Real Life Chiropractic

When we feel safe enough to use our creative powers – be it painting, gardening, grounding, creating a child, dancing, etc., we take measures to balance and “open” our root chakra.

There are many other exercises that can help you to “open” your root chakra. These exercises often stem from yoga, or qigong. Any exercise that causes you to bend your legs such as lunges, warrior stance II, or a simple squat can help. One that I like from qigong is a practice called The Standing Tree meditation.

This meditation is traditionally done while standing still (hence the tree not moving☺). Bring your arms out in-front of you as if you are hugging a tree having your fingers pointing towards each other (palms facing your body), and your arms in such a way to have a circle between them. Focus first on your breathing – nice and slow, in through the nose and out the mouth. Then, as you feel your body going into a calm state, almost like a trance, put all of your creative insecurities, anxieties, and negativity you may have towards yourself and others in the circle between your arms. Still while breathing slowly, ask yourself where all of these negative things are coming from. You may want to just start with one negative thing first. See what comes to your mind. As specific thoughts come forgive that person or yourself if you come to your mind, forgive yourself for holding onto it and let it all go. Speaking, or mouthing it with your lips can help with this release. Continue this exercise of asking about the source of each thing in the circle until you feel balanced with all of them and cleared of that influence.

If you want to get some exercise in with this meditation you can start off with a slight bend in the knees and hold it for a few minutes or as long as you want while doing the meditation. As your legs get stronger you can move further and further into a squatting position or a more sumo squatting position (keeping the theme of the tree in mind).

When your meditation feels complete, notice how you feel. Do you feel lighter, more confident and secure? If so, you know that this meditation and exercise has helped you to find more balance and your root chakra is healthier and happier.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Element: Earth

The color of the Root Chakra is red and is one for stability; to provide for our basic needs (survival instincts) and is the foundation for the expansion of our life. This chakra is located at the perineum and influences the prostate, penis, uterus, vagina, bladder, lower bowel and anus. Therefore, it influences sexual things and elimination. Hormones of testosterone in men, and progesterone and estrogen in women are influenced by this energy center. When this chakra is balanced, or “open,” we feel safe, secure, creative and fearless.

If your root chakra is out of balance, you may feel that making decisions could be difficult, you may feel unsafe, anxiety and negativity towards yourself and others. If imbalanced, it can also be linked towards eating disorders and greed.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

The idea of the chakra’s first came from the ancient traditions of Hinduism with references to six or seven chakras.1,2 Buddhist sources normally mention five chakras.3 In this post and in the following posts, I will be focusing mainly on the modern chakra system focusing on the seven main chakras. There are many more chakras within the body than the main seven though.

The word chakra means “wheel” or “cycle.” It’s a vortex of swirling energy that holds your Qi (or prana in yoga terms) in that area. The chakras hold energies of thoughts, feelings, and past experiences that can influence our present and future selves. Chakras are located in major nerve bundles and organs that can have authority over our psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of consciousness. It is also said that the seven chakra system is a map of the levels of consciousness.

We will look into each chakra starting at the 1st or Root chakra and move up this ladder of consciousness to a more enlightened state of mind and body.

References:

1. Jones, Constance; Ryan, James D. (2006). Encyclopedia of Hinduism (https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC). Inf

2. 
   Grimes, John A. (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English (https://books.google.com/books?id=qcoUFYOX0bEC). State University of New York Press. pp. 26, 30, 100–101, 265.
   
3. 
   Heilijgers-Seelen, Dory (1992). The system of five cakras in Kubjikāmatatantra (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubjik%C4%81matatantra) 14–16: a study and annotated translation (Thesis).
   

Dr. Josef Patterson…

To regain the balance spoken of in our previous post, Chinese Medicine offers a variety of different techniques and modalities. These can include:

–  Massage

–  Herbal Remedies

–  Cupping

–  Moxibustion

–  Movement and Meditative exercises (such as tai chi and qigong)

–  Acupuncture/Acupressure

I won’t go into all of these treatments in this blog, but I do want to dab into components of them. One of these components that contribute greatly to health and healing are the chakras. Chakras are thought to regulate organ function, the immune system and our emotions. There is also the idea that there are 6 evils or 6 pernicious influences that cause illnesses within the body. These influences are wind, cold, damp, heat, summer heat and dryness. In the following blog posts I will go into these things more in depth.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Western Medicine in general has given traditional Chinese Medicine a bad rap over the years as being something metaphysical or pseudoscience. My hope is that we might be open to the topic of Chinese Medicine and realize that there is a reason why it has stuck around for over 5,000 years! If it didn’t help people within this time frame, then human beings would have done away with it long ago.

Chinese Medicine takes many forms and has many different fields of focus. The fundamental component behind Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is something called Qi. Qi is the energy within your body that keeps you alive and is also called the vital force of life. If Qi is imbalanced, then the body responds in pain, illness, or disease. TCM seeks to balance stuck or stagnant Qi within the body by allowing it to move and flow properly. Another belief behind TCM is that we are all connected in the fabrication of the universe. If we can balance ourselves with a calm mind and body, then we bring more balance not only to ourselves but also the cosmos.

To receive this balance we need to find peace in all our organs and the external worldly elements which are earth, fire, water, wood, and metal.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

If everything is truly energy, then the range of benefits from energy healing can be endless! Some common issues I have worked with and helped with in infants and children are sleep issues, skin problems, digestive problems and many more.

Many times the child picks up on the energetic cues of his or her parents or guardians. So sometimes it can be just as effective to treat the parent as well as the child due to the direct energetic link from the child and the parent. Often times we help the parent to be more at peace with themselves and the child also responds accordingly in a positive way.

I want to emphasize that if your child is “fussy” or “acting out” it doesn’t always mean that you’re a horrible parent. Sometimes you do the best you can and regardless of what you do, some children just act out or respond negatively. We can see this as we look back in time with all types of parents and parenting styles.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

Many people are concerned for their child’s surroundings on an energetic level and rightly so. Due to the fact that everything is energy, even our own thoughts, infants and children pick up on that energy be it negative or positive. People ask me frequently if its safe and effective to treat newborns or kids and the answer to both of those questions is yes!

Infants and children show greater sensitivity to energies, and therefore can, and often do, show improvements from energy healing sooner and greater than adults do! As adults we come pre- programmed with our own thoughts or opinions about things as well as our limiting belief systems. Infants and children don’t usually have as many of these things and are more open to receiving healing from negative energies.

We can use Applied Kinesiology (or muscle testing) on children, as long as their attention span is there ☺. I have tested my own children even when they are babies. Often, though, it is easier at times for one of the parents to hold their child while the person muscle testing muscle tests the parent in the stead of the child; this is possible because the parent is connected to the child by touching him or her and can “sense” the energy of what’s going on. My hope is that you feel comfortable with energy healing to allow your kids and babies to find the benefits on energy medicine early in their life.

Dr. Josef Patterson…

The answer is yes to this question! Chiropractors are taught, as well as any other doctor I think, that the infants’ bones are not fully connected or “fused” together yet. This gives the child greater mobility than an older child or adult. Due to the more malleable nature of their anatomy, infants need much less pressure to adjust their spine or any other joint in their body.

Many chiropractors are trained and competent in adjusting babies. I have heard many chiropractors say this, “The pressure we apply to an infant is no more pressure used to bruise a ripe tomato.” I have to confess, that I have also used that line myself. That should give you an idea of how gentle the adjustments are.

Yours in Health, Dr. Josef Patterson…

Reflux is a fancy word for vomiting or acid coming up the esophagus. This is common in infants especially since their sphincter muscles that open and close the stomach aren’t fully developed until they’re about 9 to 11 months old. There are common reasons why a baby might have reflux. The most common one would be food allergies, and gluten and dairy are the two biggest ones to consider removing from the child’s diet or if breastfed, remove from the mothers diet. Emotional turmoil can be a cause for reflux in a child, birth trauma, or even a stuck vertebrae.

There isn’t much in studies showing that chiropractic care helps with reflux in an infant. Though, I have seen great improvements in babies with their reflux issues in the adjustments I have given to them.

Yours In Health, Dr. Josef Patterson…

A Colicky baby is one who cries for extended periods of time and is difficult to comfort. Things like rocking the child, or playing calming music and using a pacifier have and can help.

There isn’t much in the literature on the effects of chiropractic care to help infantile colic. Although, a recent study showed promise that there may be some groups of babies that may show more benefit in reducing colic with chiropractic care.1 The average reduction of colic was half an hour of less crying in babies compared to the control group, and it wasn’t statistically significant. That being said, there were large beneficial changes in other individuals. Of course there needs to be more studies on whether or not chiropractic adjustments really help infants with colic, but there are many who have reported great benefits from it!

References:

1. Holm, L. V., Jarbøl, D. E., Christensen, H. W., Søndergaard, J., & Hestbæk, L. (2021). The effect of chiropractic care on infantile colic: results from a single-blind randomised controlled trial. Chiropractic & manual therapies, 29(1), 15.

Yours in Health, Dr. Josef Patterson…