As with any system of the body, there are things we can do to optimize its function. Unlike the circulatory system, the lymphatic system doesn’t have a central pump (heart) to move fluids. It depends on the pumping action created by the movement of muscles; so exercise and activity are important to the functioning of the lymph system. The muscle movement of the diaphragm is a major mover of the lymph; therefore, good deep breathing is important.  A good balanced diet that maintains a healthy weight is also important. Treat yourself well and you’ll treat your lymph system well.

Unfortunately, despite good effort, not everyone is blessed with a healthy lymph system.

Whether it is residual damage from a surgery or a traumatic injury, or a genetic trait, some people experience an insufficient lymph system that causes chronic edema in their  leg (s) or arm (s); lymphedema. Many people are never adequately treated. In the USA manual lymph drainage wasn’t really practiced until the 1980’s – 90’s. Manual
lymphatic drainage and complete decongestive therapy can treat this problem, reducing the edema and supporting the lymph system.

Lymphatic drainage is beneficial to many people. It is used to reduce lymphedema caused by dysfunctions or impairments of the lymph system. It assists with the edema and healing of chronic leg wounds often found with venous statis/peripheral vascular disease.  Manual lymphatic drainage reduces the chronic inflammation suffered by people with various forms of arthritis, fibromyalgia, and other autoimmune diseases. And, it is also beneficial to the healthy population who desire to detox their bodies and give a boost to their immune systems.

Manual lymphatic drainage is a very gentle massage technique that encourages the flow of lymph from the extremities back toward the body’s center and to the circulatory system.  Decongestive therapy is the wrapping done with special bandages after manual lymphatic drainage treatments. It helps maintain the flow of lymph and furthers reduction of edema.

It’s an exciting field that is beneficial to many people and I’m happy that it can now be offered at Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center.

If you have a need for Lymphatic Drainage or Complete Decongestive Therapy, please
call 610.395.3355

Have you ever mentioned “Raw Foods Diet” to anyone? If you have, you probably saw them turn up their nose and heard them say. “I can’t eat that way.”  Well, it isn’t what you think!

A raw food diet isn’t limited to living on salads and smoothies. Some of the types made are Italian, Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin American, all American, breakfasts, and, of course, desserts. They are not only delicious and easy, but exotic and comforting. Aromatic herbs, warming spices, and pungent flavors are used just like any other delicious food preparation.

Any appetite will be satisfied, especially when it comes to desserts. The raw desserts are great for those who love sweets, but want to avoid refined carbohydrates, sugars, dairy products, and unhealthy fats. They are divine, rich, and sweet!  Just sample a raw dessert and you will say that it has more flavor than baked desserts. It will be hard for you to believe that it didn’t come out of the oven…and your next word will be, “Wow!”

The raw food diet is based on the belief that the most healthful food for the body is uncooked. Although most food is eaten raw, heating food is acceptable as long as the temperature stays below 104 to 118 degrees.

Cooking food can diminish its nutritional value. For example, the cancer-fighting compounds in broccoli, sulforaphanes, are greatly reduced when it is cooked.  Also, certain vitamins, such as vitamin C and folate, are destroyed by heat.

According to raw foodists, enzymes are the life force of a food that helps us digest food and absorb nutrients. If we over consume cooked food, our bodies are forced to work harder by producing more enzymes.

If you want to find lasting health from better food choices, investigate the Raw Food Diet. Join our fun, delicious, and informative classes.

Instructor: Brook Ockerman is a certified Raw Chef & Instructor with an additional certification in Raw Pastries.

Do You Need to Be?

If your first answer is “not really,” you are probably one of the crowd who thinks creativity is just about Art and maybe Inventions. The new brain/mind/body science will tell you, “you are wrong.” Creativity is needed in just about every succesful behavior including: parenting, playing games, marriage relationships, business leadership, learning, and communicating. You are already creative and you can be better at it.

The good news is that you can easily become more creative and thus more successful in all you want to do.  A key way is through movement training.  Yes, movement training can improve the way your mind functions, including creativity, and it is never too late to start.

All behavior has both physical movement and mental components including creative types of behavior. We are all psychosomatic (mind/body/movement) beings and our psyche-soma system can be used to make us healthier and better functioning both physically and mentally.  It can also react to stress negatively and make us depressed, unhealthy and minimize our ability to be creative.

A major part to the secret of how to keep yourself in the positive use of the psyche-soma system is good movement training.  Movement by itself works so well that doctors tell depressed patients to “get out and exercise.” This truth is also why yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, golf training and other physical training can bring you clarity of mind, while it is making your body healthier.  But we can now also use this psyche-soma system more specifically for your particular neuromuscular (brain/body) pattern use.

We can use movement exercises which will train you to handle stress better and actually use it to be more successful. You can also learn how to use your Psyche-Soma to turn on its Dynamics of Play, Dreams, Movement, Art and Creativity.  Yes, you can easily and with fun increase your ability to be more creative in all you do.

To solve your problems and enrich your life you need to be creative.  As Rich Pastorella, owner of the Pastorella Health and Fitness Center, Weatherly, PA  said. ” Betsy Wetzig’s system of Coordination Pattern Training uses the human system of movement and thought and it allows you to understand them from multiple perspectives and to apply them to the problems that you are facing in your life.”     

Betsy Wetzig – Originator of Coordination Pattern™ “Breakthru” Training, Co-author of Moves For Greatness: Focusing the Four Essential Energies of a Whole and Balanced Leader, Choreographer/Dancer, Educator and co-originator of Full Potential Learning.

With State-of-the-Art Vibroacoustic Chair  

What a drag it was to get up in the morning to go to work. When the alarm went off, I just wanted to throw it out the window. I felt like my eyes didn’t want to open and my body felt like a load of bricks.  I finally had enough of this tossing and turning every night and decided to search for some way to get my nerves under control to enjoy a restful night of sleep.  With a stressful and demanding job, I couldn’t afford to work in a fog all day long.

 Then I saw an ad in a magazine about a state-of-the-art vibroacoustic chair at a health center that helps people with sleeping problems, among other things. I wanted to learn about this chair and experience it so I made an appointment with the counselor who is certified in this type of therapy.

I was fascinated that the process of hearing “sound vibration” through the body’s nerves, skin, and bones heals so many physical and mental problems.

Wow!  Just sitting on the o-gravity chair was incredibly comfortable.  I felt like I was floating as my muscles got more and more relaxed. The chair acted like electronic tuning forks that vibrated my whole body.  I was hearing multi-layered sounds from the ear phones and wearing glasses that transformed what I was hearing into mandala-like patterns of light while feeling the chair vibrate. The whole experience took my brain and central nervous system into a deeply relaxed-healing state – my brain was in balanced harmony!

Now that I had a session with the counselor and knew how to work the chair, I can visit the chair at my convenience and go home relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep. This vibroacoustic chair has done wonders for my health–and it’s easy on my pocketbook.

 Meg Deak, MCAT, LPC, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Vibroacoustic Sound Practitioner, Certified Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner, and Music Therapist

Who among us would start our day without making time for personal hygiene? At the minimum, we clean our teeth, wash our body, and brush our hair. Why do we take the time? We feel better, we’re healthier and we receive good feedback from those we personally contact!

Meditation is a personal hygiene practice.  It prepares us for the day in front of us.  The day goes more smoothly; it is more enjoyable and meaningful as a result of making the time to meditate.

A few weeks after Mary and John learned to meditate; Mary said that John had changed. He’s much happier when he comes home from work, she said. 

John has a stressful one-hour drive to get to work each day. Add to the stress of the drive a long pressure-filled workday and the same return drive home, and you realize what many of us face every day. We then carry the fatigue and pressure of our workday into the evening hours with our family. Now, since taking the Effortless Meditation™ course, John sits in his car to meditate in the garage for 15 – 20 minutes following the ride home. The deep rest of his meditation releases his tension and stress. He then walks into the house with more energy and he’s happier, he’s feeling lighter.

After 38 years of meditation practice, my most obvious benefit from meditation is the increased mental and physical energy and happiness that I feel. Fatigue and stress wear us down; they dull our nervous system and brain. I’ll never forget watching a busy friend, a small business owner, fall asleep as he was talking! When the brain is compromised by stress and fatigue, it’s impossible to be at the top of our game, and it’s hard to find much to enjoy and appreciate in life.

Effortless Meditation™ practice is an antidote. During the practice, we experience levels of rest that are deeper than sleep. The stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol decrease as we experience a deeply relaxed state of inner wakefulness. Similar to recharging the battery of your phone, this is a preparation for a higher degree of satisfaction and success in life.  

For maximum benefits, all it takes is fifteen to twenty minutes twice a day. For many, this is as essential as any daily personal hygiene practice.

Greg Schweitzer, MBA, Director of Stress Reduction Resources and Effortless Meditation™ Instructor for more than 30 years

-“Super Brain” by Deepak Chopra

These strong feelings called cravings can make any dieter a failure. Research tells us that cravings light up the same pleasure and emotion-driven areas of the brain that are activated by cocaine and nicotine.The important thing is to know your triggers and how to avoid them.  When a craving does strike, have your plan ready so you can stay in your rational mind and ride it out− eat sensibly and feel a sense of control.

The following suggestions will help:

1. Practice “out of sight, out of mind.” Keep them out of your house.
2. Don’t watch commercials. Tape shows and fast-forward commercials. Create your own affirmation such as, “I eat only healthy foods.”
3. Eat healthy food throughout the day. This will improve blood sugar, control, and provide the nutrients needed for proper brain chemistry.
4. Be aware of the stages cravings go through. They will pass in about 15-20 minutes. Focus on something else, drink a glass of water, or take a short walk.
5. Use the executive part of your brain. Practice mindfulness eating daily – brings your attention back to what you are doing.
6. Watch your sugar intake. It may be your comfort food, but it can trigger all sorts of cravings. Satisfy your body with fresh organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and healthy protein. This will help balance your blood sugar and stabilize your energy levels, appetite, and mood.
7. Get enough exercise and sleep. This will help you maintain a normal hormonal balance which helps with mental clarity to focus. This is needed not only to maintain a healthy weight but an overall healthy lifestyle.

Deepak Chopra, MD, says in his book, “Super Brain,” that when you have trained your brain to recognize emotions, impulses, and the non-satisfaction attached to overeating, you reach a turning point where you are confident about using your brain instead of letting it use you.  You will easily choose not to overeat!

Check out our food and lifestyle offerings including: Ayurvedic Wellness Coaching, Macrobiotics & Chinese Medicine, Nutritional Counseling & Wellness Coaching, Whole/Plant Based Foods, Whole/Raw Living Foods. For  more information, call 610.395.3355.

Accomplish More

The day flies by and at the end, there’s something missing.  You’ve checked many things off your “to do” list and yet that seems like a hollow victory.  You’re not satisfied with the day and what you’ve accomplished.

While many may feel this way from time to time, in my early years, this nagging feeling was always present.  At the age of 26, I was an industrial engineer working for a Fortune 100 company in the Lehigh Valley.  My friends and family thought I had it made. I was young, drove a hot sports car, had a good income and was upwardly mobile in a major corporation.   And yet every workday I was counting the hours till I could leave work and begin my life.

The inner me was sick, maybe dying.  Then one evening, with nothing else to do, I accompanied a friend to a lecture about meditation.  The teacher presenting the talk told us that there’s something missing in most people’s lives.  He said what’s missing isn’t “out there” in the world, it’s inside!

Was I looking for contentment and satisfaction in the wrong places?  I was climbing the ladder of success at work, but was it against the wrong wall?  I was trying to be a good engineer, a good employee, a good son and a good friend.  There was lots of pressure and it was tiring.  My employer, for example, told me that I needed to spend a minimum of 10 hours a day at work if I wanted to get ahead. 

In desperation and with hope, I followed up on my gut instinct that night and enrolled in the meditation course. Almost immediately, I experienced a significant shift toward greater happiness and well-being. Two years later, I found myself enrolling in a year-long training program to become a meditation teacher.   

In training, our teacher frequently told us that we were learning to “do less and accomplish more.” Just sit, close your eyes and be still.  Inside you will find the peace and contentment that you have always desired.  It’s our essence, pure awareness, and it’s found at the source of thought.  Life is not meant to be a struggle. Make a practice of returning to the quiet mind every day. The positive influence on the quality of your life will be magical. 

Let me know if I can help.   

Greg Schweitzer, Director of Stress Reduction Resources and Effortless Meditation™ Instructor for more than 30 years

The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of its Parts

Each of us is made up of many interactive systems. Being healthy in mind and body happens when these systems work together harmoniously.  Often, we humans separate one part of one system and work on it to make it function better.  This is not the best route to take because it does not take care of the whole problem and the whole problem is the problem.

Almost everyone, sooner or later, has a lower back ache.  Is it purely caused by the muscles, nerves and bones in your lower back? No! There are many interactive mental and physical systems which cause it to exist. Since we use the same body to express our mood, attitude, and meaning and things like anxiety and anger cause tension in our muscles, the psychosomatic (mind-body) connection is always involved. Moreover, like the truth of the old song, “the knee bone is connected to the..,” no part of the body acts in isolation from the rest.

Back aches can be caused or made worse from stress, the way you walk and stand, a
nutritional problems, overweight, etc.  All your systems and parts are always working together. The whole is indeed greater than the sum of the parts!  The integration of the body and mind systems and parts can be addressed to become healthier.

Experts from various holistic disciplines at Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center work together to improve the “whole self.” Our programs address stress, emotions, nutrition, lifestyle, movement, alignment, energy, and so much more. Applying this added power of an “integrative approach” to a physical, mental, emotional concern will assure your success!

Betsy Wetzig, Originator of Coordination Pattern™ Breakthru Training

And, the Vision is this…

One day a woman with a chronic physical problem had a vision.  It was of having an alternative health center to go to for pain relief and to gain the knowledge she knew she needed for lifestyle changes. She was ready to not only work on relieving her chronic pain but to get to the root cause of all of her concerns.

She knew she needed a place where she could work on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. She also knew that there needed to be collaborating experts in these fields to give her the support, motivation, andthe self-awareness / education that she so longed for.

“When the time is right, the teacher appears” is a saying in the spiritual world.  She was ready to work at a deep level. Her desire was realized when she found Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center.  Now, she had collaborating experts in the different fields to help her with the psychological root cause, help her to be more relaxed, teach her how to eat healthy, and most of all teach her how to move in an effortless way to relieve her physical pain. 

How exciting to have expert practitioners in their fields give her the support, motivation, self-awareness, and all the education she needed to empower her ”self” so that she can be pain free and successful in all areas of her life.

Could this be you?

Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center is your place for natural health and lifestyle changes!

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Diligent practice of hip stretches—what in yoga we often call “hip openers,” as though they are key to unlocking thesecrets of the hips—can dramatically increase your flexibility and range of motion around the hip joints. If you are athletically minded, this can be a good thing. But as with many good things, too much can be overdoing it.

The key for athletes is to develop or maintain balance between stiffness and openness: a balance of strength and flexibility in the muscles around the hips. This balance can change depending on both the athlete’s body and on sport-specific needs.

Depending on your sport, too much flexibility can be detrimental to your sports performance, as it can reduce your snappiness. Consider, for example the stiffness a runner needs for efficient transfer of energy to the ground. A floppy runner, one whose hips sag with each step, will have to work harder than one who springs lightly over the ground. But you need enough flexibility to move fluidly through your stride, without a hitch that can lead to an overuse injury. Poses that mimic the running stride, like lunges, can help you stay flexible through the range of motion used to run, and hip stretches that target the external rotators can help avoid overuse injuries like Iliotibial Band Syndrome and Piriformis Syndrome.

On the other hand, athletes need vastly more flexibility in the hips for engaging in activities like rock climbing, curling, or playing positions like catcher in baseball or softball.  A yoga practice for athletes in these activities can look very different from a practice for athletes who require more springy stiffness in their bodies; athletes who need to take deep squats can enjoy the full range of hip stretches, including poses that move deep into flexibility.

Consider where you fall on this spectrum. There may be a very good reason hip openers frustrate you, or a good reason for you to love and enjoy them. Either way, the process gives you an opportunity to consider what you can change and what you can’t, and to practice focusing your energy on creating useful change and accepting the unchangeable.

For all those who would like to improve balance and flexibility, reduce pain, increase range and ease of movement, and reduce habits of tension, consider becoming a student of one of the following: Yoga, Coordination Pattern™ Breakthru Training, Feldenkrais Method® of Movement Education, Personal Fitness Training, Pilates, Tai chi or Qigong,