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  Fundamental MedicineTeresa Gryder, ND

On Spiritual Practice and Loving Life

3/26/2017

 
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What do you practice in your life?  I believe it was the Mahatma Gandhi who said that bit about how your thoughts become your actions and on down the line…. It was about how you create yourself by what you choose to think and believe.  A practice is anything that you do regularly, even ritually.  A morning cup of coffee is a common practice.

​If it is true that what you do becomes who you are, it is worth putting some thought and intention into your own personal practice.


There are a lot of yoga practitioners out there.  I count myself as one.  I practice at least a little yoga every day.  For me it is the avenue by which I came to recognize and respect my own body, which was necessary before I could begin to care for it.  I was in denial of my body for many years.  In my 20’s, though I looked fit, I could not touch my toes without bending my legs.  One cannot gain flexibility without a regular practice, because it is a gradual process.  And one cannot be truly strong without flexibility; if you can’t use the full range of your body’s movements, your strength is hobbled.  I believe this applies to flexibility of the mind, too.  If once lacks mental flexibility, one cannot learn.

Many say we should all develop a spiritual practice.  This is about choosing at least some thoughts and actions that are oriented toward our highest values and goals.  A cup of coffee might not satisfy this.  Having some small fraction of each day that is dedicated to the big picture, to the people and things that we most love, is a simple way to remind us that we are part of that Wholeness that is the World.  Regardless of your belief system—and even if you are firmly atheist or mildly agnostic—you will benefit from such a practice.  The research tells us that you will live longer, be less depressed, and be more likely to request life-extending medicine when your time is short.  You will love life more.

I personally have been mulling on these ideas of a practice because I now have a medical practice as well.  What is the core of my practice?  It is evolving.  Perhaps the most important thing I can do for my patients is to help them to notice the great blessings that abound as long as we live.   The irritants of daily life are passing things, often irrelevant in the longterm.  I practice meditation, gratitude, kindness, the four agreements, and also being in nature.  My church the is river, sky, mountain, snows of winter and buds of spring.  Science shows that being in natural environments lowers blood pressure and stress hormones, but I believe it does more than that.

I also practice Feng Shui.  Not in any traditional way, but in the deeper concept.  Feng Shui taught me that the physical things that surround me either facilitate or impede my practice.  I strive to make every item in my space a reminder of all I have to be grateful of, and what I am striving for.  If physical things get in my way, I move them.  If they are not moveable, I move other things to improve the flow.

So now you know my practice.  What is yours?  I look forward to hearing about it.
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Be Skeptical

8/31/2013

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In this day and age, it is necessary to second guess every information source.  So much "information" goes by that it becomes difficult to sort out what is advertising and what is not.  Even reporting about scientific research can completely skew the issue.  It doesn't pay to be gullible.

The problem is that we are wired to be gullible.  We humans would much rather trust in some comfortable authority figure and believe what they say, than to do all that research and work ourselves.  Figuring out the truth takes time...and sometimes the truth is elusive.  We just don't know everything yet.  We'd rather just believe.

Modern first-world culture is divisive and argumentative.  People agree to disagree more often than agreeing in substance.  As in other parts of our public arena, in the healthcare debate the shouting overwhelms reasonable conversation. Conventional treatments espoused by governments and establishment medical business may not be supported by the research. The policy came about when someone had to make a decision by a deadline using the best information available. We all do it.  We have to go on what we know, even if it is incomplete or incorrect. More information comes along, but established policy stays the same.  This is the downside of bureaucracy. Proponents of established methods will say that this must work because it is the rule, and don't worry about finding out the truth.

Alternative treatments are espoused by a wide range of practitioners and patients.  Often alternative treatments have little or no science backing them up.  Proponents say this works because they have seen it work, and maybe it did.  Just because there is no science doesn't mean it isn't true. Proponents also commonly claim that the science backs them up when it does not.

The Skeptic doesn't believe anything just because an authority said so.  The Skeptic asks questions, and studies the important questions, so as to be able to know if someone is speaking from a position of knowledge and perspective, or blowing a lot of hot air.  The Skeptic realizes that real information or falsehoods can come from any side, and runs every morsel through an internal fact-checker.  The truth is a moving target, and the skeptic is ever on the hunt.
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Gray Areas

10/31/2012

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This link goes to a Ted Talk by Jon Ronson, journalist from London, speaking about the research he did for a book on psychopathy.  He pegs the relevant issue which is the fact that all of us display some characteristics of various mental disorders, including psychopathy.  All of us, you say?  Yes, all of us.  Madness is inherent in the human condition.  We have the capacity for rationality, but we also all have moments of unconsciousness.  We have moments in which we are not as kind as we could be.  We have moments of every description, but these moments do not condemn us.  We can still be decent people.  

In the Bible, Matthew 7:5 reminds us that we are not perfect.  "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Before we accuse anyone else of madness, it is in our best interests to recognize that we are human too, with requisite portions of inexplicable wildness.

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    Author: Teresa Gryder

    Integrative Physician and Student of Life, Medicine, and the River.

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