Chronic Wellness

Chronic Wellness

By Annette LeonardHealth & Fitness
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Chronic Wellness episodes

  • Episode 392: Do My Words And Thoughts Directly Affect My Health?
    Do our words and thoughts directly affect our health? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard
    In the early 2000's there was an independent film called "What the Bleep do We Know?" exploring how quantum mechanics work in our lives. It was my first exposure to the idea of manifesting. In that movie I learned about Matsaru Emoto. He documented the impact of various things on water. He has a book called "The Hidden Messages in Water."
    Understanding that most of our bodies and much of the world's surface IS water, this research seems incredibly important. Dr. Emoto compared the crystal structure of different drops of water in different conditions. Sometimes he took a picture of a drop of water, then exposed it to lovingkindness meditation, then photographed that same drop of water and it had grown elaborate and beautiful new crystal structures.
    Conversely, he took heavily polluted water - which under magnification didn't look like a crystal but a chaotic, splattery mess, and after doing a meditation for it, stunningly beautiful intricate crystals appeared. Beautiful crystal structures can be present and when exposed to people fighting or hateful messages, it turns into that disjointed, messy, no longer crystalline structure.
    OUR BODIES are more than 70% water. What messages are we bathing OUR water in? Are we cultivating our greatest capacity for healing? The best opportunity to knit together and form strong structures?
    Being sick, living in isolation, there are so many ways to compare myself and come up short.
    When His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet first came to the US. Sharon Saltzberg was among those who met him. She asked what are your teachings for helping those of us dealing with self-hatred. The meeting had to stop while he met with his interpreters and advisors. Because in Tibetan, there was no word or concept for "self-hatred."
    Capitalism requires self-hatred.
    What is the medicine you need to hear? If you don't know, start with "I love you."
    These studies have been replicated again and again. Even just with a bottle of water where a loving message like "I love you," "you're beautiful," "thank you," and left for 24 hours, yielded spectacularly beautiful crystals. And the opposite was also true: when messages like "I hate you," "you're ugly," etc. were taped on the bottle and left for 24 hours, there was no crystal structure left to photograph.
    15 min
  • Episode 391: Does How We Talk About Our Illness Matter?
    Does how we talk about our illness change the trajectory of our illness? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com you can find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard
    Often when faced with illness we speak in violent metaphors: being a warrior, tackling, battling, fighting. We talk about me against the disease. We think of it as a fight. This seems logical. It seems like I'm working against something that's working against me.
    As the pandemic proved out, we talked about how the virus was attacking us. It seems like second nature and something we don't even pause to question. However, I think it's worthwhile to pause and consider. Especially for those of us with prolonged illness.
    Many masters have taught the idea of "that which we resist persists." I've talked here before about how learning to have peace and have acceptance about my illness have brought different kinds of benefits to me. We also have lots of research about how our mind/thoughts impact our experience. So if my thoughts are on pathologizing/battling, what does that mean?
    When I'm sick for a long time, what does it mean if I'm not fighting? Am I giving up? Giving in? I think there's a lot of benefit to making peace with our illnesses. I can journal and ask "what do you need illness? What changes could I make that could quiet you? How could I invite you to calm down?"
    These battle metaphors aren't the only options.
    My next Chronic Wellness Conversation will be with Jake Eagle, author of "The Power of A.W.E." on October 12 at 11 am PST on IG Live. Join us!
    8 min
  • Episode 389: Change Just One Thing
    Change just one thing. I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com you can find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard/
    I took the longest break I’ve ever taken since starting Chronic Wellness. It’s good to be back. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be starting a broadcast called Chronic Wellness Conversations on IG Live. This will be starting this fall on Thursdays at 11am PST. I’ll be chatting with authors, thought leaders, activists and other sick folks about how to have illness and pain while trying to also lead a rich and meaningful life. More details soon.
    I was at the Neurologist recently talking about my daily migraines. The doctor had several suggestions about things I should change from habits related to stress reduction techniques and diet, to medication changes both dosages of things I’m on now and adding in a new med. I was again reminded that when I’m eager and hopeful it’s easy to take on too much too quickly.
    Early on I would change multiple things all at the same tame and if something shifted for the better — I didn’t know how to parse what made the difference. Hence today’s topic, change just one thing. It’s simple but not always easy.
    Change one thing, wait, then change one more thing. With my neurology appointment, I’m going to change the dose of the med and wait 4-6 weeks, then make the dietary change and wait 4-6 weeks, then add the other med and wait 4-6 weeks. For me, it can take a while to really see if it will take a while to see what the impact of these changes are.
    Nutrition science is now telling us that we might not notice the effects of a change for up to a month. What does that mean for how we should structure an elimination diet? How slowly should we take out foods? How slowly should we add them back in? Yes, this takes a lot more time — but what could be more worth it? What if it saves time in the long run?
    Also, when we’re experiencing so much pain, it’s difficult to notice the discrete differences across and between the days. What makes a difference? The weather? The time of day? My hormones? The season? Therefore, tracking my pain matters a lot. Many of us, too, were taught to tune out our bodies messages. Tracking helps me learn my bodies signals.
    If I’m making changes, tracking helps me understand whether those changes are making a difference.
    12 min
  • Episode 388: Out Of Office
    This is is a brief video to tell you I'm Out of the Office. I'm taking a break this summer. My recording space (our guest room) is going to be occupied and we have some other projects so I'm going to pause.
    I'll be returning at the end of August/beginning of September. There are more than 385 episodes for you to watch or listen to if you're missing me.
    If there are topics you want me to discuss please tell me.
    The reason my channel is called Chronic Wellness is about seeking spiritual wellness and seeking ways to lift our spirits. My mom always knew the Methodist hymns by heart. One of those hymns was "It is Well with my Soul." Whether it is engaging my mind, heart, body, or spirit -- I am always seeking ways to make it well with my soul.
    I hope you are finding ways to keep your soul well.
    5 min
  • Episode 387: Non-Duality And Chronic Illness
    Duality is either/or thinking. We tend to gravitate toward this type of thinking by habit. However, non-duality allows us to embrace multiplicities.
    In the context of chronic pain and illness non-duality allows us to recognize "I am not this illness." We are often pathologized. Rather than thinking just about what's wrong with us we can remember we contain multitudes.
    Also, non-duality can remind me I am the being experiencing x. There can be a layer or distance that gets inserted. Having a contemplative practice has supported this ability. Giving me a bit of space between me and the pain or difficulty. I'm cultivating a skill of stillness that means I have a pause to say "I am the being having that experience." In the space other things become possible -- I can insert a bit of life in that pause.
    I think that's also why person-centered language is important: when say "she's a person with a disability" rather than "she's disabled" it acknowledges that she's a person having that experience rather than that being the whole of who she is.
    A tool I was introduced to by Nikki Silvestri is using the phrase "and also." We don't have to negate what is happening but expand what's true, it allows for multiple realities and paradox.
    As you play with non-duality, tell me how can you use "yes and" in your daily life. Do you have a contemplative practice? What do you do? How long? If not, why not -- what are the obstacles that keep you from a practice?
    10 min
  • Episode 386: Pride - Families Of Choice
    It's the first week of Pride month so I'm talking about families of choice. When I came out it was not welcome. While my folks are fairly liberal and who, in the early 70's adopted kids of color and fought against racism (even in their own families). However, they weren't similarly prepared to accept me as queer.
    Especially for my mom: the church and the south led her to believe that my love was inferior, was wrong, and separated me from the love of God. That meant that I started building a family of choice. This was highlighted recently with my nephew. He'd had a terrible interaction with my dad (his papa) and we started talking about not being seen or loved enough by our family members. This led to a conversation about getting to build a family of choice.
    Some are lucky to be born with people who see them and many of us aren't. So we can assemble the people we can relate to as mamas, aunties, siblings, and cousins. Tell them that's who they are to you. The lesson I learned in queer spaces applies to being a sick person, too. Those whom we thought we could depend on may not be the people who stick around. We may have to "build" new families of choice. We are worth having family of choice to count on.
    9 min
  • Episode 385: Alternate Therapies
    Today I'm wrapping up my series about alternative medical therapies.
    I thought I'd take a moment to address what I didn't in last week's episode -- the fact that if you're watching this on video my look has changed dramatically. I'm now bald.
    If you search alternative medical treatments on Wikipedia there are dozens if not a couple of hundred treatments listed. I won't get to all of those.
    I think most all of us with chronic conditions are met with others' opinions about what will transform our health. That seems to be based on a deep seeded discomfort with prolonged, on-going, unsolvable pain and illness. I think others are afraid of our circumstances. The tendency to try and solve and fix are often the first thing (rather than being inclined to be curious, or to be *with*) are what people go to first.
    My response these days is generally, "thank you" (next). I've had some success with alternate therapies -- even if they don't help my body they might help my spirit. Now I'm trying to check in with my gut and heart about what I want to try. Then it comes down to prioritizing my resources.
    What have you tried? Are there things that you've tried that have made you feel a lot better?
    9 min
  • Episode 384: Alternative Therapies - Energy Healing
    Energy medicine is likely one of the oldest forms of medicine. This might include reiki, body talk, EFT, medical intuit or other names. Whether we call it qi, chi, prana, or atomic energy, or life force, there is energy running through us and that energy can be influenced and manipulated.
    Energy practitioners influence or direct the energy within my body to generate greater comfort or healing. Through things like muscle testing, or indicators in my pulse or reading my energy in other ways, they use that information to conduct their healing. This can be done with or without touch.
    This healing can be subtle or very dramatic. As with any health care, getting good recommendations is important. What's nice is that the risks of negative side effects are low.
    Have you tried it? What have you found? Are you an energy worker?
    7 min
  • Episode 383: Alternative Therapies - Earthing
    I'm talking today about a therapy that is rather woo. It is called Earthing. With more than 30 years of medical studies performed on it, I was surprised that I didn't learn of it until very recently. Simply put, it is the practice of putting your bare skin on the earth.
    The idea came from the fact that we walked the earth for millennia without shoes. In our modern world we're receiving all kinds of wave particles both natural and artificial. Artificial waves like wifi, cell, and electromagnetic. We are taking in the waves and don't have ways of discharging them.
    Our electrical outlets have grounding sockets. Researchers are finding that our bodies, too, need to be grounded. When we just touch the earth, we start to discharge the excess electric energy that builds up in us. We can test this just with a home volt meter. But the studies go on to show that inflammation, pain, weight, blood thickness are examples of things that have all shifted with just short but regular bouts of contact with the earth.
    This is absolutely the lowest tech, most accessible change that most of us can make and see whether or not it helps. There is a movie on YouTube called The Earthing Movie https://youtu.be/44ddtR0XDVU
    Didn't all the children already know this? Don't all the gardeners know this? This is concrete evidence about the way nature heals us.
    Have you heard about earthing? Have you tried it? What are your experiences
    10 min
  • Episode: 382 Alternative Therapies - Sound Healing
    As I continue to discuss alternative methods of healing today I'm talking about sound therapy or sound healing. Maybe you know about Tibetan singing bowls or have heard about taking a sound bath. When we talk about sound healing, that is a broad term that implies using the modality of sound for various types of intended purposes.
    I have experienced sound healings on the floor on a mat, I've been on massage-type table, and I've experienced two "floating" sound baths one in the silks (typically used acrobatically) and one in water. Often singing bowls are involved, often drums, gongs, tuning forks, or voices are involved. The theory behind the practice is that because our bodies are 60% water, vibration from sound effectively penetrates our tissue. Therefore, blood pressure, mood, and even pain can be impacted by sound.
    The floating sound bath when I was suspended in the silks was particularly distinct for me because the sound so thoroughly enveloped and surrounded me. The experience was so soothing and immersive. It was conducted by a woman whose pain was also transformed by sound healing after a car accident. Sound healing shifted what acupuncture, physical therapy, and medication hadn't.
    For me, sound healing is moving and nourishing. Research has even shown that different frequencies access different states of being. Different hertz help us access delta, theta, and other brain states. See how listening at those frequencies impact your nervous system.
    Have you had a sound healing? How has it worked for you?
    I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.
    Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.
    9 min

About Chronic Wellness

From the publisher's feed

Are you one of the millions living with a chronic illness or pain? Our diseases may be very different, but we have many of the same experiences, obstacles and frustrations. We are all working for a better quality of life knowing that pain and limitations will be our traveling companions. My name is Annette and I'm the host of Chronic Wellness, a brief, weekly, podcast where we talk about it all: sex, self-care, mental heath, loss of identity, anger, how to navigate health care and have less days that suck so hard.