CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

A Review of our Wellness Paradigm In the last three years or so we have had lots of new subscribers to this newsletter. Early on we went through what our view of wellness consisted of, so for those who missed it this is a review of the wellness model we use at the Ishta Centre. For those of you who have been with us from the beginning then it will be a timely reminder as the need for robust wellness is now more important than ever. An Introduction Here at the Ishta Centre we are moving more into the arena of providing Wellness care, actually this has been an ongoing process which we put into motion ten years ago. This newsletter is actually part of this process, it is a way that we can communicate our thoughts, ideas and suggestions on this vast subject, also, we will not limit ourselves to what we think here at the Ishta Centre, but we will be tapping into the enormous amount of information and expertise that is available via the internet. We will be including links to an array of sites that we believe support, enhance and expand on what we have to say, obviously we don't know it all so why limit it just to us. Why have we moved into the Wellness Arena? Actually we haven't moved into the Wellness arena, it isn't actually new to the way we operate here at the Ishta Centre. We have always believed in the body's ability to heal itself and create an environment of wellness or homeostasis or balance. It is, in fact, a fundamental principle of chiropractic, and most other modalities of natural health care, that given the right input the body will work towards health, balance or homeostasis. When we look at this in chiropractic terms, in a state of homeostasis, the body's Innate Intelligence will manifest itself fully and the person can reach their full potential in life. As chiropractors, we have as our goal to recognise and support the Innate Intelligence of the body and to remove, or at least minimize, interferences and stresses upon it. When looking at the spine and other joints of the body this is done through the chiropractic adjustment. We can expand this to look at what other interferences there are to the Innate Intelligence. Basically they fall into two main categories: Toxicity and Deficiency. Too Much or Too Little Wellness is about identifying what the Innate Intelligence requires, as raw materials, to produce health and then providing it. It is about producing an environment of sufficiency for the Innate Intelligence. Wellness is about identifying toxicities that are interfering with the Innate Intelligence's ability to produce health. It is about producing a toxic free environment for the Innate Intelligence. These are the two principles that underpin the Wellness arena, but the toxicities and deficiencies that are talked about are not limited to the foods we eat and the supplements that we take but can be applied to every part of our lives, exercise, relaxation, spiritual development, mental outlook, financial state, the everyday products we use in our homes and on our bodies. Here at the Ishta Centre we have drawn up a pentagram to explain what we mean by wellness. The Centre In the centre of the pentagon there is the Innate Intelligence. This is what actually does all the work of keeping you well and restoring and repairing you when there has been a problem. We believe that the major transmission route for the Innate Intelligence is the nervous system. The nervous system can be compromised by bones being out of alignment, muscles going into spasm, or twisting of the fascia (the proper name for the connective tissue of the body). What we do therapeutically is to adjust boney misalignments, relax and tone muscles, and unwind twisted fascia. The Context Now that's all well and good, but if the context in which all that is happening is poor then we can treat you every day and you still wouldn't enjoy total wellness. The context is described by the pentagon. The Innate Intelligence is brilliant at keeping you well in the environment and life-style conditions we evolved in, however, we no longer live in those conditions. There are five broad areas of life where we have got seriously out of balance in the last 150 years and the Innate Intelligence won't be able to adapt for many, many generations. Why not make some simple life-style changes now and enjoy the benefits of total wellness rather than waiting for a thousand years or so for our evolution to catch up? None of the following is rocket science and all the things we will suggest are easy to do. Ready to leap into the wellness pentagon? Nutrition Basic Nutrition Most of the people we see are malnourished to a greater or lesser extent. It's not surprising really given that there has been a radical reduction in the quality of our foodstuffs in the last 60 years or so, and that most people's diets simply aren't broad enough. There are about ninety nutrients that the body needs on a daily basis and if you were eating a locally sourced organic diet of which 70% was raw you would need to eat about 30 different foods a day to get these basic requirements from your diet. Other basic requirements are sufficient water, sunshine and air. Super Nutrition Getting the basic nutritional needs met is great if we were living in the environment we evolved in. Due to various social and life-style changes our nutrition suffers. This area covers ways to offset the changes to our environment and the effects of aging. Diet There are more beneficial ways to eat the diet we already have, and there are less beneficial ways. In this area we look at what to eat at which time of day and what not to eat in combination with other foods. How an over abundance of certain foodstuffs can adversely affect us. Toxicity Most of the people we see are toxic. It's not surprising really as we have pollution in the air we breathe, water we drink and the food we eat. In this area we look at how to detoxify the body, to get the bad stuff out and how not to re-intoxicate the body by changing what we put into and onto the body. Rest The simple fact is that people don't get enough. You know, people who live a more natural life-style, like native peoples for instance, are in the stress mode for 20% of the time and siesta-under-the-tree, hanging-out-with-their-mates mode about 80% of the time. We're lucky if we even have reversed ratios. If we get as much as 20% down time we're lucky. And it's mad really as it is in the down time that the body does all its repair and house keeping. In this area we will be encouraging you to take more time for yourself, more sleep and stress management techniques. Exercise Most people don't get enough; some people get too much; and some people get the totally wrong kind of exercise for their body shape, or what has happened to them in the past. So we will be looking at appropriate levels of exercise for the different body parts. Attitude This area is very important because if this area isn't right then people won't be motivated to make changes in the other areas. We need to make sure that your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial attitudes are all conducive to wellness. We need to give you enough information so that you can make whatever the correct decision is for you to bring your life back into balance. We need to encourage you to nurture yourself. Throughout the ongoing issues we will attempt to broaden on this issue of wellness and suggest ways that you can improve your own wellness and move towards a state of balance or homeostasis.

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