A Reason for Traditional Practices of Healing

A return to whole care and what does the Stock market have to do with my practice?

terrence m kim

Nov 18, 2023

Angel Island Detention Center Hospital, San Francisco, CA, 2023

“Cure yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon,

with the sound of the river and the waterfall,

with the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds.

Heal yourself with Mint, with Neem and Eucalyptus.

Sweeten yourself with Lavender, with Rosemary and Chamomile.

Hug yourself with Cacao bean and Cinnamon.

Put love in tea instead of sugar and take it looking at the stars.

Heal yourself with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain.

Get strong with bare feet on the ground with everything that is born from it.

Get smarter every day by listening to your intuition and looking at the world through the eye at your forehead.

Jump, dance, sing so that you live happier.

Heal yourself with beautiful love.

And always remember, you are the medicine, you are the light.”

m sabina, shaman

The last 5 years from 2019 to the nearing 2024 has given greater traction for traditional practices to come into the homes of the majority than any other time in my career. The walls of American Western medical-corporate practice has shown the world that its most recent 100 year experiment has blown a few tires permanently.

How much money is being spent on traditional care?

2016 reporting says greater than $30 Billion1 out of pocket dollars. That is the realm of Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Aruyvedia, nutritional supplementation, and massage, etc... This, a set of practices, that were taken out of the mainstream that began in the 1920’s are now having their robust return to the masses.

Total US Healthcare system spends greater than 4.1 trillion dollars per annum and per capita health care spending comes to 12,555 dollars2 per person.

90% of that total was spent on chronic conditions. USA is the number one global spender on a system that in effect is limp-impotent to chronic conditions. On top of this The U.S. continually fall near and at the bottom of all the primary health metrics of all “first world nations.” 34

Ninety percent of that $4.1 TRILLION goes to Chronic Conditions in the USA.

Just Take That In.

Don’t forget that our US Debt is approaching $34 Trillion and counting fast. (An aside: It would take >3750 years to pay it down! Oh My!!!)

That is a Head Scratcher.

Inconceivable!

There is a more healthful way.

With a want, wish and willingness patience, encouragement and support a path will carve and reclaim itself.

When I was practicing at Kaiser Permanente, 80% of membership dollars went to the 25% of the sickest most chronically ill. The vast majority of insured rarely ever used Kaiser services.

Chronic conditions are traded on the exchanges today as businesses monopolize organ systems.

Consider DaVita’s Kidney Dialysis multimillion dollar coup. They are trading today at 96 bucks with an average daily volume of 1.25 million shares. Their ROI is 5% and the ROE is pushing 70%.5 DaVita has a monopoly on the Kidneys, our life giving sources of essence and energy6. “We need sick kidneys to stay in business and make profit margins for our share holders.” Just think of how we separate the body and you will have the foundations for numerous corporations in the health care sector.

Whether you are in private practice, outpatient, acute, home health, rehabilitation care for the elderly you have uniquely witnessed this dwindling of health-caring experiences, hands tied to the profit over people.

In another substack space I write in on “The Depth of Men” I mentioned the ratio of 1.8 visits per diagnosis for PT care.

Patients become cash cows to this monopoly to a lifelong dependence on a medical entity.

It is changing and the rise of Functional Medicine, Integrative Physicians and Life Style Medicine specialists who were originally trained in the mainstream are creating rails for this new parallel health care paradigm.

New Concierge practices are sprouting up daily. My sister asked me last year what I thought of one she was prospecting. She was worried because it was a significant up front cash outlay that was not covered by insurance. I simply asked her, “How much are you worth?” Just this week the conversation arose again and she felt that it was the best decision and she has received more caring compassionate and considered care in one year than she has had in nearly her whole adult life. Like the old days of black leather medical bag MD’s making house calls, her practitioner texts her consistently to see how she is faring, how she is enjoying being on the road in her airstream and asking if there is anything she needs. She receives the fullest of Lab panels for vitamins and minerals, hormones including cortisol to assess her bodies response to stress. There was no need to ask for it. When I asked my PCP in Kaiser for a vitamin D lab, she balked hard and said it wasn’t necessary. You are healthy she said, just take 1000 IU’s a day. I pushed back and she relented and had the final say: “ I will order this one time only because it more expensive!” Uh huh, hmmm.

My sister doesn’t concern herself with being in the minority changeovers in self determined care for health. She feels that cost outweighs how she feels physically and mentally. She sees the results and understand it is a lifestyle choice. It is empowering and she is the best cheerleader for her doctor.

Who would not want to drop back into the care of the 50’s and 60’s where the doctors had time and the want to be a part of your family to know you fully. To be a guide post not just in health but morally and ethically as an extended family member.

Today, in supporting others in pain I imagine that in rehab their worlds of healing would soak every last ounce of Love and support by these kinds of stewards in the human condition to optimally be whole.

You can be one. If you don’t know how, ask?

Would you be willing to invite shape shifting creation for another paradigm centered on the whole of the patient/client?

Would you be willing to be a part of the economic and spiritual change in health through a wiser and discerning understanding of the roots of healing and our bodies innate intelligence and self corrective mechanisms to align and find a healthy movement in balance.

When everything is seen as possible, then life becomes limitless.

Lastly, a little on Chinese medicine understanding

Change your mind. Change your life. Change worlds.

Liver Qi

In the lead photo the homeopathic remedy of Bile Salts cleanses the liver and gall bladder so the flow of Qi can move freely to brings life forces to all the internal organ systems. In this unimpeded flow no stagnation may arise that would hinder the processes for an abundance of health. The Liver “Smooths” the Flow of Qi throughout the meridians. The Gall Bladder is considered the General of solution and decisive action. When orders are not followed and the packages of qi stopped, it backs ups and the bile rises and cannot be delivered into the gut to emulsify your good fatty substances and we then cannot digest well enough.

In TCM (traditional chinese medicine) liver qi stagnation is the number one diagnosis in the US. Our brothers and sisters are living under a siege of stress that impedes the flow of Qi. Headaches, flush faced, hypertension, tachycardia, rock hard traps, scalenes and the death grasp of the Darth Vader7 muscle of the upper quarter musculature are all hints one of your patients has liver qi stagnation (LQS).

Pearl: Ask your patients how their mood has been over the past few days, weeks, months?

The leading quote by the visionary shaman in Maria Sabina re-minds us that our own healing is innate and when we are able to independently consider our own intelligence from within and its connection to nature of the upper and lower worlds can we fully become healed from any injury, any suffering and any malady in our life.

Blessings and namaste,

At the Heart of a Wise Practice

Discussion about this post