On the Search for Balance: A Balancing Act in the Midst of Dizziness
Imagine that you are 6 years old again. You are at a playground clutching a pole on the merry-go-round, which is whirling as fast as your friends can run to keep the merry-go-round going. Your friends let go and when you jump off as the merry-go-round stops spinning, you fall because the world seems to wobble out of control. Although you have stopped spinning on the merry-go-round, your brain tells you otherwise.
This is the everyday reality for a chronically dizzy person. Following headaches and lower-back pain, dizziness is the third most common medical complaint in the United States. More than 90 million people in the United States will experience a spell of dizziness at some point in their lives (1).
Dizziness is a sensation people feel when they lose their sense of spatial orientation. In other words, people feel dizzy when they lose some of their immediate contact with their physical surroundings. A simple disoriented feeling may occur, or one may experience a feeling of movement or of being off balance (2). In most cases, dizziness arises naturally from unusual changes that disrupt the normal feeling of stability. However, a disturbance or a disease in the system that maintains balance can also cause dizziness (3). What could be the cause of this internal lack of balance? Although many forms of dizziness exist, such as Meniere's disease, I am going to focus on what keeps us balanced.
The issue of balance first interested me when my mother had gone to see an acupuncturist concerning her high blood pressure. Not only did she come in hopes of finding a cure for her high blood pressure, she also found that she suffers from balance problems. The Chinese guru of an acupuncturist said, "Your whole body is out of balance. Fire blazes within you without equilibrium. You should take a vacation." Apparently, correlation exists between blood pressure and physical balance. Immediately, I became worried and confused. I have been searching for the cause of my mother's problems for some time now. Why is it that she never even noticed that the world was out of balance in her perspective? She always subtly mentioned the feeling of dizziness and the constant coldness of her right shoulder. But I never realized how serious her situation was. I now know that these symptoms are due to an imbalance.
The years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge may have passed quickly, but the legacy of the Canadians whose accomplishments were great in that pivotal First World War battle lives on. Many people claim to this day that Canada came of age as a country on those hard April days in 1917. At first, through the meticulous planning of the battle, the world saw a nation capable of working together and making decisions as a team. Afterwards, with the range of technical and tactical innovations involved in the attack, the world saw a strong nation unafraid to protect and defend. In the end, through great sacrifice the world bore witness to the birth of the Canadian legacy. To conclude that the nation was born on April 9th 1917, on the Artois plains is to deny over three centuries of history during which the ancestors of millions of Canadians devoted their lives to building the country. This is why the Battle of Vimy Ridge wasn’t the birth of Canada itself, but the birth of our legacy- the ‘true’ origin of our nation.
Canada’s eligibility to participate on the world stage and its move towards independence was proven after the accomplishments at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Foremost, Canada’s first opportunity to partake on the world stage came soon after the end of World War I, during the Paris Peace Conference. The accomplishments of the Canadian Army in the Battle of Vimy Ridge helped to earn Canada a spot in the Paris Peace Conference, after long arguments made on behalf of Canada by Prime Minister Robert Broden . The Prime Minister argued that Canada’s wartime record had earned Canada a seat separate from Britain. Canada was granted the seat despite the disapproval of the American President, Woodrow Wilson’s as they contributed greatly to the Allied forces especially in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The approval of Canada’s seat is important to both the significance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the eligibility to participate on the world stage because it was one of the first steps Canada took towards its independence from Great Britain. Additionally, Canada became more social with other countries separate from Britain after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Canada involved itself more in trading after the battle and the war, and had a flourishing...
Battles such as Vimy Ridge, the Second Battle of Passchendaele and the Battle of the Somme were some of the worst battles that the world can find Canadian's. Our northern nation had boasted over 600,000 soldiers to the battlefields whilst also providing vital manufacturing facilities and training soldiers from across the world. The strong imperial bond between Canada and the 'Motherland' was an important factor in Canada's decision to participate wholeheartedly in World War I, and influenced many in their decision to join the army. Most Canadians felt a strong connection to the British Emp...
All things found in the universe are thought of as a balance of the two opposite but complementary forces yin and yang. Organs in our body can be predominantly yin or yang but the body still manages to maintain the overall balance because of the total sum of yin and yang in the body. Traditional Chinese medicine states that diseases are caused by an imbalance of yin and yang. When trying to restore the balance and the person’s health, practitioners look for the nature of the imbalance and use acupuncture as a method to correct the imbalance.“However, despite more than 3,0000 studies into acupuncture since the 1970s, there is no evidence that any force qi ( yin and yang) exists or that it flows along invisible energy lines.” ( “Why acupuncture is giving sceptists the needle”, David Derbyshire)Therefore the whole system acupuncture is based on can’t be reliable.
Aroung the time of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the controversial and widely argued issue of gun control sparked and set fire across America. In the past decade however, it has become one of the hottest topics in the nation. Due to many recent shootings, including the well known Sandy Hook Elementary school, Columbine High School, Aurora movie theater, and Virginia Tech, together totaling 87 deaths, many people are beginning to push for nationwide gun control. An article published in the Chicago Tribune by Illinois State Senator Jacqueline Collins, entitled “Gun Control is Long Overdue” voiced the opinion that in order for America to remain the land of the free, we must take action in the form of stricter gun laws. On the contrary, Kathleen Parker, a member of the Washington Post Writers Group whose articles have appeared in the Weekly Standard, Time, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan, and Fortune Small Business, gives a different opinion on the subject. Her article in The Oregonian “Gun Control Conversation Keeps Repeating” urges Americans to look at the cultural factors that create ...
In the film Vertigo directed by Alfred Hitchcock, madness is portrayed as an obsessive yet excessively neurotic state of being. Scottie, a police detective, is psychologically and figuratively scarred from a rooftop pursuit, leaving him with a phobia. Madeline, a woman whom Scottie is obliged to follow is departed and socially invisible to a life that doesn’t reveal her identity, seemingly believing to be a reincarnated version of a woman named Carlotta. Hitchcock enhances Scottie’s loss of reality, making him a detached spectator of the world, however portraying Madeline to be caught in her own mental illusion of mirroring a woman to be the “rebirth of herself”, seeming to consciously distance herself to a timeless and unrealistic world. In Hitchcock's Vertigo, Freud's death instinct is dramatized, in that Scottie Ferguson is condemned to repeat his trauma to make things right however, the circumstances of his tragedy are that though he is able to relive the trauma, as he cannot manage to set things right, each time an entirely new trauma occurs.
Zaslow, Morris. The Defended Border, Upper Canada and the War of 1812. Toronto: MacMillian of Canada, 1983
In chapter 4, Shapiro introduces the concept of vertigo which is a warped state of unconsciousness in which a relationship consumes the emotional energies. Vertigo is a strong powerful force that that can be able to trick someone into believing that it is not really influencing their behavior as they are captured in emotions that feels as they are whirling and not being able to be aware or notice that the emotions are stirring up to argue or fight. Vertigo can feel as the person be able to be rational and having vertigo can continue to hold on over periods of time and can also not being able to notice the vertigo entirely. Even as the feelings of vertigo is not present from the scene, vertigo can be able to continually affect negatively upon
To avoid or eliminate the triggers, it is up to each individual to get help or determine alone the factors that cause these unbearable migraines.
During testing, most patients are found to need correction in all 14 balance tests, depending on the ailment the patient complains of and how well they react to the muscle correction will tell whether or not further treatment is needed. The physical aspect of the therapy, despite the name and basic principles, is not the only aspect required for optimal results. One must also report lifestyle and diet changes ranging from daily stress levels to pat...
Cults entice people whom by nature want to belong to a group and make it hard for them to leave by altering their thought processes. Those in the psychology field have defined what makes up a cult, have determined what draws individuals in and have recognized the effects that a cult can have on
Cults are dangerous institutions that have existed for many years, corrupting and reforming the minds of innocent people into believing outrageous doctrines that eventually result in disaster. Horrifying cases involving men such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh have bewildered people and raise the question: how could individuals be easily susceptible to the teachings of these men, so influenced that masses go as far as to commit the unthinkable? Individuals who are in a vulnerable position in search for an identity are attracted to cults because they offer a sense of belonging. In addition, isolation from society contributes to the functioning of a cult for it creates an atmosphere where submissiveness and obedience runs high. These two factors seem to hold true for one of the most notorious cults currently established in the United States and Canada. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or, FLDS, is an international polygamist sect that incorporates belonging and isolation along with a dangerous mentality that have resulted in the abuse of women and children in the name of God.
The ancient Roman tale known as the “Rape (or seizure) of Sabine Women” depicts women, taken against their will by Roman captures and married to Roman men. These women later, intervene in a battle between their new husbands and their angry brothers and fathers. The ancient tale depicts Roman ideology and practices of marriage. It shows how a bride was transferred from living under her father’s jurisdiction to being ruled by her husband. The capture of the Sabine women, the war that follows, and the final truce brought upon the Sabine women themselves are direct relation to the separation of a young bride from her maternal family, the transfer of authority, and her beginning in her new family. The tale is told by two philosophical figures of Roman history. Livy, whom writes about the events in 30 B.C.E and Ovid whom rights about them nearly a generation later1. Both have different views on the event, its meaning, and its relevance. The two men also share the same thoughts in regards to their view masculinity and power.
These “spells” are especially troubling when I’m in the middle of a class. When this happens, I usually let my mind wander and think about something that makes me content, this usually always gets rid of the dizziness and slows my heart rate down. After a few minutes my brain is able to concentrate and it’s like nothing ever happened. For example while I was in chemistry I became very dizzy while I was taking notes, and felt like I may pass out again. I immediately let my mind daydream to get my mind off of the fact that I was dizzy, and in a few moments the dizziness was