Chapman Integrative Health BLOG

Dr. Chapman at Chapman Integrative Health PLLC will no longer be seeing patients as of January 28, 2020. Dr. Chapman will be away for 18-months serving as an area medical advisor for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I recently attended the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM) in San Diego, CA. This in my opinion was the most informative conference attended to date. World renown speakers updated attendees on the latest evidence promoting optimal health. I will summarize several of the highlights below:

1. Tracy Gaudet, MD spoke about the work she and others are doing to redesign healthcare around purpose and meaning at the Veteran’s Administration & Hospitals. They are implementing a radical redesign that is impacting health care of veterans NOW. They help veterans to find a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives, something to live for, and this seems to be where healing can begin. Our current system of healthcare in the United States is not designed to do this, to empower our patients to take on the “whole health” approach as instituted in the VA System.
2. Dean Ornish, MD spoke of the transformative power of lifestyle medicine. He has done more in my opinion to validate the impact of lifestyle changes upon health than anyone else in the world. His recent book written with his wife Anne, “Un Do It!”, summarizes decades of research and conclusions  written for lay people to help them understand and implement lifestyle changes in their lives. Yes, the inflammatory diseases of our day: heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia and cancer can all be abated and/or reversed by lifestyle changes. Read their book and find out how simple it is to live right and avoid all the terrible consequences of these ravaging diseases. I wrote in my notes: “Ornish’s presentation was phenomenal and well worth coming to AIHM just for that!”
3.  Rachel Abrams, MD spoke on how our connections build a life of health and joy. If our body feels “yuk” we need to listen to it. Something is not right. If we feel anxiety, struggle, contraction, resistance that is our body saying “NO!”  Do not go there, do not do it. In contrast, if our body feels peace, calm, relaxed, congruent, then it is saying, “YES”; so go in that direction.  Some call this “gut intuition”. The more we learn, the more we find how our gut microbiome impacts our lives. We can “feel” if another is not well. Sexuality is an important aspect of connection. In a country in Asia, 1/2 million young men live in their rooms and never leave because they are afraid of human interactions. “Not being sexually active is a bad sign for the human race.”
4. Todd Pressman, PhD spoke about deconstructing anxiety as a powerful new approach to understanding and treating anxiety disorders like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  He first described how we each have a “core fear” that underlies all other fears. These are fears of abandonment/loss of love, identity, sickness/death, purpose and loss of meaning in our lives. Very early in our lives we identify a situation that is so terrible to us that we never want to have it repeated, this is the basis for our forming a core fear. We develop a “chief defense” that helps us never to face that situation again. The fear is often unrealistic or even “smoke and mirrors”. Still it is so real to us that we build upon it throughout our lives. Our core fear and chief defense begin to control our lives. Dr. Pressmann identified three techniques to help identify our core fear and chief defense and begin to deconstruct them. He has published a book this year entitled: “Deconstructing Anxiety” which I encourage all to read to help sort these issues out in your own lives so that you can act from a point of fulfillment and not from fear.
5. Jeff Tkach represented the Rodale Institute (https://rodaleinstitute.org) and spoke about the future of organic food to help regenerate human health. This movement to revitalize our soils may help to save our planet. By having more organic soils, there is an increase in the soil microbiome, with more grasses there is less soil erosion, plants become more drought tolerant and water tolerant during excess rains. After 40 years of research the Rodale Institute has discovered greater yields with 45% less energy and the release of 40% fewer greenhouse gases, and leaching absolutely no toxic chemicals into the environment. 
6. Zack Bush, MD spoke again this year about the impact of large scale agriculture and being at the crossroads of human and planetary health. See the documentary Farmer’s Footprint for a life changing introduction to how we can make a difference in not only our health but our planet’s and the sustainability of our posterity.  https://farmersfootprint.us/watch/
7. Robert (Rav) Ivker, DO, spoke about “fully alive medicine”, his prediction of what medicine will need to be in the 21st Century. He stated it would be based on Einstein’s quantum theory of physical energy–all types of magnetic, spiritual energy–where love is the most powerful healing energy. He also spoke of 5 P’s of happiness: Peace, Passion, Purpose, Patience and Play.  Incidentally, Dr Ivker was one of the pioneers of Integrative Medicine and the 2019 awardee of the AIHM “Lee Lipsenthal Lifetime Achievement Heart Award”, Daniel Asimis, MD was encouraged to begin his volunteer service in this organized movement by Dr. Ivker.
8. Deepak Chopra, MD spoke on the idea of being “meta-human” or to be awake and to understand what we are thinking. He made two references to Jesus Christ: “I Am that I Am”.  He described man’s efforts to try to figure out his existence through science and astronomy and how inconsistent these efforts have turned out to be in many instances. He then came back to his original description of man’s existence.  I’m not entirely sure what his inferences were, but I understood him to imply that there must be a God who created us for we are in His image. That is my take on his presentation which was otherwise quite philosophical in nature.  Deepak Chopra has helped many people to understand Integrative Medicine and the role of the spirit. I found his stories regarding his first experiences in the United States health care system right out of India quite fascinating and enlightening.
9. Molly and Bruce Roberts, MDs “A Pair of Docs” gave a wonderful presentation and workshop on Self.Care.  We need to love ourselves enough to create space for “you to inhabit your own life”.  I thought that was powerful. They explained how important it is to be grateful every day for the acts of kindness of others, etc, at least one or two specific things each day.  We need to be the hero of our own life story and avoid the feeling that our life is not important enough for us to be mentioned in it. They described five cycles of change: 1. water cycle, 2. earth cycle, 3. fire cycle, 4. spirit cycle and 5. air cycle.  These cycles in turn correspond with: 1. womb, 2. growth with boundaries, 3. birth canal, 4. grace, and then 5. birth. In the first we are doing fine, lots of room, no changes are needed. The second is full of growth, boundaries are reached, things get tight. The third, we feel the fire, closed in, no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel. The forth or grace cycle is where we give into our situation. It is a spiritual awakening, we surrender and “let go and let God”. Finally, during the fifth cycle we are born, we have new beginnings, a fresh start to begin the process of change all over again. We begin a new journey, but go through the same cycles of change. I thought this analogy helped to explain life and growth quite well. It is helpful to realize where we are in our journey so that we can anticipate the process and not get so stressed out by it. They also shared some wonderful thoughts that I’ll share here:  “Perfection is impossible. Recognize this and push for progress, not perfection.” “You own your own life, your body, your life’s decisions. Also, you own NO one else’s, so LET GO of theirs.”  “If you have an exaggerated emotional reaction this is your clue to something out of balance. Maybe it’s old unprocessed emotional trauma. Put yourself on your priority list. The Universe always conspires in your favor.” “Your belief creates your reality.”