You’re NOT a Piece of Hamburger!

I grew up in the 60s and 70s when the thinking was to always question authority.  So, I learned to do just that.  Over these many decades, I’ve learned to ask questions.  Lots of questions.

When you ask questions and develop the skill of listening and thinking for yourself, you also become better at knowing when someone is shooting straight with you or giving you a line of BS.  Unfortunately, many folks have not developed their gift of discernment and merely accept what their told as truth.  There’s an old saying about assuming that most folks have heard.  It’s still true.  Generalized assumptions can get you into lots of trouble.

One of those areas that assuming you’ve been told the truth is your health.  There is so much “information” about your body and your health being shoved down our throats that it is sometimes hard to decide what’s true and what’s not.  But, it has been that way for so long that most folks get overwhelmed by the piles of information that it’s just easier for them to assume they’ve been told the truth about drugs, vaccinations, conditions and “diseases”, surgery, etc.  Things like “cholesterol causes heart disease”, “meat is bad for you”, “prescription drugs are safe”, “shots prevent the flu” and so on and so on.

The problem with all these assumptions is that they leave us with the impression that we are our bodies and an assortment of pills, potions, lotions and/or procedures are all we need to be healthy.  NOTHING could be further from the truth.  A friend of mine often says “We are NOT our bodies”.  Still others have said that we’re not physical beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a physical experience.

By assuming that we are merely machines crafted from flesh and bones directed electricity and chemical reactions, we steal from ourselves the true essence of life itself.  We are, in fact, MORE than our bodies.  Think about it.  There is NO difference between a living person and someone who has just died of a heart attack.  All the chemicals are still the same, the structure is still the same.  They have all the same parts.  But, what is different?  The difference is that intangible thing we call life!

Mechanistic practitioners of the healing arts scoff at the concept of “life force” or “Innate Intelligence”, yet they can never quite put their finger on what causes homeostasis, your body’s vital balancing act.  Sure, they know when that force is present and when it leaves.  But, they can never quite define it.  Many so-called “scientific” practitioners even deny its very existence.

But, you KNOW there’s something in you that wants to be “healthy”, happy and “whole”.  You know that feeling good is more than just not having symptoms.  You also know that somewhere inside you is a desire to be part of something bigger than yourself.  At a time when technology and “knowledge” have reduced humans to little more than lab rats and the culture forced us into machine-like tools of production, the human spirit clamors for freedom.

I believe that is why chiropractic was discovered only 115 years ago.  It took a few generations of production lines and deadlines to become a major source of death, disease and societal mayhem.  Since that time, the pace has only quickened.  We’ve finally reached the point where palliative care and reactions to medical treatments have become as dangerous as the ailments they are designed to treat.  In fact, the whole treatment mentality has become devoid of common sense.

Americans (ALL peoples, in fact) are seeking something, actually anything, that will help them live better, feel better and enjoy their life more.  People are realizing that there is more to life than just getting by.  The search for “meaning” is greater than ever because the separation from “meaning” is greater than it has probably ever been.  Because the simple chiropractic adjustment takes stress off the nervous system, it helps you relate better to your own body as well as your immediate environment.  The longer you keep that stress from piling up on your nervous system, the quicker and deeper you will realize that greater “meaning” that everyone is seeking.

No.  I’m not talking about God.  But, what I am saying is that there are millions of people who say they believe in God yet lean on Medicine for their comfort and hope.  Real comfort, real hope comes from KNOWING who you are, what you are and how powerfully you were truly made.  Chiropractic simply helps you more fully realize your potential for health and happiness.

Grow Tree!

Autumn is my favorite season.  I love the changing of the leaves, the cooler temperatures and trips to the mountains.  Just today, I noticed that the leaves have started dropping, leaving the landscape a drab grayish brown.  If you didn’t know better, you might think the trees were sick and dying.

In our thoroughly modern culture we might be tempted to think “Gosh, these trees are sick and dying.  I had better do something if they’re to be saved!”  We then proceed to diagnose the problem and then to treat the problem.  OK.  “So, the leaves have lost their color and fallen off.  They must need to be fed.”  So, we feed them.  When that doesn’t work, we figure they must need water.  Still, no growth and no green leaves!  “Oh my.  They must be dying.  I better cut off the dead growth before it takes over the whole tree.”  So, we cut off limbs or otherwise “treat” the tree with everything we have.  When nothing works, we give upon the tree.  If we don’t cut it down and use it for firewood, we simply walk away from it and leave it to Mother Nature to run its course.

Oddly, in late Winter we see buds on the trees.  Come Spring, those buds sprout beautiful green leaves.  It’s alive again!  “Why, we must have done something to make it healthy and grow again!”

Of course, we know it was NOTHING we did to the tree to make it grow. We know that it wasn’t even sick.  It was simply going through its seasons.  It happens every year and has forever!  And. guess what?  It will continue to do so, forever.

We’ve allowed ourselves to become so mechanized in our thinking that we’ve forgotten that WE go through seasons, too.  Yet, when things don’t look perfect on the outside, we revert to “treatments” to make it feel like it is or look to others like it is.  Whether it’s to give stimulative narcotics like Ritalin or Adderall to a bored, active little boy in school or antidepressants to someone dealing with a stressful life or simply an aspirin a day to prevent stroke, we’re doing the same thing.  Sadly, when the first remedy doesn’t work, the “treatment” gets more aggressive.  And as all the drug commercials tell us, treatments can carry the risk of killing the patient.

What if we recognized that there’s a great wisdom at play that knows what it’s doing with our bodies and our minds and that we don’t as much need our health to be “managed” as much as it simply needs no interference and to let us go through our seasons?  What if we would simply nourish our life and our health and simply created a fertile environment in which we could grow and prosper?  As our own personal Winter passes, we would have become a better stronger person for having gone through it awake and aware.  The adversity that we allowed ourselves to experience would have made us better and better able to handle worse adversity later in life.

As a Principled chiropractor, my job is to help you develop a fertile environment within you that your own greater inner wisdom can prosper and thrive.  Yes, of course I’m talking about taking fewer drugs and feeling more pain.  I want to get you off straightline and on to the thrilling ride of your life.

Chiropractic Missions and The Membership Practice

In the late 90s, Dr. Jim Sigafoose lead a series of chiropractic missions to Central America.  Over a span of a dozen years, hundreds of chiropractors participated in those missions adjusting hundreds of thousands of people.  Still today, chiropractors do missions work all over the world.

Some of these missions stand out for several reasons.  One was the miracles.  People with chronic illness were healed.  The lame began to walk, the blind to see, the infirm strengthened and the hopeless regained hope.  Another reason was the sheer number of people served.  In single trips lasting up to 10 days, literally hundreds of thousands were adjusted by a mere handful of chiropractors.  Some  adjusted at least 10,000 in a single mission.  That’s 1,000 a day!  Probably one of the greatest things that resulted from those missions is that some chiropractors were set free of limitations.

I remember Sigafoose telling folks one time that participating in a mission had the potential for making or ruining a chiropractor’s practice.  When asked what he meant, he responded “You never see yourself or chiropractic in the same light again.  You’ll either go back and tear down the walls that limit you and chiropractic OR you’ll go back to where you were and resent the things you let hold you back.”

Some chiropractors returned and literally tore down the walls  and began adjusting in the open.  Others began to simplify their procedures and systems.  Still others converted to “All cash” practices to remove interference in their practice by third party payors..

Even today, many chiropractors say “How can it be that simple?”  One answer is to stop practicing as limited scope medical doctors diagnosing every patient and jumping through the hoops required to get paid by insurance carriers.  Still others have been pigeon-holed by their so-called chiropractic “education” into thinking you can’t possibly deliver quality chiropractic care to that many people in that short span of time.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

So, how could so few adjust so many in such a short period of time and STILL give quality chiropractic care?  The answers may amaze you.  Here’s just a few reasons why it worked:

• Few words were spoken – Because of the language barrier, a simple presentation was made by an interpreter to large groups before getting in line.
• Adjustments were limited to the upper cervical spine.  In other words, deliver the MOST effective adjustment to the MOST people in the LEAST amount of time.
• Simplest procedures possible.  No paperwork.  No insurance.  No CYA.  No BS.  Chiropractic analysis ONLY.
• No worries about money.  Many will say “Of course they were busy.  It was free!”  They paid plenty, just not as a direct fee.
• The chiropractors had no distractions like phones, families, news, sports or world events.

Many have asked since those mission trips, “How can I integrate THAT perspective into my practice here in the US?”  The simple answer is “You can’t.”  Well, you can’t INTEGRATE that perspective into a traditional American-style chiropractic practice.  Simply put, today’s chiropractic is practiced literally from a Medical perspective with all it’s procedures and complexity.  And to make a point, THAT is exactly what chiropractic wasn’t (and isn’t) at its core.

You can’t integrate simplicity into complexity.  But, you CAN replace complexity with simplicity.  I know it sounds difficult to do.  But, so is falling off a log.  The hardest part is simply deciding to opt out of the complex system practiced here in the US.

Here’s the key.  SIMPLIFY!   That’s it.  Just like with those mission trips, you get back to the very basics of what we do as chiropractors.

• Tell the story in as few words as possible to as many people as you possibly can.
• Don’t waste words on idle chatter.
• Limit paperwork and procedures to the bare minimum required.
• Do JUST chiropractic!  Locate and correct subluxations.  No medical diagnosis.  Better yet, do ONLY what is necessary.  If nothing else, make sure the Atlas is clear.
• Offer a simple, affordable fee system that fits into most people’s budget.  Unlimited care plans at a fixed fee makes sense to me.

Personally, I have found The Membership Practice the most congruent way to practice.  The concept is not new, but growing.  I challenge every chiropractor who wants to enjoy their practice more by doing JUST chiropractic to simplify their business on every level.