
I love living a flourishing health life and do many things to support myself to do so. Flourishing health can mean different things to each of us. For me at this age and stage of my life, that means being able to hike to beautiful places like in the above picture for a swim in a cold mountain lake. It also means continuing to learn to use & share that learning with you in my thriving health clinic. I had the opportunity to geek out with learning about nutrition for the nervous system and injuries or challenges to it at a recent training in Victoria. This info may be of interest to anyone that has had a concussion (TBI) , stroke, memory challenges, anxiety or depression. I definitely do not have all the answers to this giant part of body/mind health , yet happy to have a few more techniques and supportive suggestions for it. The readers digest version of this workshop is “optimize your liver function”! Many hormones and neurotransmitters get their start in the liver, therefore if your liver is sluggish due to diet, lifestyle or even stress those important components to a fully functioning system are compromised. Herbs to help with this are Milk Thistle, Dandelion, and Artichoke leaf. Some diet for liver support according to TCM includes the bitter or sour flavours such as lemon, lime, many leafy greens, and reduction of alcohol and stress. Now for the “BEING HUMAN” story, part of the above heading. Once I had signed up for the above training I decided to extend it, with a little road trip holiday, to Vancouver Island with a friend. All went well during our Island time, and I’m happy to report abundant flowers, walks, good food and laughs with friends is another way I find happiness and feel like I am flourishing. I wish some form of that for each of you. On the way back we got a late start. We were eager to get home yet ferry delays, road construction and the like, made for a very long day with too few stops, not great food, and not enough water packed for the length of the travel time. Fast forward a couple of days home and my travelling companion friend spends an uncomfortable day in emergency room of hospitals getting checked out for deep vein thrombosis which can happen on long travel days with out enough moving of your legs to get blood circulating! She is recovering and is grateful for blood thinners administered that day. To continue the healing she is also doing some lymphatic enhancing leg soaks in mineral water, movement therapy with her legs, and supplementing with products to support good circulation now and in the future. Fast forward another day and my body starts feeling uncomfortable, then pained, then shaky, then I start passing blood clots! I take myself to our local Emergency department and get treated with care and respect despite being a very busy morning there. I thought it was initially a bladder infection going from 0- 100 in a matter of a few hours. It was more serious, in that it was kidney stones. Once it was diagnosed I applied appropriate acupressure points to reduce the pain and help my stressed system relax a bit. I am happy to report the pain went from a 8/10 to a 2/10 with these techniques. I am also happy that I exist in a time where we have technology like x- rays, ct scans, blood thinners and antibiotics to address these type of emergency situations. The blending of ancient and modern medicine can be very harmonious to help restore and balance our health care needs. Today I will go gather some herbs to also continue supporting my kidney health, and you can see more about them in the following link: https://wildspiritherbals.com/blogs/wild-spirit-herbals/shannon-talks-about-herbs?fbclid=IwAR3EdO2BMjqri6JH-oRDaxt48p8k4Bv6GUMtkmJtE7Lq0yZy34LFLi9wu3I In conjunction with Groundswell I will be offering a foraging walk to teach about this and about 20 other of great local plants that have nutritional or health supporting properties on June 15 and 16. Please get in touch with Groundswell or me if you are interested in these. In TCM we are taught to look for and treat the root as well as the branch (cause vs. symptom). In looking back at my past few years there are many times I have had muscle cramps and sudden fatigue that felt like hitting a wall. These are signs of dehydration. Dehydration is one of the root cause of kidney stones. On our recent road trip I was a lazy human in not drinking enough water or getting out for walks while on the driving across a large province, to get our circulation going. This presented a very big and painful lesson to learn for both of us, that we shall not quickly forget. Going forward into the summer I invite you to get Moving and Stay Hydrated ! Come see me for a spring tune up. Cheers with my overflowing glass of mountain spring water. |

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