First UU Presentation:

Being Self-Care Aware

is a State of MindJuly 22, 2018

Words for Contemplation

(Excerpted from Worth by Greta W. Crosby

from her meditation book, Tree & Jubilee)

“If I could give you one key and one key only, to more abundant life, I

would give you a sense of your own self-worth, an unshakable sense of your own dignity as one grounded in the source of the cosmic dance, as one who plays a unique part in the unfolding of the story of the

world…Once we are sure of our own innate worth, something that cannot be taken from us, we no longer need to prove it in elaborate ways so often damaging to others and to ourselves. Once secure in our

own dignity, we no longer need someone to hurt, whole classes of people to despise. Secure in the sense of our own worth, we can rejoice in the worth of others and love out of fullness instead of an inner

emptiness that eats others alive.

Let us affirm one another as ‘unique, irreplaceable’ persons.”

First UU Presentation:

Being Self-Care Aware

is a State of MindJuly 22, 2018

(Spoken Notes)

Good morning, I’m looking forward to sharing some of my learning journey with you today. Having been a member of First UU since

1975, some of you have known me for a very long time, and some

of you may not know me at all. For those who don’t know me as well, I’ll give a little information on my background to put my

presentation into perspective.

My Background

*Member of First UU, 1975

*Massage Therapist, 1990

*Acupuncturist, 2008

*Adjunct Instructor at WSU for Complementary And Alternative Medicine (CAM), 2016

(Spoken Notes) Building on Susan’s introduction, I have practiced therapeutic massage since

1990. I have been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine since 2008. I currently have an office

in the Orpheum Center at 1st & Broadway, where I provide services primarily in acupuncture and I

still do some therapeutic massage.

In addition, for the last few years, I have been instructing a fall semester class at WSU called

Complementary & Alternative Medicine, or CAM for short. This class has provided me with the

opportunity to consolidate many years of knowledge and experience in the field of healthcare.

One important aspect of many CAM modalities that I discuss with the class is the practice of Self-

Care. It is possible for our bodies to naturally resolve certain functional problems with just a little

boost in Self-Care. As awareness of Self-Care techniques increases, we learn that it is ourresponsibility to offer our body every opportunity to achieve and maintain wellness. Our bodies

are doing the best they can with what we are giving them. The question is…what are we giving

them?

Though modern medical practices have offered many benefits to people, it relies heavily on two

modalities: surgeries and prescription medications. There tends to be a lack of information to

help people help themselves heal as naturally as possible. Conversely, many CAM modalities

educate about Self-Care for natural healing and especially for prevention and health maintenance.

Self-Care Recommendation #1:

Empower the Mind-Body Connection

Spoken Notes:

This is the first of 3 Self-Care Recommendations that I will cover today. In my class, I discuss 101 recommendations within the semester. I plan to introduce more in later presentations, probably not all 101, but I’m only discussing 3 today

because these are foundational concepts and I want to take more time with them.

The Mind-Body Connection is often ignored bc it seems intangible. I say it is a no-brainer!

Textbook: Foundations of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Marc Micozzi 2015. Certain people say the mind-body connection isn’t valid bcthere isn’t research to prove the mind body connection. This book has tons!

Abundant studies confirm the mind-body connection in 100’s of different ways. I personally think it is odd to think the mind and the body are separate entities.

Here is an example to prove my point:

Spoken Notes: ***Group Guided Imagery Exercise***

Close your eyes and imagine that you have a lemon in your hand. Look closely at it’s

surface. See the shiny yellow skin, the pores, the green stem on one end of it.

Now imagine cutting the lemon in half. Pick up a lemon half and observe the sections of

the lemon. There are a few seeds here and there. There’s some juice on the surface of

the lemon half. Smell the fresh citrus scent. Now take the lemon and put it up to your

mouth. Bite into the lemon and taste the sour lemon juice.

Wow, it’s really sour, even more sour than you expected.

Take a breath and think about this. How did your body react to your guided imagery

exercise? Did your saliva glands contract, did your mouth water?

So, tell me, where is the lemon? Your body has reacted as if you smelled & tasted a

lemon. But there is no lemon in this room. What happened???

You empowered your mind-body connection! You caused your body to change with a

simple one-minute exercise. So…think about this: what happens if you tell yourself you

are sick or you are getting so old? Wouldn’t your body believe you and then manifest

that? Let’s cancel, cancel, erase that thought, & replace it with a more harmonious one.

How about empowering your mind to improve your health?

Either way and always, We ARE our own self-fulfilling prophecy—we become what we

direct ourselves to become.

Mind-Body Modalities offer nearly

unlimited potential for healing (I have a supplemental with all the details that can be

downloaded)

Breathing, Centering, Grounding

Meditation

Guided imagery

Journaling

Tapping

Hypnotherapy

Biofeedback

Reiki

Breathwork

Somato-Emotional Release (used with cranio-sacral therapy)

Free Meditation Apps are available on your phone

YouTube is a great resource for 5 -10 minute

guided imagery / meditations

>meditation for a light-filled body

>guided imagery for heart health

>guided meditation for sleep

>affirmations for anxiety

Try guided meditation every day for a week to

enhance your mind-body connection. See if you experience any change in your life.

Self-Care Recommendation #2:

Practice Emotional Hygiene

Spoken Notes:

Just like we need perform personal hygiene by cleaning our ears and trimming our

toenails, we need emotional hygiene as well! While we may all agree that this is

important, how many of us actually practice it regularly?

There is a huge need to get in touch with our emotions, so guess what we are doing

next?

Yup, that’s right. Get ready for a deep dive…into the abyss

The First Step for Emotional Hygiene is to ask:

Do you love yourself?

Do you feel worthy of being loved?

Spoken Notes:

To be able to give love and to be loved by someone else, you must first love yourself.

I heard this concept at a UU service when I was very young. I didn’t get it. I thought, ‘well that just means we need to love that person MORE.’

I now understand, all too well, that If a person does not love themself or feel worthy of love, there will be an unfillable void of insecurity within them that cannot be filled by anyone else.

This is why feeling worthy of self-love is the first step for emotional self-care.

If you do not love yourself, Don’t panic! It’s more common than you might realize, and it does not need to always be so.

Professional therapy is highly recommended to gain understanding of the core issues involved. And I’ll be describing some resources that could also assist in this healing journey.

Dr. Brené Brown

Qualitative Researcher

on Human Emotions

Titles of some of her talks available on YouTube/TED Talks:

The Power of Vulnerability

Listening to Shame

Self-Awareness, Self-Love & Self Worth

Dr. Brené Brown Quote:

from The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk

“We are the most in-debt, obese, addicted &

medicated adult cohort in U.S. history [Because we

are trying to numb our emotions].”

(Spoken notes) The big problem with that, as Brene explains it, is that you

cannot numb just the bad emotions. All the emotions are numbed. Then

we feel disconnected and we feel more bad emotions. Then we want to

numb those. In addition, numbing is not making emotions go away, they

are ever-present in the subconscious.

Dr. John Sarno’s Life’s Work:(he’s been learning about the mind body emotion connection since the 1950’s)

His Theory of Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS) is mind-body-emotion based.

Mind Over Back Pain, 1984 & revised edition 1986

Healing Back Pain, 1991

Mindbody Prescription, 1998

The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, 2006

(YouTube: Full Interview with Dr. John Sarno 36:16) also Dr. John E Sarno 20/20 segment)

Dr. John Sarno Quote:from The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders

“He works hard, tries to do everything perfectly,

and tries to keep everyone happy…

…that is enraging to the unconscious.”

Dr. Sarno’s TMS Theory:

Repressed Emotions Trigger Physical Pain

Emotions are repressed

Brain causes mild oxygen deprivation of tissues

This causes tension in local areas

Tension causes pain & dysfunction

Over time, this can become debilitating

Why the heck would our brain do this???

The Brain does this intentionally….

…To distract the conscious brain

from becoming aware of

unconscious feelings like rage

or emotional pain.

Why does our brain do this???

…Because we are a Society of Emotion-Avoiders

(Spoken Notes)

When I read Dr Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain, I was astonished at how subtle

yet pervasive emotional repression can be. The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m a

peaceful person, I’m just not that angry.’ Then I explored my mind, and hello, I

found it; a little anger warehouse in there. So, I have emotional hygiene to

practice. I would guess most of us do. We all could benefit from anger

management techniques bc internalizing it does not make it ‘go away’ it is still

there, and it still acts upon us from our unconscious.

My Best Self-Care tip ever is: the thing we least want to do, is the thing we most

need to do. This is what Emotional Hygiene is about. In many cases there is a

crippling fear of the lurking emotions. This fear is often much worse than

actually doing it. I have told myself, Forgive the Fear & do it anyway! The

great thing about it is, after doing the work, I feel much better. Lighter,

relieved, unburdened. It is very therapeutic to release emotional baggage.

But how? How do we channel emotions in a healthy way?

Use resources to build skills to manage emotions

without repressing them.

The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

Untying the Knots of Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh

(google essay right now :)

Healing Trauma by Peter Levine

A Sampling of Resources for your perusal:

>Psychotherapy

>Hypnotherapy

>Journaling

>Forgiveness Exercises

>Write it, Surrender it, Burn it, Release it (1of my favorites)

>Reading/watching Dr. Brené Brown

>Reading/watching Dr. John Sarno

>Learning Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

>Do an emotional check-in every day

>Assessing & modifying our thinking patterns which can

curb emotional reactions in the first place.

Self-Care Recommendation #3:

Release Psoas Through Mind-Body-Emotion Connection

The Iliopsoas Muscle:

Psoas attaches to each lumbar vertebrae and to the inside of the femur

Over-contracting Psoas Muscles

cause a number of problems:

*(low) back pain

*hip/groin pain

*leg pain

*abdominal pain/tension

*bladder & bowel problems, etc

*could cause upper body & neck pain

Causes of psoas-related problems?*Running (a lot) because psoas moves legs to propel forward

*Climbing stairs (a lot) because psoas is responsible for lifting the knees

*Sitting at a desk (a lot) because sitting keeps the muscle shortened but

activated for posture, which inhibits its normal range of motion.

*Brain Repressing emotions because it is the most core, protective,

sensitive muscle in the body. It feels vulnerable bc there are no ribs

protecting it. Also it is in the same area as the small intestine and both

can react viscerally.

Home Exercise:Passive, Shortened Psoas-Release>this helps the cerebellum reboot the nerve/muscle functions >It’s best if the chair has arm-rests for complete passive positioning>can also be low couch or bed>pets may think it is playtime>rest for about 10 minutes

*most importantly, take this down-time to do an emotional check-in and address emotional repression if needed.

Self-Care Foundations:

1.) Empower Mind-Body Connection

2.) Practice Emotional Hygiene

3.) Release Psoas with Mind-Body-Emotion Connection

FYI: I will be presenting again in January. However, I don’t want to

wait that long to tell of the importance of Vitamin D supplementation. Most of us do not get enough from natural light or in fortified food sources.

There is lots of info on YouTube and Google on Vitamin D. In

particular there is a symposium on the importance of Vitamin D that is especially interesting. Search on YouTube: Vitamin D Sunshine Optimal Health: Putting it all Together 49:35 & Sunlight and Your

Health: An enLIGHTening Perspective 54:11

I take 5,000IU 5-7 days per week, which I get from Natural Grocers.

Being Self-Care Aware

is a State of Mind!