Project Creative Vision

Can We Be Thankful for Challenges Too?

It's easy to be grateful for all the great things in our lives.  But can we be grateful for the challenges - challenging people and situations, things /issues/ developments that cause us difficulties and even pain?  Can we see those challenges as growing experiences - ones that ultimately take us to a better place, a place of light and love?

It seems counterintuitive.  And yet, to shift into the place of gratitude is the only way to overcome the darkness of negative emotions that often surrounds such challenges in our lives.  And the only way that shift can occur is if we learn to see them through our heart's eye.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm giving thanks not just for all the things that are beautiful in my life - my family and friends, the abundance in my life, the endless support and guidance I receive as I walk my path.  I'm also giving thanks for all the challenges that have occurred this past year and for all the transformations that have occurred as a result. 

 

Health and Emotions

"In addition to the recent studies by various researchers like David Spiegel of Stanford who have convincingly shown that being able to express emotions like anger and grief can improve survival rates in cancer patients, we now have a theoretical model to explain why this might be so.  Since emotional expression is always tied to a specific flow of peptides in the body, the chronic suppression of emotions results in a massive disturbance of the psychosomatic network." - Candace Pert, PhD, "Molecules of Emotion."

New List of Favorite Books: Holistic Health, Mind-Body Medicine

I've just added a new book list (see on the left).  This one is about energy medicine, mind-body medicine, and holistic health - all subjects I'm deeply involved in now on the daily basis. 

I'm still keeping the original list though - the books on  meaning, purpose, and finding your true calling. It's through working with those books that I have found what I can truly say is the gift that gives me the greatest joy - the gift of working with people to support their healing processes. 

I now see those original books as old friends, ones who were there to support me on this path of discovering my own calling.  To me, they are a marker of progress.  The questions they raised - the ones that seemed so hard, almost impossible to answer - have now largely been answered.  New questions have arisen in their place.  It's a never-ending journey, isn't it?

Deepening the Work

Last weekend I attended an amazing anatomy and physiology workshop.  It has prfoundly deepened my understanding of the way we can work with the body energetically to help it achieve optimal health.  And it made me think about how once we find the work that we love to do, it's a never-ending process of evolution and exploration.

We spent four full days learning how to access the wisdom of the body to help revitalize it at the deepest levels and support its healing processes.

The techniques we learned blew me away.  Working with the body purely on the energetic level, we can help it restore hormonal balance, support the strengthening and healing of bones and muscles, assiste the detoxification of the liver, promote scar integration, support of the health of the lymphatic system, boost the immune system, and much, much more!

In fact, using energy techniques alone, we can revitalize the entire system while creating that sense of profound relaxation and integration, which is so crutial for our bodies to restore and repair themselves.

And because different organs and systems in the body are associated with different emotions, working with the body in this way can help us access deep-seated emotions that may need to be processed and released for optimal health.

My clients have already been getting the benefits of these techniques and are telling me that they are impacting them at much deeper levels than before. 

Energy medicine is such a powerful healing modality.  I can't wait for the day when it is fully integrated with allopathic approaches.  From my perch at the Washington Cancer Institute, I'm certain that this day is coming. 

And from a personal journey perspective, I feel that a new door has opened for me to understand the work that I've been given to do in this life and the reasons why this work has found me. 

Because that's how it is - this work has found me rather than the other way around... but more on that later.

New Vision of Holistic Health

As regular readers of this blog know, my interest in holistic holistic health and wellness has grown over the past year.  As a student of energy medicine, aromatherapy, Reiki, and general principles of holistic health, I've come to realize that, if we want to change our lives for the better, we can't be looking at just one isolated slice of our life for the answers.  We are whole, complex human beings, and to create positive change in our lives, we need to treat ourselves as such and address the challenges we face on many different levels.

This growing interest led me last week to the Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public, put together by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.  I left the Summit inspired by the discussion and the possibilities for all of us together to build a society that fosters holistic health and honors each and every one of its members as a whole and complete human being.

To continue the discussion that started there, and extend it to those who were unable to join us, I have invited several friends who are leading the effort here in the Washington, DC area to offer their thoughts and perspectives on the Summit here on my blog.  

Below are the guest posts:

Lucrezia Mangione argues that we are part of a sea change in health care and there is room for all at the table in Creating the Culture of Wellness. 

Daphne White reports on groundbreaking Senate testimonies by Mehmet Oz, Dean Ornish, Andrew Weil, and Mark Hyman, and on Sen. Harkin's moving address to the IOM Summit.  Daphne calls upon all CAM practitioners to "put in sweat equity" to make sure that integrative health care is really part of the health care reform.

And Izabella Tabarovsky (yes, that's me) chimed in with some takeaways concerning what we, as CAM practitioners, can do to make the new, emerging paradigm a reality.

I have also just added a post on Dr. Mehmet Oz's remarks at the event and may be adding more as I go through my notes. 

In the meantime, the full webcast of the conference is now available online, so you can watch the entire event or the parts that interest you the most from the comfort of your own home.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Please share your comments under any of the posts that have caught your attention.  Let's all join in the revolution that's taking place in the way we as a society view and create health and wellness! 

IOM Summit: Opportunities Are Huge

But CAM Practitioners Must Seize the Initiative

 By Izabella Tabarovsky

Note: This post is part of the discussion on the Summit on Integrative Medicine

The 3-day Institute of Medicine Summit on Integrative Health was truly mind-broadening for me.  I came away excited about the possibilities and bursting with ideas.

The key was that we are living at a time of huge opportunities.  But no one is going to hand anything to us on a silver platter.  We must fight for what we believe in - and we must get creative about it. 

We can continue complaining how mainstream establishment doesn't recognize or accept us, that insurance companies don't reimburse us, and how the public doesn't understand what we do.  Or we can get beyond the current paradigm and think creatively about our competitive advantages vis-a-vis mainstream medicine and go there. 

Two key ideas were voiced at the Summit in this regard:  Community-based care networks and work-site CAM interventions.  Both require initiative on our part. And to become viable, both require that we overcome our tendency to get silo'ed and act alone.  Right now we will benefit from acting together, from helping each other out, from, together, creating the new paradigm in which the benefits of CAM modalities will be apparent to everyone. 

With that, here, briefly, are some of my take-aways from the Summit:

• The new paradigm is being birthed.  It seemed that everyone, from MDs to insurance reps, agreed that the old paradigm of health care is broken. We are present at the birth of the new paradigm.  No one knows yet what it will be.  The moment to contribute to the shaping of this new paradigm is now.  Each of us participating in the CAM field must now step up to the plate and do our part in making sure that integrative health care truly becomes a reality. 

• From evidence-based practice to practice-based evidence.  Pedigreed scientists such as Ken Brigham and Lawrence Green suggested that "to reject a treatment because we don't understand the mechanism is a mistake." The idea that randomized control trials don't work with CAM modalities and that practice-based evidence is "the only way to integrate practices that have hundreds of years behind them" was voiced repeatedly.  This means that if your practice shows results, that should be considered good enough evidence.  Music to the ears of a CAM practitioner.

• Shortage of primary care physicians creates opportunities for CAM practitioners.  The PCP shortage is already affecting the health care industry.  By 2025 we could be short as many as 200,000 PCPs, and, according to Richard "Buzz" Cooper, the health care reform could increase the shortfall by another 400,000.  Doctors' functions are becoming increasingly narrow and high-tech.  The offloading of tasks by physicians will accelerate, leaving physicians with increasingly narrower responsibilities, more high-tech and less relevant to the real issues affecting the health of their patients.  Other disciplines will, by necessity, be called upon to fill the gap, and this is where CAM practitioners will have their entry.

• There is room for everyone at the table to provide an amalgam of services.  This means that there will be room for everyone, from chiropractors to acupuncturists to health coaches to energy healers in creating an amalgam of care.  Because of the above, we are moving into a place where physicians will share the platform of care with a broad range of non-physician clinicians. 

• We must educate MDs and the public about our modalities. For the above point to be true, PCPs have to become educated about what we as CAM practitioners do.  83 percent of PCP practices in this country are groups of 1 or 2.  They account for nearly 50 percent of primary care.  This means that there are great opportunities to develop community care groups that could include nutritionists, dietitians, social workers, all connected to small PCP practices. The problem is that many times MDs, along with general public, have no idea what it is that we do.  So it is up to each and every one of us to take the initiative and reach out to the PCPs and educate them.  Go introduce yourself to PCPs in your neighborhood, tell them about what you do, show your credentials, build a relationship.  Begin where you are. 

• Empathy is CAM practitioners' competitive advantage.  I was floored by a slide presented by one of the speakers that illustrated the dramatic decline of empathy in medical students as they progress through medical school. This shift particularly affects men, whose levels of empathy drop nearly to zero.  (I don't have that particular slide, but here's a link to another onethat demonstrates the same point.)  What this suggests to me that we as CAM practitioners are, first and foremost, in the business of empathy.  In fact, empathy is our competitive advantage vis-a-vis the MDs - all the more so because studies show that empathy is the top quality that patients long to see in their caregivers.  Emphasize this with your prospects, let this be your selling point.

The one thing I found myself wishing for was that the Summit had lived up to the word "integrative" in its name and included the discussion of mind and spirit, not just the body. Dealing with questions of meaning and purpose is integral to whole person health.  But hey, you can't get everything right right away.  Perhaps next time.   

Creating a Culture of Wellness

Note: This is a guest post that is part of the discussion on the Summit on Integrative Medicine

By Lucrezia Mangione, CHTP/I, CMT 

Have you ever thought about . . .

• What a healthy health care system looks like?

• What a patient or person-centered approach to health and healing is?
• A place for certified, credentialed and/or licensed health care practitioners co-existing within a system that engenders cross-disciplinary connection, discussion and collaboration? 
• What happens when all credentialed and/or licensed health practitioners collaborate together, in support of the suffering person/patient with an individualized well-care program? 
• What an honest, authentic discussion of the inherent problems with our health care industry and its' sick care model sounds like? 
• The behavioral challenges to better health?
• The class/social  issues that prevent access to health care?

Six hundred health professionals joined together for a lively discussion on these topics and more on Feb. 25-27, 2009.  It was a thought provoking and collaborative experience where I was sincerely surprised to be among peers.  We, the people who genuinely wish to alleviate suffering, engaged in dialog on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public at the Institute of Medicine and Bravewell Collaborative's Summit in Washington D.C.

It was powerful. I was positively impacted.  There were more questions than answers and there is so much to share.  In the spirit of brevity, however, I'll speak to a few points that stood out for me.

This Is What I Learned:

"Person-Centered Care" Is the New Model for Health

Because of the efforts of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners and their holistic work over the years, the new model emerging for health care is a shift to "patient centered cared" or "person-centered care".    The individual is returned to the center of the health care wheel and s/he is the hub around which all else happens.  This shift will take time but there are models that are working already like the eight integrative centers of Bravewell Clinical Network. 

In the meantime, business is the force driving the shift.  Employee wellness centersare arising within large companies.  Why?  Because the return on investing in an employee's wellness is significant:  employees perform better. There are studies that prove meditation, fitness and health coaching are helping in "presenteeism: be here now" as Dr. Kenneth Pelletier puts it.  Businesses are bringing about the person/patient centered care and self-care empowerment.  See this article on Medtronic:

This Is What I Realized:

Integrative Practitioners Are on the Same Page

Breaking Through the Fear

I've been thinking a lot in recent months about the fears that hold us back in life and how I can help those I'm honored to work with to break through those fears.  Fear is a natural part of who we are, and our great task in life is to face that fear down in order to grow stronger - mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  This task, which isn't easy even in the best of times, has become even tougher since the beginning of the current economic crisis. 

So I wanted to share this email that a former client sent me a few weeks ago.  (I'm publishing it, of course, with his express permission.) It shows that sometimes all that's needed to break through the fear is the realization that, no matter the external circumstances, we all get just this one life to live.  In the end, that life will be judged not by how tightly we held on to what we had but by how bravely we faced our fears down and followed our guts into the lives we were meant to live. Thanks for the inspiration, my friend!

Hi Izabella!  I have some great news! Last week I was finally offered a great sales job with a [well-known company]. Work from home, great salary, and wonderful benefits.

So you may be shocked to hear that in the middle of the worst recession in 75 years, I turned down the job the day I was supposed to start, and have decided to move to [another state], enroll in a certificate program in theology at the Seminary there, take a few entrepreneurship classes, and in the next 6-months start my own business and probably one for my wife as well! 

A pastor of mine said a profound thing last year, “Nobody gets tomorrow.” Meaning - do it today because you might not be here tomorrow.  I decided that I cannot go another day pretending during interviews and not being honest with myself. I have never been more excited, and more filled with feelings of moving in the direction of my gifts, abilities and passions.

The Chemistry of Careers

Well, it's been a while since I've written here on the blog.  The class I was teaching and the planning and scheming for future workshops took over and now we're here, at the end of November... 

One career-related piece of wisdom that emerged from my recent (and ongoing) excursion into holistic health is that, apparently, a career you detest is as bad for your health, from the biochemical standpoint, as consuming that public enemy number one - refined sugar.  Apparently, negative emotions that result from a job we dislike produce similar chemical reactions in our bodies as acid-ash foods - foods that create an environment that is conducive to inflammation and disease.  In contrast, alkaline foods (and, it turns out, positive emotions) create an environment that is conducive to health and vitality. (For more on the subject, see Dr. Theodore Baroody's classic "Alkalize or Die.") 

I've always felt that when we suppress our natural creativity and true gifts for the sake of a career that leaves us unhappy, we harm our health.  I never realized though that there were actual chemical reactions taking place that were, in fact, ruining our health at the very basic, biochemical level.  Doesn't it kind of put the question of career change in much starker terms?  If you hate your job but keep staying because it provides you with "stability" and "security," you might as well ask yourself:  How much for my health? 

Anyway, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone and see you back here in a few days!

Natalie Coughlin: "Define Success for You"

Olympians have a lot to teach us in helping us reach for and achieve our dreams.  Their stories are a source not just of inspiration but also of invaluable strategies that are applicable to both our personal and professional lives, no matter what we do in life and what we are trying to achieve.

These strategies are as much about the mind as they are about the body.  The things you say to yourself, your mindset, your ability to focus on that which will give you energy and strength are all key components of your personal success - whatever "success" means to you.   

JoAnn Dahlkoetter, a sports psychologist, has a great book on the subject called "Your Performing Edge," which I expect to be reviewing in the coming weeks.  Meanwhile, as an introduction to the topic, I wanted to pass along a few inspirational quotes from women athletes that landed in my mailbox this morning courtesy Oprah's Spirit Newsletter.

Read them and be inspired - but don't stop there.  Set the intention to read the advice of these athletes and actually take it to heart.  In other words, don't just be inspired.  Be transformed.  This week, choose to pick one thing you could do to bring you closer to your dream.  Do the same next week and the week after, and let momentum develop.

And here's a tip for making this a success.  Imagine that you are on an Olympian's schedule.  Imagine that you only have four years to achieve your goal and that in your entire life, you'll only have 2-3 opportunities (your personal equivalents of the Olympic games) to make your dream come true.  Let that fill you with the sense of urgency needed to finally give your dream a priority. 

With that, here's your Monday morning dose of inspiration.