{"id":3617,"date":"2014-11-18T14:32:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T21:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nebulous-oyster.flywheelsites.com\/?p=3617"},"modified":"2024-03-07T13:07:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T21:07:23","slug":"5-unexpected-lessons-freedom-for-family-wellness-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/5-unexpected-lessons-freedom-for-family-wellness-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Unexpected Wellness Lessons from the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Surprising

Health doesn’t come from a pill, a bottle, or a syringe. Five unexpected lessons from the Freedom for Family Wellness conference, which is an annual health conference for chiropractors and other health professionals.<\/p><\/div>\n

Unexpected Lessons from a Family Wellness Summit<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When John Minardi was 17 years old a man shoved the barrel of a gun under his chin. So hard Minardi could feel it with his tongue from the inside of his mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow tough you are now, eh?\u201d the gunman taunted.<\/p>\n

John Minardi told him to pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Jeanne Ohm, a pediatric chiropractor, the founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA), and the editor-in-chief of Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine<\/a>, invited me to speak at the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit: Shifting to Conscious Choice<\/strong>\u00a0in Reston, Virginia, November 13 \u2013 November 16, 2014, John Minardi\u2019s story was not the kind I was expecting to hear.<\/p>\n

Jeanne Ohm invited me to conduct a workshop about gentle, effective communication to help pregnant women<\/a> have natural births, as well as to deliver a keynote speech about how pregnancy and childbirth are influenced by corporate greed and for-profit medicine.<\/p>\n

The day before I got on the plane to fly to Washington Dulles, I panicked.<\/p>\n

Public Speaking Rule #1: Know your audience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And there I was a seasoned and sought-after public speaker<\/a>, preparing my PowerPoint presentation, and I realized I did not know very much about chiropractors or about chiropractic care.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I had ever even talked to a chiropractor\u2014besides Dr. Jeanne Ohm\u2014and I had also never had a chiropractic adjustment.<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s friend and one of his senior colleagues were happy to give me a quick briefing about their profession and the people in it.<\/p>\n

Chiropractic in America, Promoting Family Wellness<\/h3>\n

They told me that the first chiropractic adjustment was done by D. D. Palmer in Iowa.\u00a0There are about 20\u00a0colleges in the U.S. and Canada that teach chiropractic and each has its own philosophy.\u00a0By making adjustments to the neck and spine, chiropractors restore motion to locked up joints.\u00a0They remove interference to the nervous system so the brain and body can better communicate.<\/p>\n

Some are trained in what’s known as the Webster technique<\/a>, an adjustment with particular benefit to pregnant women<\/a>. If a woman has a baby in a mal-presented position, this adjustment, by balancing pelvic muscles and ligaments, may provide the opportunity for the baby to assume a more optimal position for birth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many pediatric chiropractors work with newborns who may be out of alignment due to difficulties during birth.\u00a0In Oregon, a state where they enjoy an expansive scope of practice, chiropractors can also perform minor surgery and deliver babies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest differences between chiropractors and conventionally trained mainstream American doctors: chiropractors have a set of beliefs, a strong skill set, and rigorous training but they also work well with other health practitioners, partnering with their patients and other health providers to help people achieve optimal health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Conventionally trained American medical doctors, on the other hand, learn in medical school that their way is the only<\/em> way.<\/p>\n

Conventional medical doctors don\u2019t give recommendations, they give orders<\/a> (\u201cdoctor\u2019s orders\u201d), and most insist their patients follow their protocol. It’s my way or the highway. So much so that family who choose to do things differently are often kicked out of their doctor\u2019s practice<\/a>, an action that some 30% of conventionally trained medical doctors support.<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A low-level drug dealer in Detroit, John Minardi thought he was a dead man. But he wasn\u2019t sure he cared. He wasn\u2019t as afraid of the gunman as he was of his drug boss, who would kill him if he did not bring back the correct amount of money from the drugs he had to sell on commission.<\/p>\n

Though Minardi managed to get out of that situation alive, he knew there was no way he was going to make it to 20.\u00a0And then he badly injured himself in a prizefight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen can I fight again?\u201d Minardi asked the ER doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cFight?\u201d the doctors replied. \u201cYou\u2019ll be lucky to be able to walk normally again.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/h2>\n

John Minardi\u2019s family wellness talk, entitled \u201cPower of Adjustment: Creating Neural Adaptations,\u201d was one of dozens of fascinating, provocative, and unusual keynote speeches and workshops at the conference this weekend.<\/p>\n

The Speakers at Freedom For Family Wellness\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I didn’t go to every session but the talks I did attend were outstanding. The speakers included:<\/p>\n

Kelly Brogan, M.D.<\/a>, a psychiatrist in private practice who works with pregnant and post-natal women, talk about the importance of beneficial bacteria both in establishing a healthy immune system and a healthy, happy brain (\u201cFoundations of Mental Health: Pregnancy, Birth, and Breastfeeding in a Healthy Microbiome\u201d)<\/p>\n

Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.<\/a>, a cell biologist who travels internationally giving lectures, give a ramble rousing two and a half hour lecture that kept the audience on the edge of their seats about the importance of the environment to the expression of human genes (If I had to sum up his talk in one sentence, it would probably be: \u201cYou are not a victim of your genes!\u201d)<\/p>\n

Right Livelihood Award Winner\u00a0Ina May Gaskin<\/a>, who is probably the most famous midwife in America\u2014if not in the world\u2014talk about the \u201cfear problem\u201d we have in this country surrounding birth is interfering with healthy, normal, hormonal birth, and how the medical community\u2019s conviction that American women\u2019s bodies are not adequate to the task of having babies is wrong.<\/p>\n

The 5 Unexpected Lessons\u00a0About Family Wellness:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Chimpanzees can labor upside down<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ina May Gaskin showed this video clip<\/a> of a chimp at Attica Zoological Park in Greece who put herself vagina side up while her baby was crowning. She flipped herself over for the final moments of the birth and she and her friend cuddled the baby with so much love that I cried watching the video.<\/p>\n

2) Chiropractors like to party<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Who knew there would be a Brazilian funk band, tequila shots, and a whole lot of dancing? This conference, which provides continuing education credits, included an enormous amount of practical and theoretical information. But the organizers also encouraged everybody there to have fun.<\/p>\n

3) Wellness is all in the family<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There were many multi-generational chiropractic families at this conference! Dr. Jeanne Ohm\u2019s husband is also a chiropractor. They have six children, all born at home<\/a>! Five sons and one daughter. Moreover, one of their son\u2019s, Justin Ohm, is also a chiropractor. They practice together<\/a> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

4) You can gauge the health of a community by the health of their children<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This was one family friendly family wellness conference. The chiropractors, medical doctors, researchers, and other speakers weren\u2019t just talking about healthy children, they were displaying them. There were many newborns, babies, and small children at this conference, which was delightful.<\/p>\n

5) The reigning Ms. America is a practicing chiropractor<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Did you even know there was such a thing as a Ms. America? Her name is Stephanie Mills and she practices chiropractic in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Chiropractic care helps heal excruciating back pain<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In excruciating pain, John Minardi went to a chiropractor for a series of adjustments to try to fix the damage done to his back and neck. Minardi never missed an appointment.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, the older man took a liking to this angry, violent, low-level teenaged hoodlum.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should become a chiropractor,\u201d the chiropractor suggested during one adjustment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe?\u201d Minardi was incredulous.<\/p>\n

\u201cChiropractic needs people like you, people with guts,\u201d the doctor told him. \u201cPeople who aren\u2019t afraid to fight something bigger than they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took several years but Minardi managed to buy his way out of the drug business by paying a lump sum to his crime boss.<\/p>\n

Changing the world through healing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After college, he got accepted to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He called the \u2018crazy old man,\u2019 as he thought of the chiropractor who had given him hope for the first time in his life so many years before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got in,\u201d Minardi told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course you did,\u201d the chiropractor said. \u201cAnd now you can change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minardi graduated in 2001. He\u2019s been practicing<\/a> chiropractic ever since.<\/p>\n

\"5<\/a>

My keynote speech at the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit was entitled “The Business of Pregnancy and Childbirth.”<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5<\/a>

Midwife Ina May Gaskin (left) and me, Jennifer Margulis (right). I’ve admired her work for years but this is the first time we’ve met in person. I was star struck. She’s amazing.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5<\/a>

An enthusiastic chiropractor buying a copy of my book, The Business of Baby. We sold out of the books at the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5<\/a>

From my workshop at the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit: Gentle communication for a natural childbirth includes listening well, asking questions, and sharing positive stories.<\/p><\/div>\n

Published: November 18, 2014
\nUpdated: March 7, 2023<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/strong><\/span>
\nLessons From Ina May Gaskin<\/a>
\n7 Reasons Why Child Vaccines Are the Best Parenting Choice<\/a>
\nWelcome to the World, Precious Baby<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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