Philadelphia Integrative Medicine Hosts Free Educational Programs

In an Uncertain Health-Care Market, Philadelphia Integrative Medicine Hosts Free Educational Programs to Bring In Health

Philadelphia Integrative Medicine, founded by Georgia Tetlow, MD, now offers health and wellness education in a new way: a free online webinar. Tetlow has served Philadelphia and the surrounding area as an integrative physician, combining the best of conventional and evidence-based complementary medicine in her independent clinic in Ambler, PA. Now, in addition to offering one-on-one patient care, Tetlow offers free online educational sessions monthly.

To sign up for her a free webinar on Friday August 24, from 12:00 to 12:55pm, entitled: "Vitamin D3 for Health, Cancer Prevention and Recovery: A Webinar for Everyone". To register, email victor@philly-im.com or call (888) 702-7074 ext. 3.

“In an integrative approach, the focus is on the person, not just the disease. I help people recover from cancer or most chronic illnesses and address the physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental factors. I also help to prevent cancer and other conditions,” says Tetlow.

The role of the individual, including lifestyle choices and self-care, is central to an integrative approach. Dr. Tetlow explains, “educational events and services are essential to assist people to make the right choices about diet, exercise, sleep, stress relief and relationships. There is good medical literature that looks at each of these areas and their effect on health.”

Tetlow is committed to make education the focus of not only her integrative clinic in Ambler, PA, but for all her speaking engagements. As a doctor, she routinely uses a holistic mind, body & spirit approach one-on-one, and now seeks to bring ‘information and inspiration’ to larger audiences. “It really matters what YOU do,” Dr. Tetlow states.

“I have found that brief online webinars are an easy way for you to re-commit to your own health goals. I offer specific information so you can act immediately to start feeling better,” Dr. Tetlow shares.
To sign up for her a free webinar on Friday August 24, from 12:00 to 12:55pm, entitled: "Vitamin D3 for Health, Cancer Prevention and Recovery: A Webinar for Everyone". To register, email victor@philly-im.com or call (888) 702-7074 ext. 3.

Any proceeds from educational events are donated to the Integrative Educational Fund for educational events that promote self-reliance, health resilience and cancer and illness prevention.

Dr. Georgia Tetlow

Philadelphia Integrative Medicine

I am pleased to announce I have founded of Philadelphia Integrative Medicine!
Check out our new and improved website at www.philly-im.com



 Dr. Georgia Tetlow

An Ocean Meditation by Dean Solon

bringing attention, lightly, to feeling the sensations of your breathing...letting your breath be natural...feeling the sensations of each breath, relaxing into each breath...feeling it through you...the soft sensations of breath coming and going, without effort.

just like watching the great ocean upon the shore, coming and going.
feeling the breath washing over you, and then withdrawing.
feeling the whole of the breath, each breath becoming the next.
the great tide of your breath inside you---feel it in the body, filling the body, bringing life and energy into the body...the body you are renting in this lifetime.

breathing in, breathing all of it, all of this, in
breathing out, breathing all of it, all of this, out

by the ocean, with the water, with the expanse of water, with the waves, with the gulls, the sounds, the smells, the sand at your feet.
sitting quietly, allowing the peace and the stillness to be moving through you, and filling you with the fullness of the Silence.

here, at the ocean, with the ocean, with the richness of this...and the emptiness of this...
with all of this, with awareness...with awareness...

with the great expanse of waters offering a clarity of who you are in this moment.
with the great expanse of waters offering a clarity of who you are in this lifetime.

breathing in, breathing all of it, all of this, in
breathing out, breathing all of it, all of this, out

Planting the Small Seeds of Change by Elizabeth Campbell, MS, LPC

I ran into a friend the other day who was smoking a cigarette.  As this friend was a former smoker at our last meeting, I inquired about how quitting smoking was going.  My friend explained how difficult the process was and how he exchanged smoking for eating, gaining over 20 pounds in a short period of time.  My immediate thought and remedy for pretty much everything popped into my head: “You should come to yoga with me!” It may have seemed illogical to make a statement like that to someone who has absolutely no interest in yoga and he thought so too because he responded by saying, “I don’t want to twist myself into a pretzel.” However, the connection between smoking and yoga is the breath. In addition, yoga requires us to focus on ourselves and our bodies in the present moment.  This awareness and presence plants seeds in other areas of our lives and has the potential to create change. 

When supporting a family in communicating with one another or practicing mindfulness as a self-care skill in my counseling practice, I frame the task as practice.  We practice our treatment goals in sessions in order to more readily access the skills in our daily lives.  Every action, thought, or feeling we engage in creates or reinforces a neural pathway.  In essence, “practicing” can literally restructure our brains.  Imagine the change that brings!

Yoga is also a practice.  We practice focusing on our breath and witnessing our experience in the present.  Often yoga teachers describe the yoga mat as a mirror.  The practice of centering oneself and going through the asana can show us aspects of the self that we may have formerly been unaware of.  Just as in counseling sessions, practicing can produce change.  A component of counseling that an hour long yoga class cannot always address is how to consciously bring our newly gained awareness into practice in our daily lives.  We are creating physiological change in our brains simply by practicing, but how can we continue this in our daily lives?

“Yoga in Action” is a program developed by “Off the Mat and Into the World”, a charity that focuses on the service aspect of yoga.  Leaders guide a small group of participants in embarking on a journey of self-inquiry. The support of a small group of peers leads to action within our community and the world at large. These 7-week groups offer an opportunity to build community around yoga and service, develop relationships with other yogis and activists in your area and collaborate on creating real change. I will be running a “Yoga in Action” group this fall with Maura Manzo, a certified yoga teacher and health coach.  For more information on participating in this group or on planting seeds of change through counseling, please contact me at elizabethannecampbell@yahoo.com or 610-757-8163. 

A Still Point by Dean Solon

sitting...as source and sorcerer, as vessel and vassel.

a way it is:  a human being lives with intelligence and with sensitivity, and with such a tidal wave of energy and information pouring in (courtesy of the universe/multiverse), is susceptible to desperation, is prone to feeling overwhelmed.
the barricades and battlements and barriers and boundaries we create to hold back the roaring and rushing of the flood waters does not negate the real and true nature of our intelligence and sensitivity.

a way it is:  residing in the center of the cyclone, in the eye of the hurricane, at the heart of the human matter, is a stunning quiet, is the still point,
                                        is a capacity
                                        to see and
                                        to know and
                                        to be
                                        so very much.  

Playing with Qi Gong - by Karen Steinbrecher

Bring joy into your being.  Visualize your child within.

Bring joy into your heart as you practice Qigong.  Do this around children and watch the difference in the way that they respond to you.  Watch how differently they may react to one another in your presence.  Practicing and dancing the healing dance of Qigong works on adults as well.  It helps us let go of  stress, pain, worries.  It is so simple, amazing.  But you must practice.

Remember that as a child you played with the world around you?  You may have imitated a bird’s song, trying to fly like a bird up and up towards heaven and then gently (sometimes) landing on Earth.  When we practice Qigong, we connect with Heaven and Earth, Yang and Yin.  As a child did you chase a wave, toss stones, or did you run away from the wind, or did you race with it?   Let us bring it back, return to that feeling of freedom, that letting go, and connection to your being, you.  This is healing for all beingness.  As adults we often forget to include joy and play in our lives. Let us let go and be. That is part of the essence of this healing dance called Qigong.

Practicing Qigong with regularity can bring you in touch with the common sense that is your nature, a common sense that may become less common as the pace and pressures of life continue to increase.  How we feel and what we think has a powerful effect on our word as well as upon our ability to heal.  The ancient sages of China believed that thinking was a form of Qi.  Our thought and attitudes do influence not only our own bodies, but everyone and everything around us.  Qigong reminds us of this in a very tangible way because its slow, flowing movements and deep breathwork help us to return and get in touch with our connection to the world around us.  Qigong can be a tool, a strategy for freedom from our cage of isolation.

Qigong practice brings you into a relaxed state, the deep breathing oxygenates  your body. Qigong can motivate healing and inner transformation.  It cannot really be explained; it can only be experienced.

I invite you to play Qigong and breathe deeply.  Let us dance this beautiful exercise together. With each and every breath that you take, think of filling an empty glass.  The glass is empty, and as you breathe deeply you fill it from bottom to top with oxygen and Qi.  Then empty from top to bottom.  Gently move your diaphragm down, inhale and pull it up, then exhale.  Notice the feeling of the air, the Qi, moving in and out, your body and brain relaxing.  Practice this balanced breathing, this conscious breathing towards Healing and Peace and Alignment and Love.

Karen Steinbrecher practices, leads, and teaches QiGong at the Resiliency Center on Thursdays at 2:00 pm and 6:15 pm. The class fee is ten dollars for a 50-55 minute class.    RSVP in advance by contacting Karen at karensteinbrecher@msn.com

Miracles Around The Bend

Does it seem to you like there are a lot of changes in your life? They say that 2012 may not be the end of the world, just the end of the world as we know it. Isn't that reassuring? In addition to drastic changes occurring almost daily, I'm frequently hearing about people meeting an untimely death, some of whom have been struggling a long time and others who seem (from outside appearances at least) like they may be off course. With all the shifting going on lately, it seems as if the earth itself may be screaming, “Shift or get off the planet!” Could all challenges we face be a spiritual invitation to change? Changes – and changing – are really tough. There is no easy way around it. It just involves getting up each day and putting one foot in front of the other and walking through whatever comes.

I received a newsletter from a psychologist and author named, Susan B. Apollon. In the letter, she wrote about the emotional stages that we go through when dealing with change. Apollon wrote:

"With every change we experience there is always a period of letting go of the familiar and the comfortable, followed by a period of uncertainty and, very often, grief. Whether it be a loved one who has transitioned, a job that has been lost, a marriage that has dissolved, a home that we must leave, or even one of our children going off to college, all change requires a period of adjustment to our new circumstances--an adjustment to a space that was once filled and is now seemingly empty. And, as difficult as these adjustments are for some of us, this is the time that miracles often become part of our lives; if we will only open ourselves up to the beauty of the unknown by embracing the very personal experience of letting go". 

This was a bit startling because it felt as if she was talking to me.  All of the above mentioned changes have occurred in my life recently.  My mother passed away in April; my job changed; my divorce was finalized; I moved twice; and my only daughter (and sometimes my best friend) moved hundreds of miles away.

With all that upheaval and uncertainty, miracles can't be too far behind. Does it matter if we make life changes voluntarily through careful deliberation or if we are forced to change because of what seems like random occurrences? My Guess is, not too much. It always requires a period of adjustment which is fraught with ups and downs. What is really going on when life-changing, unexpected stuff happens? Why does it seem like everybody is experiencing life-altering challenges? Some people say that there are no such thing as accidents or coincidences. It seems to me that there is a universal consciousness and that consciousness is saying, “Come on people we’ve been playing it safe for too long. Life is supposed to be grand. Let’s stop being complacent and get out there and really live.” Deep down, we know that living a life that vacillates between okay and intolerable is just not good enough. Because we have free will, we can go through life choosing the safest path we know but usually that path is not the most fulfilling. Perhaps when “s--- happens,” it’s really our spirit guide answering our subtle prayers for something better. We are left with no choice but to adjust to the change. Sometimes that means starting all over.

A friend was telling me about a beautiful hydrangea that was so vibrant and healthy that people stopped to ask about her secret.  She said that it was an ordinary plant until her neighbor ran it over and left it for dead. The next year, it grew back as this magnificent specimen. All living creatures go through life cycles. We all have stressors along the way. Some die and some survive. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”  

If you would like support while going through life changes, please contact me, Delia Nessim (Trapuzzano) by calling (610) 416-7535.

In the next few months, I will be presenting workshops at The Resiliency Center on understanding and making the best use of the subconscious mind. Stay tuned to learn more at www.meetup.com/resiliencygatherings.