After December finals, I had my first naturopathic preceptoring experience. At CCNM, we are required to sit in on a total of 100 patient visits with a practicing naturopathic doctor. From these visits comes the kind of learning that one can only obtain through experience. This particular session, however, served to be a pretty big eye-opener for me.
Since puberty I’ve had fine, oil-prone hair that used to require daily washing. However, washing hair on a daily basis can be time-consuming and expensive. It’s also not recommended that we wash hair often (it’s better to cut shampoos down to once or twice a week) to avoid stripping our scalp and hair of their moisturizing, natural oils. If I don’t wash my hair often, however, my head becomes a limp, dull greasy mess that only looks partially presentable when pulled into a pony tail or buried under some kind of hat. Hence, the magic of: dry shampoo!
I found this thought-provoking blog post from a 4th year North American medical student on the computerization of med school. As naturopathic medical students we like to think that we’re the only healthcare professionals that actually “care” about people. However, this is simply not true. I believe that most people get into medicine – any kind of medicine – for the right reasons, one of those reasons being a love for humanity. It’s only whether those reasons are still with us at the end of the 4 years that truly makes the difference.
Now that we’re into fall it seems like I have a to-do list a mile long. Fortunately, even in a city like Toronto, there is still the opportunity to find the space between all the things that have to be done and slow down by doing some Shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing”.
It occurred to me during a lazy, yet productive, day at the Toronto Reference Library, among stacks of deliciously old-smelling books – this ain’t so bad. Although I’ve taken to whining about it in previous posts, summer studying doesn’t really have to be that terrible. Here are 7 ways to find beauty in sacrificing some our best months of the year for the sake of education:
Like many of my peers I feel like I spend every day eating lunch at the Mandarin buffet – I always seem to have too much on my plate.
Serenity, in New Age culture, usually depicts the complacent grin of someone who has risen “above it all”. Clad in white robes, with a wooden chain of prayer beads strung around the neck, this serene being does 10-day meditation retreats, feels at home in lotus pose and is most frequently removed from society.
I used to play in the laneway behind Clinton and Bloor, in Toronto’s west end. The laneway marked the arteries of my childhood world, directing me to the shops on Bloor, Honest Ed’s and Christie Pits park.
As soon as exams screamed to a halt, I embarked on my summer reading list starting with When the Body Says No, by Canadian author and medical doctor, Gabor Maté. This book explores the mind-body connection, the relationship between stress, especially due to familial relationships, and the onset of disease.
I’ve been struggling lately. The weather has gone back to its windy, cold and moody self, after playing mind games with us for a week or so. I’m back to taking my vitamin D, since the sun isn’t offering it up for free anymore. Maybe that’s why I feel cheated. It could very well be that we’re presented with so many flow charts it’s like I’ve died and gone to Flow Chart Hell – a special kind of hell where things break down into a series of isolated steps that are easier to understand, for some.