The more healthy our diets, the more energy we have. Many of my clients express to me that they are worried about losing energy. Ironically, worry itself is one of the biggest energy drainers. Containment of vital energy is tantamount to good health, but some people guard their energy to the point of blocking activities and behavior which renews energy. For example, people who have had their boundaries crossed too many times, can have energetic holes from trespassers. When these places are left open and unhealed with a person's energy field, energy can leak from these places, making them feel tired, dispassionate, sleepless, or mentally or physically fatigued.
Low energy can also be the result of adrenal fatigue (often stress induced), or less often hyperthyroid conditions. In cases of hyperactivity, ADHD, housewife apathy and depression, and restlessness, ephedrine has been given. The idea is that is 'calms' people down. The truth is it completely short circuits an over-stimulated nervous system. Not too wise in the long term. For example, one client of mine was incorrectly diagnosed with manic depression, because of 'mania' and sadness she experienced as a young teen. This was caused by an overactive thyroid. It wasn't until her thyroid short-circuited from the over production of thyroid hormones, became depressed and the production of hormones diminished resulting in weight gain, that her doctors (many doctors later) finally figured out what was happening with her body.
If someone has attention deficient, trouble concentrating, or experiences symptoms of bipolar disorder, tonify their nervous system with nutritive herbs. Lemon balm, peppermint, and lobelia, calm the nerves. When people are worried, stressed or anxious, often coffee tires them out after an initial burst of nervous energy. However, in nervy people, it takes away the anxiety, giving them energy!! If someone has trouble concentrating they should eat fish oil with essential fatty acids, omega 3s and 6s, as well as brain-stimulating foods and herbs. Nutritive foods such as alfalfa, nettles, asparagus, artichokes, kale, collard greens and cruciferous vegetables are in order. Also, folks with ADD benefit from a diet rich in onions and potatoes. Also, clear liver heat and toxicity, with a milk thistle, reishi, or dandelion root supplement.
Another underlying cause of low energy is being mentally, emotionally or physically guarded to the point of restricting self-expression or intimacy with safe loved ones. If an individual's energy exchanges are habitually blocked, awareness to new energy is numbed. In these cases, the vital force can stagnate and cause problems commonly seen in the arteries, veins, blood vessels, thyroid or if prolonged and chronic this is seen in the brain, such as blood clots and dementia.
Low energy is a symptom in many conditions I see in my practice. Sometimes one of the root causes is a fear of the powerful force of their energy in an area of their lives. They may fear the exertion of their will power, the expression of sexual energy, or communicating something to a partner or family member. They may have a conscious desire to reign in their own creative powers and vital forces, which limits their renewed energy. Our culture has a predominating belief which perpetuates the idea that highly functioning people compartmentalize the many aspects of themselves. Some compartmentalization is imperative. We can't all go around worrying about where all of our food and clothes come from. We're not the same people on dates we are at work. However, some people justify their own repression of healthy feelings, by compartmentalizing aspects of themselves. compartmentalization makes people behave in unaware, fragmented, non-empathetic, and narcissistic ways. But I digress a bit. Self-repression can happen when people repress their talkative, creative, passionate or sexual nature. This blocks the healthy exchange of energy, which can cause low energy and related depression.
In Western Medicine, diagnosis often doesn't happen until symptoms have reached a 'fever pitch', until the body is 'dysfunctional'. One of the problems endemic to Western medicine, is that in the case of many diseases, tests determine illness based on numbers. Doctors don't often concern themselves about a condition that is brewing and aren't taught to identify them. Holistic practitioners can see imbalances that may show up five or ten years down the line as disease if unaddressed. Doctor are not taught to look at the overall picture, the mouth, tongue, eyes, urine, pulse type, gums, and at all of the other clues which indicate how your body is running. This is essentially, because most people have imbalances and Western Medicine is not focused on the medicinal properties of herbs and foods, exercise and lifestyle. This is true preventative medicine. Most Western doctors have considerable emotional distance from their patients. They are taught that professionals don't connect emotionally to their patients. True healing has love and light behind it, and employs intuition. Of course, boundaries are important for a healer-patient relationship. All effective healers must be professional. If your primary care provider doesn't give you a good feeling, they are not effective healers. They may facilitate your own healing ability, by making you aware of ways you can take care of yourself.
Today it dawned on me, that perhaps somewhere in my genetic makeup lurks a desire for tile floors and second story views of an atrium. My great grandfather was from a Polish noble family. His father owned a vast estate and lived in...you guessed it, a castle-like compound. When his great estate was laid siege to, he defended his land by sword in the ensuing battle. Apparently, it was a huge blow, not only to his appendage, but also to his ego, because he was known as an excellent swordsman. As the story goes, he went from benevolent and gregarious to embittered and temperamental, before gambling much of his fortune away. Galicia, an Austro-Hungarian empire, in what in now Poland, was a very unstable area politically.
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