Then, after I opened my clinic and started seeing patients, my understanding of hormones only deepened not only because I took several post-graduate courses on the topic, but also because I started seeing more and more patients with hormone-based complaints and challenges.
As I got busier and busier my insights went deeper and deeper. Being a practitioner of natural medicine, I wasn’t interested in prescribing hormone replacement or powerful drugs to get my patients’ hormones back in balance. That self-imposed restriction forced me to look beyond conventional understanding of endocrinology, to learn more about the deeper roots of hormone imbalance.
This is what natural medicine is all about, actually. Sure, we have substances and treatments to manage and lessen symptoms. But the real goal is always getting to the root of the problem because when we discover and address the root cause, the body stops generating the symptoms.
Around 10 years ago, I started to awaken to a very interesting concept or truth. I had always known hormones to be not only powerful but essential in every functional system in the body, from the metabolic to the immune system, the nervous and digestive systems, the cardiovascular and skeletal systems.
But this new insight was like a bolt of lightning, and it changed not only my concept but my approach to helping my patients.
Hormones are essentially the body’s own pharmacopeia. Their purpose is to adjust and regulate everything going on in the body, and they are operating every single second of our lives from the beginning to the end.
They form the foundation of how the body adapts to life. The foods we eat, the situations we encounter, the habits we develop, the day-to-day stresses we put on ourselves, all of these place demands on our bodies. They all call forth change.
And, hormones are the prime determining factor in how that change unfolds. And that change is the result of a decision on HOW to adapt.
We see this in the external world all the time. Economic conditions change, forcing people to make different decisions about spending and saving currency. Jobs change, forcing individuals to make different decisions about where to live or what skills to pursue. Values change, forcing people to make different decisions about how they spend their time and who they spend it with.
Every single second of every day your body is making thousands if not millions of decisions. Make more of this, make less of that. Warm up or cool down. Let that bacteria continue to grow or surround it and kill it. Generate more energy from internal reserves, or seek external energy through food.
But, here’s where the insight came… What decides? The hormones aren’t deciding. They are just the messengers that relay the decision and put it into action. Something else is deciding, and that’s where we go deeper, where we cross over from the seen into the unseen, or the physical to the spiritual.
What I realized at that point was this: Hormones reflect how we respond to stress. And, not just the emotional stress we normally think of, but also biological stress.
Your body absolutely knows how to respond to anything and everything. It knows how to heal. It never forgets how to restore itself back to a balanced, vital state.
Imbalance arises only when stressors begin to exceed the resources required to adapt to them in a balanced way. Think of a home builder who, in the middle of building a house suddenly encounters a shortage of labor or lumber, or ends up with an excess number of bricks. In this case the builder, your body, doesn’t have the option to just stop the project altogether if it wants to survive. So, it adapts to these conditions.
The lumber and labor shortage means it has to slow down the building process. Enter hormones that slow down metabolism and take away hormones that promote tissue growth.
The excess bricks mean it has to find somewhere to store them for now. It can’t just throw them away or go use them on another house (there’s only one house in this case). Enter hormones for storing fat and take away hormones that burn it.
I think you get the picture.
Not only are all of the above depletions and excesses the result of stress, they are also a cause. And your body’s adaptive response shifts hormones so you SURVIVE.
Therefore, hormone imbalance isn’t a malfunction, it’s an intelligent and effective expression of the your desire to LIVE and continue adapting to the challenges life presents.
Don’t think for one minute there is something inherently wrong with you, or that your body is broken or dumb or working against you. I know it can feel that way sometimes, but the truth is your body is doing everything it can to support you and the fact you are still here, reading this message, is proof of that fact.
To get at the root of your problem simply requires ONE and only ONE change, and that change is in how you manage your most precious resource of them all: Your energy.
This is why, in my book Awakening The Seed (written for those struggling with fertility challenges), I state the following:
“Fertility is an expression of surplus energy.”
This statement might as well be:
“Vibrant health and happiness are an expression of surplus energy.”
“Stress” is simply anything that leads to an excess loss of energy. Whether it’s food that is difficult to process, or physical habits that are difficult to recover from, or emotions that are a constant drain, it all comes back to ONE thing: Your body’s constant desire to protect its energy reserves so that it has the constant ability to adapt and recover aka “heal”.
And, this is why our treatment plans don’t just involve supplements and herbs and “medicines”, but also guidance on lifestyle habits and diet and even mindset. Because while substances like supplements and herbs can accelerate your healing process, they are mostly meant to be temporary helpers, not permanent fixtures. Sure, there are supplements and herbs that are great for daily, long term use. But, like drugs, many aren’t.
(If you’re a current or past patient, don’t worry! Our treatment plans always take this into account and anything we recommend taking long-term is perfectly safe for such use.)
The REAL healing force lives at a level deeper than the hormones and the biology they profoundly influence.
The REAL healing force is YOU and your habits and how those habits (which are really a series of auto-pilot choices) either add stress to or remove stress from your body.
So, here’s the simple secret to hormone balance: Build habits that conserve and protect your energy. And to accomplish this, there are just five simple things to do every single day.
Five. Simple. Things. None of which require any focus or real effort and all of which are simply habits once they are established.
- Drink water.
- Breathe deeply.
- Follow the Sun.
- Eat mostly unprocessed foods.
- Be kind to yourself.
Drink water = Set aside all the juices, smoothies, teas, etc. and primarily drink plain old water, just like nature made it. Sure, have a cup of tea or even a normal-sized coffee in the morning. After that, stick to water. 3 – 4 liters a day. (Get my Perfect Hydration Plan here to make this super-easy.)
Breathe deeply = Take some time every day to just sit quietly and BREATHE. Breathing deeply is the most powerful reset for your nervous system. (Get my Embryonic Breath guided track to make this super-easy.)
Follow the Sun = Sleep at night when its dark for at least 7-8 hours, and don’t eat a large meal after dark. The former should be obvious, you can learn more about the latter in my Sun Cycle Diet PDF. Just click here to get that.
Eat mostly unprocessed foods. What are processed foods? Flour, refined sugar, MOST grains, and anything else that looks, smells, and tastes NOTHING like it did at harvest. Also avoid animal dairy for the most part. This is “80/20”, so allow yourself 20% of the “bad” stuff (which is always the “good tasting” stuff lol). Again, Sun Cycle Diet PDF is a great place to learn more.
And last but DEFINITELY not least (should probably be first):
Be kind to yourself = Delete all the self-criticism and self-reproach. Life isn’t a race and it’s not a competition. Slow down, appreciate the small gifts and blessing and MOST importantly, APPRECIATE YOURSELF. You’re a miracle, and life is a miracle.
I hope this message inspired you and helped you in some way. Until next time.
Real Success Stories From Our Patients
Since we first opened our doors in 2004, our #1 priority has been to provide the absolute highest level of RESULTS-oriented, compassionate care to our patients.
Hello Chris,
Each day I am starting to slowly feel like my old self. The anxiety, the OCD and emotions are slowly diminishing. I can’t express how thankful I am to you for helping me. I would have never learned so much about myself and what’s happening to me if it wasn’t for you wanting to help feel better. I was in a horrible place for so long and I didn’t know how to change it.
Rose
Hi Chris,
I’ve felt a lot better since the acupuncture! I usually wake up every morning with a migraine & I haven’t since.
Thank you!
Chris,
I got a positive pregnancy test today!! I REALLY appreciate all your guidance and help with this!! I am so excited!!
THANK THANK THANK YOU!
Cassie
Hi Jaime, Just wanted you to know that I had a much better night and having a good day today as well. Thank you for being such a great healer!
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