Thanks for visiting the website, and welcome to Brilliant Life Chiropractic. I am excited to share what I’ve discovered in my own journey of health with all of you. My mission is to empower and enable everyone I meet to fulfill on their own health and wellbeing. To educate and inspire you to trust your body and to know brilliant, vibrant health.
The approach to health that I employ is what is known as vitalism. Vitalism is a philosophy about health that assumes there is a vital essence or life force within each and every one of us that is what makes us alive. It is responsible for all organ function and healing, as well as anything else you can think of.
This is in contrast to the traditional medical or allopathic model, which supposes that the human body is merely a collection of parts that may be swapped out or removed. Medicine has its place, and tends to work best in crisis situations, by using artificial means of supporting or supplanting the body’s own natural mechanisms of healing. This is great when you’ve just lost a limb or had a heart attack. But it’s not proving to be a good way to maintain or evolve your health. When medicine works to maintain health, they tend to just try to control symptoms. The belief there is that if you feel good, then you must be good.
Vitalism looks at the body’s symptoms and uses those as a guide to determine what is out of balance and what can be done to fully support the body’s own natural healing mechanisms. In the case of chiropractic what we do is remove any interference that might be present in the nerve system and beyond preventing the flow of life force throughout the body with the adjustment.
The body wants to heal! It just needs to be set free.
Along with that, the ways to support the body that I’ve discovered are numerous.
Lifestyle modifications such as enough sleep and proper nutrition are key. I always say, “the body can heal from anything, given time and opportunity.” Time is just that, time to heal without re-injuring (and how can you know if you’ve drugged yourself up?) Opportunity means having enough nutrients and correct movement to help soft tissues knit themselves back together. Read my icing article for more information about that.
As for nutrition, I believe there is no one diet for everyone and that everyone must explore what’s right for them. I follow a strict Paleo diet, which means I eat meat and vegetables primarily, supplementing with nuts, fruit, seeds, and starchy vegetables at times. I avoid grains and legumes, and restrict dairy. There are many reasons for that too numerous to go into here. Read my blog and check out these people for more information. Mark Sisson, Whole9, and Chris Kresser.
Acupuncture is another great way to allow the free flow of life energy through the body. I’ve been blessed to work with a couple of great ones, Annie Hines is who I regularly see, and I’ve had wonderful results that support me in my life. Another gifted acupuncturist is Lisa Taylor Swanson.
Naturopathic Doctors are trained very similarly to medical doctors but with less of an empthasis on medical procedures like drugs and surgery, and more on natural remedies through herbs, homeopathics, and lifestyle modification. They offer a much more conservative approach. I recommend Andrew Rife at Puget Sound Family Health.
Exercise is something I’m extremely passionate about, having been a martial artist for 18 years, and an avid fitness enthusiast for 22 now. My favorite form is CrossFit, because it offers a brand of functional fitness that has taken my experience of life to a new level. My gym is Tacoma Strength. Check them out!
As I discover more ways to help empower and enable us in our path to ever greater expression of life and health, I will certainly share those here and on my blog, as well as in practice!
Thanks for reading,
Namaste