PHOTO: Dr. D.D. Palmer and family, 1860.
Many years ago, I was in my first year of chiropractic school in Portland, Oregon. The year was 1980 and Portland was an amazing place to live and learn while exploring some of the most beautiful areas on earth. I loved biking, boating, running rivers, exploring deserts, hiking and skiing mountains. Portland sits on two major rivers: the Willamette and Columbia. From downtown you can see the peaks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainer… and Mount St. Helens, which blew her top, almost killing me.
A short side story.
One weekend while camping with my girlfriend in a small cabin on Lake Merlin near Mount St. Helens, we heard her erupt and blow massive amounts of rock and ash into the air. Scared for our lives, we decided to jump into a car to escape the now constant fallout. We had driven just a block or two from the cabin when we realized we couldn’t see and must go back. This was a nightmare unfolding. It was so dense you couldn’t see or breathe; the ash as it began to snow and cover the road. I backed up blindly a few blocks parked the car and rushed inside holding our breath expecting to be buried alive.
Fortunately we both survived and lived to enjoy long fulfilling lives.
Portland was an amazing place to be in the ’70s and ’80s, especially if you loved the arts and the great outdoors and were seeking a great education in an amazing part of the world, the Great Northwest. Portland is filled with great parks, gardens and incredible music and food. In addition it has many great schools including Portland State University, Willamette University, Read College, Louis & Clark, Oregon Health Science University with its own Medical School. There are too many schools to list, but if you were interested in the healing arts, this was the town with an Acupuncture, Osteopathic and Chiropractic College as well.
I completed my undergraduate classes and in the Fall of 1980, I started Chiropractic College. My interest in food, yoga and martial arts brought me to Portland, a place filled with world class teachers that fed my hungry spirit, mind and body.
I met amazing people from all over the world in school, and some of my favorite teachers. One of my Professors introduced me to the thoughts and philosophy of DD Palmer, considered to be the Godfather of Chiropractic. In 1895, DD Palmer palpated the neck of a deaf man, Harvey Lillard, who had been deaf since birth. Mr Palmer surmised that one of Mr Lillards vertebra was out of place, and this may be affecting Harvey’s hearing. Dr. Palmer used his hands to manipulate the cervical vertebrae, and to his surprise, Mr Lillard’s hearing was restored after years of deafness.
DD, as he was referred to, was a world traveled magnetic healer who studied many natural healing arts from the East and West. His writings are as revolutionary and pertinent today as they were at the turn of the 20th century. One of the most important lessons I learned about natural healing involves the Three Ts of Disease.
DD explained that our Thoughts, Toxins and Traumas were the causative foundation for disease. In his opinion, our “Thoughts” have a profound impact on our whole body. I learned that “stinking thinking” can depress our immune system and retard our recovery from illness or injury. Having a healthy healing mind set is a fundamental chiropractic corner stone for staying healthy. A key way to activate this healing mindset is to maintain and sustain a state of perpetual gratitude, regardless of outside circumstances. I resonated with this message then, and I practice and teach this philosophy and technique today.
DD also recognized over a 100 years ago that “Toxins” in our environment, water, foods and relationships can be destructive to our health, even lethal. He promoted eating fresh wholesome, whole foods. Chiropractic philosophy of maintaining alignment in Life not only applies to physical alignment but also to spiritual, mental, emotional, chemical and electrical alignment and balance. We realize now, more than ever, that toxins in our foods and environment are extremely harmful. We as a profession promote healthy lifestyles as a means to wellness. This includes non-toxic relationships, foods, cleaners, and any other form of toxins in and on our body.
DD Palmers third T — “Traumas” — was a critical component for health and wellness. He recognized the importance and impact of “Traumas” on human health decades before many of today’s popular behavioral scientists. We all suffer from trauma, physical, mental, emotional, chemical, electrical and spiritual. We have very simple tools and techniques to resolve our traumas which hijack our limbic system, the portion of our brain the determines fight, flight or freeze physiologies. When we carry and hold “Trauma” in our body, we retard our ability to feel, heal, think and act rationally. Our field of choices is limited and our ability to respond is replaced by reaction.
We have all seen this in our own lives and relationships. We may have possibly experienced a time when we or someone reacted abruptly or aggressively to some comment or situation that seemed inappropriate. Many of us have observed people struggle with all aspects of their health despite their persistent efforts. Many times the underlying issue is unresolved Trauma. Science has proved simple things like Craniosacral, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Somatic Experiencing (ie. body awareness), EMDR, biofeedback, diet, lifestyle, singing, laughing, dancing and mindful movement like Yoga and Chi Gong can help us resolve stuck trauma and reset our nervous system and restore our health.
I’ve spent close to fifty years studying food, exercise, yoga, healing and wellness, and the wise words of DD Palmer are as accurate and helpful today as they were when I first heard them 40-plus years ago.
Dr. Dean B Sanna DC has been in clinical practice as a Chiropractor since 1985, when he opened his first clinic in Bend, Oregon. He moved his practice to Pagosa Springs in 1997. You can learn more at hotspringshealers.com