Snoring

Mike’s snoring is so bad he’s been banished from the bedroom and his marriage is on the line. Keen to get back in bed with his wife, he tries Ayurvedic treatments and sees a Reiki practitioner. Also feeling isolated by her ear-splitting snores, Mary Lou commits to a life-changing holistic makeover prescribed by her naturopathic doctor.

In this episode we meet:

Mike, a sports fanatic who has worked in the warehouse business for 25 years. After seriously injuring his back in a hockey accident about ten years ago and gaining some weight, Mike’s snoring has grown progressively louder and more persistent over the years. He’s consulted with several GPs, used countless over-the-counter stop-snoring aids and has even has had his adenoids shaved. But none of these treatments has cured Mike’s snoring. Meanwhile, his ten-year snore-fest has wreaked havoc in his love life. He and his wife now sleep in separate bedrooms, something Mike desperately wants to change.

Marylou, a widow and home-based business consultant. Marylou’s life-long snoring can raise the roof, and she’s tired of it. Her snoring is infamous among family and friends and is so loud, you can hear it through the walls and floors of her house. It’s especially a problem when she travels and tries to bunk with friends – no one wants to share a room with her. The one doctor Marylou consulted about her snoring told her to lose weight. She found that advice simplistic and annoying. She has struggled to lose weight in the past. In her opinion, Western medicine has been a waste of her time. She’s anxious to lose this ailment and get a good night’s sleep.

The CAM practitioners they consult are:

Todd Caldecott, Ayurvedic Practitioner
Todd has been in practice as a clinical herbalist and Ayurvedic practitioner for over a decade, and has a broad array of clinical experiences, from Canada and the United States, to Trinidad and India. He is currently based in Vancouver. As a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine —the classical healing system of ancient India and one of the world’s oldest medical systems —Todd heals his clients through dietary and lifestyle changes, herbal medications, and in some cases, nutritional supplements. According to the Ayurvedic tradition, digestion is the root of health since metabolism of food creates personal vitality. Ayurveda consists of aligning and connecting the body, mind, and spirit with modes of being to preserve and balance the body’s vitality. Todd assesses the client’s “doshas,” a humoural system with three main parts: vata (wind), pitta (bile), and kapha (phlegm/mucus). When these three areas are out of balance, they result in specific ailments; Todd works to restore balance. Website: www.toddcaldecott.com

Barb Weston, Reiki Master (Mike’s second practitioner)
Barb is a certified Reiki practitioner and Reiki teacher registered with the Canadian Reiki Association (CRA); she is also Vice President of the CRA and a registered member of the BC Therapeutic Touch Network (BCTTN). Barb has trained many of the Reiki practitioners now working in the Vancouver area, and is considered by many to be the best in the city. She is proprietor of a healing centre, Inner Focus Holistic Healing, the inception of which materialized shortly after she experienced her first Reiki session as a client. The experience was life changing.

Reiki is a bio-field, vibrational modality that works with energy blockages in the body. It is based on the understanding that everything in the universe is, at its core, a moving, vibrating energy field. The Reiki practitioner is a conduit that helps the client to redirect the energy blockages that are the root cause of almost all physical ailments. Barb’s clients report all kinds of different sensations as she treats their energy blockages: flashes of heat or cold, surges of “electric” pulses inside their body, tingling, weeping, and surfacing of repressed memories. Barb does not focus on any particular ailments during her treatment period; she simply ushers the body into a state of very deep relaxation in which clients can let go of stress and give the body the space to heal itself holistically. Website: www.innerfocus.ca

Dr. Brian Martin, Naturopathic Doctor (Marylou’s practitioner)
Following the completion of a bachelor of science degree, Dr. Martin studied for four years at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, obtaining his Naturopathic Doctorate Degree, then spent a year of training in the East Moreland Hospital emergency ward. He is also fully trained in anti-aging medicine and the safe use of hormonal therapy. In 2002, Dr. Martin opened Canada's first medically supervised fitness clinic. It merged with Look Good in Your Genes (LGYG) in December 2004 to form the new EnerChanges Clinic, which focuses on “anti-aging, disease prevention, fitness, and happiness.”

As a naturopathic practitioner, Dr. Martin looks to the person rather then the symptoms, finding out not how “sick” but rather how “healthy” the person is, and trying to build on that. Naturopathic practitioners use a wide variety of alternative health modalities—herbal remedies, acupuncture, homeopathy, etc.—whatever helps the patient best. The more tools a naturopathic practitioner has, the better; all the modalities together work to improve overall health. Naturopathic medicine is based on the idea that the body is naturally inclined toward good health; we must simply create the conditions that allow our bodies to be healthy.