A child's mind is wide-open. All one has to do is walk through the local mall to see the abundance of products that are making big money pandering to this fact. Unfortunately, this open mind that functions in a perfectly integrated way doesn't usually last long.

As a child grows, he or she will develop coping skills to help them thrive within their family environment. This doesn't mean that they have "bad" parents; just that children are incredibly egocentric when small, so even tiny shifts of a parent's attention to something else can feel traumatic. The classic example is the birth of a sibling, which can be a great thing for a child as they grow, but feels like the literal end of the world for a two-year-old. The age of two is usually the most emotionally stressful time in a person's life: the time when they are most likely to be misunderstood and punished for misbehaving. These emotional cateclycisms actually change the way electricity and energy move within the brain and can affect learning and behavior later on in life.


These emotional issues result in a kind of communication breakdown between different parts of the brain. Dr. Charles Krebs, a pioneer in the field of kinesiology and how it works in the brain, often uses an example of two towers in an office building to illustrate this point. Imagine that one tower is the Logic building. It does all the work with numbers, structure, etc. The other tower is the Gestalt building, where they work with imagery, ideas, creativity, etc. The corpus callosum (the matter that connects the two hemispheres within the brain) can be likened to the telephone exchange, or, more likely these days, a computer network. What happens in a power failure when that communication is shut down? Work grinds to a screeching halt. The left hand literally does not know what the right hand is doing. The ability to use both logic and creativity to tackle a new situation is destroyed. The brain/business is left virtually paralyzed.


Different systems of kinesiology have evolved over the years to help identify the places in a person's life where integration is missing. This is usually seen in goals that seem impossible to reach or areas where self-sabotage is apparent. When children study hard and know all the material, but freeze when the test is put in front of them; when someone gets within sight of their ideal weight and then starts binging on ice cream; these are good times to start looking for deep level switching or integration problems.


Kinesiology works by first identifying the type of integration problem. Is the communication breakdown between the brain hemispheres, or towers, like in our illustration? Maybe it is between the back (survival) and front (critical thinking) parts of the brain? Perhaps there is a disconnect between brain and body. After we find this, we can begin to look at the emotions and beliefs that caused the power failure in the first place. Then work to reconnect the estranged parts can begin. The entire process is surprisingly quick, painless and effective.


When the brain is working as a whole, learning is quick, goals are easily achieved and many of the physical manifestations of stress; such as digestive problems, headaches, immune disorders, etc, are a thing of the past. Body/mind integration means that the messages coming from cells and from the brain are complementary, not contradictory, which makes health and fitness goals much more manageable and helps curbs those cravings for cigarettes, alcohol, cookies or whatever particular poisons one would like to give up. Since it is estimated that only two to three percent of people survive childhood with integration fully intact, this is an issue that should be explored more as people make moves toward optimal health.


Alexis Costello is a natural health professional who believes in balanced healthy living and great tasting healthy food. She works with kinesiology, iridology, nutrition, massage, colon hydrotherapy and herbs; and is a Registered Bach Flower Practitioner and Touch for Health Instuctor. She works, writes, and plays in Kelowna BC with her beautiful twin children.

Okanagan Natural Care Centre
3-1890 Ambrosi Rd.
Kelowna, BC V1Y 4R9
phone: (250) 763-2914
www.happilyholistic.ca
alexis@happilyholistic.ca

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