Chiropractic Practice Blog

I’ve just returned from my tour of New Zealand and Australia. Wow! Ostensibly it began with a several presentations at the annual Lyceum hosted by the New Zealand College of Chiropractic. From there, I facilitated three small group presentations in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. Limited to 12 chiropractors, our one day together was preceded by 40 days of homework assignments. Our day of “accountability” served as a means to get participants to become present to who they are showing up as with their patients.

Spending a day with these courageous chiropractors, willing to look at what they previously had been unwilling to look at was an incredible privilege. Instead of me standing in front of the room yakking all day, accompanied by a thoughtful PowerPoint presentation, I got to ask questions and facilitate an intimate conversation among a group of chiropractors who had tested themselves and monitored their internal environment.

Last night Marilyn and I were taken to dinner by a close business associate at a restaurant that I drive by practically every day on my way to the office, but had never been.

It was spectactular.

But what struck me throughout our delightful dinner was the couple at the adjacent table. From time to time I couldn’t help but notice that they were eavesdropping in on our conversation!

I got a cup of coffee at a Starbucks this morning. From time to time I “go off” coffee, and after a couple of months I often take up the habit again. Now, is one of those times.

It’s expensive to buy professionally brewed coffee. At least I think it is. Many people spend a hundred bucks or more a month on their caffeine fix. These are the same folks who claim they can’t afford chiropractic care!

But it boils down to priorities, doesn’t it? People have a feeling about their coffee (physically or emotionally) that is more compelling than how they feel before, during or after their chiropractic care. Which got me thinking about the 25 years I’ve been receiving my chiropractic care. What do I get out of it? How does it make me feel? Why do I keep doing it?

For about six hours each year the CIA headquarters in Virginia is opened to the families of employees. This is an opportunity for those unable to share their daily activities with their family to “show off” the hallways they walk, the security measures they must take each day and even the cafeteria they eat in.

After opening remarks by General Hayden, we toured the “spy” museum and explored the countless exhibits along the labyrinth of corridors used by the various intelligence groups headquartered at this facility. We were able to try on some body armor used by the folks in Iraq (40 lbs.) and inspect other tools used for intelligence gathering and analysis.

Do you think you're separate, different and alone? That no one has suffered as you do? That without tremendous self-effort you would disappear into oblivion? Those beliefs begin to explain all sorts of sabotaging behaviors that keep your practice small.

If you believe you're separate, you might be inclined to adapt chiropractic to fit your worldview, rather than adapting yourself to chiropractic.

If you believe you're different, you might feel compelled to shrink and "stay under the radar" in the hopes of not standing out and becoming a target.

If you believe you're alone, you might see scarcity where there is abundance and imagine that your success only comes at the expense of others.

Look around. This is what it looks like when your conscious or unconscious beliefs manifest. Want to see change, growth and improvement? Identify your beliefs and make sure they align with the truth.

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On our recent trip to Washington, DC they seemed to be everywhere. In fact, I’d ridden tour buses in London, Barcelona and elsewhere. You don't have to worry about parking and you get a great overview of a city so you can get your bearings. Better yet, you can get on and off whenever you want. Some people choose to stay on for the entire circuit. Others get off with a moment's notice or at the slightest whim.

Kind of like chiropractic care.

Generals are often accused of “fighting the last war” and this is true also for chiropractors. The strategies and tactics used when most patients had generous health insurance are no longer working. Conditions have changed. And if you don’t (or haven’t) changed along with them, you’ll become a casualty.

There were only a couple of strategies back then. Most, a variation on the “extract-as-much-money-from-the-patient’s-insurance-policy-as-possible” theme. Even chiropractors with the highest motives found themselves avoiding the term “subluxation” in their insurance narratives, adding physical therapy or other services that were reimbursed by the patient’s carrier. Most chiropractors “followed the money” and now years later find themselves in a strange land. Some are understandably panicking like a child suddenly feeling lost at the shopping mall. But finding mommy won’t be easy. Because there is no mommy.

Pain, whether physical or emotional, is a warning sign.

While most chiropractors are comfortable working in the realm of physical pain, when confronted by emotional pain, theirs or a patient's, it's disorienting. Yet, the approach is actually the same: find the "subluxation."

The subluxation linked to emotional pain is often a hidden belief that is untrue. Believing a lie is the source of tremendous anguish and an unwillingness to accept "what is" produces needless suffering.

What do you believe (that isn't actually true) that is the source of your emotional pain, fear or anger? How have you been deceived, causing a distorted perception of what is so?

Blaming others, or our circumstances, creates a helplessness that stops us with inaction. Yet, facing the truth and putting ourselves right with what is, is a source of peace. This is one way the truth sets us… free.

Pray for the discernment to know what is, and isn’t, true.

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