If there is one thing I can teach in this life, it is the importance of knowing yourself! I have lived my life for 51 years and realize how important this  premise is. Most of your life has taken you away from knowing yourself…all the programming you have absorbed from your environment…the messages you absorbed, applied, and carried forward…the teachings and conditioning you learned in order to survive in your family, your work environment, your social milieu, on and on it goes. Now is the time when all that learning that was false to your self is unravelling. It is time to embrace your authentic being. It is time to be free of all falsities and embrace your inner knowing about how you choose to live your life. This creates peace in your system. It involves self care that truly fits you. Following your intuition, reading books that you have been directed to read, taking courses in the area you are drawn to, keep searching for the inner you that resonates with these things.

I know to live my life with a high degree of self care. I go to bed early (10 pm) and rise early (by 6 am) if I want to feel most energized. Some people may deem that boring but I understand that living my life in a more structured way that honors my rhythms is important to me.  Other people can throw caution to the wind that are not as sensitive. People that stay up all night and love to live their life on the edge, not paying any attention to the clock, are not as sensitive. I was born sensitive and instead of lamenting that fact, I work with my life path, knowing that to live in alignment with that sensivity is my ideal and my choice. As a result, I choose to eat cleanly and really practice what I preach. I do better choosing to avoid sugar, gluten and dairy products. I like the OMS plan but note that I am sensitive to some lectins such as legumes so minimize my intake of them. You can know yourself too by paying attention to how you feel and what is helpful to implement in your diet and what is best to avoid. This is called increasing your self- awareness. Getting objective testing can help you too. There are plenty of functional medicine tests that can uncover root cause of your problem.

I am back to drinking green smoothies. It is the best way to get a lot of fruits and veggies into your diet and that helps reduce inflammation. Choose your greens- preferably organic and stuff at least 4 or 5 leafs into your container. Choose a rotation of organic greens- a few days choose kale, a few days choose swiss chard, a few days choose collards, etc. The point is to choose a variety of greens to get in different nutrients. You can blend in 2 tbsp seeds for extra fibre- flax seeds are ideal for women with hormonal issues but other seeds like chia seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower, pumpkin seeds, etc can be added to your smoothie. (Blend them in a coffee grinder first before you add them to your smoothie). Add some fruit like chopped up pear, a banana or frozen berries- currently I add wild organic blueberries and organic cranberries to my smoothie. Keep the variety in rotation and vary it. I add half an avocado to give me some good fat. I add around 12 oz filtered water and then blend. Try this and let me know how much energy you feel you gain from green smoothies. 

One book I have read repeatedly is Dirty Genes by Dr. Ben Lynch, ND. He explains why your genes might be contributing to your health sensitivities and how to compensate for them. He talks about what foods to eat if you have ‘dirty genes’. For people that need this fine tuning, genetic testing can be helpful to gain a deeper understanding on how to support your body. Taking the time to know yourself helps immensely too. In his book, he has quizzes that you can take to understand if you have dirty genes and what you can do about it. I highly recommend his book if you like reading about health. Knowing yourself can be greatly helped by reading more books so you have more knowlege and can make informed decisions about your life.

Being a highly sensitive empath, I absorb a lot of the environment around me even when I don’t wish to. Therefore it is important that I avoid crowds and environments with a lot of people. Otherwise I feel drained. I put protection around me energetically but you won’t see me at local shopping malls for that reason. If I am in a busy environment with a lot of other people. I will have a salt bath after (1/2 cup sea salt) and (1/2 cup  baking soda) with 5 drops of lavender essential oil to stimulate my parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system). I get into nature as much as I can and breathe. I exercise for at least 30 minutes daily.  I do yoga to strengthen my system and spend time in meditation. I am doing a Deepak Chopra meditation which takes about 20 minutes to do daily. Keep doing what you need to do to stay in balance right now. Only you know what that means to you. Last of all, love and accept yourself! If u would welcome more support, please join my membership club Robin’s nest or book an appointment with me.  4032321283 Kind regards, Dr. Robin Vinge, ND

Hello 2022. This has been a really difficult year but we are still here and therefore God can be using us to touch other people’s life in a positive way. I believe Neale Donald Walsch said that your life is not about you, it is about every one elses life that you touch. I think this is important to keep at the top of your mind. Even waking in the am, and spending five minutes, setting that intention is important. If you don’t feel so inclined, deliberately decide to spend a moment first thing in the morning, feeling gratitude and appreciation for your life. If that is difficult for you, then it is a really useful exercise to put it in place, first thing in the am. Give thanks, appreciate, look for the things you can be grateful for. Make that a habit. There are two girls I pray with at 7:15 am. I also do devotions with them, Monday through Friday. We always start by talking about things we are grateful for. This is a good habit to start your day with. There are so many studies affirming how being grateful improves health. I am a naturopathic doctor after all. Health is important to me and my patients.

Right now, it is really important to do things that lift your vibration up.  It helps you rise above the collective angst. I think it is useful to compose a list of things that make you feel better.  I love music and it always puts me in a better space.  Music allows me to be grateful for my ears! I am so grateful for all of my senses! I am grateful for my eyes, grateful for vision, whether it be vision to see a beautiful morning sunrise or long term vision needed to get through another Calgary winter. The days are getting longer! We are marching towards more daylight sunshine! Look at the good things happening with your health. Focus on the things that are working well. Give thanks for those things! Appreciate them. Give thanks for them. Appreciation and gratitude are the interface and prelude to getting what you want and feeling better with consistency. 

Okay, so music is important. Part of the ‘raise my vibration list’. Music can help your health too. It triggers endorphins, feel good chemicals that allow you to think happier thoughts. All very good to improve relationships with other people. Music can motivate you. I have songs on my Ipod that always bring my vibration up; motivate me to exercise.  Having thoughts of people that you love and are grateful for can elevate your spirits. Doing a Gratitude meditation in the morning first thing; spending time drawing up those people in your mind that you love and care about. Resting in your heart space can make the difference in the way you feel first thing. By singing, you can activate your vagus nerve which improves overall health. Bring up songs on Utube with the lyrics and challenge yourself to sing along. All these things help you feel better.

Other health resolutions to focus on are extremely personal. For me, I really want to drink more water therefore I commit to it. I drink two glasses first thing. Hydration can help you cope better with the solar flares. I am a highly sensitive person so I pay attention to these things.  if you do something for 21 days, you create a habit. This is something, I need to do for my overall wellbeing and also to help with supporting kidney function. I commit to drinking more water daily. If I start with two glasses first thing, I help my health first thing. I  also add water to my smoothie in the morning.

I recommit to drinking green smoothies again. I start by blending up greens (organic kale, organic chard, organic bok choi, etc) I vary the greens daily and blend them with frozen berries (organic wild blueberries/raspberries/cranberries, etc.), frozen organic mango, frozen banana- I have an assortment of frozen fruit in my freezer- I choose which to add in the moment), 1/4 cup ground flax/1/4 cup ground chia seeds. I add ground pumpkin seeds, ground sesame seeds, again I vary my ingredients depending on what I have.  I feel more alive when I drink green smoothies. I throw in half an avocado to give it more fat, staying powder. I add a half glass of almond milk, one glass of filtered water.  I add a celery stalk and a carrot sometimes. The idea is to increase your nutrition in the morning. This is way better than starting your day off with a sugary breakfast cereal.  You will feel more energy and motivation if you do this. Try it and message me back in a week to let me know you are on the same health train as me!!

I want to urge u to join my membership club this year too if you need some extra support. I do a meditation on Tuesday nights at 8 pm on Zoom. On the third Tuesday, I do an EFT call at 8 pm on Zoom.  I provide 4 plant based recipes per month. I  blog about healths topic that the members are interested in. Please contact the reception staff at Parallel Wellness for more info, and to sign up. To yours in health, Dr. Robin Vinge. PS. I have had MS since I believe i was 21 and need to manage it lifelong. I can help you with your health challenges. I am extremely compassionate and empathetic to your health concerns. To book an appointment, call Parallel at 4032321283. Happy New Year to you!! Much love, Robin

 

Emotional Freedom Technique is my favorite counseling tool that I use when dealing with patients. It does not have any negative side effects and is a tool that I can pass on to people so they can manage their own stress level. It is a combination of the east and the west. It draws on 5000 years of traditional Chinese medicine in the form of meridians. It taps into (metaphorically and literally) these meridian pathways to create energy flow. Any disruption in the meridian flow of movement registers potentially as negative emotions.

Meridians open up to the surface of the skin so this technique devised by Gary Craig, a former Stanford engineer is designed to tap on all the meridians so it does not matter what meridian is out of balance. There is no harm done by over-tapping.
The technique draws on Western psychology also drawing on exposure (remembering traumas, persistent thoughts, emotions) and cognitive restructuring, utilizing statements of self acceptance to help individuals feel better and accept their feelings. It is considered an energy psychology technique because it is working with a part of the body’s electromagnetic field (meridians) much like the aura or chakra system might be used in another way. The tapping process also targets the brain, specifically sending a calming signal to the brain when an otherwise stressful memory or situation is imagined. It is thought to target the amygdala which is where emotions are processed and memories can be stored. By remembering an event while tapping on these meridian sequences, it changes that previous negative memory into one that is now non threatening to the brain. You are creating a new neural pathway which is non-threatening. Essentially you are telling your brain to associate this memory, thought or emotion by stating repetitive statements utilizing self acceptance while tapping that this situation is a-okay now.
Research on EFT has shown a drop in cortisol (your main stress hormone) occurs during a session of EFT. Neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine are stimulated by EFT. Therefore you feel immediately better after a session and emotional releases can occur leaving you feeling lighter as a result. And lastly, genes are thought to be regulated by EFT. Genes that lower inflammation and increase immunity in a positive way, for starters. Google Dawson Church or Gary Craig, EFT universe, or the tapping solution if you want some more information on the tapping sequence or current research studies. I find it to be a great counseling tool because EFT helps you get in touch with your intuition so you can solve your own problems once you know how to do it. I love to empower my patients! You can have an amazing effect on your mind, body, spirit! Believe it!!  I have a special rate on for EFT and counseling. It is only $80 now for EFT and counnseling for the hour.
To book a session with me come into Parallel Wellness or call 4032321283. I can do sessions on Zoom or the phone also. I have lots of regular clients working with me. Yours in health, Dr. Robin

Reference: The Tapping Solution, Nick Ortner.