References Beissner, F.; Meissner, K.; Bar, K.J. 2013. The autonomic brain: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis for central processing of autonomic function. The Journal of Neuroscience, June 19, 2013. 33(25):10503–10511 • 10503. Campese, V.; Ye, S.; Zhong, H.; et al. 2004. Reactive oxygen species stimulate central and peripheral sympathetic nervous system activity. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 287: H695–H703, 2004. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00619.2003. Gibbins, I. 2013. Functional organization of autonomic neural pathways. Organogenesis 9:3, 169–175; July/August/September 2013; © 2013 Landes Bioscience. Guyenet, P. 2006. The sympathetic control of blood pressure. University of Virginia, Pharmacology, Health Sciences Center. doi:10.1038/nrn1902. Haas, H.S.; Schaunstein, K. 1997. Neuroimmunomodulation via limbic structures – The neuroanatomy of psychoimmunology. Progressin hkrobiobg~., Vol. 51, pp. 195TO 222, 1997. Elsevier. Hansel, A.; von Kanel, R. 2008. The ventro-medial prefrontal cortex: A major link between the autonomic nervous system, regulation of emotion, and stress reactivity. University Hospital Berne, Switzerland. Department of General Internal Medicine. Doi:10.1186/1751-0759-2-21. Hilz, M.J.; Devinsky, O.; Szczepanska, H.; et al. 2006. Right ventromedial prefrontal lesions result in paradoxical cardiovascular activation with emotional stimuli. Brain (2006), 129, 3343–3355. doi:10.1093/brain/awl299. Janig, W. Habler, H.J.; 2000. Chapter 25: Specificity in the organization of the autonomic nervous system: a basis for precise neural regulation of homeostatic and protective body functions. Progress in Brain Research, Vol 122. Kenney, M.J.; Ganta, C.K.; Autonomic nervous system and immune system interactions. Compr Physiol. 2014 July ; 4(3): 1177–1200. doi:10.1002/cphy.c130051. Kop, W.J.; Synowski, S.J.; Newell, M.E. 2011. Autonomic nervous system reactivity to positive and negative mood induction: The role of acute psychological responses and frontal electrocortical activity. Biol Psychol. 2011 March ; 86(3): 230–238. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.12.003. Scheff, J.D.; Griffel, B.; Corbettb, S.A.; et al. 2014. On heart rate variability and autonomic activity in homeostasis and in systemic inflammation. Math Biosci. 2014 June ; 252: 36–44. doi:10.1016/j.mbs.2014.03.010. Verberne, A. J.; Lam, W.; Owens, N.C.; et al. 1997. Supramedullary modulation of sympathetic vasomotor function. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology (1997) 24, 748-754. Yates, B.J.; Bolton, P.S.; Macefield, V.G. 2014. Vestibulo-Sympathetic Responses. Compr Physiol. doi:10.1002/cphy.c130041. Photo by https://www.pexels.com/@tima-miroshnichenko?utm_content=attributionCopyTextandutm_medium=referralandutm_source=pexels (Tima Miroshnichenko) from https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-gray-sweater-sitting-by-the-table-5717264/?utm_content=attributionCopyTextandutm_medium=referralandutm_source=pexels (Pexels)

.

.

Notes

Important things that need to be in place to ensure a successful outcome. Recognizing purpose, priorities, mental state. Overcoming road blocks.

Laura describes the details around her father's stroke, and how he came to live with her 12 years after the stroke had occurred. She explains some of the medical interventions she used, and how much that helped. She described that she was "cautiously optimistic that you could make some minor improvments", but that her expectations regarding recovery were mostly nonexistent. This changed when she and her mother witnessed her father using his hand for the first time in 12 years! Following that, he regained use of his arm, and became able to walk again, with the help of a walker. "It was nice to have someone who knew what they were doing. I felt like the naturopath we were using was really very smart, but she did not have the skills to get him to where he could not be paralysed - but you know, she had done a lot for him." She was most thankful because the work Dr. Hogue did allowed him to walk around the kitchen, telling jokes, and reminiscing about the past. These changes, were, again - completely unexpected. It meant so much to her.

Notes

There are at least two definitions of vitalism. I define it as a deep trust in nature’s and your body’s innate wisdom to create and maintain life. If this were a new concept for me, I might question why it is so important. Consider momentarily the miracle of human development and birth. Within the mother, the ova makes a connection with the semen. From there, a great development takes place. In a predictable timeline and fashion, all of the organ systems develop: Lungs that bring oxygen into the body, and remove carbon and cellular waste; A heart with four chambers that pump continuously throughout all of life, and that sends a near-constant supply of oxygen and vital nutrients to the various cells and tissues of the body, and returns waste products to the lungs, urinary system, and lymphatic system; The brain is by far the most complex human development. Starting with the notochord in week 3 of embryonic life, the neural tube develops. During the next 5 weeks, the core structures for the unparalleled adult brain will have developed. The creation of life is truthfully a miracle. Its development is predictable, precise, very complex, and highly sustainable. Now consider the grandeur of maintaining human life: The heart is an amazing muscle that pumps all day, everyday, for all of life. It changes speed and intensity based upon current needs and conditions. Complex channels exist that allow precise activation of neural and muscular tissues, while also removing and balancing chemical, pressure, and pH gradients. This is necessary for maintenance of life. A muscle is able to willfully create inverted pressure within the chest cavity which causes air from the external environment to move into the lungs. A multitude of tight balances are maintained automatically to ensure your muscles have enough power, and that your body can function correctly. All of your skeletal muscles work in concert to allow your 206 bones to defy gravity and to move you at will. These life-sustaining forces occur automatically and without requiring any forethought. The wisdom, complexity, and grandeur of life itself is indisputable. There is a common saying: “The wisdom that made the body is the wisdom that heals the body”. Think about it, a force that is able to develop an ova and sperm into a fully-functional human baby! A force that is able to make life fully sustainable and fully reproducible. Wouldn’t a force like this be intelligent enough to also heal and repair itself? In general, we know this is true for cuts, bruises, and broken bones. My vitalistic assertion is that your body can do so much more than that. It is perfectly capable of providing for you optimum health, vibrance, and vitality. Not only that, but in every case possible, the wisdom of your body will attempt to give you the best of what is available. So when we find ourselves in a position of dis-ease, the question therefore becomes: “What prevented my body from achieving its goal to keep me healthy, happy, and vibrant?” If we can find the answers to that question, then we can support the best of life that your body will give you, as long as you don’t get in the way of your own mechanism for health. I have deep and abiding confidence in my body to repair and restore, to rebuild and recover. This confidence guides many of the decisions that I make. My confidence that everyone else has similar intelligence within guides many of the recommendations that I give. Genetic conditions When introduced to this philosophy, a lot of people ask, what about genetic conditions and autonomic disorders? If the human body were so highly intelligent, wouldn’t it be able to create a healthy baby every time? Wouldn’t it be able to prevent itself from attacking itself? These are fair questions, but the fact that there are sometimes genetic mutations, birth defects, and autonomic disorders does not undermine the truth that creation of life requires a degree of intelligence that extends

Notes

Take a moment to imagine what it would be like if you could never take out the garbage. What would you do? You might be alright for a couple of weeks, but after a while your house would become very disgusting. You might get bugs inside your house, and new stains in lots of places. The aroma would not be pleasant. Imagine the things you would no longer be comfortable doing? That’s a devastating scenario we’ve played out. Well, your body is very similar. Each cell in the entire body has its own waste products, which are transported to the outer membrane to be collected by blood and lympatic systems. The food we eat is partially used, and we need to get rid of some of it. Same with the liquids we drink. Our body has multiple systems that eliminate waste: The intestinal tract The blood and lymphatic systems transport waste The lungs The kidneys The skin Bowel movements need to be large and frequent. As a general rule, for each time that you eat, 2 to 3 hours later you should be having a bowel movement. If you don’t, a process called bowel compaction begins. This involves a neurological feedback loop between the internal and external anal sphincter muscles, which makes it perpetually harder to have a successful bowel movement depending upon how much resistance you give after you first feel the urge to have a bowel movement. This involves the formation of mucous-filled and disease-ridden pockets in the intestinal tract. It also makes the food that you eat less useful and more wasteful, because it is so much harder to absorb the nutrients into your blood supply, because the wall of the intestinal tract has become hard and crusty. The bowels can also be obstructed by inadequate dietary fiber intake, insufficient water, consumption of highly processed or chemical laden foods – especially those with heavily processed wheat, certain medications, unhealthy gut flora, and in other ways. Blood The blood and lymphatic systems can become overloaded with waste. When this happens, you are likely to experience fatigue, headaches, and water retention or edema – especially in the lower legs. One thing that can contribute to this might include a weak heart – which could be the result of an unhealthy diet especially with too many saturated fats, a sedentary lifestyle, over-consumption of sodium without maintaining a healthy sodium-potassium balance, kidney failure, smoking, unhealthy lungs, use of stimulants, and a variety of other factors. Other things that can contribute to overloaded blood and lymph include: consumption of toxins, things that place heavy demand on the liver (alcoholism, high stress, inadequate sleep, certain drugs, toxic or chemically-rich foods, etc…), a sedentary lifestyle, inadequate consumption of vegetables (particularly the bitter ones), and more. Lungs The lungs receive waste products from the blood system in the same exchange by which the blood becomes oxygenated. If you are a smoker, you have pretty much destroyed this waste-removal system. This also becomes a problem when you don’t exhale completely enough to remove the waste from the lungs. Other possible issues could be inadequate or irregular cardiovascular exercise, frequent respiratory illness, or problems with the swallowing mechanism – to keep food out of the lungs. Kidneys The kidneys work very hard to filter the blood. When too much demand is placed on the kidneys, they fail, with downstream affects on the heart. Eating too much meat, not consuming enough water, too many toxins in the blood which the kidneys must filter out, too much calcium and other heavy minerals that the body is trying to get rid of, certain drugs such as caffeine, and other factors – can place heavy demand on the kidneys. Skin The skin is our largest organ. It serves a variety of functions. Its primary mechanism for waste removal is sweat – which cleanses the blood and lymph, burns fat, and may improve intestinal motility. Overview I didn’t discuss everything