Ecotherapy

Usually when I ask a patient about exposure to nature, they say I live near a wooded area. When I ask further how often they venture into the wooded area, most just pass by. Even with people who have a backyard facing trees, the idea about experiencing nature is to be in it. Usually means at least 10-30 minutes of no technology, little to no mechanical noise and the intention to not react, just be. This last part usually is the deal breaker with people I speak to. In fact, most of my lectures are preceded by a slide showing a doctor's prescription pad where instead of writing a drug, I write orders for 1- nutrition; 2-movement; 3-grounding. I can usually make people feel better with the power of temporary drugs AND a plan for lifestyle change. Both are equally important but in my former life of 15 minute visits (please see The Fatal Fifteen blog), I didn't have time for teaching lifestyle change (or come up with an individualized, intricate plan). I have found if I stick to the 1,2,3 way of formulating a plan, makes it easy for me and my patients. Experiencing (witnessing) nature can easily take care of # 2 and #3. Takes physical movement to get into the forest or wooded area and once you are in, if you let go of technology and are willing to "slow down to the speed of nature", nature's speed will consume you. Example; going to the beach, (even if you are not a beach person), will usually capture you just with the powerful sound of the waves hitting the shoreline. Hypnotic, mesmerizing, relaxing if you stay long enough. There is usually an inherent "need" to check internet, email or text but when you start to realize the web will still be there later, the emails can wait, the texts aren't important information anyway.....then you allow nature to take over. That is when you realize, the breeze is cooling, the shade is refreshing, the surf is inviting. In fact, the surf is continuous, powerful and you don't have to power it on to access joy. Eva Selhub in her book Your Brain in Nature, speaks of Japanese Forest Bathing. Around the late 80's to 90's, there was research started about the effects of nature on city dwellers. For the medical community to make recommendations, doctors have to see studies. (Randomized Control Trials) Good for making drug companies spend on research and development (really just marketing); not good when simple suggestions like diet and exercise that have to be studied and tested before being recommended. Who is going to pay for expensive studies on the Mediterranean Diet being heart protective or a regular walk in nature being a treatment for high blood pressure. Truthfully, since the American public keeps on asking, your tax dollars are being used to pay for fancy double blind studies on diet and exercise. As I mentioned, Japan did precede us by testing whether health is effected by hanging out in the forest. They found that the blood and urine hormones for stress were less in those who spent regular time in the forest. They also found hormones for relaxation were higher in the forest group. Imagine if I wrote a script for high blood pressure that said go to a forest preserve 5 times a week and just sit there for 10-30 minutes 3-5 days a week. (or imagine if medical insurance paid for it!!!!) Well they will never do that, in fact, most medical insurance won't pay for anything preventive: exercise, weight loss, good nutrition, good sleep. What they will pay for is your disease-management after you have been diagnosed with the illness. My suggestion is don't wait for the disease to pop up in one of the annual physicals, start listening to your inner voice, start acting on what you see in the mirror, start taking extra time to sleep or wind down at bedtime. Spend on "Healthy". Even if it costs more in the short run, it will save you so much in copays, sick leave, prescription deductibles (and I am sure you won't miss the side-effects to the one or two pills used to "control" the disease you are labelled with). Eva's book is due out 13th of June 2012-well worth it if you want to make a pre-emptive strike on health and personal healing.

JUNE 2012 Schedule




We're on! Been a while since last post. To get up to speed, last posting was fall 2011. Went "dark" for 1/2 a year re-emphasizing local community advertising. Now that I have established some good footholds in the the community, back to blogging. I will keep posting adventures with patients on my Wordpress blog and use this to post local appearances.

Summer break brings vacation time so I have limited engagements.

1. June 9th (Saturday) Whole Foods Market Schaumburg at 3:00pm Detoxing Deconstructed
Please call (847) 585-5800 to reserve a place.
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/schaumburg/store-calendar/

2. June 14th (Thursday) REI Oak Brook Terrace at 7:00pm Knee Pain in the Outdoor Athlete
Please call (630) 574-7700 to reserve a place.

3. June 23rd (Saturday) Northwest Community Hospital Wellness Center at 11:00am Healthy Community Project: Yoga?
Please call (847) 618-3500 to reserve a place for program #05-4104 (small fee/lunch included)

Have a great summer, see you in the classroom!

Moving Meditation and Gene Expression

A few years ago I listened to Herb Benson lecture about how he discovered the Relaxation Response in the 70's-

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7392433

and Jeff Dusek at Harvard is now finding a coorelation in the DNA of meditators. If I was to develop a pill that promised to turn on genes that fight cancer, heart disease and depression, and then advertise on TV, everyone would be coming into the office asking to try the "new medicine". What if the label said no side effects, and what if insurance paid 100% with no copay. What if the therapeutic effects would extend to all body systems and not just help the heart, or improve mood or give and erection for more than 4 hours. This is what I feel yoga does to people. Its more than just bending over and wrapping your leg around into a pretzel. We sell it to the public as a way to get flexible just because marketing says the majority are hesitant to listen or do things that involve spirituality but they will click and read on things that improve physical fitness. Its ashame but life long practitioners usually are the ones that started with taking a class out of curiosity then became engulfed by the positive effects on every aspect of daily life.....who cares if I can touch my toes when I now feel better and more aware of existence and happiness than any other time in my life!!! Everyone I teach knows my story, I used to add a few poses to my "pre-workout routine" to get warm and wake up muscle. Now my old work out routine is used as a "pre-yoga warm up".



Truth in practice is that yoga, a moving meditation has the ability to lower the blood pressure, improve core strength, take the mind out of the onslaught of ideas and thoughts that bombard it every second, change metabolism, maximize digestion, and enhance killer attack white blood cells that fight cancer. Its like a smart bomb that can be set off in a crowd but only kill select badguys, leaving women and children unharmed. One of the most profound effects I have experienced with this is that if applied at the beginning of the day....after class I feel a great sense of wellbeing (I can get that with a workout-endorphine rush for an hour) but then its effects are pervasive. I think clearer so traffic is not a bother. I am more productive at work so efficiency is maximized and projects are finished in a shorter time span. Lunchtime comes without a rabid hunt for carbs/ meat/ salt/ volume so I dont get saturated in post gastric sleepiness. Since satiety is there without being drowsy, no need for the big starbucks venti. Without caffeine, sex is magnificent and sleep is immediate and continuous. Then the next morning, wake up bright and alive looking for more yoga and meditation. You can see this pervasive improvement from one aspect of life to the next. Its like a logirithmic improvement in feeling and functioning at a true maximum without a drug. Just think of anabolic steroids, ritalin, viagra, prozac, marijuana, HCG, and vicodin without any side effects! (Aahh....now you understand!!) There was a recent movie "Limitless" that was about a drug that opened mental awareness, but it didnt stop there, every system in the body functioned at a level that was superhuman, all because the mind was unlocked.



So when a yogi exclaims "I feel better at 50 than I did in my twenties" its not just that the mind has been dupped into thinking pleasant thoughts....its because cholesterol is lower than ever, sleep is without a pill or a beer, food is digested without heartburn or bloating, muscle repair is faster than varsity highschool years, the morning is fine without coffee......and oh yeah...... I can also touch my toes.

What is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.....

The diet and lifestyle for Sean (a 26 year old professional football player) wont work for me (a 49 year old physician/yoga practitioner)------------------------>


"You have to start exercising!" I caught myself saying to a patient. Then I asked, have you ever exercised before? No....well, there was badminton in high school. Now if I didnt ask, I would assume she would just go back to her "Bally's" membership and start her old routine again. I imagine some people leaving with suggestions I made and getting home but not knowing how to begin. Maybe going out and starting to jog with 2 year old pair of tennis shoes with no arch support. (That would eventually lead to shin splints, pain for days with walking down the stairs and having to indulge in a few advils, get reflux symptoms then curse me for having made the darn suggestion to begin with.) Or the 40 year old that buys a treadmill again only to use it for hanging laundry after 3 months because its boring to run in the house. The word "exercise" can actually connotate fear and embarassment in some that didnt like gym class in highschool. In 2005-6, only 53% of students in the US participated in athletics. That can be translated to 47% didnt like gym or have great experience with finding a sport or just arent aware of healthy forms of exercise short of running and calisthenics (-Arnold Schartzneggars attempt at the presidential physical fitness awards). Zooming to the CDC's statistics, if 2/3rds of the population is overweight, then dare I say more than 1/2 of that group may not have any experience/knowledge of activity that could save their lives short of running that will probably hurt their knees. Oh.... "pre-habilitiation exercise education" is not covered by insurance but a below the knee amputation for diabetes pays "good money" to the surgeon and hospital.

I have coined the phrase "Heart Healthy Activity" to be spoken instead of "exercise". It doesnt conger up experiences from highschool for some and it opens ideas up for the ex-athletes that are stuck on one kind of routine. Andy Weil professes in his book "Optimum Health"....act your age. To prevent injury in activity not designed for the decade of life you are in. Heart Healthy Activity for a 20 year old differs from that for a 40 year old. The HHA for an obese 20 year old differs from that for a lean 20 y/o. A 40 year old on high blood pressure medications cant measure heart rate like a diabetic on sugar medicine. A 49 year old ex-bodybuilding, high school sprinter (booya) usually will be against starting yoga with the typical preconceived notion that "I'm not flexible so don't think its right for me". Bottom line is just like some medicines cause back side effects in one person but lifesaving results in another, HHA has to be "tailor-made" to the persons age, loves, goals, economic status, physical disability, sex, family responsibility and free time. I believe if this basic lifestyle change is to be sustainable, then thought, design, and a good intention to make the patient successful in changing has to be invested. This is why I work with chiropractors, a physical therapist, a registered dietician/personal trainer, exercise physiologists and counselors. A well rounded team can provide several different "in-roads" to attempt with each patient in order to design a HHA that they will be able to embrace to initiate a change. The more you change with HHA, the more you improve the chronic medical disease: the more you improve the chronic medical disease, the better you feel: the better you feel, the more empowered you are to make the next change.......

As a patient, you have to be willing to try new things outside normal comfort zone....essentially trust that the person designing the program has the best intentions and desires for your success. As a provider of healthcare (doctor trainer, yoga teacher...), we have to keep in mind, not every prescription for lifestyle change is the same for a given patient.

The New Wellness Culture

Went to the "2011 Veggie Fest" in Naperville because a trip to downtown was cancelled by a "Half-Marathon" occuring at the same time. I remember reading about it and wondering if it would be like a glorified sunday farmers market or smaller. As we approached from the highway, I could see major road barricades and a mass of people being controlled with police direction across a major off ramp. First I thought, must be an accident or concert....then a realized they were all headed to the "Veggie Fest". According to one of the vendors, (a cosmetic dentist and previous patient of mine) 10,000 people were expected for this 4th annual get together. I was amazed to see a cross generations, not just the tail end of the baby boomer generation (booyaaa!!) but young college kids, young families, a few retirement age folks; Indian, Asian, African Americans and "other" all walking around really taking advantage and interest in open tent lectures, vendor stands, food sampling tents, yoga (booyaa again!) Chiropractor tents......there was one MD tent. The Md/doc had a sign over this table reading "Ask the Expert" ....no other pamphlets, give aways, hand outs....pretty drab compared to the flashy and informative tables of alternative medicine counterparts at the next tables. And he wasnt busy...kinda looked bored.

All this is a statement that the call for better health is being asked by the community and answered by the community (at least a small percentage). In my opinion, healthcare reform will not be able to move anything faster than snails pace. I appreciate that "Obama Care" has made some initial steps to change the paradigm. But with the polarity of the government, it will take a heathcare catastrophy to make a significant inroad to change. (Just like the automotive industry bailout!...rescue at the last minute and socialize it). Nothing wrong with socialized medicine: it is working for Europe while our way is failing-along with our health) People have placed too much reliance on govenment to "get them healthy" .....like the guy who comes in after 40 years and says "fix me doc...just dont make me change my hours, diet or free time.....and by the way, I am not a pill taker and dont believe in psychiatry".

What prompted me to discuss?... Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this morning new plans to "Incentivise" (......actually-Penalize) city workers to lose weight, lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure. An article in the Sun-Times called it -"Carrot and Stick approach".

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/7105643-418/city-workers-might-have-to-shape-up-under-new-wellness-plan.html

Just so happens my partners at First Health Associates and I have been working on a sustainable plan for lifestyle change just because of the way our weight loss graduates over the last 3 years are still maintaining a hunger to seek out more change even with the great gains they have made. All have been able to lose weight, most have been able to get off medicines, some have been able to change their family members and friends......every single one has been empowered to understand the concept that the power for successful change was inside all this time, just took education/guidance to plan a way to bring it out. The "incentive" we give people in the current program is/are the graduates from the previous programs. We have a growing "wall" of success stories to our program "The Largest Losers". I believe in what Dean Ornish said at my AZCIM fellowships conference......"Fear based medicine that uses the threat of future heart attack or cancer is not a sustainable motivator for change......its about the Joy of Living"....when our team is able to help in making a single change....our patients feel better, it empowers them to embrace the next opportunity to make another change. Small, high value, "daisy-chained" steps to lifestyle change are more sustainable than the "all in" decision to change everything at once. (although some of my Vata patients need this)....either way, we are ready to support all with conventional, alternative and ancillary healthcare.

A small percentage of Chicago's city employees drive 2/3rds the total healthcare costs around 5 chronic illnesses that could be managed with lifestyle change. The US population is the same way, an average of 6000 dollars spent per citizen per year and we are ranked close to the bottom of the list of world countries for being healthy. The good news is that with what I witnessed at The Naperville Veggie Fest, a small percentage of the population is taking their health into their own hands and showing great success at initiating a lifestyle change that is sustainable. I believe in the next decade, we will incentivize the rest of the community to break free of the status quo and instead of Dying Longer-experience the true Joy of Living. I feel in my heart we can grow this from a club, to a culture to a Wellness Generation....just takes the one step at a time.

Collective Thinking

We have incorporated summer vacation into our family ritual. Its so easy to say, lets just stay in Chicago....theres so much to do here and its a hassle to plan an outing. Many more excuses can be created in the depth of my mind but its so fulfilling when the vacation is over and the memories of time spent away from the normal ritual are permanently burning into the temporal lobe of my brain. I have to praise collective thinking as to how great ideas are creatively morphed and then carried out. If it wasnt for the sharing of the initial intention and desire between me and my beloved, then her and her siblings, I dont think the idea of "where should we take the kids before school starts" would have blossomed just because- I'm to busy with promoting my clinic, giving lectures and growing my practice. I love the way a small spark of an idea can be shared with like-minded people and especially with the speed of communication now-a-days, a well planned concept can be effortlessly developed. People all have dormant talents that sometimes go unrecognized until a spark ignites that center in the heart chakra. Once ignition happens, its like this inborn desire continues to drive the individual to creatively expound on what they feel is the right way to "celebrate" the idea that was initiated. Usually in giving group, this inspires others to contribute to the growing idea in their own way. ( ie...one person is great at shouting out the idea to the group, one person is great at searching for flights and houses, one person is great at cooking meals, one person is great for planning events, one person is great at packing the whole kitchen to make sure we dont forget anything.....) When everyone contributes their individual talents, no matter how small, the "universal idea" that was started with a thought...takes off with all details being covered and in the end....almost no effort being recalled as to how did we launch this massive plan into reality.

I feel this speaks to the concept of surrounding yourself with like minded individuals. Equally important is to "shed" the relationships that seem to foster alot of energy just to end up with a feeling of I didnt feel good about spending time with that person. Some people have not matured to the point of realizing the universe isnt here for YOU; you are created to contribute to IT. Those people who pollute, eat without guilt, cheat taxes, cut in line, disturb the peace, spread rumors, insult others....all have an agenda to be self serving. When your intentions and desires are geared to just bring energy to you and not to grow or contribute to the good of all, you become an "enery drain" to your family, your friends, your coworkers, your community, your race.....and yeah, even the planet.

In the end, something that started as an idea and blossomed into an experience that my kids, neices and nephews will remember as "I remember feeling good about myself when we all participated in that trip way back in 2011", makes it worthwhile to share ideas with other likeminded individuals.

You cant fight and cant fix what you cant face

I had a young guy come in for a rash today and when I asked how often he sees a doctor, his reply was “I don’t really need one-I am healthy”. I would always like to think me and my collegues from around the world are worth visiting if you are interested in saving your life. Unfortunately, statistics in 2000 showed Iatrogenic deaths (caused usually while in a hospital) were number 3 in the US right after heart disease and cerebrovascular death. So…..maybe its good that this young guy stays away? Naaaa, this is why I love Integrative Medicine- the judicious use of scientific western medicine and the intelligent use of natural medicine.

One of the most common issues that accumulate to great degrees are feelings of anxiousness, anger and doubt in my 30+ year olds. One would think “these are psychological symptoms that arent that common or lifethreatening” but we see high blood pressure, or insomnia, or reflux, or impotence in essentially 8 of 10 patients that come in for "routine physicals" -and these are usually based on anxiety and stress. So how does the average American take care of such a problem? Most usually wait until the issue causes physical problems and MD's usually treat only the physical ailements with medicines. Patients and doctors ignore the psychological and spiritual aspect rooted in disease and miss the whole picture.

Taking smaller steps at an earlier time in the evolution of a disease process usually results in postponing when the symptoms show up (and health conscious folks sometimes the disease never shows up) I believe you have to acknowledge your problem before you can start working to solve it. How can someone self-assess when judgement is already impaired? Or perhaps there is no prior knowledge of how normal should feel? Ahaa!! This is where a well trained doctor-team can be useful; to search for and point out an issue that should be adressed. Oh, its not the same when someone says, “I had an aunt with anxiety, I know what the treatment is!” If there was one treatment for everyone then there would be no further outbreak of disease since all would be cured. In fact, people get put on the “standard” treatment and still, dysfunction exists. Truth is that everyones personality is “a little different’; everyones family dynamic is “a little different”; everyones outlook on their neighbors is “a little different”….so treatment has to be personalized every time. Aint just one pigeon hole that works for everyone. Friends, doctors, counselors, psychologists, naturopaths, "intervention groups", dieticians, coaches are all very powerful ways to realize things about yourself that you wouldnt have seen. So it all starts with self revelation and realization.