Green Tea Conversations
Treating Eye Disorders with Acupuncture with Guy Odishaw, Mats Sexton and Cassandra Rose
April 14, 2019
Meet Guy Odishaw, Mats Sexton, and Cassandra Rose of the Bhakti Wellness Clinic in Edina. Guy is the founder of Bhakti and a practitioner of Microcurrent and Cranial Sacral therapies; Mats, also known as the Pin Doctor, is a licensed acupuncturist and Diplomate of Acupuncture; and Cassandra is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. The trio shares their unique approach in treating debilitating eye disorders, including macular regeneration and glaucoma, with acupuncture and microcurrent therapy. To learn more and to make an appointment, call (612) 859-7709 or visit their website at BhaktiClinic.com

Acupuncture for Eye Disorders with Guy Odishaw, Mats Sexton and CassandraRose



[00:00:02.780] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Good morning and welcome to Green Tea Conversations, the radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazines to bring local experts who share progressive ideas and the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle publisher of the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine.
 
[00:00:23.250] 
And I'm honored to bring these experts to you today. We have a panel of guests, three to be exact in our Studios from the Bhakti Wellness Center, in Edina. And today we have with us Guy Odishaw, who is the founder of the Bhakti Wellness Center and a practitioner of microcurrent and cranial sacral therapies guy is also an instructor of the biodynamic Cranial Sacral Therapy and the Body Intelligence two year Practitioner Certification training program, which is offered through the Bhakti Academy. Welcome to the show, Guy.
 
[00:00:58.390] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Great to be here.
 
[00:00:59.110] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Thank you. We also have Mats Sexton, who is also known as the Pin Doctor, is a licensed acupuncturist and diplomat of Acupuncture and has recently joined the team at the Bhakti Wellness Center, which we've we'll ask him more about in just a few minutes. But since 2003, Mats has been nationally known and sought after as a specialist in the treatment I macular, degeneration and other retinal diseases, which is today his primary focus as an acupuncture. Glad you could be with us today.
 
[00:01:31.660] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Thanks for having me.
 
[00:01:32.560] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And then finally we have with us, Cassandra Rose. She is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist at Bhakti and hold the Masters in Acupuncture. She is also a candidate of the doctorate of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with specialties in gynecology and pain management in Cassandra is adding a focus of the treatment macular degeneration and other retinal diseases to her practice. Welcome, Cassandra.
 
[00:01:58.650] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
Thanks for having me.
 
[00:02:00.480] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Why you guys can all be with us today just to give the audience an idea. The main issue is really the main issue of Natural Awakenings is really a big one as it focuses on women's health. It also focuses on mental and emotional well-being. And for today's show, it is also focusing on healthy vision, which is why I've asked the three of you to be with us. So, Guy, why don't you take just a minute to tell us a little bit about Bhakti Wellness Center and the services that you provide?
 
[00:02:32.440] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Certainly. So I'll start with services and work backwards from there. So we have about 25 providers at the clinic, ranging from conventional medicine approach with an MD who does primary care but a unique model called direct primary care, no insurance, membership, medicine and then ranging across mental health providers, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, massage, energy medicine, postal restoration therapy coaching, nutrition, apologies to whoever I've forgotten. With 25 people, there's always somebody. So we have literally hundreds of services that are offered at the clinic. We have a broad array of practitioners, so that's a little bit about the nuts and bolts of what we offer.
 
[00:03:22.570] 
To the healthcare consumer. But I'd like to take a moment and just back up a little bit and talk more about the kind of philosophical approach of body, and it's somewhat unique position in the market. And this doesn't always necessarily translate to the healthcare consumer because they might be more interested in, like today's show, and we're going to be talking about health. They know that they have an eye condition and they want help with that. So they come see a practitioner, and that's their primary concern.
 
[00:03:55.190] 
And knowing any more about the business doesn't necessarily facilitate that. But I would certainly like to recruit the healthcare consumer into the process because we need them as an active member in the delivery of health care. And so that education is helpful. So I want to say a little bit about kind of where does this come from? So for me, this arose in my own career, kind of watching my students go out into the marketplace and try and make it as a professional and having those students come back and share with me the difficulties they were having.
 
[00:04:34.010] 
And that combined with my own sense of having navigated the healthcare system to find where I wanted to locate myself as a practitioner and choosing to go into complementary alternative medicine as opposed to allopathic medicine. This is somewhat common phrase now that we don't have a health care system, we have a disease-care system. So this idea emerged to me early on. And so I was really interested in how do we change the fundamental model of medicine and not just the service we deliver, like acupuncture versus Pharmaceuticals.
 
[00:05:16.310] 
So not there, but just the whole system. How do we change that? So as I started to look into it, there was this question of the health care system. And so I dug into that. And what started to arise was the idea of we don't really have a health care system. What we have is we have people who go to work. Let's put it in the frame of work, people who go to work and they do something. And the byproduct of what they do is the thing we call the system.
 
[00:05:45.760] 
So for me, it was seeing like the fundamental piece in in health care was people and not just the practitioner, but everybody involved from the accountant and the attorney and the landlord that owns the building, the healthcare consumer. Everybody is involved in producing this thing. We point to as the health care system. And so all of the solutions were pointed at trying to fix the system that doesn't really exist. And therefore there was no hope for that to be successful. So as I dug into a well, okay.
 
[00:06:21.450] 
So if this is the case, if it really comes down to people, what's the workable piece here? So this pushed me further to develop this theory that I have I call the four forces, and it's this idea is that there are four forces in existence that we, as people have to contend with. And there's only one of those forces that we can do anything about. The rest of them were really just subject to. So we have to come into a right relationship with three out of the four forces.
 
[00:06:50.000] 
But the fourth force we can work with. That kind of understanding coming to light in my own awareness was then like, okay, how do I put in place of business that that is about cultivating how we manifest this one force that we have control over. And I roughly call that will. There's a lot that could be said about it. But how do we manifest our will or how does our will manifest, given that what we produce is really an epiphenomena is a manifestation of our instantiating our will.
 
[00:07:29.850] 
That's what happens. So this was the underpinning. And then this took me into integral philosophy and looking at the nature of systems and intelligent systems. And how could I leverage all of that into a business? Although it looks like and for most people, it's either a place they go for health care or a place they go to work. Cassandra's case. And now, in most cases, they go there to do their work. But it's much more than that. It's a place where we all go and we act and our actions manifest something.
 
[00:08:10.620] 
And it's more than just health care. Now, there are terms that that have emerged in the culture that we can kind of frame this with which didn't exist 20 years ago when I started this. But there are things like the gig economy and the solutions economy and the sharing economy. So these concepts are what are embodied in Bhakti in that it's more than just a health care center. It's a cultural movement and a solution to a problem that we really need a solution for.
 
[00:08:45.940] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Yeah. And I love how you you bring everybody together.  I mean You bring together so many different services that it's kind of a one-stop-shop where people can come and you have the mental health. You have the medical doctor, you have acupuncturists, massage therapists, you have a wide variety of service providers and services that you provide and the different holistic services that you provide as well. And now you're going to I do have to say that as a business coach, I love the idea that you have a place where practitioners can go and can build their business along with you while also being able to provide something holistic for your clients.
 
[00:09:28.880] 
So Congratulations on that. If people have not stopped by, they really need to stop by and see what it is that you're doing. But now you're also adding another very important aspect to this, which is you are adding an eye clinic.
 
[00:09:43.090] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
We are.
 
[00:09:43.840] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Okay. So tell us a bit about the eye clinic. How exactly did that come about it?
 
[00:09:49.520] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Yeah. I will say I had a tiny little segment of my practice that that was tending to this area of need and the population around eye care and in particular, chronic degenerative conditions that allopathic medicine doesn't have an approach for they just kind of support people's descent into loss of vision, which is great that they do that. But that's what's offered. And there are some other alternatives in the area for generative medicine that can offer people another option besides that choice. So I say my part it was tiny.
 
[00:10:28.710] 
But now we've had this opportunity with Mats to bring a practice into back that is really dedicated. It's robust, has a great track record. And so I think Mats would be the guy to really talk about this the program a lot.
 
[00:10:44.650] - Candi Broeffle, Host
We're going to do a quick introduction because we're going to be heading into a commercial here in a few minutes. But as the Pin doctor and as somebody who has been practicing since 2003 in order to help people with retinal disorders, you are have a great opportunity ahead of you.
 
[00:11:05.230] - Mats Sexton, Guest
I do. I kind of buy a lot of hard work. I've found a job in Stockholm, Sweden, so I am returning to the old country as it were. So I found a job there in an acupuncture clinic. And also they have a school that they're trying to get up and running a little bit more full steam ahead.
 
[00:11:23.050] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And this has been kind of your focus for some time now is trying to find people because of the work that you do. You have many clients who are coming to you, and you kind of found a home at Bhakti to help the green people up to do this. And when we come back, we are going to talk more about the eye clinic and the work that you do. And you are listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950. The Progressive Voice of Minnesota will be right back.
 
[00:12:02.370] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today we're talking with Guy Odishaw. Mats Sexton and Cassandra Rose of the Bhakti Wellness Clinic in Edina. So when we left off, we were just introducing people to Mats and the opportunity that you have to go to Sweden. But you have been practicing Acupuncture in particular, really focusing on the eye disorders like macular, degeneration and Glaucoma, some other retinal segments.
 
[00:12:42.910] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Right.
 
[00:12:43.560] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So tell us a little bit about that. How did that practice come in?
 
[00:12:47.040] - Mats Sexton, Guest
So I've been practicing. I started my practice in 2001 and then in 2003, I learned about a man down in Arkansas who's treating Degenerative eye disease with acupuncture. So kind of a long story short, I went down and learned it from him and then came back to Minneapolis and they started gung Ho on these eye treatments. And more recently, I went to Denmark twice in the last five or six years and studied with a man named John Bowl. And so both of these protocols are very interesting. These points in the hands and feet, primarily, no needles go into eyes people often want to worry about.
 
[00:13:23.250] - Candi Broeffle, Host
It sounded kind.
 
[00:13:24.280] - Mats Sexton, Guest
It's a really amazing protocol. And the more recent protocol I learned just uses four primary needles to in each hand and to in the feet. And it's working on a neurologic approach, which is very interesting. So it's not quite related to Chinese medicine in some way. So using points based on the vertebrae to treat the eye conditions. And then I add in some traditional Chinese points that we often use for eye conditions. But again, most of them are on the distal, on the hands and feet, and then some on the forehead.
 
[00:13:58.900] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And so in your practice, how many people a year do you think you see or do you treat?
 
[00:14:05.470] - Mats Sexton, Guest
It's hard to say. I see probably fewer than I should, because I keep it a bit smaller. I like to give a lot of attention to people. So it's probably a couple of hundred new people a year. Not many a lot of people, though it is.
 
[00:14:22.490] - Candi Broeffle, Host
It's not just a one time,
 
[00:14:24.140] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Right. So it's an ongoing process. So initially the treatments are much closer together and it's fairly intensive, but usually within that period of time. About 20 treatments. We do testing before and after and then have them get tested by their opthamologist, before and after, and usually within that initial period of time, we can see some changes. And by that, I mean, usually things will seem brighter clear. Oftentimes I can drop them a few lines on the chart. Within about 20 treatments, I've had people start to drive again, so it can be quite remarkable.
 
[00:14:55.680] 
And my dad's had his wet and dry macular degeneration.
 
[00:14:58.770] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Yeah. And tell us a little bit about that. I know a lot of people do get told that they have macular degeneration, but they might not know exactly what that means. And for someone who is a health care provider himself, I have a client who has macular degeneration and is now completely blind. But we've been working through this for the last 18 years with him, and I have to say, I don't really know what it is.
 
[00:15:26.930] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Sure. So the retina is in the back of the eye, so it's dense nerve tissue. And what happens with Macular degeneration? There's two forms, one form, the so called dry form, these little plaques referred to as drusen, but they build up in the retina. And depending on where they're building up, they're going to obscure vision. This is called wet form is when these little blood vessels in the eye break and bleed. And so the macula is actually the central 3 mm of the retina in the macula is where we get all of our detail vision, all of our color vision, central vision.
 
[00:16:06.860] 
So depending on where these little plaques build up or break and bleed, it's going to affect vision accordingly. So sometimes it's very central, which is kind of hallmark for macular degeneration. Other times the plaques can develop on the outer portion of the retina.
 
[00:16:22.680] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And so if they break and bleed, do you actually see that? Can you see that with the naked eye?
 
[00:16:29.460] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Well, the person with the visual condition can sense that. But there's retina scans that can show that very clearly. So we can see the changes in real-time with the acupuncture, what's happening or when somebody does a visual field scan, you can see it in real-time and they'll notice changes like their central vision is different or colors or brighter will read eye charts and they'll drop.
 
[00:16:56.060] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And so when you're working with people and you're doing the you're performing, this is it. Do people have any kind of side effects from it? Is there any pain that they might experience with the treatment?
 
[00:17:10.170] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Not really. I would say it only hurts when I'm in a bad mood when they come in. My temperature is, but generally not. He's kidding, but the points are they're in the palms and soles of the feet. So it's a little thing when it goes in, but it's kind of like an angry mosquito one the anything. But there's not a lingering pain. It's not like a syringe or anything like that. So it's pretty mild.
 
[00:17:37.060] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
So I just had a question for you months and we were talking about, like the what is macular generation. And you're kind of giving the more of the Western diagnosis of it. And so that's true and accurate. But from a Chinese medicine or even subtle energy medicine, we would say that there's conditions there's preconditions what's happening in the system before it gets as far as plaques and rupturing arteries. And that seems maybe worth saying a few things about because it factors into the tent and why the treatment is effective.
 
[00:18:12.890] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Sure. And where I'm headed with this thing, even as I go to Sweden, I want to keep pursuing this, but I'm working towards an idea of what I call functional Ophthalmology. So to me, getting to the root cause of what is why the eyes aren't functioning. And I think that's so overlooked in Western Ophthalmology. So in Chinese medicine, we can look at a lot of or even Western medicine underlying factors. Possibly there's some genetics at play. I don't see that so much, but maybe if a person has more of a predisposition to circulatory disorders, for example, that seems to be common in our family.
 
[00:18:48.720] 
Also nutrition-wise. I think that's very essential hydration. And from a Chinese medicine standpoint, oftentimes we talk about what's called blood deficiency. So I think in our wealthy country here that we live in, I think so many of us are both dehydrated and malnourished, which sounds kind of odd, but I don't think there's enough healthy food quality going into our bodies. And as we age, especially women and postmenopausal women, there's a sense of the system just sort of dries up and dries. And I think from a Chinese medicine standpoint that leads to what we call Flam or dampness is how we look at plaques, for instance.
 
[00:19:31.760] 
But I also see looking at a bigger picture. It's kind of quirky comparison, perhaps, but erectile dysfunction they talk about is not really a general problem, but it's a precursor oftentimes to more systemic circulatory disorders. And I see the eyes is the same way or it's not really an eye problem or an eye disease per se. To me, we need to look at this systemically.
 
[00:19:56.360] - Candi Broeffle, Host
It's pacing it
 
[00:19:58.220] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Exactly
 
[00:19:58.670] - Candi Broeffle, Host
What's kind of building up to that. Now, we are going to be heading into a break here in just a minute. But I do want to mention that you, as you're moving on now to Sweden, you had to find a place that you could have your clients continue to be treated as you were able to get connected with the Box Wellness Center and in particular, Cassandra. Cassandra, we're going to bring you into this conversation when we come back in a few minutes. But if people want to get connected to you and want to learn how they can get an appointment with you, what's the number that they can call?
 
[00:20:36.270] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
They can call 612-859-7709  612-859-7709 or go to www.BhaktiClinic.com, BhaktiClinic.com.
 
[00:20:51.270] - Candi Broeffle, Host
That sounds great. Well, you are listening to Green Tea Conversations on Am 950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota, and we will be back in just a minute.
 
[00:21:05.270] 
Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we meet the professionals straight from the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine who share their expertise on natural help with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today in our studio. We have Guy Odishaw, Mats Sexton, and Cassandra Rose of the Bhakti Wellness Center in Edina.
 
[00:21:25.530] 
So Mats just before we left, we were talking about you were kind of describing to us about Macular generation and the treatment that you're doing through Acupuncture to help people who are afflicted with it, and that you have this wonderful opportunity to go to Sweden to help do some training of other practitioners in this. But in order for you to do that, you really had to find someone who could help the clients who you're currently working with.
 
[00:21:54.280] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Right.
 
[00:21:54.840] - Candi Broeffle, Host
You have a number of clients here who also want to continue on with their treatments. And you were able to get connected to our other guests today. Cassandra Rose. So how did the two of you get introduced to each other?
 
[00:22:08.890] - Mats Sexton, Guest
I hold seminars around the country and held one here in Minneapolis a couple of months ago. I really wanted to get a lot of local Acupuncture to do this work for my clients. And sure enough, it was everybody from out state who came to Milton in February except Cassandra so it happened very organically, and we have a mutual friend, and it's just been great getting to know her. And I'm really excited to work with her, and she's been really enthusiastic about it. He known her for a couple of weeks, and she's got a radio show already, and he's running with it. It's in good hands.
 
[00:22:45.440] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And Cassandra, you're very experienced acupuncture. You've been practicing acupuncture for a long time. You do something called community acupuncture, which we're going to talk about more toward the end of the show. But you have been practicing for a long time. What made you so interested in looking at the eye diseases and the things that Moses is helping to treat?
 
[00:23:10.310] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
Well, I really think of acupuncture and Chinese medicine as a and kind of medicine naturally bring together a lot of different ideas, from Meridian theory to ACU tonics to modern oncology support. And so on a personal level, I'm always looking for all of these different pieces to bring together to help my patients. On a professional level, I always try to respond to my patients needs. And that's part of why I haven't chosen a specialty yet is because I always figured that over time my patients would pick one out for me.
 
[00:23:47.960] 
And then, of course, one of my patients are a mutual friend, came and approached me with this opportunity to learn from moths. And the more I learned about it and realized that there wasn't a lot of tools out there for people who are having degenerative eye disease issues. I'm very excited about it. It gives people a lot of hope. And. It's a powerful tool.
 
[00:24:18.160] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And when we talk about so Cassandra just brought up, it brings people a lot of hope. So generally speaking, when people get diagnosed with macular degeneration, what are they told?
 
[00:24:29.950] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Well, my dad has wet and dry Mac degeneration each eye, and there's really not much that Western medicine can do. It's basically. Well, they're told there's not much we can do, and they're usually given over-the-counter supplements and keep an eye on it. No pun intended, but keep monitoring it. But usually, that means it's just sort of a downhill slide to a functional blindness.

[00:24:53.580] 
So. That's one of the most beautiful things that people say to me is this the first time I've ever had any hope about keeping my vision. And sometimes with the treatments, we can make huge strides where people start driving again. Sometimes it's more of a matter of maintaining what people have, and they're thrilled with that because they're not continuing to lose the functional vision. And sometimes there's cases where I can't help people, or maybe it's become too advanced. It's macular degeneration. There's been too much damage to the retina, that kind of thing.
 
[00:25:26.280] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So what is it about the treatment that actually works? If you're putting the acupuncture needles and the hands and the feet, how is that actually helping the eye?
 
[00:25:37.320] - Mats Sexton, Guest
So there's been studies that have shown that acupuncture can actually help the circulation of we talk about cheap. It's basically energy or ATP, I think from a Western standpoint, like neuroregeneration. And sometimes we have a teacher that sometimes like, Why does it work? We don't know why, but it works. That's why it's kind of the beauty of acupuncture. I mean, it is kind of bizarre. I completely agree with that. We're putting four needles in the hands and feet, and yet people are able to regain vision or some other kind of functional.
 
[00:26:17.290] 
Maybe it's something with a limb or whatnot. So it is truly miraculous in some ways. I think the beauty also, acupuncture is very cost-effective. It's also incredibly safe. I probably put in. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but probably a million needles and I've never had any sort of infection or any sort of adverse incident. Really slight bruise is probably the worst I've done. So it's so amazing.
 
[00:26:42.580] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And the needles in very fine.
 
[00:26:44.870] - Mats Sexton, Guest
They're so tiny, they're very small and so it's not like a syringe at all. I even don't like syringes.
 
[00:26:52.940] - Candi Broeffle, Host
The inductor does not like I
 
[00:26:56.830] - Mats Sexton, Guest
keep it on the download.
 
[00:26:58.470] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So, Cassandra, what would you like to see happen with your practice? As far as with what you want to do with your clients, with what you're learning?
 
[00:27:07.540] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
Well, I want to be a resource in the community for helping people to improve and keep their vision long-term. And I also want to kind of track patient outcomes over time to help increase the body of literature that is there to make it more accessible to people. You know, people trust things that they've heard about before that work. And we have all of this anecdotal evidence with people having profound effect from the acupuncture. But if we can broaden that and kind of offer some more socially acceptable proof, then we can reach a lot more people, and maybe more acupuncture will want to help and more patients will benefit.
 
[00:27:53.860] 
So that's kind of where I see long-term growing education.
 
[00:28:00.160] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Excellent. Now I also understand that you are able to treat other eye disorders as well.
 
[00:28:07.690] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Sure.
 
[00:28:08.110] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So what are some of the other disorders that you're treating?
 
[00:28:10.790] - Mats Sexton, Guest
There's a really great treatment for dry mouth and or dry eye, which uses points in oddly, the ear and index finger, but it's a two-day treatment protocol which is just fantastic. I've treated head and neck cancer patients and you think, how on Earth is this going to work? If they've had their throat radiated and sure enough, oftentimes they'll start to salivate. Other retina-specific issues include retinitis pigmentosa, which is a congenital disease, something called star guards, which is also called juvenile macular. Degeneration glaucoma can be helped as well. In many cases.
 
[00:28:49.480] - Candi Broeffle, Host
How does the glaucoma is a pretty common common issue that people know about or hear about. So what is what is Glaucoma? How does it help?
 
[00:29:00.990] - Mats Sexton, Guest
There's many different types of glaucoma. There's a canal in the back of the eye that often gets so the eye is continually flushing fluid through. And there's a canal in the back of the eye that gets blocked for various reasons. It could be inflammation. It could be there's a form called granular glaucoma, or bits of the Iris Flake off and get stuck. So for whatever reason, that canal gets blocked and so acupuncture, I think, helps relieve the inflammation there and helps systemic flow of the fluid
 
[00:29:30.610] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Guy?
 
[00:29:31.940] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Jumping with it the same point that I invited last time. Which is our tendency to talk about these conditions in Western biomedical terms, as if that the truth. And I want to offer and not an or because I think I completely respect the Western approach, and there's a lot to be gained from it.
 
[00:30:00.000] - Candi Broeffle, Host
But that's a lot more to it.
 
[00:30:01.980] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
It is. And one of my teachers says, talks about the body. You would say that the body's lost the plot. And so for me, I like the idea of information and thinking about information, maybe as much or more than energy because of the world we live in. In the lives we live, our bodies become toxified. And there's long lists of toxins that get in and those toxic can be physical substances. It can be electromagnetic radiation. It can be emotions, thoughts. All of those are a way to think about as toxins, and they come up the works.
 
[00:30:41.460] 
It's like you're listening to the radio. If the station is slightly off and it's a little staticky, you can lose the plot of the conversation. Right. And so this is what happens in the body. It kind of slowly loses the plot. And then things go sideways and plaques form where they're not supposed to or circulation breaks down in a way that it's not supposed to. And what we want to do is kind of help the body find the plot again and help. I have both the resources.
 
[00:31:09.330] 
Let's say energy. It could be nutrients, but we'll talk energy, but also the information, like the body, needs both. It needs to have the power to do what it needs to do, but it has to have the information to know what it needs to do.
 
[00:31:21.330] - Mats Sexton, Guest
I say I've been traffic cop for energy basically is helping it flow where it's supposed to go.
 
[00:31:27.260] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Cassandra?
 
[00:31:27.860] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
It reminds me of the concept you talk to us about with Shen stagnation with the holding in of the emotions and not letting things flow. And one of the things the acupuncture is very good at is opening up those pathways to make us resilient to moving things through our body in our system, right?
 
[00:31:46.250] - Mats Sexton, Guest

Yeah. Absolutely. So when we talk about something like glaucoma, like what you said? Absolutely. But when I'm treating glaucoma, I know that information, but that's not what I'm treating. What I'm trying to do is help restore the vitality to the structures and help the body re-access the information that it needs to do what those parts need to do. And so if there's too much pressure in the eye because the duct is closed, great. That's the functional side of it. But I'm not thinking about how do I relieve the pressure and open up the blockage in the duct? It's vitalized tissues restore the flow of information. The body will do the rest.
 
[00:32:33.730] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And that's why they call it complementary medicine, correct?
 
[00:32:37.240] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Yeah.
 
[00:32:38.350] - Candi Broeffle, Host
We use it in conjunction with our what regular medical care that you're doing. You don't have to do either. Or, of course, is an end.
 
[00:32:49.540] - Mats Sexton, Guest
It's an end. And we're starting to see Western medicine move in this direction. They're starting to understand that taking things to the material reductionist level, it's not as true as they thought it was several decades ago. Science is showing us, like great research in cancer to show that one of the fundamental problems is electrical signaling at the cellular level. That when the cells lose the plot on sending ions back and forth, cancer will emerge. Correct. That correct. That cell signaling and the cancer that is there will go away.
 
[00:33:32.140] 
I mean, that's been proven heart science. You can go online and watch great YouTube on this and see cancer appear and then disappear by changing ion signaling between cells. It's an information and energy exchange. This is emerging within Western medicine. It's just Chinese medicine has been onto it for a few thousand years before us.
 
[00:33:55.390] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Right.
 
[00:33:56.230] - Mats Sexton, Guest
And so to me, this is the more important concept that we bring forward. And when we're talking about this.
 
[00:34:03.140] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So when we come back, we're going to continue to have this conversation. We're also going to introduce microcurrent therapy, which is something that guides us. Just as a reminder to read an online edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, you can visit NaturalTwinCities.Com. You can find a podcast of the show on Am 950Radio.Com on Apple or Google podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts, we will be back in just a bit.
 
[00:34:36.910] 
Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations. So we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expectations on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle.
 
[00:34:48.390] 
And today we're visiting with Guy, Odishaw, Mats Sexton, and Cassandra Rose of the Bhakti Wellness Clinic in Edina. So just before we left for the break, we were talking about how this practice is actually a good complement to regular medicine. That regular traditional medicine that we understand today. So what would your goal be Mats in the next five or ten years? And do you actually see that there's a good partnership now?
 
[00:35:22.090] - Mats Sexton, Guest
Right now, there's just a disappointing that there's such a disconnect with Western Ophthalmology and what we're doing. And I get it on some levels where it is kind of out there and what not. But I had a visual field scanner and also a retina Cam in my clinic. So I could see in real-time. And I would send the scans with the patients when they go to the ophthalmologist so they could see what was happening. So I'd love to see ophthalmologists work together with us because together we can offer some real substantial change for people in a condition where really right now the diagnosis is basically go home and go blind.
 
[00:36:06.880] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And hopefully that will happen as well. We're seeing that happen more and more in hospitals and clinics for Acupuncture is coming in for other health issues. So hopefully.
 
[00:36:17.820] - Mats Sexton, Guest
And the eye conditions are a beautiful example of where Western medicine is really quite limited and what they can do. And basically with what Mac. Org generaion. It's giving shops in the eyes of an anticancer drug to try to stop bleeding. But beyond that, there's really not much they can do. So this is a great example of where Chinese medicine really has a strength to step in and actually create some healing.
 
[00:36:38.430] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So we welcome all ophthalmologists out there.
 
[00:36:40.990] - Mats Sexton, Guest
It'd be great to learn more about great contact the box cutting out.
 
[00:36:45.870] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
One would like to think. And my personal pace mentioned your dad, my mom, hers was Grave's disease slow slide into functional blindness. And I brought her down here to see the Acupuncturist at the clinic. At the time. Laura Cassandra knows, and she was mostly treated through herbs because of the distance, and in about a six-month time period, she was fully restored her vision and now 15 years later she still has her vision. Her ophthalmologist mention is what reminded me was as her ophthalmologist was watching her go backwards from blind to her pre graves disease vision level.
 
[00:37:28.080] 
He was at once amazed and uninterested when she said this has never happened. What are you doing? She said acupuncture and the story never spoke of again.
 
[00:37:40.030] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
And you'd like to see, yeah. You'd like to think any health care practitioner who sees the impossible would be curious about it. And we say, who is this person? I want to refer all my patients there, but instead, there's zero nothing.
 
[00:37:55.580] - Mats Sexton, Guest
It's a prominent ophthalmologist who I've sent three people back to him driving again, and I've been trying to connect with him. And the last time I sent a note with one of my clients who is going to see him after me. I offered him dinner at Ocean Air. Nothing. Crickets.
 
[00:38:12.220] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Well, I am going to think positively for all of us, and I'm going to that intention that this is something that's going to happen because it is important work. So Guy, you also practice something called microcurrent therapy when it comes to working with people. As eye disorders.
 
[00:38:26.470] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
I do
 
[00:38:27.380] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Briefly tell us about microcurrents.
 
[00:38:30.330] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Yeah, microcurrent. It's a whole domain. And there's mountains of evidence to support its efficacy across health issues, including mental health. But it can be used in this specialty of eye care again, as well as the whole person. I treat macular generation glaucoma, cataract, post LASIK surgery. Really any eye condition, and it uses a tiny current. People think about electricity and they maybe think about electroshock therapy, and it's No. Most people have had tens. You go to the physical therapist, chiropractor's little sticky pads on you. They run some current through tens of thousands of an amp.
 
[00:39:05.990] 
Microcurrent is a millionth of an amp. So it's a tiny little bit of energy we call it is bioidentical current. You can't feel it. And so that's one of the problems is people don't think anything's happening. It's this tiny little bit of current. And what it does is much like what I was saying before. It actually provides literal energy in the form of ions, electricity, ions to the body, presumably tissues depleted. It also provides information so that's both sides of that equation energy and information. We use certain frequencies that have resonance with certain tissue structures or functions.
 
[00:39:44.930] 
So if we want to affect the macula and we want to improve circulation, we have frequencies for the macula, and frequencies for angiogenesis are increasing blood flow, and that allows us to increase blood flow in the macula. It's pretty straightforward in microcurrent. We think about it like pharmacy. In Pharmaceuticals, you take a pill, it has a function. We use currents and frequencies that have a function that are correlates of Pharmaceuticals.
 
[00:40:12.580] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And how is it applied?
 
[00:40:14.440] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Sure, the most common that we use in the clinic is just a warm wet cloth that has an electrode in it. But what the client feels is just a warm wet cloth, which typically they say like, oh, that feels really good. So we might put a wet cloth over the eyes and a wet cloth on the back of the neck. And then the person lays there for half an hour listening to soft music on a soft bed under a warm snuggly blanket and take a nap.
 
[00:40:42.050] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And this is something that with the microcurrent, it's something that they have to do pretty consistently. So you actually have some machines that they can rent and you teach them how they can do it at absolutely.
 
[00:40:53.610] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
Microcurrent is Dell-dependent. It's one of the few things in life where more is better. I wish that was true of cookies.
 
[00:40:59.000] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Oh, I know.
 
[00:40:59.520] - Guy Odishaw, Guest
I know. But microcurrent, if an hour a week is good, 2 hours a week is better, 2 hours a day is even better. So that's why we try and encourage people to rent a unit for $75 a week. Utterly affordable, and they can treat themselves 8 hours a day and that's the game-changer is that access to care every day is what allows us to take this tiny little input of this little milliamp every day and change an entire system is by a nudge every day.
 
[00:41:33.050] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So people can learn more about the services that you provide by going to your website, which is BhaktiClinic.com and it's B-H-A-K-T-I. Clinic.com. Now, Cassandra, you also provide what's called community acupuncture. What is community acupuncture?
 
[00:41:53.150] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
Community Acupuncture is an Acupuncture that is received in a group setting. So in my clinic, I have five chairs and so there's up to five people in the room. At the time. I see a patient every 15 minutes and we chat. And then I do an Acupuncture treatment based on your general health. One of the wonderful things about community act puncture. It just allows you to get enough care kind of like microcurrent to make a difference in moving your health towards where you want to be. And it also helps to create accessibility through our sliding scale.
 
[00:42:24.870] - Cassandra Rose, Guest
So we have a sliding scale of 25 to 50. You choose where on that scale you fall, and then there's also packages. If you know you're going to be coming in regularly.
 
[00:42:33.530] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Great. Well, thank you all for being with us today. It has truly been eye-opening is no pun intended, so thank you. As we learn about natural Health, to read the online edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, or to check out our complete online calendar of events, visit Natural Twin cities. Com. You can find a podcast of the show on AM950 Radio, dot com on Apple, and Google podcast. You've been listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And I'm wishing for you a lovely day!