Mill Valley | OwningPink

Posts Tagged ‘Mill Valley’

Introducing The Owning Pink Center & The Pink Partnership Agreement

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Hiya Pinkies! As many of you know, I have been struggling for six months over whether or not to leave my job at the integrative health center where I work. On one level, I adore the people, the space is gorgeous, and my patients are treasures. Compared to my old job in the crazy busy managed care practice where I used to work, it’s heaven. But deep down, I realize it doesn’t align with my vision. Being there has been clipping my wings. And it’s time to FLY.

Introducing The Owning Pink Center

So I took the leap of faith and submitted my resignation just before Christmas, without a clue what would happen next. More Pleaping (taking a Pink leap of faith!) Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once again, I found myself letting go, surrendering into what will be, trusting God, and being open to Signs from the Universe. Well, wouldn’t you know it, all the signs have aligned to allow me to bring Owning Pink into bricks and mortar in a beautiful space on 600 Miller Ave in Mill Valley, CA. The Owning Pink Center- where I will join forces with acupuncturists, a nutritionist, a psychologist, and Mojo Mentor Tricia Barrett, our Pink & Green cleanse expert- will be open soon, right down the street from where I have been practicing. It will give us a chance to bring Owning Pink into the real world, to ground what we’ve created in cyberspace and demonstrate how what we do can heal people. I’m VERY excited.

In the process of clarifying my thoughts and dreams, I have been doing a lot of writing about how I think health care can be best received by those in need of healing, and I decided to start with what I call the Pink Partnership Agreement, a contract between me and my patients. After I wrote it, I realized that this is very similar to what we do here at Owning PInk Central. We enter into sacred contract together- with the express purpose of healing ourselves and each other. So I wanted to share it with you here.

The Pink Partnership Agreement
As doctor and patient, you and I are entering into a partnership. As such, I feel it is important to clarify and agree upon what our relationship will entail.

Your Power to Heal
I am here to support you, guide you, offer you tools, and support your process, but I will not “fix” you – for I don’t believe you are broken.

I believe you already have within you the power to heal yourself. When we meet, I will hold up the mirror so you can see that you already have what it takes to optimize your wellness and live the most joyous, vibrant, fulfilling, sexy, healthy life possible. You are here to be the force behind your own healing. If you are not ready to take this action step, I will be here to nurture and support you, but the process will be less powerful, with fewer results.

Respect for each other and the process

In order for our partnership to be successful, we must respect each other. I will offer you a treatment plan, but I will also invite you to listen to the intuition of your body and your soul. I will respect your autonomy, and the choices for how we proceed will always be yours.
We will respect each other’s time. I will not make you wait for your appointment, and you will not be late. We must be present, fully and completely, during our time together. This means we will both turn off cell phones, let go of distractions, and focus all of our energy on your wellness. We have to be open and tell the truth, even if it is painful or uncomfortable. We must trust that we are safe together, so we can explore things that may be tough to explore. We must open our hearts to the loving kindness and compassion that is a necessary part of any healing relationship.

My pledge to you
I promise to respect you, guide you, and help you discover the healing power within you. In exchange, I ask that you follow through on any treatment plan we agree upon. If our treatment plan does not resonate with your body’s wisdom, or if you have financial constraints, please tell me so that we can modify our plan. Follow through is key. We must walk this path together in order to manifest the results I know we can achieve.

This is YOUR life. OWN IT.
Are you on board? If so, sign here. (Insert your signature here!)

The Owning Pink Wellness Center Mission Statement

We believe that the power to heal lies within all of us. Rather than “fixing” you, we aim to offer you tools that will empower you to attain optimal wellness, vitality, and joy. We believe health is the foundation upon which we build the other facets of what makes us whole- our creativity, relationships, career, spirituality, sexuality, and life purpose. At Owning Pink, we hold up the mirror to reflect back to you what you already know but may not see- that you are beautiful, just the way you are, and that getting your mojo back is not only possible, it’s your birthright!

The Owning Pink Center Philosophy

The health care system in the United States may be broken, but we as individuals are whole, just as we are. At Owning Pink, we aim to create an entirely new way to heal- one that works from the inside out. Unlike traditional medical practices, where you may be herded in and out in 7 1/2 minutes, handed a prescription for drugs you may not understand, and wind up feeling worse than when you walked in, we strive to let the healing begin the moment you walk in the door. We value the opportunity to be present with you, to hold space for you, to listen, and to offer you our expertise as an equal partners in your wellness plan. We believe you are more powerful than you know, that you hold the keys to living fully right in your own hand. Our job is to help you use the keys you already possess and supplement anything else you might need to achieve your health and wellness goals.

Too many people walk around in a daze, unaware that there is a better life out there, just longing to be lived. When you lack energy, struggle to sleep, experience stress, feel depressed, dislike the way your body looks and feels, and suffer from symptoms and diseases, you may come to accept that this is simply life. We at Owning Pink believe there is more to life than just getting by. We believe you can get your mojo back- and have fun doing so. It’s what Owning Pink is all about- being brilliantly, gleefully, wholly healthy, inside and out.

As human beings, we may manifest symptoms and diseases, but underlying these external manifestations, our spirits know the answers to how we can live more vitally. We ask our clients questions such as “What does your body need to get better?” And we honor and cherish the answers that come up. We value the wisdom of the body and the enduring strength and resilience of the human spirit. We value YOU.

The practitioners at the Owning Pink Center are skilled at helping you access these answers to help you reclaim the life you know you’re meant to live. We call upon all of the tools in our collective tool boxes- using traditional Western medicine, natural and functional medicine, nutrition, bioidentical hormone balancing, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, therapy, raw foods/detox cleansing, and a variety of other alternative therapies to help you access what you need to achieve optimal health. Mostly, we practice love, with a little bit (okay, sometimes a lot) of medicine on the side. What does love have to do with medicine? Everything. Trust us on this. When we approach our bodies with love, acceptance, and nurturing kindness, we pave the way for magic to unfold, the kind of magic we’re blessed to witness every day.

We invite you to step up to the Pink plate. Are you in? We can’t wait to bear witness to your transformation.

So here’s me, Pinkies- Pleaping! I’d LOVE your feedback! What resonates for you? What seems too woo woo or weird? How can we help patients understand what Owning Pink is all about in a medical practice? How are you Pleaping these days? What resistance keeps you from following your dreams?

Jumping off cliffs right and left,

Dr. Lissa

Lissa Rankin, MD

PS. Stay tuned for our new website, how to make appointments, and all the details that turn a dream into reality.

Tags: gynecology, holistic health, holistic women's health, integrative medicine, Lissa Rankin, lissa rankin md, Mill Valley, ob/gyn, owning pink center
Posted in Alternative Health, Healthy Thursday, Lissa's personal yada yada yada, Owning Health | 36 Comments »

Owning New Growth: The Cleansing and Rebuilding of Big Sur

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

I just returned from a fabulous long weekend in Big Sur, where I visited my friends Toby Rowland-Jones and Linda Sonrisa, who were hosting the first ever Big Sur Food & Wine Festival. The festival was Toby’s brainchild, intended as a way to stimulate Big Sur’s economy after last year’s fires took a bite out of tourist traffic. Not only did the festival raise over $30,000 in funds to support the community, it also sold out hotels and filled local restaurants to the brim. Even more importantly, it cemented the sometimes fragmented community, as they rallied to rebuild, linking arm in arm with local winemakers, chefs, friends, and neighbors from far and wide. More on the festival soon, but first, a few thoughts about new growth…

We’ve come a long way since those fateful days last summer when Big Sur, which is the seat of my soul, the home of my heart, burned. Lightning ignited a forest fire that took nearly a month to extinguish. I was living in Monterey, where ash from the fire rained down and golden glowing smoke clouds blocked the sunset. I found myself crying often, unsure what it all meant. If Big Sur was where my heart lived, what did it mean that redwoods were going up in smoke?

It’s All Smoke & Mirrors

Highway 1 was closed for over a month, so no one but the firefighters quite knew the extent of the damage. It took weeks for me to gather up the courage to drive down. When I finally did, I saw the blackened, bald landscape, the treeless vistas. The smell of old smoke, like the back door behind a factory where everyone took their cigarette breaks, permeated the air, replacing the scent of evergreen and salt water spray.

On that first trip into the fire zone, I tried to revisit the places that bring me solace- my special rock that perches over a cliff, the energy vortex by the river amidst the redwoods, the water, where it falls on rocks into a crystal pool. But yellow crime scene tape and orange flashing barricades blocked my way at every intersection. I felt betrayed. Where was I supposed to go when I needed answers? How could Big Sur abandon me in the midst of chaos in my life? Where would I turn to find serenity?

The Answers Lie Within

What I learned that fateful summer is that you can’t go outside of yourself to find answers. While there may be special places in the world that inspire you, you don’t have to go anywhere to find serenity. All you have to do is tune in with that special part of your soul that always has pink sunrise morning, sweeping ocean vistas, jagged mountain cliffs, and redwoods reaching for the stars. I had come to depend on Big Sur, imbuing it with mystical power and transcendent wisdom. Yet, the fire taught me that Big Sur merely ignited within me the mystical power and transcendent wisdom that was already mine for the taking. By opening my heart to Big Sur, I cracked open my soul and invited the Universe to work its magic. But God can perform miracles in Big Sur or Houston or Birmingham or Mill Valley. Possibilities for transcendence are endless, and they can’t be burned down, no matter how hot the fire.

We All Need to Be Cleansed From Time to Time

When I spoke to a Big Sur native about the fire, she said that Big Sur was overdue for a community cleansing. Like me, others come to Big Sur, in search of answers to difficult questions. Some get so comfortable in Big Sur’s loving embrace that they get stuck here- for months, then years, then decades- when they have missions to complete elsewhere. They quit listening to the answers and comfort themselves with crashing surf and wind through the trees, when there’s work to be done back home.

The fire changed all that. After mandatory evacuations unrooted people, some became homeless, wandering from place to place in search of whatever is next. Some, who had been living at Esalen for years, realized it was time to move on. The fire, while devastating, provided a ceremonial ritual of ablution for the Big Sur community. Something shifted- you can feel it. Those who were hanging onto the edges left. The committed locals who remained rallied together to rebuild.

Green Sprouts are Growing

While charred remains remind us still of what happened, Big Sur is rebuilding. You can see it everywhere. Judge Burley’s octagonal paradise high on the hill above Ventana Inn, where we once vacationed, exists no longer. But in its place, someone is erecting fresh plywood into a new structure with a different shape. You can see it from Post Ranch Inn, where they have finished reconstructing the famed restaurant Sierra Mar. Even the charred hills are sprouting new growth, turning the blackened landscape, now rich with forest fire minerals, into virgin forest.

I too am growing fresh sprouts. I can see it when I am here, remembering where I was two years ago, when I came to Big Sur seeking answers. Some of the questions have been answered. Some still linger, and new ones emerge. But it no longer stresses me to have unanswered questions. I have grown more comfortable with the living the question, rather than hunting in vain for the answers. Some of me is growing into tall sturdy redwoods, stretching towards the sky. Other parts have burned to the ground and are only now beginning to grow.

What about you, Pinkies? Can you see how you have grown? What parts of you have burned up? What has been cleansed? What is sprouting fresh? What do you need in order to evolve?

Owning my new growth & celebrating yours,

Lissa

Tags: big sur, big sur fires, birmingham, burned down, california fires, cliffs, fire, forest fire, houston, looking within, Mill Valley, new growth, redwoods, ventana
Posted in Lissa's personal yada yada yada, Mama Earth stuff, Owning Joy After Loss, Owning You, Owning Your Intuition | 7 Comments »

Owning Change

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

jump42 This week, Kathi Buchanan, the owner of Buchanan Gallery in Houston, which represents my art, called to ask me to name the solo show we’re scheduling for March. It was a Sunday, and the print deadline was Monday, so I didn’t have much time to think about it. In response to her question, I blurted, “Let’s call it Owning Change.” Usually, I mull around show titles for weeks, carefully selecting words that give clues to my internal process, which inevitably ends up in my art. I called my last show Both Sides Now, after the Joni Mitchell song, because I created the art at a time when I was desperately seeking to merge my identities, to be a doctor, an artist, a writer, and a mother, while still being 100% Lissa, all the time. The conceptual part of that merging is almost complete. I have accepted a new job that allows me to be all of that, while still being all me. I have given birth to Owning Pink, which allows me to combine my art, writing, and passion for women’s health, all under one umbrella.

The thing is, all of that conceptual merging requires a whole lot of change, and I HATE change. So while I’ve been owning a whole lot of Pink lately, I’m not so sure I’ve been owning the change part. And yet, today is the dawn of a whole new adventure for me. Today, I start my new job at Clear Center of Health, an integrative medicine practice in Mill Valley, where I actually get to give my patients big fluffy white robes instead of scratchy paper half-gowns. At Clear Center, I’ll be able to spend a whole hour seeing my gynecology patients, rather than being a Pez dispenser for prescriptions and having to rush through a visit in 7 1/2 minutes. I can play soft music, light candles, hang my Plainsong paintings, and lead patients in deep breathing before I plunge into their vaginas with mean, pokey things. I might actually heal someone. I’m very excited.

But along with all that excitement comes a certain trepidation and anxiety. I feel like a kid on the first day of school. On one level, the first day of school is a yearly opportunity to reinvent yourself. You might end up sitting next to Karen Scott, the prettiest, most popular girl in school, and maybe, if she makes you her new best friend, you’ll be popular and Kevan Hearn will finally fall in love with you. Or maybe all the stuff you learned in gymnastics camp over the summer will make you jump high enough to be chosen for the cheerleading squad, and then Kevan Hearn will definitely love you. But even with that twitterpating sense of possibility, the first day of school always leaves you with a pit in your stomach. That’s how I feel right now, on the morning of my first day at Clear Center. Giddy and pitty.

So it’s time for me to Own Change. I’d better get crackin’! I’m about to leave our home in Monterey to move to Marin County, once we find the perfect house to live in and pack up our bazillion things. (How did we acquire so many things? New Years Resolution- DOWNSIZE!) In Marin County, I’m sure to make a slew of new friends, experience new adventures, and face new challenges. Siena will have to go to a new school, and Matt will have to find new suppliers for art materials. I’ll have to figure out where Home Depot and Costco and Trader Joes are, and I’ll get lost a million times before I figure out where I live. I’ll hike in different parks, swim at different beaches, and shop at new farmer’s markets. My mother will have to find a new church when she comes to visit, and I’ll have to figure out where I can buy Dungeness crab when it’s in season.

At my new job, I’ll have to prove myself all over again, since nobody knows what a good doctor I really am. I’ll have to learn a whole new system of paperwork, figure out which doctors I trust for the care of patients I refer out, and sort through new lab forms. I’ll have to adjust to a new space and understand that sometimes, when I want to do a herpes culture, I’m going to have trouble finding the right tube. While I used to have 35 patients on my schedule every day, I have to start from scratch all over again, as I build a new practice. Nobody here knows Dr. Lissa Rankin at all. It’s enough to freak a girl out.

On the flip side, a whole new day is dawning, and the sun is rising as I write. A pinkish orange glow is tinting the sky to the east, and it’s cool and clear outside, untinged by the Bay area’s usual fog. I think it’s God’s little gift to me, a bit of a pat on my shoulder to remind me that it’s all going to be okay, that change can be rejuvenating and life sustaining, a time of opening, just like the dawn of a new day. So today, I’m Owning Change for what it is, a time of possibility, of hope, of giving birth to dreams long repressed. I’m owning newness, fresh starts, and the opportunity for growth.

It’s been a year and a half since I jumped off the cliff of leaving my medical practice to write, paint, and be a Mom. For a year and a half, I feel like I’ve been free falling, hurtling towards an uncertain destiny. But today feels like the beginning of a gentle landing, at least a touchstone of grounding upon which I can plant my feet. I’m sure there will still be days of leaping and falling, for I now know that any sense I might have that there is certainty in life is merely an illusion. So I’m not fooling myself into thinking I have any clue what my future holds. But I do feel that, with a little bit of earth beneath my feet, I can begin to plant roots, to face the sun, and hopefully, with a little water and a lot of change, I can blossom.

PS. Many thanks to Cari Hernandez, artist and photographer, for the awesome pics!