1351. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.09.011

Cunningham-Rundles, S., McNeeley, D. F., & Moon, A. (2005). Mechanisms of nutrient modulation of the immune response. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 115(6), 1119-1128. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2005.04.036

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, September 12). Estimating seasonal influenza-associated deaths in the United States: CDC study confirms variability of flu. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm

Fox, M. (2008, March 2). U.S. study shows why winter is flu season. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/02/us-flu-winter-idUSN0228175320080302

Gorton, H. C., & Jarvis, K. (1999). The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 22(8), 530-533. doi:10.1016/S0161-4754(99)70005-9

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (2000, April 14). Prevention and control of influenza. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 49(RR03), 1-38. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4903a1.htm

Richards, B. (2012, November 1). A healthy lymph system is vital for flu fighting immunity. Retrieved from http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/a_healthy_lymph_system_is_vital_for_flu_fighting_immunity/

Ritz, B. W., Nogusa, S., Ackerman, E. A., & Gardner, E. M. (2006). Supplementation with active hexose correlated compound increases the innate immune response of young mice to primary influenza infection. The Journal of Nutrition, 136(11), 2868-2873.

Roman, B. E., Beli, E., Duriancik, D. M., & Gardner, E. M. (2013). Short-term supplementation with active hexose correlated compound improves the antibody response to influenza B vaccine. Nutrition Research, 33, 12-17. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2012.11.001

Roseberry, C. (2013, October 17). Green power flu fighting juice. Retrieved from http://justglowingwithhealth.com/green-power-flu-fighting-juice/

Sabetta, J. R., DePetrillo, P., Cipriani, R. J., Smardin, J., Burns, L. A., & Landry, M. L. (2010). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections in healthy adults. PloS One, 5(6), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011088

Slapak, I., Skoupa, J., Strnad, P., & Hornik, P. (2008). Efficacy of isotonic nasal wash (seawater) in the treatment and prevention of rhinitis in children. Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 134, 67-74.

Utsunomiya, T., Kobayashi, M., Pollard, R. B., & Suzuki, F. (1997). Glycyrrhizin, an active component of licorice roots, reduces morbidity and mortality of mice infected with lethal doses of influenza virus. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 41(3), 551-556.

Vorvick, L., & Zieve, D. (2012, May 15). Exercise and immunity. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007165.htm

Wu, S., Patel, K. B., Booth, L. J., Metcalf, J. P., Lin, H., & Wu, W. (2010). Protective essential oil attenuates influenza virus infection: An in vitro study in MDCK cells. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 10(69), 1-13. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-10-69

Intuition and Healing

This is my philosophy paper that I wrote for my first class, Foundations of Holistic Health. I am quite happy with it. I hope you enjoy reading it. I struggle with APA formatting, which I tried to include below. Feel free to drop me a note if you have a suggestion.

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Intuition and Healing

There are many pathways to take to the roads to health, wellness and illness.  With my years of personal experience on each these journeys, I have discovered that no one path is right for everyone and that taking positive responsibility by advocacy, and being an active participant in your healing journey is vital to your overall well-being.  Over the last century, there has been an assumption that biomedicine is capable of fixing all medical issues and diseases with a pill or a surgery, when in fact, it only alleviates the symptom and frequently does not address the root cause.  Essentially, the human is reduced to merely a physical body that operates like a machine – diseased and broken parts are repaired and replaced without acknowledgement of the person’s experience with the disease or life.  There is a massive disconnect between the living, breathing, loving, laughing person, and the diseased body part in this same person’s body.  What is more provocative, is the question of why biomedicine can provide competent technical care, but fails to provide humane and dignified care that seems fundamental to the human experience (Marcum, 2008).  This is not to discredit biomedicine, but to help understand how to provide quality, whole care by understanding that mind, body and spirit all connect to form one being. Holistically approaching our health and wellness with a variety of methods is fundamental to achieving the best possible outcomes to live a life with meaning and intention, therefore, striking a balance between spirit, body, the mind and technology.  This paper will address how intuition is intrinsically fundamental in relation to health, wellness, illness, the changing tides in approaches to complementary care, how both modern healers and patients need to approach the healer/patient relationship and how modern healers are forging a new frontier as social activists.

Perspectives on Health, Illness, Wellness and Paradigm Shift

The 1946 preamble to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Constitution (“Constitution of the World Health Organization”, 1946) is quite succinct in their definition of health, “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” It is very clear that they do not view health as the absence of disease, but, they view it as a much broader human experience including both emotional and social aspects.  Despite this enveloping view, in the 50 years following there was a shift away from health as a whole, focusing solely on the body’s function rather than looking at how the body functions in its environment.  There are age-old adages, “follow your instincts” and “gut instincts,” and other similar sayings in nearly every culture and for a good reason.  Humankind, by its birthright, is an instinctive and intuitive species.  Instinct and intuition is what has allowed us to evolve and thrive for thousands of years.  While the advent of biomedicine has made significant advances in health care, it has decreased people’s natural intuition, by becoming dependent on scientific findings rather than trusting their intuition and what their body is telling them.  Paired with the increasing demands on our time in our modern world, we learn to ignore our intuition, but, it is always present (Lin, 2003).  Even though many people have overlooked their most basic intuition when it comes to the fundamentals of their well-being, there are changes happening throughout biomedicine and the world around us.  O. Carl Simonton, a radiation oncologist who began including lifestyle counseling to his patient’s treatment regimens, refers to this as “inner wisdom” in his books The Healing Journey and Getting Well Again (Simonton, 1978, 2002), which served as a ground breaking book.  Inner wisdom is a tool to increase your sense of power, well-being, and peace of mind.  Inner wisdom is further described by former surgeon Bernie Siegel in his book, The Art of Healing as “powerful inner resources for healing and problem solving (Siegel, 2013).”  It is this profound inner wisdom, teased out by use of imagery and meditation, paired with all the wonderful tools we have in the worlds of biomedicine and other holistic healing modalities that are the key to attaining a true sense of health and wellness.  As the 2007 Shift Report so concisely states, “When people start believing that they have choices, that their lives have meaning, then the future becomes a place to protect, not fear (The 2007 Shift Report, 2007).”  This is abundantly true in all stages of health, illness and wellness as there are many studies related to positivity and their disease outcomes for multiple sclerosis, breast cancer and heart disease (Scheier & Carver, 1985).  Biomedicine, along with guided visualization, meditation, nutrition, yoga, energy work, herbal medicine and other holistic treatments are all tools to add to the toolbox.  Both healers and patients need to realize that the paths to wellness include a variety of options and by utilizing all of these tools to create a quality healing experience.  Over the last half century, holistic care has become a more accessible and often the preferred modality of care amongst patients of all ages.

Changing Attitudes across Generations

Watching my parents’ generation, I have seen a blind trust of biomedicine and reliance on their doctors to prescribe the correct drugs, treatments and surgeries.  As they have aged, and more pills are added to their daily regimen, they are beginning to question what is truly happening with their healthcare and quality of life.  While there is still a fear of not following doctors’ orders, more seniors want to look outside the box to see if there are better ways to manage their healthcare to find pain relief and natural ways to deal with aging minds and bodies (Katz-Stone, 1998).  Seniors are recognizing biomedicine is not a panacea for their ills and are looking towards the inner wisdom their parents and grandparents observed.  In my own lifetime, I have seen an enormous change in how people are approaching their health.  People are living far more consciously, connecting to their innate wisdom by following yoga practices, adopting healthy diets, making exercise a priority, engaging in spiritual practices, listening to their bodies, connecting with nature and understanding that as humans we are far more than a complex system of organs that run like machinery.

The Interchangeable Roles of Healer and the Patient

A critical shift for the modern healer in this new paradigm is to understand that they play a pivotal and varied role in the care of their client.  We may play the role of a facilitator, and not necessarily leading the treatment modality; acting as both a consultant and compassionate champion; an intuitive advocate; and as a guide or mentor.  Biomedicine has largely focused on a detached relationship between patient and healer, leaving both parties in a precarious relationship.  The patient feels they are not being seen as a human, thus their disease and treatment becomes a larger source of fear and isolation, making them feel powerless. In turn, the healer questions their ability to truly care for their patients (Siegel, 2013, p.13).  In stark contrast to the distant doctor-patient relationship that is so prevalent in Western medicine, in South African traditional healing, this patient-healer relationship is deeply rooted in personal connection.  The relationship model is so intertwined that should the patient die, the healer goes through a grieving period where they remove their ceremonial artifacts and do not practice.  With this sacred relationship broken and their healing powers diminished, the healer must be treated by another healer before they can practice again (Micozzi, 2011).  It is this kind of interconnectedness that brings a sense of meaning not only to a person’s life and health that is vital for overall well-being for the individual and the community.

From the patient perspective, the most important part of the healing process is taking an active role in their health, illness and recovery.  The patient’s new role may be a team captain, which assembles an “A-Team” to help coordinate their healthcare by including integrative and fitness coaches, medical professionals, dieticians, family members and friends who focus on the patient’s healing intentions and to help guide them through a health crises (Block, 2009).  As many patients have taken a backseat to the doctor’s prescriptions and recommendations, it is time for patients to reclaim their power, their inner wisdom, to look at the various pathways and make decisions on what is their best course of treatment.  Treatment modalities cannot be limited, but, should be explored to find what resonates best in the patient’s world.  This might include traditional biomedicine of surgery and medications, but could combine, yoga, meditation or guided imagery. It may take a determined holistic approach that eschews biomedicine altogether and looks towards diet, alternative and homeopathic medications, exercise, yoga, meditation or prayer for healing intents. One of the most critical pieces of the patient’s healing journey is belief.  It is what resonates with the individual that makes the most sense for their treatment based on their basic belief systems.

Belief systems are powerful tools that can work with or against the patient’s treatment goals and outcomes.  Deeply connected to values and morals, beliefs are usually strongly held, and personal and affect the individual’s world view.  If the patient does not have an internal concept of power, or an ability to generate internal energy or emotional resources such as self-sufficiency, they struggle with their healing process. (Myss, 1996)  Ministering and sometimes helping the patient to remodel their belief systems requires diligence, compassion and respect on both the part of the patient and the healer.  It is this responsibility, intuitiveness and self-reliance that keeps the healer-patient relationship dynamic and fluid, by exchanging ideas and exploring new pathways for the patient’s healing intentions.

Healer as Social Activist

Building on the role of the healer as a facilitator, the work of men and women over the ages who were bringing healing “to the people” have provided fundamental therapies to those who may not have had accessibility or the interest to pursue what is considered mainstream standards of care.  In our not so recent past, these social activists have gone through tremendous amounts of strife from institutionalized medicine, which accused them of being witches or had laws enacted to prevent midwives from providing care to patients or to ban women from studying in medical schools (Ehrenreich & English, 2010).  In recent times, there has been the American Medical Association’s (AMA) decades-long attempt to obliterate chiropractic care, referring to practitioners as “unscientific cultists.”  A federal antitrust suit was brought against the AMA and subsequently ruled against in the early 1990’s (Hayes, 2012).  With this sometimes violent, oppressive and systematic suffocation by the “established” medical world, it is important to understand how political tides can change.  As modern healers, we need to draw on our inner wisdom to continue to provide dignified care to our patients and to observe the cultural shifts going on in the world around us.  By organizing and staying connected to one another, it is our strongest support in maintaining high standards of care within our own vocations and having a professional collaborative to create better ways to continue to have meaningful practices.

Intuition as a source of healing inspiration

Intuition is a small but mighty piece to the healing puzzle for the patient, the healer and our social world. It can provide precious insight into personal health, healing and wellness by providing a bridge between “medical and moral reasoning” (Braude, 2012) but also to the wellness of our global community.  We are all born with an innate sense of intuition, which needs to be developed and nurtured. By finding those pathways which provide us the best possible terrain in which to flourish, embracing our natural intuition and listening to our minds, bodies and spirits, modern healers offer the best possibility for society to achieve our individual and collective goals for health, wellness and healing.

 

References

Marcum, J. A. (2008). Reflections on humanizing biomedicine. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 51(3), 392-405. doi:10.1353/pbm.0.0023

Constitution of the World Health Organization. (1946, July 22). Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.who.int/governance/eb/who_constitution_en.pdf

Lin, C., & Rebstock, G. (2003). Born a healer. United States: Chunyi Lin.

Simonton, O., & Henson, R. (1992). The healing journey. New York: Bantam Books.

Simonton, O., & Simonton, S. (1978). Getting well again: A step-by-step, self-help guide to overcoming cancer for patients and their families (1992 ed.). Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher ;.

Siegel, B. (2013). The art of healing. Novato: New World Library.

The 2007 Shift report: Evidence of a world transforming. (2007). Petaluma, CA: Institute of Noetic Sciences.

Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 4 (3), 219-247. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.4.3.219

Katz-Stone, A. (1998, January 19). A different dose: Seniors are discovering alternative medicine as a way to stay healthy. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/1998/01/19/focus1.html

Micozzi, M. (2011). Fundamentals of complementary and alternative medicine (4th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Saunders Elsevier.

Block, K. (2009). Life over cancer: The Block Center program for integrative cancer treatment. New York: Bantam Dell.

Myss, C. (1996). Anatomy of the spirit. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (2010). Witches, midwives & nurses (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Feminist Press.

Doctored [Motion picture]. (2012). United States: Jeff Hays Films.

Braude, H. D. (2012). Intuition in medicine: A philosophical defense of clinical reasoning. Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press.