Kelley's Custom Creams

We were just discussing how we could hear the daffodils arranged on the dining table opening last night.  Suddenly almost a popcorn sound was quite audible: It was the daffodils popping out of their brown paper skins and beginning to unfurl their yellow splendor.

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to the fact that it takes a lot of persistence to find out what works for a person to help them heal.  No one thing works for everyone all the time.  The same thing can work differently depending on the individual situation.  

I've been pondering marketing and whatnot for a long time now.  I read many healing related blogs that seem to be concentrated on marketing, and I myself don't find them very interesting.   The standard question opener: "Is this you?" "Have you always wanted to..." etc.: Instead of personalizing it for me, as it is intended to do, it leads to the idea of "gimmicks". I was watching the Bullwinkle Show this morning and Aesop's Fable was about a rabbit who was frightened of everything.  He was able to prevail over all the other animals with his "gimmick" until someone (a skunk) came along with a "better gimmick".   The moral was, rabbits come and go but gimmicks are forever.  Sometimes it seems as though that is true.

I was re-reading Dr. Richard Gerber's book, VIBRATIONAL MEDICINE, this week.  He cites some very interesting research on "psychic" and "spiritual" healing, which I found very helpful in looking at what I do in my work, and in understanding why I do some of the things I do.  

A colleague of mine and I have recently devoted a goodly amount of discussion time to this topic.  The healing crisis was more often referred to when herbal medicine was the standard practice.  Remedies might be dispensed to stimulate such a crisis, the result of which would produce either healing or, possibly, a much less desirable outcome.   The writings of herbalists such as Dr. John R.Christopher discuss this issue, as do many homeopathic treatises.

What, really, is a healing crisis?  It is a juncture in a process where the whole matter comes to a head,  and can go either way: For good, or for Ill.  People with chronic issues can have flareups that lead to recovery or an increased level of difficulty.  Since the mind and the body are connected, a healing crisis will always affect both, regardless of the origin of the problem.  This particular aspect is what my colleague and I have been talking about.  Energy medicine is a powerful helper in situations where a healing crisis is occurring, or might occur due to the nature of the issue in question.   The aligning of the body's energies can work wonders in restoring balance and harmony to a person. Yet sometimes practitioners will speak rather blandly about healing crises, assuming that they are always necessary and productive.  Often, in our time,  they are very debilitating with no concrete result.  Therefore, I feel that it is incumbent upon the practitioner to be aware and vigilant and truly understand what is going on with the client before offering treatment suggestions.   Energetic treatments can, indeed, precipitate healing crises and the practitioner must be keenly aware of this and follow the client carefully to monitor what happens.  Often, options will be offered to a client that really are damaging to them, given their overall condition.  The cleanses and fasts and rigorous diets and purges that seem to be rather common now are a good example in terms of herbal therapies.  A person in a weakened condition must be built up before being able to undergo such treatment, yet I hear them routinely being suggested.   Energetic therapies, whether administered hands on or through color work or flower essences or some other treatment, can also shift energies so that an individual can temporarily feel quite out of balance , IF they are inappropriately used.

In THE ALCHEMY OF THE DESERT, Cynthia A. Kemp Scherer puts this issue nicely.  "There are two basic ways...(to)...release things that we have been holding onto.   One way....is through becoming conscious of and reexperiencing them.....By allowing ourselves to feel the feelings, they flow through us and we are free of them.....Sometimes another way of releasing is more appropriate.  In some instances we are given the grace to release things without having to become entangled in the whole experience again...."   This is the path I prefer for my clients.  Clearly, there must be awareness or there will never be any movement.  So often we can become totally stuck reliving an experience, or having the same cold over and over.  Nothing moves and we never feel well.  We have to be willing to hear what the situation is telling us, and then seek the appropriate method to handle what we've discovered.  Both situations and viruses can be things we must avoid, but we've got to listen to ourselves to find out.  Once some awareness is reached, a treatment program can begin and progress is possible.   The progress may come at some cost, i.e. a healing crisis, but not necessarily so, and not necessarily a gravelling, punishing one either.  Even the movement that comes from understanding is not without its challenges but it IS dynamic flow, which in itself is a healing feeling.   Not everything everyone has can be cured.  But relief is possible, and I believe peace is possible as well.

Another element in this that I am coming to see is this sense of something being wrong.  With a person, their body, their mind.  This wrong must be rooted out and exterminated.  Then one goes back to being "right", supposedly.  Or, if not, it is the individual's fault (wrongness) that precludes this return to "right".     I now have a client who is permanently in very challenging physical condition.  He recently asked me what was wrong with him.  Nothing, I said, really.  You have many more challenges than most people and require more attention across a broader spectrum.  But it doesn't mean something is WRONG with YOU.  He brightened, noticeably.    I think we might all benefit if we thought less about what is "wrong" with us, and how "dirty" we are.  All the detoxifying cleanses and foot pad cleaners in the world may not do a bit of good if that is not really the problem.  But we imagine that it is, deep down inside.  Something is wrong with us and there is something outside of us that will fix it.  A more helpful approach might be a gentler one- what are we afraid of?  Where are we really sluffing off and letting dirt build up?  Instead of thinking that rushing in and beating the stuffing out of ourselves will produce a positive result, perhaps we might look at what we are avoiding, gently, and reach a tentative exploration out toward it.  Just to see.

I see clients in many stages of emotional, psychological, and physical health.  As an energy and plant medicine practitioner, my feeling is that one should always start with the natural way and give it a chance to work.  The consistency of these practices guarantees a measure of success, which varies with the severity of entrenchment of the disharmony of course.

When a person has a health situation, whether large or small, many things have to be taken into consideration.  The current state of the body, the emotional state- for example, did you know that if you've been crying alot your potassium is lowered?  That can lead to cramps and slight disorientation, so there is indeed wisdom in the cup of tea with sugar, broth, or the glass of orange juice. 

As I struggle to get through my eight glasses of water a day, I often think how challenging it can be to do the really simple things that  keep us in harmony.  I tell people to drink water but  often don't make the time to do it myself.  *Sigh*  My errant shoulders are often needing to be brought "home" from their visit to my ears.

Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about the kinds of problems and projects we humans get, and many of them are related to, or exacerbated by, stress.   In Jin Shin Jyutsu there is an energetic, emotional aspect, along with the more commonly known ones such as anger, fear, grief, and worry, called Pretense.  It took me the longest time to really understand this.  We are pre-tense: Nervous before, and then nervous after.  We are pretending to feel or be something we are not.  We are trying too hard.  Trying to get it all done, trying to keep it together, trying to be good, trying to drink eight glasses of water a day.  So much of this happens on an unconscious level, too, that along with the CONSCIOUS tension, a burden on the body is created that it cannot really bear.  Many chronic ailments can be looked at in this light, among them diverticulitis.  A high fiber diet with plenty of water is crucial for anyone with this issue.  But stress management is equally important.  We really have to be in touch with our feeling and thinking state to manage our GI tract successfully.

With diverticulitis, there is inflammation- an expression of irritation in the body.  Even when one is not consciously aware of it, that irritation is moving along on its merry way in the body, ready to send its message.  If the message isn't complete the first time, infection- foreign bodies taking up residence, in essence- can manifest.  Then we have to take antibiotics, which in addition to getting rid of the infection, also get rid of the healthy bacteria in the gut that have been so laboriously replaced by proper diet and probiotics and general digestive bolstering.   So there is a hot, inflamed, angry if you will, situation in the intestines.  In traditional Chinese medicine, the GI tract is a third brain center (along with the brain itself and the heart).  With inflammatory conditions in the intestines, then, you've got a ticked off third brain.  Your GI tract is MAD.  What do you do when you're irritated and mad? Usually you're hot so you need to cool down.  You also need to calm down.   Rest and take a break.  Helpful essential oils for this situation include rose geranium, which is great in diffusion and baths for this situation.  You've got to stop the spasm cascade that starts as well, so oils like clary sage, peppermint and lavender are also excellent.  Cooling plants are helpful here.  These can be gently applied to the abdomen, or diffused in the air.  Naturally one is also going to have to take some kind of anti-inflammatory medication and keep at it until the pain recedes.  

Diverticulitis is a challenging complaint and needs proper medical attention. With that, however, one of the main things to do is manage your stress level and do it every day.  Whether you think you need to or not.  Many flower essences can be helpful in this task; my preference is to do individual assessments but depending on an individual's history, many essences can be used, especially ones that address the Pretense situation.  Each person's Pretense has a different root, which is why on an emotional level I think individual assessment is important.  But,  the most important  thing is to take some time every day to ground and calm yourself and really and truly DO IT.  It is so easy to let time pass, especially in times like these, and not take that few minutes every day to clear the mind and let the body breathe.  I urge you to do that for yourself.  And afterwards, get the assistance you need to move forward.

Lately it seems as though everyone I work with is in a highly anxious state.  Not surprising, considering what is going on all around us.  I put my hands on people and their hearts are almost fizzing and the energy is coursing through their veins double-time.  It is crucial in times like these to check in daily and take care of our baseline needs.  We must take care of our nerves and take care of our hearts, both emotional and physical.  Our digestions may be a little "off" and long standing physical projects may seem unmanageable.  The question of course is, what is a simple, cost effective way to more or less keep oneself on track?

Whether or not you are in basically reasonable shape and health, the First Thing, of course, is breathing.  When overwhelm of one sort or another looms, breathe.  Do it often, too: exhale, inhale, exhale....  It is practically the most important thing you can do to help yourself day to day.  Secondly, stay hydrated.  While I am deeply opposed to those little plastic water bottles we find cluttering our universe now, there ARE ways to have water with you and drink it through the day.  This can help in keeping tension headaches at bay, keeping bodily pain down, and it also lets your organs do their jobs.

Then, eat properly.  More often than not, one CAN have time to make something reasonable to eat that doesn't come out of a box or a pouch, and that isn't full of things like hormones and preservatives and additives.  Keep it simple.  Remember something like a roast chicken can be panini the next day, or fried rice, or any number of things.  The digestion suffers with stress, and one way to help that is to use a good probiotic, one that has millions of live cells per dose.    Then there is, of course, the poor besieged nervous system.  Adrenal support is very important, and one of my favorite things for that is a good mushroom tincture.  Look for those containing reishi and other mushrooms.  An ayurvedic herb, Ashwaganda, can be quite helpful as well and is worth looking at.  Finally, fresh air.  Take a walk, or get outside for whatever you can sustain.  Rest and sleep are topics I'll address in another blog.

 If we are looking at this and saying to ourselves, oh, I can't do that, what are we really saying? We're saying we aren't worth taking care of, and we are also saying we don't expect much from ourselves in the future.  When I don't take care of myself one day, the next day is more difficult.    We must truly work together to make the world we all share a better place than it is in this moment.  To do this, we must feel well now.  My practice offers  products to help in the daily effort toward balance- people will say to me they feel like they're buying a luxury item and laugh.  Then, they re-order and tell me they've understood that it ISN"T a luxury they've purchased, but a needed and important step toward feeling better.

Here we are in a new year, which can be a time for new resolutions for ongoing issues and situations.  One thing I definitely learned this winter? Wear a hat.  Especially at night while sleeping in cold bedrooms.  The simple act of keeping your head warm prevents loss of body heat and can help guard against sinus headaches, coughs, and respiratory problems.  The essential oils of peppermint, rosemary and thyme, once again, when diffused in a room, can help resolve existing sinus and respiratory discomforts and restore freer breathing in a few minutes.  No decongestants or chemicals needed.  One does need to be alert for mucus buildup of course, and OTC remedies available for that are effective.  If taken in a timely way, the combination of the OTC mucus medicines, the essential oil diffusion, and warmth on the head, can help prevent respiratory infections.

The other night I saw an advertisement on television for a drug rehabilitation program.  The presenter said that people would be "cured" of their addiction issues by using his system, and also that he does not use a "disease model."  While I think a move away from a disease model is a positive step, the use of the world cure is a major red flag for me.  Cure implies a complete removal of not just symptoms but the condition in its entirety.  End of that story. It seems like a rather inflated claim for any treatment model, but it is one that is heard quite frequently.  It makes me skeptical and I have a strong feeling that it contributes to the pervasive feeling of skepticism that people have about alternative healing in general.  While allopathic medicine  does not always "cure", people at least have a sense of what to expect and are familiar with it.  An alternative approach is unfamiliar, and if it is preceded by claims that are not fulfilled, it is likely to be discarded immediately and not investigated again in any form. 

The issue of not using a disease model for addiction is also worth investigating.  Addictive processes are, more and more, being shown to be intimately and inextricably linked to brain chemistry.  You can balance that chemistry and do things to aid more positive function.  The fact that one's brain chemistry is variable in a way that tends toward addiction doesn't, in my opinion, equate to "disease" as it is thought of in this time.  Something "wrong", something that has to go away altogether and can be made to do so.  In the case of addictions, also, there is a value judgement attached to recovery which turns very sour if a person does not "recover".  It seems to me, however, that if the underlying conditions of the body are not addressed in this situation, recovery will not truly be possible.  And, we are talking about recovery and balance, not cure which implies that nothing further of the condition exists.   My sense of this is that one can be restored to balance and a level of harmony with the proper approaches, including alternative ones.  The big piece of this that doesn't get addressed in claims of cure? The individual takes responsibility for their own progress and learns from what has gone before, understanding that parts of that "before" will always be with them.  Those parts just don't have to be in control.

It is very difficult to know who to believe and what to think about many things.  It is possible to make an informed decision, however, and this is coming to be one of the most important steps anyone can take in maintaining their health.  You have to decide for yourself who to listen to.