When You Have Tried Everything…
/You’re tried it…
Pharmaceuticals prescribed by your MD, two week detoxes, natural creams, herbal remedies, adult colouring books, week-end workshops with spiritual gurus, and cross-fit. And yet somehow, you still feel like you aren't finding resolution with certain mental, emotional, and physical complaints.
You're not alone.
Many of the clients that walk through my door are already pretty health savvy. They've read, researched, and tried their hand at number of things. By the time they see me, they are often frustrated, but not yet willing to throw in the towel.
At the first meeting I like to start with a few simple questions. I'm sharing them with you in hopes that they can shed some light on why your best efforts may not be working.
Did you know that well-being, is in fact, supported by a set of skills?
I saw this quote recently and really liked it, “Well-being is fundamentally no different than learning to play the cello.”
Well-being is a skill, and one that we have to put time and effort towards developing.
When a client walks through my door with a chief complaint, they want resolution, immediately. Often times, the change that needs to occur requires that they develop new skills (or habits if you prefer). Improving the way that they sleep, hydrate, cook, shop, eat, move, express their emotions, and train their mind- are a set of skills. So when they are faced with these changes, as a practitioner my job is to not only provide information, but to help them develop new skills to support them in well-being.
More importantly, recognizing that we are working towards new skills helps us to shift our mindset. Fundamental change will take time, commitment, and effort, in order to become a natural part of our life. This means that well-being isn't simply about rousing (and maintaining) our willpower, but instead, recognizing that it is a learning process (or perhaps even, an unlearning process!) When we honour the fact that practicing well-being is a skill to be learned, it makes it easier to embrace it for the long haul. It also challenges the notion of quick fixes and instead, allows us to have a little more compassion for ourselves as navigate the process of change.
Have you been approaching things holistically?
A true holistic approach to well-being must consider all aspects of who you are. All too often, we conflate natural with being holistic. We focus on a single ailment or condition (such as a diagnosis of eczema) employ a single method of treatment (topical calendula cream or coconut oil), and hope that this will be the magic bullet. When we do so, we fail to recognize the functional nature of health and disease (that for example we need to consider our digestion and immune system, when we address skin ailments).
Our state of health, is revealed through our thoughts, feelings, functions and sensations. An accurate diagnosis must take the health of all systems and avenues of expression into account. Often, the manifestation of dis-ease does not present as an isolated symptom, but instead, as a complex of symptoms. Therefore, employing a compartmentalized approach means that you are severely limiting your effectiveness and scope. Without considering the whole picture, is to err and miss the mark (or worse, cause harm). Successful resolution of our ills neccesiates a holistic, functional, and integrative approach.
Have you been personalizing your treatment?
Another common misstep is the employment of therapeutics based on the, It-Worked-For-Jenn-So-It-Will-Work-For-Me treatment plan. This is common, especially for those who find themselves sharing the same "disease". I put the word disease in quotations here because while you, and your friend may both suffer with similar symptoms that can be categorized under a disease name such as, depression, asthma, or IBS, the reason for your set of symptoms (dis-ease), may be completely different! Therefore, by way of reason, that suggests that what you require to get at the root cause of your symptoms, would need to be individualized. So, while a specific therapy or superfood works wonders for a number of people (and there are many great ones out there), it may be that it acts very differently according to your physical requirements, stage of life, and personal needs.
In addition, while conventional medicine is starting to recognize that individual factors should be taken into account when making health recommendations (such as level of stress, hormone health, state of the microbiome, nutrient deficiencies, cleanliness of your water, the amount of restorative sleep you get, emotional well-being, stage of chronic illness, enviromental stresses, unresolved traumas), it's still lagging a bit behind. The integrative, functional model for health is on the rise, and as science progresses, in time, we are going to truly be able to streamline our regimen, medicine, and therapeutic education, to suit our biochemical/emotional/spiritual indviduality. Pretty exciting thought, isn't it?
Are you introducing things at the right time?
Another common shortfall for many is the issue of timing. It may be that there are obstacles that need to be addressed first before you can truly reap the benefits of a particular therapeutic method. The soil needs to be prepared to receive the seed so to speak. Knowing which order to introduce treatment modalities will greatly advance your positive outcomes.
To give you a pretty simplistic example, you could be purchasing the best food and supplements in the world, but if you are struggling with digestive issues and aren't addressing them, you may still be undernourished. To dervive the most from the food that you eat your digestion needs to be addressed first.
Another example is the concept of detoxes. It seems that everyone these days wants to go on a detox. I'm not knocking them as I do think they can be greatly beneficial. However, the caveat I would make is the importance of ensuring that you are eliminating properly (the emunctories are functionning properly) otherwise you are going to end up with a back log (hello headaches, body aches, fever, discomfort, nausea, vomiting). It makes sense to ensure that first, you have stopped introducing the garbage into your body, and then, that the trash is being taken out efficiently, before you decide to add to the load. Do you see what I'm saying?
Are you using the right tools for the job?
While holistic nutrition and lifestyle compose the foundation for our health, and are outstanding at sustaining and maintaining balance, they aren’t always able to address the root cause of an issue. Each modality is suited to a specific job. Unfortunately, when we try to use a therapy outside of it’s intended jurisdiction, we are unsuccessful or worse, harmful. Determining which tool is appropriate for the issue at hand, is essential. Plainly put, you can’t (or really shouldn’t try) to fix everything with a hammer. Sometimes, you need a screwdriver to get the job done. In addition, without effectively addressing cause, you are left with an issue that continues to deepen, increasing the sustentive effort that you need to put forth to keep yourself in balance. Therefore, in order to resolve issues throughly and permanently it’s necessary to address the root cause of disease. You need to know what jurisdiction you are working with and what tools are required for the job. This is where Dynamic Medicine surpasses many healing modalities. The application of therapeutics is governed by by a number of tenants that include an distinction between a disease vs dysfunction, and an understanding of jurisdiction and applicable therapeutics. This knowledge governs the selection of therapeutic methods, and provides an effective and principled course of treatment.
What makes Dynamic Medicine unique?
Dynamic Medicine provides a blueprint of guiding principles, for the effective application of nutrition and lifestyle, natural medicine, complementary therapies and therapeutic counselling.
To put it plainly, Dynamic Medicine takes into account what tool to use when, according to your individualized needs. It doesn't seek to simply manage symptoms, but instead, aims to identify, and rectify cause. It doesn't take short cuts, but instead, encourages to develop new ways of living, thinking,responding and being, in order to advance your health. The overarching goal is to have you humming with vitality, imagination, and life, so that you can leave your mark on the world.
Sounds pretty good, hunh?
Hope this has provided some food for thought.
Yours in health,
S
