Barry Krost Featured in Podcast on Family Constellations

Posted by: The Balancing Center

Yesterday, Barry Krost, one of our bodyworkers extraordinaire, was featured in the podcast "Ancestral Roots," hosted by Rosalba Stocco. 

Barry practices "Constellation Bodywork" in order to help people resolve issues that might not even be their own. Just as we inherit our hair color and nose shape from our parents and grandparents, we might unwittingly inherit the emotional entanglements of our ancestors. It's hard to enough to solve and resolve your own problems--imagine trying to resolve the problems of past generations without even knowing that they are from the past!

This is where Family Constellation systems can help. Barry focuses on meeting clients where they are--mentally, physically, and emotionally--in order to best facilitate their sessions. With thirty years of training in various modalities of bodywork, Barry brings something extra to his constellation sessions.

Barry offers constellation appointments at our office and they are a wonderful complement to the more physical care. You can call the office to find out more about his work and availability!

And you can listen to the entire podcast here: http://bit.ly/18Ue4NC

Live to be 100 Years Old!

Posted by: The Balancing Center

How would you like 4 quick, proven, you-can-do-them-all-today ways to increase your chances of flourishing until age 100?

Dan Buettner and National Geographic teamed up to study the areas of the world that boast the most centenarians. They called these areas and this project “Blue Zones.” All the communities of the world that celebrate multiple 100th birthdays share 9 characteristics in common. You can watch the amazing talk Dan Buettner gives for the full picture and visit his website for the full breakdown of the “Power 9.”

In the meantime, here are 4 things that you can integrate into your life today!  

1. Move Naturally

What if I told you that you don’t have to exercise to live until 100? Shocking, unbelievable, almost blasphemous to say, right?

In each Blue Zone of the world, centenarians don’t exercise in the way we are familiar with. They don’t jog, do Pilates, Crossfit, or visit the gym. They do, however, incorporate lots of natural movement into their daily lives. How? By “deconveniencing” their lives.

In Okinawa, Japan, people don’t have furniture for sitting and end up doing 30 to 40 squats every day just by sitting down and getting up to perform daily tasks. Sardinians walk, on average, 5 miles a day as they go to work and pick up groceries.

Try substituting walking for one leg of your daily commute. Walk to the grocery store and use the natural weight of your groceries to build your muscles. Sit on the floor while you watch TV--you’ll have to exert more energy each time you want to get up. Forgo a seat and stand while you’re on the train or bus to sustain good posture and increase your blood and energy flow.

2. Downshift

Stress is a killer, most people would agree. One way to live longer and better is to take time to destress. By just taking ten to fifteen to thirty minutes each day to unwind--with no distractions, no cell phone, no email--you can increase your lifespan and your enjoyment of it.

What’s your favorite way to have fun? What is guaranteed to make you laugh? Pets are shown to decrease stress and if you don’t have one, here’s a video of an adorable corgi in a losing battle with a tennis ball! Have a glass of red wine tonight and simply sip and enjoy. (Incidentally, moderate and regular alcohol consumption is another thing you can do tonight to increase your longevity!)

3. Hara Hachi Bu

The Okinawans repeat this phrase at the start of each meal to remind themselves to stop eating when they are 80% full. The benefits to this are plenty.

For one, this will give your brain the time it needs to register that you have enough food in you to function. It takes about twenty minutes for the signals to get from stomach to brain and stopping before you think you are 100% full can provide you with that necessary time.

For another, you end up eating less, which leads to less wear and tear on your body overall. Fewer calories means you can maintain a healthy weight with more ease, and I hardly need to repeat the reasons why a healthy weight is, well, healthy.

4. Honor a loved one

Centenarians live in communities that put their loved ones first. Grandparents and the elderly live at home, children are nurtured and nourished, and people make lifetime commitments to their romantic partners.

These are lifetime practices, but the practices of a lifetime can begin at any time and today is always the best time. Take a minute to call up a loved one, arrange a dinner for your friends, hug your children, or go for a walk with your spouse. Added bonus? These activities are opportunities where you can practice hara hachi bu, destress, and add some natural physical movement into your life.

At some point, the number of your age doesn’t matter. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to live a better, richer, and flourishing life for whatever time you are on the planet?

Check out the full Power 9 and see what you can integrate. We wish you a long and lovely life.

Spotlight on Barry Krost

Posted by: The Balancing Center

Therapeutic bodywork is a wonderful complement to chiropractic care. The advanced techniques of practices like Ortho-Bionomy, craniosacral, or Neuromuscular release, (just to name a few), can enhance the body’s innate ability to heal itself, especially in tandem with regular adjustments. If chiropractic keeps the roads straight, clear, and flowing, bodywork increases and deepens the connections made on those roads.

If you’ve been a patient of ours and want to see great acceleration in your healing, consider scheduling an appointment with one of our skilled bodyworkers. This week’s spotlight is on Barry Krost, a.k.a., the Psoas Whisperer.

Barry has over 30 years of experience in bodywork and energy healing, specializing in Ortho-Bionomy and Family Systemic Constellations, among several other techniques. He has an incredibly deep bag of skills and calls upon any and all of them when he is working with a client. Barry tailors his session to match each client’s unique needs.

He is known as the Psoas Whisperer because he has extensive experience working with the psoas muscle, a muscle that is located in the lower back and flexes the hip and spine. As Barry states on his website dedicated to the psoas, “Back pain frequently results from a dysfunctional psoas muscle. When the psoas becomes contracted due to injuries, poor posture, prolonged sitting, or stress, it can alter the biomechanics of the pelvis and the lumbar vertebrae creating intense pressure on the lower spine.”

So, basically, have you been experiencing lower back pain? Pain in your hip or leg? You might have a stressed psoas muscle and you might not know it!

And Barry’s talents just begin there! He is also a skilled Family Constellation facilitator, and helps people heal their bodies, minds, and spirits by way of Family Constellation therapy. This modality centers on untangling you from the intricate web of your family, past and present. Have you ever felt stuck, lost, confused, personally or professionally, no matter how many techniques you try? You could be caught in the unresolved tension present in your family and even your ancestors.

Barry just returned from the US Systemic Constellation Conference 2013, a four-day conference in Seattle. He had the opportunity to meet and breathe with indigenous Maori tribesman, participate in profound constellation sessions, and deepen his connection with the work. And he also completed a year-long immersion course in Family Constellation facilitation training, mentored by Suzi Tucker, a prominent author in the field.

Barry is a warm light at the office, offering his perspective and wisdom on both healing and office flow. He offers appointments from Monday through Saturday and his schedule complements the chiropractors’ schedules so patients can heal at optimal times for them!

Call for an appointment with Barry to relieve your lower back pain, untangle yourself from your family web, and accelerate your innate ability to heal. And visit one of his many websites for more information on his modalities and techniques.

Chiro Q&A - Meditation

Posted by: The Balancing Center

In Chiro Q&A we ask the members of The Balancing Center a question and they answer!

Today’s question: What is your favorite way to meditate?

Dr. Dan: I practice spiritual exercises that focus on projecting my consciousness outward.

Dr. Ken: If I’m going to meditate, I listen to the “Holosync CD.” It has some guided listening that helps you get to sleep.

Dr. James: I do something. I walk, I do the dishes, I like to puff on a cigar, doing something helps me zone out and relax.

Barry: Three meditations I practice are the recordings of Kelly Howell, transcendental meditation, and meditating on the mantra I receive from Amah.

Mary: I meditate through a centering prayer and by practicing tonglen, a Tibetan meditation.

Mark: I like to practice a walking meditation. My second favorite way is to meditate while performing the last half of my yoga routine.

Jen: I like to be myself and I usually meditate in bed before I go to sleep. I’ll practice dynamic tension as I meditate and I can fall asleep right away!

Lindsay: There’s this audio track of shamanic drumming that takes me to cool places. I also like to try to listen to everything and pick up every sound that my ears can detect.

Jackie: I love running while listening to music. I can just be in it with my runner’s high.

There’s more than one way up the mountain! Meditation doesn’t have to just be sitting in silence. If your particular practice helps you quiet your thoughts and get you centered, go for it!

Meet the Docs - Dr. James Tickel

Posted by: The Balancing Center

Dr. James Tickel, one of six children, grew up fighting for his food. We joke in the office about how he still inhales his lunches, as if his four brothers and one sister are hiding around the corner. Dr. Tickel says, "The dinner table was a battlefield."

That big family is rooted in chiropractic: Dr. James’ father, mother, older brother (and his wife), and younger brother (and his wife) are all chiropractors. The late Dr. William Tickel was a foremost chiropractor and philosopher on the practice of chiropractic. You might say that it was inevitable that Dr. James himself become a chiropractor.

But he’ll be the first to tell you that while he was born into chiropractic, it wasn’t until college that he discovered he had a true passion for it. As a young adult, Dr. James disliked school and decided to finish his undergraduate degree as quickly as possible and then his chiropractic degree as quickly as possible. He wanted to figure out, as quickly as possible, if the field was right for him.

While attending Life University’s College of Chiropractic in Atlanta, Dr. James found out that he loved chiropractic, while making some of the best friends of his life. Seven years later, he brings his skill, passion, and healing intuition to The Balancing Center every day.

Did you know that Dr. James was a patient at The Balancing Center before he became an associate? He lived in the city at the time, and would visit Dr. Ken to get adjusted on his commute to his chiropractic office in the suburbs. Now he lives in the suburbs and commutes to the city to work--the one thing that has remained the same is that he still sees Dr. Ken (and Dr. Dan) for his weekly chiropractic adjustments!

Dr. James and his wife, a psychiatrist, plan to open a holistic healing center offering psychiatric resources and chiropractic corrections. We love working with Dr. James and witnessing him grow into an even better chiropractor and healer.

In the meantime, Dr. James and his wife enjoy a variety of eclectic hobbies, including the production of their own wine! Dr. James is about ready to bottle wine that has been already aging for a year and the first bottles will be ready to uncork in about six months. They have also imported some grapes from Lodi (a vineyard just south of San Francisco) to begin a new year of zinfandel.

You can ask Dr. James about his wine, and about anything else (since he swears he’s an open book) during your next appointment with him!