Inside The Polished Apple

Thank you to Dr Robert Clarke, Chiropractor with Elan Family Wellness Centre in Bowness, NW Calgary, for this article related to our Mother Earth month.  With Spring here, its great to feel the warmth of the sun and see the budding of new life everywhere. It helps us soften the memory of one of the coldest February's in recent history. Yet Mother nature is wise always balancing elements. We had a milder than usual January, this woke up the Pine beetles and Ticks, so they began to wake from their winter hiding to then be faced with The February Freeze. This helps to control the destruction of our pine forests, and decreasing the tick populations, both good things that we humans could not adequately manage. So take the time to observe the flow of nature from a grander perspective and marvel in the wisdom of Mother Earth. In the same way, monitor your body and your health. Often our body responds in ways that don’t make sense to us. Being sick isn’t always a sign of poor health. In ...

Our April Theme at Elan is Mother Earth. Here's an article on how to view this season from the perspective of a Traditional Chinese Medical Doctor, including info on Earthing from Dr Lynn Hoffman-Tempel.    Spring is here!!!! And while we all celebrate more sunshine, warmer days and the lifting of energy and spirits that come with the change in season – the winds that bring along the change in season can also bring some interesting things with them. In Chinese medicine there is a saying, “the wind is the spearhead of a million diseases.” Spring is associated with the element of wood and the climactic factor of wind. We can be easily impacted by the winds of spring, partly because we have been out of physical contact with the grounding nature or earth. It has been many months since we have had clear and easy access to earth (dirt). The energy of spring can be very busy and ungrounded, it is not unusual to experience disruptions in sleep and emotions – feeling unsettle...

At Elan, March has been our month of “Patient Appreciation Day” for a few years, so it seemed like the appropriate theme for the month-a chance to invite you to participate in our Yearly Event, a chance to highlight a great charity, Made by Momma, and show our appreciation for the local businesses that help us to make this day happen. Last year we were able to raise over $700 for Made by Momma, and we look forward to beating that number this year! Having a focus on Appreciation is an instant mood switch. Deciding what to write made me suddenly see with more clarity-we were recently in Banff and enjoyed a weekend in the beautiful Rockies (and I am one to drive through them multiple times a year without even seeing them); we've been enjoying some late winter merging into spring weather and getting outside more; and I've been stewing on what I can most appreciate and write about. Then the book on my bedside table jumped at me, “The Magic” by Rhonda Byrne. How do we ...

A topic that has come up for me lately...How are you motivated by Your Goals and Expectations?   In a balanced world, we set realistic personal (and work) goals and achievable expectations.  We plan ahead to keep our life organized and functioning efficiently and effectively.  What happens when we create unrealistic expectations?  Not just for ourselves, but for how everything and everyone should function.   This may be a problem for you if you hear yourself saying, "This is not the way it was supposed to be." "Why is this always happening to me?" "I can see it so vividly that I can almost touch it."  Perhaps the over scheduling, degree by age 22, married by 25, first child by  age 30... Retire at age 50... Or, "Maybe I'll run a marathon this year..." from the person who hasn't run longer than 5 minutes in their life. I see it in my office when practice member's pain interferes with the life they think they should be living.  Wh...