Christian Goodman

Author at Blue Heron Health News

Hi, I'm Christian Goodman.

I was born in Iceland in 1973 and trained as a therapist. Early in my career I learned something I've never been able to unlearn: most of what shows up in the body starts in the mind, the breath, and the tension we carry without realizing it.

I learned it on myself the hard way.

A few years into my practice, my own blood pressure climbed to 185/129. I was the alternative health expert who couldn't fix his own health. I was eating well. I was exercising. I was taking every supplement on the shelf. And I was terrified — not of dying exactly, but of leaving my wife and children without me. I felt like the carpenter who couldn't build his own house.

What finally pointed me toward an answer wasn't another supplement or another specialist. It was a quiet line of research out of Harvard Medical School — Dr. Herbert Benson's work on how a handful of simple mind/body exercises can reset the brain's blood pressure control center.

The first time I sat down and did them, something in my chest unclenched that I hadn't realized was clenched. I'd been bracing against my own body for years. I refined what I learned over the following months into a daily practice I could teach other people.

Snoring was the other one.

I snored my whole life. As a married man, my wife and I ended up in separate bedrooms — and the resentment that grew in that silence nearly ended our marriage. The breakthrough came one morning over breakfast. My wife — a classical singer turned voice teacher — was listening to me describe my latest dead end when she stopped and said, "That's what I teach my students every day." The very exercises she used to open up her singers' breathing passages were the ones I'd been searching for.

That's how most of my work has been born — in a kitchen, in a marriage, in a quiet moment with someone I love.

Today I've written 13 programs covering everything from blood pressure to vertigo to insomnia to migraines. At the heart of most of them is the same conviction that started me on this path: that the body, given simple tools and a little attention each day, has a remarkable capacity to restore its own balance.

If any of this sounds familiar — the frustration, the shame, the feeling that you've tried everything the normal way and are quietly running out of options — then I wrote these programs for you. I'll take you by the hand and walk you, gently, toward something that feels a little easier.

Warm regards,
Christian


Articles by Christian Goodman
This Prevents Sleep Apnea from Killing You

This Prevents Sleep Apnea from Killing You

Sleep apnea has been associated with severe health risks such as hypertension, heart failure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cognitive decline. But a new study published in the journal Sleep reals an even more terrifying effect of sleep apnea. It accelerates...
The Worst Food For High Blood Pressure

The Worst Food For High Blood Pressure

There is one ingredient we all use and need that spikes blood pressure if used excessively. In fact, it’s so dangerous that, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, this one ingredient contributes more to high blood...
Moderate Amounts of This Drink Kill Your Brain

Moderate Amounts of This Drink Kill Your Brain

Everything is good in moderation, right? Not so much, says a new study published in the journal BMJ. In fact, drinking this common drink in “moderation” (often highly recommended by health experts) can drastically decrease your brain health and cognitive function in a...
Treat Sleep Apnea to Become Smarter

Treat Sleep Apnea to Become Smarter

There are many severe health consequences of sleep apnea, including obesity, stroke, heart attack, and dementia. So, there are many benefits to treating it. A new study published in JAMA Network Open reveals one more benefit of treating sleep apnea… it makes you...