I also took the step to make an audio version of the book which is available on 2 CD’s, as some people prefer to listen rather than read. I have some copies of the audio CD’s in my office as well as available to order through my online store here.

I also want to let you know that I recently teamed up with the International BodyTalk Association (IBA) to raise awareness of this energy medicine/consciousness based modality. I have a special page where visitors can buy my ebook and contribute 50% of the proceeds to the IBA to help with the funding for the many projects and good works they are doing throughout the world. Here’s the link to this special page here:
http://www.principlesforparents.com/pfp-and-iba.html

As always, please feel free to give me feedback and comments on my blog or through the contact form on the website.

Thanks,
Peter Hanfileti, MD

“8 years ago, I received a handwritten letter in the mail from someone I had never met, the letter said that a speaker was coming whom I had never heard of, and he was to discuss a technique known as BodyTalk which I never imagined could become part of my daily clinical practice as a physician. I followed an inner prompting to follow the directions in that letter and I showed up for the talk just like you all have done tonight. That night 8 years ago, I listened to an interesting Australian named John Veltheim, and afterwards my pathway was set, I enrolled in the first BodyTalk class I could find and my learning which started back then continues to this day.

This curious twist of fate or what I can call a synchronicity happened when I was in the middle of transitioning from a conventional pediatrics group practice to the complementary or holistic medicine practice I have today. I had always wanted to treat kids with non-invasive approaches whenever possible, and in my opinion, BodyTalk is the ultimate system when it comes to natural, gentle, respectful techniques used in the treatment of children.

Let me just back up a little bit and tell you that I was trained in the conventional way as a physician. I graduated from medical school, went through a 3 year residency program in pediatrics at the University of Michigan, I joined a pediatrics group in Vancouver WA and practiced for 6 years as a primary care pediatrician. My duties included seeing newborns in the hospital, performing well child check ups and school physicals, putting in sutures for lacerations and cuts, and spending time with parents trying to give them the best advice I could.

At that point in my career, I didn’t have the faintest idea what energy medicine was or even how it could be useful to me or my patients. I was on track to put in my 30-35 years and retire along with my colleagues. That was my assumption and I had planned to stick with it.

However, something was pulling me toward new ways of thinking. I was gradually exposed to the energy medicine paradigm which included fascinating fields like acupuncture and Chinese medicine. And then when BodyTalk came along, my mind was really expanded.

What I now realize is that a consciousness based system like BodyTalk is able to embrace the simple notion that we as human beings are much more than what our anatomy and physiology reveals. What I learned in my conventional medical training was no doubt useful and necessary, but I did not realize how incomplete it was until I became exposed to these concepts. Seeing kids in my practice over the last several years has taught me even more about the energy dynamics that play a role in all aspects of health and wellbeing for children and their families.

Before I finish, I want to express my personal thanks to John Veltheim for writing the foreward to my recent book called Energy Medicine Principles for Parents. I wrote it with the intent to make it available to my own patients and families in my practice, but then it became clear that it could be useful to the larger community of parents who are looking for answers to help their kids.

Even though it is our job as practitioners to help alleviate problems and prevent them wherever possible, I have found that it is the awareness of parents and kids themselves that is the first necessary step. It is my hope that this book will serve as an introduction and a resource for parents who are exploring this new realm of medicine called BodyTalk.

I know you will enjoy tonight’s presentation by Dr Veltheim. Thank you.”

-Peter Hanfileti, MD

You can find more information about my ebook at www.principlesforparents.com

You might also want to visit the International BodyTalk Association website at www.bodytalksystem.com.

Asking the Question Why?

One of the strategies I like to use in the evaluation of kids, is to stretch out the framework of investigation to include not just what is happening now, but what has come before. Essentially, I think it is important to ask the question “why?”. Why this child, at this time, in this family, in this environment? Because this is such a difficult question to answer, it is almost never raised in the context of a practitioner’s office evaluation. The emphasis tends to be on treatment and management with medications, which is appropriate but in my opinion, incomplete. I am quite certain that every parent wants to know the answer to this “why” question for their own child, but it never reaches the point where it is possible to answer it because it is so nebulous and unclear, not to mention the fact that the possible contributing variables are too numerous to count.

I have learned to tackle this from an energy medicine perspective, which means we focus on the energetics of your child’s system which includes factors both inside and outside of their physical body, as well as time frames going all the way back to birth, prenatal and family history influences. When this is done, the reasons for the common scenario where asthma, allergies and eczema are coexisting in the same child have the chance to come to light. This awareness on your part as a parent is key to helping your child as I have mentioned previously in another post.

Your Child’s Lung Energy

In the Chinese medicine system, the lung energy, as a subdivision of your child’s overall energy allotment, is in charge of the process of breathing, the immune system especially on the surface of the body and on mucous membranes like the nose, mouth, respiratory and digestive tract, and finally the health of the skin (the largest organ of the body). By noting that this one sub-system is energetically in charge of all three of these categories (among many others), it is readily apparent that this triad of involvement in a child is likely to be caused by a weakness or imbalance on this one sub-circuit.

It is not that simple, however, because your child’s life experiences, events, environmental influences, inherited predispositions, and emotional contributing factors all can have a large or small impact on how your child’s system responds and seeks to balance itself. Therefore, the reasons and the answer to the question of why my child, why now, and so forth will always be individual to the child, there can never be a set answer that will cover every child with this triad of conditions.

It took me a long time to recognize this because this is not the way our current scientific investigation model works. Studies are done to look for the one explanation that tries to explain all, like a causative organism, an allergen, a toxin or a food or environmental sensitivity. I am not saying this is wrong, all I am saying is that it represents too narrow a view.

When every child with asthma, allergies and eczema has a different set of reasons for having those three conditions together, it is a problem trying to reduce the answer to the why question to a one size fits all response. I think we all know this intuitively, and certainly parents know that their own child has unique characteristics that differentiate them from everyone else in the world. To me, this is the main reason to use a more holistic approach to childhood issues and in my opinion, an energy based evaluation must be a part of the overall strategy.

Reality Based Approach

My final point to make is that your child does have a reason as to why they have or have had this triad of asthma, allergies and eczema but the answer will not be found in some textbook, or by a specialist, or on the next drug commercial. It will be found by the investigation of your child’s own history, predisposing factors, timing of events and experiences, and the awareness of their own energy based system functioning in real time.

My proposal to parents is to take a reality based approach which takes into account the necessity of medications if that is required, but not to the exclusion of all other investigations. Your child’s system is way too complex for us to logically reduce things to one answer only. Be open to all possibilities and systems of reasoning. Your child already does this naturally. I think we should do the same.

I’d like to expand upon this theme of awareness taken from my free ebook called Paradigm Shifting Principles for Parents, which is available as a download on my website called PrinciplesForParents.com.

Awareness is key

I spend a lot of time in my practice emphasizing the importance of awareness. I believe this is the starting point for you, your child, and for me when it comes to beginning the process of helping your child to truly reach their potential.

Going back to the idea that energy has to become our common currency or common denominator, it is true that awareness itself has its own energetic signature or feeling associated with it. This in turn is detectable by your child, no matter what age they are. I find this is detectable by those outside of your family, including me, when interaction is taking place in my practice environment.

This is not surprising when you think about it. We are taught and learn early on, how to key into this awareness state and use it to our advantage and to help us navigate through the world and over the course of our lifetimes.

As the parent in your household, your own awareness of your child’s situation is the predominant factor that your child will key into. This is why it is important to have things squared away in your own mind so that you are not transmitting a sense of insecurity, doubt, despair and the like, to your child if at all possible. Once again, the energy explanation makes this clearer and readily understandable so that we can move forward to solutions for your child.

Age Reciprocal Resonance

Another concept I have written about previously which relates to this topic is something called age reciprocal resonance. This describes the relationship between parents and their children from an energy perspective and brings to our awareness the overlap between the child’s experience and their parent’s experience when they were that age.

This is a wide open, two way street so to speak, and it deserves our undivided attention in real time. The influence of this energetic process can be large or small, depending on the child, the parent, and the family history. I get into more details in my book called “Energy Medicine Principles for Parents”. You may want to read more about what is in the book, or download an excerpt of it that I have made available on my website.

Awareness is the Starting Point

One final thought on awareness I want to impart to you is this: Becoming aware is the starting point in the healing process for you, your child, and your family. When subjects remain in the unconscious or hidden realm, they are very difficult to change or to get a handle on them. By bringing things into your awareness and your child’s awareness, the recognition by itself will jump start and accelerate the process of balancing your child’s situation no matter what it may be.

I have seen this play out many times in my practice, and I have been fortunate to get feedback from parents, in some cases many years later, and their comments have been that a small change in awareness perhaps many years ago resulted in the start of a process which eventually led to understanding and resolution for their child.

I am very grateful for the opportunity I have been given to participate in this process with many parents, kids, and their families. So, work on your own awareness in order to help your child. It just may be the starting point toward helping your child move toward a more balanced state of being, and helping them to get in synch with their own underlying blueprint.

I’m going to discuss this topic of individuality taken from my free ebook called Paradigm Shifting Principles for Parents. Perhaps the most important information I can give you is to pay attention to the context your child’s situation fits into. What I mean is, your child’s individual nature is unquestionably the most important factor in their learning, your parenting, and my general advice-giving in my supporting role to you as a pediatrician.

What most parents don’t realize is that although their own child is unique, our current medical system considers them to be the opposite. This is a shocking realization for everyone involved, including myself as a practicing physician! While we in the medical community pay lip service to the laudable goal of treating your child as an individual, the fact is, very few practitioners have the time, the understanding or the framework within which to work to accomplish this goal. It is my view that you as the parent are the only one who can possibly attain this outcome for your child. No practitioner or medical system can do it for you or for them. All we can hope to do is point you in the right direction. This has been and will continue to be my goal in my interactions with you, either in person or indirectly through my writings.

How Does Your Child Absorb Information?

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about to make this more clear. In my practice, I place a lot of importance on how your child takes in information, and how they assimilate it. Some kids are very feeling oriented and kinesthetic or sensitive to their surroundings including other people. Some kids are much more verbal and talkative, and they show an ability to communicate their wants and needs to you in a flurry of words and phrases. Still other kids are more auditory, and they need to hear instructions, encouragement, and/or reinforcement, sometimes repeatedly and numerous times before it will finally “sink in”. As you can see, the logical strategy is to match the method with the easiest way your child can absorb the information you are trying to get through to them.

Pigeon Holing is Not Logical

If I am called upon to give advice to help parents with a child with a particular problem, it is imperative that I know which of the above methods will most likely result in the most efficient way to address the issue. Is it logical for me to arbitrarily choose one method for all kids of a certain age group, knowing that there is wide variability in how kids take in information? This is what I call pigeon-holing and I see it constantly cropping up in the medical field in particular. As a physician, I am just as much to blame for this unfortunate tendency because I used to think and practice in that way. Now I am trying to reverse the trend and begin the necessary dialogue to find common ground between parents and practitioners for the benefit of your kids.

Individualize Your Approach to Your Child

Now if we come back to your role as the parent. There is no doubt that you have the most influence and hold the most important position when it comes to your child, period. What I want you to know is that there is nothing wrong with individualizing your approach to all things related to your child, and I would include the medical or health related decisions you make. I can only make this statement now, after many years in practice, because I have arrived at an understanding that includes the energy medicine view of your child and your family. I do not believe we can ignore the very important contribution energy influences make during your child’s growth and development years. You can read more of my perspectives on this in other posts I have made in the energy medicine category here.

If you’d like more information, go here to download the full version of the free ebook: Paradigm Shifting Principles for Parents.

As I have reflected on our conversation over the last few days, a new question has surfaced with regards to what I like to call “the middle ground” which is in between the conventional medical establishment and the alternative medicine wing of our society which includes a number of physicians in the mix besides myself. I believe we have become stuck on semantics and statistics and rules to the detriment of our understanding and seeking of common ground.

For example, it dawned on me after the interview that what I refer to as energy includes the conventional definition as well as the alternative. The only difference seems to be in what is focused on and named, and what receives the bulk of our investigation and quite frankly our belief. Energy in the conventional physical viewpoint of the body involves something called ATP, or adenosine triphosphate which is produced at the cellular level by the powerhouse of our cells, the mitochondria. Now, every physician has learned this and knows what ATP and mitochondria are. However, when it comes to our patients, parents and their kids, I have never been asked by them about this. Is it because mitochondria and ATP are not important? No. It is simply because nobody thinks or speaks using these terms except doctors and researchers.

When we use the term ‘energy’ in the alternative or holistic medicine viewpoint, we are referring to a concept that everyone can relate to, even though technically it is not measured. If someone is low on energy, we say they are tired out or exhausted. We don’t say their mitochondria are low on ATP production. This doesn’t mean we are right and everyone else is wrong, it just means that the description of energy is more understandable and useful for families looking for answers and explanations for their kids.

I believe that we can use both strategies to give parents the best information possible, depending on the situation at hand. In the realm of physical disorders and imbalances, there is no question that a hormone like insulin for diabetes is necessary and is an example of matching a physical deficiency with a physical or chemical/hormonal/substance replacement. In the category of energy imbalances, we must use energy inputs to match and correct the energy patterns that lead to problems and not assume that drugs or surgical interventions are the only valid choices. The BodyTalk System and the Chinese Medicine and acupuncture systems are examples of modalities whose intervention is largely energy based. As a physician, I have no problem accepting this as a concept because it makes sense, and I have seen the energy medicine approach work time after time with all age groups for many different energy associated conditions.

We owe it to ourselves, our families, our colleagues, and especially our succeeding generations, to find common ground and creative solutions, rather than prolonging the competitive stances that keep us in grid lock over who has the right answer for everyone and everything.

That’s more than enough of my ramblings, how about I give you a link to the audio file on my website where you can listen to the interview I did with Andrea Tannouri on Energy Medicine Principles for Parents.

This may be the first of many interviews where we explore topics that are important to you and your kids. Be sure to send me your feedback after listening to the interview.

I think this will give you an idea of my style and philosophy when it comes to energy medicine and your child. When you receive the download email, you can choose to watch the short video/slide show or listen to the mp3 audio file. You may also download the ebook and read it as a pdf file. Click here to go to the page where you can download it from my Principles for Parents site. Hope you enjoy it!

UPDATE: Please note the 8 Tips for Parents is no longer available on the Principles for Parents home page. Instead I have an excerpt from my new ebook available now. The 8 Tips for Parents will be included with the purchase of my new ebook as a bonus, or you can get it separately from the multimedia store page on Principles for Parents.

Thanks!

Dr Pete