What Makes a Treatment GREAT
I’m often deeply touched by letters from patients. After the first session or years into working together, it’s a joy to receive a message that reveals the profound healing, deep gratitude and major life enhancements they experience as a result of our work together.
I continuously grow to understand what matters most to people, and cultivate my self and my skillset in order to meet those needs. Which isn’t a purely selfless act. As a matter of fact, I greatly benefit and return the gratitude, tenfold.
The truth is, most human needs are universal. While there are differences and subtle and not-so-subtle nuances to what any person requires at any point in time, at the end of the day we all need to feel:
- safe
- seen
- heard
- understood
- felt
- held
- and gotten.
“Our body feels when another person feels us. When I feel you, your nervous system perceives that I feel you. That creates a deeper sense of security. When I don’t feel you, your nervous system picks up on that too, even though you may not be aware of it. And not being felt creates stress.” – Thomas Hubl
Most humans are highly social creatures, wired for connection. The capacity and need for emotional, spiritual, mental and physical connection, to varying degrees and proportions, defines our very nature.
Here are a few characteristics of a GREAT treatment:
1. Relationship matters
2. The right treatment at the right time
According to spiritual law, there is perfection in everything and nothing is ever really “wrong”. Even the sources of our greatest aggravation are inherently rife with opportunity for growth and healing, on a soul level.
At the same time, in the world of humanity, there are many opportunities to “misstep” and experience profound aggravation – which, depending on how it is navigated, may lead to breakthroughs or to no healing experience at all.
Give water to someone who is over-hydrated and you have a real problem. Receiving the right amount of the right intervention at the right time is what brings deep and lasting healing.
3. Holistic approach – spirit, mind, heart, body, soul
Human beings are complex. We require no less than an integrated approach to address and support the needs of our spirit, mind, heart, body and soul. To specialize creates confusion; accounting for our holistic nature actually brings simplicity.
Spirit: In Chinese medicine, texts written thousands of years ago purported that a master is distinguishable from an ordinary practitioner by the attention they give to treating the Spirit. When I read that, I took it to heart and ensure incorporating constitutional treatment of the spirit in each session.
Spirit, regardless of religious affiliation or level of spiritual practice, is inherent in every living creature. Like the word “spiritedness”, it describes a quality of being that means the difference between being deceased, half living in a trance, or feeling fully alive.
Acupuncture meridians feature over 100 “portals” throughout the body that treat the spirit, with names such as “Spirit Gate”, “Celestial Countenance”, and “Spirit Storehouse”. Herbs and Reiki effectively treat the spirit as well.
When someone’s “spirits are low”, prospects for recovery are grim. When the Spirit is awake and energized, every other aspect of our being receives a boost that brings vitality to all aspects of life.
Mind: The mind is POWERFUL. The agency and capacity to change our mindset and release limiting beliefs can mean the difference between feeling stuck and out of control vs. living a rich and rewarding life that is unburdened from shame, regret and suffering.
This is why mind-altering experiences and substance such as sound baths, breathing exercises, meditation, plant medicines and mindful movement are so healing.
Embodied parts work and Shame Healing are two of my favorite and most effective modalities for resolving developmental and shock trauma, anxiety, depression, fears, pervasive grief, and all-consuming shame.
In acupuncture, Window of the Sky points are highly effective for helping to open our minds to see possibilities. Other points are used to quiet intrusive or repetitive thoughts and bring peace of mind.
Because it works on the fascia (connective tissue through which our brains and hearts communicate with every cell in our entire body), acupuncture begins the process of reprogramming our neural network (AKA rewiring the brain). Thus we more easily let go of cycling thoughts and worries. This release has a calming and healing effect on the nervous system with benefits for our entire being.
Change your thoughts and you change your reality. Actually. Because the definition of reality is subject to change based on perception, which is a function of the mind, major shifts occur when we change our mind or consciousness.
Heart: Perhaps nothing is more defining of a human being than our rich emotional nature. Even people who are seemingly emotionally limited are heavily influenced by their emotions, for emotions operate under the surface and live in the body.
According to extensive scientific research as well as age-old wisdom and the teachings of many spiritual disciplines, the single most healing and worthwhile state to live in is love. Closely followed by gratitude, both are intrinsic to humans and both calm the nervous system, regulate blood pressure, enhance mood and greatly improve quality of life.
Unbalanced emotions – whether too much or too little – are a major root-level contributing factor to the development of dis-ease. Balancing emotions requires practice, and treatment helps.
As emotions are among the most delicate and complex elements of human nature, precision, sensitivity and skill is required to work with them effectively.
Emotional intelligence is attainable. Secure attachment in relationships is innate to every human being and can be cultivated. Turning vulnerability into a superpower by empowering and validating our emotional responses is crucial if we are to feel the satisfaction of connection with self and others.
Body: Health is everything. Tending to the physical body through natural, time-tested and effective means, as most of us know, does wonders to enhance quality of life.
Tending the physical body is a high level of self-love that we are all deserving of. Combining the best of eastern and western healing, integrative Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine brings an immense bounty of resources and solutions to just about every single health need imaginable. And the best part? All treatment is natural and harmonious with the body’s natural processes. This means virtually zero side-effects, prevention of disease, assured vitality and quality of life, and enhanced longevity.
And it’s important to note there are subtle medicines for treating the subtle bodies. For those of us on a conscious healing journey – a strong physical, mental, ethereal and auric body is required to do the work of personal growth.
Catching imbalances early, doing preventive treatment, and supporting the body’s innate ability to heal itself, naturally, is the epitome of great treatment.
4. Integration of modalities
A combination of modalities is required to adequately address the various elements of health and wellness in a comprehensive and effective manner.
“When all you have is a hammer, you see every problem as a nail.” – Proverb
When working with a complete tool kit, however, incredible possibilities open up that present opportunities for relief and resolution that is predicated on much more than just surface-level benefits.
5. Dedication to compassion and commitment to staying the course
“True healing aims to seek out not what is broken but what is hidden.” – Danielle Dulsky
Every life is precious, and the healing journey is a path of discovery. To bring compassionate curiosity and dedication to continuing through the thicket is what eventually leads to the opening we so long for.
Turning a breakdown into a breakthrough is an art. And the recognition that there needs to be rupture (and repair) for there to be growth is the starting point.
Building a strong alliance that can support coming to terms with elements that may be difficult to confront requires dedication and compassion from both provider and client. It is in the co-creation that real transformation occurs.
