Monday, February 28, 2011

Chiropractic Principles are NOT just for Chiropractors! By Dr. Lisa Rubin, Ph.D.

As a psychologist, people walk in my office everyday with emotional pain and suffering which changes their physiology and often manifests into physical symptomatology. Everyone has a story, a little box with the lid locked tight, a closed door slammed shut and bolted, a ball and chain that gets thrown off balance, everyday, every night, all the time. It is so important to look at the whole person. Listen to them and watch their body language and how they say what they say. People give you incredible clues into their lives, but first you must open your eyes and ears just a little more, each time you see them. For instance, have you ever sat with an individual that felt so lost and out of touch with universal intelligence that they wanted to hurt himself/herself of someone else? How do you tenderly touch their innate? Help them find light in the darkness. Listen. Guide. Teach gently the priceless gifts that chiropractic philosophy has taught me and my family over the years.

To be responsible for someone else’s life is a huge responsibility, isn’t it? With that responsibility comes extra hours away from your family, sleepless nights of tossing and turning. Thoughts go through one’s mind, asking, “Did I do the right thing?” “Is the patient ok?” “Should I have made a different choice?” “Could I have done more, not just for their physical pain but for emotional suffering as well?” That loud voice gets even louder, and it takes every ounce of energy to hear that ‘wee small voice’. To remove the ego, focus on the individual and know you are not walking in this journey alone.

So you see, many of the chiropractic principles apply not just to chiropractic; they are timeless laws that apply to all mankind, to every profession and person, young or old. As a species, we must celebrate our uniqueness, and realize that with each one of us, our effects are far reaching, far more than you will ever know.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

What's Love Got To Do With It? 5 Questions About Love for You & Your Spouse

1. How did you meet and when?

Lisa: Drew and I met 23 years ago when he was in Chiropractic school at Life and I was at Emory University. Drew and his friends would come to the medical school library at Emory to study. I would study at the med library because it was across the street from my dorm. We were introduced by Drew's friend and would all go out to eat for study breaks. Drew and I were friends for 4 months before we ever dated. Drew asked me out on our first date on February 6th and we went to a dance club. We spent most of the night talking for hours learning about each other. Our lives changed from that night on.

Drew: It was September 1987. Life library was maybe ¼ the size it is now, with few books and fewer places to sit. My friend and I had this crazy idea that maybe if we went far enough away from our apartments to not easily make it back home to nap or eat, we could get a lot of work done. Little did I know studying at the Emory Med School library would be so life-changing. After I met her, every time I was at the library I would go to the water fountain a thousand times just so I could stop at her table and briefly chat with her. She was just so fun to talk to. Still is, 20 + years later.

2. You and your spouse both have the commonality of working or studying at Life University. How does it feel to have that in common?

Lisa: Drew & I, early on, decided we wanted to work together on our mission of helping others and promoting health. We created a plan to design our life. Here we are 20+ years later sharing a location for our private practice and working at Life University together. I love the energy at Life U and the ability to share the philosophy, vitalism, chiropractic and special people with my husband. How many people can say that they work in the same location and love being together everyday? We also have the ability to have our son present with us. He is currently in high school and at Life U with dual enrollment. Our son comes to seminars and events with us. My husband and I always try to meet for a kiss or a quick hello on campus, just to share our love for each other.

Drew: We are extraordinarily blessed. Few couples get to share their work life with each other, let alone being passionate about what they do. We both adore chiropractic, and still after this many years of marriage plot and scheme to find more ways to spend time with each other. Being at Life gives us the best of both worlds. We get to do something we love and believe in while spending some extra time with each other. It must look funny to others…we are constantly texting back and forth, trying to coordinate where we are so we can grab a hug.

3. What strengthens your marriage?

Lisa: We base our love on the following path: G-d, family, chiropractic. This foundation helps us decide which decisions are right for us as a couple. Our marriage is based on love, trust, compassion, philosophy and positivity. The journey is one we share together every step of the way. It is amazing to be more in love today after almost 20 years of marriage. We honor and cherish each other daily and constantly work on our relationship. We do everything together from the moment we wake up with a ritual of stating our intention for the day, reading, prayer, working out, making breakfast, listening to motivational tapes, texting throughout the day and always connecting and sharing our day with each other. Every day is a blessing and miracle we get to spend together.

Drew: The bedrock of a successful marriage is honesty and integrity. There is no substitute for these characteristics. Years ago, everyone told us that we’d stop holding hands and showing other displays of affection once the ‘honeymoon’ period is over. We have set out to prove them all wrong. Another key attribute is getting rid of the concept of ‘balance.’ There is no such thing. It’s always 100%-100%. You can’t give 50% to something and expect the kind of results that only 100% can give you. Add to these things lots of laughter, smiles, humor, and don’t forget hugs.

4. What kinds of things do you like to do together as a couple?

Lisa: Most of all, Drew and I like to spend time together. We love to go for walks in nature, go to waterfalls, and roller blade together. We love to watch a thought provoking movie or go to a seminar that challenges our thought process so we can discuss it. Drew and I love talking. We focus on our goals, our vision and our purpose. I love when we sit in front of our fireplace or go in our hot tub together. How many people can say they love being with their significant others and are always trying to find ways to spend more time together?

Drew: We love challenging each other. We try to find things to bring us to higher levels of awareness. Whether it is going to a Life U basketball or rugby game, listening to Jim Rohn or Zig Ziglar audio tapes, reading books like “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” or “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, or watching movies like “Defiance” or “I-Robot”, we always find a way to bring chiropractic philosophy into the mix. We have this idea that “everything matters”, so we try to really plan whatever we do to really matter. My favorite time spent with Lisa is a tie between going to some really awesome seminar and talking for hours about it, versus going to an incredibly gorgeous place out in nature like Sedona, and talking about that for hours too.


5. What is the most challenging thing about being married?

Lisa: The most challenging thing about being married is having to be ‘an adult’. It is much more fun to be giddy and laugh. Responsibility from the outside world makes it difficult to have the quantity of time with each other that we would like. Relationships are a work in progress. Our challenges, when handled correctly, help us learn from our mistakes and become the best people we can be. We try to make every minute count when we are together. We have to work harder today to keep our relationship energized and exciting. Falling in love is easy; staying in love is a constant work in progress. We have tried to master the secret to an exceptional and incredible loving relationship that is more powerful today than it was 20+ years ago.

Drew: Clearly the hardest thing we have to deal with is time. Quality has to make up for quantity. When we first started dating, while Lisa was at Emory and I was at Life, time seemed so endless, so eternal. Now with both of us working at Life U and having private practices and being parents and playing sports and all the other stuff involved, time really has been whittled down. I have taken lately to a quantum view of time. Time can be Newtonian, like 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour. Or time can be Quantum, like when you spend an hour doing something you truly enjoy with someone you love, and it is described as “time flying.’ Contrast this with sitting in a boring meeting and in the same 60 minutes is described as “time drags.” It is the same amount of time, just a different use of it. So we try to maximize our time together. Make it count. ‘Cause everything matters!


Ask these questions of you and your spouse, write down the answers, and then read them to each other. This simple exercise gave us 2 hours of awesome conversation and lots of good feelings. Try it and tell us what you think!

Adapted from the February “Love at Life” newsletter, Life University, Marietta GA

Friday, February 4, 2011

Life Change Through Saying ‘No’ By Dr. Lisa Rubin


I began my health quest about 23 years ago, when my husband and I first met. As a chiropractic student at Life University, he started sharing a whole new world of health I had never heard of before. I received chiropractic adjustments and began giving up dairy products and red meat. Next went all dairy products. Then I began to incorporate organic products. I read labels and started going to health food stores. Eventually, I consumed no processed sugar, no caffeine, no chocolate, no white flour, no preservatives, chemicals, and the list goes on. The more I gave up of the “old” and added more of the “new,” the better I felt. I also realized how other choices in my life began to change. I tried to get rid of negative input that was in my life: no more TV; no newspapers; no radio; and no magazines. I no longer took medication of any kind. I started letting my body heal itself. The body heals by removing interference that is in its way. This interference may come in many different forms: from the nervous system, or from chemical, emotional, spiritual, or even environmental factors.
I received a lot of pressure from my family and friends about my new lifestyle which increased when my husband and I decided to have a homebirth. All “*#@&!” broke loose. My family was in fear of what could go wrong as opposed to what could go right. Of course I knew that their concern was for my safety. I acknowledged their worries, explained my side of the story and showed them that I was unbending in my choices, but that I was open to conversation about those choices. This was very difficult for people to understand. The homebirth was magical.
As my son has grown, the choices have become easier; however, the resistance increased temporarily. Some of our alternative health and life choices included: no vaccinations, no drugs, nursing on demand until my son decided to wean himself, a family bed, vegetarian diet, attachment parenting, home schooling, etc. Some people comment that “You look normal, buy you just don’t do anything like anyone I know.” I take that as a compliment. I don’t want to be like anyone else. I don’t want my son to feel pressure to be like all the others. If we show our children it is okay to step outside the box and look at life differently, maybe we can begin to contribute to a healthier more positive outlook on life in the next generation.
Now the resistance is minimal. Our son is almost 16, and is taller and healthier than all his cousins. Many in our extended family are adopting or at the very least taking a deeper look at our health choices. All those “No’s” across all those years has made a lot of “Yes’es.” So start small. Start by saying no to what you don’t want anymore, and by saying yes to what you do want. Then move forward in the direction of your dreams.

Dr. Lisa Rubin, Clinical Psychologist, specializes in natural parenting, motivation, and transformation. She sees clients individually, hold workshops, and lectures in the community. Call 770-937-6300, or email her at lisa.rubin2@gmail.com