After twenty-five plus years in healthcare, I’ve watched a lot of change and revolution in the delivery of services, from the impact of computerized medical records to advances like the operative robot. But at the heart of the matter, we are still human beings having very individual experiences each time we have medical intervention.
As we found during the Covid 19 pandemic, these physical demands and stresses invariably result in some degree of mental stress or anxiety. Online mental health care services have arisen to allow these care needs to be dealt with in a more efficient, direct and approachable manner. The issue that I noticed that became even more acute after the immediacy of the Covid crisis was driven by the people-power gap; physicians and other healthcare providers leaving healthcare, either through retirement, burnout/resignation, or death. These understandable shifts in the workforce involving doctors and other health care providers created a further challenge to meeting the care needs of their patients, particularly patients having surgery.
For virtually all health care encounters, physician visits and time allotted for those physician visits (I refer to non-private practice or concierge practices) is rigidly controlled by the insurance companies who pay both physicians and hospitals for their services. The gap I have seen over and over is that many people, frequently cannot be slotted into the 15 minutes examination window and have their needs and questions answered. There’s more dialogue between physicians and patients, with online medical messaging platforms for ad-hoc questions and issues. However, do patients really feel that their needs are being met via these
measures?
I have found the answer in the question that I ask every patient before I finalize their pre-anesthesia assessment and visit before their surgery. “Is there anything I can do to answer any questions you have and make this process easier?” After patients and family members expressing surprise at the question, I invariably get them communicating a wide range of questions and unaddressed issues. I have observed that it boils down to the issue of
patients needing authoritative information about their surgery and details about the time around surgery as well as adequate emotional and mind-body involvement in the healing of their body.
My best example of a workable way to handle this mind/body/spirit integration in healing is to share my personal journey of discovery of the power of tapping into Energetics and Intuition, and my own Internal Knowing after a ski injury.
My Experiential discovery of energetics and mind/body/spirit alignment
Just as all roads once led to Rome, for me, yoga practice was the start of my journey within. At its core, Energy Medicine is an inside job, requiring us to harness the powers of our mind and spirit to achieve tangible physical results. Just like Dorothy had to be reminded by Glinda the Good Witch that she had the capability to get herself home the whole time, courtesy of her ruby slippers, I’d like to emphasize that all of us are born with innate wisdom. In a book that years from now will be hailed as a seminal book about the human energy system, Intuitive JK Dickinson, in her book
The Invisible Anatomy, tells us all that we need to know about our own innate wisdom:
"Intuition is a natural tool available to those who open their hearts, feel the signals through the stomach areas, shut down their minds for a moment, and explore their senses. It arrives with us at birth."[1]
[1] The Invisible Anatomy, by JK Dickinson, First Edition 2019, Published by Expression Through Words, Inc.
There are many paths to discovering these truths and techniques, but for me that path was yoga. Yoga introduced me to meditation, and the 8 limbs of yoga, which include breath-work and mantra. My natural curiosity took me further than that. It landed me in a very interesting place after a bad ski injury in my forties. The injury was a total bummer, coming as it did at the midpoint of one of my best and most proficient ski seasons ever; I was in 14 inches of powder on a double black diamond hill when it happened; ACL, MCL, lateral meniscus. I was pissed.
I was determined to get over the injury completely and rapidly. (That would be INTENTION setting.)
I did all I could to prepare my body and mind for the surgery with complementary techniques to decrease swelling and focusing ONLY on my desired outcome (That would be more INTENTION WITH FOCUS).
For surgery and immediately after, I relied not solely on narcotic medicines, but a combination of spinal and local anesthetic numbing medicine for pain, with narcotics, used sparingly for pain exceeding those modalities. I also kicked in with my mind, deciding in advance that I would have minimal pain, easily controllable with my chosen therapies. (That would be more INTENTION and MINDSET)
Everything went as planned. Smooth surgery, that my surgeon remarked “…everything went perfectly.” I had 2-3 rough hours with high pain levels while on local anesthesia and every 6-hour low dose narcotic (NO OXY), during which I invited the pain to leave my body…and it did, through my opposite side elbow (I discovered the Chinese Meridian system that night and had never hear of it). I had an easy and rapid recovery and a focused intensively self-motivated rehab, that I found out that my surgeon related my successful rehab and post-surgery recovery to subsequent patients. Five months after surgery, I was climbing glaciers. Nine months after surgery I was back on skis.
I did all of this without knowing a thing about Energy Medicine, Law of Attraction, or Reiki. But I used those skills because I tapped into what was inside me. I have since gotten years of training in what makes those techniques real and effective. My passion is helping others make this critical connection to face and succeed in dealing with the challenges in the period surrounding surgery.
My goal and reason for forming Oshun Energy Medicine is to help my clients navigate the period around surgery.
I combine fact-based information about surgery and anesthesia, based on my years of practice, with practical energy and intuition-based strategies to help clients face this period, and continue their fulfilling and challenging lives. My client focus on working women is because over and over, I’ve watched busy women multitasking and juggling family, work, and community responsibilities while preparing for surgeries, only to get into the OR, and panic as they realized that they had focused their considerable energies into dealing with everything and helping everyone but themselves. Women are 51-52% of the population, and frankly are the glue that makes much of our country run. I felt support of women during the challenges of surgery was a critical task that I could excel at and contribute to with my years of professional experience. My successful medical career, combined with my unique talents as a lifetime energy intuitive, who applied those very skills personally and professionally, is my secret sauce, that makes my coaching services unique.
I would love to help you navigate your perioperative journey. Schedule a Discovery Call to see what makes working with me and Oshun Energy Medicine unique.
https://bit.ly/3Rr9W6m Oshun Energy Medicine Discovery Call
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