My Naturopathic Summer Vacation

Six weeks is, by far, the longest vacation I have ever taken. And it was delicious. There is something about having forty-two days spread out before you that gives you real freedom. Freedom from schedules, deadlines, necessity and therefore, stress. That was one of the main purposes of this trip - to lower my stress.

Like many of you, this last year has been my hardest on record. Navigating the virus and its effects on all of you, not only physically but emotionally, has been a challenge to say the least. I was really starting to feel it in my body. Both my wife, Samae, and I felt it was needed for our family, and my health, to take an extended trip this summer. She was right, as usual.

Stress literally causes our body to manifest physical symptoms. We often attribute the symptoms caused by stress to other causes. If we don’t remove ourselves from stress our bodies will suffer. Having six weeks away from my desk, the computer, the messages and phone calls was a true naturopathic gift to my health.  Because I am a true, “dyed in the wool” naturopath, I took my vacation as an opportunity to heal.

Bozeman Museum of the Rockies
A collection of homeopathic remedies - many of the same ones we use today!

While on vacation, I did the following things that helped the process.

1.     Got into a body of water 40 out of the 42 days. This included lakes, rivers, creeks, streams, pools, hot springs and hot tubs. That really washed away some cares.

2.     Took all my supplements every single day. I know this is hard for some people but it is one of my superpowers.

3.     Spent extra energy working on my adrenal function. I think it is a particularly good time to rebuild these organs while we are resting.

4.     Brought my dry skin brush and used it often.

5.     Enjoyed lots of saunas, sweats and hot springs.

6.     Tons of sunshine. We spent most of our time outside, in nature.

7.     Samae and I stayed off social media for the entire six weeks. (this might have been the single biggest healing move we did).

8.     Gave myself an vitamin IV infusion at least once a week. (don’t try this yourself : )

9.     Used both my rife machine and photobiomodulation unit daily.

10.  Exercised. Running, push-ups, pull-ups and weight-lifting. Lots of stretching and some yoga.

11.  Meditated at night before bed.

12.  Practiced my chi gong moves every day.

13.  Ate really healthy. Samae is an exceptional and creative cook. We also cheated a few times and went out to dinner, which I think is healthy too!

14.  Got a lot of extra sleep.

15.  Laughed and spent time with friends and family.

16.  Read a non-medical book just for fun.

Thank all of you for giving me the space I needed to heal. I know for some of you it must have been scary, during the time, to have your doctor gone. Thanks to Dr. Miki and everyone else at the practice who did an amazing job taking care of everything and everyone while I was gone. Now it is everyone else’s turn at the practice to take an extended vacation (hint, hint).

There is an expression about putting on your oxygen mask before helping others. I now feel like I have my oxygen mask securely in place and ready to take on the challenges facing us in the upcoming year.

Perhaps 49 days next summer?

Good Luck and Good Health,

Dr. Chlebowski