Ki Center Blog

Some of my favorite clients are the four legged variety. At the Ki Center we not only help people achieve health, but animals as well.

Function specific not species specific

All of the techniques and products we use have proven to be effective on dogs, cats, horses and any animal, as what we do to achieve balance is function specific not species specific. By that I mean that the liver functions the same in a human as it does in a dog or cat, and will respond to therapy and treatment in the much the same way. As we do not use drugs or chemicals, but natural whole food products and herbal medicines, the body, be it human or animal, responds predictably and quickly to natural methods of healing.

Good food is important

One of the key factors for health of a pet is the type of food you are feeding them. There is an old phrase in computer repairman have that states, Garbage in garbage out. What this means is if you put bad things in, you will get bad things out as a result. I cannot emphasize enough that poor quality pet food is a primary cause of health problems in our four legged family.

What do you think would happen if all you ate was dry, nutrient deficient cereal for every meal? You certainly wouldn't thrive and be the picture of health. Arthritis, allergies, poor hair quality and lack of energy would probably be the least of the health concerns you would experience. And yet so many pets are fed a dry kibble for every meal, and even more are fed the cheapest brands or whatever is on sale. It is no wonder that our pets suffer with many of the same afflictions that we do, and have such short lives.

Fortunately, as in humans, animals respond quickly and successfully to proper nutrition and the healing protocols that we use at the clinic. There are many quality organic foods available today for pets. They are more expensive of course, but if a healthy happy pet is your goal, I encourage you to look around and do some research. One of the best feeding methods for dogs is the BARF diet. I know this sounds terrible but what it stands for is bones and raw food. Genetically, animals are wired to digest raw natural foods found in nature. Feeding them quality raw foods designed for them, chicken, turkey, vegetables and raw meaty bones will in fact alleviate many of their health problems quite quickly. If a raw diet is not practical, at least consider giving them raw meaty bones as a treat. A good source of this type of food and other organic foods is the Exclusive Pet Food store in Troutdale. The owner is dedicated to pet health and very knowledgeable. Their phone number is (503)491-1111.

Once a pet is on a good diet, we can then evaluate their imbalances using the same testing methods I use on my human clients, and then make recommendations based on the findings. I am happy to report I have seen many a pet return to health in a relatively short time. Follow up with a proper maintenance program and your pet will stay healthy for as long as possible.

I have noticed that pets respond very well to the energy work we do at the clinic. They enjoy the healing touch of Reiki and will calm them down and almost go to sleep during the treatment.

They have feelings too

There are emotional and behavioral problems in animals that are a direct result of emotional trauma. Just look at all the pets abandoned, abused or ignored, and how they respond to humans afterward. Rehabilitating these animals is often time consuming and frustrating. To address emotional problems of all types in our human clients, we have Rapid Eye Therapy as part of our healing protocol. Fortunately, this type of therapy will work for animals as well and is now available at the Ki Center. Call us for more information on this therapy and how it works. The animal doesn't have to be present, which is good, because horses would present a problem in the office.

I would like to emphasize that holistic healing is not exclusively alternative practices, but a combination of traditional medicine and alternative medicine. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and are most effective when combined. Having a good veterinarian that you trust is essential, just as having a good family practitioner is important.

Last month we talked about the four legs of a stool representing your health and the importance of balance. I covered the chemical (nutritional) and structural “legs” of the stool. Continuing the analogy, our last two legs consist of energetic and emotional balance.

Energetic Healing

Energy medicine’ as it is being called is seeing resurgence in interest in all types of practitioners. Unfortunately I believe it is one the more misunderstood aspects of health. Of course the concept of this type of treatment is accepted in the form of acupuncture which works on the pathways of electrical stimuli called ‘Meridians’. Remember that your brain is generating bio-electrical signals all the time. Think of your body as an electrical panel and the circuit breakers are trigger/acupuncture points and the electrical circuits are the meridians feeding the rest of the body. Without good communication along these circuits you have an imbalance electrically and loss or impaired function of tissue, glands or organs. The actual science of how it works is much more complicated but I think this is a good start to basic understanding.

There are many ways to influence the electrical system in your body. It can be altered with needles on certain points, it can be altered chemically and it can be altered with another electrical field. This last one is “outside the box” of conventional thinking but easily demonstrated with measurable results. It is harder to explain but when I see a client in my clinic they ‘get it’ once were done. I pay close attention to what your body tells me electrically. The kinesthetic testing I do relies on the electrical circuits and trigger points to tell me what is going on to cause the problems you may be having.

I’ve mentioned this before but it is worth repeating, the body never lies. If you know how to read the body and have the tools to interpret it correctly a practitioner can identify the imbalances that may be causing your health problems and make appropriate recommendations to correct them.

Emotional Healing

When I talk about emotional balance with my clients you can almost see the walls going up. The concept of how emotions play a part in health is understood and is readily accepted as a contributor to poor health. But if they do not want to address emotional pain or traumas then really there is nothing that I can do. This is one area that requires complete participation from the client.

I can demonstrate to my clients that emotions are influencing their health and may be blocking their ability to heal completely, and then outline several different tools to help correct it. One of those tools is a process called Rapid Eye Therapy available at the clinic. I have seen this used for phobias, bad habits, and emotional traumas of all types and personally witnessed truly impressive results.

The brain is incredibly complex and subject to bad programming like your computer. And being the brain it is in charge of the rest of the body. If you have stored anger, grief, fear or emotional problems do you really think you will be completely healthy?

Rapid Eye Therapy

Rapid Eye Therapy (RET) assists in releasing trapped trauma, stress, negative patterns and limiting beliefs and replaces these with positive mental programming. The way it works is kind of like how you would change bad programming in your computer. You remove the bad line of type causing the problem and replace it with the correct instructions, reboot your system and miraculously, no more problems. RET works that quickly and completely if you are honestly wanting to correct the problem. It does this by simulating REM sleep which is the bodies’ natural way to process stress. You are completely awake and interacting with the therapist.

In a typical session the practitioner will use an eye directing device and guided imagery and positive affirmations and statements to affect change. Old stored memories and traumas are released and replaced quickly without having to re-live the situation that caused the trauma.

More information can be seen on our web site that may help to understand RET better if you have the interest. I cannot encourage you enough though that if childhood traumas, anger problems, post traumatic stress and a host of other similar issues is playing a part in your life, and you want to change it, Rapid Eye Therapy may just be the answer for you.

I want to share this final thought with you. Thought is energy and what we believe and put energy into will manifest into our lives. When you combine all four of the areas of health and balance we’ve discussed in these two articles into an overall program of health, success is just around the corner.

There seems to be a significant amount of misunderstanding what holistic healing is all about. In a two part article I would like to explain what you should expect from a holistic healing practitioner and the type of treatment you should be getting.

If you take the example of a four legged stool and each one of those legs represents an aspect of your health: chemical (nutritional), emotional, energetic and structural and each of those legs are balanced and strong then you have optimal health. If on the other hand you have an imbalance in one or more of these legs then the stool is out of balance. A true holistic approach will address all of these facets of health to ensure you are getting the best recommendations possible for your body to heal itself. And this is critical: no matter how talented the practitioner claims to be they will not heal you. You must heal yourself. Claims of being able to “heal you” from any alternative care giver is arrogant in my opinion, and false advertising at the least. At the Ki Center we give you what your body needs based on extensive testing to bring your body back into balance.  Our immune systems were designed to be absolutely top notch at achieving and maintaining health. Many factors have served to compromise that system both in humans and animals. More on that later but for now let’s look at the four factors responsible for health and how to make them better.

Chemical Imbalance

The nutritional leg is the nuts and bolts of your body function. It is responsible for all the factory processes that take place inside you. Everything from hormone production to tissue repair requires nutrients, vitamins, minerals and a thousand other factors to keep the body going on a daily basis. Without the proper materials the factory can’t produce the end product that being healthy body function. When I test the body for deficiencies I’m looking for missing or depleted pieces of this chemical mix. Once replaced the body will start the repair process, slowly at first but it will within 2-3 months get back in balance nutritionally and many of those nagging symptoms will go away. I have used whole food nutritional products, glandular extracts, herbs and just plain old life style changes to achieve this. Chemical fractions of synthetic nutrients won’t give you long term results only short term relief if you’re lucky.

Structural Balance

Another leg on our stool is structure. If your frame is out of alignment, in other words your back is out or there is some part of the bone structure not aligned right then you have a structural imbalance. Lot’s of folks go to the chiropractor for regular adjustments. This is fine but if you are not holding your adjustments and you have to get the same thing fixed each time then something else is contributing to your problem. Is it a chemical component? Perhaps you are experiencing stress which is keeping you from relaxing and in turn tightens the muscles which shifts the bone. Nerves branch out from the spinal cord that carry messages for digestion and organ function. If you have vertebrae out of alignment and it is pinching the nerve then those messages can’t get through or are scrambled, possibly causing digestive problems or a host of other problems. And it can work in reverse as well. Chronic digestive problems will cause problems in structure as well. You can see by these few examples that it all fits together like a puzzle and for your sake please choose a health care practitioner that can see the connections.

All of these four legs are connected and are necessary for balance and health. If you address just one of them and ignore the rest you will not get complete healing. A true holistic approach will look at all of the pieces of the puzzle to achieve balance and allow you to heal yourself. If the practitioner you are seeing can’t take care of all of these areas of health they should at least be able to identify what is missing and keeping you from optimal health and make recommendations to correct it.

Next month I will talk about the energetic and emotional aspects to overall health which in my observation is vastly overlooked in helping people to heal completely. At the Ki Center we look at and test for imbalances in all four of these areas of health. In a nut shell what you will get is a way to improve your health by re-establishing your immune system to it’s most effective and efficient level of operation. We do this by giving the body what it needs and individualizing your care to correct the cause of the problem not just chase after symptoms.