We’re in Santiago

Hi everyone! I hope you haven’t missed us too much 🙂

We made it to Santiago without a hitch thanks to the wonderful Mary! You heard me right! At the last minute Mary was able to come with us and has been wonderfully helpful! Nathan was a doll during the trip and has been brimming with excitement.

We got here Sunday morning and rested and then in the afternoon we got to meet Mama Terapeuta and Rocio! We went to her birthday party and also got to meet many of her friends! They are as lovely as they appear on their blog! Nathan was super excited to be out at a party on his first day in South America.

And now for the bad news. I forgot my camera 🙁 Otherwise I could share some videos of Nathan’s first 2 days of Medek with Ramon. He is doing AMAZING! He hasn’t forgotten anything he learned and is starting at a better place. He is responding well to the exercises and is actually making an effort instead of complaining for the sake of complaining! I have felt so proud watching him make an effort and trying to keep a happy mind while working hard. I have so much hope and excitement for what we will see after Nathan works with Ramon for several weeks.

We have a ton of things planned for the next few days and are really excited. Tomorrow we are moving to a new apt as the one we’re in is a bit too far from Ramon’s office. We also found a preschool that is willing to take Nathan in the afternoons after his Medek, so he can have some interaction and involvement with other children. We also found a pool where we can take him every day. We also have a few outings planned with other families here in Chile! We are so excited!

The only drawbacks are: We miss Owen, and I have CONSTANT morning sickness. It starts in the middle of the night and stays with me till about 5pm. It’s hard to function! Fortunately Mary has been helping and we are trying to find someone to help me when Mary leaves on Friday.

Here are some pictures from Rocio’s birthday party that I grabbed from Sonia’s FaceBook!

Santiago, here we come!

Okay, we’re all packed up and on our way to the airport. Wish us luck! We’re off to Santiago, Chile to work with Ramon Cuevas (CME Medek).

Wish us luck!

BodyTalk Module 1

Today I went to the first day of a 2 day Body Talk course.

The verdict: INCREDIBLE.

BodyTalk is everything I’ve been looking for – and MORE. I am too tired to say much about it, so I’m mostly going to post my notes from today. They may not make a lot of sense as they were based on the lecture from the instructor. But some of it may make sense so I’ll share the notes anyways. I’m just going to write 1 editorial paragraph and for the rest, you can read the notes!

I’m a big believer that my job for Nathan is to help his body heal itself from the inside out – not the outside in. Therapies are about healing from the outside in. These can be effective, but wouldn’t it be best if we address the source of the problem – the brain itself? BodyTalk offers a series of techniques that helps identify imbalances within a person’s body and then gives the body input so it can improve communication between itself and restore synergy. When synergy is restored, the body can heal.

What I LOVE about BodyTalk is that it addreses EVERYTHING about healing – emotions, environment, structure, left/right brain communication, allergies…EVERYTHING! If you’ve been following our blog for a while you know how many things I have to work on with Nathan – allergies, exercise, structure, supplements, etc. For this, I go to an osteopath, western doctor, chiropractor, rolfer, acupuncturist, aromatherapist, you get the picture. With BodyTalk – everything is integrated into one practice! That I can now do myself for him! Every day if I want to! And most importantly, it is based on his own body’s response (through neuromuscular biofeedback, or muscle testing). His body will tell me what needs attention, then I can apply techniques to restore communication to that problem. It means I can take Nathan’s healthcare into my own hands! And it works – every experience I’ve had with BodyTalk has been incredible. This morning I started the class in a heap of morning sickness…by the end of the day and having received a few techniques as part of the training, I felt good and full of energy!

Ok enough exclamation marks. This thing is incredible. And that’s that. Now for my notes:

? Background
? The body has an inborn or innate ability to heal and balance on all levels.
? The innate wisdom of the body needs be able to access all of the resources within the body in order to work efficiently.
o Disease is a breakdown in efficiency. The body has become inefficient and unable to heal, and healing has to happen constantly.
? Stress distorts resources within the bodymind, limiting healing.
o When you’ve got too much to do you tend to drop things.
o It’s also harder to eat well when you’re busy
o There’s air pollution, parenting, chlorine in the water, etc
o All of these things distort the smooth natural function of the body, which limits the amount of coordination and energy available for healing.
? What is BodyTalk?
o BodyTalk includes both general and specific methods to help the body recover from the distortions produced by the fight or flight nervous system response and other stresses.
? If you’re in stress mode, the body may choose to slow down digestion because it’s busy processing elsewhere. You may be eating organic food but if the digestive system is turned off, you’re not benefitting from it.
? We need to tell the nervous system to reset, take it out of fight and flight, and get it back to normal processes.
o When the body returns to rest and healing mode of operation, the body heals itself – naturally.
o When the body talks to itself, it can heal itself.
• BodyTalk combines:
o Modern anatomy and physiology
o Neurocardiology
o Acupuncture theory
o Yoga theory
o Osteopathic theory
o Information science (dealing with vast amounts of information)
• Bodytalk is a complete system, not just a couple of techniques
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. – Confucius
Basic Premises
o Healthcare should be safe, fast and effective
o Philosophically consistent, incorporating a model for physics, physiology, psychology (you can’t separate the mind and the body!)
o Little risk to do more damage
Body Talk Philosophy
• Innate wisdom may be viewed as the energy field maintained by the heart.
o The heart electrical field is many times stronger than the brain electrical field and carries information that:
o Guides function of individual body parts
o Synchronizes activity within the body
o Maintaines balance in the bodymind
o We want to encode new data into the heart, so when the heart beats, it distributes new info throughout the body
o We’re not healing – we’re restoring awareness in the body to the areas that are not working right. We have to take the “doingness” out of our energy, we just restore awareness.
o Healing is everyday
o Every cell in body is replaced frequently throughout life
? Blood every 120 days (1% every day)
? Skin 30 days
? Liver can regenerate in a week
? Intestinal lining every 3 days
? Bones in 10 months
? Nerve cells, cartilage, heart, brain, etc
o Whole body is brand new every year
o We get old because of stress response, it distorts the natural responses of the body, and starts slowing down and responding slowly to things. Getting a little bit behind starts leading to disease.
o Body wisdom: Basic premises
o Two primary modes of operation
? Sympathetic (fight/flight/protection)
? Parasympathetic (rest/healing)
o Stress pushes us into protection (sympathetic)
o Healing activity is then diminished (we get old and sick)
o Stress response
o Heart rate increased
o Blood pressure increased
o Muscle tension increased
o Stress hormones increased
o Blood to digest decreased
o Immune system disabled
o Endocrine system distorted
o Communication is the key
o The problem is rarely an individual part alone
o It is almost always poor communication within the body that brings about disease
o Some people do all the right things and are still sick despite conscious efforts
o Some people do all the wrong things and remain healthy – they have resilience
o Body Wisdom: Basic premises
o Body has an inborn ability to heal itself
o As bodytalk practitioner is about askng yes/no questions to determine imbalances , and the order of balancing
o Synchronization through communication is the key to maintaining health
o Sequencing is crucial to good results. Always ask priority, not problem. You may want to detox before the liver is ready to process, and it’s bad. Individual priorities in order to heal effectively. We ask priority, not problem. If you ask problem you’ll get a lot, you have to go by priority, so the body can heal in it’s most effective sequence. You want the right links in the right order.
o Every session had to be tailored to every client’s unique views and worldview. Meet them where they are, don’t make them come to your view point. Balance them at the level they can understand and receive. Some people are very sensitive and emotional, that’s just chi deficiency, digestion is ineficient, and not getting chi out of their food. The issue isn’t what they’re upset about, it’s just the lack of chi, if they balance the digestion so you have strong chi, you’d be able to contain yourself more and be stronger, you just need more chi.