You are Magical!

You are magic. You are a creator. Everything that you experience in life comes FROM you, not to you.

Knowing this, you can stop at any moment replaying your stories of limitation.

You have created your life by having thoughts, emotions and making decisions that have brought you to where you are now.

You continue to make choices every day, every hour, every minute, every second. So making choices about our reactions to experiences affects what we bring in to our lives.

Are you making choices to react negatively to people and events that your cross paths with? For example, do you react negatively to the person who cut you off in traffic? Most likely you will continue to have more people cut you off, as we live in a bustling commuter city, so you can make a choice to let them in, and find that more people will let you in when you need it.

Have you ever noticed when you really want to bring an experience into your life and ask for it in an excited, positive, and hopeful way, it somehow eventually shows up in life? Perhaps it was only a coincidence that after asking 'what it would take for a little more money come in to my life?' did you find that 5 dollar bill on the ground. I beg to differ.

Energy out is energy received. Ask and you shall receive. This is the law of attraction. You are a conscious being living in your body and are just as connected to the earth as the trees, the ocean, and the animals. Because you are connected to the earth, then you are the earth. Because the earth is part of our universe then you are also the universe. Because the universe is mysterious, powerful and magical, by default, so are you.

When you aknowlege that you really are more expansive than your physical body, you can begin to know how powerful you really are. In that power when you let yourself become expansive, you realize that you are the creator of your experiences. Your experiences come from you, not to you.

A great question to ask yourself each morning as you wake is; "what would it take for ____to show up in my life?" Fill in the blank with whatever your heart desires! There are infinite possibilities lining up, waiting to be grasped and brought in to existence. All you have to do is ask, and then assume the feeling as if it were already true.

For example; feel the sensations in your body when you ask "what would it take for me to be able to bring more financial abundance into my life?" Practice the art of feeling hopeful, feeling what it would be like to have what you are asking for. Feel as if it is true. This allows for hope and conscious attention that calls forth the energy for your desires to start showing up in your life. MAGIC. And it comes from YOU.

I woke up one morning a few years back and asked "what would it take for me to be able to serve Chiropractic to a multitude of people and families?" and low and behold, my Chiropractic center is quickly filling up with the most wonderful individuals, and families whom I can share my time and energy with! I asked.. and I am receiving.

If you are a bit skeptical,  at least give your magical powers a try! You don't have to ask your desires out loud, you can think them, then feel the feelings of what it would be like, and practice daily. The more you give yourself the permission to be the conscious creator of your life, the more your life will revel itself to you in the most amazing ways. 

Expressing your LIGHT

SUBLUXATION.

Umm..., Sublux-what?

Lets break the word down…SUB = Less, LUX = Light, ATION = a state of being.

Subluxation means a state of expressing less light.

What does this pertain to, you ask? It may pertain to any of us at any moment, and if we are expressing less light than our potential, chances are we are not living as healthy and vibrant as we could be. We are, in essence, Subluxated.

How do we become Subluxated? So glad you asked….

We all have experiences in life, whether physical, chemical, emotional, mental or spiritual in nature.

If life becomes overwhelming, it can create tension in our bodies, our minds and our spirit. This tension creates stagnation, (stuck-ness, if you will), and manifests as interference to our natural expression of health, healing, and the overall function of our vital Life Force.

Our Life Force, that unseen thing which we cannot deny, works through our bodies via the Nervous System. This master system of electrical, chemical, and vibrational communication, brings to Life and coordinates all other processes within our entire being.

And where does our Nervous System Life Force live?

Within the spine. Our core. Our center. That sacred space which holds our Prana, our chakras. Where the Kundalini rises.

Life Force is our LIGHT.

It is essential to our well being, to our expansion, to our evolution, that we shine our light to the world, to reveal all that we are, and to express ourselves fully.

It is therefore essential to release that which interferes with our light. To let go of the stuck-ness which we tend to hold.

Because it is better to be free than stuck, wouldn’t you say?

This is what Chiropractors do.

Chiropractors work with that subtle energy that lies within.

Chiropractors release Subluxation.

So you can shine.

The deeper connection between mother and child

Children will forever be in the heart and minds of their mothers.

And, as research shows, in her liver, lungs, skin, blood vessels, thyroid gland, lymph nodes, and spinal cord!

During the pregnancy process, mom and baby are not just connected by an umbilical cord, but they literally become part of each other. Cells from baby (particularly stem cells, which are undifferentiated until they get a cue from the body to become a liver cell, a heart cell, etc.) pass through the placenta and take up residency within the mothers body.

One great things about this discovery; the baby’s stem cells have the fathers DNA, and mom’s body recognizes them as foreign. Why is this a good thing? Mom’s body stimulates and strengthens her immune system. Her body will be ‘on guard’ for defending against things such as cancer cells.

This is significant, because research shows that women who have given birth have less significance of breast cancer. Part of this may be due to the protective nature of fetal stem cells making their home in mom’s breast tissue. One study in particular found that fewer fetal cells show up in the breast tissue of women who have breast cancer than those that do not (see the research article here http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/71/1/8.full)

In an article in the winter 2011 issue of Pathways Magazine, Bruce Lipton makes reference to research studying liver regeneration. In one case, liver cells identified as male were found in a biopsy of a woman who had given birth to a boy years earlier. Her liver had regenerated itself using the stem cells that were living in her body from her son!

Baby stem cells can also take up residency in mom’s brain, and may in part explain why mothers always seems to intuitively know what is going on with their children even when they have grown and moved away.

Studies involving mice revealed stem cells from fetuses cross the blood-brain barrier and take up shop in the mother mouse brain and generate new neurons. These fetal stem cells differentiate into neurons within the mothers brain, yet still contain the DNA of the babies. Her babies cells literally become part of her own nervous system!

As you can deduce, this phenomenon must also happen in humans, and therefore we can assume that moms have their children hardwired in their brains for life. Mom and baby literally are one in the same.

The primal bond between mother and child is undeniably strong, spiritually, emotionally and as we now know, physiologically!

So the next time your mom calls just to make sure you are ok, because she ‘just felt like something was going on’ give her the benefit of the doubt! You will forever be part of her.

Elements of Being are Awakening 360

What IF?

What if, from the moment we were born, we were told that we have absolutely everything we need within us to heal from dis-ease and dis-function? What if we were told we need nothing invasive or artificial to live a healthy and vibrant life? Would our entire healthcare paradigm be different? Would we ultimately be a healthier society? I think so.

What if our paradigm of healthcare was one in which no one even questioned the body’s ability to heal itself, and our primary care support was made up life-supporting modalities such as Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Midwifery, Yoga, Meditation, Herbalism, Dance and Sound Therapy, Reiki, Visualization, Nutrition and Exercise?

What if?

The truth is, that we have everything within us we need to heal, grow, learn, evolve, and live a life of health and vitality! But we have, as many of us are starting to realize, been told from the beginning of our lives that we do not.

We have the choices and options to shift the current paradigm of health care in to one that is supportive of our innate ability to heal. We can bring this to pass right now, as more of us take small leaps of faith to try something different.

Start by taking small steps, and seek out modalities that resonate most. Give the process a try. Healing can take time, as most natural processes in life take time. But if we are patient and lean gently into the newness of the change, shifts in our understanding of health take place. In time, with the support from your new healthcare providers, you will begin to experience the profound power that lies within.

As we awaken, we can instill this knowing in our children. Let them know that they have everything in them to heal, to be healthy, and to be strong. Encourage and practice meditation and visualization with your children. Allow vitalistic practitioners be your children’s primary health care providers. We can choose to leave invasive therapies and medication for that which they were intended; secondary, temporary crisis care.

Children are born with trust and openness to the infinite possibilities in life. It is only through conditioning that we grow up to believe otherwise. We can set a holistic foundation for children from the very beginning; children who know they can heal themselves will become future adults who know. And thus, a new paradigm is created.

It can be hard to change a belief system if we have nothing else but that belief. However, belief systems can be changed through experiencing something profound that leaves no room for doubt. Allow yourself and your family to be open to something new.

So, back to our original question: What if we really DO have the ability to heal ourselves?

Guess what? WE DO.

The Neurology of Gratitude

We all know that having an "attitude of gratitude' can bring about feelings of happiness, joy, and allow us to manifest more things to be grateful for. And if you didn't know this, well, surprise! It is totally true.

But how does this happen? is it because being grateful helps us to recognize and see things and people in our lives in a more positive way? Well, yes!

Does it align our thoughts and actions to bring about more of the things that we are in vibrational harmony with? Yes!

The cool thing, is that beyond just the ethereal notions of manifesting things through the law of attraction, we actually can see a physiological change that happens in our nervous system when we are in a place of thanksgiving! Hooray!

I would like to introduce you to your Reticular Activating System (RAS). It is a very special part of your brainstem which conducts wakefulness, arousal, circadian rhythm, respiration, and cardiac rhythm, to name an important few.

It also has a huge role in our ability to be conscious, as it is a 'gate keeper' to what experiences from our environment moves through our sensory system and into our brain. Therefore, the experiences we have in life are processed through our RAS, and then evaluated within our frontal cortex, which is the higher brain center associated with consciousness.

If we are focused on the things which bring us worry and fear, the RAS can become dysfunctional resulting in an over-amplified response to stressors in the environment and create anxiety and a lack of awareness for the good experiences we have in life. As a result, we tend to literally bring about more things which bring about worry and fear because we have 'wired' our brains to experience things related to what we focus on.

So we see that the RAS begins to become programmed to the experiences, thoughts, and actions that we are focused on. The RAS literally becomes a filter for those sensory experiences and allows them to reach the conscious higher brain centers. We therefore create a 'mood' or a wiring in our brain which expects and identifies with that experience, and it becomes part of our reality. The result is more and more of the same experience, because it is what our brains have become hard-wired to expect. Sweet.

Therefore, in order to create the life of health, abundance and vitality we want, it is important to focus on our most desired visions and those things in our life that we are grateful for. Through our thoughts, feelings, actions and words, we create a platform for our RAS to function in the manner we desire.

Although it may take practice, our nervous system has plasticity (literally known as Neuroplasticity), meaning that it can change functionally and structurally as a result of our experiences.

Best to focus on what you want and are grateful for, wouldn't you say?

In summary, the more we focus our energies on things that make us feel gratitude, the more our RAS will become wired to filter for more of these experiences into our higher brain centers, and thus we have more of these experiences. The law of attraction from a concrete neurological perspective...cool!

So when you are walking around expressing gratitude for your family, your friends, the flowers, and the trees and someone mentions how all 'peace and love' you are while rolling their eyes, you can tell them: 'I am strengthening the connections between my Reticular Activating System and my Prefrontal Cortex, thank you very much!"

And tell them how grateful you are to them for noticing. :)

My Magical Home Birth

I want to share my birth experience, and I do so because I trust birth. I trust my body and I trust the innate wisdom in women to do the most natural thing on the planet… to get pregnant, grow a baby, and to give life.

I am not going to debate hospital vs. home birth in this post. It is a much-heated debate, and what I know to be right for me will come out clear as day in my words, but I am not trying to stir the pot… well, ok, maybe a little.

The truth is that in life, there is always risk. There are always things that can happen. But for me, the risks associated with giving birth in a hospital system where you are forced to give up much of your autonomy, brings me much greater fear than birthing at home. In fact, I had NO fear through my entire process. Just presence, intensity, love, power and an innate knowing that my body and baby were running the show… not someone from the outside.

My labor started at 2:30 in the morning, and it was without a doubt, labor. It is hard wired in women to recognize this as labor if we are allowed to pay attention and let it happen when nature intends. The sensations of contractions were nothing I had ever experienced before, but yet it felt undeniably familiar.

My contractions started, and I had no time to bake the cake I was planning during my early labor, as they were 3 minutes apart and 1 minute long from the moment the first one woke me up.

I think I manifested going into labor at that moment (I was 10 days ‘overdue’… but of course I was right on time) as I had mentioned to Sean that June 15th was a full moon AND a lunar eclipse and how that would be such a magical day for our baby to come, and little Luca must have heard my request :)

It was serendipity, as we had set the alarm clock for 2:30am so as to experience and take pictures of the eclipse, but no need… I went into labor minutes before the alarm went off, the moon guiding me all the way.

Sean started filling the tub, and I got up, had some water and a snack, as I knew I would need energy for the journey ahead. I put on my pre-made playlist of music and we dimmed the lights. There is nothing like knowing that you get to experience one of the most amazing events in your life in the safety and love of your own home (which means you can go to the fridge, the bathroom, your bed, the tub, the couch, outside, whenever YOU want, and move around however YOU feel you need to, without asking permission!).

I labored for a while on the floor, hands and knees, rocking to the rhythm of my music (internal music as well as external) while the tub was filling and Sean was scurrying around (so cute) getting the camera set up (we filmed the whole thing!).

We called our midwife around 6:00 am to let her know that I was still able to talk and joke, and she asked us to let her know when I was a little further along and deeper into my process, as she knew that this was a wonderful time for Sean and I to connect and have private moments.

As my contractions progressed and became more intense, I decided to try out the birthing pool. AMAZING. For so many reasons. First, there is a weightlessness that you experience that takes some of the physical pressure off of your body, and allows you to move and glide and work with each contraction. Second, there is a sense of fluidity that helps you to get in tune with the rhythm of your body, and thirdly, there is nothing more relaxing and pampering than a warm bath!

Sean called our midwife, who showed up around 8:30am, and the apprentice midwife soon thereafter. My doula/Chiropractor showed up about an hour later, and there I was… surrounded by so much love, support and a space that was being held sacredly for me, for our baby, and the amazing process of bringing life into the world!

I felt totally safe, totally supported, and totally loved through the intensity of my experience. It was MY show. I was in charge. When a woman is in labor, allowed to be present and fully conscious with the guidance of her body and her baby, she goes completely within herself, and innately knows how to give birth. It is primitive, it is biology, and it is natural.

My body started pushing while in the tub, and my contractions grew more and more intense. And yes, it was hard, but the feelings and energy were coming from within ME, not from the outside. I had no fear, even when it was at its most intense; I was able to feel what my body and my baby were doing, and was ever so aware and one with the process. My support team was there as witness, offering support and giving me the love and space I needed to birth my baby.

I pushed for about 3 hours, and during the last hour as my body really began bearing down, my midwife suggested (and it was a suggestion, not a demand) that I try the birthing stool, to help open my pelvis a bit more. It was SO intense for the first 2 contractions, but 2 or 3 more and I could feel my baby moving down. What an AMAZING sensation! Pushing actually felt so good, so powerful and since I had no drugs, I could FEEL everything and feel my baby, and knew exactly how to move my body so my little one could make his journey through.

I got up on my bed, as my legs were getting a bit tired and I needed to change positions so I could continue to work.

As I was pushing, my midwife noticed that the bags of water (amniotic sac) were intact and were coming first. They had not broken, (and we did not intervene and have them broken artificially). She gleefully said, “he is going to be born in the caul!” which is an term meaning that he was going to be born completely within the bags of water, unbroken. Magical.

Side note: Being born in the caul is supposedly very rare, and is said to be a special blessing, and the child is said to have intuitive powers…cool. However, my midwife has seen this numerous times, so I wonder if it is rare because it is common practice to break the amniotic sac in order to induce or ‘speed up’ labor. If more women were allowed to let the innate intelligence in their bodies decide when to go into labor, would more babies be born in this more magical way? I wonder.

So I am on the bed, surrounded by my Chiropractor/doula, 2 midwives and Sean and feel so empowered, so supported and fearless as I tapped in to the primal femininity, which goes back eons and eons of time. It felt right; it felt like I had done this a million times. I had no one from the outside telling me what I should or should not be doing. Just that I was doing it!

I pushed my baby’s head out after a huge contraction and an intense burning sensation (ring of fire...oh, that describes it well!). Seeing his head and feeling the intensity gave me an enormous burst of energy and excitement. He was RIGHT THERE. One more intense contraction and a final push and I felt his shoulders and then his slippery little body and he was born. Shrouded in the sac which was his sacred home for 9 + months. It was AMAZING.

My midwife pulled the sac off of him and immediately he let out a cry, and she plopped him right on my belly. He was born at 11:26 am after a 9 hour labor.

And then the hormones kicked in…. WOW. I have NEVER felt such bliss in all my life. Every uncomfortable and intense sensation completely left me, and I was in ecstasy. (I literally felt like I had just taken the most amazing hallucinogenic drug. And the cool thing was that I hadn’t had ANY drugs… It was again, coming from ME!)

My baby Luca was on my chest, and was blissed out as well. He was not taken from me, he was placed exactly where he innately EXPECTED to be. On me. On Momma. The matrix of his world so far. (The neural imprinting of this is so deep, that I am planning on a second post of just the lifelong implications of the baby’s first neural sensory experiences).

We waited for the cord to stop pulsing, as the blood that was squeezed out of him during his journey out of me and into the world was pumped back into his body. While it was pulsing, everyone just held the space, lovingly for little Luca. It was apparent that he felt no fear, he was just where he was supposed to be, and was in awe and complete awareness taking in his new world.

Dad cut the cord when it stopped pulsing, and Luca was allowed to do what nature and his instinct was programmed to do…CRAWL towards my breast and find his first oral food. Most people do not realize that babies can actually crawl right after birth. If given the opportunity, and if they have no drugs running through their little systems, they will literally crawl and head bob their way ON THEIR OWN to the breast. And after about 30 minutes, this is just what he did. Amazing.

Again, the neural imprinting that occurs when the baby is allowed to do what it is designed to do sets up a primary foundation of independance. Being allowed to move and twist and turn their way out of momma, and then allowed to find the breast on their own is primary, instinctual, and is NECESSARY.

It was amazing to just be, in my bed, with my baby, where I gave birth, and not have to worry about going anywhere. I could sleep, eat and be waited on hand and foot while bonding with my new little baby. It was the most perfect experience of my life.

I felt so empowered, and know now after going through that experience, in my home, without any unnecessary interventions or drugs, that I can do ANYTHING.

And again, this is not a debate about home vs. hospital birth, but I know that I would not have had the same experience or perhaps the same outcome if I would have birthed in the hospital.

For me, being in a place with unfamiliar smells, sights, sounds and people feels totally unnatural. I would not have been able to relax fully, to be ever so present in my body, and to be able to do exactly what my body and baby needed to do. I know that feeling stressed, feeling pressured, and being unable to focus within, can slow down and complicate the natural progression of birth. Some women feel safer and more at ease in a hospital setting while giving birth, but for me, my bed is the most comfortable and safe place in the world!

Giving birth to my son was the hardest and most miraculous thing I have ever been through, and I would NEVER take it back. I wasn’t quiet, I didn’t have a pain free experience, but I did have the most empowering and transformative experience of my life, and I have a healthy, amazing little baby whom I brought into the world in a safe, peaceful, and loving environment.

I chose homebirth because I trust birth. The debate about whether it is better to birth at home or in the hospital is about what is safer for mom and baby. Problems can arise in both situations. And they do. This is life. We are faced with life and death every day. I just choose to trust, to focus on what can go RIGHT and honor the fact that we can never really know how miraculous the creation of life is, that there is a force bigger than all of us which is supporting our experiences. I put my faith in that, and am forever grateful for my pregnancy and birth experience which was all for my amazing baby boy.