Inside The Polished Apple

Late November was our wrap-up to Elan Family Wellness Centre's First Practice Member of the Week event. Here's some photos of our celebration at Extreme Restaurant here in Bowness.  We've been asked how you qualify as Practice Member of the Week? It was a hard choice, and some of the things we look for are length of time in care (we have practice members who have been with us for decades!), participation at our workshops or events, your enthusiasm, commitment to care & sharing Network Chiropractic with your family & friends. Watch for the stars in your travel card and watch for our spring program! 

D id you know that acupuncture can help with more than just back pain?   In fact, acupuncture can even help with burns and scars left by burns! Pain, infection control, and scars are the most important issues when it comes to burn injuries and acupuncture treatments can solve all these difficulties at once without using medication or surgical procedures. Acupuncture can remove the feeling of burning pain. Between five minutes and one hour after treatment, depending on the severity, the pain subsides. Usually patients feel the cooling effect of acupuncture needles. The acupuncture treatment (which is around 30 minutes) should be once per day until the site is dry and the scar begins to form. Eventually, the scar will fall off naturally. The major functions of acupuncture for burn care are: pain control without painkillers stimulating the body’s own healing power to generate new tissue and skin infection control without using any antibiotics not needing surgeries (ie. skin gra...

S cott's Thoughts: Gratitude in November~ it's perception month at Elan Family Wellness Centre! Thanks to Scott Hutchison, Registered Massage Therapist at our office (and founder of Energy Rich Day!!) for this information on Gratitude and Priming.  And swoosh... November has blown in for it's yearly visit. As we start to shiver and wonder where our wonderful summer went, it's a great time to look back early and say thanks for an amazing year! Around our neck of the planet, we shoot for a daily practice of Gratitude. A study was once done around effect of external stimulus on the emotional preconception of our environment. Shortly, something as simple as temperature (even brief but extreme exposure) could have lasting emotional colouring in ones day. Knowing this trick of the mind and body, we can hack our day to look for opportunities of gratitude. Imagine taking just 10 minutes to set your nervous system and brain/body antenna to tune into areas in your life to f...

Do you know of the many benefits of cupping? Truly deep therapy as the cupping suction can affect the tissues up to 4 inches deep with reverse pressure. Reduces muscular pain and tension as cupping stretches surrounding fascia making space in the tissue allowing for better circulation, mobility, and reduced residual inflammation. Releases muscle spasms by flushing lactic acid away from the muscle to stop the prolonged contraction. Detoxifies by draining toxins and lymph from restricted areas of the body. Helps to ensure a healthy lymphatic system. Increases circulation and warmth to limbs in winter months. Better digestive system: when applied to the abdomen the cups assist with peristalsis of tired and tense muscles in the large intestine. Relieves the congestion from coughs, colds, allergies, and asthma. Improves skin health through rejuvenating the layer of collagen and elastin under the skin. Promotes healing: initially increases inflammation to damaged tissue by bring...

It's perception month-the third side of our Triad of Change! Perception immediately links me back to Gratitude as well, which is one easy way to change or influence our perception. (And ties nicely with honouring and remembering our Veterans/ Remembrance Day, US Thanksgiving, & our Practice Member of the Month program.) My favourite recent daily change has been to incorporate Morning Rituals into my day. My current morning ritual has boiled down to 3 things-a few minutes of SomatoRespiratory Integration-usually a Stage One check-in, writing down 3 Gratitudes, and Visualizing my day ahead. This action alone is helping create the routine of gratitude, expecting good things ahead and shifting my perception of my day. At our recent Energy Rich Day I spoke about how Morning Rituals can help to bridge the GAP between the person who are are today, and help to move us to the person or the action that we hope to create in our life. When there is a gap between today's ver...

It's Structure month at Elan Family Wellness Centre-Thanks Dr Robert Clarke for some words about how Structure can lead to more Freedom in our Life! Sometimes we resist structure because we value our freedom. What we need to shift is our perspective. Having a structure actually allows for greater freedom within the structure. The structure, if set up well, helps take care of the essential commitments of our lives.  As an example, having a designated place for keys when you come in the door allows you the opportunity to know where your keys are, saving you the hassle of looking for them later. A kitchen where you know where everything is, is much easier to cook in and allows the creative cooking process to happen. The structure or organization of the kitchen gives more freedom to the cook. Sometimes it's externally applied structure that we resist. In these cases it is good to step back and see if the they are serving on a bigger level. Sometimes we gain perspective b...

It's Structure month at Elan... Thanks Scott for some thoughts on this topic!  To be blunt... I have a love/hate relationship with structure in my life. I know that from a top down view, the structures that I put in place can be too over detailed when I sink down into creation mode. Meaning, I overdo it on the thinking/design phase and never get to the doing phase, because I don't know when to  quit  thinking/designing and never feel like it's complete or good enough. I've touched on this before in other posts, but it has to do with the Triad Of Change and how I feel I am wired up. That said, I know that if I start with a behaviour... any  behaviour , from writing a sentence to doing the dishes or taking a shower, that motion drives a spark and it flows into good thoughts and poof... a structure happens.  Structures come into  reality  because I have  certainty  of the outcome and I have attained enough energy to the system I am...