| Healthcare – Magic & Hope by Roy Sanbower Medicine, doctoring and health care takes widely different forms in different areas and times for us humans. Over the centuries, the style of most health care in Euro-American countries has turned more and more to rely on science, with its various machinery for diagnosis and pills and surgery its usual forms of treatment. The indigenous systems, folk beliefs, magical and religious/spiritual ways of understanding and working with health have become peripheral. Magic has difficulty assuming a role of consideration within this rigidly scientific medical culture. Our American health care system diagnoses and decides whether you are actually deemed ill through scientific tests, mostly performed by machines. The occasional hunch and wild guess are sometimes tolerated and never invited, for it is what we have come to call "the facts" that run the show. Even when you look and feel ill, we must take your temperature or look at some objective blood work before declaring you truly sick. It must be proven, and the proof is in the facts and numbers, not dreams, feelings nor intuitions. There simply is no place for something you "just know" or feel or intuit about your health, whether it is about where your ill-health originated, how it might be worked with or just what its individual or communal meaning may be. I recall when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctor assured me that it was scientifically impossible for me to sense when my own blood pressure was up and the only proven remedy was a drug...besides, he continued, the various stress reduction or herbal techniques were not proven, quite unreliable scientifically and probably just placebo anyway, well hhharrrrumph! As a patient, this approach is demoralizing and dehumanizing, leaving me no mysteries, no reason to pay attention to my inner inclinations, completely reliant on something outside of myself and mistrustful of my inner experience...unmotivating, powerless and a little crazy feeling...a real downer. As a doctor -- a Chiropractor of 20 years -- my definition of good health care requires it support communities, individuals, bodies, their emotions and spirit. It must be empowering and provide hope. As an important symbol of magic and possibility, the so-deemed "placebo effect" with its lack of dangerous side-effects, the motivation and hope it provides and internal attention it engenders are always a worthwhile ally for health. Let's insert some magic into our health care dance, bring a smile and wonder, quite enlivening...after all, anything might happen. Personally, and with my doctoring responsibilities, magic opens doors and encourages me to look under the rug. When I add magic to health care, I have more curiosity and I attempt more mysterious ways to support change in health. Magic means anything is possible. It says that everything "really does affect everything else," that everything in life and health appreciates being taken both seriously and playfully. One thing I've discovered about myself and magic is its stance of "anything is possible" enlivens me and helps me feel the power to affect my world. Our science with its typically linear architecture, as helpful as it is in appropriate situations, stifles the wonder and results in a one-size-fits-all and only-the-doctor-knows world view, not reflective of the magic in our lives. There are distinctly differing perspectives to be tried on when working with health considerations. One common and sometimes helpful approach is to look for problems or abnormal signs or symptoms. Marveling at the wonderful magic of a body and its life of ever-unfolding changes is another. At times I have focused upon the bones, nerves and joints that I, as a Chiropractor, have a particular affinity for, seeing them like auto parts that need fixing. More often I am in awe of the human body and its life so full of mystery and creative possibilities! Imagine for a moment your bones, their strength and resiliency, their growth and regeneration...how did bones ever come to be? And they grew right there inside of you! And joints...such flexibility and yet stability, so many possibilities they allow...and such smoooooth movement they can provide...WOW! How incredible, and where did they come from? Then there are our nerves and our miraculous internal communications system...sensitive to everything it seems...integrating so much information, often completely dealt with without our even realizing it! From this attitude and understanding, we could start to look at health dynamics and how everything affects everything else in our life and health.... Sometimes a night-time dream completely changes my life, other times it was only that extra piece of sugary cake that moved through my life like a tidal wave! And sometimes such a profound change can come from a brief glance or a few chance words...rippling across my life for page after page! I so appreciate this viewpoint of what I call magic...infinite possibility, hope and appreciation of life! A beauty I find in approaching health concerns magically is that it reminds me to stay attentive. Because all of life's details have meaning and implications, awareness and openness are foundational values I cultivate. This magical perspective confirms for me that anything that sounds, feels or somehow strikes me as necessary or helpful, science included, is wise to explore seriously. "Cause you just never know!" A belief in magic helps me stay alert for actions that are incongruent with how I know life works, encouraging me to live a more magical lifestyle. It makes me smile. May magic sparkle in your life! Roy Sanbower, D.C., is a South Minneapolis Chiropractor for 20 years. Contact him at (612) 823-3810. Copyright (c) 2002 Roy Sanbower |
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