Please do not alter photos in any way. Please only borrow photos for PERSONAL use and please ALWAYS give Dana R. Atwood credit for the pictures you use. Thanks!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Happy New Year & Bloody Oxygen!


December 30, 2011

A nice young girl from Tao Garden met us at the airport in Chiang Mai. Her name was Pern and she loves kids. Good thing too! Because we just so happened to bring a couple of them with us.

She and the driver loaded all of our luggage into the Tao Garden van and we drove to the wellness resort.

The owner is Mantek Chia. Since he is a master instructor in the Tao he is often referred to as Master Chia.  We are guests in his home during this visit. His house rests on the “back side” of the resort property.  When Master Chia and his girlfriend Vue visit Oregon, we host them so Master Chia wanted to reciprocate.

Tao Garden has grown so much since I was here four years ago. There’s new buildings, a new pool and plenty of guests to use it all. As we were driving to the resort I noticed that the city of Chiang Mai has also grown a lot. There’s a new freeway, shopping malls (huge ones) and of course, they were all busy with tons of people.

The staff at Tao Garden has helped make our stay so far extremely pleasant. Pern has made it her personal mission to make sure things go smoothly for us. She took the kids during some mealtimes so that Jim and I could eat….gasp!...while sitting down! She watched them while Jim and I had our consultations at the health center. The staff at Master Chia’s house has been doing our laundry every single day. There were fresh flowers in our room. They deliver fresh fruit to our room every morning.

Even if we weren’t guests of the owner, Tao Garden is still a great place to visit. It’s clean, quiet and the meals are included. Most of the food in the dining hall is grown organically here on the property. They don’t use msg in anything and you always have the option to drink alkaline water with your meals.

The health center takes a natural, holistic approach to keeping people well. In western medicine, when you get your blood drawn, it sits in a vile and gets shipped off somewhere for examination. Or it might at least sit in the office for a while until someone “qualified” has a moment to “look” at it. At Tao Garden, they prick your finger and smear a tiny drop of blood onto a slide. Then they put the slide under the microscope right then and there! The blood is still alive when they look at it so they can actually study its “behavior”. In the U.S. clinical workers are investigating your dead cells.

After your live blood analysis, urinalysis and vitals, you’re given a treatment plan. This plan might be to resolve issues or it could be maintenance. That’s the basic exam but they also have tools to analyze what’s going on inside your brain as well other more intense options.

Tao Garden has a physical therapist, a spa, doctors, colon hydrotherapy, classes on Tai Chi as well as other “Tao” subjects. They host cooking classes and various workshops. Did I mention you can get dental work done here?

The property is full of walkways, gardens, water features and art. It really is a relaxing place to be.

Master Chia’s own children came today and they got along very well with Chloe and Asher but especially Chloe. Asher spends most of his time riding in the Ergo attached to me so it makes playtime with other children a little less frequent. Mantek (Jr.) is four and Ming Ming is seven. Ming has been Chloe’s sidekick all day. We went shopping and the girls got matching fairy wing and wand sets. They were so cute “fluttering” around between the shops together.

Before this visit, I had a hard time appreciating and connecting with Master Chia (and even Vue) but today has helped me with that. Seeing someone interact with their children can tell you a lot about them.

I have been learning about Master Chia fighting the “burning movement” in his area. (For more information on deforestation visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Indonesia )  He donates to local charities and he is very generous with his employees. Most impressive of all, I got to see him as a doting dad. He loves his children very much! I honestly didn’t know that before. Now, I have no doubt.

Since Jim and I started dating, he has tried to pretty much force the Tao on me. Because of his tactics, I have had a hard time getting to know some of the people who have helped Jim with his practice. Time….as well as this particular trip to Tao Garden, have helped me give these people a “fair shake”. I’m so happy we came!

 

January 2nd, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, Tao Garden had a party in the dining hall. There were traditional Thai dancers performing and there were items on the buffet that were not usually available in the dining hall. Roast duck is one example. Oh!  And Chocolate cake!

Toward the end of the party they had everybody write a wish down on a sticky note. Then the staff lit several paper lanterns and the guests stuck all their wishes to them. The lanterns were much larger than I expected. They are made of heavy tissue paper. After everyone ‘stuck’ their wishes to the laterns they were realeased, one by one, into the night sky. They float very high and there’s a point where you could easily confuse a lantern for a star. It was so beautiful. Imagine! That for one night, you could add stars into your sky!
 

After the lanterns were all released there was dancing. The kids (Chloe, Asher, Mantek, Ming ming and a few other visiting children) all went wild dancing and popping balloons. It was a pretty eventful night for the little ones so we went to bed shortly after the last balloon popped.
 

The treatments at Tao Garden are ‘alternative’ to say the least. First, you stop by the wellness clinic to give blood and some urine. You must ‘fast’ the evening before you do this. They like the samples first thing in the morning. It takes just a tint drop of blood and they put it on a slide immediately while you are sitting right there watching. No mystery labs here! They want to see your blood cells while they are still alive. They took a few images of our (mine and Jim’s) blood cells. Armed with the results from our blood and urine analysis (they also take height, weight and vitals) we were ready for our consultations.

Jim’s cells looked good. They saw a little bit of plaque and his cholesterol was a little bit high (which we expected) but overall, he looked very healthy.

My blood, however, had issues. It was so stuck together that they couldn’t even see if there was any plaque or other issues. They said I need more water and that I need to improve my circulation.

This is the part where I really feel like I have been let down by Western medicine. First of all, I’m pretty sure my doctor has NEVER examined the BEHAVIOR of my blood. When Western doctors want blood they take a vile, not a tiny drop. Had a Western doctor examined me that day, I’m pretty sure they would have told me that I’m perfectly fine and I’m just tired all the time because I have two young kids. Ugh….I digress….let me tell you why, exactly I felt betrayed by Western medicine at that very moment…

I told my doctor (who I adore by the way) that I thought I had poor circulation. She said “why do you think that?” I said “I’m tired all the time, by limbs go numb slightly more often than I think is normal….and I just have this gut feeling that I need to improve my circulation.” Without any further examination she tells me not to worry. My circulation is fine. Why? Because I am too young for any circulation issues. Huh…..well that’s the answer then is it? I just think it’s funny that without mentioning anything about circulation to Tao Garden…..that’s what they find. Even though I am young. The exact thing I asked my doctor about.

In Western medicine, I think we focus on treating ailments of people who are already sick. Here at Tao Garden, they look for any root problems that could lead to illness and help you find natural solutions before they actually turn into illness. That is real preventative medicine.

The treatment plan they gave me at Tao Garden may sound a little freaky to some people but I am here to tell you, it only lasted a few days….and I am just fine.

The first thing I did is called ‘blood ozone’. Have you ever donated plasma? Well, if you have, you know that they take your blood out, remove the plasma and then give you your (now plasma-free) blood back. Well, for the blood ozone treatment, they remove some of your blood (MUCH less than the plasma people take) then they add a mixture of 95% O2 and 5% O3 to the bag with your blood in it. They mix it all up in the bag….and give it all back to you. The blood mixed with the gas is much lighter in color because it is oxygenated. The whole process, including the 10 minutes of rest, took about a half an hour.

My next treatment was Chi Nei Tsang. This is an abdominal massage. I have had them before. One was at Tao Garden a few years ago. This massage is especially helpful for women. Women have a tendency to carry stress in their abdomen. If you ever had stomach problems at a stressful time in your life, you know what I am talking about. When I get Chi Nei Tsang at Tao Garden I feel a tremendous emotional release. I walk out of the room smiling, with a new set of eyes.

Most good things come at a price. Chi Nei Tsang can be life changing but it can also be an extremely painful process. The first time I ever had Chi Nei Tsang, I cried….no…I blubbered and whimpered and bawled. But I let them finish the massage and I’m so glad I did! It changed my life!

This time around, Chi Nei Tsang was much easier than the first time, but it still wasn’t easy. And again, I felt great afterwards.

Other than emotional tension, Chi Nei Tsang can help get your bowels moving and it releases A LOT of toxins. You must drink plenty of water after Chi Nei Tsang so you can flush the released toxins out rather than re-absorbing them.

I also spent a half hour in an infrared sauna. This was supposed to be very beneficial to my circulation. I have to be honest. I didn’t really like this one. I can barely sit in a hot tub so I figured I had no business being in a sauna. But, what the heck! I tried it!

Finally, I got a couple colonics. I have had colon hydrotherapy before and I highly recommend it. I won’t go into detail about this one for obvious reasons. I do think that Tao Garden has much better follow up than other places. As soon as you are done, there is a tray waiting for you with broth, papaya, herbs, and water. When I get a colonic in Portland, all that’s waiting is the bill.

I had my blood re-checked this morning. It’s only been two and a half days and my blood looks completely different.

I hope that people, in general, start taking a more proactive approach to their health. I wish we had a Tao Garden in Portland but even if we did, it wouldn’t be the same because half the treatments would be illegal. My humble opinion…it’s illegal because it’s preventative medicine that works and doesn’t use expensive drugs.

No comments:

Post a Comment