My wife Stella, who is an amazing healer, is facing the contention that bodywork and alternative medicines are elitist. “Only those with disposable income can afford them, and predominantly white privileged women indulge in them.” I’ll respond to this concern as a specific illustration of the point of my recent piece,
Words cast spells. Calling ancient remedies and natural healing practices "alternative" positions them as inferior and suspect. The history of medicine, the real history, exposes allopathic practices for what they are, crude interlopers prioritizing profit over care. Yes, they can and do save lives in the short term but long term healing ... not so much. Too bad all these can't work together.
Exactly. Allopathic medicine is useful to buy time to address root causes. Allopathic medicine is not incentivized to address root causes because to do so negatively impacts the revenue stream. Leaving the root cause unaddressed assures customers for life, albeit an unnecessarily shortened one.
Your statement is absolutely true, except that allopathic drugs are not "useful to buy time"; by the time a patient is thru an antibiotic or steroidal treatment, their immune system (vitality) might be compromised to such an extend that only a very experienced and dedicated homeopath can cure them. The "root cause" will be difficult to discern, (tho the TCM practitioners and homeopaths do not seek this hypothetical entity, they look at the entire organism).
The antipyretics are the allopathic drugs that cause the most damage to the organism's defenses, they are far more dangerous than antibiotics. They destroy the fever response leaving the body helpless and unable to defend itself against the invading microorganisms. This setting the course for a chronic condition to take root.
💬 Allopathic medicine is useful to buy time to address root causes.
🔥👌 'Tis the very gist nub crux of it! In the natural order of things, everything has its place, and all is good & well as long as every thing stays within its designated lane 😊
As a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist, I like to call what I do Holistic (East Asian) Medicine. For me the best explanation of the difference between conventional (reductionist) medicine and holistic medicine is the metaphors that they are premised upon. Conventional (germ theory): warfare: medicine is weaponry, interventions are targeted, the disease is the enemy, your body is battlefield, collateral damage is expected. Holistic (terrain theory): health is cultivated (agricultural/ecological), interventions are multivalent, soil (tissues) must be nourished and maintained, seeds (ideas/practices) must be planted and tended, and over time health becomes robust and fruitful.
Great comment. I would like to add here a useful conceptual framework from Rudolf Steiner, who pioneered a branch of holistic medicine in the west known as anthroposophical medicine. Steiner considered that the main problem with Western science and medicine was that it was materialistic, meaning that it focused exclusively on things that are physical - the realm of solid, lifeless objects, i.e. the mineral realm. For this reason, science and Western medicine are very good at manipulating objects, but not so good at building or restoring health, which is dependent on life force. Eastern medicine, homeopathy and Western herbal medicine all have, to varying degrees, an understanding of life force, and as a result they can both diagnose and treat illness, especially chronic illness, much more effectively. A further layer that can impact on health and vitality is on the level of soul and spirit, for example deep-seated emotional wounding that leads to dissociation, addiction and energy blockages in the life force.
The deeper truth is that the grand majority would NOT need to spend but a fraction of the $ they do for medical or alternative medical health if they would simply be present with, love, respect, listen to, and respond honestly to what their body is telling them. Our body is a LIVING MIRROR of our mind, and takes spirit (thoughts and beliefs) and crystalizes it into living form; we are the creators of our own experiences. Sadly, most people put much more effort into medicating symptoms and creating drama than they do being present with themselves, being Honest with themselves, and having a real relationship with their bodies.
As of January, 2024, I will have been in the field of holistic health, corrective, and high-performance exercise and orthopedic rehabilitation for 40 years, and have seen clearly that anyone that develops an honest, loving relationship with "themselves" seldom has health challenges and when they do, heal quickly and learn from their experiences.... I have encapsulated the key elements of how we can create health honestly and effectively in my 6-part video series titled "The Fastest Way To Health," which can be seen here by anyone ready to use the power of their heart and mind to create more freedom for themselves and exemplify that to others...which is what children need most from their parents, more than ever...TODAY:
Mostly or just partially true imo. However, those ill since birth with massive badly expressing DNA snps, or those with massive chemical injuries leading to MCS, GWS, bioweaponized Lyme, autism and the like, often do not have the tools or family/social support systems to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, especially in a failing economy. In this one sense, Paul leans into blaming the experiencer who might be undertaking every possible physical and spiritual self-care discipline without appreciable results. Hippocrates: First, do no harm. That includes avoiding pointing fingers at care recipients experiencing the lack of results from holistic or allopathic practitioners.
There is no way around the fact that the basic principles of health, which are offered in my books and videos, which are essentially categorized into:
Dr. Happiness: Knowing what makes you happy and taking responsibility for doing that frequently enough to create your own inner-state in positive ways.
Dr. Movement: Moving adequately to maintain at least baseline health....
Dr. Diet: Eating real, clean (organic - Biodynamic - free range - ocean caught) foods and paying attention to how one's body responds and adapting accordingly, and
Dr. Quiet: Getting enough rest and sleep to effectively regenerate our body-mind and taking time for honest self-reflection each day (a personal spiritual practice).
Having rehabilitated countless of the very people you refer to in your comment, I can assure you that regardless of the label one is given or uses (genetic this or that, Lymes, autism, cancer, fungal and/or parasite infection...), if these essentials are not met, all that happens is one symptom is suppressed by some form of chemical/medical intervention, and the etiology of isn't addressed; if symptom suppression isn't used as a means of focusing oneself on doing the work to live these 4 Doctors and look more deeply into the etiology/cause and addressing that honestly, the challenge just grows under the surface and gets worse.
Countless! are the number of patients I've had that told me they couldn't afford such things as organic foods, high quality supplementation, or that they don't have time to do X, Y, or Z....that I spent time with to investigate what is really going on...and....In every case, when we calculated how much $ was being spent on junk foods, Starbucks and related, video game and related app purchases, junk media subscriptions, medical drugs to address symptoms of not taking care of themselves, and other UN-necessary purchases, in every case they was enough $ to meet their core health needs if they were made their priority.
FYI, I'm not "blaming the experiencer"....I'm stating facts regarding what it takes to create and maintain health and well-being, and there is simply no escaping the reality that without participating in what is generally "Obvious" (you don't become obese, nor get cancer over night...there are always signs and symptoms well in advance of a "diagnosis"), the only route is symptom suppression, and ultimately surgery or chemo, radiation, etc.
I have taught in medical schools, physical therapy schools, Chiropractic schools, Osteopathic schools, personal training and strength training conferences, massage therapy schools and conferences, consulted for the best sports teams and organizations in the world, militaries, and more....It is VERY common for me to begin my lectures and consultations by asking the following questions:
1. How many of you are happy and doing what you love to do?
2. How many of you are over or under-exercising, "know that you are doing it, but keep doing it anyway?"
3. How many of you know that you are eating foods and drinking drinks that are not optimal for your health, but keep doing it anyway?
4. How many of you have been aware that you are not getting enough sleep because you are staying up late engaging things that are ultimately distractions that challenge your vitality but keep dong it?
5. How many of you have started some kind of spiritual practice, such as meditation, tai-chi, Qi-gong, prayer, journaling, etc....felt the benifits, but then stopped doing it and keep telling yourself you need to get back to it?
Here's the punchline...these are all audiences full of people with professional training in many or a number of aspects of health, all know of the importance of the issues I'm raising, but in EVERY CASE, about 90% of people raise their hands to admit that they "are aware of what they are doing TO THEMSELVES."
Now, anyone reading this with common sense can ask themselves, "What is the likely knock-on result of gong against one's innate wisdom and common sense for year after year?...and it won't take long to conclude that one will first get quite tired, then anxious, then ill, then a disease will come, and if one doesn't return to the very basics that underlie all legitimate attempts to heal or stay healthy, the Angel of Death will intervene.
Being raised on a large working farm, I can assure you, the same foundation health principles that keep people healthy keep plants and animals healthy, but the farmer's livelihood depends on keeping their crops and animals healthy. If they do not, then they are very likely to go both broke and hungry; if they use commercial farming strategies and treat their crops and animals like the medical system treats human beings, then they simply sell sick, diseased foods to human beings that eat them and mirror the quality of that food.
Though I do appreciate your concern and contention of my comment, I think its essential that we all be aware of what it takes to be healthy, heal, and maintain health. The more complex one's illness or injury (such as weaponized Lymes disease) the MORE CRITICAL these very issues become. There is no excaping the reality of having a human body, and the need to get involved in doing our own research and taking responsibility for ourselves.
It is because there are so many people out there with the kinds of illnesses and injuries you speak of, and far more that simply have no idea what body-mind health is or how to create it that I have created well over 900 videos for the public for FREE to support them. Humanity has now been groomed into a "bio-hacker's mind set" and that is a very dangerous concept, particularly when you consider that any time you use a gadget to tell you what being present within yourself and paying attention can tell you, that particular mode of consciousness atrophies; you depend on your calorie counter to tell you how much to eat instead of paying attention to your level of satiation and how you feel; your heart rate monitor stops working and because you've not learned to gage your own perceived level of exertion by monitoring "your own heart rate" during exercise or hard work, you don't know what your level of exertion is; you depend on a device to tell you when you are tired or when you should or shouldn't work out, and you find yourself getting poor quality training or an injury because the device is never tell you about "YOU" but about how you rate based on an algorithm created by measuring the biomarkers of "other people"...
We, in my professional opinion, all need to start educating our children and leading by example NOW so that they develop an honest relationship with themselves; their body and their mind, and learn to "use their heart to feel what they know"...and leading them by example, and with each generation, there will be an improvement in overall health and well-being, which is the reverse of what the past 4-6 generations of children have been given.
As a fellow practitioner, I consider you are one of the wisest teachers on the planet as you have both depth and breadth of understanding that few manage to attain.
You give so much away for free via your YT channel and podcasts so whatever someone's personal circumstances, they can start to take responsibility for their health.
I have done my very best for a very long time to offer anyone that wants to get healthy and live their dreams the support they need to do so for free. I think one of the BIGGEST challenges humanity faces, for many reasons relating to long-term programming by those with distorted motives is that in the past 4+ generations, it has become "NORMAL" to be overweight, unhealthy, lack motivation, and just "follow the herd" as covid demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt....So it gives all of us that are awake to inspire others to use the innate potential to create within themselves to get healthy, exercise their independence and free will, and become an authentic expression of their soul.
Every point here is logical, accurate and true. However, I wonder why not dismantle the concept of privilege itself? Seems that would be an empowering process that would illuminate the “victim mentality” that is ultimately at the core of this issue.
Seems like dismantling abusive/destructive/dehumanizing power systems & institutions & cultural norms that require actual perpetrators and actual victims is what would be empowering
Jesus Christ!! To say that privilege doesn't exist!!! Are you actually living on planet earth?! How can anyone be so profoundly smug and ignorant of the vast HUGE GIGANTIC differences in access to resources on the planet?!
I don't think I've ever come across a more ignorant and tone deaf and smug comment. Just breathtaking levels of ignorance and smugness.
Of course some people's ego has made an identity for itself as a victim, which is very unhelpful (as is believing in and clutching onto any identity) but this is a completely separate issue and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the REALITY of hierarchy and differnetial access to resources on the planet (ie. privilege).
My goodness, this level of ignorance, cruelty and smugness is not something you see everyday outside the Qanon/MAGA/Fox news conservative-fascist circles. Didn't expect this coming from Charles' readers..
TruthLoveWisdomCompassion <-- a handle couldn't possibly be more apt 🤣
PS Performative righteous indignation switches one's self-awareness off dead, it would seem. Talk about blatant cruelty and smugness gushing out above 🤦 Kyrie eléison.
--
PPS My, the unhinged screed is just hilarious if read in ironic key! Worthy stand-up material 😁
Ann said perfectly what I would have in response to your condescending comment so I won't repeat it, but will direct you to read her reply again and would recommend seriously considering what she points out..
Or perhaps I should take a page out of your book and finish my reply with a few 🤣 in order to "prove" how superior I am to you.. (i mean, if I'm confidently laughing at you then it must mean that I'm right and you're wrong, doesn't it? it must mean that I'm superior to you, right? If i'm confidently laughing at you then it must mean that you're a fool who is not aware enough while I'm the wise one here who sees things as they are, right? It must mean that everything i claim henceforth is self-evidently true, by virtue of my confidently laughing at you, right?)
Like Ann said above, you might want to work on that self-awareness that you so condescendingly (yet vacuously) speak of...
And if you'd care to show me where exactly is the "blatant cruelty" that my comment is supposedly "gushing" with, as you said, then I'd be interested in seeing it and learning.. I know with a 100% certainty that there was not a shread of cruelty in my heart when writing the comment, so if that is truly how it comes across (and not just an empty accusation you made up on the spot in order to put down and silence another person whom you felt uncomfortable reading, because it doesn't align with the ideology you identify with, as is habitual to do for psychologocally-immature conservative- fascists, who refuse to take responsibility for their feelings but instead immediately attack and attempt to silence another when they hear something that makes them uncomfortable) then i'd like to see it and be aware of it. Show it to me please..
PS. I also note with interest that you didn't actually address the subject matter at all (the brutal reality of the predatory hierarchical global capitalist economy of theft and plunder and the resultant reality of privilege, and the attempt by conservative fascists - the unwitting foot soldiers of the predatory & abusive capitalist billionaire ruling class - to silence and destroy anyone who dares mention the brutal anti-human reality that their beloved capitalist billionaires and worldview have created for humanity) i note you didn't address the subject matter at all, but instead were busy and focused on attempting to personally shame and attack and silence those who mention it. I guess that's the famous way in which violent conservative tyrants promote their so-called "freedom and liberty" (which they have so distorted and made so sectarian and self-serving as to empty it of all meaning)
Your comments always gush smug self righteousness, so you might want to work on that self awareness you speak of. Nothing in their post was cruel or smug in any way. The post they were responding to however, was rife with the smugness that comes from a life of privilege, and deep unawareness of what exists outside the bubble of privilege.
I did and have experienced the above from every layer of Conservative, Liberal and Fundamentalist Neotrogenic guilt perps. Ken Wilber created this fun term.
As someone who almost killed himself in medical school, dealing with moral injury, I can attest that most medical doctors and caregivers are severely ill themselves. Imagine going to a mechanic and trusting him with your car when he has broken vehicles all over the place. Do we evaluate our physicians and therapists the same way?
Agree. I worked in mental health & soon learned that most therapists have mental health issues. Maybe that makes them more empathetic to clients but made me question how they helped others.
Right on..."Alternative" not so long ago was the perennial mode of healing. Until a few centuries ago with Descartes and his "I think therefore I am" was translated into mechanistic science in isolated laboratories under synthetic conditions never before seen in nature. Nature, where we all came from! Where perennial herbal and other healing modalities did not stop at "what is wrong" in a reductive sense but looked at the whole person, connecting us to all living beings, to the great gifts of the plant realm. Something which began hundreds of thousands of years ago. Yes, "modern medicine" is invaluable in acute situations -- but the very definition of "acute" is "not very often." And meanwhile the third leading cause of death in the US after cancer and heart disease is iatrogenic -- caused by allopathic medical treatment, above all with pharmaceuticals. With which someone is making a ton of money
Amen. Such a powerful message. I have this very topic on a list of wishes I put out into the universe regularly... How can we make these alternative medical treatments and modalities accessible to ALL! A very prescient point is made here; it is not the fault of the practitioners. It is the widely accepted and inherently flawed medical/pharmacological industrial complex and the insurance industry that keep these modalities out of reach of many. Those of us who have been failed by the current medical system, who have watched our already poor health deteriorate further at the hands of treatments and medications offered by the mainstream medical system, only to begin to find relief and healing when we are able to seek out alternative practitioners and treatments understand this. I wish for all to have the ability to experience this. We need to change the systems currently accepted as they are not there for our benefit. They benefit those profiting at our expense. Thank you Charles and Stella for all you are doing to bring awareness to so many.
“Show me the evidence” is someone who completely discounts empirical evidence and the holistic worldview. They are mired in the reductionist model, so to them if it wasn’t reduced to its component parts and subjected to rigorous laboratory testing, its not valid. The Chinese civilization has been in continuous existence for thousands of years, and they kept the records. Reductionism drives an either/or mindset, when it should be both. Ignoring thousands of years of documented empirical evidence is foolishness.
Some of us don’t have the luxury of living within the system anymore. Long gone are the days of pizza/wine weekends and a faith in an all mighty doctor. There isn’t a place for us there anymore. We are the outcasts that have had to search outside the box for authentic healing. That search is expensive but it is our number one priority. We have had to make incredible adjustments to make it happen because there was no other choice. Disposable income doesn’t exist here. This lifestyle is all consuming and requires much greater work than believing it’s someone else’s responsibility to heal me. I certainly wouldn’t label it privilege but rather a calling born out of necessity.
Waking up is a process that can happen to anyone regardless of income. Some of us may have needed to be hit over the head? That’s me…I needed to be hit over the head. I did not come willingly and I miss pizza/wine weekends. Waking up takes on a higher priority when our back is to the wall. That whole thing with necessity and invention and what not. If I had disposable income then it is long gone. We have the sickest generation of children in history and their parents fighting to establish some semblance of life for them before they leave behind a disabled adult who has aged out of the system. The parents end up with chronic fatigue, Lyme, EBV, etc… and all the mysterious ailments that W. med has no clue what to do with. These people …. WE do not consider alternative medicine in terms of privilege. I can understand how some do. However there is a great deal of us out here who make every decision with health as the priority. It is a choice. Alternative treatments will often make the cut before other necessities. This path to regaining our power is far from a day at the spa. It is war and we are on the front lines.
Yes. Those of us working at recovering from chronic illnesses in a despoiled inner and outer terrain are taking life minute by minute, and some of our backs have been against the disability/poverty wall since childhood. Marriage and family have not been possible. Strategizing efforts for health comes first.
Health is wealth and first priority to keep everyone afloat, not a privilege at all. It is survival and eventual thriving for the human race. Prioritizing natural/energy medicine and self-care with unceasing research and some weird luck have saved our lives cut down by whatever so far and is mandatory, not a choice. For the most affected, their families have long abandoned them as messy, indulgent and expensive, impoverishing the world, let alone the morphic field.
Those ill and frail since childhood with "mystery" environmental-related diseases have often been predated by pedos and bullies. There are never any vacations, spas or luxuries despite hard work until the final collapse. Into adulthood, expensive, often substandard moldy housing increases all the above named NeuroEndocrine Immune Diseases to the point of periodic panics.
Many of us network widely and do whatever volunteer work and education is possible by phone/email to help others. Many have been further mentally, physically or sexually abused in the System (iatrogenic abuse) with no family to care or intervene in complex situations they have not personally experienced. This compounds the suffering in isolation.
This is the war path tread by everyone with longterm chronic illness (30 years to prenatal). I am close with five people by phone/email with more recent and similar situations, not counting the many hundreds from many countries whom I have have corresponded with online since 2000. We discovered that our motivation and resource challenges have similar patterns in the System we are engulfed in.
Pharmakeia-sorcery power renders us invisible on purpose; invisible vulnerables cost the bankers less and shortsightedly are thought to maximize profits. But the great life energy at odds with frail physical systems is raising some kind of quantum awareness, since with convid19 and the jabs millions more families are falling into this hole--but starting to dialogue in larger numbers.
If my comment seemed snarky, it was only because of envy through distorted perceptions. I reacted to all the putdowns and labels still hurled by those who have not yet lived the marginalized life.
On a practical note, anyone becoming disabled who could (though unwilling) be on Medicaid at some point must have a properly executed Special Needs Trust before turning 64 to protect any assets that may be coming to them; the guv computers and handlers can grab the assets as payback without telling you; lack of that info and pro-action can be disastrous. Not even a home-based business is allowed. (See Special Needs Alliance free newsletter.) Not everyone returns to work, given the outlook on the jab disabilities.
Blessings for everyone in transition from us here at the battlements at the Involuntary Monastery. This great Gift will one day be fully appreciated. Meanwhile, from this space, every quark of service to others counts big.
As a Hands-on-Healer, working in an alternative system, I also use an alternative monetary system. I simply ask for a donation. It can be any amount of money or gifting. It all works out for me. However, I do have the privilege of a being retired with a social security income and married with another source of income as well. I am passing my privilege forward.
When I stumbled upon natural healing modalities about 12 years ago, I was astounded to learn how misled I'd been over the decades. Already I had stepped away from pharmaceuticals because of the terrible side effects, so definitely I was looking for an "alternative."
What's hard now is witnessing the ignorance of my loved ones who are in very poor health and clinging to the allopathic system of medicating their problems (which only drives the illness deeper). They think I'm the crazy one. Even the example of my seemingly increasing good health and wellbeing, while theirs is deteriorating, is not enough.
The point I'm trying to make (not very well) is the belief system being so cemented that truth cannot get through. I myself only looked into alternatives, finally because I had my back against the wall. But: I was curious enough to pursue. Many people I meet are more fearful and dependent and trusting of experts, than they are curious and thinking that they can be empowered to actually be their own healer. Totally different frame of reference.
I'm a believer in the healing power of our own hands and mind. Resonant Attention ( I took Stella's classes) and other self practiced alternative healing modalities healed and acute hip condition I was suffering with. It felt miraculous.
I'm working on figuring out how to bring my functional medicine health coaching to those who couldn't otherwise afford it so people can be empowered to heal themselves like I've been doing.
I am a Reiki practitioner and teacher and start Reiki circles with my students. We work on each other for free unless there is a rental fee for the space.
I have walked in both worlds of allopathic and holistic health as a provider for 25 years. Both are valuable and beneficial. Medicine is a suppressive model. Most medications are inhibitory to a physiological pathway. Which at times is a very good thing. Life saving in fact. Holistic models are expressive. Actually encouraging and supporting the physiology to function optimally. Our culture essentially creates a chronic illness with expensive and dangerous therapies for life. But calls them lifesaving. And then we marginalize incredibly effective healing arts that increase health and function and call them expensive. Yet a lifetime of these therapies is less than a couple of days in the hospital or a couple of years of damaging drugs.
Maybe people who practice ‘alternative’ medicine can give charity care or treatments to the disadvantaged. I, like many in medicine, give up my time and talents to people who have no medical coverage. Half of my surgical practice is given as charity or non-reimbursed care. I have no control of the corporatization of medicine, and I am not proud of it. The privileged nature of alternative medicine is real and if it got involved in the medical insurance industry it would be abused and bastardized, as well as increase medical premiums to an even higher level because of the practitioners and users working the bloated system.
I am a Reiki practitioner and teacher and have started Reiki circles with my students. We work on each other for free unless there is a rental fee for the space.
That’s great! I believe the mission to health care is service to man. The rewards I have reaped thru helping and curing people is immeasurable. It’s also a lot of hard work and commitment. I firmly believe that we all have our talents and that every little bit of good we do, we can raise the consciousness/vibration/community on the earth and evolve into a connected society by being the light.
As an RN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, I chose to work in an integrative clinic because our mainstream healthcare system is so dysfunctional, which Charles explains clearly. What's wrong starts with the question: Is it moral to make a profit from the suffering of people who are sick?
And Charles is right, many times the doctors in my clinic gave research articles to their patients to take to their primary care doctors to explain why our docs had recommended an alternative treatment. In most cases, the primary care doctor refused to read the research and threw it in the wastebasket, telling the patient to stop taking what we had recommended. The primary care didn't know if the treatment was safe or not, or effective or not. They told the patient to stop taking it because it wasn't what they were taught in school or what was recommended by conventional specialists. In other words, they gave advice out of ignorance, not knowledge, but weren't able to just say, "I don't know."
No, they don't say that. Gods know all. They also never say I'm sorry even for the most minor thing. Must be one of the very first things taught in medical school to never, ever admit any responsibility even when it's inconsequential.
Is liberating to say--I don't know. They could, heaven forbid, say, "I'll look into it. " To me that depicts an open mind & I'd be impressed. My GP is a decent man & has said he learns from his patients. He's a pill pusher, but at least I can talk to him.
Words cast spells. Calling ancient remedies and natural healing practices "alternative" positions them as inferior and suspect. The history of medicine, the real history, exposes allopathic practices for what they are, crude interlopers prioritizing profit over care. Yes, they can and do save lives in the short term but long term healing ... not so much. Too bad all these can't work together.
Exactly. Allopathic medicine is useful to buy time to address root causes. Allopathic medicine is not incentivized to address root causes because to do so negatively impacts the revenue stream. Leaving the root cause unaddressed assures customers for life, albeit an unnecessarily shortened one.
Your statement is absolutely true, except that allopathic drugs are not "useful to buy time"; by the time a patient is thru an antibiotic or steroidal treatment, their immune system (vitality) might be compromised to such an extend that only a very experienced and dedicated homeopath can cure them. The "root cause" will be difficult to discern, (tho the TCM practitioners and homeopaths do not seek this hypothetical entity, they look at the entire organism).
The antipyretics are the allopathic drugs that cause the most damage to the organism's defenses, they are far more dangerous than antibiotics. They destroy the fever response leaving the body helpless and unable to defend itself against the invading microorganisms. This setting the course for a chronic condition to take root.
💬 Allopathic medicine is useful to buy time to address root causes.
🔥👌 'Tis the very gist nub crux of it! In the natural order of things, everything has its place, and all is good & well as long as every thing stays within its designated lane 😊
Very good comment regarding the power of words! Except, they do NOT save lives, it's a myth allopaths propagate themselves.
The body's own innate healing response to the emergency allopathic challenge is the healer.
As a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist, I like to call what I do Holistic (East Asian) Medicine. For me the best explanation of the difference between conventional (reductionist) medicine and holistic medicine is the metaphors that they are premised upon. Conventional (germ theory): warfare: medicine is weaponry, interventions are targeted, the disease is the enemy, your body is battlefield, collateral damage is expected. Holistic (terrain theory): health is cultivated (agricultural/ecological), interventions are multivalent, soil (tissues) must be nourished and maintained, seeds (ideas/practices) must be planted and tended, and over time health becomes robust and fruitful.
Great comment. I would like to add here a useful conceptual framework from Rudolf Steiner, who pioneered a branch of holistic medicine in the west known as anthroposophical medicine. Steiner considered that the main problem with Western science and medicine was that it was materialistic, meaning that it focused exclusively on things that are physical - the realm of solid, lifeless objects, i.e. the mineral realm. For this reason, science and Western medicine are very good at manipulating objects, but not so good at building or restoring health, which is dependent on life force. Eastern medicine, homeopathy and Western herbal medicine all have, to varying degrees, an understanding of life force, and as a result they can both diagnose and treat illness, especially chronic illness, much more effectively. A further layer that can impact on health and vitality is on the level of soul and spirit, for example deep-seated emotional wounding that leads to dissociation, addiction and energy blockages in the life force.
This is a beautiful description.
yes!
Hello Charles and viewers,
The deeper truth is that the grand majority would NOT need to spend but a fraction of the $ they do for medical or alternative medical health if they would simply be present with, love, respect, listen to, and respond honestly to what their body is telling them. Our body is a LIVING MIRROR of our mind, and takes spirit (thoughts and beliefs) and crystalizes it into living form; we are the creators of our own experiences. Sadly, most people put much more effort into medicating symptoms and creating drama than they do being present with themselves, being Honest with themselves, and having a real relationship with their bodies.
As of January, 2024, I will have been in the field of holistic health, corrective, and high-performance exercise and orthopedic rehabilitation for 40 years, and have seen clearly that anyone that develops an honest, loving relationship with "themselves" seldom has health challenges and when they do, heal quickly and learn from their experiences.... I have encapsulated the key elements of how we can create health honestly and effectively in my 6-part video series titled "The Fastest Way To Health," which can be seen here by anyone ready to use the power of their heart and mind to create more freedom for themselves and exemplify that to others...which is what children need most from their parents, more than ever...TODAY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=timMGWj7VoQ&t=144s
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
Holistic Health Practitioner,
Founder, Chek Institute for Holistic Health studies.
Mostly or just partially true imo. However, those ill since birth with massive badly expressing DNA snps, or those with massive chemical injuries leading to MCS, GWS, bioweaponized Lyme, autism and the like, often do not have the tools or family/social support systems to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, especially in a failing economy. In this one sense, Paul leans into blaming the experiencer who might be undertaking every possible physical and spiritual self-care discipline without appreciable results. Hippocrates: First, do no harm. That includes avoiding pointing fingers at care recipients experiencing the lack of results from holistic or allopathic practitioners.
I understand your concerns.
There is no way around the fact that the basic principles of health, which are offered in my books and videos, which are essentially categorized into:
Dr. Happiness: Knowing what makes you happy and taking responsibility for doing that frequently enough to create your own inner-state in positive ways.
Dr. Movement: Moving adequately to maintain at least baseline health....
Dr. Diet: Eating real, clean (organic - Biodynamic - free range - ocean caught) foods and paying attention to how one's body responds and adapting accordingly, and
Dr. Quiet: Getting enough rest and sleep to effectively regenerate our body-mind and taking time for honest self-reflection each day (a personal spiritual practice).
Having rehabilitated countless of the very people you refer to in your comment, I can assure you that regardless of the label one is given or uses (genetic this or that, Lymes, autism, cancer, fungal and/or parasite infection...), if these essentials are not met, all that happens is one symptom is suppressed by some form of chemical/medical intervention, and the etiology of isn't addressed; if symptom suppression isn't used as a means of focusing oneself on doing the work to live these 4 Doctors and look more deeply into the etiology/cause and addressing that honestly, the challenge just grows under the surface and gets worse.
Countless! are the number of patients I've had that told me they couldn't afford such things as organic foods, high quality supplementation, or that they don't have time to do X, Y, or Z....that I spent time with to investigate what is really going on...and....In every case, when we calculated how much $ was being spent on junk foods, Starbucks and related, video game and related app purchases, junk media subscriptions, medical drugs to address symptoms of not taking care of themselves, and other UN-necessary purchases, in every case they was enough $ to meet their core health needs if they were made their priority.
FYI, I'm not "blaming the experiencer"....I'm stating facts regarding what it takes to create and maintain health and well-being, and there is simply no escaping the reality that without participating in what is generally "Obvious" (you don't become obese, nor get cancer over night...there are always signs and symptoms well in advance of a "diagnosis"), the only route is symptom suppression, and ultimately surgery or chemo, radiation, etc.
I have taught in medical schools, physical therapy schools, Chiropractic schools, Osteopathic schools, personal training and strength training conferences, massage therapy schools and conferences, consulted for the best sports teams and organizations in the world, militaries, and more....It is VERY common for me to begin my lectures and consultations by asking the following questions:
1. How many of you are happy and doing what you love to do?
2. How many of you are over or under-exercising, "know that you are doing it, but keep doing it anyway?"
3. How many of you know that you are eating foods and drinking drinks that are not optimal for your health, but keep doing it anyway?
4. How many of you have been aware that you are not getting enough sleep because you are staying up late engaging things that are ultimately distractions that challenge your vitality but keep dong it?
5. How many of you have started some kind of spiritual practice, such as meditation, tai-chi, Qi-gong, prayer, journaling, etc....felt the benifits, but then stopped doing it and keep telling yourself you need to get back to it?
Here's the punchline...these are all audiences full of people with professional training in many or a number of aspects of health, all know of the importance of the issues I'm raising, but in EVERY CASE, about 90% of people raise their hands to admit that they "are aware of what they are doing TO THEMSELVES."
Now, anyone reading this with common sense can ask themselves, "What is the likely knock-on result of gong against one's innate wisdom and common sense for year after year?...and it won't take long to conclude that one will first get quite tired, then anxious, then ill, then a disease will come, and if one doesn't return to the very basics that underlie all legitimate attempts to heal or stay healthy, the Angel of Death will intervene.
Being raised on a large working farm, I can assure you, the same foundation health principles that keep people healthy keep plants and animals healthy, but the farmer's livelihood depends on keeping their crops and animals healthy. If they do not, then they are very likely to go both broke and hungry; if they use commercial farming strategies and treat their crops and animals like the medical system treats human beings, then they simply sell sick, diseased foods to human beings that eat them and mirror the quality of that food.
Though I do appreciate your concern and contention of my comment, I think its essential that we all be aware of what it takes to be healthy, heal, and maintain health. The more complex one's illness or injury (such as weaponized Lymes disease) the MORE CRITICAL these very issues become. There is no excaping the reality of having a human body, and the need to get involved in doing our own research and taking responsibility for ourselves.
It is because there are so many people out there with the kinds of illnesses and injuries you speak of, and far more that simply have no idea what body-mind health is or how to create it that I have created well over 900 videos for the public for FREE to support them. Humanity has now been groomed into a "bio-hacker's mind set" and that is a very dangerous concept, particularly when you consider that any time you use a gadget to tell you what being present within yourself and paying attention can tell you, that particular mode of consciousness atrophies; you depend on your calorie counter to tell you how much to eat instead of paying attention to your level of satiation and how you feel; your heart rate monitor stops working and because you've not learned to gage your own perceived level of exertion by monitoring "your own heart rate" during exercise or hard work, you don't know what your level of exertion is; you depend on a device to tell you when you are tired or when you should or shouldn't work out, and you find yourself getting poor quality training or an injury because the device is never tell you about "YOU" but about how you rate based on an algorithm created by measuring the biomarkers of "other people"...
We, in my professional opinion, all need to start educating our children and leading by example NOW so that they develop an honest relationship with themselves; their body and their mind, and learn to "use their heart to feel what they know"...and leading them by example, and with each generation, there will be an improvement in overall health and well-being, which is the reverse of what the past 4-6 generations of children have been given.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
Thank you, Paul.
As a fellow practitioner, I consider you are one of the wisest teachers on the planet as you have both depth and breadth of understanding that few manage to attain.
You give so much away for free via your YT channel and podcasts so whatever someone's personal circumstances, they can start to take responsibility for their health.
Thank you.
I have done my very best for a very long time to offer anyone that wants to get healthy and live their dreams the support they need to do so for free. I think one of the BIGGEST challenges humanity faces, for many reasons relating to long-term programming by those with distorted motives is that in the past 4+ generations, it has become "NORMAL" to be overweight, unhealthy, lack motivation, and just "follow the herd" as covid demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt....So it gives all of us that are awake to inspire others to use the innate potential to create within themselves to get healthy, exercise their independence and free will, and become an authentic expression of their soul.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
Every point here is logical, accurate and true. However, I wonder why not dismantle the concept of privilege itself? Seems that would be an empowering process that would illuminate the “victim mentality” that is ultimately at the core of this issue.
Seems like dismantling abusive/destructive/dehumanizing power systems & institutions & cultural norms that require actual perpetrators and actual victims is what would be empowering
it's fun that you think privilege is a concept
That will be the next essay in the series :)
I will present a kind of Confucian view,
Jesus Christ!! To say that privilege doesn't exist!!! Are you actually living on planet earth?! How can anyone be so profoundly smug and ignorant of the vast HUGE GIGANTIC differences in access to resources on the planet?!
I don't think I've ever come across a more ignorant and tone deaf and smug comment. Just breathtaking levels of ignorance and smugness.
Of course some people's ego has made an identity for itself as a victim, which is very unhelpful (as is believing in and clutching onto any identity) but this is a completely separate issue and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the REALITY of hierarchy and differnetial access to resources on the planet (ie. privilege).
My goodness, this level of ignorance, cruelty and smugness is not something you see everyday outside the Qanon/MAGA/Fox news conservative-fascist circles. Didn't expect this coming from Charles' readers..
TruthLoveWisdomCompassion <-- a handle couldn't possibly be more apt 🤣
PS Performative righteous indignation switches one's self-awareness off dead, it would seem. Talk about blatant cruelty and smugness gushing out above 🤦 Kyrie eléison.
--
PPS My, the unhinged screed is just hilarious if read in ironic key! Worthy stand-up material 😁
Ann said perfectly what I would have in response to your condescending comment so I won't repeat it, but will direct you to read her reply again and would recommend seriously considering what she points out..
Or perhaps I should take a page out of your book and finish my reply with a few 🤣 in order to "prove" how superior I am to you.. (i mean, if I'm confidently laughing at you then it must mean that I'm right and you're wrong, doesn't it? it must mean that I'm superior to you, right? If i'm confidently laughing at you then it must mean that you're a fool who is not aware enough while I'm the wise one here who sees things as they are, right? It must mean that everything i claim henceforth is self-evidently true, by virtue of my confidently laughing at you, right?)
Like Ann said above, you might want to work on that self-awareness that you so condescendingly (yet vacuously) speak of...
And if you'd care to show me where exactly is the "blatant cruelty" that my comment is supposedly "gushing" with, as you said, then I'd be interested in seeing it and learning.. I know with a 100% certainty that there was not a shread of cruelty in my heart when writing the comment, so if that is truly how it comes across (and not just an empty accusation you made up on the spot in order to put down and silence another person whom you felt uncomfortable reading, because it doesn't align with the ideology you identify with, as is habitual to do for psychologocally-immature conservative- fascists, who refuse to take responsibility for their feelings but instead immediately attack and attempt to silence another when they hear something that makes them uncomfortable) then i'd like to see it and be aware of it. Show it to me please..
PS. I also note with interest that you didn't actually address the subject matter at all (the brutal reality of the predatory hierarchical global capitalist economy of theft and plunder and the resultant reality of privilege, and the attempt by conservative fascists - the unwitting foot soldiers of the predatory & abusive capitalist billionaire ruling class - to silence and destroy anyone who dares mention the brutal anti-human reality that their beloved capitalist billionaires and worldview have created for humanity) i note you didn't address the subject matter at all, but instead were busy and focused on attempting to personally shame and attack and silence those who mention it. I guess that's the famous way in which violent conservative tyrants promote their so-called "freedom and liberty" (which they have so distorted and made so sectarian and self-serving as to empty it of all meaning)
Your comments always gush smug self righteousness, so you might want to work on that self awareness you speak of. Nothing in their post was cruel or smug in any way. The post they were responding to however, was rife with the smugness that comes from a life of privilege, and deep unawareness of what exists outside the bubble of privilege.
I did and have experienced the above from every layer of Conservative, Liberal and Fundamentalist Neotrogenic guilt perps. Ken Wilber created this fun term.
Just like doing away with the entire concept of hate speech altogether would be a great aid for freedom case 🙂
100%, well said.
As someone who almost killed himself in medical school, dealing with moral injury, I can attest that most medical doctors and caregivers are severely ill themselves. Imagine going to a mechanic and trusting him with your car when he has broken vehicles all over the place. Do we evaluate our physicians and therapists the same way?
Agree. I worked in mental health & soon learned that most therapists have mental health issues. Maybe that makes them more empathetic to clients but made me question how they helped others.
Right on..."Alternative" not so long ago was the perennial mode of healing. Until a few centuries ago with Descartes and his "I think therefore I am" was translated into mechanistic science in isolated laboratories under synthetic conditions never before seen in nature. Nature, where we all came from! Where perennial herbal and other healing modalities did not stop at "what is wrong" in a reductive sense but looked at the whole person, connecting us to all living beings, to the great gifts of the plant realm. Something which began hundreds of thousands of years ago. Yes, "modern medicine" is invaluable in acute situations -- but the very definition of "acute" is "not very often." And meanwhile the third leading cause of death in the US after cancer and heart disease is iatrogenic -- caused by allopathic medical treatment, above all with pharmaceuticals. With which someone is making a ton of money
Amen. Such a powerful message. I have this very topic on a list of wishes I put out into the universe regularly... How can we make these alternative medical treatments and modalities accessible to ALL! A very prescient point is made here; it is not the fault of the practitioners. It is the widely accepted and inherently flawed medical/pharmacological industrial complex and the insurance industry that keep these modalities out of reach of many. Those of us who have been failed by the current medical system, who have watched our already poor health deteriorate further at the hands of treatments and medications offered by the mainstream medical system, only to begin to find relief and healing when we are able to seek out alternative practitioners and treatments understand this. I wish for all to have the ability to experience this. We need to change the systems currently accepted as they are not there for our benefit. They benefit those profiting at our expense. Thank you Charles and Stella for all you are doing to bring awareness to so many.
“Show me the evidence” is someone who completely discounts empirical evidence and the holistic worldview. They are mired in the reductionist model, so to them if it wasn’t reduced to its component parts and subjected to rigorous laboratory testing, its not valid. The Chinese civilization has been in continuous existence for thousands of years, and they kept the records. Reductionism drives an either/or mindset, when it should be both. Ignoring thousands of years of documented empirical evidence is foolishness.
I feel the same way about how Ayurveda and yoga is dismissed AND captured by people like Deepak Chopra.
Some of us don’t have the luxury of living within the system anymore. Long gone are the days of pizza/wine weekends and a faith in an all mighty doctor. There isn’t a place for us there anymore. We are the outcasts that have had to search outside the box for authentic healing. That search is expensive but it is our number one priority. We have had to make incredible adjustments to make it happen because there was no other choice. Disposable income doesn’t exist here. This lifestyle is all consuming and requires much greater work than believing it’s someone else’s responsibility to heal me. I certainly wouldn’t label it privilege but rather a calling born out of necessity.
And yet there are those who are in extreme situations and yet do not step outside the box. Usually there is a choice point.
Wait wait. Who has lived pizza/wine weekends status and what is this We business, formerly disposable income lifestyle person?
Are there no longterm, impoverished disabled people reading Charles' essays? Have not read all comments. Carry on.
Waking up is a process that can happen to anyone regardless of income. Some of us may have needed to be hit over the head? That’s me…I needed to be hit over the head. I did not come willingly and I miss pizza/wine weekends. Waking up takes on a higher priority when our back is to the wall. That whole thing with necessity and invention and what not. If I had disposable income then it is long gone. We have the sickest generation of children in history and their parents fighting to establish some semblance of life for them before they leave behind a disabled adult who has aged out of the system. The parents end up with chronic fatigue, Lyme, EBV, etc… and all the mysterious ailments that W. med has no clue what to do with. These people …. WE do not consider alternative medicine in terms of privilege. I can understand how some do. However there is a great deal of us out here who make every decision with health as the priority. It is a choice. Alternative treatments will often make the cut before other necessities. This path to regaining our power is far from a day at the spa. It is war and we are on the front lines.
Yes. Those of us working at recovering from chronic illnesses in a despoiled inner and outer terrain are taking life minute by minute, and some of our backs have been against the disability/poverty wall since childhood. Marriage and family have not been possible. Strategizing efforts for health comes first.
Health is wealth and first priority to keep everyone afloat, not a privilege at all. It is survival and eventual thriving for the human race. Prioritizing natural/energy medicine and self-care with unceasing research and some weird luck have saved our lives cut down by whatever so far and is mandatory, not a choice. For the most affected, their families have long abandoned them as messy, indulgent and expensive, impoverishing the world, let alone the morphic field.
Those ill and frail since childhood with "mystery" environmental-related diseases have often been predated by pedos and bullies. There are never any vacations, spas or luxuries despite hard work until the final collapse. Into adulthood, expensive, often substandard moldy housing increases all the above named NeuroEndocrine Immune Diseases to the point of periodic panics.
Many of us network widely and do whatever volunteer work and education is possible by phone/email to help others. Many have been further mentally, physically or sexually abused in the System (iatrogenic abuse) with no family to care or intervene in complex situations they have not personally experienced. This compounds the suffering in isolation.
This is the war path tread by everyone with longterm chronic illness (30 years to prenatal). I am close with five people by phone/email with more recent and similar situations, not counting the many hundreds from many countries whom I have have corresponded with online since 2000. We discovered that our motivation and resource challenges have similar patterns in the System we are engulfed in.
Pharmakeia-sorcery power renders us invisible on purpose; invisible vulnerables cost the bankers less and shortsightedly are thought to maximize profits. But the great life energy at odds with frail physical systems is raising some kind of quantum awareness, since with convid19 and the jabs millions more families are falling into this hole--but starting to dialogue in larger numbers.
If my comment seemed snarky, it was only because of envy through distorted perceptions. I reacted to all the putdowns and labels still hurled by those who have not yet lived the marginalized life.
On a practical note, anyone becoming disabled who could (though unwilling) be on Medicaid at some point must have a properly executed Special Needs Trust before turning 64 to protect any assets that may be coming to them; the guv computers and handlers can grab the assets as payback without telling you; lack of that info and pro-action can be disastrous. Not even a home-based business is allowed. (See Special Needs Alliance free newsletter.) Not everyone returns to work, given the outlook on the jab disabilities.
Blessings for everyone in transition from us here at the battlements at the Involuntary Monastery. This great Gift will one day be fully appreciated. Meanwhile, from this space, every quark of service to others counts big.
Thank you so much for sharing your insight. I appreciate your candor and will definitely implement a trust in the future. Blessings to you as well.
As a Hands-on-Healer, working in an alternative system, I also use an alternative monetary system. I simply ask for a donation. It can be any amount of money or gifting. It all works out for me. However, I do have the privilege of a being retired with a social security income and married with another source of income as well. I am passing my privilege forward.
When I stumbled upon natural healing modalities about 12 years ago, I was astounded to learn how misled I'd been over the decades. Already I had stepped away from pharmaceuticals because of the terrible side effects, so definitely I was looking for an "alternative."
What's hard now is witnessing the ignorance of my loved ones who are in very poor health and clinging to the allopathic system of medicating their problems (which only drives the illness deeper). They think I'm the crazy one. Even the example of my seemingly increasing good health and wellbeing, while theirs is deteriorating, is not enough.
The point I'm trying to make (not very well) is the belief system being so cemented that truth cannot get through. I myself only looked into alternatives, finally because I had my back against the wall. But: I was curious enough to pursue. Many people I meet are more fearful and dependent and trusting of experts, than they are curious and thinking that they can be empowered to actually be their own healer. Totally different frame of reference.
I'm a believer in the healing power of our own hands and mind. Resonant Attention ( I took Stella's classes) and other self practiced alternative healing modalities healed and acute hip condition I was suffering with. It felt miraculous.
I'm working on figuring out how to bring my functional medicine health coaching to those who couldn't otherwise afford it so people can be empowered to heal themselves like I've been doing.
I am a Reiki practitioner and teacher and start Reiki circles with my students. We work on each other for free unless there is a rental fee for the space.
I have walked in both worlds of allopathic and holistic health as a provider for 25 years. Both are valuable and beneficial. Medicine is a suppressive model. Most medications are inhibitory to a physiological pathway. Which at times is a very good thing. Life saving in fact. Holistic models are expressive. Actually encouraging and supporting the physiology to function optimally. Our culture essentially creates a chronic illness with expensive and dangerous therapies for life. But calls them lifesaving. And then we marginalize incredibly effective healing arts that increase health and function and call them expensive. Yet a lifetime of these therapies is less than a couple of days in the hospital or a couple of years of damaging drugs.
Maybe people who practice ‘alternative’ medicine can give charity care or treatments to the disadvantaged. I, like many in medicine, give up my time and talents to people who have no medical coverage. Half of my surgical practice is given as charity or non-reimbursed care. I have no control of the corporatization of medicine, and I am not proud of it. The privileged nature of alternative medicine is real and if it got involved in the medical insurance industry it would be abused and bastardized, as well as increase medical premiums to an even higher level because of the practitioners and users working the bloated system.
I am a Reiki practitioner and teacher and have started Reiki circles with my students. We work on each other for free unless there is a rental fee for the space.
That’s great! I believe the mission to health care is service to man. The rewards I have reaped thru helping and curing people is immeasurable. It’s also a lot of hard work and commitment. I firmly believe that we all have our talents and that every little bit of good we do, we can raise the consciousness/vibration/community on the earth and evolve into a connected society by being the light.
As an RN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, I chose to work in an integrative clinic because our mainstream healthcare system is so dysfunctional, which Charles explains clearly. What's wrong starts with the question: Is it moral to make a profit from the suffering of people who are sick?
And Charles is right, many times the doctors in my clinic gave research articles to their patients to take to their primary care doctors to explain why our docs had recommended an alternative treatment. In most cases, the primary care doctor refused to read the research and threw it in the wastebasket, telling the patient to stop taking what we had recommended. The primary care didn't know if the treatment was safe or not, or effective or not. They told the patient to stop taking it because it wasn't what they were taught in school or what was recommended by conventional specialists. In other words, they gave advice out of ignorance, not knowledge, but weren't able to just say, "I don't know."
No, they don't say that. Gods know all. They also never say I'm sorry even for the most minor thing. Must be one of the very first things taught in medical school to never, ever admit any responsibility even when it's inconsequential.
Is liberating to say--I don't know. They could, heaven forbid, say, "I'll look into it. " To me that depicts an open mind & I'd be impressed. My GP is a decent man & has said he learns from his patients. He's a pill pusher, but at least I can talk to him.
Hit post too fast. Definitely ego & money. Doctors are authoritarian=ego.