Ever since the invention of the bell-curve graph, science has studied the average and then called this normal. The question asked is not how healthy can you possibly be? Rather, what is the health of the average person? Average is then labelled as normal and obtaining this 'normal' is often the goal of health care. Those way above the average are seen as outliers and ignored.

Usually average health equals the absence of symptoms. We believe that if we feel OK then we are 'normal', and not until we have a symptom do we need to take action to get ourself back to 'normal'. The majority of health research also focuses on how to get the sick (aka underachievers) back to normal.

In my years as a Chiropractor, I have always been interested in those overachieving outliers. The more I learn about these humans the more I am certain that we are all designed to be extraordinary. Rather than ignoring those extraordinary, successful, healthy, energetic outliers, I have spent years studying them. Everything suggests that the majority of us have the raw material to be those outliers, and therefore it is not our potential that limits us, it is whether our environment allows that potential to be expressed.

Unfortunately the more I learn the more I realise I still have to learn, I definitely don't have all the answers yet and there is not one recipe for everyone. But that's what gets me up in the morning, that's what keeps me studying many nights, and makes me thirsty to learn more. It's the vision that by helping myself and others understand what the ideal environment for optimal health is, the better chance we have of cultivating that potential in ourselves, and over time this could increase the whole health average of humans towards the extraordinary end of the spectrum.

Although this has been a passion of mine, I have realised that as a health provider I also often fall in to the trap of only getting you get back to average. I have helped you get back to 'normal' but haven't always taken the opportunity to share with you about your incredible potential and how much more extraordinary your health and life could be.

As a Chiropractor, our major premise is based on the fact that your brain and nerves pretty much run everything in your body. Any imbalance in your structure (especially your spine and the muscles surrounding it) can interfere with your brains ability to communicate with your body and lead to decreased health potential. Like a tooth cavity, this decreased potential could take months or even years to eventually show up as a symptom like back pain. Even after years of knowing this, I had fallen into the trap of waiting until I had an ache until I got adjusted. So Erana and I have made a commitment to have an appointment booked every week with each other for the next 3 months, and then we will do a re-exam and work out the next plan forward from there. The more often my brain is communicating well with my body, the better chance I have of achieving my potential and being the best version of me as a Chiropractor, leader, mum, wife, friend and more.

This translates to your children as well. I see lots of children who have had bumps or falls, but a growing part of my practice is parents bringing their child for check-ups, not because of pain but because they want to give their children the best chance in life. Erana and I are trained to check spines of all ages (even newborns) to achieve balance and improved communication. Although this can help with a bunch of symptoms, more than that it gives your child an increased probability of being at their best, at a time when their brain is developing the fastest. To put it into numbers, a newborn brain is 25% of the weight of an adult brain but by the time you are 3 years old, it is 85%! Those early years are critical to setting up a good chance of success and health. I have recently begun working with Tamariki Ora as they also see the huge benefit Chiropractic can have for growing brains and spines.

At Chiropractic Balance we realise that to be extraordinary you have to take responsibility for your health and your life, whether this is your spine & posture, exercise, nutrition or mindfulness. That's why our adjustments (plus everything we do) are about helping you achieve that potential. 

We have learnt that in order to answer the question: How healthy can you possibly be? It requires making conscious choices andtaking regular positive action. Just because those choices and actions might be different to what is popular, doesn't necessarily mean they are bad decisions.

We live in an amazing time with so many resources are available at our finger tips. The biggest question to ask yourself is first though is: To be average or not to be?