Healthy Living

What's keeping you from total health? #2 - posted June 2008

You'll probably be able to identify with one of the following client types and decide for yourself what it will take for you to become healthy and truly well.
Basically there are three kinds of clients. The first one has already done her own research on the condition she's suffered from for years and she has all the answers. She knows all the latest findings about this herb or that vitamin and she really only came to me to make sure she was right. She doesn't really want my help. I know this because she'll argue if my advice differs from her own ideas about the situation. The sad thing is that she's had this condition for years and yet she wants to continue to not get well. Usually, this is the person whom you try not to get cornered by at parties because she'll tell you all about her illness… whether you're interested or not. Her ailments are part of who she is and without them she has no identity.
The second kind is what I think of as the typical American client. This is someone who is overweight and really unhealthy from a lifetime of fast food and soft drinks, and just complete ignorance of anything really healthy. This family's kitchen is full of non-fat, pre-packaged products, frozen entrees, margarine, soda, chips, cookies and all kinds of other crap, but very little food. The medicine cabinet is overflowing with little orange bottles with unpronounceable names on the labels for everything from high blood pressure and cholesterol, to 3-5 different antibiotics that were never finished, to a lovely, colorful assortment of supermarket cough syrups, pain pills and suppositories. My favorite thing about this family is that mom is a nurse at the local hospital. She smokes and weighs about 230 pounds. They have little round children with bright red cheeks who have asthma and can't concentrate in school. This client has come to me because he's been hearing about this “natural health movement” and could I recommend some herb for his scaly dry skin condition. To him this is some little annoyance and not the symptom of all the other stuff he's been doing to his body. He doesn't want to change his sedentary lifestyle or change his eating habits. He wants another pill.
The third kind of client I see is usually somewhere in between these two. She's been doing some reading and taking a few herbs and vitamins, knows she should exercise more but really loves her drive-thru dietary habits. What separates her from the above is her open mind and the desire to be really healthy. She is not defensive, in fact she's quite open about her fopah and will tell me about them all because she genuinely wants to increase her health. She knows that she needs advice because increasing health is a process which includes several components, and guidance is the key to avoiding mistakes.
The truth is that health can only come from your determination to be healthy. This means quite literally what it sounds like... You are what and who you think you are. Every issue will boil down to an energetic answer because your higher self is pure energy and it is in complete control. This is the part of you that communes with God and knows what you need. Your belief in health or illness comes from your energetic body which creates your physical body. The foods you eat make energetic imprints on your body, too. Real food will be recognized by your cells both by their molecular composition and by their energy field. Sometimes the very healthy will still succumb to an ailment and then I'll find the answer in this persons energy field or aura. It is very easy to remove an issue from the energy field before it's had a chance to manifest itself physically. Once the realization is made that we can control our own health, caring for it is easier. I can teach you how to make healthy food choices and to read and maintain your own energy field.

Reducing your level of stress no matter what's going on around you April 2009

So you want to reduce the amount of stress in your life, right? Most of us do. The only way to do this is to give up the need to always be right. It is really a very freeing act to just say the words, “you’re right.” Or, “I didn’t see it that way, but it makes sense now that you’ve explained yourself.” It diffuses the boiling energy in the room so quickly that you can feel it physically.
Let me share a little story with you. A good friend of my husband came over one night exasperated. There is no better word for the way he came in bouncing around, full of hostility toward a situation he ‘couldn’t control’. It seems that while he was at work, his aging mother accidentally turned the gas on and when a neighbor noticed the smell and called the fire department, he came home to the chaotic scene. He relayed to us that she has done this before because she brushes across the knobs on front of the stove without realizing it. He told us how he yelled at her for being so careless and how he thinks she needs constant supervision. I had to stop him and ask what she was doing while he was yelling at her. He said she just sat quietly in a chair and took it. I asked him if he would like to be spoken to like that by a child of his just because he was old. I don’t think he ever thought about it that way. I suggested that, because he loves his mother, he should preserve her dignity by being more constructive in situations like these. I told him that they sell safety knob covers for households with small children that would keep her from doing the same thing again, and that he should install them, and tell her he loves her and wants to insure her safety. He wasn’t looking at just this specific issue, he was grouping together all of the frustration he felt from a full day at work and another visit from the fire department and he missed the most important things; 1- he loves his mom and 2- he could easily remedy this situation.
I suggested that when something new comes up in the future, he should pull back from the situation in order to gain clearer perspective. Then, try to handle it as a completely separate issue and move on with his day. “Oh, mom, you left the milk out on the counter all day. That’s OK, I’ll go get another carton, then we can have supper and talk about your day.” This not only preserves her dignity, it will make him feel good to be able to handle the situation gracefully and without any stress. Let’s face it, any house with a happy mom is going to be a happy house!!

That was an example of a situation that happened in a single household, but it’s really a microcosm of the world at large. We all need to find the way to break down our personal walls and get along. Peace is a state of being and it is also a verb. If you want it, you need to use it as a tool for stress-free living.

Swine Flu Prevention                                                                                                     September 2009

For prevention of infections of H1N1 swine flu and H5N1 avian flu, it is essential to follow these basic tips for maintenance of your immune system.
Experts have let the public know that those in our population who are elderly and those with compromised immune systems should seek out swine flu vaccinations. With this news has come a great concern over the safety and availability of the vaccine itself. In my practice, I teach about health maintenance which essentially makes the unpleasantness of these shots and all their dangers unnecessary.

Here is what I and other natural health experts suggest:

Common sense things-
*Keep your hands clean and when they are not, don't touch your face or eat with your hands. If you've handled money, wash your hands or use a Hand Sanitizing Gel without alcohol or harsh chemicals.
*When in public, don't touch railings or door handles if you don't have to.
*Cough into your crooked elbow so that when you do have to touch handles and railings, you won't infect others.
*Refrain from kissing your friends hello and even from shaking hands. The fist bump was probably invented by someone who hates germs! Use that as your greeting.
*If you or your child is sick, STAY HOME!!
*Rinse sinuses with a neti wash pot and saline solution to flush out germs.

Dietary Suggestions-
Immune boosting foods are honey and bee pollen, garlic, onions and oregano. Cumin and Turmeric are very antibacterial as well, so if you enjoy these spices, feel free to indulge. Cook with these when you can. Stay away from processed foods and junk food.

Herbs for immunity-
echinacea, astragalus, elderberry, peppermint, rose hips, calendula, rosemary and yarrow. ALL OF THESE are in the Defender Immune Support Formula

Colloidal Silver-
I've spoken about Colloidal silver in the past, and it needs to be mentioned here. Before conventional medicine as we know it, doctors used to prescribe silver as an antibiotic and antibacterial medicine. It kills germs and stops viruses in their tracks. Silver is still used in hospitals today in the eyes of newborn babies to protect them from germs in the birthing canal.

Soldiers used to put silver coins in their canteens to kill bacteria that lived in whatever stream the water came from, and in Europe the 'plague' killed the poor and spared the afluent because they were eating from silver platters with silver utensils and they used silver tea pots.

So use common sense and take as many healthful, all natural precautions as possible. Take a good, food based multi-vitamin every day along with Omega 3-6-9 Fatty Acids, eat real food and lots of veggies!

                                                                Be Healthy!

Hug Therapy November 2009

It has been proven that showing affection strengthens growth and positive development in people. We all need physical contact to feel good, and one of the most important ways of physical contact between two people is hugging. Who does not need cuddles in this society that is becoming ever colder, more competitive, that compels us to be more individualistic, more personal-goal oriented...? When we hug, we receive an energy feedback. We bring life to our senses and reaffirm the trust in our senses. Sometimes we CANNOT find the right words to express how we feel, and then hugs are the best way to say it. We need four hugs a day to survive, eight to preserve ourselves, and twelve to grow. A hug makes you feel good. The skin is the biggest organ we have and it needs a lot of love. A hug can cover an extensive part of the skin and provides the massage you need. It is also a way to communicate. It can convey messages for which you have no words. We can always resort to the universal language of hugs. The Power of Hugs
Hugging achieves many things that you might never have imagined. For example:
It feels good
It dissolves solitude
It defeats fear
It opens the door to sensations
It improves self-esteem (wow, he or she wants to hug me!)
It encourages altruism (I can't believe it, but I want to hug that person)
It delays aging (those who hug age more slowly)
It helps reduce appetite (we eat less when we are nourished with hugs and when our arms are wrapped around others)
More benefits from hugs:
It is environmentally friendly (it does not damage the environment)
It preserves energy
It is portable and requires no additional machinery
It does not require a special place to do it (an adequate place to hug)
In any place such as a conference room, a church or a football field
It makes happy days even happier
It gives us a sense of belonging
It fills the void in our lives
It is still effective even after the hugging has finished
It strengthens and increases our ability to share
It harmonizes the hearts of friends
Hugging creates some form of addiction to tenderness, to altruism, to happiness...

Just as laughter, it is highly contagious! Whatever your hug may be, let it always come from the heart, not from the mind.
Come up with new ways of hugging.
Give your hugs interesting or funny names.
Become a full-time "hug therapist."
Be always ready to offer a hug to someone.
Observe the other person and always be careful of his or her personal space.
Do not try to impose your vision or philosophy on others.
A hug does and says very much.
Hug your friend, your loved one, your kids, your parents, your pet...

Seasonal Allergies April 2010

It's that time of year again, when the birds are singing their spring time songs, the temperature is rising and days are growing longer. It's a time for renewal and planning our warm weather activities. Unfortunately for some of us this time of year is fraught with itchy watery eyes, and sinus issues.
The holistic approach to wellness, with regard to any allergies, is to make it a practice to keep the colon as clean as possible. The little receptors, villi, that line the intestines, cannot absorb nutrients needed to build the immunities the body requires to protect itself from pollen, dust and other allergens. Even when the diet is rich in healthy, organic foods, if the walls of the intestines are covered over with impacted fecal matter, the nutrients will be wasted. A good detoxification program such as Spring Clean, by Blossom Spring, once or twice a year, will keep the digestive system in good working order. (read more about detoxification here)

Once you have cleansed the colon, here are some other helpful tips for dealing with pollen and other air born allergens:

The first, and simplest solution is to use a Neti Pot. I like to tell my clients, "If your hands were dirty and began to itch, would you go to the doctors office for a prescription? No, you would wash your hands. A Neti Pot uses this same principal. When allergens collect in the sinuses, simply rinse them out."

Second, there is a popular school of thought that if you eat raw honey from a local apiary, it will increase your bodies defenses against pollen. It stands to reason that because the bees have made their honey from the local flowers and trees, when their product is consumed, the immune system will have the building blocks it needs.

Another approach when dealing with unpleasant allergy symptoms, is to attack from the inside with herbs and vitamins. To alleviate symptoms such as itchy watery eyes and sneezing, try a combination of quercetin and bromelain. Derived from grains and pineapple, this all natural solution reduces inflammation and that alone will bring substantial relief. Some will also find that drinking nettles tea can be helpful. I urge you to never underestimate the value of a good, food- based multiple vitamin supplement. Maintaining your health is always easier than going head-to-head with illness.

We have heard other recommendations in the media such as, 'Stay inside and keep your windows closed' but we need the fresh air and sunshine; It is vital to our Spirit. So in addition to these physical measures, apply this affirmation: 'I am healthy and protected. All is right in my world.' Relax your body, get quiet and say this over and over to yourself. Your spirit will believe your words.

It is my hope that following these tips will make this season the joy it should be. Spring is a time of regrowth, rebirth and renewed hope. Do everything in your power to immerse yourself in it every day.