When I saw a man in a rabbit costume visiting Jocelyn Olivier at the Healus Center while discussing Candace Pert and the mindbody system, just after having green tea with Dr. Rosenbaum on video while discussing nutrition, supplements, and his holistic healing practice, I knew spending five weeks in Marin would be a rich and exciting experience to be exposed to various aspects of the holistic health community.
Upon moving to Marin in early August, Ernie Hubbard’s SYLK study of youth, longevity, and kinetics inspired me to research what energies define our consciousness and vitality. At the same time, I heard personal accounts of how bodywork conduces an energy flow between the practitioner and the client from both my downstairs neighbor Erika and Jocelyn Olivier. My goal was to understand the nature of this energy, also known as Chi, Prana, subtle energy, vital energy, bioelectric energy, intention, and consciousness, what part in vitality they play, and how they can work to heal the body. I saw obvious applications of the physical mechanisms behind this to understand the energy component to self-practices, including Qi Gong, meditation, and guided imagery; person-to-person practices, including chiropractic, massage, therapeutic/healing touch, acupuncture, acupressure, electroaccupuncture, Reiki, Pranic healing, distance healing, prayer, and external Qi Gong; and finally external healing by applying healing frequencies, sound therapy, color therapy/colorpuncture, light work/heliotherapy, and vibrational medicine.
Next thing I knew, I was hungrily learning all I could from geniuses such as Dr. William Tiller, who showed that intention can change the pH of water, that healers generate large observable electric voltage pulses, and broke down what he calls our “Biobodysuit” into a model of eleven dimensions including distance/time, emotion, mind, and spirit/intention. Lynn McTaggart presented hundreds of carefully designed research studies explaining quantum physics, and the zero-point field which is the energy that makes up every cell in the universe including our own bodies, connecting us all. Dr. Candace Pert theorized that our energetic connection occurred because of a resonance between people of the vibrations of the receptors on our cell membranes.
I also began researching several institutes. The Centre for Biofield Sciences research shows that congestion and toxins appear in the energetic system before they manifest in the physical, causing our bodies to become weakened and susceptible to infection or damage. This is why they are studying our energy-anatomy as the starting point or basis for our psychological and physiological health and existence. The Center for Functional Research studies conscious and unconscious intentions of humans and the energy it creates. The Institute of Noetic Sciences provides “leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition,” as well as explores “phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.” I had the opportunity to tour their campus yesterday and even went inside their EMF-shielded room made of one ton of steel. Another institute I researched is The EmergentMind.org, who connects investigators of mind-matter connections with different backgrounds with the questions, impasses and research directions being followed in other fields of study in order to contribute to the development of that critical mass of scientific research necessary to precipitate the new paradigm shift. I read through the rich database provided by the Qi Gong Institute, exploring the properties of Qi such as far-infrared radiation, infrasonic sound, thermal flow, micropressure fields, radiation waves, magnetic fields, gamma rays, microwaves, and high frequency x-rays, as well as demonstrating the existence of Qi in many ways including speeding up certain chemical reactions, accelerating plant seed germination and growth, inhibiting liver and lung cancer cells, tumor cells, and Hepatitis B viruses, as well as inducing recovery from various diseases and disorders.
Researching Vitality led me on a tour of the Buck Institute, where researchers with varying areas of expertise use cutting edge technology to analyze genes, proteins, and hormones in order to predict susceptibility to several degenerative conditions as well as to understand WHY people age. Going there gave me a chance to see scientists pushing the boundaries of conventional knowledge in close vicinity, interacting and collaborating to integrate theories and research. I truly believe that innovation happens at the edge of different disciplines, and I personally plan to network, share ideas, and brainstorm with different experts throughout my life and career.
Not only has my network and career experience grown, but I have experienced a lot of personal growth. A conversation with Dr. Lipsenthal about different types of meditation such as John Cabit-Zinn’s mindfulness meditation, healing meditations, and transcendental meditation led me to go to Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Fairfax. I have practiced daily meditation in the past, but had never experienced such a large diverse group of people coming together just for this purpose. In this setting, I reanalyzed my own spiritual connection and decided to revamp and pay more conscious attention to this important area of my life.
I also became involved in a yoga community in Mill Valley, and enjoyed feeling healthier, more balanced, and more vital after sweating and detoxing. I felt very connected to their message and mantras, such as “Om namah sivaya,” which represents “salvaging the soul from bondages of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect and turning this intellect within and on itself.” I believe in our technological excitement much of our society has lost touch with our internal wisdom, creativity, purpose, and guiding healing energy in place for work, materialism, commercialism, and body image.
Another outlet that really gets my thoughts flowing freely and puts me in touch with the earth and my inner self is hiking. From Muir Woods to Mt. Tamalpais, I definitely took advantage of the beautiful mountains and forests around Marin. Some people are morning-people or night owls, but for me hiking at any time of day gets my neurons firing and creativity flowing.
Even commuting became a time to cultivate my consciousness with the self healing and guided imagery CD’s of Dr. Rossman, who uses such a light brush to allow my bodymind to paint its own intricate reality as well as create the space and attention for my body to maintain its healthy state.
One place I have been commuting to is San Francisco State University, where I have been sitting in on Dr. Sally Lamont’s class, “Naturopathic Medicine and Personal Wellness.” Besides being personally inspired by Sally’s initiative in creating licencing for ND’s in California, I gained a very broad idea of what a further education in Naturopathic Medicine would teach me. I strongly support the philosophy, practice, and profession of N.D.’s which focuses on nutrition, the environment, detoxification, botanical medicine, homeopathy, hormonal health, physical medicine, lifestyle, and disease treatment and prevention. These are areas that I definitely plan to study more in-depth.
In Marin, I have met and been inspired by people whose lives have taken them on a seemingly uncorrelated path. For example, my friend Helga is a dancer from Iceland that works in Dr. Rosenbaum’s office, Sara Gordon began as a professional dancer until she was in her thirties and became an expert in acupuncture, nutrition, endocrinology, and the stress response, Christina Forth began as a lawyer in Brooklyn and now leads yoga classes throughout Marin County, Tuyet was a computer engineer for 30 years and now is a nutritionist at Dr. Haas’s clinic, and Ernie, who began in genetics and biochemistry, farmed organics, started up numerous companies, and now researches vitality and shoots videos. These huge life changes may seem random, but as Ernie put it, “we are the shoestring that ties it all together in a very conscious order that is true to who we are and what we are interested in.”
This really spoke to me personally. At times, I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of things I would like to learn and experience, and how much all of the people I have met have gone through to get to where they are today. I wonder: how I will ever be able to catch up? Of course, I realize that it is not a matter of catching up but rather finding my own path and building up my own experiences, while at the same time listening and absorbing knowledge, wisdom, and experience from others. Also, I realize that much of what I am seeking to know and share with others is within myself, and central to all of our own innate consciousness. By this I mean, for example, that we all have a basic understanding of the needs for vitality- eating well, being physically active, stretched, and balanced, giving and receiving love and forgiveness, being connected socially, listening to our bodies, and valuing spirituality just as much as the objective parts of our lives.
However, this innate knowledge becomes quickly lost in a world that strives off of empiricism and coorperations. This creates a personal goal for me, which is to teach the common person the scientific basis for holistic practices, therefore validating its widespread use and integration, and also demonstrating through my own living example what it means to practice a holistic lifestyle.
Going into my fourth year at Cal Poly, I aim to achieve this goal as much as I can right now, and to discover what avenue career-wise would allow me to do this. David Phillips has given me one such opportunity through Naturalpath. I have deeply enjoyed writing articles for his site, and plan to write many more in the year to come. Scientists such as myself often strive to publish their writing in Science Magazine or other professional publications, but I realized that through avenues such as Naturalpath, I am given the opportunity to reach a wider audience. Not that publishing a paper in a scientific magazine is beyond what I see myself doing in the near future.
For some, this scientific footstep for validating certain practices is unnecessary, for example some Chinese medicine practices that have been going on for two thousand years and are purely based off of experience. Through explaining physiological mechanisms, I believe we can bring everyone up to the same level of understanding of how the body has the ability to heal itself when directed in a conscious way. This goes hand in hand with practicing intention and attention- where we can manifest our physical reality by focusing our consciousness.
Jocelyn Olivier gave me the tools to dive into the latest research in the area of attention and intention by lending me her personal library of books including Lynn McTaggart’s “The Field,” Bruce Lipton’s “Biology of Belief,” Dr. William Tiller’s various books including “Science and Human Transformation,” and Doidge’s “The Brain that Changes Itself,” among many others. I found Merzenich’s work on brain plasticity especially intriguing. He has researched the mechanisms behind and created programs to help with learning disabilities, autism, dyslexia, schizophrenia and the aging community dealing with Alzheimers and a slowing of neural connections and brain growth. One study showed the capability to reopen our ‘critical period’ at any time in life, which is the period during our childhood where nerves are wiring together so rapidly and plastically that the brain cortex can be changed literally just by being exposed to new stimuli, allowing us to focus our attention and form memories.
Overall, my experience has allowed me to meet several inspiring and wise people, dive into a wealth of research, as well as to learn more about myself. Living in Marin County I have felt so Vital and so at home, I know that I will be back.
My scientific background, technical lab experience, knowledge of nutrition and biochemistry, experience in nature, relationships, listening to my body, meditating, journaling, practicing yoga and building up physical strength and balance, and my spiritual emphasis gives me a base of internal/integral knowledge that combined with my passion will grow to an important role in the holistic health community. I am meant to be pushing the boundaries of what we know, piecing things together and hypothesizing what could be the biological mechanism behind things we don’t understand. Through the relationships I have built this summer and my experiences, I plan to live out this passion of mine in Marin County as soon as I graduate from Cal Poly.
During my five week internship in Marin County, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the most vital people I know. They enrich the lives of whomever they touch through meditation, yoga, acupuncture, relationship guidance, nutrition consulting, neuromuscular reprogramming and bodywork, guided imagery, research, naturopathic medicine, and teaching. I want to thank them for treating me with mutual respect, trust, and interest, and thank them for sharing your wisdom with me.
