The US currently ranks highest in healthcare spending among the world’s developed nations. Our average cost per capita is $10,029 a year. What can we do to get our overall costs down? Practice better self-care. But self-care is more than just diet and exercise. The pressures, expectations and anxiety in our lives can make us sick, too. We need to get centered in ourselves before we can control our own health. We need a starting point. What is the single most important thing a person can do? I decided to consult a professional.
Rita Campbell holds an MA in holistic counseling from Salve Regina University. She helps people who are looking for an effective path to healing. Her pick for a starting point? Rita doesn’t hesitate: “A productive entry level for healing is the daily discipline of meditation. At the top of the list of practices, whatever the health challenge in life, should be a daily meditation to which we tie the intention to release our history of PTSD.”
Why does PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome), a psychological issue, have such a strong effect on our physical health? “Our layers of PTSD are a trauma that keeps us in the self destructive cycles of resistance to self care. Whatever the circumstance – victimized by past bullying, misguided parenting, death of a loved one, rape or molestation, or the longterm emotional torture of a chronic illness – clearing that list of boundary violations will open the door to clearing the trauma held at the DNA level, which is tied to past. Making space for oneself slows down the mind’s incessant chatter. When space is made, problems get solved. Guidance can be received from your higher self to solve what earlier seemed unresolvable.”
When one considers the sheer number of health problems we have that are stress induced and/or exacerbated by stress, the idea of starting with a quiet space inside makes sense. Rita believes the next step is learning some important techniques. “Protocols exists to address as much as one has the discipline to pursue. Each person’s perception of available time and economic tolerance governs how many intentions can be integrated.”
She recommends starting with Applied Kinesiology. This technique, used by many holistic healers, employs muscle testing in order to identify what health and emotional issues to pursue, and in what order. Substances, or questions that are harmful or false, short circuit the body’s electrical system when introduced and cause unmistakable weakness in muscle resistance. Ordinarily, the technique is used by a healer with a patient, but there are also methods for self-testing. At Perelandra Center for Nature Research, there’s a good tutorial: perelandra-ltd.com/PKTT-C795.aspx. Does the technique work? This is a highly debated subject. Western doctors claim that scientific research has shown it to be ineffective. Alternative healers swear by the technique. Why the disparity in opinion? Well, consider this: In the hands of an untrained driver, a jet plane isn’t capable of doing much but rolling along the runway. In the hands of a trained pilot, the same vehicle can soar into the heavens. Neither scientists or western doctors have been trained in the use of intuitive diagnostics. Their capability in using the tools of that trade may be comparable to the untrained driver’s experience with the jet. Just a thought.
I’ve been using alternative healing for many years so I decided to try the tutorial technique myself. I sat in a quiet spot, formed a test ring with my left hand by touching the thumb and little finger at their tips, and inserted my right thumb and index finger inside the ring formed. I made a false test statement first: “My name is George.” Upon saying it, I tried to force my left thumb and pinkie apart. Much as I resisted, the circle broke. My true statement: “My name is Cathren.” This time, the circle held, no matter how much force I used. I then tried a health question. I was having a dental exam the next day. “The pain in my back tooth will go away…I don’t need a root canal.” According to my testing, this was a true statement. My dentist had thought otherwise. Would the exam results bear me out? The next day, my dentist was shocked to find I didn’t need a root canal. It may have been total coincidence, but so far, I can’t say kinesiology is utter hogwash.
The idea of using meditation and kinesiology for self care may seem counterintuitive to many Americans. Healthy eating, working out, quitting smoking and reducing alcohol consumption are probably the first things that come to mind for most of us. What we don’t seem to notice is that we gain back all the weight we lose, we’ve quit smoking eight times but it never seems to take, and whatever habit we get under control seems to cause us to take up another one that’s doing us just as much harm. Effective self care means making changes that we can keep. That quiet space inside? It might be the perfect place to keep them.