When I was at the chiropractor the other day, I read a beautiful pamphlet from the acupuncturist in his office explaining our body as a garden. Like a garden, we need to make sure our body is balanced with the right fertilizers, water, and sun. And, we must till and weed out any undesirable elements within our garden. The goal isn't to provide our body with "quick fixes" but instead to learn the tools and knowledge that will give our bodies a lifetime of nourishment.
Tuesday I saw my chiropractor. I don't even know if calling him a "chiropractor" does justice to all the alternative stuff he does. Adjustments on my body is really a small part of everything he does with me. He also finds homeopathy treatments that work best for my individual body, he helps me find supplements that my body is lacking in, he works with me to find foods that are acting as toxins in my body, he isn't afraid to watch me cry as I share my frustrations of having rheumatoid arthritis and he helps me accept that my mind/emotions all contribute to my overall feel of the day. I feel like he is one of the gardeners that is helping me rebalance my energies and weed out anything that is causing my body a delay in healing.
Just as when I see my naturopath, I feel so much hope after seeing my chiropractor which is so different than when I went for visits with my rheumatologist. After visits with him I felt worn out and defeated, even on good visits. I never felt like an individual. When I would say the weather bothered me he would reply back with something like, "Well, research doesn't show that weather really affects people with RA." Okay, well for me it does. I didn't feel listened to and therefore didn't feel I had a hand in my own healing except by taking my medications daily.
With my naturopath and chiropractor, I feel like they are putting control back into MY hands. They are willing to help me build a beautiful garden, but ultimately it is up to me to make the changes that will nourish the garden and make it bloom. I like having that control. I like knowing that my thoughts and actions play a huge part in providing a bountiful harvest for my health. Although I sometimes fight the food choices I need to make, my body knows how much better I feel when I choose foods that nourish rather than add toxicity my body. When I eat right, think positive, exercise my body and give it plenty of good sunshine, I feel like I am sprouting and becoming the person I am meant to be. It feels good!
:) Cathy, thanks for sharing. You write beautiful thoughts from your garden.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful and encouraging story. I really like the idea of tending to a garden slowly over time. I think often its easy to expect results overnight and then to feel down when we don't see those results.
ReplyDelete"Well, research doesn't show that weather really affects people with RA." Ha, I say to that. Just put one of those researchers in our shoes and all of a sudden research will show that weather does indeed affect people with RA. I can sometimes predict major weather changes by almost 24 hour.
Glad to hear that some of these "alternative" treatments are helping your mind and body, and that the practitioners are LISTENING to you. Sometimes just having someone listen to what we are saying is very affirming and healthy.