Dr. Anthony Noya of Noya Chiropractic gave this week’s 10-minute. He started with a discussion of what it means to be healthy, which led into a description of how chiropractic fits into a health-seeking mindset.
Asking the group to define health, Anthony got a number of reasonable replies: good energy, pain-free motion, the ability to be active, and so on. As a counter-example, Anthony mentioned a definition of health that comes from the World Health Organization: “An optimal state of mental, physical, and social well-being” that goes beyond the simple absence of specific disease.
Specific disease may be the province of an M.D., but for most of us, going to the doctor is not a health-related activity. Doctors respond to symptoms, and treat them. But such a world-view can hinder a patient who wants to proactively seek health beyond the cessation of symptoms.
As a chiropractor, Anthony’s practice focuses on the optimal state model of health. The focal area of his attention is the Central Nervous System, which manages all the body’s processes, growth, and response to stimuli.
From the brain, nerves go out to every organ, muscle, tissue, and cell of the body. Signals going back and forth are the regulatory mechanism that runs the whole body. If the CNS is not sending or receiving signals properly, the body will not change, grow, and adapt as it should, and the resulting decrease in health will result in the advent of symptoms like pain. The goal of chiropractic treatment is to address factors that affect this sending and receiving, so that the brain can get good data and act on it effectively, creating conditions where the body will self-correct into the optimal state.
A lot of Anthony’s practice is with children, mothers, and mothers-to-be. This is an area where a practitioner, and his patient, can see dramatic improvements over a course of treatment, because the potential for change is so great. Adults are often inured to a lifetime of bad habit, an may not even recognize a lack of health until acute symptoms develop. But a child who has yet to pick up such postures can be set on a course of optimal health with dramatic results.
In addition to traditional chiropractic, Anthony offers a number of other services at his office. A more subtle or advanced form of chiropractic called Bio-Geometric Integration is available for patients who want to advance their wellness through body alignment. Anthony also offers nutritional consulting and support, and sponsors or leads regular workshops on a variety of wellness and personal development topics.
Anthony concluded with a description of his Perfect Client, and his Favorite Client, which are, from one angle, very different sorts of people. Anthony’s Perfect Client is someone who is committed to seeking self-development, self-awareness, and self-improvement. Of course like all perfect things, such clients are rare. Anthony’s Favorite Clients, by contrast, are people who have a problem and who are willing to try something new. This may be because tradional approaches have failed, or the prescriptions of traditional diagnosis are too extreme to be acceptable. When someone is willing to forgo reactive, symptom-based treatment, the potential for change is great. “Seeing someone transform into the person they want to be” is one of the great accomplishments of Anthony’s professional life. As Favorite Clients make that transformation, many of them become Anthony’s Perfect clients, committed to a lifetime of good health and well-being.
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An we welcome our newest member, Jennifer Colesano Adams. Jennifer is an Independent Consultant with Arbonne, providing quality cosmetics and skin care products. Jennifer primarily markets Arbonne through product demos anf presentations to small groups. If you and some friends would like to find out more about having an Arbonne get-together, contact Jennifer at jennifera@myarbonne.com
We were also happy to be visited by James Page, President of Page After Page. Page After Page is an authorized IBM and Konica/Minolta Dealer, and has been providing photocopying solutions and service in D.C. for 16 years.
