Dena Robertson

Live Life Feeling Well through Acupuncture and Bioresonance

Would You Rather Be Right or Happy?

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My job as an acupuncturist is to rebalance your energy so that all your organs function as they should and you feel in harmony on all levels.  It’s a bit like Humpty Dumpty.  You fall over and I’m supposed to put you back together again!

But what if you are running on empty and have hardly any energy left for me to play with?  It happens more than you might think because, for many people, life is just one stressful situation after another.  Does this resonate with you?  Do you feel as if you are a hamster on a wheel which never seems to stop, and you get more and more physically and mentally exhausted?

There is a lot of advice “out there” about this, but I’m going to suggest something completely different which worked incredibly well for me.  It is very simple, requires no time and, when practised regularly, will result in a big part of that huge weight on your shoulders falling off, so that life can become easier to live.

It has to do with your interaction with other people.

If you look around you, you will see that many people spend much of their time explaining and defending their point of view.  And if you’re anything like me, you carry these arguments on in your head, even when the person concerned isn’t there anymore!  You continue to wind yourself up, feeling outrage, anger, upset, a sense of injustice … and create all sorts of symptoms such as stomach pains, insomnia, headaches and exhaustion … and for what?  Why is it so important that another person agrees with you or thinks about something the way you do?

Putting our energy into fighting another person in this way often gets us nowhere and, if we were to relinquish the need to defend our point of view, we would gain access to huge amounts of energy that had previously been needed for this futile exercise.  When we no longer feel the need to explain or defend, arguments are avoided, we remain in the present moment and create a space where a sense of peace can descend.

How does that sound?  I’m not saying it’s easy but I found the best way to keep putting myself back on this path, when I found myself going back to my old habits, was to say the following:

Today I am letting go of my need to defend my point of view and I don’t need to convince or persuade anyone that my point of view is the right one.  I am open to all points of view and require no specific outcome.

So, if this takes care of our interactions with others about our opinions, the second half of the equation is about how we respond to theirs.

We always think we know best what is good for others, right?!  And it becomes really important for us to let them know what we think, because we need them to acknowledge us and be grateful for our input … and we also have a fundamental need to be right, right?

The problem is that they usually aren’t interested in our input because they need to be right too, and they’re certain that they know better than we do what is best for them anyway.  So, as soon as we start giving well-meaning feedback, more often than not it is received as some form of criticism.  The shutters then come down and the atmosphere becomes antagonistic.

We all know that people aren’t going to change their minds or themselves unless they want to, and so imposing our views on people is another total waste of time and energy, and yet we still do it.  So, my suggestion is … stop! 

The solution is to have no attachment to another person’s behaviour or opinions.  It just causes problems … for you.

If you want to give it a try, here is the affirmation I used to help me:

Today I am committed to being detached.  I am stepping back and allowing people to be exactly as they are.  I am letting go of my rigid ideas about how people and things should be and participate in everything with detached involvement.

If you have been behaving like a strong, solid, rigid oak tree, try allowing yourself to soften and become flexible, swaying in the breeze like the willow.

By adopting the above suggestions, I hope that you will feel lighter and able to breathe in deeper.  Being right isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Just allow yourself to be happy and your body will thank you for it!

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom

Does Making Healthy Choices Feel Overwhelming?

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I’m never quite sure what to do or say when someone comes to see me with the attitude, “Here is all my power.  Make me better, but don’t expect me to change anything I’m doing!”  My heart sinks in that moment because I know I’m going to have to deal with that attitude before there is any chance of healing occurring.

The problem is that we all want an easy life and there is always a benefit to be found in the behaviour we choose.  We eat ready-made food because it’s convenient or we don’t exercise because we prefer to lounge in front of the tv after a hard day’s work.  Time is often a factor too.  It takes time to practise self-care and so we make excuses or blame circumstances in order to explain why a change in behaviour isn’t possible. 

But if someone is manifesting symptoms of ill health it may well be because, as we get older, our body can no longer keep up with the abuse we inflict on it … and it starts to complain!  

And many people choose to believe that illness comes out of nowhere.  It’s something which is inflicted on us by an unknown power over which we have no control … which is, of course, rubbish!

So, my first task with such patients is to encourage them to take responsibility for where they find themselves.  And that is when the battle begins!  “It’s not my fault, guv!  I had nothing to do with this,” is a common response.  But if not you, then who? 

Do you feel as if you’re at this junction and don’t know where to begin?  Don’t worry.  It really is a lot easier than you imagine.  Don’t look upon it as a huge mountain to climb.  One step to start with is all you need.  And as you notice improvement, you will feel empowered to take another step.

Of course, not all illness results from our behaviour.  I’m talking mainly about people who have been perfectly healthy for years and then aren’t.  And sometimes the causes aren’t very obvious.  In the case of obesity-related symptoms it’s easy to point a finger at eating habits, but stress-related symptoms from repressed or unexpressed emotions are a little more difficult to recognise for oneself and can go undetected for a long time.

I love learning languages and decided recently to build on my knowledge of Spanish by using the App Duolingo.  It’s a great and easy way to learn and I really enjoy it.  However, in order to suck you into paying a monthly fee, they have a league system in place, which means that the top 7 people are promoted to the next league each week.  And in order to get into the top 7, you have to do loads of exercises to accumulate more points than the other guys in the league.  It really brings out the competitor in me and I found myself stressing out every weekend as I tried to ensure I was in the top 7 by 10pm on Sunday evening when promotion or demotion took place.

At the same time, I started having digestive problems and stomach pains.  I thought of several things which might be causing this and started eating more simple food, but nothing changed.  I then started to notice a feeling of heaviness in my body whenever I thought that I “should” do some more Spanish.  I watched this for a day and realised that this was the problem.  Something I was supposedly doing to relax was actually causing me to get sick! 

If you’re honest with yourself, is there anything you’re doing in your life which might be detrimental to your health … but you don’t want to admit to it?

So, I had a word with myself.  I promised myself that I would listen to my inner voice.  If I thought about doing some Spanish and felt the heaviness descent, I wouldn’t do it.  I even gave myself permission to not be promoted each week, unless it just happened naturally.  And, like an addict, I promised myself I would stop each time it stopped being fun.

And guess what?  The pains started to dissipate in that moment and disappeared by the end of the next day.

The problem with taking responsibility for our actions is that, once acknowledged, we can no longer be an ostrich and pretend it has nothing to do with us!  So when people come to me, my main job at the beginning is to get them to take ownership of themselves, their attitudes and their behaviours. 

The biggest “Aha!” moment for people is when they realise that they are, and always have been, in control.  They are where they are as a result of all their choices up to that moment.  And if they don’t like where they are, they can simply make different choices.

And that’s when the healing begins!

How about making a list of a few things in your life which you aren’t happy with and then giving some thought to what the cause might be and the impact it might be having on your physical health?  And then decide on one change you can make to take back control.

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom

What Causes Disease?

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Have you ever wondered what causes disease?  I hadn’t.

I remember when I got sick for the first time.  It was quite a shock.  I had thought I was invincible and that my body would work perfectly for ever.  It never occurred to me that this wouldn’t be the case.  I had watched other people in my life being sick but had never thought to question why, or whether I might one day find myself in the same boat.

My initial reaction was outrage.  And then fear.  What was happening?  And my life was so busy that I really didn’t have time to do anything about it.  Maybe if I just ate some vegetables, it would all go back to normal?  Unfortunately, my stomach pain continued and eventually I had no choice but to go to the doctor.  After a load of tests (and inconvenience) it turns out that there was nothing wrong with me.  But the pain continued … so now what?  I had no idea how to stop the pain or, more importantly, what was causing it so that I could stop it happening again.

Sound familiar?

So, my doctor told me he could give me a tablet to help me relax, and that would help my stomach, but that I could only take it on a Friday evening … with no other explanation than that.  It sounded weird … but ok.  I said I’d give it a go.

I dutifully did as the doctor said (well, we do, don’t we?) and the next morning I woke up after 13 hours sleep, so dopey that I could hardly think.  I dragged myself down the road to the shops to get some food, staggered home and went back to bed.  I woke again at 10pm, had some water, and then slept again for another 12 hours.  By the Monday morning I was just about able to function well enough to go back to work.

This experience scared the hell out of me.  I never again wanted to take anything that did to me what that tiny pill had done … regardless of any supposed benefit to my health.  It turns out that this was an early version of antidepressant medication, which was regularly being prescribed in Germany, where I was living at the time.  Scary stuff.

The only option I had was to try and find out for myself why I had developed stomach pains.  Forty years ago, there was no internet and so it wasn’t easy, but with the help of a homeopath who prescribed Bach Flower remedies and who suggested some good reading material, I started to understand how it was stress that was the cause … and that I could do something about it!

I wonder if you’re in a similar situation?  Officially, there’s nothing wrong with you but you don’t feel like yourself at the moment? 

This started me on a journey of discovery and, a few years later, when I started studying acupuncture, I was amazed to discover that for thousands of years imploding emotions have been known to be a cause of disease … so I wasn’t mad after all!!  There was a form of medicine “out there” which confirmed to me that the body works the way I intuitively felt it did!  

Does this resonate with you?  Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired (sorry for the cliché) with no idea what to do?  Well, there are more causes of disease that I can tell you about and I’ll write more about them next time.  If you’re intrigued and curious to know more, please do let me know.

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom.

Food Sensitivity or Impaired Gut Function?

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What comes first … the chicken or the egg … food sensitivity or impaired gut function?  Are we becoming more and more sensitive to certain foods, resulting in issues with our digestion, or do we have a malfunctioning digestive system, which ends up not being able to cope with certain foods?  That’s the dilemma so many of my patients have, resulting in depression, exhaustion and pain.

Although it’s quite common, albeit not cheap, to have our hair samples tested for food intolerance, that may not be addressing the real issue.  It’s really easy to put the blame on the food we eat, but food is often not the culprit!  So, if it’s not food, what is?

If our digestive process is impaired and our gut isn’t functioning the way it should, then it’s obvious that certain food will be difficult to digest.  That’s not necessarily the food’s fault though!  Identifying and no longer eating that particular food is definitely helpful, but if the food is only the trigger, then you’re not healing your gut, you’re just no longer aggravating it.  Does this make sense?

So, what influences the gut and causes it to malfunction?  Several things!

Stress

  • Do you know the expression “I can’t stomach that”?  Often the phrases we use reflect the area of the body which is most likely to be affected by the stress we are feeling.  And the gut is known as the “second brain” as it has more nerve cells than the spinal cord or peripheral nervous system. So, stress (anger, frustration, anxiety, worry etc.) can have a major impact on the digestive function and cause pain. 

Nutritional Deficiencies

  • We need a complex mixture of enzymes, vitamins, minerals and amino acids in order for our digestion to work properly and the pH value of each section of the gastrointestinal tract, which reflects the acidity or alkalinity, is different.  If one area goes out of balance, it can impact everything else along the line.  And there is only one easy way I know of to find out how things stand.

Eating Habits

It’s not just what we eat that affects our gut.  It is often more important to look at HOW we eat.

  • Eating too quickly and not chewing enough.  The digestive process begins in the mouth and if our food isn’t prepared properly then our stomachs have to work harder to break it down.
  • Eating while discussing work, stressful issues or studying.  When requiring our stomach to digest food properly, we cannot expect it to be “digesting” difficult subjects as well.  Do one or the other!
  • Eating on the run.  This causes all manner of chemicals to flood our bodies which cause indigestion and stop the normal flow of food through the gut.
  • Eating too much.  If our stomachs are too full, our stomach acid can get diluted to the point of not being effective.
  • Eating late at night.  If we eat late, then we often go to sleep late and, don’t get enough nourishing sleep to see us through the following day.
  • Too much raw food.  The stomach heats everything up to 100 degrees before the food can be broken down, so loves soft, warm, vegetably, mushy food like soups, stews and risottos, as it doesn’t have to work too hard to process it.  If the stomach is already weak, it doesn’t want to have to deal with cold, hard, raw food.
  • Too much spicy food.  If the stomach is already too hot, then spicy food will cause more heat which can cause ulcers, gout etc.
  • Too much greasy, fried food blocks the digestive function, as does too much sugar.  I know … it’s the stuff we love, which does the most harm.  Sorry!
  • Eating nothing all day and then shovelling food in late in the evening!  Our stomachs want to sleep when we do.

Our stomach energy is at its most effective around 7am in the morning.  Do you remember the Homepride adverts with the little guys in white coats and bowler hats?  Imagine you have a team of these workers in your stomach, raring to go and looking up at the funnel which delivers their day’s work to them, waiting for the breakfast which will form the basis of your daily energy … and all they receive is a cup of coffee.  They are still ready and waiting at lunchtime, when you eat a sandwich and a packet of crisps, and by the time it gets to the evening, when you (and they) are getting ready to slow down, you give them a huge meal to deal with.  Their response, figuratively speaking, is: “You’ve got to be joking!! What do you expect us to do with this at this time of night?” 

So, we haven’t nourished ourselves well, our bodies have been flooded with stress and adrenaline all day, and we then wonder why we are exhausted all the time!

We need to try to make sure our gut is healthy if we want to feel energised and ready to live our best life.  But how do we go about finding out what’s really going on inside?  One simple and fast way to discover more is with a test which highlights any major food sensitivities as well as checking each section of our gut to identify any weaknesses.

This scan provides information about food you may currently have an intolerance to and/or what may be inflaming or weakening your gut.  It then creates a personalised liquid remedy for you, which acts like a nudge to your immune system, basically saying, “Hey, here’s a blueprint of what a healthy digestive tract is supposed to look like, and mine doesn’t, so please start the rebalancing process to make mine function as it should!”

It is really tough when we are scared to eat and don’t know whether we’ll feel worse afterwards.  But there is hope.  If you are unfamiliar with bioresonance, you can read more about it here.  Then, go and find a bioresonance practitioner, or simply email me at dena@oppenheimer.co.uk and have the scan.  It’s painless, doesn’t take long and you don’t even need to be present if you don’t want to be … a hair sample will suffice to identify you for the scans.  And the best thing is … it’s not just information … it kickstarts the rebalancing process!

I appreciate that there is a lot of information in this article.  Can I suggest that you re-read it again in a couple of days and highlight the bits that speak to you?  Even changing one thing could make a huge difference to your wellbeing.

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom