There
are many people who have chronic health issues who rely on mainstream medicine
to help them. Even though they still continue to have the same problems, they
continue to rely on their medicines thinking that maybe someday they will help.
God love 'em. And then there are people who are proactive and who want to do
anything possible to get better. They are the people who turn to chiropractors,
energy healers, acupuncturists, nutritionists, and other practitioners of
"alternative medicine," and most of them do get better. God love them! These are the people who I make a
living at helping. Yes, what I do, and what most healers like me do, is a profession, not a novelty for amusement
purposes. I always celebrate when somebody finds out, usually after having suffered
tremendously, how much better their life actually becomes after going to a
practitioner like me.
Every
health care practitioner, whether mainstream or alternative, has their own
"something different" to offer from the next person. The patient or
client simply needs to find somebody that he or she clicks well with. Some
people might wonder what it is that sets me apart from the others. I usually
don't mention these things, other than the obvious of my office being on
wheels. It comes down to experiences, skills, and knowledge that others might not have which give me unique
perspective and insight. But it is also the gifts of being autistic and an INFJ
Myers-Briggs personality type that allow what appears oblivious to others to
appear as clear as day to me. I mentioned some of these things in my first
book, "The Doctor Is In," and I will talk more in detail about these
things in my next book, which I am currently writing. I'll talk about some of
them here.
Probably
first and foremost is that I can identify on a deeper level with my clients
that have deeper-rooted, chronic conditions. Do you know what it's like to
spend 14-1/2 years of your life struggling both physically and mentally? Do you
know what it's like to sleep for thirteen hours only to wake up feeling as
though you haven't slept a wink? And when you have to go to work or do chores
such as shopping, mowing the lawn, or being a full-time student, could you do
these things while feeling like you are wearing a suit of lead? That was me
between April of 1995 and October of 2009. During this time, I was a student
chiropractor, carrying a full load of 24 credit hours per quarter. I also moved
about the country and spent seven of these years as a married man. It's
interesting the things that go through your head during the hours upon hours
you spend lying in bed when you're unable to move further than the edge of the
bed. It's also interesting to hear the words of family, the ones you'd think
would care the most, when they tell you you're just making it all up. Meditating,
chiropractic, and acupuncture did more for me than any medicine ever did. For
lack of a better diagnosis, the medical doctor who eventually got me on my feet
to be at least functional called it "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Other
health problems such as needing to have open heart surgery and suffering a
paralyzing stroke were but temporary inconveniences by comparison.
Another
thing that sets me apart from most of the crowd is that I am a chiropractor. It's
interesting to note that most people have no idea what it takes to become one. There
is a reason why chiropractors are called "doctor". Becoming one
requires eight years (minimum) of education just like any other type of doctor.
We learn the same basic sciences as a medical or osteopathic physician but with
much more emphasis or neuroanatomy and physiology. (After all, chiropractic has
much more to do with keeping the entire body working at its optimum potential
than "popping bones"!) We go through a rigorous internship where we
take care of actual patients under supervision in a clinic or preceptorship
program for so many hours. We have regulating boards whose exams we need to
pass in order to become eligible in each state or country to be licensed to
practice after we graduate. I've heard more than one M.D. who went to
chiropractic school say, "This is a whole lot tougher than I
thought!" and struggle the whole way through the program. It really isn't
easy, and therefore I frown a whole lot upon the ones who make us into either clowns
with their unprofessional behavior or gimmicks and the ones who make us look
like glorified physical therapists will their roller tables, zapping machines,
and waterbeds. To me, they missed the whole point of becoming a chiropractor.
As of
now, I've been involved in the health care field for 32 years and 3 months. I
began as an ambulance attendant, volunteering for the (former) Governor Mifflin
Area Ambulance Association in Shillington, PA after the heart surgery left me
unable to be a firefighter any longer. That switch set the course for the rest
of my life. During those fantastic years working for the ambulance service, I
experienced many gut-wrenching events which made me a stronger person after
learning how to deal with such things. One thing that made me especially
sought-after was the fact that my small size automatically made me the "go
to" person when someone was needed to crawl into tight spots to rescue
someone. During these years, I worked as a nurse aid and spent some time in
nursing school. Ultimately, I went to school to become a Respiratory Therapist.
That was my profession until I left the world of mainstream medicine behind in
December of 1993 in order to go to chiropractic school. My medical training
surely came in handy as the basis for which I would build my knowledge and
abilities in other fields of healing.
My
training in Reiki healing sets me apart. I'm not just talking about any Reiki. I'm talking specifically
about traditional Usui Reiki as Taught by Takata. This is not the "New Age" stuff that most people in the U.S. are
doing today. It is not holding my
hands above a person or waving them around, calling upon spirit guides and
angels. Just about every person I
ever did Reiki on, since I was trained in the 2nd level of it in November of
1998, said to me that what they experienced was far more beneficial to them
than any type of energy healing they had done to them before, including from
other "Reiki" practitioners. Reiki works on all three levels of
existence, that is physical, mind-ful, and spiritual. My Reiki training through
Rev. Betty McKeon helped me to cognize what the word "healing" meant
in a multidimensional way. This type of Reiki is like a focused laser that
really can be felt through the hands of one who has been trained in the
"as Taught by Takata" method. What I find interesting, however, is
that there are Reiki "practitioners" out there whom staunchly believe
they are practicing this method yet do quite the opposite of what it really
teaches. I've even been approached by these practitioners over the years with
questions after they realized that what I do is very different.
Also,
thanks to my Reiki Master Betty, I have received the greatest gift anyone could
possibly receive: Shaktipat (Sanskrit: saktipata), or the awakening of the inner
Kundalini energy. To the lay person, this may mean nothing. But to someone on a
spiritual quest to learn the meaning of life, experience God-consciousness, and
to obtain spiritual enlightenment, this means everything. It is the
vital step to obtaining any of this. When you have received Shaktipat from a
true guru, and you keep the fire alive through spiritual practice, you automatically see past the mere physical
façade of a person or an event and are connected with the comprising essence,
the consciousness, behind it all. What made it all the more interesting for me
is that I received Shaktipat before I ever knew what it was all about! It made
for quite a fantastic journey, especially during the months following my
awakening event on October 3, 1998.
During
the years that both autism and my severely-introverted personality type kept me
quiet and naïve, I was unknowingly building an inner strength, an uncanny
ability to see pink elephants and through the fog. When I spoke, I had
something profound to say. Yet, when I tried to speak just to be sociable, I
proved myself to be a bumbling idiot. While I can still be like this on most
days, either being the strongly-centered sayer or the naïve jester, one thing
is for certain: I was made to be a healer. Although I have come a long way, I
certainly have a lot to learn yet. No one ever really does stop learning. You
can get good at what you do by developing a system that works for you, as I
have. But you continuously get better when you always keep your mind open for
the next learning opportunity. The "healer" who tells me he has the answer is the buffoon I pay no
attention to. EVERYONE is here to be of service to someone else or to something
greater than their self. The day you stop learning is the day God calls you
from this life. Until then, education is a continuum, as is change and
spiritual evolution.
