My friend CAM

I am going to be a nurse someday. I believe in medicine, science, and practicality. Its just what makes sense to me. Lately i've been learning that not everyone's minds work this way. Imagine that, people are different! Practices and beliefs vary depending on culture, race, individual preference, family background, religion, etc. For my community health nursing class we have had an ongoing assignment to learn about Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or CAM. It has allowed me the opportunity to explore different healing techniques that I never would have explored on my own, and I have developed some budding opinions about what works and what doesn't in CAM, at least for me personally.

Our professor had an awesome day of class set up for us last friday. We came wearing comfy clothes, brought blankets, and got to work with some different instructors to learn about various forms of CAM.

The first portion was all about Chakras. Have you ever heard of Chakras? I sure as heck hadn't, and I most definitely will not claim to be an expert who can explain it myself. So here's a portion of what my good friend wikipedia had to say about it:

The chakras are said to be "force centers" or whorls of energy permeating, from a point on the physical body, the layers of the subtle bodies in an ever-increasing fan-shaped formation. Rotating vortices of subtle matter, they are considered the focal points for the reception and transmission of energies. See more here.

The session was all about channeling our chakras using colors and thoughts and foods and energies and whatnot. And while its something that may work for other people, i'd be lying if I said it was easy to keep a straight face as we sat cross-legged on the floor, chanting and moaning and screaming. Chakras: not my thing.

The next section in class: progressive muscle relaxation, positive affirmations, and guided imagery. This was totally more of my thing. Its more believable and easily applicable for me. As we laid on the ground and closed our eyes, the instructor took us through some exercises that yielded immediate results. I felt my body relax, release stress, and take on an extreme feeling of calm. It was wonderful, and it is something I can apply to my own life anytime, anywhere. Same goes for positive daily affirmations. I have always like them, especially because of this video (watch it now, you won't regret it! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah!):

I am going to start picking one positive affirmation a day. I'll put it on a sticky note, stick it on the bathroom mirror, and repeat it to myself throughout the day for encouragement. Some examples of what this week's affirmations may include:

• I am not going to fail my pathophysiology test.
• I am going to do awesome in my half marathon on saturday.
• I am going to eat so healthy today.
• I am going to smile a LOT today.
• I am going to do nice things for other people today.
• I am going to be happy today.

Think i'm crazy? Well, little Jessica (come on guys, watch the video) doesn't. I dare you to try it yourself and see what happens.

The last portion of class was yoga. I have liked yoga in the past, especially my experience with hot yoga (soooo intense!), but man I am so totally not good at it. It ends up building my stress because I can't get my breathing in the right rhythm and my body doesn't want to do what I tell it to and lets be honest i'm scared some embarrassing noise is going to escape from me as I downward dog, power push-up, and child's pose. But still, I can see how it'd be extremely helpful for some people. Namaste.

Totally cool class period right?! Definitely pretty fun to mix things up for a day. Another portion of the assignment was to explore a form of CAM on our own. We could attend a ZUMBA class, get acupuncture, see a chiropractor, have a guided imagery session, etc. It was this portion of the assignment that introduced me to my new personal favorite kind of CAM: massage. Mmmmm baby, i'm in love. Check this: I got a 60 minute back, arm, and hand massage for $12.50. Shocking, I know. It was the most heavenly and relaxing hour of my life, and I don't think i'm going to be able to resist going back for another one during finals week...

I may be skeptical sometimes, but everyone has their own forms of CAM, whether they realize it or not. Sometimes there are things that medicine just can't fix. People help themselves heal with all sorts of different methods. Some people eat a whole carton of ice cream, some people get lost in cranked up music for a while, some people pray, some people run away for a while, some people write, some people cry, some people drive really fast, some people watch a sappy chick flick, some people clean, some people turn to others for comfort. I've been known at times to do a little of all of the above. Yesterday, my friend CAM was a nice therapeutic hour with Rascal Flatts and my nail polish. It went well :)

Happy monday friends, I hope your day is as good as you try to make it.