In your neighborhood and in thousands of communities across the nation, Americans are answering our country’s call to service & are making a change. You have been taking amazing steps toward change by optimizing your health & wellness. In our office we enjoy coming together in a shared spirit of community, and we LOVE to support you in continuing your improvements for your health & LIFE.
We can help sustain our country by starting with ourselves. Gandhi’s statemement “Be the change you wish to see in the world” rings so loud & true in our day & age. We know what can happen when ordinary people turn their hopes into real action, something extraordinary blossoms & freedom can occur.
One of the focuses for our office is to improve our health care system. One of the ways in which we are striving to do this is to increase access to chiropractic care. The U.S. government stated, “As we shift our health care delivery system towards a culture of wellness & disease prevention, we believe that Chiropractors must play an integral role in expanding access to preventive care & strengthening our public health system.” This statement puts you & Chiropractic at the forefront of health care. The grassroots movement that has been created was always about more than an election. It’s about bringing much needed change in our communities.
Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day in which we honor the power of one man to bring about change & freedom by serving his country. As you continue your commitment to serve your communities by taking part in this extraordinary life of service I want to congratulate you in taking action for your health, family, community & our country!
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Mind Stretching
Exercising Flexibility
Flexibility is the capacity to bend without breaking, as well as a continual willingness to change or be changed in order to accommodate new circumstances. People with flexible minds are open to shifting their course when necessary or useful; they are not overly attached to things going the way they had planned. This enables them to take advantage of opportunities that a more rigid person would miss out on. It can also make life a lot more fun. When we are flexible, we allow for situations we could not have planned, and so the world continues to surprise and delight us.
Since reality is in a constant state of flux, it doesn’t make sense to be rigid or to cling to any one idea of what is happening or what is going to happen. We are more in tune with reality when we are flexible. Being in tune enables us to adjust to the external environment and other people as they change and grow. When we are rigid or stuck in our ways, instead of adjusting to the world around us we hunker down, clinging to a concept of reality rather than reality itself. When we do this, we cut ourselves off from life, and we miss out on valuable opportunities, as well as a lot of joy.
Just as we create flexibility in our bodies by stretching physically, we can create limberness in our minds by stretching mentally. Every day we have the opportunity to exercise our flexibility. We can do this in small ways such as taking a different route home from work or changing our exercise routine. On a larger scale, we can rearrange the furniture or redo a room in our house. If these are things we already do regularly, we can stretch our minds by imagining several different possibilities for how the next year will unfold. As we do this, our minds become more supple and open, and when changes come our way, we are able to accommodate and flow with the new reality.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Most Vital Commitment
Finding Time For You
Within each of there is a well of energy that must be regularly replenished. When we act as if this well is bottomless, scheduling a long list of activities that fit like puzzle pieces into every minute of every day, it becomes depleted and we feel exhausted, disconnected, and weak. Refilling this well is a matter of finding time to focus on, nurture, and care for ourselves, or “you time.” Most of us are, at different times throughout the day, a spouse, a friend, a relative, an employee, a parent, or a volunteer, which means that down time, however relaxing in nature, is not necessarily “you time.” Though some people will inevitably look upon “you time” as being selfish, it is actually the polar opposite of selfishness. We can only excel where our outer world affairs are concerned when our own spiritual, physical, and intellectual needs are fulfilled.
Recognizing the importance of “you time” is far easier than finding a place for it in an active, multifaceted lifestyle, however. Even if you find a spot for it in your agenda, you may be dismayed to discover that your thoughts continuously stray into worldly territory. To make the most of “you time,” give yourself enough time on either side of the block of time you plan to spend on yourself to ensure that you do not feel rushed. Consider how you would like to Your pass the time, forgetting for the moment your obligations and embracing the notion of renewal. You may discover that you are energized by getting your Chiropractic Adjustment, creative pursuits, guided meditation, relaxing activities during which your mind can wander, or modes of expression such as writing.
Even if you have achieved a functioning work-life balance, you may still be neglecting the most important part of that equation: you. “You time” prepares you for the next round of daily life, whether you are poised to immerse yourself in a professional project or chores around the home. It also affords you a unique opportunity to learn about yourself, your needs, and your tolerances in a concrete way. As unimportant as “you time” can sometimes seem, it truly is crucial to your wellbeing because it ensures that you are never left without the energy to give of yourself.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Hungry for a Fresh Start
Making Healthy Choices in the New Year
This is the time for new beginnings! With the arrival of the New Year and spring feeling just around the corner, this is the perfect time to act on goals and intentions and to set a solid foundation for our health. Let’s take advantage of this clean slate to make a fresh start. Set daily nutrition habits that will reward us with renewed energy, radiance and optimal health.
6 simple ways to boost your health and kick start your new year:
Get Green - Leafy greens are nutritional powerhouses – the darker the color, the grater the nutrients. Add flavorful, low calorie, nutrient-rich greens such as, kale, collards, watercress, spinach, swiss chard, arugula and cabbage to our meals and snacks for a healthy kick start to our New Year. Add a bit of green to our snacks, sides, soups, smoothies and yes, even to our breakfast.
Get Inclusive - Include everyone in the shopping, meal planning and prep – spouses, partners AND kids. When we empower everyone with age appropriate tasks we share a sense of ownership and pride around food. Encourage even the pickiest eaters to try something adventurous by recruiting help with everything from finding new recipes online to grocery shopping, washing vegetables, peeling and selecting ingredients.
Get Colorful – Draw a circle and divide it into 6 slices. Label each slice: Red, Orange, White, Yellow, Green and Blue/Purple. Involve the kids and have them color each slice. Together, brainstorm a list of vegetables that we enjoy – as many as we can for each color. Hang this colorful list in the kitchen as a reminder that vegetables come in many colors. Find creative ways to include at least 2 of these colorful vegetables into each of our meals!
Get a Drink – Smoothies and green drinks are a delicious and simple way to include more greens into our day. Blended with fruits, berries or nut butters, we can easily add between 1-3 cups of mild greens such as kale and spinach to our recipes. Surprise – we often can’t even taste the greens!
Get Local – Our farmer’s markets offer an incredible selection of seasonal, locally grown greens and vegetables and we simply can’t beat grocery shopping out-of-doors. These local markets allow us to try samples of everything from sprouts to heirloom vegetables. At the markets, we meet the farmers, learn which vegetables are in season and how the growers prepare them – all of which encourage us to try something new.
Get Growing - Whether from starter or seed, vegetables are perfect for the beginning gardener. Herbs, peppers and greens thrive in pots, beds and borders. There is nothing like the flavor and satisfaction of our very own harvest.
For more simple ways to incorporate vegetables into your day, including recipes and lists of seasonal vegetable choices visit www.EatInspiredToday.com or contact Clea Shannon, certified holistic health coach and gluten-free guide.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Every craftsperson has a toolbox full of tools and a number of techniques to help them bring inspiration into form. In the same way, throughout our lives, we have discovered our own life tools and techniques—the ways and means that have helped us create our lives up to this point. Sometimes we forget about the tools and skills we’ve acquired, and we wonder why we aren’t moving forward. At times like these, it might just be a matter of remembering what we already know, and rediscovering the tools we already have at our disposal.
In the process of becoming who we are and creating our lives, we have all gone through the experience of being inspired to do something and then finding the tools we needed to do it. If we look back, we may be able to remember that we used, for example, the tool of writing every day in order to clarify our intentions. We may also have used the tools of ritual, meditation, or visualization to make something happen. In addition, we may have been fueled by a new idea about how the universe works, which is what gave us the inspiration to use these tools.
In order for ideas to be powerful, they must be imbued with the energy of our engagement with them, and in order for tools to be effective they must be put to use. This sounds obvious, but often we fall into the habit of thinking we are engaging with ideas and using tools by virtue of the fact that we are reading about them, or listening to other people talk about them. In truth, using our tools is a very personal action, one we must take on behalf of ourselves. Like artists, we are each unique and no two of us will receive the same inspiration, nor will we bring it into form in the same two ways. To discover the truth of our own vision, we must take action by remembering our tools and putting them to use.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Whole-Self Well-Being
How the Body Clears Energy
Whole-self well-being is, in part, the result of a harmonious flow of energy between the mind, body & soul. When this flow is thrown out of balance for any reason, the body and mind react to one another rather than act cooperatively. Ongoing stress, sadness, anxiety, excitement, and fear can overwhelm the cerebral self, causing traumatic energy to be channeled into the body. The body then responds by taking steps to organically dispel the energy that has burdened it and expressing it by means of physical symptoms such as illness, fatigue, or disease. In some cases, these symptoms can simply be allowed to run their natural course and recovery will come about naturally. In most instances, however, health and wellness can only be restored by different approaches that acknowledges both the physical manifestations of energy clearing and the underlying emotional causes. One of the most important things to understand is that ALL HEALING TAKES TIME!
Many of the ailments we experience over the course of our lives can be indicative of the body’s attempts to process intellectual and emotional energy. Swollen glands, for example, can signal that you are going through a period of emotional cleansing. Even something as simple as a pimple can indicate that your body is ridding itself of toxins and old energy. In Chinese medicine, intense emotions are held in the body’s organs as a matter of course. Grief lurks in the lungs, anger inhabits the liver, fretfulness lingers in the heart, worry is held in the stomach, and the kidneys harbor fright. Particular illnesses and symptoms represent the body’s attempts to clear emotional energy. Coughs or bronchitis can signify that the physical self is clearing away grief while a loss of appetite may signal that worry is being actively addressed.
When you feel ill or imbalanced, taking care of your whole self rather than the physical self alone can empower you to determine the root cause of sickness or dis-ease. Since you understand that your physical symptoms may be an expression of emotional discomfort, you can establish a balanced regimen to ensure that you quickly recover your good health.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Compassion is the ability to see the deep connectedness between ourselves and others. Moreover, true compassion recognizes that all the boundaries we perceive between ourselves and others are an illusion. When we first begin to practice compassion, this very deep level of understanding may elude us, but we can have faith that if we start where we are, we will eventually feel our way toward it. We move closer to it every time we see past our own self-concern to accommodate concern for others. And, as with any skill, our compassion grows most in the presence of difficulty.
We practice small acts of compassion every day, when our loved ones are short-tempered or another driver cuts us off in traffic. We extend our forgiveness by trying to understand their point of view; we know how it is to feel stressed out or irritable. The practice of compassion becomes more difficult when we find ourselves unable to understand the actions of the person who offends us. These are the situations that ask us to look more deeply into ourselves, into parts of our psyches that we may want to deny, parts that we have repressed because society has labeled them bad or wrong. For example, acts of violence are often well beyond anything we ourselves have perpetuated, so when we are on the receiving end of such acts, we are often at a loss. This is where the real potential for growth begins, because we are called to shine a light inside ourselves and take responsibility for what we have disowned. It is at this juncture that we have the opportunity to transform from within.
This can seem like a very tall order, but when life presents us with circumstances that require our compassion, no matter how difficult, we can trust that we are ready. We can call upon all the light we have cultivated so far, allowing it to lead the way into the darkest parts of our own hearts, connecting us to the hearts of others in the understanding that is true compassion.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Twelve Steps of Chiropractic
Twelve Steps of Chiropractic
1) You are more than your body; you are an intelligent and loving energetic being! Your body is the vehicle you have been given through which to experience and express your true purpose and potential in life.
2) Your Intelligent Life Energy directs and coordinates every single cell, tissue, organ and organ system in your body through your brain, and communicates with your body through your nerve system.
3) Health is defined as normal function and the ability to adapt to most of the stresses you face every day. It is the natural result of the adequate expression of your Life Energy in your body.
4) Everything is always changing, including your body. In every moment you are either getting weaker and moving toward dis-ease and death, or growing stronger and moving toward health, wellness and wholeness.
5) 3 Things are necessary to keep you growing stronger and moving consistently toward health, wellness and wholeness (a Deliberate & Positive Focus, a Healthy Lifestyle and a Clear Neurological Connection between your body and your brain).
6) The main function of your spine is to regulate the amount of tension in your nerve system and maintain the proper frequency of good vibrations so that the messages traveling back and forth along your nerves between your body and your brain are both transmitted and received properly.
7) Whenever your spine loses its normal alignment or function, it compromises your ability to regulate nerve system tension, and the result is a partial loss of CONNECTION between your brain and your body. We call this loss of connection and decrease in the expression of your Life Energy “subluxation.” (Less-light expressing in the body)
The loss of connection between your brain and body causes you to lose your normal function in your body, and decreases your ability to successfully adapt to all of the physical, chemical, mental and emotional stresses in your environment. In other words, it causes you to lose your natural state of EASE & HEALTH.
9) The problem is not that you HAVE something you shouldn’t have…it’s that you’ve LOST something you NEED in order to heal, function normally and feel good; You’ve lost the CONNECTION between your brain and body.
10) The specific Chiropractic Adjustment allows more normal function and alignment in your spine, and helps restore your ability to regulate and maintain proper nerve system tension and tone. In other words, it helps re-establish and maintain the CONNECTION between your brain and your body in order to maximize the expression of Life Energy in your body and help you HEAL.
11) Healing is defined as any movement toward wholeness, regardless of where you are at any given moment. It is a PROCESS and requires your active participation.
12) The goal of your chiropractic program is simple; it’s to help you and your family restore, maintain and steadily improve all three things necessary to keep you growing stronger and moving toward ever higher levels of health, wellness and wholeness (a Deliberate & Positive Focus, a Healthy Lifestyle and a Clear Neurological Connection between your body and your brain) for as long as you live.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Peace
Peace
In our noisy world, we often find ourselves longing for peace and searching to find it somewhere else. While it’s true that there are places we can visit where we can experience peace, such as sacred sites or buildings, we do not need to wait until we get to one of these places to feel at peace. Instead, we can learn to locate the seed of peace inside ourselves and cultivate it so that it grows into a reliable source of serenity that we can always access, no matter where we are.
We experience peace when we are in a state of mental calm and serenity. It might surprise you to notice how infrequently you allow yourself to be free from anxiety. Realizing this is the first step to inner peace. If you wait until all the details of your life are taken care of to allow yourself to experience peace, you will never feel peaceful because there is always something that your mind can grab onto to create anxiety. It is important to consciously set aside your worries and make time to cultivate inner peace.
Ideally, you could schedule time each day to meditate on peace and experience what it feels like to be calm and serene. It takes practice to learn how to let go of your worries, so give yourself some time. Inhale deeply, and feel your worries dissolve with every exhale. Remind yourself that soon enough you will be able to take care of everything you need to, but right now you are taking a break. As the clutter of your thoughts and concerns clear away, you will start to feel more serene. Allow yourself to move deeper into this state with each inhale. Realize that you have the power to free yourself from anxiety simply by deciding to do so. The more you practice feeling peaceful, the easier it will be for you to feel at peace.
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Listening To Intuition
Listening To Intuition
Decisions that you may not be satisfied with can lead you to ask yourself how could I have made one choice, when my gut feeling pointed to the other. Because we can look to the past and imagine the future with clarity, there exists a tendency to mull over even minor choices and to over-analyze people and situations. But when we choose to put aside reasoning processes for just a moment, insights may be revealed. Listening to your intuitive mind allows you to access a natural cache of wisdom within. You may find that in “trusting your gut,” your innate sense of what is right and wrong will become both strong and reliable.
Intuitive or gut-level reactions may seem less credible than decisions based on logic or carefully weighed facts because intuition is perceived by most as a less intelligent way of coming to conclusions. Every person is naturally intuitive, even if you have not learned to tap into it. You may also discount your gut feelings, even when they turn out to be right, because you may be afraid of what others will say.
To get in touch with your intuition, first pay attention to sudden perceptions and feelings, even if nothing more than a prickling of the hairs on the back of your neck. Acknowledge it and let go of your fear of being wrong. Trust your inner voice. Keep track of these instances in a journal and, regardless of your decision in each case, decide whether your intuitive feeling was correct. If you already have strong gut feelings, practice acting on those feelings without fear. Don’t let doubt keep you from embracing them.
There is no substitute for being prepared, and knowing that you can comfortably trust in your gut feelings can be a vital part of preparedness. With it as a tool in your life, it is possible to consider every situation in a unique & insightful way
Voted BEST San Diego Chiropractor!
Leave A Comment