For a simple and remarkably effective stress reducing exercise, see bottom of page.

For centuries, the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. People at the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) Research Center are exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain and thereby influences information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. They are asking questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain? Over the years they have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but it was consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective of inner emotional states and stress. It became clear that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythms and in the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmony and coherence in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system. The health implications are easy to understand: Disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs while harmonious rhythms are more efficient and less stressful to the body’s systems.

More intriguing are the dramatic positive changes that occur when techniques are applied that increase coherence in rhythmic patterns of heart rate variability. These include shifts in perception and the ability to reduce stress and deal more effectively with difficult situations. We observed that the heart was acting as though it had a mind of its own and was profoundly influencing the way we perceive and respond to the world. In essence, it appeared that the heart was affecting intelligence and awareness.

The answers to many of our original questions now provide a scientific basis to explain how and why the heart affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance and personal effectiveness. Their research and that of others indicate that the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex, self-organized information processing center with its own functional “brain” that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life.

Freeze Frame – the basic exercise
It’s recommended to do this exercise on paper at first. For best results, do it often, until you notice a real change. After awhile, it can become an automatic response in your daily living to decrease stress and increase awareness and your quality of life.

- Recognize and acknowledge that you have a stressful feeling. Write down the situation and describe the feeling you are experiencing.
- Now ‘push the pause button’. Place your stress on hold. You are not stuffing it, just suspending it.
- Shift your physical attention to your heart. Visualize breathing in and out through your heart for a minute or two.
- Think of something that gives you the feeling of appreciation. Re-experience this feeling in your heart as deeply as you can.
- Holding that feeling, ask yourself what better way you could handle the current situation. Listen to yourself, and write down any insights.

This exercise is recommended anytime you are overwhelmed by your body, experiencing symptoms, or feeling helpless, fearful of/in your body, or just need more internal connection or a greater degree of internal safety.

Lie on your back or be seated. Touch your upper chest at the top of the ribs with both hands, palms facing downward, and breathe slowly and gently in through your nose and out through your mouth. Inhale just deeply enough to feel your breath meet the rhythm of your chest rising. Exhale just enough to feel the rhythm of your chest falling. Localize the area of motion and breath to just the zone under your hands. Do not allow other areas of the body to recruit motion. Repeat this process for a few respiration cycles. Now, do the same exercise with your hands placed at the bottom of your breastbone and breathe the same way. Then place your hands on your abdomen (near your navel) and repeat. Remember to breathe gently just into the area where your hands are placed.

If this exercise is very difficult to do in one of these regions, move to a different region that feels more comfortable and at which you can focus the breath and movement with greater ease. Once you have found the “connection” in peace and can focus the breath and motion into just that area, then alternate between this area and the area of distress. Let the peace you experience spread to the region where you felt discomfort. When you hold the area of distress, attempt to get breath as close to that area of the body as possible and moan or make the sound of that area—the sound that area would want to make if it could speak. This technique requires the brain to hook up to the area again.

After the sound is made in this area (no more than 30 seconds on this area of distress), bring both hands back to the area of connection or peace. Sigh or make a sound of peace, ease, or relief at this area. Alternate between the area of connection or peace and distress for a few minutes (usually up to 10 minutes). Notice if there is more comfort, or if you have greater wellness, or if the sounds between both areas seem to merge.

Real magic can come from doing this exercise. If you want help, ask Dr. Liddell.

Common Sense Approach To Flu Season

Here are some easy and economical ways to support our immune systems.

Reduce the things that slow our natural immune system down.
Three immune suppressors that we have direct control over are dehydration, stress, and sugar.

So much has been said about sugar but here is a quick reminder about the importance of reducing sugar intake. One study showed that immune cells in a “no sugar” group destroyed 14 times more bacteria than the “high sugar” group. Reducing sugar consumption is critical and this includes the reduction of simple carbohydrates like fruit juice, honey and milk products.

One of the best immune enhancers is sleep. Sleep is nature’s greatest repair mechanism.

Assure that the superhighway of the lymph system is open to carry immune supportive white blood cells and remove toxins. We can do that by increasing movement or exercise.

Eat colorful foods.
More is discovered daily about the phytochemical effects of foods, particularly fruits, vegetables, and spices. Basic foods can be more powerful than pharmaceutical agents and without the side effects. Increase fruits and vegetables to 10 servings a day. Increase the amount of color you consume in foods – ditch the white, increase the color. Also, boost consumption of garlic, ginger, and green tea.

You can make your own preventative tonic.
Follow the recipe on Erin’s Easy Eatables for Fire Cider. This recipe is an inexpensive, effective way to treat or stave off flus and colds. Drink it straight or diluted in a bit of water or tomato juice. Start out with a teaspoon or so to test your tolerance level. Work up to a shot/day during the flu months. Can also be rubbed into sore muscles and aching joints, mixed with a bit of honey to ease a cough, or soaked into a clean cloth to place on a congested chest.

Supplements
Vitamin D is getting alot of press because it is the supplement of choice right now in this flu season. It has so many functions – one is that it naturally modulates chemical messengers in the immune response. The optimal blood levels are 50 – 100 ng/ml so if blood testing is available increase your dose to reach those levels. Unless you get 20 minutes of sun on your skin every day, take 6,000 IU per day as a maintenance dosage. My favorite is Bio-D Mulsion Forte from Biotics Research. It’s bioavailable and emulsified for better absorption. Each one ounce container is $19.00 for over 700 drops of vitamin D. Each drop is 2,000 IU that means only 3 drops will give you 6,000 IU.

Vitamin D, as any catalyst, needs cofactors to work properly. A good quality vitamin/mineral will work synergistically with vitamin D to maximize its effects.

In a viral infection, overactive white blood cells can cause excessive free radicals. Most of the vitamin C on the market is already oxidized, which the body must regenerate into the reduced form before it can be used. So we want a form that is already in the reduced form, like the mineral ascorbates. 1500 – 3000 mg is a good prevention dose.

Not All Supplements are Created Equal!
There are many good nutritional supplement companies out there, and there are some really bad ones. How can a consumer make an educated choice when purchasing their supplements? One answer is, with the help of their trusted healthcare provider. She or he can recommend products with which they have confidence based on consistent and effective clinical results.

Testing Bulk and Raw Materials
The quality of bulk and raw materials for making dietary supplements varies tremendously from manufacturer to manufacturer and company to company. Many nutritional companies do not make their own products and are dependent on their vendors’ assurances. Other countries may not have high standards or the ability to test their products and raw materials. The FDA does not monitor the contents or purity of nutritional supplements, leaving the nutritional supplement industry poorly regulated from a manufacturing standpoint.
There are some excellent companies who manufacture their own products and use standardized testing for heavy metals, contaminants and culturing for bacterial pathogens.

Nutrient Availability
Many nutrients can oxidize or lose their potency, some quicker than others. It is important that manufacturers buy these ingredients in small lots which can be quickly processed and made readily available to the consumer. Manufacturers who buy these raw materials in large lots, in an effort to cut costs, may store them for longer periods of time which results in less effective products.
Manufacturers are not required to test the ease of digestibility of their products and many lack the equipment to do so. They may try to fit their products’ constituents into small, very hard tablets that are aesthetically pleasing but do not disintegrate properly in the body.

Species Testing
This is testing to identify that the correct species and the correct part of the plant is being used.

Activity Testing
Testing performed to assure that the purported active properties of the plant are present.

Personal History
More and more people are choosing a natural approach to compliment their healthcare but are unaware of the possible interactions that can occur between prescriptions and nutrients. Many prescriptions can negatively affect the status of vitamins, minerals and/or trace elements. Your healthcare practitioner can provide input needed to avoid negative interactions between drugs and supplements.

This is my Human Design Body Graph.

Human Design can give you a strategy for living your life authentically. It’s not about changing who you are, but recognizing and accepting who you’ve always been.

What can the Human Design System do for you?
We lead busy lives full of pressure and tension. We are in a hurry. We do more than is healthy or wise. We rush into things or get forced into situations because we can’t say no. We feel guilty, inadequate, afraid, angry and frustrated. We have so many conflicts in our lives. We feel pushed and pulled in so many directions. This is no way to live life.

Life is meant to be enjoyed and to have beauty in it. Wouldn’t it be incredible not to feel frustrated and angry? Wouldn’t it feel wonderful to be comfortable and relaxed inside ourselves? Wouldn’t it be exhilarating to actually feel fulfilled in our lives?

The Human Design System can bring about such a transformation. It is not a band-aid or a quick fix. It empowers you with very specific information about your genetic makeup so that you can regain trust in yourself to know, from inside yourself, how and when to act, what decisions will work best for you, and what is most important in your life.
(from HumanDesignAmerica.com)

You can get your picture, this bodygraph of yourself, for free. All it
takes is your birth data – your exact date, time and place of birth. I can help you interpret it.

Click here for your free chart!

Since my introduction to Human Design, I have become a serious student of this remarkable and expansive information. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and understanding, empowering you to see yourself in a whole new way and to be able to make decisions that are genuinely your own.

An Introduction to Yourself:
This is a basic introduction to the Human Design Bodygraph. It’s an explanation of how to use this map of yourself to see your strengths and gifts, the places where you have been influenced by others and it shows you what is reliable in you for making decisions.

Generator Response Experience:
Generators are attraction frequencies – when we are asked questions we can discover what is correct for us. I’ll ask you many questions in many areas of your life so you can begin to see what it’s like to respond. It can be surprising, delightful, or even startling to hear what your sacral voice has to say.

Personalized Design Classes: - Individual Study and Groups
Call the office to see what is available.

Educational Getaway:
Study Human Design in a relaxed and open setting. You can experience a personalized educational program designed for you and your needs. Ask us about our kamaaina rates. For more info, click here.

The ONE Research Foundation Validates Semantic Muscle Testing

The ONE Research Foundation, established on May 24, 1993, is proud to have spearheaded support for the research study, Muscle Test Comparison For Congruent And Incongruent Self-Referential Statements, published in Perceptual Motor Skills (rated in the top 5% of all psychological peer-reviewed journals). It is the first of its kind to validate the affect of congruent semantic stimuli (statements we believe to be true or would like to be true) on the muscle test and be published in a scholarly journal. Confucius once said, “Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men.”

To lend some historical perspective, we must acknowledge the contributions of so many great scholars of the past. Alfred Korzybski coined the phrase semantic reaction to denote the physiological response of the organism to symbols and words which he elicited using the skin galvanometer. Since that time, scientists have measured physiological responses to emotional stimuli via blood pressure, heart rate, skin reaction, etc.

George Goodheart, in 1964, used the manual muscle test as a diagnostic tool to evaluate the integrity of the nervous system and organ function, which led to the developed of Applied Kinesiology (AK). AK holds that physical, chemical, and psychological/emotional stimuli act as indicators of the functioning status of the patient’s physiology.

In 1988, Scott Walker, D.C. founded Neuro Emotional Technique (NET). NET is briefly defined as a methodology of finding and removing neurological aberrations, Neuro Emotional Complexes (NECs), in the human organism. He used the muscle test as a basis for locating and correcting NECs via various modes of entry. The method most relative to this study is the semantic mode for evaluation of the physiological response to emotional congruency, or emotional reality.

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of Dan Monti, M.D. and his colleagues at Jefferson Medical College, this much-needed study confirms the use of the semantic muscle test as another diagnostic tool for the field practitioner. They employed the Power Track II Dynamometer with Tracker software to measure total force (examiner pressure plus subject resistance) and time to muscle give-way, thusly diminishing the chance for variance via human error.

Prior to this landmark study, which is the first to use instrumentation to eliminate the subjective, examiner-induced bias, the major support for this procedure was anecdotal. According to Monti, “Our data definitively demonstrates the difference in muscle strength/reaction between two different semantic stimuli.” This study lends scientific support to the use of the muscle test for any technique that uses muscle testing and is a valid tool to measure the physiologic response to both congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli thereby promoting optimum emotional reality and integrity of the nervous system.

The ONE Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization that funds scientific research, and endeavors to bring Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) to the world. More than 4,000 doctors, therapists, and other licensed healthcare workers in all 50 states and over 30 countries throughout the world have been trained to assist patients with NET.

If you’re in a weakened state due to factors such as stress or physical trauma, everyday emotional responses may not fully resolve as they naturally should. Later in our lives, when we experience a similar situation, an old emotional response can kick in.

Individually, we rarely see the link between a past event and our present situation. This is where NET is crucial — NET can help identify an old unresolved event (real or imagined) and help your body release its lingering emotional response. For good!

People used to think that emotions resided entirely in their brain. Now we know that other parts of the body can hold emotional charges too. Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach before a speech?  Have you referred to something as a “pain in the neck?”  Have you ever felt a “lump in your throat?” Clearly emotions happen in our body, not just our brain.

NET practitioners can find unresolved, negatively-charged emotional responses that are stored in your body and help you release them. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it can dramatically improve your health.

Finding “trapped” or conditioned memory loops is done with the help of simple muscle testing. This helps determine if your body is in harmony with a particular concept or idea which is linked to an unresolved emotional event.

To make the correction, you’ll form a mental picture – a “snapshot” – of the original triggering event. Your body will assume an emotional state similar to the way it originally reacted. Then we will contact (or ask you to contact) a specific body point that is associated with the unresolved emotional response. This helps your body release the emotion linked to the event. It’s that simple!

After the correction, many patients report feeling that a heavy weight has been lifted from their shoulders. If things become too personal or uncomfortable during the process, just say the word and the session can end safely. You are always in control.

NET is safe and effective, and is a natural way to instantly resolve long-standing health problems by resolving the emotional components that accompany the physical symptoms.

Ralph Boone, Ph.D., D.C., has served on the consensus panels of all three Standards of Care Documents which have been developed within the chiropractic profession. He has experience with the academics, and the accreditation process, having been president of a national professional accrediting agency, site visitor for a regional accrediting agency, and faculty member at both chiropractic colleges and universities.

He has served as president of an American chiropractic college, and is currently Executive Officer for Academics/Research for the New Zealand School of Chiropractic. He is the current editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, and author or co/author of numerous publications.

Dr. Boone has been on several research teams at various academic institutions. Recently, as the Research/Education Director for the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), he was the representative of the WCA, which holds Non Governmental Organization holding recognition with the U.N. Department of Information (NGO/DPI), at the Seoul International Conference of NGOs where he presented a discussion session on “The Role of Chiropractic Care in Global Health.”

Dr. Boone also serves as Vice President of the Council on Chiropractic Practice, and is involved with international education of chiropractic and other allied healing arts. hich have been developed within the chiropractic profession. He has experience with the academics, and the accreditation process, having been president of a national professional accrediting agency, site visitor for a regional accrediting agency, and faculty member at both chiropractic colleges and universities.

He has served as president of an American chiropractic college, and is currently Executive Officer for Academics/Research for the New Zealand School of Chiropractic. He is the current editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, and author or co/author of numerous publications.

 

From the Desk of W.R. Boone, Ph.D., D.C.
Dr. Donald Epstein, Developer
Network Spinal Analysis    October 27th, 1999

Dear Dr. Epstein:

Please feel free to use this letter pertaining to the efficacy and scientific scrutiny which surrounds Network Spinal Analysis (NSA). I offer the following comments based on my experience relative to non-chiropractic basic science research and education, chiropractic research, and chiropractic education.
I have been involved with the evolution of study relative to NSA for approximately five years. That time has permitted the accumulation of sufficient data to develop a sophisticated analysis of previous anecdotal reports concerning NSA care. To date, the system of care delivery associated with NSA has been studied from the perspective of its formal documentation, description, retrospective analysis, and longitudinal clinical outcomes. Moreover, its relationship to academic disciplines other than chiropractic has also occurred (notably non-linear systems mathematical analysis, and regression modeling relative to the social sciences). A publication history detailing the findings to date can be supplied. Three other manuscripts relative to the social sciences, and the longitudinal study are currently in preparation for publication submission. All articles published have been subjected to the peer-review process to ensure scientific quality and proper evaluation of the findings. As well, a current model of NSA based on these published findings is available.
Currently, the body of scientific information that has accumulated supports earlier reports regarding the efficacy of NSA as well as its positive health and wellness benefits to those receiving NSA care. Thus, in my opinion, it is appropriate to state that NSA has been thoroughly studied in terms of efficacy and benefits to its recipients. Some aspects of the unique “somatopsychic wave” associated with NSA escapes current neurological and physiological explanations relative to mechanism of action. However, this factor alone has been a principle attraction for those representing non-chiropractic disciplines to explore NSA relative to their respective areas of study.
Dr. Epstein is committed to a long-term research program, as should be expected for any technique or methodology, findings to date reveal that a significant number of individuals, spanning a wide spectrum of locations and life situations, respond essentially the same to the NSA care delivered. These findings are epidemiological in scope crossing both geographical and cultural boundaries. I know of no other chiropractic technique to which this level of scientific inquiry has been undertaken. Furthermore, because of the high level of consistency found across the populations studied, only the most rigorous statistical methods of analysis have been used to assess the data.

Sincerely,
W. Ralph Boone, Ph.D., D.C.

BREAKING NEW GROUND FOR LONG TERM HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Network Spinal Analysis, developed by Donald M. Epstein, D.C., is founded on the premise that individuals free from vertebral subluxations experience a greater range of inherent adaptability and therefore, a greater sense of relative health or wellness.

GENTLE ADJUSTMENTS ARE GIVEN
Corrections are made by the body’s own movement, respiration and modulating tension patterns. Gentle adjustments are given to directly correct vertebral subluxations in the context of enhanced spinal and neural integrity. As the patient progresses through the Levels of Care a greater awareness of one’s body, its tension patterns, its self-correcting capacity and enhanced quality of life is anticipated.

LEVELS OF CARE
In Level One of care, the spinal structures learn how to dissipate tension – current and chronic. The body is learning how to release tension faster than it is storing it! We expect more flexibility, adaptability and more awareness as Level One progresses. In Level Two of care, structural adjustments may now be used to correct subluxations. In Level Three the patient is even more participatory in the corrective process as the body learns through the use of positioning and long lever arm movements to spontaneously self-correct.

INCREASED FLEXIBILITY OF THE SPINE
As your spine becomes more free of interference, contractions of the spinal muscles may occur. The movements may be subtle, barely perceptible, or very obvious and may involve the arms and legs. Over a period of several months, physiological and psychological changes have been observed, including increased flexibility of the spine, increased range of motion, improved mood, a sense of relaxation, self reported “wellness” and greater capacity  to cope with stressful situations.

As areas of the spine synchronize their motion, or oscillate, improvements may be seen in vertebral alignment, posture, and areas of spinal tension.

WAVE PHENOMENA DEVELOP
Two characteristic wave phenomena develop with NSA. They are the Respiratory and Somatopsychic Waves which are suggested to be an effective means of dissipating stored tension from the subsystems. The Respiratory Wave is associated with a spontaneous breathing pattern involving a deepening and rhythmic expansion of the chest with rocking of the craniosacral system. As this wave progresses upwards from the sacrum, the passive subsystem of the spine has the opportunity to increase its motion, breaking down the negative feedback loops that may exist between the spinal integrity subsystems.

QUALITY IS ENHANCED
A most common consequence of this is the reduction and/or elimination of chronic tension and spinal fixation. The Somatopsychic Wave progresses in a dolphin-like fashion – as muscular undulations of the spine. It rocks vertebrae through their range of motion. Patients have reported a significant enhancement of their health and quality of life once they have experienced these wave processes.

CURRENTLY BEING EVALUATED
These waves are of such considerable interest that they are currently being evaluated at the University of Southern California, Department of Engineering in a research project titled “Chaotic Modeling in Network Spinal Analysis”. A population of patients receiving NSA care is being used to mathematically define the wave and its potential benefits to determine how living systems self-organize. When the muscle activity of the wave is analyzed using normal statistical means, what appears is random activity, or noise. However, when chaos mathematics is applied to the data, biological patterns are revealed!

STATE OF READINESS
NSA does not adjust areas of maximum pain or fixation. It suggests adjustments once the central nervous system appears to have a better awareness of the area, and can initiate gentle rocking through its motion with respiration. This must be accompanied by a state of readiness of the spine to assist the body in correcting the subluxation. With progression through Levels of Care, the body increases its ability to recognize tension, distortion and subluxation patterns and can generate subtle movements and respirations to spontaneously self-correct.

LARGEST STUDY OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS OUTCOMES
Network Care has been studied through the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine. This was the largest epidemiological study of chiropractic patients to date. It was also the largest study of heatlh and wellness outcomes for a chiropractic population. It was among the largest studies of any population for self reported evaluations of health and well-being.

BENEFITS ARE EVIDENT
The study included 2,818 patients from 156 participating offices of members of the Association for Network Chiropractic. “The evidence of improved health in the four domains (physical state, mental/emotional state, stress evaluation, life enjoyment) overall quality of life from a standardized index, and the ‘wellness coefficient’ suggest that Network Care is associated with significant benefits. These benefits are evident from as early as 1-3 months under care, and appear to show continuing clinical improvements in the duration of care intervals studied, with no indication of a maximum clinical benefit.” This indicates that for the population studied clinical benefits accrued over time, with no ceiling. These findings are being further evaluated through studies of current populations under care.

POSITIVE CHANGES IN OVERALL HEALTH
The study concludes with “These initial findings show that Network Care is associated with significant improvement in all indicators of health evaluated, and demonstrate a strong association between Network Care and self reported, positive changes in overall health/wellness.”

LEADING EDGE OF BODYMIND DISCIPLINES
In summary, the ability  to recognize the presence of an impediment to one’s health with the ability to self-correct the offending problem is a high ideal for any  form of health care. NSA combines a vitalistic, holistic system of precise outcome assessments for spinal and neural integrity and improvements in health and quality of life. The research to date, along with the ambitous projects underway, and enthusiastic support from the academic community in the fields of neuroanatomy, neurobiology, sociology, immunology, biochemistry, psychology, engineering, physics, endocrinology and mathematics are helping to position NSA at the leading edge of the bodymind disciplines.

Excerpted and paraphrased by Charlotte Liddell, D.C. from a
2-part series in Canadian Chiropractor, Feb. and Apr. 1998

Terms:
NSA - Network Spinal Analysis
subluxation – an alteration of nerve function that interferes with the transmission of organizing information
oscillation - vibratory wave at a given frequency. When more than one system is involved, the coupled system then oscillates at the lowest frequency among the constituents. This new frequency  is believed to be the most stable. Oscillating systems are believed to be an important dynamic underlying physiologic process.
spinal integrity - the state in which the physical parts and the physiological processes of the spine function unimpaired.

by Dr. Donald Epstein, founder and developer of Network Spinal Analysis

Research at the University of California, Irvine demonstrated that patients in Network Care reported significant improvement in Physical Health and symptoms, Emotional/Mental Health and symptoms, Stress, and Life Enjoyment. A unique Wellness Index was developed to assess these categories for overall quality of life. Seventy Six percent of the over 2,800 patients improved in every category. Although physical symptoms changed most often within the first couple of months, patients reported their overall life enjoyment and quality of life continuing to improve year after year.

During Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) care two “healing waves” develop which are unique to Network. One is a breathing wave that releases tension throughout the spine and body and relaxes a person. The other is called a somatopsychic (or body-mind) wave, which is associated with a dolphin type undulation or movement of the spine. These waves are related to a significant increase in wellness and quality of life.

Once people experience these Network “healing” waves, they tend to make healthier choices. Suddenly the exercise, diet, supplements, meditation or prayer that may have been resulting in minimal wellness benefits increased in effectiveness. Saying it differently, people in Network care, who experience these waves often double their perceived wellness. As these “healing waves” progress along a person’s spine it revitalizes, energizes, and helps the body to self correct distortions of alignment and posture. They move “stuck energy” and are a resource of new energy and vitality. Vertebra of the spine spontaneously realign as one of the by products.

NSA helps the person “inside” who is experiencing disease, and must deal with a prognosis, treatment, and symptoms. With care they are better able to develop innate strategies to find tension in the their bodies and spontaneously move and breathe to dissipate it. NSA helps the person to use the energy within their spinal tension (and unresolved past and current stressful or traumatic experiences) to fuel the healing process. Network Care helps the internal cues to become so available that people more often act, think, feel and respond in a more productive and healthier fashion. The internal communication systems become clearer to coordinate the body more effectively even during periods of stress and trauma. People have been shown to make healthier choices and enjoy life more. Also, a wide range of physical complaints such as headaches, stiffness, pain, eczema, menstrual cramps, dizziness and many others have been reported by the Network patients to improve or resolve.

Why is it that we lose our wellness and health?
It seems associated with the way we experience our world. When an event occurs that our brain determines is not safe for us to fully experience, the energy and information of the event is translated into vibration and tension, which is then stored in the body. It is not unlike the after-image of a flashbulb. Our body then walls off the offending energy and tension over time with muscular spasm, spinal distortion, reduced breathing into the area and reduced movement. Much of what many disciplines seek to correct through manipulation, massage, and therapy is often a symptom of this process.

Until it is safe to experience that energy again, and our bodies develop the strategy to do this, and digest the information from the trauma, we cannot really feel whole or well. The state of safety is one which promotes internal awareness and internal “growth”. Our body tenses more easily and our physiology remains set on “defense”. In defense we tighten, our blood pressure tends to rise, we feel less emotion and are living our life in reaction to our stress of the moment.  Nerves that attach through the spinal cord into the brain connect every cell of the body. Tension in this main cable network creates tension in the body tissues. The brain continues to perceive life defensively, and produces stress chemicals that inhibit the ability to pay attention to the incomplete “energy” or “unfinished business”.
Through gentle contacts along the neck and lower spine, (where the spinal cord attaches inside the vertebral column), called Network adjustments or entrainments, greater body awareness is achieved. The body moves away from defense and towards growth. The brain becomes aware of the spine, which is a main conduit of consciousness, the coordinator of body function, and a proposed location of the subconscious mind. Our posture, spinal alignment, and tension patterns all reflect our emotional reactions to our perceived world.

Most of us remain in defense throughout our lives, and the higher more evolved brain does not have the opportunity to develop its unique properties and evolve new strategies for experiencing and responding to life.

When at peace, the internal growth “programs” can be switched on because the body does not need to protect itself from injury. It can then assess if our reactions, adaptations and symptoms are appropriate or not. We can feel more profoundly and use subtle information within to make healthier choices. We can be more compassionate to others, and to ourselves. We can activate “internal software for experiencing life, changing our course, and for healing. Our brain can pay attention to the body’s tension patterns, its spinal alignment, its posture, and its current state.

In order to fix something we must first be able to find it.  As our brain is better able to inventory the body, it can better orchestrate healing. This naturally occurs as NSA care progresses and the individual not only becomes aware of spinal tension patterns, vertebral motion and respiration, but also even the energetic motion through the body. Natural outcomes of Network care include this awareness, and even the self-regulation of spinal tension and alignment.

Those people who have had the greatest wounds, or stresses and traumas in life, may tap stored tension or blocked energy through NSA care to develop the statistically greatest positive changes in wellness. This is part of the “stress busting” effect demonstrated in Network Care. New strategies can be developed to access the internal storehouse of energy for healing. This is what appears to happen in NSA care.

The NSA practitioner seeks to promote these new strategies for your spine and nervous system so that you can be more effective at being well. The spinal assessments the doctor makes are matched with your personal health and wellness inventory. Allow the practitioner’s expertise, and your ability to heal, to join in celebrating the wellness that is available to you . . . even in the presence of disease.