Although the United States is well past our 200 year old birthday as a nation, we are still a young country. The older cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe seem to have a spiritual orientation that is infused into their everyday life and culture. The notion of following ones' spirit or intuition is a more intrinsic feature of these more ancient cultures. This inner voice or intuition seems to lead each individual on their best path to their best life.
There have been many names attributed to people's intuitive nature: God, intuition, inner voice, higher consciousness, universal power, source and many, many more. For the balance of this article I will refer to each individual's spirit of inner truth as intuition or intuitive nature. Please insert which ever term best fits your belief system best.
The way to tap into that intuitive nature usually requires the individual to quiet the mind or to be still and create a space to hear the voice speak. As we look at these older cultures there is time to slow down and be still incorporated into daily routines. As we in the US start to slow down and tune into this spiritual direction it will lead us to faster healing. Unfortunately we seek, respect and often follow the advice of other people, instead of respecting or tuning into our own intuitive nature to make decisions about our own lives and health.
I think of Intuition as Pillar number 3 in my foundations of health. In my practice, I always listened to what people say about themselves and what they think about their health. I encourage them to listen to themselves, making this part of the treatment plan.
I had a 48 year old women who had come into my office complaining of weight gain, fatigue during the day, irritability and irregular periods. She had been dealing with worsening symptoms for 6 months. She had gone to her primary care doctor who had blood tests taken and everything had come back normal. Her doctor told her she was going through perimenopause and recommended she start taking hormone replacement to improve her symptoms.
Perimenopause is classified as the time before a women stops having her period altogether. Her menstrual cycle usually becomes irregular, she will not ovulate every month because her estrogen, progesterone and testosterone hormones (female hormones) are not producing normal levels any longer. She may also experience symptoms like mood disturbances, mental confusion, and sleep disturbances as well.
The woman did not feel that a hormonal treatment would improve her health but she started the treatment anyway. After 3 months of hormonal treatment she came into my office asking for a second opinion. She kept saying it didn't feel like taking birth control pills was the right solution for her and what could I do to help her. We ruled out other problems like hypothyroidism which can have similar symptoms and focused on balancing her hormones through diet, exercise, stress management and herbal treatments. After 3 months her sleep improved, her energy level was 60% better than when she first came in and her periods actually normalized and she lost 20 pounds. She was happy with the treatment and happy with herself for listening to her inner voice about the treatment that would work best for her.
BIO:
Dr. Daemon Jones completed her undergraduate education in economics at Northwestern University (graduated 1992). She completed her naturopathic medical training at University of Bridgeport’s College of Naturopathic Medicine (2002). Dr. Jones founded Healthydaes Naturopathic Medical Center in Silver Spring, MD (2003. As a naturopathic physician, Dr. Jones is turning her life’s passion – the pursuit of vibrant health – into her life’s mission for others. She uses private consultations, cooking demonstrations, lectures and workshops as a hands-on way to help people enjoy learning about improving their health. She is a faculty member of Smith Farms Center for Healing and the Arts and Food As Medicine Professional Training program. Dr. Jones is the author of Daelicious! Recipes for Vibrant Health published in 2007.
Visit Dr. Jones at her website:
www.healthydaes.org
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