Holistic Healing: 12 real life accounts of healing mind, body and soul by overcoming stress and burnout, processing trauma, rewiring the brain, reprogramming the mind, and integrating the soul

By Andrea Pennington, Karan Almond and Simone Anliker

The body and mind cannot be separated - so why does Western medicine approach them as separate entities?
What if it's this act of separation that causes us more harm?

Outside of the standard western medical model, there are cultures and systems which recognize that t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Make Your Mark Global
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734152692

Andrea Pennington

Dr. Andrea Pennington is an integrative physician, acupuncturist, meditation teacher, #1 international bestselling author and TEDx speaker who has provided holistic health education for over twenty years. As Founder of In8Vitality she combines her extensive medical expertise and training in trauma recovery with her experience in Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, to help people to build resilience, reclaim vitality, and thrive despite the inevitable trauma and drama life brings. As a sought-after media personality Dr. Andrea has shared her empowering insights on holistic healing and resilience on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Dr. Oz Show, iTV This Morning, CNN, the Today Show, LUXE-TV, Thrive Global and HuffingtonPost and as a news anchor for Discovery Health Channel. Dr. Andrea facilitates a variety of workshops around the world which promote holistic healing, resilience, trauma recovery and self-love using trauma-informed positive psychology, The Attunement Meditation, yoga, breath work, brainwave training with EEG Neurofeedback, and sacred plant medicine ceremonies with qualified shamans. Dr. Andrea's latest book, The Real Self Love Handbook, includes her proven 5-step framework, The Cornerstone Process, which she has taught around the world to guide people on a journey of Conscious Evolution. This framework provides a process for self-guided or group-led recovery from developmental trauma and adverse childhood experiences, building resilience, and integrating insights gleaned from sacred ceremonies, psychotherapy and self-help work. As a form of narrative therapy, Dr. Andrea created Stories with Soul, a comprehensive LifeWriting program to give you the power to heal your inner child, reprogram your subconscious mind, transform from victim to hero and rewrite your life story.

Book preview

HOLISTIC HEALING

12 real life accounts of healing mind, body and soul by overcoming stress and burnout, processing trauma, rewiring the brain, reprogramming the mind, and integrating the soul

Created and Compiled

by Andrea Pennington, MD, C.Ac.

Featuring stories by:

Karan Joy Almond — Simone Anliker

Charlotte Banff — Karin Eke

Cynthia J Harrison — Siv Harstad

Kati Liebskind — Margo Livingston, PhD

Vidya Mahabaleswar — Judith Pennington

Delia Sanchez — Shelley Thomas, JD

Holistic Healing © 2020 Andrea Pennington, Karan Joy Almond, Simone Anliker, Charlotte Banff, Karin Eke, Cynthia J Harrison, Siv Harstad, Kati Liebskind, Margo Livingston, Vidya Mahabaleswar, Judith Pennington, Delia Sanchez, Shelley Thomas

Published by Make Your Mark Global Publishing, LTD

The purpose of this book is not to give medical advice, nor to give a prescription for the use of any technique as a form of treatment for any physical, medical, psychological, or emotional condition. The information in this book does not replace the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. It is intended only as general information and education. In the event that you use any of the information in this book for yourself, as is your constitutional right, the authors and publisher assume no responsibility for your actions. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effect of the use of any of the recommendations can be given. The authors and publisher are not liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information in this book. Many of the names and personal details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner(s).

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher are illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage any electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated. And karma will get you if you violate this anyway!

While the authors and publisher have made every effort to provide accurate information regarding references and Internet addresses at the time of publication, the authors and publisher do not assume responsibility for errors or changes that occur after publication. The authors and publishers also do not assume any responsibility for third-party websites and/or their content.

Book cover design: Andrea Danon & Stefan Komljenović of Art Biro Network www.artbiro.ba

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020948756

Holistic Healing

Publisher: Make Your Mark Global, LTD

Las Vegas, Nevada

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-7341526-8-5

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-7356790-0-6

Ebook ISBN 978-1-7341526-9-2

Subjects: Health, Psychology

Summary: In Holistic Healing Dr. Andrea Pennington presents 12 real life accounts of healing mind, body and soul by overcoming stress and burnout, processing trauma, rewiring the brain, reprogramming the mind, and integrating the soul. The stories include a range of conditions; breast cancer, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, sciatica, depression and grief. And what these stories all have in common is how they prove that beyond the Western medical model are healing modalities that can bring new life and possibility to us to help us thrive after trauma, and experience more growth than we thought possible. There is great hope and inspiration to be found here.

MAKE YOUR MARK GLOBAL PUBLISHING, LTD

USA

For information on bulk purchase orders of this book or to book Dr. Andrea to speak at your event or on your program, call [phone] or send an email to [e-mail]

Also Compiled or Co-authored

by Andrea Pennington

Manifesting Love

The Top 10 Traits of Highly Resilient People

Magic and Miracles

Life After Trauma

Time to Rise

Turning Points / Vendepunkter

Heart to Heart: The Path to Wellness

Resilience Through Yoga and Meditation

Dedication

This book is lovingly dedicated to all of the beautiful souls

who are striving to reclaim health and vitality

May this book provide you with new insights on how healing can come in surprising ways

May you find inspiration and hope

to uncover the holistic source of true healing

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part 1: Self Belief and the Narrative of Healing

How Intuition Healed Me from Breast Cancer by Kati Liebeskind

Healing the Narrative, Wholistically by Karan Joy Almond

From Life-Changing Trauma to Transcendence by Margo Livingston, PhD

Part 2: Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Stress

Healing to Climb Mt. Everest by Siv Harstad

How Healing the Animals Healed Me by Charlotte Banff

Part 3: Processing Grief and Trauma

The Healing Conversation by Simone Anliker

Runaway Pain! by Cynthia J. Harrison

From a Hole in the Heart to Wholehearted Expression by Karin Eke

Part 4: Integration of Mind, Body and Soul

When All Else Fails, Surrender by Shelley B. Thomas, JD, NBC-HWC

The Healing Mirror by Judith Pennington

Facing my emotions by Delia Sanchez

Sciatica Relief, The Natural Way by Vidya Mahabeleswar

Conclusion

Resources

About the Book’s Creator

Preface

The book you hold in your hands is a collection of very generous, honest stories from courageous authors. Each of them has opened up their heart to bring you insight into what led them out of pain, confusion and breakdowns into their present lives which are full of beauty, joy and light. These stories of resilience demonstrate that we are stronger than we know!

Because our authors are from a variety of countries and we are publishing these stories in English you may notice that the spelling of words is sometimes in British English and sometimes in American English, depending on the author’s country of origin. You’ll also see that some phrases they use are unknown to you, as they are not always direct translations from their mother tongue.

In light of the fact that many of our authors are not native English speakers, our team of editors has worked hard to make each story clear and full of the impact the author intended. It is our sincere hope that we have done their compelling stories justice and that you will be moved and inspired by them.

If you’d like to hear the authors in their own voice and watch as they provide context and color to how they decided that this is the time to break their silence I invite you to visit www.MakeYourMarkGlobal.com to watch interviews conducted by the book’s publisher, Dr. Andrea Pennington.

Introduction

I was first inspired to write a book about holistic healing while talking to other medical doctors who, like myself, have since expanded their practice of medicine to include complementary and holistic treatments. Branching off into fields such as functional medicine, age management, nutrition, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda along with mindfulness and meditation has allowed us to provide more comprehensive and effective treatment to our patients. This approach has only become mainstream in the West and incorporated into medical training in the last decade or so. Fortunately, modern science is now showing us that various approaches to comprehensive care, where we focus on treating the whole person as well as the environment, have been maintaining the health of people for thousands of years.

I first learned the holistic approach to healthcare by watching my mother, who began her career in healthcare as a nurse in England. Known today by many as Dr. P, my mother continued her education to become a doctor, and then trained further in acupuncture in the United States. As a child I followed her around the hospital when possible as she did her medical rounds. I watched her interact with patients and hospital staff with compassion and respect. She never looked at her patients as a disease, nor did she just look at the numbers on their charts. She dug deep into their minds, hearts and lives to understand the underpinnings of their illness. She provided coaching and motivation to empower them to return to health.

Surprisingly, unlike many of her contemporaries at the time, she was not quick to give out prescriptions to treat illness. She would first give patients the opportunity to fix the underlying cause of their diseases with lifestyle, nutrition, and mindset and behavior modification, always encouraging them that they had the power to heal. She had incredible faith that the human body’s innate vitality code could switch on healing processes.

For example when I overheard our neighbor confide in my mother that she was feeling depressed and wondered if an antidepressant would be helpful, Dr. P asked her a series of questions that at first seemed unrelated. She asked about the woman’s passions, dreams and self-care regimen. The woman replied that she had no time for herself and that she gave up on her dreams when her son was born as she just didn’t have the energy for anything beyond caring for him and her husband.

My mother prodded her to return to some of the pastimes that she once enjoyed including swimming, and encouraged her to reinstitute date nights with her husband. While these interventions were simple and obvious to many of us today, for this woman they were revolutionary. The time it took her to overcome guilt for looking after her own needs and reluctance to indulge in ‘me time’ was time well spent. In a matter of weeks she was thanking my mom for giving her life back. She didn’t need the antidepressant that many other doctors would have reflexively offered her at the time.

Of course these interventions aren’t amazingly novel, but the thought process and investigation behind them are. Rather than treating a symptom with a pill, we are all being invited to look at our pain and problems to get to the root causes. Often times our body is simply showing us areas of our lives that we have ignored or hidden from ourselves. And when we explore deeply our past and present, we often find clues to our healing. And sometimes that healing is best stimulated with nonconventional therapies.

While I was still in medical school my mother received training in acupuncture for drug and alcohol detox. She told me about how the placement of 5 tiny needles on the ear, the NADA protocol, could calm the body, brain and mind enough to help people participate in their talk therapy and 12-step meetings with decreased emotional resistance.

She soon took on a project to help pregnant women who were addicted to crack cocaine. She helped them detox from cocaine as part of an outpatient treatment program. When she told me about it I was astounded. You can’t do that, I said, worried for the patients going through withdrawal with no IV support to take the edge off the uncomfortable symptoms and shakes. In fact, having just been through a hospital rotation in psychiatry where I saw people in withdrawal from cocaine and opioids, I thought that her approach would be inhumane. Yet, there were programs being launched in various states across America as part of court-mandated drug treatment. And people were not only safely withdrawing from addictive substances, they were healing childhood trauma and staying sober for years after treatment ended.

I was curious and wanted to experience acupuncture for myself. What would these tiny needles really have to offer anybody? When I sat for my first session I was amazed. With just a few acupuncture needles in my skin, I felt the most intense energy rush and emotional release. This was when I knew my mom was on to something important and that there was certainly much more to healing than my typical medical education was providing.

I returned to medical school and I campaigned for the permission to do a rotation with the pioneer in the acu-detox treatment, the late Dr. Michael Smith. The dean of the medical school agreed and I was off to the Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, New York for a special 6-week rotation. I learned the acupuncture protocol and a bit about Chinese herbs. In short order I was helping people to detox from drug addiction too. I gave over 100 treatments and was certain that