Rachel Shackleton's blog

Listening to a recent webinar with Dr Dugald Seely, N.D, M.Sc and integrative medicine doctor sparked my interest and broadened my understanding of the importance of exercising, but varying the type of exercise to build all round fitness.  Dr Seely, has been actively pursuing the growth and development of integrative medicine and pioneered an innovative model of cancer care and research through the creation of the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, operating since in 2011. He reminded me of the importance of exercise in overall fitness and as part of treating a patient for cancer.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever affects millions every year on a worldwide basis. This year, it seems to me that firstly I am treating more people with seasonal rhinitis and secondly that the season has changed, starting later than usual and going much further into the “so-called” summer season. This observation might not be such a surprise as all seasons seem to happen at least one month later than usual.

Not sure if it something to do with moving into my more mature years, some people might say “old age” or whether it is all the work I have been doing on myself regarding letting go. What do I mean by letting go? The opposite of letting go, is to hold on, so let’s start with that question first – What things do we hold on to?

Again, this year I attended the Integrative Personalised Medicine congress held in London at the Queen Elizabeth centre. The day I attended was focused to mental health and what is being termed “mental psychiatry”. There was a plethora of wonderful speakers, including medical doctors such as Dr Ali Ajaz MD, Dr Uma Naidoo, Dr Georgia Ede as well functional medicine doctors and a wide range of professionals offering natural approaches and therapies. Wonderful Professor Kerry Bone presented on his favourite herbs to support the return to mental wellness.

Recently when listening to a conversation between two people, one of them said, “I am worthy” and this resonated deeply with me. I then started to analyse why this phrase and not a similar phrase, such as “I am enough,” or “I deserve to be loved,” both of which are powerful sentences in their own right. On analysing my response and why this sentence carries so much power, I began to raise several questions to understand more deeply: