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• How to Avoid Colds & the Flu

  As October rolls around, we are approaching the cold and flu season. This is the time of year when people are more prone to viral or bacterial infections that lead to bothersome symptoms, such as runny noses, sore throats, muscle aches, coughing, headaches, fever, and chills.  These symptoms can prevent people from performing their best at work, enjoying fun activities with their friends and family, and even sometimes require them to stay in bed for several days to recover.   Wouldn’t you love to be able to prevent, or significantly minimize the odds of coming down with a cold or flu this year?  The good news is there are measures you can take to keep your immune system strong and resilient so that it is likely you won’t have to suffer from becoming ill.   First, keep yourself protected from the cold winds that occur as the weather cools down.  When you expose yourself to cold wind without wearing the proper clothes, your body temperature decreases and your immune system weakens.  You are then more susceptible to viruses and bacteria that are present in our environment.   Second, significantly reduce the amount of sugar you consume.  Sugar has been proven to debilitate your immune system, which puts you at a significantly higher risk of succumbing to a cold or the flu.  According to a 1973 study by Loma Linda University, when you eat 100 grams of sugar, your white blood cells are 40% less effective at killing germs.  This can paralyze your immune system for up to five hours!   Third, get acupuncture treatments.  Acupuncture is a wonderful way to increase the activity and strength of your white blood cells, the cells that are crucial for strong immunity.  The Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in May of 2014 found that acupuncture helps to regulate and coordinate the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems to help the body fend off illness and disease.   Try to implement some of these tips this year to avoid becoming another cold and flu victim and instead enjoy staying healthy and strong!     Eric Carpenter, Licensed Acupuncturist  

• Aura Healing

  How many bodies do humans have? You may say one and it may sound unusual to ask someone such a silly question about the body. Though, frankly speaking, this question is not unusual but has substance. The sun, for example, is one but, rings full of heat around it are incalculable. Likewise we humans carry just one visible body but beneath that, we also have another, invisible body. Did you know that? Or rather, do you?   Let us explain. Will you accept that sometimes, we feel plain happy or sad just because of the mere presence of a person? We know you’d agree to this. That also gives approval to a belief that every human body has an aura around it. So, the question arises next is: What benefit this invisible body has? What difference does it make if we know it, or don’t know it well?    Energy body (or aura) has 7 main layers, each of them relating to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual condition of man. These aura layers transmit information between the body (through the chakra system) and the immediate external environment.    The layers have an ovoid shape and are arranged one inside the other. Each layer or level is an energy field varying in vibration. The outer layers are larger and with a higher vibration.   Diseases of the body are reflected in the aura and can be accurately diagnosed by those who can sense, see, or test subtle energy. Illness can, in fact, be recognized in the aura before it manifests in the body, allowing for accurate predictions and early intervention. The colors and shape of the aura are continually changing, influenced by not only physical health, but also emotions, relationships, the activity of the moment, the outer environment, etc. The aura protects you from the physical, emotional, and psychic energies of your environment by screening harmful energies (it acts as a space suit or lightening rod). The aura connects you to nourishing energies in your environment (it acts as an antenna or bridge). The aura then bridges these energies to the chakras and other energy centers (which further process them, often resulting in nerve, hormonal, vascular, and other activity in the physical body). The aura sends signals into your environment that communicate information about you and that attract specific types of energy to you.  The aura holds a set of interrelated fields that are the blueprints for your physical body, your emotions, your awareness, your relationships, and your development.   Energy healing can help clean blockages or balance misalignments. Healers also check for negative entities or emotional cords that may need to be cut. Don’t underestimate the power of these energy checkups.     Shania Abdelrahman, LMT

• What's an Efficient Warm-up?

  As a Chiropractic physician who specializes in physical therapy and rehabilitation, my patients regularly ask me for advice regarding their weekly strength training and workouts. Whether your routine involves a water aerobics class, Crossfit training, or nightly walks around your neighborhood, using a decent warmup is not only necessary but has been proven to be effective to decrease injury and pain. So, what constitutes an efficient warm-up?   Rather than performing the same, old-fashioned stretches, I encourage my patients to utilize basic movement patterns such as belly breathing, crawling, and squatting to actively engage their bodies. Through active warm-ups, your body and nervous system becomes vitalized and is more “ready” and equipped to move forward with whatever more strenuous and complex workouts you are choosing to perform. Basic stretching of your back, hamstrings, and shoulders, etc. does not engage the nervous system with the same quality that actively engaging primary movement patterns to do, and therefore will lead to less efficient and less effective training. One specific exercise and position that I often suggest for my patients as a decent warm-up strategy is based primarily on proper breathing and beginning stability for the low back and pelvis.   Please watch the video which describes and illustrates this useful exercise:       Dr. Bill  

• The Hidden Cause of Many Health Problems

  Did you know that digestive stress can cause a whole host of health problems, such as shoulder pain, headaches, dizziness, lower back pain, and bad breath?  Did you also know that one small part of the digestive tract can be the main culprit?   The ileocecal valve is located between the ilium (the last part of the small intestine) and the cecum (the first part of the large intestine) and allows digested food to pass from the small intestine into the large intestine.  It is a one-way valve that opens only to permit substances to pass from the small intestine into the large intestine.  It closes to prevent waste material from the large intestine from moving back into the small intestine.  When this valve is unable to close and waste material moves in the wrong direction, you can think of it as the kitchen sink drain backing up.  If this waste material backs up into the small intestine, the body will absorb unhealthy toxins, which wreaks havoc on the entire system.     This health syndrome can be caused by poor diet, dehydration, emotional imbalance, toxic exposure, and physical traumas.  Healthcare practitioners often overlook it, but it can be easily fixed.  Some simple muscle testing procedures can diagnose it, and it’s treated very effectively with acupuncture.    Foods that should be temporarily eliminated when treating ICV syndrome are alcohol, spicy foods, stimulants such as coffee, alcohol, and chocolate, and roughage foods, like popcorn and seeds.   If you are experiencing unexplained health issues and haven’t found answers to your problems, consider visiting an acupuncturist who is well trained in diagnosing and fixing the ileocecal valve.  It might just be the solution to your problems.     Eric Carpenter, Licensed Acupuncturist  

• Access Consciousness

  Access Bars is a massage therapy technique which is at the least, very relaxing, at the most, can change everything.   Access Bars has assisted thousands of people all over the world to change many aspects of their lives. People report better health, relief from anxiety, less stress, better sleep, better relationships and so much more.    What is it? “During a Bars session, a trained practitioner lightly touches 32 points on your head which dissipates the electromagnetic charge that gets locked in our brains by the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that we have stored over lifetimes. Imagine if someone could press a button and mute that voice in your head that tells you that you’re not good enough or that you can’t accomplish what you dream about. That “voice” comes from those electromagnetic charges that keep us from believing we can have the life we've always known is possible. “  from accessconsciousness.com   How can I get this treatment? Schedule a massage appointment for one hour and specify that you want Access Bars, this is also known as “getting my bars run.”   Changes begin during the session, but you may not notice until several days or even 3 weeks later.    Here’s what people have said after their Access Bars session:   My mind is quieter, so much less chatter going on in my head. That alone is a gift. Being kinder to my being and my body, I'm so grateful for this one. -PATTY-   Mom! I’m so happy! If you want me to be this happy every day, you need to run my Bars every night.   8-YEAR-OLD GIRL, WHO HAD STRUGGLED WITH DEPRESSION, THE MORNING AFTER SHE GOT HER BARS RUN FOR THE FIRST TIME BY HER MOM   Over the last three days, I saw infinite being after beautiful infinite being come into the class with what they thought were problems ... Right in front of our eyes, they found their voices. Their wings. And their joy. I went into this class expecting something great - and what came out of it was so-much-greater. -CHRISTEL-     Sam Wolf, LMT