Integrative Health Blog

In this season of celebration in religious traditions, we hear ancient and sacred stories, each of which shares powerful lessons.  As we hear these powerful stories, I invite us to reflect on the messages we are weaving through the stories of our lives. 

Diwali, the Festival of Lights, along with Hanukkah, and Christmas, all celebrate stories in which light overcame darkness in some way.   These ancient celebrations lift us up through the power of sacred story.  I invite you to see your life as telling a story, which can also lift people up through the power of the sacred and archetypal patterns of your life.

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How to Make Friends and Keep Them

Safe interpersonal connection and social interaction is the essence of any therapeutic and medical communication. More importantly, it is also the essence of all human interaction! Your business deals, your marriage, your social life, the connection with your kids, even your ability to play sports are based on a very complex set of brain-body interactions. They are hardwired into us and – from the background - govern every aspect of our social behavior.

This month my class will focus our conversation on social engagement and “how to make friends and keep them”. You will learn why having great interpersonal rapport is good for you and your overall health.

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Culturally, we celebrate Thanksgiving a variety of ways, but the common themes remain the same:  larger than usual family gatherings, our favorite foods, celebrating home and harvest, relaxing with favorite sports or shopping or other ways to de-stress, and remembering that in America, we generally have a lot to be thankful for. 

Many of us add religious or spiritual practices such as praying, or saying “grace” before meals, honoring a deity, gathering for worship, singing hymns, or honoring traditions of the original inhabitants of this land. 

Is giving thanks normally a part of how we celebrate Thanksgiving?  What is “grace,” and how do grace and gratitude affect our subtle energy and our health?  These are the questions that we can ask and answer in order to magnify the sense of wellbeing, or blessing, that we perceive and receive this Thanksgiving.

Grace is a Gift

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As the seasons are changing, a lot of people are getting worried about its effects on their mood.

Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD) is real, as well as dysthymia (essentially, mild depression) and moderate to severe depression.The goal of this article is to help you gain understanding and get a nutritional jump start on your mental wellbeing.

The Gut-Brain Connection

More and more research is supporting the link between the Gut - Brain - Microbiome as well as the effects of inflammation on mental health. In the past, NIHA had one of the leaders in this field, Dr. Marco Ruggiero, speak to medical professionals. The Gut- Brain - Microbiome is a theory that explains the link between Gut Health and Brain Health and how they both greatly affect each other. 

Did you know the gut produces about 95% of the body’s supply of Serotonin?

This research is present in both integrative medicine literature as well as conventional western research. The findings are clear, we must improve our gut health if we are to improve our mental health.

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Why Some Emotions Can Make You Sick and Others Can Make You Healthy

Class: Harnessing the Emotional Brain

When: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016

Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Where: National Integrated Health Associates

Learn how to utilize powerful mind/body tools to be a Master of your Emotions.

EMOTIONS 101

Emotions, our internal feelings, arise at the boundary between body and mind.

They are here to be felt (as energy) and to be expressed (as movement). The English word “emotion” comes from the Latin word “e-movere” translating into moving away from something and towards something else.

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This is a popular question and can be approached from many directions.  I believe the approach must be developed by you and your practitioner as a collaborative effort. Too often, treatment  is based on a pathological  or psychological diagnosis. While stress can come from many areas, my style of wellness coaching does not look at the cause of the stress as much as it does the imbalance left in the wake of a stressful event.

I believe that stress is unavoidable.  You are exposed daily to Eustress (positive stress that makes us want to continue doing something) and Distress (things that cause us pain or suffering and make us want to stop doing things). Both have marked and measurable physiological and psychological effects.

Eustress is in short supply in most people’s lives.

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This is a loaded question as balance is in the eye of the beholder. The approach to health and wellness coaching that I practice and indeed advocate is predicated on each individual finding a balance that works for them.

Oftentimes that balance is achieved through the development of an area in our lives that has been diminished or neglected due to:

1. Pursuit of development in other areas of life (e.g., career, family, finances, relationships) with such vigor and dedication that we tend to lose sight of other things that need our attention.
2. Events beyond our ability to cope. Life gives us experiences that are beyond our experience (e.g., death of a loved one, illness, divorce, job loss) and in our scrambling to adapt these changes, we neglect ourselves and our own needs. If our needs are not met then we feel out of balance.

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Listening to the Language of the Body as a Path to Healing

Class/Workshop: “The Body as a Laboratory of the Soul”   

When: Oct. 4, 2016

Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Where: National Integrated Health Associates

Presenter: Kuno Bachbauer LMFT

Please join me to explore the power of the Mind-Body Connection in this hands-on, fun and engaging workshop and lecture. 

"Recent rapid advances in the brain sciences and dramatically expanded understanding of the physiology of our emotions have led to a renewed interest in the various modalities of energy work and body-psychotherapy."  - "The Psychotherapy Networker" July 2004 issue

How understanding the "mind-body connection" has changed my life

I am a body psychotherapist. Throughout my career, I have been fascinated by the connection between body, emotions, mind and soul. Everything I do as a holistic practitioner is guided by this perspective. It is just so very powerful! The understanding of how body and mind are intertwined allows a client to take full charge of their own health, and it gives a skilled practitioner an incredibly powerful access to a client's essence.

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