Centering Vitality

What if vitality was the main outcome marker of health? How would that change your perspective? How would that change both modern allopathic and alternative medicine's views of health?

Yesterday I had a 28-year-old patient who had a health breakdown recently. There are a few things that shift your paradigm and force change quickly. Breakdowns and breakthroughs. I obviously favor breakthroughs, "a ha" moments, epiphanies. Breakdowns are brutal in general but do force change. 

Her breakdown forced her to miss weeks of work, stay in bed without moving, cancel a client and clean up her eating/drinking habits. Breakdowns also make us question the choices we are making, our very existence, and the impermanence of it all. 

If we center Vitality for this patient we re-frame her health breakdown as a pivotal moment of change that altered her life forever towards her more true and vital self. How can I say this? Because it made her realize the invisible and inherited box she was living in, the reality she thought real, and broke her out of that into a place of free will and choice. Now that free will and choice at first is often filled with panic and anxiety, trying to get to that still small voice inside guiding us right. But even though the moments of her panic she had a sense of knowing that this was all happening for a reason. 

Part of a health breakdown forces one to ask for help. This is often hard for many people. We have been trained to think we are independent and can/should do it all. But when your body literally cannot function and you cannot get out of bed, you have no choice but to admit to your vulnerability and ask for help.

Vulnerability and asking for help is your first healing step. This asking for help is what we call "transparency." Being open and transparent about how you feel. This can lead to a better understanding of what you need and how to request what you need and get help. Vulnerability, transparency, and asking for help are key fundamentals in centralizing your vitality and in Vitality Medicine.

Next step in centralizing your vitality is finding your healing team. Who supports your optimal health and vitality? Your partner, your kids, your parents, your friends. Find a few key people that you can be openly transparent with, be vulnerable and ask for help. It doesn't have to be many people, but find a few. You need it. Next, find your healing team. Health care professionals who can help you regain your health and wellness. Put your body and mind back together.

When I had my major breakdown in 2015 I sought chiropractic, homeopathy, therapy, craniosacral work, and massage. Ideally you find practitioners who will be empathetic with you and your healing in a holistic way that holds the whole of you. But even if you find practitioners who specialize, find smart critically thinking people who can help you piece through the different aspects of what is happening. You don't have to like them, but they have to be very skilled and be able to answer your questions. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!

Centralizing vitality makes clear that you are WORTH IT! You are an innately whole and unique human and you deserve to be treated with respect, care and kindness. You are enough. Your body is a miracle and can heal when you give it the right environment and the right ingredients.

Centralizing vitality has you focus on what helps you feel vital. What inspires awe and wonder? What makes you feel joy and balance? Being in nature, music, snuggling, bodywork, sleep, journaling.... When I was in the throws of my breakdown I could hardly eat much less feel access to joy. So if you are in this place, DISTRACT YOURSELF! There is often no message to be learned from longer-term anxiety, panic, depression. Watch a funny movie, put on some music and dance, eat while you are making dinner (what I call distracted eating) just to get some food down.

Centralizing vitality means you create good systems. With my patient yesterday we came up with systems to support her body. Eating regularly (video here), supplements for stress and well-being, and how to say no.

Being fully vital doesn't mean you are free of disease, it doesn't mean you are abled or clear-minded or equanimous all the time. It means you are re-membering that you are fully whole and that your body is a gift. Your body holds the keys to your timeless eternal self and being human in this life. It is an exploration. 

What does it mean to centralize vitality in your life?