Love in Uncertain Times
My daughter, Violet, was born a few nights ago in our home on Oregon’s north coast. Supported by the practiced and competent hands of three midwives, as well as our doula, Mack, my wife, Adria, naturally and brilliantly birthed Violet into this world and the two of us into parenthood. I am deeply grateful for our midwives, inspired by my wife’s strength and resilience, and absolutely in love with our baby.
Bearing witness to the birth process was a gift that has only expanded my awe of the innate intelligence of the human body, and confirmed how integral chiropractic care is for pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. I supported my wife’s spine and pelvis as she communicated with her body, with me and our midwives, and birthed our daughter into our world. We have this extraordinary vehicle - one that allows consciousness to emerge, to sense and explore the living world, and to communicate and share love with others. With our bodies and minds, we have been conditioned to look to the future - to plan and to plot - often under the illusion that just a little more “doing” will get us to the place where we can find meaning and certainty. Now more than ever we need to look to the present, to find the space between the stimulus and the response and pause there. The entire world has been asked to take this pregnant - sometimes uncomfortable - pause. It is a fertile opportunity to reflect on our values and habits and make fundamental inquiries: Is it more important to be right, or to connect?
I can say now from first-hand experience that the way to change the diaper of a fiery newborn goddess at 3:00 a.m. is not to shush her, or explain the inconvenience of her developing bowel’s timing to my sleep pattern, or that she needs to learn to modulate the volume and intensity of the wailing (8.5 is excessive, especially this early). It is not to get frustrated at the effective jiu-jitsu she is employing to avoid the diaper grapple. It is not to allow my own notions of how this should be going, or convince myself that she is already scheming ways to test my patience. It is not to prove my experience is right or more real. The truth, as it often is, is so simple and literally right in front of me. “You need to connect with her,” I hear Adria offer sleepily from the bedroom, “she wants you to sing”. And now I do, and it makes all the difference in the world - to her and to me.
In these uncertain times, some things remain true and shine even brighter amidst the tumultuous landscape. I recognize these truths being born from the darkness into my expanding awareness: Love is the light by which we all see. Mothers have superpowers. Choosing connection instead of righteousness makes babies laugh and the world a kinder place to live.
Chiropractic for Kids
One of my practice members asked me recently whether I thought chiropractic would be helpful for her son, even if he was not reporting physical pain. She described a tightly wound, rather anxious young boy who seemed on edge most of the time. My answer, of course, was unequivocally yes. Chiropractic is excellent as a modality for helping people with musculoskeletal pain and complaints. Yet where it excels is helping people - of all ages - find more ease in their body and greater connection to how they move, feel, and heal. This happens when chiropractic focuses on how the patterns of stress and tension in the nervous system impact the expression of normal health and physiology. This principle applies to all people of all ages.
For me, the gift of chiropractic is nowhere more profound than when offered to a child. Helping to liberate stress and strain on a growing and developing nervous system, chiropractic supports the health and wellbeing of children as they learn, explore, create, crawl, fall, climb, and walk their way into our world.
Not too long ago, another practice member brought her two year old in for a visit. The little one had had a tumble down 3 stairs. Luckily, she appeared to be just fine. Wanting to be sure everything was okay, her mother brought her in. Wide eyed and with the world at her tiny hands, she walked right in like she owned the place. After reviewing with mom what had happened, I did a quick thermal measurement (I use an infrared thermometer with kids) on her neck to see if she was regulating blood flow evenly between right and left. Nearly half a degree off, this told me there was interference in her upper neck. In addition, we were able to see by the way she lay on the table and how she naturally turned her head that things were not even or balanced. Even though she was not complaining of pain or having any obvious signs of injury, the impact of the fall to her head and neck was significantly affecting how her spine and nervous system were communicating.
Moving through my chiropractic assessment, I knew exactly what we needed to do. With the most gentle and precise adjustment to her upper neck (I used my pinky!) both her mom and I watched as breath moved up her spine, she wiggled and stretched, finding connection, releasing tension, and then sinking right into the table with the most beautiful sigh. Witnessing the shift in tension in her little body was incredible. What it means - and why it is so profound - is that she was able to release stress in her spine that she didn’t need to carry. The physical stress from that fall will not create a block in her ability to move and it will not impede her ability to see and sense and explore the world around her. She can continue to grow and develop with an open channel for all that life presents to her.
So yes, I do believe that chiropractic can help kids and that it can do so even when something doesn’t “hurt”. That being said, if a child is reporting pain or dis-ease, that is a strong reason for them to see a chiropractor. After falls or accidents, persistent or recurrent illness, poor posture or uneven movements, hyperactivity or challenge with mood, or any time a child reports feeling pain is a good time to bring them in. In addition, I am a firm proponent of regular wellness visits, which often help to address underlying stress before it becomes a problem.
Children are our future. Please share the gift of chiropractic with them!
Avalon
In the Summer country of western England, the Glastonbury Tor rises from the heather green quilt of the plain. An ancient and magnetic place, centuries have carved away the clay and limestone layers of the Tor, but not the sandstone at the top. Glastonbury is said to be the location of Avalon, the legendary lake and island country from which Arthur received his sword Excalibur and to which he was brought after his mortal wounding, where the once and future king heals and waits. Avalon is a land of apples. Indeed, the trees and orchards here draw more than water into their fruit. Two sacred springs - one red, one white - emanate from the base of the Tor. The water from these springs carries the song of the land out of the earth, rich in mineral, and charged with the clarity and potency of centuries of reverence. The red spring is fed from the Chalice Well, so named as it is said to be where Joseph of Arimathea brought and buried the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper.
On November 2nd, my partner, Adria, and I met at the Chalice Well to bless the rings we would offer each other in the ceremony of our union. From the Well we walked to the Red Spring, to the White Spring, and then to the Tor. One of our guides, aptly named Tor, led us through the paired oaks at the base of the hill and then to the entrance of the arcane labyrinth that wreaths the Tor. “This is a place of powerful magic,” he said, “and in choosing this place you make your intention and commitment known to the many realms.” We entered, and began to ascend. As we walked each other toward the top, the sky began to change. Early November sunshine gave way to the elemental grey of the isle. At the top of the Tor stands the remnant of the second church of St. Michael, a bell tower built of sandstone in the 14th century. It was within the walls of the this tower that we held our ceremony.
Our other guide, Kristen, priestess and student of the stars, began with an acknowledgement of our journey and the influence of the heavens. She fastened our hands with a ribbon, which had held three circled and interlinked willow branches, gifted by the Tor on the way up. As the wind blew through and around us, we exchanged our vows and our rings. With hands fastened, we drank the cider of Avalonian apples from a crystal chalice. Our guide Tor followed with the slicing of an apple, longitudinally to reveal not only the heart-shape the core makes in cross-section, but the representation of the dagger (stem) and the chalice (fruit). He sliced the apple again, transversely, revealing the arrangement of the seeds as a five-pointed star. We shared the apple, and offered it to the four directions. Into his conch shell he blew a sound into the wind pronouncing and proclaiming our marriage across the land.
A light rain began to fall as we descended back down the Tor. Through the labyrinth again, taking care to exit with as much intention as we entered. At the sentinel oaks at the base of the hill, we took time to reflect before stepping through the gate. Once again in the mortal world, we continue to walk each other onward home.
