Before we are ready to make changes in our life, we need to have a foundational understanding of “our self”. We are more than bones and blood, although modern medicine focuses on this aspect the most – especially when it comes to diabetes management!  Yet, what we see in the body is often the result of issues in other parts of us.  Wellness can never come from a place of lack, so we must understand how to fill up and restore wholeness.   In this three-part series, I will cover three simple and practical Nurse Coaching tools to understand this principle.

Your Body

Let’s start with the easy part first – our physical self.  The bones, blood, muscles, nerves organs, and such that make up our body.  When early scientists began studying our inner parts and their functions, the treatment of disease became focused on correcting the observed flaws in the organs.  That premise is the foundation for modern medicine.  Similar to how machines work, we fix the broken parts to fix the entire system.  It has saved countless lives over the centuries, but it also created the notion that these organs function separately from each other.  This body-centric scientific method also discounted the impact of the mind, emotions, and spirit on health and wholeness.

If we go back to basics we can agree that the body is alive.  A living, growing, evolving entity.  And life moves.  From the smallest nano-particle to large organs there is movement.  Lack of movement is the main criterion for death.  No respirations, no heartbeat, no brain activity are the criteria that define death.   From this simple truth, we get our first action to create wellness and health in your body. We must create flow in the body.

Flow in the Body

Our physical systems are interactive, they impact each other in amazing ways.  Our muscle movement promotes blood flow, our respirations change our nervous system, our nervous system impacts our digestion and on and on.  These relationships are not linear in nature (A changes B changes C) but integrated and interdependent like a sphere (A ripples throughout the sphere impacting  B, C, D, E, F……).  All of our systems have movement and flow.  Here are some examples:

• blood flows through our veins and arteries
• breath flows through our lungs
• food and nourishment flow through our digestive tract
• electrical impulses flow though our nervous system
• lymph fluid flows through our lymphatic system
• energy flows throughout every cell and tissue in our body
• Waves of light and sound flow through our eyes, ears, vocal cords and skin
• hormones flow through our blood and cells
• glucose flows in and out of cell walls

We find dis-ease, dis-comfort, and inflammation when any of these systems are not in flow.  Diabetes is the disruption of glucose flowing into the cell.  Hypertension is a disruption of blood flow.  Asthma is the disruption of airflow in the lungs.  You get the picture.  When we have stagnation, things get sticky, stinky and painful.  Sort of like a river that isn’t flowing.  It can’t support life.

Change the flow, Change your health

There are a million treatments for all the ways flow can be disrupted.  This suggestion is not a replacement for any medical plan you have been prescribed, rather a large “AND”.  Move the body towards wellness with medical treatment that makes sense.  For those of us with diabetes, insulin and other medications make sense.  AND do simple things to improve flow.

Remember we are a system, so improving flow in one area ripples to the other systems.  Not sure where to start?  The first is easy.  Move your body.  We have become a sitting, watching, observing culture.  We don’t move a lot.  So start with something that makes sense for your life today.  Maybe stretching?  Perhaps a walk outside?  How would it feel to take some deep breaths throughout the day?  Check out this podcast for some simple techniques to liven up your lymphatic system.  It doesn’t have to be drastic or so difficult.  Find something you are willing to do that seems enjoyable.  Perhaps even a bit indulgent!

Fold in a bit of stimulation of your senses and you get a double whammy!  Snap some pics of the sky, some plants, or a landscape.  Focus in on the smell and feel of lotion as you moisturize your body (bend over and love on those feet!  Stretch!)  Breathe deeply and notice how your anxiety softens a bit.  Have sex!  Walk an extra lap around the office on the way to the water cooler or bathroom.  Maintaining hydration keeps everything flowing and regular bathroom breaks improve elimination.

Self Care is Necessary

The point is to do something easy, simple, enjoyable, on purpose because it feels good and benefits YOU!  This is good for your body!  Moving your body in any way stimulates the muscles, releases energy from the fascia, improves circulation, bolsters digestion, and just keeps rippling out.   It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you do it!  Over time, the extra energy you feel may encourage you to stretch your wings a bit.

But that is not for today.  Today is just to start moving however you can. Most of you have a phone, set a reminder to do “your flow thing”.  Do it because you choose to. Do it because you can. Do it because it will make you feel better.  Do it because you deserve it.  Do it because you are worthy of being nice to yourself.  Do it because it will allow you to do more for others. Do it because you recognize the life and flow in your body.  Do it because you chose something that feeds your spirit (more on that later!).  Do it because it honors the “you” you know you can be.

Lastly, after you do “your flow thing” celebrate that you did it. However much you did.  No criticism allowed.   There is no perfection in this.  Just persistence.  Persistently doing something every day.  Somedays you’ll sweat.  Somedays you will just breathe and let go of the tension that is blocking your flow.

It’s all good.  Enjoy it.  Recognize the benefit. Go with the flow.

Cheers to better health!

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