Return To Health (Pando Health Groups)

Headaches ruin your day. The medical approach to headaches is mostly geared to stopping a headache once it has started. Over the counter pain remedies (Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin) are the usual standbys but the regimen gets extended when someone goes to the doctor. Pain medicines (codeine, etc) are not very effective and highly addictive. The popular class of "migraine" medicines (triptans) like Immitrex and a wide variety of others are the usual treatments from doctors but really don't work that much better than the over-the-counter remedies and often have side effects. So, what to do? Here are my 10 tips to preventing headaches which is better than having to "break" them with a pill. The first 4 tips all relate to relieving tension and muscular "knots" in the neck and upper back. (1) Take up swimming or another activity which engages the the upper back, neck and shoulders. Other examples are: weightlifting, doing a daily routine of push-ups, pull-...

In trying to clarify our factors that create health and well-being, we have focused on authenticity and awareness (awareness of the underlying connection to all of life). While these are the "markers" we are shooting for, the ultimate destination is self-acceptance. From this vantage, there is full connection to others and the world as there is an internal state of acceptance (absence of disapproval). When one feels accepting of him/her self, there is a 360 degree projection of this state out to the world that permits love, respect, consciousness and joy to come in unobstructed and to flow out freely. One is also fully free to be themselves (authentic) as they no longer doubt themselves, have a need to hide any part of themselves or feel compelled to be anything but themselves. This is freedom. This is heaven on earth. This is what Milton referred to as Paradise. How do we create this? By creating a safe enough space where people can be at home in being themselves without p...

There are literally thousands of wellness clinics and health coaches and psychospiritual paths to healing and back to health spreading throughout the nation and world. On our street alone (Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach), there are at least five. So what is it that distinguishes what we are attempting to do at Pando from the nearly infinite other opportunities? At Pando, we operate from the underlying premise that health is a combination of authenticity (being guided from an internal source of who we are) and connection (two or more people coming together as one). Authenticity requires a courage to accept and honor one's self including our "barnacles" (those things that make us feel shame). Connection evolves when people feel valued and understood and NOT judged. When these two states are present in an individual, they elevate to a higher level and health and empowerment ensue regardless of age, medical conditions or social circumstance. I realize this is a very diffe...

Word Cloud of the text on the home page of  the Pando Health Groups website .

Pando Health Groups logo, copyright 2013. All rights reserved. The above logo links to  the Facebook page for Pando Health Groups. ( https://www.facebook.com/PandoHealthGroups )

This provocative picture tells the real story of American life (especially for seniors but also for our youth). It captures clearly and painfully the separation and isolation that exist in our world. We have our closest relationships with our pets (who although beautiful, loving and warm cannot totally feed our souls). We live in our separate worlds mostly within our own heads and don't dare break through the walls of loneliness to the world of love and connection. So close to paradise yet so far. From Milton's Paradise Lost: This does NOT have to be this way. Depression, dementia and living and dying in isolation do NOT have to happen. They are preventable conditions. Connection with true and rich relationships can be our daily food. It is an internal shift (happens if we allow it). It is our birthright and our prize for being alive -- we just have to activate it and choose to dwell in it. All very possible.

So much of education is the passing of facts and information. This, of course, is important and useful. However, education and gaining more knowledge is actually a very small part of the healing and growth processes. The medical system does not operate from this perspective. In medicine, the practice is usually "can we fix you?"(pharmaceuticals or procedures) or can we teach you something that will lead you to change (diabetes education, nutrition, smoking cessation, exercise prescriptions, physical therapy). There is another way. By asking questions and allowing answers to come up without judgment or effort to forcefully change people, there is a space created that allows the individual to rise up in their own time and own way. Questions and genuine curiosity thus allow for a different and more effective vehicle for change and movement. The medical system, in general, is very authoritative and controlling. "Do it our way" is generally the motto. You should weigh ...

While Pando Health Groups is now up and running, our greatest challenge is to bring our offerings to a world that does not yet understand what we are offering. Becoming clear in my message and the expression of it is my work of the day. Talking about connection does not grab people in the way that makes them want to run to our shop and sign up for our available offerings. While connection, openness, vulnerability and community are desirable and feel good, they do not make people jump like the thought of a delicious meal or fun party. Our core class, Healthy Outlook, which begins in the evening of Tuesday March 26th is a remarkable opportunity to engage all of life with a new perspective and fresh start. It is geared for anyone who wrestles with any health challenge that limits their enjoying the fullness and richness of life related to physical or emotional blocks. Headaches, pain of any sort (emotional or physical), chronic illnesses or disabilities, chronic fatigue are all perfect ...

Pando celebrated opening yesterday with an evening offering from one of our gifted practitioners, Michael Rubano, beginning his program, Intelligent Flexibility. The program is a culmination of his 30 years of bodywork and movement education. Intelligent Flexibility is his synthesis of a wide variety of disciplines which he has studied. His program is geared for athletes but also those "regular" folk who desire to move more freely and with more ease. He is a master communicator as well as the owner of a vast tool chest of fun and unique exercises. The program was enjoyable and powerful in its ability to change deeply ingrained patterns. The mind-body connection was definitely invoked and introduced to the participants. I speak for only myself at this time but I definitely feel better moving through my day today after the experience. Michael's way is a big asset beyond his knowledge and experience. The group seems to be ready for more next Monday.

Parker Palmer Parker Palmer runs an operation with very similar values to Pando (open communication, heartfelt sharing, connecting with our deeper selves). His is not a health operation but an organization that promotes authenticity and being one self (undivided). His goal is to help people live lives aligned with their deepest desires. He writes and speaks with clarity, strength,  purpose and honesty. He is a true model for what the Pando model is shooting for: authenticity, awareness, and connection.

It feels good to feel safe. We live in a country that, for the most part, allows us to feel safe. Other than the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, we are protected. We can go most places without fear of robbery or attack. We are pretty much free to go about our business and pursue our dreams. That, of course, is all good. Recent attacks by "crazed" gunmen shakes us to our core but overall, we can return to our feelings of comfort and safety pretty quickly. Safety is not just a feeling from outside invasion or random violence. Safety is feeling ok "deep down" in our daily lives. Illness shakes this security as does injuries or repeated falls. Anxiety is the term we use to describe the feeling of lack of safety --- fear. It does not feel good to most and seems to feed on itself. When the fear flags fly often, we can get afraid of being afraid. The chemical response in our bodies (adrenaline) is often uncomfortable and paralyzing or it makes one wa...

FIbromyalgia is a challenging medical condition which has largely defied medical sciences' efforts to manage and resolve it. Of note, it is remarkably resistant to pharmaceutical approaches and even physical therapy. The "standard of care" in medical circles is usually anti-depressants (as patients are frequently depressed by their chronic pain), muscle relaxants (which usually make people tired but do NOT relieve their symptoms) and various physical modalities (physical therapy, massage, acupuncture). Unfortunately, none of these remedies are usually helpful and are often counterproductive. It is really the ultimate as far as conditions which require a mind-body approach to improve symptoms and master the affliction. No one I know has a very complete understanding of this condition. It is characterized by "trigger points" throughout the body (muscular knots) which are painful. Patients frequently have poor sleep patterns (usually insomnia) as part of their pr...

Human Human: Lyrics

In our amazing country, it is now becoming painfully clear that we have some serious problems with our health as a nation and our health care delivery system. I believe that the general perception is that we have the world's greatest health care system and that we are "special" because we have so much and such great technology. However, it is now well documented that we are actually one of the worst deliverers of health care among the "wealthy" nations and that our general health as a nation also rides near the bottom. The following article from JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) reveals the painful truths. The US Health Disadvantage So, what do we do about this? First, let's open up the real conversation. Let's talk straight. We have to know and admit the truth of where we are so that we can get back to where we want to be (and should be). I always struggled in my work "in the system" for exactly this reason -- we always said...

I have come to realize that what I encourage for people trying to get well is NOT very medical. In fact, it is the opposite of medical. Medical has come to mean "a medicine" or a "medical procedure" that changes your physiology, anatomy or chemistry in a way that makes you better than you were before. While this approach can be miraculous and beautiful, it requires an outside source of power to make you ok. This is what our medical world is built on -- external power; an authority figure outside of you "fixing" you. That gift is so great for the ACUTE medical model (treating acute disease and injury). However, it does NOT work for ongoing life and chronic living. It is not possible to depend on an external source to sustain us through all of the days and challenges of our lives. That self-sustaining force must be inside of us, part of us and accessible within ourselves otherwise we are always looking for our "life raft" and, therefore, dependent ...