Stress is an elusive force. Tough to recognize, tough to beat.


I’ve found that accompanying your own voice with the guitar or piano is one of the best medical therapies I’ve ever encountered.


If you long to sing and play guitar for fun, this video will help you get over the hump.





Part 2





Share the gift of playing guitar with your family and friends:

Guitar Links:

Ultimate-Guitar.com
Chordfind.com
Guitar Center
Tuner: use Korg chromatic (black) or iphone app called “cleartune”

wow, I’m getting old…

In total, my journey as a physician has consisted of:

4 years of College

4 years of Medical School

3 years of Residency

7 years of Private Practice

= 18 years of training and clinical practice.

Hey Guys,

We all know that Halloween is particularly tricky when your skin is not in great control. If this year was a bummer for you, know that you will have another shot at it next year. After about 20 years of greasy costumes that never played in real life or in photos, I finally was comfortable in my face this year.


It takes some of us 36 years to find balance. Hopefully you will learn from my mistakes and quickly find mastery of your skin and your life.


Better late than never right? this year’s Halloween finally played… (first time in my adult life)

We never give in to the challenges of life. Ever!!

-Dr. Neal

We love to demonize things. It probably serves as a quick and easy way to decipher good from bad at a glance.

Although I’m usually against this simplistic habit, I’d like to demonize something today in an effort to increase consciousness of our overall wellness.


The basic concept is that humans require constant movement to stay internally balanced. Over the past 20 years of investigation, I have learned that movement is the most powerful element of health.


With this in mind, it becomes obvious that sitting at the computer or in front of the television is directly affecting your health in a negative way. Unless celebrating and relaxing from a great physical adventure, the sofa can act as one of the primary aggravators of the common ailments we see in our culture. (Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Depression, Anxiety, Joint Pain, GI problems, and every other ailment regardless of the original trigger or source)


Here’s a method to help solve this problem while at home:

Try to look at your couch as a type of dessert. Something that needs to be earned and celebrated after a mind blowing physical experience. Know that this “dessert” is inherently not good for your body chemistry but when earned, is a beautiful way to balance the recent activity. If no activity is done, I promise your sofa will aggravate every health ailment you will ever come across.


I made this video to offer an option to the couch while watching TV. If this video is memorized, you can use the lessons from it anytime you’re in the family room.


Feel free to experience and join in the demonstration while memorizing the sequence for later use…

Hope this video helps our culture stay in balance.

be well,
-Dr. Neal


To share this post:

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To follow the movement:

Follow @AcnePractice

©2011 “The Lethal Sofa” by Dr. Neal Schwartz

For those of you I’ve never met in person, there is now a short introduction video clip on the About Dr. Neal page:

My skin feels great today. It’s not just that it looks alright. The sensation of heaviness, itchiness, heat, bumps, and irritation has been removed. Like removing a thorn from a paw, the physical catharsis feels incredible. For those of you who know me from the former office, you’ll quickly notice my first beard in 35 years. This transformation of feeling ultra-clean while growing facial hair seemed an impossibility a few years ago. Whenever the 48 hour mark of not shaving would come around, my face would get uncontrollably oily and the resulting irritation and bumps would be unbearable. It was yet another great journey of life I avoided due to my skin. I’m happy to say that this inhibition is gone and my face feels completely comfortable with the beard. The freedom and level of control is hard to believe sometimes.

You may be wondering why I keep showing my surf videos on an acne practice site…

It relates to the conversation above. While battling with my own skin for the past 20 years, I found myself avoiding many situations that would send me over the edge.

Here are some of the things I used to unconsciously and consciously avoid in an effort to maintain a reasonable level of control in my life:

the beach (suntan lotion, sweat, and humidity was quite a stress test)

skiing (sweat and goggles, hats, and neck warmers caused trouble for me)

any outdoor activity like a barbeque, outdoor party, or gathering. (the humidity or the cold would cause my angry skin to act up)

any sun exposure (due to direct discomfort of inflamed skin)

daytime socializing in general. (outside weather of all types would cause facial discomfort)

It wasn’t exactly the most chill existence…, 20 years of it on and off in varying degrees. Come to think of it now, it was a living hell inherently. But as a very resilient and optimistic person, I developed many methods and tactics to cope with the discomfort of life. One of those was to recklessly throw myself into projects and work. The classic workaholic is someone who immerses themselves in their passionate work partially to escape the pain of the world outside of work. In my case, the pain was a day off. The idea of taking a stroll in the park on a day off sounded like a day to be reminded that my skin was tingling, red, flushing, and angry. It was the perfect setup for imbalance, a life of stress and disease, and an existence that would surely have been riddled with deep regret if not corrected.


While running from aggravating circumstances, I found myself not eager to get to the beach or to the mountain ever. This lack of desire was in absolute contrast to my childhood and looking back, was a clear sign that my health was not in balance. The idea of blazing my already inflamed skin with sun and lotion was just not worth the pain of both the day’s discomfort and the inevitable aftermath of oil and bumps. Simply put, it wasn’t worth the consequence and I made unconscious and conscious decisions to avoid some of the best things in life. For example, a stroll outside on a sunny day…

So here’s the story of transformation:


I’m no longer inhibited. I’m not scared of suntan lotions, and not scared of the sun. I’m not avoiding outdoor activities in any way and can control my skin in all environments with efficient efforts. While there is no cure for anything chronic, now that my mind has eased and my skin feels comfortable, I feel that I am “cured”


This video below represents my newly found celebration of life as a person who is no longer punished by enjoying a beautiful day outside in the water. I live without fear or inhibition. I’m currently working on a new video tutorial project to ensure that no one else ever needlessly suffers and avoids life like I did.


(just started surfing a few years ago. try full screen)

It’s been a wild journey.
I hope this blog helps others observe their own emotional reactions to the challenges of life.
-Dr. Neal