In this third of a series podcast episode, Valerie Sans shares how her cancer experience had a dramatic impact on her life. After surgery and chemo treatment, she left a career of teaching to co-found a travel company, French Escapade, and explored alternative healing modalities including the Budwig Diet, homeopathy, immunotherapy, Beljanski Protocol, acupuncture, Papimi, and a more plant-based diet.
For those of you unfamiliar with sophrology — which includes me — here’s an introduction. Valerie talks about meeting with a sophrologist as routine in the French healthcare system.
If memory serves me correctly, the phrase garbage in, garbage out refers to the quality of computer programming. But it can also be applied to how we eat. Think about it. You’ve heard we are what we eat, but…our poop definitely reflects what we eat. Indeed!
Okay, I crossed that line. I talked about poop. Since we now have poop emoji maybe the discussion is not as profane as it was when I was growing up.
I can’t remember ever being asked by a doctor about my poop/defecation/elimination routine. If you had diarrhea, you talked about it but it was not an in-depth conversation regarding the size, shape, and color of it.
In the mid-90s, when I first went to an acupuncture clinic, there was deep talk about some deep shit (ha!). Until that point I’d not really shared anything about my daily multiple bowel movements. I assumed I had IBS which every other woman I knew seemed to have. But the acupuncture practitioner spent time listening to what my diet consisted of – both food and beverages. She seized on my large glass of fresh organic orange juice each morning.
Even though I started eating a vegetarian diet in college, I still had some GI issues. Once I gave up the daily juice (huge blast of sugar in my system) and the inexpensive veggie restaurant meals, my GI system got some welcome relief. I became the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) poster child for the perfect one poop a day.
Another eye opener for me happened just a few years ago at a Stanford University Neuromuscular Patient Conference. A young charismatic gastroenterologist introduced the Bristol Stool Chart to us. She reviewed how to use it and gave it her MD blessing. Finally, there was a language to use to talk about poop and not feel juvenile.
Health Storylines Stool Diary Tool
The Health Storylinesapp has a Stool Diary feature that uses the Bristol Stool Chart to help you maintain a record of your elimination (or poop!). Now, why would you want to do this?
Lots of reasons. The first that comes to mind is to use it along with the Food Diary so you have a better understanding of what you eat and how your system responds. Garbage in, garbage out.
The second reason is cautionary. Just today I was reading an article, “How to Lower Your Risk of Cancer” in the April 2019 issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter. Warning signs for colon and rectum cancer include diarrhea or constipation and bright red or very dark blood in your stool. Warning signs for esophagus cancer include black stools.
If you listened to an early podcast episode about a friend who battled colon cancer, you’ll recall she ignored some early signs of blood in her stool. Your body often sends you messages that you should be mindful of. Keeping track of what you eat and how your system responds is a good way to keep that conversation going.
Welcome to the sixth month of Self-Care Challenges. If you’ve been reading since the beginning, that’s great! I encourage you to share your progress with a comment below. If you’re just joining us, take a look at the previous month’s challenges.
Relaxation is an integral aspect of Self-Care…duh! But, what actually is relaxation? What happens physiologically? Can we be sure what we’re doing is truly relaxing both physically and emotionally? What I find relaxing may be incredibly annoying to you. In fact, years ago at a support group meeting there was a guest speaker leading us through a guided visualization. I was feeling blissful but one of the support group participants was having a panic attack. She couldn’t handle closing her eyes in a group setting.
Leslie with acupuncture needles
According to my friend, Wikipedia, relaxation is, “the emotional state of a living being, of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety, or fear.”
Digging a little deeper, the Oxford dictionary describes relaxation as, “a form of mild ecstasy coming from the frontal lobe of the brain in which the backward cortex sends signals to the frontal cortex via a mild sedative. Relaxation can be achieved through meditation, autogenics, and progressive muscle relaxation.”
Okay, I’ve never heard about autogenics. But whatever route you take to get to that relaxed state, you are eliminating stress. And stress, as you’re aware, exacerbates all chronic health conditions. An undue amount of stress even creates ill health. Check out the National Institute of Mental Health for more information about stress and its relation to both mental and physical health.
There are many relaxation methods. At night I wind down by taking a hot bath. It’s part of my sleep hygiene. But during the day it’s just as important to include time for relaxation and it doesn’t have to be a nap. Though I know a few adults that make a daily practice of this. In many yoga classes the final pose is savasana (corpse pose). The purpose of this pose is to relax. Not everyone can. If I have a good savasana at the end of a yoga class, I often sleep better at night.
I’ve had very intense feelings of relaxation from an acupuncture treatment, sound bath, massage, or just sitting by an open body of water.
If you don’t have the time or inclination for the above, there are tools to help you relax in the comfort of your own home. Possible tools include essential oils, listening to a guided visualization body scan, inhaling or ingesting certain strains of medical cannabis, or using a brass bowl.
If you’re using the Health Storylines app, the best way to keep track of your relaxation time is to use the Health Routine Builder. First you’ll need to figure out what helps you relax. As I mentioned above, everyone has their unique experience with relaxation. You may not be inclined to do yoga or listen to glass bowls. I hope you’ll suggest some modes that won’t include a television or computer screen.
Join our Facebook group to learn about other modes for relaxation and share your progress.
Baxter Bell, MD with yoga students in a restorative pose
Baxter Bell, MD is not just a family medicine physician, he’s also a certified acupuncture practitioner and yoga therapist. Together with co-author, Nina Zolotow, they wrote the book, Yoga for Healthy Living: A Guide to LIfelong Well-Being. Baxter talks about his journey and shares insight about what aging people care most about — increasing one’s health span, maintaining independence over time, and cultivating equanimity. The thousands of people that have attended his trainings or follow his blog are concerned about cardiovascular health, brain health, and stress management. Yoga can assist with each of these.
Asana: In yoga, an asana is a posture in which a practitioner sits; asanas are also performed as physical exercise where they are sometimes referred to as “yoga postures” or “yoga positions”. Some asanas are performed just for health purposes. Asanas do promote good health, although in different ways compared to physical exercises, “placing the physical body in positions that cultivate also awareness, relaxation and concentration.” (Wikipedia)
Savasana: corpse pose; is an asana usually done at the end of a yoga practice in which practitioners lie flat on their backs with the heels spread as wide as the yoga mat and the arms a few inches away from the body, palms facing upwards. (Wikipedia)
Pranayama: breath or life force; the word is composed from two Sanskrit words: prana meaning life force (noted particularly as the breath), and either ayama (to restrain or control the prana, implying a set of breathing techniques where the breath is intentionally altered in order to produce specific results) or the negative form ayāma, meaning to extend or draw out (as in extension of the life force). (Wikipedia)
If your interest is piqued, check out these earlier podcast episodes on resilience and equanimity.
You’ll be learning about the ancient practice of Qigong in this podcast episode. Paul Robison – licensed acupuncture practitioner – explains qigong as a longevity exercise. Barbara finds her qigong practice helpful with symptoms from chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. And Nicole Stone, my qigong teacher, brings a background of dance, yoga, and meditation to her medical qigong practice.
Those are the words of a young man who has faced many health challenges. Paul Robison, L.Ac., shares his personal story of achieving health and eventually becoming an acupuncturist and herbalist.
This little play on words occurred to me earlier today as I lay prostrate with various needles in me. It’s a monthly habit. Sometimes there are good habits.
Several years ago a couple of acupuncture student interns were guest speakers at my MDA support group. They gave a little history of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine and promoted a study. They were looking for people with mobility problems. At that time I didn’t qualify. But they discussed a number of ailments that acupuncture has proven helpful for. One of them was carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
