Helping Hands with Genuine Chiropractic

During the month of December, Genuine Chiropractic located 214 E. De La Guerra in Santa Barbara is taking part in a national campaign called Helping Hands. For the entire month the practice is donating half of new   patient fees to the Organic Soup Kitchen, a Santa Barbara not for profit organization.

This is an important way for our office to give back to the community allowing for the most vulnerable population to be fed healthy, nutrient dense food all while allowing people to get their spine and nervous system checked by our chiropractors.

Genuine Chiropractic has teamed-up with the organic Soup Kitchen in the pastthrough donation based workshops and both doctors volunteered with Thanksgiving meal preparation this year.

Please do your part by making an appointment at Genuine Chiropractic and by referring your family members, colleagues, and friends. Through chiropractic care, the 100 Year Lifestyle, and the Organic Soup Kitchen we can make the community of Santa Barbara a healthy and happy place to live and work. We look forward to working with you to heal mind, body, spirit, and planet.

With love and appreciation,

Dr. Elizabeth M. Wisniewski

Genuine Chiropractic Inc.

805-ATLAS-1-2

You Can't Afford To Get Sick!

Cultivating Community

What does community mean to you? Community to me is knowing where my food is grown and buying it from the farmer. It is supporting local businesses that are congruent with my personal and professional values and ethics. It is serving my patients with the highest quality of chiropractic care and always pushing myself to be a better doctor. It is participating in the world around me with and open and service oriented heart space. Finally, it is constantly striving for balance in my play, prep, and prime time’s!

One of the things I am most grateful for has been establishing relationships with amazing health care providers and business owners in the Santa Barbara community. We have a long list of community partners listed on our webpage(www.GenuineChiro.com).It is nice because patients spend more time speaking with our staff than they normally do at other doctors offices, so we get to know our patients quite well. From biodynamic farmers to holistic salons if someone mentions they are looking for these lifestyle enhancing services we are able to give them a business card. Our focus is always the spine and nervous system and then we are able to support our community in a clear way. With Genuine Chiropractic Inc. as the only 100 Year Lifestyle affiliates in Santa Barbara elevating health in our community through chiropractic care. We are so proud to serve alongside our wonderful community partners and look forward to the rise of true health care in this region.

                  

Riding the Wave

I finally found myself confidence, it had been inside of me the entire time! This past weekend I spoke to the faculty at Life Chiropractic College West regarding how to teach VI students. It was not only a huge honor but a major self discovery experience. Yes, of course I was a bit nervous and did not know completely what to expect, but innately I knew what to do and say! Like I mentioned in my most recent blog, I feel like I am continuing my mother’s work and it makes me so happy! I never thought I would be in this role of consulting for a college and possibly mentoring VI students but it feels right in my soul and I am allowing that to Gide my heart and actions.

I have realized that I can no longer live with shame about my eye disease and that I must do my best to educate the world. Part of my personal purpose statement is that I must tell my story as a source of inspiration throughout the world… so this is part of the work I will do!

Coming back from “The Wave conference” has renewed my fire to build a successful practice through a loving service oriented heart space. I am excited to get to work and raise the vibration on this planet through delivering chiropractic care, telling the story, role modeling in my community, serving chiropractic, loving myself, and never giving up!

               

Growing Purpose

Dreams I was never fully aware I had, are coming true! As a child both of my parents were Special Education teachers, in fact this is how they met, with a couple of Masters degrees each. My Father, was a college professor and school administrator and my mom focused on Emotionally Impaired students. My Mother had me volunteer with her students after school for CCD classes at our parish and at Summer academy. She even designed a “Celebrate Diversity” week for our school district and had all students participate in making things like wheelchair art so that they would have a better understanding of their peers.

All of these experiences in my childhood did not fully prepare me for losing my sight, however they did make me more sensitive and understanding to the needs of others which directly impacts how I am as a doctor. My passion for writing landed me an article in the chiropractic periodical, ‘Spizz Magazine’ a couple of months ago and a huge opportunity emerged! I am now consulting for a chiropractic college because they have two Visually Impaired students beginning school in the near future.  They have invited me to faculty events this weekend and in September and upon reading their e-mail a bit ago my throat had a huge lump form and I felt my mother’s love in my heart space. I feel connected to her spirit in a new way, like I am carrying out her work that she loved so dearly.  I never imagined a purpose this big, where I could use all my skills and passions for the purpose of serving humanity.  I feel so emotional, so joyful, and grateful to my parents for their service to all the students over the decades. I miss  my Mother but know that she is proud and I look forward to making an impact in this world! I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to give backend help other VI students have an amazing experience during chiropractic school so that they can in return serve humanity as a Doctor of Chiropractic!

In Love and Light,

Dr. Elizabeth

Perfectly Imperfect

Every person has flaws, and that is beautiful. What is difficult is when you are painfully aware of these imperfections, constantly trying to hide them, and having people call you out on them… especially when these people are extremely close to you.

There is some sort of drive buried deep inside of me that enjoys being vulnerable and putting these things out to the world. A huge part of this, is my love for writing. It is one  of my favorite ways to relieve stress and worry. I can take what I am going through in a particular moment in time, freeze it in that moment and capture its essence in words before it melts away. I love the essence of the world, of emotions, and interactions. The essence is what is remembered by the cells through the senses. I love knowing that my nervous system, free from interference, can save pieces of my life and that I can recall them in an instant.  

Right now I am struggling with this gap I feel in society. There is so much discrimination that still takes place on so many levels. I feel a huge pressure to meet all expectations despite my disability and then shatter my goals. Having done this many times in my past, it feels like the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.  I remember when I was having eye surgery after eye surgery in high school they thought I may not graduate on time… well, I did with straight A’s and then double majored in undergrad and finished by the time I was only 21.  They did not think I could become a doctor because of my low vision, and now I am. So many challenges and so many expectations. Yes, I definitely place a great deal of pressure on myself, sometimes too much, but if I did not push myself ever, where would I be right now? Would I be trapped in Michigan in a desk job feeling like I never reached my potential? I do not know where I would be and who I would be if I had not been  faced with such adversity.

My dreams are so much greater than practice, I want to make an impact on the world. My latest is consulting for another chiropractic college on two visually impaired students they have starting soon. An article I had published in a magazine prompted this school to contact me and now I feel so excited to be giving back to other students and helping them have the best experience possible, which I was no afforded during my schooling.  This is not about me, it is so much greater than I could ever imagine! This is about making an impact, not an impression. This is about shattering my personal goals and striving to create new ones. This is about finding an inner strength and grasping on to it when nobody is looking. I know that I am getting stronger. I know that I can give more just when I do not think I have anything left. I recognize that the extreme pressure I place on myself and others around me is not from a place of hate but from a misunderstood place of love. I am posing the question to myself, right now, how can I express this in a more loving way? How can I reduce my own stress, letting go of the fear that if I am not stressed then I am not working hard enough?  I have been going through a Standard Process protocol for adrenal fatigue for months. Following graduate school I am quite sure my adrenal glands were nonexistent! Maybe I did too much during school, but looking back I feel like I did not do enough! It was being president of many clubs, founding others, having two national positions, being on the board of two not for profit organization by the age of 19, speaking at national conferences, writing in five publications, meeting the top professionals in my field, and pushing myself to the limits that got me here today!  I am constantly tapping into my innate memory to remember the words of my mentors, build on the experiences out there in the universe, and create an amazing epicenter for change in Santa Barbara.  I am realizing I am human and that I am so perfectly flawed in so many ways.  I am struggling with letting go of certain small things while still making sure to go step by step in order to reach my potential. How do you find balance in this chaotic world? The bigger question for me personally is, can I let go enough of the self inflicted pressure but still accomplish every one of my goals?  Am I  strong enough to make the changes necessary to impact this world?

Crawl, Before You Walk!

Neurons that fire together, wire together!

It is never too late to start building new neuronal pathways. Studies show that children who go straight to walking and skip the crawling step are at high risk for problems in their teenage years. There was actually a study linking them to a high incidence of juvenile delinquency! This is because crawling creates cross crawl patternization and increasing the fibers between the two hemispheres of the brain. Women naturally have a larger  Corpus Callosum than men,  (the white fibers between the two hemispheres) and this is linked to better communication skills and what many people refer to as “multi tasking”.

Personally, I have realized that I must work on this patternization again and that I have lost a lot of balance. Decreasing visual cues is a leading factor so things like riding a  stationary bike where the arms and legs move, yoga, and bear crawls are helping to recreate these pathways. It is crazy how difficult some of these “natural” movements have been. I have to think about them and then I can do them but I have definitely lost part of my arm swing when walking and a lot of balance over the years!

Today, Dr. Jacob and I, started with a new personal trainer, T.J. Fortuna from Fortuna Fitness in Goleta. He is a great guy and uses a primal / four doctors approach.  I already feel sore after the workout today, but it is great!  I am so determined to make new pathways in my brain because I know as a chiropractor I have an optimally functioning nervous system! I get my spine and nervous system checked sometimes a few times per week, depending on the week and what I am doing, and adjusted when necessary. I know that my body has an amazing self-healing and self-regulating ability and I can always heal from  the inside-out.  I also realize that daily work on these pathways will allow the neurons to eventually hook-up creating permanent pathways in my brain allowing for greater balance and movement.  I am supporting them through the highest quality Omega3 fatty acids and even more so through avoiding toxins to my nervous system like synthetic sweeteners.  Health is a process, that is dynamic just like the body. I invite you to go on this journey with me so that together we raise the vibration of the planet through optimal health and wellness!

In Love and Light,

Dr. Elizabeth