Organic Growers School

The event that heralds spring in these mountains will happen again this weekend at UNCA in the Alumni Hall in the Highsmith Union Building. This is always a wonderful opportunity to gather the latest information about growing organic and hanging out with interesting folks.

Healing Innovations will be there to provide free demonstrations of the remarkable biofeedback pain relieving technology called SCENAR. If you have been interested in trying the SCENAR, here’s your chance. If you mention you read about it on the blog, we will be happy to provide you with a free full session at our office (a $65 value). Drop by our table and meet the three highly trained and experienced SCENAR therapists now in Asheville. Besides giving you a chance to experience the SCENAR itself, we will be happy to answer your questions, provide information, and let you see what all the excitement over this technology is about.

The Organic Grower’s School is one of the greatest events of the year. Don’t miss it. See you there!

The Benefit of SCENAR in Traumatic Injury – Christina’s Story

I am a Scenar practitioner, and have used this wonderful technology on myself, my family, and hundreds of clients over the past 8 years.  I never had the opportunity to test its capabilities in a situation involving a serious injury with a great deal of pain, however, until I broke my wrist this past December. I knew that Russian practitioners treat injuries with Scenar at athletic events all the time, but I had not experienced this myself.

Sorry if I’m getting too graphic, but my injury involved a whiplash to my left wrist that broke my radius (the large forearm bone) clear through and tore many ligaments.  All I knew at the time, though, was that it hurt so much I thought I would pass out and was deep breathing to keep the pain tolerable.  On a pain scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst imaginable), it was definitely a 10.   Fortunately, I had my Ritm Scenar with me and immediately began treating my wrist while my sister drove to the hospital.  I put the frequency on 350 Hz, turned the power up as high as I could take and held it on the most painful spots as well as stroking all around my wrist.  For the first 15 minutes, I didn’t feel much relief, but noticed the swelling was minimal and the pain wasn’t increasing, as it usually does when swelling begins.

I continued treating myself non-stop and by the time I was checked in and waiting for a doctor, amazingly enough my wrist was actually feeling better.  The whole wrist still felt mangled but the pain was really manageable.  When they asked how bad the pain was, I told them it was a 10 so they would take me seriously.  But I thought to myself: actually, now it feels more like a 4-5!  Wow. The swelling was so minimal  (only about the size of a large egg), that it looked like a minor injury. When I broke a smaller bone in my ankle years before, it had swollen to the size of a melon.

During this entire time I had not taken any kind of medication for pain or inflammation. But after 2 hours of Scenar treatment, not only was the pain way down, but I also felt more clear and relaxed because the pain wasn’t dizzying me and making me tense up anymore.  My sister couldn’t believe how calm and collected I was, and neither could I.  I had to stop using the Scenar while they took x-rays, and the pain started to return.  As soon as I could, I slapped it on again!

Having broken bones before, I knew it was broken from the minute it happened, but judging by the swelling and my composure, none of the hospital staff thought it was broken until the x-rays came back. They told me it was broken almost like they couldn’t believe it. But it was broken pretty badly and they wanted an orthopedic surgeon to set it.  Unfortunately, none were available on Saturday so they put me in a splint, gave me an Rx for pain meds and told me to call an orthopedic doctor on Monday – 2 days away!  I couldn’t believe I was going to have to wait 2 days to have my bone set.

The next 2 days were the most challenging part of the whole ordeal because I couldn’t treat my wrist with the Scenar now that it was in a splint.  I knew I could take pain meds, but I try to stay away from medications as much as possible (ok, I’m a purist).  But I also wanted to keep testing the Scenar, which had so far exceeded all my expectations for reducing pain and inflammation.   I went home, exhausted and daunted at the prospect of having to treat myself constantly for the next two days.  An hour after they put on the splint, the pain was creeping back in.  How was I going to do it?  To make myself feel better, I even thought how lucky I was compared to a pioneer with a broken wrist, with no Scenar or fancy splints bumping along in a wagon for days to find a doctor!

Fortunately, my dear friend and business partner, Penny Bond, came over that afternoon to give me a treatment.  We knew from Scenar training that treating the paired, uninjured limb was the next best thing to directly treating an injury. Our instructors said that treating an uninjured limb is 80% as effective in treating an injury as treating the injured limb.  This is because the nervous system does not distinguish between the nerves of paired limbs, and sends almost as much healing energy to the opposite limb as to the one being treated.  But honestly, I didn’t believe it would help that much.  I just couldn’t see how treating my right arm was going to relieve the intense pain in my left.  Amazingly, it did.  As soon as she started treating my right wrist, my left felt markedly better.

This experience gave me the courage to continue treating myself by laying my right wrist on the Scenar and using electrode patches on my right wrist for the next 2 days.  The pain was worst at night, when I went for hours with no treatment, but I managed to make it until Tuesday morning, when I went in for surgery, without taking any pain medication whatsoever.  I feel that this is nothing short of a miracle.  I only wish that every sports team and every hospital and doctor in our country utilized Scenar technology the way they do in Russia and much of Europe.

Christina Morrison recently joined our Healing Innovations team. She is a certified Scenar practitioner who introduced Penny to the Scenar back in 2004.   She has also practiced massage, energy balancing and movement therapies for over 20 years.  An NC native, she returned last summer from Austin, TX, and is very happy to be back in her beloved mountains. She can be reached at 828-273-7131. (See her interview with Penny, posted below.)

An Interview with Scenar Therapist Christina Morrison

Nearly six and a half years ago, Christina Morrison and her work with Scenar changed my life. Below is an interview with her about her journey as a healer using this remarkable healing tool.

Penny: What is your background that you think led you to Scenar?

Christina: I’ve been on a healing path my whole life…. always involved with healing arts in some way.  I was a licensed massage therapist in Texas for the past 10 years.  I’m certified in polarity, rebirthing, and cranial-sacral therapy.  I worked in two destination wellness spas for years, practicing massage, Thai massage, aromatherapy, Ayurveda, hydrotherapy, and chakra balancing. Prior to that, I studied movement therapy and taught dance. All those modalities were wonderful, but I wanted to help people heal and change in even deeper and more lasting ways.

Penny: What gifts, experiences, or interests drew you toward alternative healing?

Christina: I’ve always loved touch.  I love receiving massage and also sharing that experience with others.  I lost my brother to cancer when he was only 16…. and he spent a lot of time in hospitals.   That was a very painful experience that inspired me to pursue alternative healing.   I’ve also had some chronic conditions that kept me searching for relief.  I’ve experienced all kinds of healing art forms… and everything that’s helped me, I’ve shared with others.

Penny:  How did you encounter the Scenar?

Christina:  I took a workshop in 2003 from a Scenar practitioner who was also an acupuncturist.  He said it was one of those rare tools that could “raise the dead!”  That was a bit of an exaggeration but it definitely got my attention.  He found that Scenar treated his clients faster and more effectively than acupuncture.  It was not like anything I’d encountered before.  Here I was using a mechanical tool… a very different experience for a “naturalist” like me!   I was leery at first, but when I started seeing amazing results, I was convinced.

Penny:  What are some of the more dramatic results you’ve seen in working with the Scenar?

Christina: A client came to me with extreme fatigue and brain fog to the point of having brain scans. She was having trouble putting sentences together and no one could figure out what was wrong.  I’d just been trained on Denas Scenar and wasn’t sure I could help her.  Fortunately, Scenar shows where the dysfunction is, so I worked on the areas revealed: her neck and the back of her head. She came in hardly able to get up the stairs and left feeling great!  After eight sessions she had her full energy and cognition back. That amazed us both. I also saw a client who’d had a stroke that left her numb on one side of her body. After fourteen sessions she regained full sensation and her balance also improved. And then, of course, there was you.

Penny: Yes, you worked with me twice and I was so impressed with my improvement, I decided to buy one in order to continue to work on myself. My story can be found on the About page of this blog.

Christina: I’ve only had one person who experienced no results. They had neuropathy, which is when nerves die.  Everyone else I’ve worked with has had good results. I’ve worked with several hundred people and have seen it over and over relieve pain, restore function, improve energy levels, and enhance mood and a sense of well being.  Scenar causes the release of neuropeptides which the body uses to heal itself, including endorphins, which relieve pain and improve mood.  But it’s worth owning a device if all you ever did was neutralize insect bites and stings!  Living in Texas, I really appreciated that.  I’ve completely eliminated all effects of stings, including scorpions, in minutes.

Read more »

Holistic and Integrative Initiative in Asheville

Asheville has long been recognized as a “Mecca” of sorts for those interested in holistic and natural health. It has a large collection of practitioners involved in every sort of educational and service provision that encompasses the world of alternative medicine. For the individual who first begins the exploration of this world, the myriad of options can be overwhelming, and I have often heard expressed the concern that no one can seem to get a handle on this “cloud” of practitioners and what the opportunities they offer really are. This may, indeed, be changing.

To get a glimpse of the emerging vision of the future of medicine, I would recommend reading the white paper, 21st Century Medicine: A New Model for Medical Education and Practice, published by the Institute of Functional Medicine. It presents a vision of a multidisciplinary medical practice of the future where conventional medical doctors and alternative practitioners work as a team to provide the highest quality, cost effective, patient centered care to those seeking to improve their health.

Impossible you say? Perhaps not. I attended the meeting of the Asheville HUB this morning to hear the report of the Integrative Health taskforce which presented a breakout session during the recent Institute for Emerging Issues in Raleigh that focused on healthcare. In the IEI report given out at the HUB meeting, the regional healthcare innovations were highlighted. Our western region was designated for integrative healthcare. Also presented was the Integrative Health taskforce’s proposal for a Center for Integrative Health for Western North Carolina. From that proposal the following strategy is outlined:

“Establish Asheville as THE National City of Health and Wellness, a nationally recognized apex of the practice of Integrative Health in the U.S. This recognition will:

1. Provide a unifying focus for all providers of integrative health, including allopathic/osteopathic and complementary and alternative practitioners in WNC
2. Highlight the Asheville Area as a primary location of Integrative Health
3. Create a Board of Visitors composed of nationally-recognized allopathic/osteopathic, CAM professionals and other national leaders
4. Host national educational and research conferences on Integrative Health
5. Serve as a national Center for Public Healthcare Policy and best practices as applied to health and wellness.”

The implications of this are profound for those who are providing CAM services and those who are seeking a more comprehensive and organized access to those services.

I intend to follow this closely and will keep you abreast of what emerges.

Penny

Another Highly Trained and Experienced SCENAR Practitioner Comes to Asheville

Back in 2004, when my right arm had been put in a splint after 3 months of ineffective medical interventions, a friend of mine after watching my struggle and misery, said, “Penny, you need to let Christina (her daughter) work on you with her weird little Russian voodoo device.” Having nothing to lose, I did. And Christina Morrison’s work on me with the device changed my life.

Through the years, Christina (who lived in Texas) and I trained together and kept in touch about our various other training experiences and work with clients. Then to my complete delight, her mother told me last summer that Christina would be moving to this area. We have been working together since September both on others and each other. It has proven to be a valuable collaboration for both of us.

I plan to have an interview with her posted soon, plus a story about a recent amazing personal experience using SCENAR she has had related to a significant injury. Stay Tuned!

Penny

Most Comprehensive Information on SCENAR

I have just discovered a paper written and copyrighted by the Pacific Northwest Foundation, that is very complete and well done overall. In appendix D are flowcharts for the SCENAR protocols that I’ve found nowhere else except in training manuals. The article is 41 pages long, but worth the read.

http://pnwf.org/SCENAR_Article__Expanded__Revised___2_.pdf

Post Polio Syndrome and Homeopathy Update

On October 20th I wrote about deciding to explore homeopathy as a way to deal with the fatigue of Post Polio Syndrome (see the past post). I wanted to write now about what I have found in that exploration.

It has been three and a half months that I have been taking the remedy that Steve Coward gave me. What I first noticed was that I had unexpected energy and alertness in the evenings. Then I realized I wasn’t experiencing any mid-afternoon energy dive. As time passed, I noticed that I hadn’t had any bouts of central nervous system fatigue (I still haven’t). I began to have a sense of well being I hadn’t known in a very long time.

Wikipedia pans homeopathy, and perhaps it’s a placebo effect, but I’m convinced. I would, from my experience, recommend to anyone with PPS to try homeopathy. It might not work, every individual is different, but there is no reason I can think of not to try it. Based on the improvement I feel in my own health, I want to let everyone know this may be an undiscovered option.

SCENAR is, in my experience, also very helpful to those who have PPS. I believe it somehow nourishes the 40% of remaining motor neurons that are struggling to survive under the load. I have given treatments to a number of clients with Post Polio Syndrome, and the most of them were amazed by their improvement, just as I was 6 years ago with I encountered it.

Just wanted to pass along more options. Options are freeing and empowering.

SCENAR and Complementarity

One of the most wonderful things about SCENAR is how it complements any other modalities that are available in the treatment of pain. There is one exception to this, which is important for those who are considering using SCENAR to know. If  narcotic pain killing pharmaceuticals are being used on a schedule of more than once a day, the receptor sites for the body’s own opiate substances (endorphins) are taken up by the synthetic narcotic drug and prevent the body from using its own internal pharmacy to address pain.

The SCENAR’s main action is to help the body regulate and heal itself. Pain relief is the most obvious of the effects, however, much more is being activated within the body to reestablish homeostasis. In my experience over the last 6 years, I have noticed that clients who are using other modalities as well as SCENAR find that they make better progress toward healing. I have worked closely with chiropractors who find that SCENAR treatments can make adjustments easier and that they hold better. SCENAR also can find subluxations in the spine easily, which can be addressed quickly by the Chiropractor.

There is an acupuncturist, Dr. Donald Snow, in Louisiana who uses SCENAR and acupuncture together and finds that his results are better with the combination than with using either modality alone.

There have been times, because of Post Polio Syndrome, when I have used Physical Therapy.  Along with the PT, I have used SCENAR to ameliorate the pain that can result from those treatments. I have also found that I recover a lot faster, since using the SCENAR in this way, than I did before I had the SCENAR to complement what I was doing in PT.

My experiences with the complementary way in which SCENAR works with massage therapy have been impressive.  If someone has a SCENAR treatment before a massage, the relaxation and pain relieving effect is enhanced. It also makes it easier for the massage therapist because it is easier to go more deeply into the muscles to effect a release.

In SCENAR literature it is often suggested that when working with someone who is taking a pharmaceutical for a chronic condition such as diabetes, that the levels of the drug be monitored. This is because as the body begins to balance itself and recover, not as much of the drug will be necessary.

Unlike the idea in conventional medicine that one cure fixes all, natural medicine recognizes the uniqueness of each individual, and that very often a mix of modalities appropriate to the individual will speed healing faster than using only one. For this reason it is good to find a natural practitioner, such as a naturopath, who understands this and can monitor your progress if you are using more than one modality.

This capacity of the SCENAR to complement other treatments is also a good reason to own one. If you are interested in discussing owning a SCENAR and which one might best suit your needs you can contact me at 828-337-6854.

1.1.11

Here we are standing at the beginning of every possibility. A clean slate, a new page upon which will be written the experiences of our lives. It always gives me pause to wonder what the new year will bring as I look forward with the hope and excitement of creating the reality of my life during the next twelve months.

Before Christmas, by complete accident (?), I happened to watch an interview with a lawyer turned author who had written a book about an endeavor he had accomplished during 2009 where he had written 365 thank you notes over the course of that year. Because of my understanding of the impact of gratitude on physical health and well being that had come to me through my work with clients seeking pain relief with the SCENAR, I knew this book would give me a new insight into what has become a fascination for me: Parasympathetic Mind. So, as soon as it came out on December 28, I bought the book and found that I could not put it down.

As a result, I have decided to try this experiment myself and my intention this year is to write 365 thank you notes. My first thank you note is to you, my readers.

To the readers of Healing Innovations blog:

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my sincere and best efforts in writing about what I do and what I am learning as a result of  this life path that I am engaged in. Your comments letting me know that what I am writing has meaning for you keeps me going. One of the filters of my life experience now is whether or not something I’ve encountered might be of interest to you. Your presence adds a new perspective on how I see the world, and that helps me grow in my own understanding of how to live in a state of Parasympathetic Mind. For that, I can never be thankful enough.

Best,

Penny

Wishing you all a year that brings you healing, joy, and success in every way. Life is good.

Key Aspects of the SCENAR Facilitated Healing Process

• Each SCENAR session is unique because the body guides the session according to its own wisdom, its current conditions, and priorities.
• The focus is on health and not on disease.
• There will be no diagnosis (naming), but rather identification of areas of imbalance.
• Recovery is quicker and easier in a clean, active, nourished body.
• Healing often starts in the mind with recognition and positive intentions.
• Recovery is slower and may be less effective if there is no real desire to heal and change for the better.
• An improved mood is a sign that recovery is proceeding positively and that the body will follow.
• Natural body healing typically proceeds from recent conditions to older conditions, more vital organs to less vital organs, from inside to outside, and from top to bottom.
• Incomplete adaptive reactions develop in layers with each layer itself being organized differently. Typically, natural healing starts with the upper most layer which is expressing itself by a key symptom.
• Any shift or change is an important positive sign.
• Sometimes a sign of successful treatment occurs with a short aggravation of the key symptoms. A short aggravation is good and often means that the proper function has been stimulated and healing has begun.
• After one layer of healing has occurred, symptoms of an older, deeper layers of  incomplete adaptive reactions may express (the body’s unfinished business). These old symptoms are also good and indicate that the body is ready to heal an even deeper problem.
• Pharmaceutical medications (especially narcotic pain killers) may make it difficult to follow symptoms and complete adaptive reactions. However, as the body begins to heal, medication amounts required may lessen (for example with blood pressure medication, etc.), and so should be monitored closely.
• SCENAR is complementary to all natural healing treatments and modalities.
• Treatment is always more effective during a period of symptom expression.
• Rare intense reactions are a profound sign of healing.
• Absence of symptoms may not be a sign of health but instead a body blocked by incomplete actions. The SCENAR can identify these situations.
• The goal is to achieve the most while doing the least.
• The more recent the problem, the faster the recovery.
• Acute conditions need frequent, close together sessions.
• Chronic conditions need 1-3 sessions per week.
• Function may be restored before all symptoms leave.
• In chronic situations, maximum benefit may not manifest for 1-3 months after a course of treatment has been completed.