| When nutritionist Danielle Pashko was bedridden with Lyme disease and POTS she knew there had to be something out there to help her restore her health. She had been working in the top functional medicine clinic in New York City at the time and had resources to try every cutting edge therapy out there. What ended up restoring her energy and her health surprised her. It wasn’t the glutathione IVs nor the hyperbaric oxygen, though they helped, it was daily Qi Gong and Tai Chi practices. Being a former yoga instructor and fitness enthusiast she always felt better when she moved but with debilitating dizziness, muscle aches and fatigue she was wiped out just trying to live. Looking for something she could do that didn’t exhaust her, cause more pain or ramp up dizziness, she started with Qi Gong. Qi Gong is a combination of breath and movement that doesn’t require a lot of movement. With the help of an instructor she was able to slowly increase her Qi Gong practices and eventually moved into pairing it with Tai Chi. Looking back at her journey, Danielle credits the nervous system balancing effects of these two martial arts as what truly restored her health. At the root of most illness is a stressed nervous system that either leaves you susceptible to an infection or creates stagnation of blood flow in a particular area. Qi Gong and Tai Chi are both designed to move blood through specific organs and organ channels in the Chinese Medicine system. The techniques used in these martial arts challenge the nervous system and help regulate it’s signaling throughout the body while the calm and gentle flow of the movements soothes the nervous system. I often recommend and do bits and pieces of these martial arts practices but after hearing Danielle’s story I’m thinking it’s time to incorporate a routine of both into my daily routines. Like Danielle was, I am drawn to the CrossFit, F45 fast paced workouts and heavy weight lifting…so when I think of Tai Chi I visualize older people in the park. The older I get, the younger “older” people get so – I’m thinking it’s time to make these ancient practices cool so we can all benefit from them! Let’s face it – we all know managing stress is a big deal but who can say they’ve mastered it? I know I haven’t. You know what soothes you. This is why food is comfort for so many of us. Since I’ve learned unlimited wood fired extra mushroom truffle oil pizza, Italian wine and single origin chocolate binge sessions aren’t the best soothing method for me – I have to move on to the next best thing. Movement. If movement isn’t your thing – Qi Gong doesn’t require much and there are some great folks on Youtube (I like QiGong Meditation Channel) as well as Danielle’s cost effective membership (her website link is below). Speaking of which, Danielle Pashko aka The Soul Hakker is on my podcast today and we went live on IG yesterday where she treated me to an energy boosting gut awakening Qi Gong session (click the link below to check it out). She’s inspired me to get back into a routine of daily Qi Gong and weekly Tai Chi to help with circulation and nervous system regulation. And in case you were thinking…I don’t have time for this…these routines are often 10 minutes or less – you can do this! Perhaps she can inspire you as well! Here’s to tapping into martial arts to support our nervous systems, Dr. J |
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