Return To Health (Pando Health Groups)

Our motto at Pando Health Groups is Connect/Empower/Heal. Do people want this? Do they know what connection is? What connection feels like? If they were connected, how would their life be better? Do they know what it means to be empowered? Do they want to be empowered? If they were empowered, how would their life be different or better? What is healing? For that matter, what is health? If we heal, will our experience be different? Can we heal even if we have a medical or physical challenge? Our theory and backbone of our vision and mission is that emotional connection leads to being known, understood, and "gotten" and that from this place, people get out of their racing, scattered minds and into a stronger, calmer and more empowered place. We believe that achieving connection is a human, emotional longing. When one can live the majority of their life from this feeling space, they are transformed and new options become possible. Hiding who one is (one's authent...

In trying to share with the world my vision and passion for health and healing, I am working hard to understand how to communicate what I so clearly see. This YouTube video  Starting With the Why  is a beautifully articulated example of the critical importance of communicating from emotion and feeling as opposed to "heady" thinking("I have  a dream" not "I have an idea"). It applies to marketing as well as to getting healthy. People get us when we reveal ourselves and the "why" we do what we do and say what we say. People are lost and unclear when we communicate only thoughts without the feeling. However, they are inspired and feel connected and motivated when we reveal who we are and why we do what we do. Why do I do what I do? Why am I trying to create something new in medicine? Why can I not rest until  there is a new paradigm in medicine and people are empowered and connected rather than disenfranchised and lost? I know the consequence...

In doing the work that I am so happy to be doing at Pando Health Groups, I have become acutely aware of the painful, demeaning,  limiting and downright cruel thoughts that people carry around and repeatedly tell themselves. Amazingly successful, intelligent and gifted people continually return to a dark and very negative image of themselves that is not based on current reality or supported by their current performance, relationships or modern lives. However, the tape is still playing. Worse yet, the tape hurts them deep down and affects all that they care about, desire and create. It takes away energy. It zaps power and limits potential. It creates misery and suffering. It, too often, makes their lives stay "stuck in the groove on the record". This tape can be turned off (or destroyed) but for too many it keeps raising its head when circumstances replicate past wounds or when there is an ongoing, overpowering, loud voice that just keeps breaking into one's hea...

I am in the midst of reading a truly great and novel book. Written by Philip Shepherd, New Self, New World  is a deep analysis and different perspective on what is wrong with today's world and why so many of us struggle to find peace and happiness. The book shares with the Pando Method the concept of "coming out of the head and into the body" (the other brain) as a means to see with greater clarity and awareness. We at Pando Health Groups are using our approach of what we call "Center Point Rest" as a conscious process of descending from the thinking mind to the low abdomen. This form of meditation, while brief, gives the individual the opportunity to stop the continuous flow of thoughts and "drop down" into the body and then rest in this quieter, very different space. We find it to be a powerful way to connect with oneself and our true nature as opposed to the ongoing "bombarding thoughts". It truly does change one's state and opens up...

This is a picture from the Eucalyptus Grove At UCSD -- my dogs' favorite walk. Upon our return from our adventure, I read this from Buddhist psychologist, Rick Hanson. I really resonate with this aspect of connection. Connecting is in 3 directions -- inside with oneself, with others and with the world. When we strengthen one direction, we simultaneously strengthen our general connection. This is guidance to connect more deeply with the world. What makes you feel connected? I'd like to know.   Are we really so separate? The Practice   Love the world. Why?   Your brain evolved in three stages (to simplify a complex process): Reptile - Brainstem, focused on AVOIDING harm Mammal - Limbic system, focused on APPROACHING rewards Primate - Cortex, focused on ATTACHING to "us" With a fun use (to me, at least) of animal themes, the first JOT in this series -  pet the lizard  - was about how to soothe the most ancient structures of the...

This is my great friend Paul Brenner MD, PhD. I worked with him at the San Diego Cancer Center.  He is the definition of connection and openness. He shares my passion for caring for people in groups with the goal of expressing thoughts and feelings as a pathway to health and healing   http://www.standup2cancer.org/ blog/view/you_are_not_your_ cancer

Tomorrow, I am giving a talk to a group of local seniors on how to maintain memory and balance. I chose this topic 6 months ago and did not give it much thought at the time; just was thinking that these are the most pertinent challenges of aging. Now as I prepare for the talk, I realize the gravity and importance of this topic. Seniors fear falling and losing their cognition as much as any single thing with the possible exception of death itself. So what wisdom can I pass on; wisdom that will really matter. Pharmaceuticals are notoriously ineffective for both these issues. No supplement is even marginally helpful. Eating healthy may be helpful but certainly is not bullet-proof. No one really understands what causes Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or any of the other disease states that take away the mind and brain and the spirit of seniors. What then can we (me as a doctor, seniors and everyone who has an aging parent) do to help? First, we must look at the situation with clear ey...

"It is of great value for you to give your conscious attention to what you specifically want, otherwise you can be swept up by the influence of that which surrounds you. You are bombarded by the stimulation of thought. And so, unless you are setting forth the thought that is important to you, you can be stimulated by another's thought that may or may not be important to you."                       -- Abraham                            Excerpted from the Law of Attraction, The Basics of the teachings of Abraham" #39 Thinking is overwhelming. It is truly our greatest blessing while also carrying a curse if we cannot stop its continuous flow (bombardment). Harnessing thought while containing its continuous nature is one of the great keys to life. Finding ways to balance the onslaught with the pearls is a true and valued skill. Internal freedom is mas...

Pando Health Groups is up and running. We have several movement groups and 2 groups utilizing our Pando Method (triad of group talking/interactive session, movement and our centering practice). Last night, we had our Healthy Outlook Program which is becoming our prototype group. We had a very real and open interaction where everyone was engaged and alive. The main topic (not planned) was not naturally comfortable (discussing working with negative emotions -- depression, anger, anxiety). However, the conversation flowed like a river and was heartfelt. The centering technique truly helped people get out of their heads and into the difficult feelings with a calmness and clarity which all were then able to convey in their own words. The movement practice provided a grounding and peace for all. There was a base of mutual respect and genuine caring which made it palpably real. Everyone left in a better space than the one they arrived in. We are only getting started but it feels so right. I...

The full quotation: "Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water." Zen Proverb This simple but masterful quote was on the T-shirt of a runner I saw this morning. Having let myself stumble down the dark road of beating myself up, the quote woke me up. The beauty of this simple yet amazingly profound teaching is that we all travel the road of life over the bumps and valleys and all face the highs and lows, mundanities and profound experiences along with the day-to-day grind. The question is: can we face the road of our life with an enlightened heart and mind or will we stay locked in the deeply conditioned and darker space? Enlightenment is rarely a "stroke of lightening or luck" that blesses us with sweet bliss and peace forever. Enlightenment is a choice, a path and a discipline. Can we see life through "new eyes"? I frequently go back to my dark place from which I grew up of powerlessness and weakne...