Own, Face & Change the Trajectory of Your Health!

At Harvard Medical School during my first formal Mind-Body training, Dr. Herbert Benson shared something he learned in medical school, “that the greater part of what you was learning about the human body would be obsolete in five years.” That was 15 years ago, and guess what? Everything has changed!

Neuroscience, Nutritional Science, Exercise Science … everything is exploding. The greatest challenge for those of us who are seeking more is that it takes a looooooong time for that exciting new information to get to the doctor’s office…10, 20, 50, more years sometimes. Dogma is a hard thing to change.

Bottom line is, just like Dr. Benson said, a lot of thinking that you encounter in your medical appointments is obsolete. Nowhere is that more true than in multiple sclerosis.

Everything is changing all the time.

Now that makes perfect sense to me. It supports both my personal and professional observation that everything as we know it in medicine right now is changing. When things are changing at the rate that they have been in the last 5, 10, even 20 years,  how can we, as patients accept dogma as forever?

Here are a few of the things that I get so excited about in all the change. All of which BTW directly impact your efforts to manage multiple sclerosis:

• Latest science of Mind-body medicine – aka Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which is how the immune system and the central nervous system, specifically the stress response, play together. This is crazy-important in managing multiple sclerosis, a condition that has been negatively associated with stress since the mid 1800’s!
• Limitless possibilities presented by Neuroplasticity. A science that demonstrates how, through focused attention, you can literally change the strength, size and density of your brain. This has immense potential for all aspects of life with multiple sclerosis – from increasing your memory to improving your mobility.
• New medical understanding of inflammation, autoimmunity, mitochondrial function and the gut-brain axis. Four vital steps on the path to managing multiple sclerosis.
• Enormous impact of Epigenetics on your health/disease state. Epigenetics are environmental factors that drive the way your genes are turned on and off, consequently, how your body behaves – good and bad. Epigenetics is everywhere! You can harness the tremendous benefits of epigenetics by changing your environment; what you eat, how you live, when you sleep, your exercise patterns, how you manage stress, and more!

Are you stuck in the dogma, waiting for the “next big thing?”

Think about what Dr. Benson was told at Harvard… everything is changing all the time. Are you, or your doctor stuck in the dogma? I feel pretty lucky to have been captivated by a medical model (Naturopathic Medicine) that puts the power of the patient together with the power of the natural world as the basis for healing. From there we can apply what is relevant from the evolving model of medicine (by that I mean today’s Functional Medicine) and engage the new concepts like PNI, Neuroplasticity, Epigenetics etc. in really practical ways to support healing. I’m not talking about drugs or even supplements, I’m talking about new thinking that is forever changing the dogma and taking our medical profession into uncharted waters – because, more and more, it is about what you DO rather than what you TAKE.

This is great for everyone!

For the evolution of medicine, for the ability of all types of doctors to deliver fantastic care, and most of all for you. Whether you have a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or not. It puts YOU at the center of your healing process. It is the key to the lock on that ancient creaky door. It takes dedication and determination to crack it open but once you’re there what’s on the other side can be spectacular.

So here’s the participation part. As we let go of the insipid search for the magic bullet that will “fix” all our woes in a hurry, and dive into the deep pool of self-acquaintance and self-understanding, we open a whole new world of opportunity and possibility – to heal the life we have and live the life we create.

Does that just sound too freakin’ out there? Guess what, it’s not out there, it’s right here. Here for you to experience, integrate and benefit from.

The boundaries between the new science, natural medicine and shifts in the medical model itself tell us that multiple sclerosis can be a very manageable condition. Are you ready to own, face and change the trajectory of your health?