Time for some internal spring cleaning! Get rid of what's no longer serving you to make room for better health...

Happy Spring! This is a time for renewal...for rebirth...

As we all know, one of the most time honored of spring traditions is spring cleaning. I'm an enthusiastic proponent of it myself. But for me, it is not as important to clean out my house as it is to cleanse and renew my self.

There are two personal rituals I practice in conjunction with each spring equinox. First, if you happen to be reading this on Sunday afternoon, think of me -- I'll be sitting with fellow sojourners, in a sweat lodge ceremony of the Native American tradition. The day after the lodge, I will begin a multi-day fast. (I always wait until the day after the lodge to start my fast, because a sweat lodge is followed by a feast, and I don't want to miss the feast.)

Both the sweat lodge and the fast are deep, cleansing experiences, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They both provide an opportunity to release things that no longer serve -- toxins, foods, vibrations, ego, habits, patterns, relationships, limiting blockages, beliefs, judgements...the list goes on...

When we let go of things we no longer need, we make room for a new, healthier, more empowering way of living. In other words, fasting and sweating -- or whatever avenue you may choose to do your own spring cleaning -- can lead to rebirth.

Enjoy your new life!

What does this image have to do with your health?
I'll leave that to our imagination...

The greatest adventure is the journey of self discovery.

I went on Arctic expedition the other day...in downtown Coeur d'Alene...during my lunch hour!

I often like to take walks during my lunch hour (which is actually two hours). One of my favorite walks includes walking around the CdA Resort's floating boardwalk, around City Park and back around the boardwalk. The boardwalk is just over a half mile long and is the world's longest floating boardwalk.



It was a bitter cold day. The temperature was close to zero; the wind chill was no doubt below zero. The wind was splashing waves up onto the snow-covered boardwalk, making for icy, treacherous walking conditions on a boardwalk that was rocking heavily.



In all, the route is only about two miles, but in conditions like this, two miles has the feel of a raw, extreme, epic adventure! It was a challenging walk, but exhilirating. And it was just outside my office door. You don't always need to travel to a distant locale to find adventure



In fact, you don't even have to step outside your front door. The most daring, sometimes frightening, always breathtaking journey that you will ever take is to go deep inside yourself.

Your journey will take you to beautiful vistas you could not have imagined, by way of dark canyons you never expected. As you descend into the deepest, darkest of valleys, you will behold magnificent views on the way down. At the bottom you will discover some of the most verdant and unexpected beauty—beauty you could not see from the top. Not until you reach the bottom can you find the treasures that the valley has to offer.



As you climb out of each valley toward the next peak, you will rarely get a straight shot to the top. On the way up you will encounter dips, plateaus and unexpected detours. Each of these milestones has a gift which you will find if you keep your eyes open. You will always find the top. Always. Sometimes it might not look like what you expected. Remain open to the different gifts that life has to offer, and you will always make it to the top...

Enjoy your adventure!
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Are You Afraid of Better Health?

I overcame a great fear the other day -- my fear of mashed potatoes.

Seriously. Mashed potatoes.

These weren't just any mashed potatoes. They were the ones that had been gradually changing color in a Tupperware container in the back of my fridge since Christmas. This past Christmas, I had the good fortune of partaking in three separate Christmas dinners. As a result, I enjoyed many meals of leftover turkey and fixings. Finally, sometime toward the end of January, I called it quits on Christmas dinner. The last holdout was one small container of mashed potatoes. It has since been lingering behind the orange juice and yogurt, not really in the way and usually obscured from view. On those occasions when I noticed them, I would pause, say to myself, "I need to throw those away. Later." Then I'd slide them back out of the way and close the door. I just didn't want to deal with them. Every time I looked at them, I could tell that finally opening up the container was not going to be pleasant. When I finally did it, it was very unpleasant. But I did it, and now I don't have to deal with it anymore. And I have Tupperware container that I can use again.

So, what does this have to do with health?

Better health means change. And life changes -- even positive ones, and even easy ones -- can be scary. Maybe better health will require you to change parts of your lifestyle that are ingrained and you know will be inconvenient to change. Maybe better health will nullify some of your excuses. If you become healthier, you may not fit in with your current group of friends. Perhaps others don't believe you can change your life, and you're afraid of their nay-saying. Or, maybe, (fill in your own fear here.)

Now is as good a time as any. Reach back to the back of the fridge and clear out your old, green mashed potatoes. Don't be afraid. It'll be OK...

Wishing you a vibrant week,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

You are a collection of the finest gems imaginable.

I had an epiphany the other day when I was doing yoga in the snow. (That’s right…I like to do yoga in the snow. I don’t even bundle up. I wear no more than if I were practicing inside my warm house.) The day was clear, bright and sunny. As I moved through my yoga postures, the sun would catch individual snowflakes at just the right angle, and the glint reminded me of diamonds. My mind formed a picture of me practicing yoga in a field covered with brilliant, sparkling diamonds. I was reminded that the beauty of Nature that surrounded me was a precious gift. This is true every moment of our lives, wherever we may be.

“Ha,” you may be saying, “What if I’m in the middle of a big smoggy city, surrounded by skyscrapers and snarled traffic, and can’t even see Nature? Where’s the beauty there?”

“Well,” I reply, “you are surrounded by your own body, a beautiful and perfect creation of Nature."

Every part of your body – every molecule, chemical, cell, structure, blemish, germ, feeling, thought and dream – is a precious, sparkling jewel. Each individual gem brings you a gift, as does the synergistic whole of your being. Think about it for but a moment you will be able to find the gifts in every part of you.

To illustrate the point, go back and look at the picture at the top of this post. It's a picture of a dead tree on a gray, cloudy, freezing, muddy, slushy day. And it's beautiful!

Yours in beauty and perfection,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, Idaho

The Key to Healing: Just Love Yourself

If you want to experience deep, core healing, there is one critical first step you must take.

Learn to just love yourself.

Love everything about yourself—your body, your appearance, your gifts, your challenges—everything. At your core, you are love. Just love. Engaging in a moment-to-moment, lifelong process of bringing this core essence to light is a beautiful, powerful, empowering path for healing.

Just love yourself as a being of beauty and perfection. Note that I have not said to “accept” yourself. Just love yourself without feeling obligated to accept or reject anything. I also did not tell you to love yourself “just the way you are.” Just love yourself without regard to what you are, what you were, what you hope someday to be, or what your fears tell you that you may someday become.

Love is the divine light that illuminates your perfect beauty.



You can just love yourself today, in this moment, and still work to grow and evolve in your lifes. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson: “These roses beneath my window make no reference to former roses or better ones. They are for what they are. They exist with God today.”

Exist with God today—just love yourself.


Until next post,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, Idaho

Enjoy this video about love around the world.

Sometimes the fog that shrouds the beauty has a beauty all its own.

Do you have a health challenge? If so, be grateful!



We often think of health challengs -- minor or serious -- as something bad, something we need to fight, manage or cure. We feel like they are only getting in the way of how we want to feel and live. But every challenge in life presents an opportunity to grow, improve, evolve and expand. Pain and disease can take us back inside ourselves and show us our beautiful, divine essence. And from there, we can become more than what we were before.

It happened with me; it can happen with you...



Until next post,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, Idaho

Is there something you want to do, but believe is impossible. You CAN do it. Time to get started!

This past Thursday afternoon, I pulled on my running shoes and Yaktrax, and crunched down a slippery, snowy trail, elevating my heart rate -- and my spirits -- on a grand trail run. As I ran, I reflected that, lately, I've been having a lot of fun doing the impossible.


One of the gretest inventions of all time!

Just a few years ago, the idea of me going for a challenging trail run would have been preposterous. Anyone who knew me would have laughed at such a notion -- and I would have laughed loudest of all.


Steep, slippery trail

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my story. For much of my adult life, chronic arthritis pain made it difficult for me to even walk, much less run or do anything else physically strenuous. Now, I enjoy running regularly. In years past...impossible!


Happy runner!

A couple of weeks ago, I went snowboarding for the first time ever. It's one of the most fun things I've ever done!!! When we first moved back here to North Idaho, my son took up snowboarding. It looked so fun that I wished I could try it, too. But, alas, my pain made it ...impossible!

Although I've only been snowboarding once, I can harday wait to go again...and again...and again! On that first day, my instructor said he was impressed with how well I took to it. (Yeah, I know, he probably says that to all of his students. But I'm sure he really meant it for me.) Before the day was done, I was doing flips, spins, cartwheels quadruple axles, and stuff they haven't even named yet. None of those fancy stunts were actually intentional, but, hey, I was having a great time!


This is me. (Maybe...someday...who knows? It's possible!)

Is there something you'd like to do, but feel is impossible due to your health? It's possible. It might take awhile but IT IS possible. Give it a shot!

I'll close with this quote from an Adidas ad campaign that ran a couple of years ago:

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare.
Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing."

Have a vibrant week!
Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, Idaho