My Healing Routine

 

Here is the simple truth: People recover from Parkinson's when they hold the belief that recovery is possible.  Those who believe their health can improve do improve. They take responsibility for their own health and well being and commit to a program that gives their body the support it needs to heal.

                                                                                    Robert Rogers, PhD.

           

Everyday I work on healing myself. The exercises are multi-dimensional and work on different aspects of myself. Some days I do more or less, and I have added and deleted exercises over time. Following is a description of my current “routine.”

            Hopefully up before 7:00 a.m., I stretch my legs and take some deep breaths. Then I get on my Gazelle machine and struggle along for 5 minutes, which seems like a long time because it is very hard for me. I will use it 3-5 times during the day. I go downstairs to see my family before they go off for work and school.

            I eat breakfast and take all my supplements.

            Settling in my usual comfortable chair, I consult the runes. I hold the bag of stones, shuffling through them with the other hand and think about the issues in my life at the moment. I choose one, read about it in The Book of Runes and record it in my journal. I also record what exercises I did the day before.

            Next, I usually read. What I read in the morning is always some kind of spiritual or self-help book. I read for 15 -30 minutes. Then I might do Jin Shin Jyutsu. I start by pressing my palms together and then hold each of the fingers of one hand with the other hand for about a minute each. I allow my thoughts to wander or notice sensations in my body.

            Then I meditate. I have a cushion I sit on facing a glass paperweight or flowers, if I have them. I am now part way through Andrew Weiss’ 10-week course on mindfulness meditation. I count breaths, notice the spaces between breaths, or recite silently:

            I breathe in. I relax my body.

            I breathe out. I smile.

            Dwelling in the present moment –

            I know this is a wonderful moment.

            When I feel it’s time, I follow the meditation with prayer. I usually say the Serenity prayer. I pray for my family, myself, perhaps someone in need, and I express gratitude for all the good things in my life.

Then I do Kinhin, a slow walking meditation around the edges of the rug. Each step corresponds to an in or an out breath. I try to be very aware of each step and all the coordinated body movements involved in walking. 

            Finally, I do Qi Gong exercises I learned from a book called Earth Qi Gong for Women.  After the warm up exercises, I repeat the movements of the two parts of the “Deer Walk” 8 times.

Time for a protein drink, another stint on the Gazelle then I can get on with the day such as taking a shower, getting dressed, cleaning up the kitchen and so forth.

            Then I may go to FSR Therapy, a Feldenkrais, yoga or tango class depending on the day.

            Before going to bed. I will meditate, pray and perhaps do Jin Shin Jyutsu. At the end of the day I see that most of the day has been devoted to MYSELF. It may sound self indulgent, but I intend in this way to heal myself of what is said to be an incurable disease. I have to really work at it, and not only put the time into it, but all the energy I can muster to do it with my whole being.

New Treatments

I have seen a CranioSacral therapist and a nutritionist this week. Both have chiropractic licenses so I can call them doctors.

Dr. H, the CS therapist, brought a massage table to my house so I did not have to drive. The therapy was similar to other energy therapy I have had except her hands moved almost constantly following what CSTs say is the flow of fluids in my body. Afterwards, I thought about it and decided not to continue with CST. Intuitively I felt this wasn’t the right treatment for me.

Dr K, my chiropractor, recommended Dr. M who he said is 80 years old and works as a nutritionist now after a career in chiropractory. Dr. M spent over 3 hours with me although his bill said one hour. He is pumped up about nutrition and how our American diet is making us ill. Whatever he’s eating, it must be helping him -- he has a lot more energy than I do. He also had a different view of PD than what I have heard before. He says it is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease.

Dr. M performed a bioelectrical impedance analysis, which tested my body fat ratio, hydration level and cellular functions. He tested my vitamins to see if I was absorbing them properly. He did this in an interesting way. I put one vitamin at a time into my mouth, wet it with saliva, and then kept it under my tongue. Then he tested the strength of the muscles in my arm and hand. I tested strong for all the vitamins except for the most expensive, name brand multi-vitamin I had been taking. He tested me twice, with different pills and different arms and each time my muscles could not hold firm when he applied force. So therefore, he said there is something my body is reacting negatively to in this vitamin.

A year ago, I learned how to do this kind of muscle testing to see which foods are good for my system. By touching the food with one hand, the other arm can be tested for strength. I followed the results in my diet for 3 months. The foods actually corresponded with those recommended by Josef, an intuitive healer I consulted. I relaxed the diet after 3 months because I didn’t feel any improvement. I guess I didn’t totally trust an intuitive to guide me. Now I am working again on my diet, but consulting a different kind of practitioner.

Dr. M said that holding the food in the mouth is more reliable than merely touching it, but he acknowledged that that method works as well. I don’t know how it works however.

The result is I am taking stronger doses of some vitamins such as fish oil, having a protein drink 3 times a day and altering my diet. The diet is low-acid, yeast and gluten-free. All dairy and all wheat and other gluten is out. I should avoid sugar, caffeine, alcohol, citrus, fatty meats and processed foods. There are other limitations as well, but all vegetables are okay (not corn though).

I’m willing to give it my best shot, and I feel good about it. It feels good to be doing something that is a real change in my life.

My Inheritance

            I continue to light a candle on my ancestors altar. All along though, I have felt a little uncomfortable. I have remembered the ones I knew personally, and thought about the ones who died before I was born. There was poverty, homes evacuated in wartime, disease, early death, alcoholism, emigration, bad marriage, abandonment, estrangement, divorce. There was hard work, always manual labor: farming, fishing, logging, ironing, cooking. I hope there were some pleasures in life, like love and joy, assisted I know by liberal quantities of alcohol. Few that I knew were religious, or very spiritually oriented as far as I could tell. The ones, who survived, prospered and lead comfortable lives in their later years.

However, as I think of them and tentatively petition for their support and guidance, somehow I can’t see many of them in this role. Our connection is too fragile. They didn’t ask for anyone’s help, they survived and they did it stoically and without a lot of spiritual nonsense.  They weren’t, most of them, the image of the wise and nurturing matriarchs and patriarchs. Their old age and deaths were not gentle, transformative, but seemed to be lonely even bitter.

Can I respect them and appreciate them for all their qualities the noble and the flawed?

It occurred to me this week that rather than my seeking something from them; I should be the one giving and sending love out to them. Maybe that really is the point. Again, I find myself seeing the negative in a situation and realize I need to turn it around and create love, compassion, and gratitude in myself.

I haven’t been honoring the ancestors just seeing their faults. They lived, they suffered, and they did the best they could. What is my inheritance? To take what they began, and learn from it. They have already completed their lesson.