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From the Editor |
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Shortly after beginning holistic chiropractic treatments to resolve an old back injury, I had a dream. In the dream world, I found myself sitting in a small room of an old castle with my ‘Back Guide.’ He appears as an old man with a long white beard, white hair and flowing robes – an engaging Merlin figure. My guide tells me that the spine is a puzzle. It is not just vertebrae and discs, he says, but nerves and energy meridians that go out to affect every part of the body. And it’s not just that, he emphasizes, for there are other layers to the spine as well. In fact, the spine holds vast connections beyond the physical, including links to the metaphysical, the emotional, the spiritual, and so on. That is why, my Merlin tells me, that when one is in the midst of healing, it is important not only to find the right key, but the right keyhole. What does that mean, I wonder? And just as I think the question, the answer becomes clear: although we may indeed have found the right key to a problem, if we’re not addressing the right level, focusing at the right time, positioned at the right place, then our key can only affect so much. Eyes sparkling, my guide sits silent, a faint smile acknowledging that a secret has been revealed. The following day, I shared the dream with my chiropractor. “Well, of course,” he exclaimed, “that’s exactly how it works!” Indeed, the holistic approach acknowledges that our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual facets all play an essential role in the totality of our being. Finding the key (be it a massage stroke, chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture point or herb) as well as the keyhole (which may exist on one or more of many levels) is what leads us to that experience of deep down release. As we embark on any healing journey, we will inevitably discover an amazing interconnected network of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and bodily symptoms. Deep patterns are involved—from cellular to soul-related, all reflected in who we are and what symptoms we have at any given moment in our life. We can never really force healing, but we can court it, dance within it, discovering our own keys and keyholes as we open our arms to embrace the adventure that any healing journey holds for us. In all areas of healing, we need to listen to the body as well as the mind; we need to hear the call of feelings as well as the stirrings of the soul. And as we address each level, holding the key that fits each keyhole, then, like a bank lock, everything releases, opening smoothly, effortlessly in natural unfolding. As we are ready, we too open easily, perfectly, to a larger understanding of who we really are. Dawn Brunke is the editor of Alaska Wellness and author of Animal Voices and the upcoming Awakening to Animal Voices: A Teen Guide to Telepathic Communication, to be published in Spring 2004. |
