Last week’s Health Tip talked about how getting an adjustment is like using the windshield wipers on your car. Sometimes you just don’t notice the haze that has built up until it’s been wiped away. Similarly, sometimes you might not notice how much tension has built up in your system until you get off the table. “Wow, I feel so much better right now and honestly, I really didn’t think I felt bad when I came in!”
To go a little further with this Windshield Wiper analogy, this is why I recommend to my patients to continue with regular “tune-ups” even after the pain or the problem that initially brought them into my office has gone away.
How many times do you have to use the windshield wipers over the lifetime of your car to keep your windshield clean?
The answer to that question depends on a few factors:
- The number of miles you drive your car. The more you drive your car, the dirtier it’s going to get. Even with clear weather, road dirt, pollution in the air and random splatters will require you to use your windshield wipers regularly.
- The conditions you drive your car in. The more extreme weather you drive in (rain, drizzle, snow, wind blowing up dust, salt air from the beach, etc.), the more often you will have to use your windshield wipers so that you can see properly.
- How clean and clear you want your windshield to be while you’re driving. As mentioned earlier, sometimes you won’t notice the grime that’s built up on the windshield until it’s wiped clean. But once it’s clean, then you’re more likely to want to keep it clean.
Therefore, to keep your windshield clean so you can see clearly while you are driving, you must use your windshield wipers regularly.
The same is true for your body and keeping it healthy.
In this analogy, your body is the car. The grime on the windshield is the stress that builds up in your system. Using the windshield wipers is the adjustment or other form of bodywork that clears you out.
How many times do you have get adjusted to be optimally healthy?
The answer to that question depends on a few factors (similar to the ones above):
- The number of years you’ve already lived. The more years you’ve been on the planet, the more stress that you’ve been subjected to. And while you might have dealt with, recovered from and overcame a lot of it, I’m sure you know of stresses that have accumulated in your body and that you haven’t gotten rid of yet. This could be old injuries with built up scar tissue or emotional traumas that haven’t been fully processed with it’s own kind of “scar tissue”.
- The conditions you live in. We all live stressful lives to some extent. But the more job stress, family stress, financial stress, food stress, medication stress, etc. that you experience, the more grime that builds up in your Nervous System. If you don’t have healthy lifestyle habits – you’re not exercising consistently, eating healthy food, drinking lots of water and otherwise managing your stress well – then the more grime will accumulate and it will start breaking your health down.
- How healthy do you want to be. Some people are OK with getting “normal headaches”, with waking up groggy and cranky every morning and with feeling the “normal” aches and pains of their age. There is no such thing as “normal” when it comes to headaches and resigning yourself to “well, I guess that’s just part of getting older” doesn’t have to be your reality.
Therefore, to keep yourself healthy and to be able to live your life to its fullest, you must get adjusted regularly.
Your body is designed to handle stress and dissipate it through breath and through movement. Your Nervous System manages these processes and is designed to heal your body when it gets damaged from an overwhelm of stress. But it can only handle so much stress. When you are overloaded with stress, so is your Nervous System and it cannot keep up. When it cannot dissipate the incoming stress, your health suffers and you start getting the “normal” headaches, fatigue, brain fog, etc.
This isn’t “normal”. It’s common. Just because a lot of people feel sick and tired all the time doesn’t make it normal.
How many workouts do you have to do to be in shape? You have to exercise regularly.
How many healthy meals to you have to eat to have a healthy diet? You have to eat healthy meals regularly.
How many times to you have to meditate to have a peaceful, calm mind? You have to meditate regularly.
If you take care of yourself regularly (like use your windshield wipers regularly), then you will enjoy vibrant health, abundant energy and a extraordinary life.
All of this is possible for you. But only if you take good care of yourself and you do so regularly.