Brimhall Report

I was able to attend my first Brimhall seminar 4 years ago because I was married to a chiropractor and working in his office. I had signed us up and he ended up not going. "I'm still going, " I said. I was in the middle of debilitating migraines--something that traditional chiropractic should have been able to address. But it wasn't. Have you ever been in so much pain that you wanted to drive your car into a tree? I didn't want to hurt the tree.

Eventually I traveled to Mesa, AZ just outside Phoenix, to the Brimhall Clinic. Dr. Brett Brimhall, Dr. John's son, said, "I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that you have all 6 interferences to your health. The good news is that I can help." That was the beginning of my road back to health and wellness. [side note here: I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that my husband learned acupuncture in order to get certified in cold-laser therapy, and that REALLY helped with the hormonal migraines].

So, back to Brimhall: that is why I'm all blah blah blah Brimhall. There aren't many locals at the clinic. Mostly people come from out of town (or the country) with serious illnesses. I traveled to the clinic 3 different times for treatment and then I met Dr. Steve Thaxton, who practices outside Charleston, WV. It's still a 5-hour drive, but closer than AZ. So it was sort of funny to listen to a doc from Pittsburgh complain that there was only one certified Brimhall doc in the state and that he didn't have anyone close to go to for his own treatment. I suggested Dr. Thaxton and he then complained that it was a 3-hour drive and it was too far. Really? 3 hours is spit compared to flying to Arizona. OK, then. Don't get treated, Dr. Complainer. No skin off my apple.

"You guys are so jaded. Yeah, yeah. Another miracle."

This is what Dr. John said on the last day of the 3-day seminar. I watched the day before as one of the docs had his father, in the early stages of dementia, get treated by Dr. Lynch, one of Dr. Brimhall's certified docs. He held out his phone to his father and said, "Dad, is this a phone or a pencil?" His father replied, "Yes." He couldn't follow directions. Dr. Lynch went through the laser protocol to reset the cranial nerves. It was like watching this man come back to life. He became alert and could then follow directions.

Most chiropractors have miracle stories. Many become doctors because they had a personal experience that changed their lives. They were in a wheelchair and couldn't walk until they got chiropractic treatment. Going through massage school gave me an even greater appreciation for structural medicine--and structure is just one piece of the puzzle! There's so much more. This method addresses health issues not typically associated with chiropractic: allergies, seizures, diabetes, weight-loss, phobias, MS, endocrine issues, digestive disorders, learning disabilities...the list goes on. It's pretty amazing stuff and I am reminded every time I attend a seminar.

Often it takes only one treatment for something to clear up. A few years ago, Dr. Lo had a sudden onset of vertigo. He'd had all sorts of tests, and the doctors said there was nothing they could do. He went to a seminar and Dr. John worked on him. How many times did I treat you before your vertigo went away? Dr. John asked him this weekend. One, Dr. Lo replied.

Dr. John with Dr. Jesse Liebman & staff from NJ

Dr. Katz can rock the didgeridoo!

Dr. Katz told an amazing story about a patient who came to him after being completely paralyzed after receiving a vaccination. She was a nurse and was required to get a flu shot. She was strapped into a wheelchair, on a respirator and feeding tube. She couldn't even hold up her head. The doctors told her there was nothing they could do. She is off the respirator, can move, and is now using a walker.

I am v. grateful to Nadine Carrick for allowing me to be part of the Nutriwest family. It was great working along side her and Erin, and spending time with Dr. Melissa, Dr. Bruce, & Janell. I was fortunate to get some TMJ work from Dr. Luke Lovick, and then the next day Dr. John treated me with the percussor. My favourite-- THANK YOU!!! All is right with the world when my head is on straight! It was great to see old friends, and to meet new ones, too. :-) H.

My Weight Loss Story

In yesterday's post I promised more about my weight loss. One of my sisters, known in our family as The Tactless One, said to me at Xmas, "What have you lost? Like 60 pounds?" I don't know because I didn't weigh myself. I think it's about 40 or 50 pounds, but I hadn't been on a scale so I don't know what my start weight was and it's prolly more. I just went on pant size. So I started from the stretchy-XL's (size 18-ish, I think) and v. gradually moved down to size 10.

Here are the components to returning my body to balance:

MOVEMENT:
When I was younger I took ballet, aerobics, etc. Then I became v. ill with debilitating migraines for a few years. It was a long road back to health and wellness. Thanks to getting Brimhalled, along with acupuncture from my husband, I am back among the living. However, during that time, I had stopped all activity because it was just exhausting. I walked my labyrinth, which was the extent of my exercise.

Lack of movement + hormonal imbalance + yummy cheesecake + STRESS = weight gain.

I was never a gym rat and even tho I had memberships, I never went. Yeah, I was one of those. Now you couldn't pay me to go to a gym: the noise, the bright lights, the sweaty people, the smells...Eeewww! But as Bruce Lipton says, Movement is life. So it was a matter of finding my kind of movement. And then I discovered YOGA. Like Columbus discovered America, but still. THANK GOD.

Have you ever met Yoga People? People used to assume I was into yoga years before I was because I meditate. But I never got the Yoga Thing--those people with their yoga mats on vacation. They get that LOOK when they talk about yoga--you know, the Yoga Trance.

And THEN I went to Yoga East. And I got it. I'm one of those people now! What I appreciate about yoga is that it goes beyond physical exercise and works on all levels of the body-mind-spirit. MY kinda exercise! I'm more flexible than I ever was even when I was dancing, I'm stronger and have more stamina. Yoga helped not just with the physical exercise part, but it REALLY helped with all the stress I was under at the time. I remember Sharon Cameron was leading a particular pose and as I was holding it, I was thinking, I love you SO MUCH. Um, except that I said it out loud. Oops. But it was so true. If you're ever on Kent Island in Maryland, GO! You will be WELCOMED with open arms by everyone there.

MIND/BODY/HYPNOSIS
I continued listening to my CD every night with the intention of being conscious of what my body wants to eat, and how it wants to exercise. I focused on being healthy, vital, and energetic.

FOOD,NUTRITION, ETC.
Whenever anyone asks about "diet," Dr. Brimhall recommends The Schwarzbein Principle. My chiro-friend Catherine does as well for helping balancing hormones, people with diabetes, and women going through menopause. Dr. Schwarzbein helps patients reverse their diabetes and they also lose weight in the process. So it's a great resource and it was one of my influences.

I have a rule for myself that I won't eat anything I don't love. I never ate fast food to begin with and I don't drink sodas. It's not real food to me and it warps the taste buds. However, my weakness was pasta and pizza and donuts and cheesecake and ice cream. We have Celiac's disease in my family. It's the inability to digest gluten (found in wheat, barley, rye). While I tested negative for it (YAY, me!) the doctor said I have an extreme allergy to wheat. So if I get a stray bread crumb, I'll be OK (unlike a Celiac). But often with food allergies, you crave the very thing you're allergic to. If I cared enough, I could get it Brimhalled with their allergy elimination technique (which I would definitely do if it were life-threatening). But I thought I'd try wheat-elimination for a month and see if I noticed any difference. I felt so much more energetic and I wasn't so bloated and I dropped a pant size. Plus, I didn't have cravings. And I noticed that once I stopped eating wheat, I also stopped eating sugar (as in donuts, ice cream, etc).

Another thing I gave up (and this is a running joke in my family) : coffee. Are you drinking coffee, not drinking coffee, what? is the standard question I get when anyone's brewing. I drink tea, with a bit of honey, and organic milk.

Here's what I do eat:

• lots of vegetables, and raw for the most part in the warmer months.
• Beans. I like to sprout them and then they go in a salad, soup, stirfry. V. yummy. I've got some mystery beans from an Indian grocery that are AWESOME! But you can sprout any kind: lentils, black beans, etc.
• Hummus--great with veggies, on salad, with rice.
• I'm not a strict vegetarian, I'll eat Alaskan salmon (NOT farm-raised) & sardines for those essential fatty acids we all need.
• Nuts. I make my own trail mix with nuts, gogi berries, etc. from The Apple Cottage.
• For carbs: sweet potatoes, rice and plantains (SO yummy)!
• Oils: I use mostly olive oil and coconut oil (especially for cooking). There's some misinformation about coconut oil, but you can read more info on the benefits here. I also use it on steamed veggies.
• Total Green is an AWESOME green drink that Dr. Brimhall created. You have to get it through a Brimhall doc or someone who uses Nutriwest neutriceuticals. Packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, etc., it can be used as a meal replacement. I don't like breakfast, so I make a shake. In the summer time I make a smoothie with frozen fruit. I also buy rip bananas and cut them into pieces and freeze them. They give an ice-cream consistency to it and make it v. yummy. In the wintertime, I don't like cold things, so I just mix it with water. Yes, it's that good--to me, at least! I always travel with it so that if there's nothing to eat at a restaurant, at least I have trail mix and Total Green. And especially if I'm at a Brimhall seminar with Dr. Doesn't-Give-Breaks, I can keep my blood sugar stable.
• For sweets: trail mix, fresh fruit, bananas, and I LOVE plantains. I boil them and mash them like potatoes and add a bit of cocunut butter.
• In the winter time I like warm foods and hot tea and I LOVE soup. So I make lentil soup & pumpkin soup & veggie soup, etc. I've also done a bit of GF baking. When it first got cold, I started eating oatmeal (a no-no for Celiacs, but I seemed to be OK with it) except that I went up a pant size in a month. So I stopped eating it. For hot cereal I eat cream of rice occasionally. YUM. But mostly I just have Total Green in the a.m.
• In addition to food, I take my Nutriwest supplements as prescribed by the docs. These have been part of what gave me my life back when I was so ill, and I continue to take enzymes, probiotics, and a multi-vitamin.

So that's basically what I did to lose the weight and how I maintain it. It took about a year. I will look for some good chubby-before and now-after photos for another post. One last note: There are all sorts of reasons we gain weight, and I was not limited to one. There was a huge emotional component that I dealt with and that I am sparing you from. Suffice to say, one of the reasons we crave sweets is when we are missing other sweet things in our lives. In addition, I am hard-pressed to think of many women I know who don't have some sort of body-image issue. It is not limited to weight-gain, either. One of the keys is to stop the battle with yourself and accept where and who you are right now. And give up the idea that there is a perfect size or shape or age. Cut yourself some slack. To paraphrase a song: If you can't have the body you'd love, then love the one you're in. Right now. LTS: Life's too short to struggle. And if you want some help with that, go check out John Morgan's I Love My Body. Ah, because now, at the age of 43, I really do.

For My Fellow Anatomy Nerds...

"The brains of a cell are not where the genes are, it's not the nucleus...the brains of the cell are in the membrane. The cell membrane lets us talk to each other." ~Dr. Mehmet Oz

WHO DOES THIS SOUND LIKE??? That's right: Bruce Lipton! And yet, go to any basic biology book--even an anatomy & phys. book, and it says that the brain of the cell is the nucleus. It was just a passing comment, but having been through Bruce's Biology of Belief seminar and reading his book--WOW! That was my excitement for the day. Now...let's get Bruce on Oprah!

It's really great to see holistic healing getting attention in mainstream America. And speaking of Brimhall... Dr. John says that health care in our country is really disease care. While we're at it, let's get Dr. Brimhall on Oprah! I want to see Oprah get lasered. Ah...cold-laser therapy....Have a FABULOUS day!

P.S. Awesome post from the Grasshopper on anger. Go see.

Percussor 101

This is a percussor. I have successfully failed to describe it accurately enough--and a picture is worth a thousand words. So here it is:

I can't talk about the Erchonia percussor without talking about Dr. John Brimhall, because that's who taught me. I learned from him before I became a massage therapist--in fact it was this work that inspired me to go to school. For all my non-Brimhallers out there, a percussor is a hand-held instrument that works on fascia. Fascia is the connective tissue that hold muscles, organs, etc. in place. It's v. strong stuff--2000 lbs. of pressure, if I'm remembering correctly. You know that filmy stuff across a chicken breast? Fascia. Dr. John says you could take everything out of the body and leave the fascia and you would still have the shape of your body. Whenever there's trauma to the body, the fascia can get restricted to create restricted movement or pain. As a massage therapist, I had a whole semester on myofascial release.

S-L-O-W work and pretty much like watching paint dry. Hehhhh...the percussor is way faster and efficient. Not only is it great for pain, but it's wonderful for TMJ (jaw) problems, breathing problems (there's a diaphragm release that really helps with asthma), and scar tissue release.

Surgery always disrupts the fascia and can create all sorts of problems, especially any kind of abdominal surgery, like a C-section. Dr. Lee tells a rather graphic story about a C-section patient who'd suffered from chronic constipation. I'm debating whether to say the rest...OK, get ready to say Eeewwww! On the way home she stopped at a gas station and FILLED one toilet, moved on to the next and was afraid to leave....yup, she was literally full of crap.

I worked on a client who was having extreme TMJ pain and it was related to a hysterectomy she'd had 7 years prior. The scar was less than an inch across, but as it released, so did her TMJ pain. Amazing stuff. I also worked on a woman who'd had multiple car accidents and surgeries. Not only are you working on the physical scar, but also the emotional trauma related to it as well. So the percussor releases all that pent-up energy as well as addressing unresolved emotions related to the initial trauma. And that was my first experience of being engulfed in a cloud of the energy of the anesthesia. Whew! Dr. Brady, another Brimhall doc, said When you work with the percussor, you'll start to experience some strange things. I have had some v. strange enxperiences that I will save for another time!