For the last few decades, if we had all been doing the BASIC healthcare practices we need to be doing right now to address this particular virus, millions of lives would have been saved.
So, let’s start doing these things - and keep doing them - to get through this one, and start taking our health more seriously going forward.
Let’s let this be a wake up call. Seriously… while we focus on the issue of the moment with great care… let’s focus on the long game for once too. Make the long-term changes in your diets, lifestyles, and communities that will reduce the numbers of all the things that are killing us.
Hysteria will help no one.
But if we are going to be hysterical - why have we not been so around the leading, preventable, and reversible causes of illness and diseases that kill millions of people every year? MILLIONS
Right now we are freaking out over a new viral strain that will now be in circulation with hundreds of other existing viruses (some more and some less dangerous than this one).
Even if this one is ‘more’ dangerous than the flu. Why haven’t we been addressing the flu virus with as much attention nationally and globally?
Look at the numbers:
The influenza virus is the 8th leading cause of death in the US.
EVERY YEAR, it kills 30-60,000 people.
The majority of those people got flu vaccines.
But the people who are dying from viruses almost always have poor diets and are not exercising regularly and doing other preventative medical practices.
HEALTHY PEOPLE GET SICK.
IT IS NORMAL TO GET VIRAL AND BACTERIAL INFECTIONS.
OUR SYSTEMS WERE MADE TO INTERACT WITH THESE THINGS AND FIGHT THEM.
When new ones come around, we must carefully learn to interact with them, and build our immune systems to learn to successfully fight them.
This one causes Upper Respiratory Infection.
So, RESPIRATORY HEALTH IS PARAMOUNT!
If you are generally healthy and symptom free, and not in an area with high infection rates:
Be aware that if you engage with people with any contagions, you can still be carrying around and transmitting the contagions. So, be conscientious of your hygiene, especially if you are coming within 6 feet of anyone who is immuno-compromised in any way (this includes newborns who’s immune systems are still developing, and elderly people in general).
Pay attention to lifestyle practices that build and maintain healthy immunity. These practices may be different for each of us depending on many variables: location, finances, access to preventative care from physicians, access to organic foods and clean water, work environment, geographic location (hot, cold, damp, dry, pollution, etc), etc.
So, find healthcare providers who are well versed on your area’s circumstances, and who practice implementing INDIVIDUALIZED healthcare protocols that address your specific needs.
Relax… and do things that help you relax. Stress lowers immunity.
Exercise… at home and in nature. EVERY DAY. Move your body.
BREATHE… Conscious breath work is vital!
Deep breathing exercises. If you have not studied breath work, find teachers who specialize in this type of work and get committed to practices that connect the mind, body, and breath in a very serious way. I can not emphasize the importance of this work enough. It is what is missing in our educational and healthcare systems, and specifically builds healthy RESPIRATION. Kind of important for preventing and treating an respiratory disease, don’t you think?!!
KEY INITIAL SYMPTOM OF COVID-19:
DIFFICULTY HOLDING BREATH FOR 10+ SECONDS
Realize that if you have not been doing breath hold practices, this might be hard even for someone without this virus! So, start practicing this now. So you can notice if/when your abilities are reduced. Bonus… you will improve your general respiration and health!
If you are generally healthy and in an area with high infection rates:
Do all of the things above AND minimize your exposure to infected people.
Get tested, just like we do anytime we think we might have exposed ourselves to a disease. And be mindful during the incubation window of whatever disease you were exposed to, until you get test results or are out of that time window and have no symptoms.
If you are not in generally good health…
I, nor anyone, should give you medical advice over social media. So… get in touch with me for an individual consultation and I will be happy to work with you on preventative measures that will best suit your circumstances.
But in the least, do all the things mentioned for healthy people, and do everything you can to develop strong, healthy relationships with healthcare practitioners that will help you navigate your existing conditions, and then who will be able to jump on any new issues that might arise for you.
Other general tips for healthy respiration and minimizing risk of being impacted by this particular infection:
Sit with a straight spine, chin slightly lifted. Take a deep full inhale (fill chest and belly), hold for 10+ seconds… then even longer exhale.
Do no more than 5 of these in a row. Then resume natural breath.
Do this several times every day.
Avoid processed foods (including homogenized/pasteurized dairy products), refined sugars, alcohol, and inflammatory foods.
Eat nutrient dense, natural, whole foods.
Get regular exercise and rest. Yoga, qigong, meditation, time in nature, good sleep, etc.
Take immune system boosters: Vitamin C, zinc, elderberry (if you are sure you don’t have a URI), other herbs and boosters that your doctor recommends best for YOU.
This should go without saying… NO SMOKING OF ANYTHING.
Drink clean water and herbal teas that specifically support healthy respiration and moisturization of the throat. IE: Breath Easy and Throat Coat are great options and readily available. They even have versions that add immune boosters.
Stock up on high quality throat lozenges… I like Golden Lotus cough drops. You can buy them in bulk online. These moisturize and tonify the airways and make it difficult for viruses to ‘latch on’ and make their way into the lungs.
COVID19 is a cold-phlegm disease. If it goes unchecked and un or mis treated… it congeals in the lungs and causes suffocation symptoms.
Physicians using acupuncture and Chinese herb formulas to treat individuals based on the various symptoms each one is presenting with, are having great success treating this virus.
If you have any other questions, please schedule an online consultation through this link:
https://go.oncehub.com/BookDrG
*Free 15-minute consultations are only for answering questions about my rates and service offerings. They are not for diagnosing or treating individual issues.
If you know you want my support, please book a 30-minute consulation, or a 60-minute session if you want a consult and to begin doing the work and practices that I feel will support you best.
Now, please, literally take a DEEP BREATH… In… and… Out. Then take a few more.
Then get in touch if I can support you in any other way.
Otherwise, focus on being as healthy as possible and staying as calm as possible.
And thinking of how you can make major changes in our life and community so we are all healthier and living more sustainably with each other. This really is the best thing we can all do right now. So we reduce or even eliminate the issues that we feel so threatened by right now.
Viruses are real. This one isn’t going away. More will come. So will wars, and natural disasters. Let’s let this be an opportunity to wake up and start living like we realize this.
And create lives that reduce the chances of these things, or at least minimize their impacts on us.
In Service,
In Love,
Heather
aka ‘Dr G’