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28 Jun

The Health Benefits of Lavender: Growing, Harvesting and Using This Effective Medicinal Plant

By Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD, DNM, ROHP

Best-selling author of Be Your Own Herbalist and 60 Seconds to Slim

 

I visited an organic lavender farm last summer.  About a half a mile down the road before arriving I knew I was close as I could smell the fragrant aroma wafting through the air. The rolling hillside was full of the stunning silvery-green and purple lavender plants.  While I’ve never been to France, I imagined this is what the French countryside must look and smell like.  I felt immediately transported to a peaceful, relaxed state.  How much was linked to the actual aromatic effects of lavender or the natural beauty of it in this lovely environment, I’ll never know.  Either way, it was an experience to remember.

 

It’s easier than you think to experience the beauty and healing properties of lavender by growing and using your own fresh lavender for use in food, body care, bathing, and other purposes.  It can easily be done indoors in pots or outside in your garden.

 

A Brief History of Lavender

Lavender has been in use for at least 2500 years, when it was used for mummification and perfumery by the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Arabs.  Ancient Romans are also believed to have used lavender for cooking, bathing, and scenting the air.

 

Growing Lavender

There are many varieties of lavender, most ranging from one to two feet tall, and which form mounds of silver-green foliage topped with purple flowers when they are in bloom.  They are simple to grow and require minimal care, making them the ideal plant for the lazy or novice gardener.  Shorter varieties make a stunning edging along walkways while taller kinds make beautiful, scented hedges.

 

It grows best in a sunny location with well-drained soil.  Pay attention to the spacing recommendations on the plant’s tag when purchasing lavender plants since some varieties can grow over a few feet in diameter.  You can also grow lavender from seed as it tends to be quite hardy.  It needs watering to get started but needs only infrequent watering after the plant takes hold even during hot weather.

 

Harvesting Lavender

To harvest, wait until the plant blooms and cut about one-third down the stems.   Collect the lavender on its stems and place in a vase or pitcher indoors to give the air a fresh, sweet smell.

 

Alternatively, to dry the lavender, tie one-inch bundles of the herb together with string or elastic bands and hang upside down until dry.  You may want to place a clean cloth or large bowl beneath it during drying to catch some of the flowers since they will sometimes fall.

 

Using Lavender

 

Alleviate Anxiety and Depression:  In a recent study comparing the effects of a medication for depression to drinking tea made from lavender flowers, scientists found that the lavender was slightly more effective than the anti-depressant drugs.  The researchers conclude that lavender might be used as an adjunct to anti-depressant drugs or on its own to assist with symptoms of depression.   Study participants drank two cups of an infusion made with lavender daily.  To make lavender tea:  Add two teaspoons of dried flowers to boiled water and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain and drink.  Of course, never discontinue any medications without consulting your physician.

 

Insomnia Remedy:  According to James Duke, botanist and author of The Green Pharmacy, lavender is an excellent insomnia remedy.  He recounts stories of British hospitals using lavender essential oil in patients’ baths or sprinkled onto bed clothes to help them sleep.  To use in a bath sprinkle 5 to 10 drops of lavender essential oil under the water as the tub fills to allow the oils to disperse.  Alternatively, place a heaping tablespoon of dried lavender flowers in cheesecloth, tie into a bundle and allow to infuse in the bathwater while soaking.

 

Easy and Effective Insect Repellent:  In a study comparing the effects of lavender essential oil to DEET-based tick repellents, lavender showed comparable results to the DEET sprays.  At a 5% concentration the insect-repellent results of the lavender oil lasted for 40 minutes while at a 10% or higher concentration of the essential oil, the results lasted for two hours.  Add 10 to 20 drops of lavender essential oil to your favorite unscented cream and apply before heading outdoors.  Better yet, make your own Skin-Soothing Lavender Body Lotion below.

 

PMS Relief:  A new study published in the journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine found that inhaling the scent of lavender for ten minutes had a significant effect on the nervous system of women suffering from premenstrual symptoms.  It especially decreased feelings of depression and confusion. You can place a few drops of lavender essential oil on a handkerchief and inhale periodically, make a tea infusion of the dried flowers as above, or breathe deeply of a plant growing indoors or outdoors to alleviate mood-related PMS symptoms.

 

Byline:  Dr. Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD, DNM, ROHP is an international best-selling and 18-time author of Be Your Own Herbalist and 60 Seconds to Slim. Learn more about her work at http://www.DrMichelleCook.com.  Copyright Michelle Schoffro Cook.  All rights reserved.

 

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28 Jun

What Is Your IGS?

An Excerpt from Your Inner GPS by Zen Cryar DeBrücke

 

You were born with a factory-installed guidance system. It is like the GPS in a car. This system is called your Internal Guidance System, or IGS.

 

The guidance it gives you has many different purposes. The most important one is to get you from one end of your life to the other with as much joy, ease, and fulfillment as possible. Throughout the book, I will reveal other parts of its purpose in guiding you. For now it is important for you to recognize that it knows and deeply understands everything you desire to achieve, as well as countless things you have yet to even think of. It also knows specifically how you would most like for your desires to be achieved. Its purpose is to guide you to the specific way of going about your life that will make you, and everyone around you, the happiest.

 

The reason its guidance is unique and special is because it was designed just for you and your life purposes. What I have discovered is that we have not just one life purpose but several, if not hundreds of them: to be a good parent, to support particular people in our lives, to be a good child, to care for aging parents, to transform the world around us in either little or big ways. Your life purposes can range from something as simple as giving the perfect book to someone at just the right time, to transforming the industry you work in, to giving your child the start in life they need to accomplish their own life’s purposes.

 

There are also things in your life that are not yours to do, and your IGS will guide you away from them so you don’t waste your life force or use it unsuccessfully. As a group these purposes can feel overwhelming, but with your IGS it is not only possible but also easy and enjoyable to do it all.

 

This inner GPS contains your life’s specific road map, which shows on a soul level all the things you are here to participate in, experience, and achieve. Your GPS is with you every moment of every day, constantly there to support you — to give you guidance about what you are thinking and doing and how you are being. This can sound a bit scary or uncomfortable, until you realize that it has no judgment on any of these aspects. It does not think of you as good or bad. It relates to you as a soul that it is here to guide and protect. It knows who you really are deep down inside. It knows the “pre-you,” the one who preceded who you are now. One of its purposes is to help you uncover and remember who you really are — the “you” who existed before life took over and covered up your perfection and beauty. It has only unconditional love for you and the journey you are on.

 

Your IGS is very much like a wise best friend, a career counselor, a life coach, and a spiritual teacher all rolled into one. In fact, it is so amazing and interesting that I had to write an entire book to introduce you to it.

 

How Your IGS Works
Your IGS provides guidance by giving you sensations in your body. It resides in the area between your throat and solar plexus. The solar plexus is the triangular area between your lower ribs, above your stomach. The sensations that you feel in this area of your body are forms of guidance.

 

As you are thinking, your IGS is listening and sending a physical signal letting you know whether your thoughts are true, aligned with your purpose, and taking you toward health and happiness.

 

Your IGS creates what I like to call an urging feeling. It nudges you to move toward various activities in the world around you. It feels like a desire upwelling inside you. For an example, think of the last time you had an urge to call a friend or family member. When you followed that urge, did they respond with “I was just thinking of you!” or possibly “I really needed to talk to you. How did you know?” That urge was from your IGS.

 

Your IGS provides you with information that supports you as you: respond to your life as it develops instead of reacting to it according to false scenarios, old habits, or unconscious beliefs; and learn to focus on your desires instead of fears.

 

By learning to follow your IGS, you will find that your life seems to work out, that it is somehow just right in the way it unfolds, and that you become a magnet for what many consider small and large miracles.
# # #

 

Zen Cryar DeBrücke is the author of Your Inner GPS. She is an internationally renowned teacher, speaker, and coach whose programs have helped people all over the world transform their personal and business lives for the better. Visit her online at http://www.zeninamoment.com.

Excerpted from the book Your Inner GPS: Follow Your Internal Guidance to Optimal Health, Happiness, and Satisfaction. Copyright ©  2016 by Zen Cryar DeBrücke. Reprinted with permission from New World Library. www.newworldlibrary.com

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24 Jun

Building a Healthy Child

This is an excerpt from the book “Building a Healthy Child,” by Melina Roberts.

I am a mother and licensed naturopathic doctor (ND). As an ND, I combine the wisdom of nature and modern science to identify and remove barriers to good health and help facilitate the body’s innate ability to heal itself. I designed this nutritional program because this is what I was looking for when I had my child. When I was a child I suffered greatly with allergies and eczema, and later I wanted to know what I needed to do to prevent allergies and eczema in my child, as well as to promote long-term health. I also see a lot of patients with chronic diseases in my practice and have come to understand that healing the digestive tract is the key to achieving better health. I wanted to figure out a way to build a healthy digestive tract right from the beginning so that we can prevent common childhood illnesses, as well as chronic diseases. As I started to research and better understand how the systems of the body develop and mature, and as I learned more about our microbiome, the ecosystem of microbes that live in our digestive tract, I began to realize that the way most books tell parents to introduce foods can actually be detrimental to children’s health, as these foods do not contribute to proper development of the organs or the proper development of this microbiome. I could find no book that gave parents the appropriate guidance on introducing foods with these concepts in mind.

That was how I came to write this book. This is the kind of information I know parents are hungry for. I have come across many parents who want to prevent food allergies, food sensitivities, and digestive discomfort and illnesses in their little ones but are unsure what to do. As a naturopathic doctor, I have come to realize that the only way to prevent disease in future generations is to build a solid foundation of health in our children.

Most parents want the best for their children and want to give them a head start in life. The one task of parenting that would have the most significant effect on performance is also the area that is the most neglected. We as a society greatly neglect proper nutrition for our children and have been misguided for many years. We feed our children poor nutrition, introduce certain foods too early, put a strong emphasis on poor-quality foods, and then somehow expect our children to develop into healthy, intelligent, successful leaders.

This nutritional program is based on years of research and clinical experience with thousands of patients. The program I share in this book is guided by my knowledge of the development of the human body and the understanding that different organs and systems of each child’s body develop at different times. All our organs begin development in utero, they continue to develop once outside the womb, and they reach full maturation at different stages of development. Because of these staggered rates in development, I recommend specific nutrition at particular times in your child’s life. We need to follow the body’s development and give the growing child the proper nutrition at each stage of growth to ensure proper development. My nutritional plan promotes proper child development and will help you and your family prevent childhood illnesses such as allergies, asthma, and eczema, as well as chronic degenerative diseases (such as cancer and diabetes) later in life. This is a program for true preventive medicine.

When it comes to language development, we don’t expect our children to come out of the womb with a full vocabulary and comprehension of the language we speak. We understand that this brain-development skill will take time to evolve, and there is a natural progression that occurs over an extended period of time.

We need to look at the development of our digestive tracts and introduction of nutrition in the same fashion. We cannot expect our children’s organs to function and have the same capabilities as fully developed and matured adult organs. Our little ones’ organs do not have the same capabilities as mature adults’; their organs are still maturing and growing. It is important to follow the natural evolution of the body to get the maximum benefits of health.

Another key component of this plan is that it takes into consideration the fact that the quality of our food is completely different from our ancestors’ food. In fact, most of the food on the market today is different than it was even fifty years ago. The business of agriculture and the promise of higher yields, increased food production, cheaper prices, and greater availability has changed our natural foods to chemical- laden and genetically modified sources. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have had their DNA specifically changed by genetic engineering techniques, making the foods more resistant to herbicides or viruses to allow for less damage to crops, potentially leading to higher yields, but the problem has been that these changes were made without the understanding of the possible long-term effects on human health.

The program presented in this book is a clinically significant, well- researched plan that understands the toll these alterations to our foods can take on our health. It was created with the intention of raising children in the twenty-first century among these challenges.

Most experts believe the prevalence of food allergy is rising along with a general rise in the incidence of allergic conditions. Asthma is one of the most common causes of emergency-room visits in Canada. In Canada, 12 percent of children and 8 percent of adults have asthma. In the United States, 8.3 percent of children and 7 percent of adults have asthma. My nutritional program has the potential to greatly improve these staggering statistics and eliminate food allergies and associated conditions if foods are introduced according to the natural evolution of the body.

Three Reasons This Nutritional Program Is Vitally Important

  • Digestive health is the key to long-term health.
  • The foundation of our digestive health is formed by age three.
  • Our organs mature at different rates, and we need to introduce 
foods to support proper maturation.

Four key components to understanding the human body make this nutritional program uniquely different from any other food introduction nutritional program:

  • Infants have hyperpermeable digestive tracts. This means their digestive tracts absorb materials much more easily than those of adults; therefore, we have to be very cautious what we put into their digestive tracts.
  • Our pancreas does not reach full maturation until approximately age two, so we should not be introducing grains until age two.
  • We have acquired our own unique foundation of microbes in our digestive tracts by age three, and this will affect our future health.
  • Our bodies are hardwired to process real food, so we need to feed our children real, nutrient-dense foods.

This program is designed for parents who

  • understand that nutrition is central to good health;
  • want to make health a priority for their child and family; and
  • want to do everything they can to build a solid foundation for the 
future and encourage proper growth and development.

It takes time, effort, and diligence to raise a healthy child, but it’s worth it.

 

About the author

Melina Roberts, N.D., is a naturopathic doctor and founder of Advanced Naturopathic Medical Centre in Calgary, Canada. She is a graduate of University of Waterloo and the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, and is a leading authority in the field of naturopathic medicine. She currently resides in Calgary with her husband and daughter. For more information, visit http://advancednaturopathic.com.

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11 Jun

Dear Mom and Dad Memoir

This is an excerpt from the memoir “Dear Mom and Dad” by Georgia Lee McGowen.

——

It’s a good thing we had no idea of what awaited us that summer of 1954. Having recently read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the thought of running away from home might have been given more than passing consideration. If it wasn’t for Mom’s unflagging optimism and positive influence, I’m not sure what might have become of Georgie. The looming social challenges would have been tough enough for someone with a sense of being a normal person. But for a ten-year-old boy who doesn’t understand why he feels so totally unlike and separate from his peers, the immediate future would leave him with a sense that his unlikeness made him unacceptable.

After the tears of departure from Oklahoma dried and we were on the road, Georgie had another experience in store before we reached Utah. It was summer camp.

For a number of years, Granny had spent her summers working as chief cook, bottle washer, and sometimes manager of Western Life Camp, a private camp in the mountains northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Georgie and then little brother Nick had been spending at least a part of every summer there with Granny since Georgie was a baby.

From the time we were old enough to have memories of camp, the memories always included horses. Granny grew up on horseback, and she saw to it that her grandchildren had the same opportunity. Long before we moved to Oklahoma, Granny made sure we were taught to ride. The old man who provided horses for the camp always had a few for us to ride when we were there. When I think about it now, it seems almost unreal. As early as four years old, Georgie was expected to ride alone on a horse and be able to handle it … and he did. In fact, he handled it very well. The picture albums have abundant proof. When I look at those pictures now, I think he resembles a chipmunk on a large dog. He was so small and the horse so big that his little legs just seemed to stick straight out to the side.

We were free to roam about the roads and forest as we pleased as long as we didn’t stay gone too long and Granny had a general idea of the direction we disappeared in. We were seldom alone. Reuben, the son of a single Mexican father who lived in a small adobe house near the camp, was almost always with us. He was considerably older by at least five or six years, but the common denominator between us was doing whatever we were doing on horseback.

That summer of 1954 was the first time Georgie got to attend boys’ camp as a regular camper and enjoy all the usual activities of camp, from nature hikes to horseback riding. Every minute was filled with a planned activity except for Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons were always free time, but not until we’d written a letter home to the folks … no exceptions, even for Georgie. The following is a sample of one of Georgie’s communications found in that batch of letters years later.

Dear Mom and Dad,
How are you? I am fine. Camp is really fun. I am taking archery and rifle shooting and leather working and horseback riding. My counselors name is Speedy and he is really fast. That’s why we call him speedy. Landis got a bad rash from poison oak and Peder Rush threw up at the dinner table yesterday. Ick.

Love, George

“Dear Mom and Dad!” I have started so many letters in my mind over the years that way, but the intent of those unwritten letters was always to find some way to tell them that I existed … that Georgie wasn’t the only person in that body. It’s a phrase that’s rolled around in my mind so many times that it just comes up out of nowhere for no apparent reason. Life would have been so different if I’d been acknowledged and accepted but nobody, including me, had a clue I even existed. Since camp was supposed to be a time of growth and discovery, I’ve often wondered how things would have gone if a second letter had been included in the envelope.

Dear Mom and Dad,
You don’t know me but I’m your daughter Georgia. You don’t know about me because I am here inside of Georgie and he just now found out about me. I hope you like me when you meet me. Please don’t be mad at me for being here. I can’t help it that I have to share his body and don’t have my own.

Love, Your daughter Georgia

No easy way exists to break that kind of news, is there? It certainly isn’t even possible until the existence of the person is known and acknowledged by the one the body is shared with. I didn’t mean to cause Georgie problems, but I guess I did since my unknown existence made it virtually impossible for him to be a normal little boy.

———

About the author

Georgia Lee McGowen spent 30 years in George’s subconscious while they both struggled to understand the meaning of their dual nature, and another 25 years learning to live with their distinct differences. They currently reside in Mesa, Ariz.

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09 Jun

Meaningful Coincidences Can Change Your Life

By Bernard D. Beitman, M.D.

Two events in your life surprisingly intersect.  One may be a thought or a feeling and the other happens in your environment. The two events have no apparent causal connection. The surprise captures your attention and your mind searches for meaning. You wonder: “What does this mean for me?” “How can I explain it?”

Coincidences appear in all parts of our daily lives—money, work, family life, romance, health, ideas, and spirituality as I show in my book Connecting with Coincidence.  They also appear in movies, books, and the news. Like sex, they help make the world go round.

According to the Weird Coincidence Survey the most frequent coincidence is:

“I think of an idea and hear or see it on the radio, TV or internet.”

The next most frequent are:

“I think of calling someone, only to have that person unexpectedly call me.”

“I think of a question only to have it answered by external media (i.e. radio, TV, people) before I can ask it.”

“I advance in my work/career/education through being in the right place at the right time.”

Carl Jung introduced meaningful coincidences to the Western world with the term synchronicity. The purpose of synchronicity, according to many Jungians, is to help with psychological growth and change—to individuate, to become truly who you are. One of my research participants reported this example of counseling by coincidence.

“My patient Bart was heading for divorce. He and his wife kept arguing. She talked too much. She was too ready to offer advice and not hear the advice he offered. Their last child was about to leave home. Couples therapy did little good. As the idea of divorce percolated in his mind, Bart went to the local mall and saw five friends and acquaintances, each of whom just happened to be in the midst of divorce. Several weeks later he independently heard from three old friends, each of whom were divorced. This series of other people divorcing made him realize: I don’t want to be one of them.

Was it just because he was thinking about divorce that he noticed all the divorcing men? Skeptics easily and correctly suggest that if you are looking for yellow Honda Accords, you will see them. If it is on your mind, you will notice. Yet, five divorcing men appearing in one outing? Three divorced old friends calling within a short period of time? The message pounded home. Without looking, he wouldn’t have seen them. I think he had positioned himself to find this series of divorces. They were out there and he found a way to experience them live, in 3-D reality. Like Janine, he found in his environment a reflection of his conflict. I call it counseling by coincidence.

Encountering the series of divorced men led Bart to recommit to maintaining his own marriage. When he and his wife left town, they were better partners than ever before, though they still had much work to do with each other.” (from Connecting with Coincidence)

 

Synchronicity can come to your attention in many different ways. You may find yourself urged to self-reflect by a sign, a TV moment, or a song. You may stumble upon something online at exactly the right moment. A stranger may say a few words you needed to hear. Useful reminders to wonder may show up almost anywhere if you are willing to notice.

 

Some meaningful coincidences show us how deeply we are connected to those we love. Many people report having felt the pain of a loved who was at a distance from them. Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson collected many such stories and our research participants confirmed this experience.  I call it simulpathity and here is what happened to me:

 

“I had experienced coincidences many times before, but none was more startling than what happened at 11:00 PM on February 26, 1973, when I was thirty-one years old. Suddenly, I found myself bent over the kitchen sink in an old Victorian house on Hayes Street in the Fillmore

District of San Francisco. I was choking on something caught in my throat. I couldn’t cough it up. I hadn’t eaten anything. I didn’t know what was in my throat. I’d never choked for this long before. Finally, after fifteen minutes or so, I could swallow and breathe normally.

 

The next day, my birthday, my brother called to tell me that our father had died in Wilmington, Delaware, at 2:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. He was three thousand miles and three time zones away; 2:00 AM in Wilmington was 11:00 PM in California. My father had bled into his throat and choked on his own blood at about the same time I was uncontrollably choking. He died on February 27, my birthday.” (from Connecting with Coincidence)

 

Meaningful coincidences can also help get us to places we need to be without knowing how we got there.

One of my study participants described how her brother once saved her life: “There was a very dark period in my late teens, a confused time, to say the least. I cannot explain the rationalization, or rather, I should state, there was none. I couldn’t seem to withstand all of the suffering in the world . . . and one afternoon, I took my dad’s gun, got in my car, and drove to an isolated place on the lake. The intention was to end my own life. I sat there, with gun in hand, without truly understanding why. . . . It was as if I didn’t have any clue how I managed to arrive at this moment in time. But, as tears slowly came down my cheeks, I heard the sound of another car pulling up beside me . . . and my brother stepped out of the car, asking me to hand him the gun. I was breathless; I was totally shocked. All I could do is to ask him how on Earth he knew I was feeling this way; how did he know I even had this gun, and most important, how did he find me? He said he had no answers. He didn’t have any idea why he got into his car; he didn’t know where he was driving, nor why he was going there; or what he was supposed to do when he arrived.” (from Connecting with Coincidence)

How did her brother know that she needed him? What made him make these complex decisions without a conscious intention? He seemed drawn to his sister by her distress, without consciously knowing that she was about to kill herself. Simulpathity coupled with an uncanny knowledge of where to go helped to save her from taking the next step.

I believe each of us possesses a human GPS which gives us the ability to get where we need to be without knowing how we did it.

 

Meaningful coincidences can expand our understanding of how the world works and uncover some of our untapped abilities.

 

Bernard D. Beitman, M.D. is a visiting professor at the University of Virginia in the department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences and is the former Chair of the department of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia.  He graduated from Yale Medical School and completed a psychiatric residency at Stanford.    He has edited two issues of Psychiatric Annals that focus on coincidences and is the founder of the developing interdisciplinary field of Coincidence Studies.

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06 Jun

Thomas Merton on Silence

An excerpt from A Way to God by Matthew Fox

Even though he passed away in 1968 at the young age of 53, the pioneering ideas that Trappist monk and social justice activist Thomas Merton shared throughout his lifetime are still very much alive. So much so that Pope Francis recently declared him one of four exemplary Americans who provide wisdom for us today — along with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, and Dorothy Day.

Pope Francis is not alone in his deep regard for the contributions Merton made to the history of spirituality. In his new book A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey (New World Library, May 12, 2016), bestselling author and theologian Matthew Fox celebrates Merton’s work and explains how thirteenth century mystic Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced both Merton and Creation Spirituality, which Fox has long espoused and written about.

We hope you’ll enjoy this excerpt from the book about Merton’s perspective on silence.

# # #

What does Thomas Merton have to say about silence? A lot. Consider the following poem:

 

Be still

Listen to the stones of the wall

Be silent, they try

To speak your

Name.

Listen

To the living walls.

Who

Are you? Whose

Silence are you?

 

Such an invitation! To listen to the stones of the living walls and learn who one is, to whom one belongs. I cannot read this poem without thinking of a sweat lodge where, thanks to the ancient wisdom of the indigenous peoples, a ceremony is created wherein the rocks themselves, the oldest beings on earth and our elders, speak to us when they are heated up and glowing. I do not know if Merton ever experienced a sweat lodge, but I remain profoundly grateful for the numerous ones I have been blessed to attend. And in them all, silence is honored.

Another poem by Merton speaks to silence as well.

The whole

World is secretly on fire. The stones

Burn, even the stones

They burn me. How can a man be still or

Listen to all things burning? How can he dare

To sit with them when

All their silence

Is on fire?

Here, too, Merton evokes a sweat lodge. But he is also speaking to a profound truth revealed in postmodern science, which is that every atom in the universe contains photons or light waves. Thus, all atoms and all beings are on fire. All beings are a burning bush. One does not have to travel to Mount Sinai to encounter the Divine in a burning bush — every bush is a burning bush, every leaf, every stone, every fish, every bird, and every person. We are all on fire. But we have to “sit with them” and be receptive to them. We have to dare to sit and to listen. We have to dare silence. That is the contemplative way. Merton says: “Contemplation is essentially a listening in silence, an expectancy.” All beings are, in Eckhart’s words, “words of God and revelations of God.” Merton knew this as well. But it takes silence to grasp it.

For Eckhart, emptying the mind is:

the most powerful prayer, one almost omnipotent to gain all things, and the noblest work of all is that which proceeds from a bare mind….A bare mind can do all things. What is a bare mind? A bare mind is one which is worried by nothing and is tied to nothing, which has not bound its best part to any modes, does not seek its own in anything, that is fully immersed in God’s dearest will and goes out of its own.

A bare mind dwells in the now. Merton advises us to “love winter when the plant says nothing.” Even nature enjoys darkness and solitude. Winter is that Via Negativa time of the year.

# # #

Matthew Fox is the author of over 30 books including Meister Eckhart, The Hidden Spirituality of Men, Christian Mystics, and most recently A Way to God. A preeminent scholar and popularizer of Western mysticism, he became an Episcopal priest after being expelled from the Dominican Order by Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI. You can visit him online at www.matthewfox.org.

Excerpted from the book A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creative Spirituality Journey. Copyright © 2016 by Matthew Fox. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com

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01 Jun

Imperience

This is an excerpt from the book “Imperience: Understanding the Heart of Consciousness,” by Erik Knud-Hansen.

Living spiritually is the only way to know true peace, love, and compassion—whether or not doing so includes practicing a religion. Spiritual living embraces a vision more profound than mundane concerns and includes the intention to awaken conscious awareness and intuitive wisdom. This is not about our beliefs. It is about the quality of our hearts. Although our daily lives exist in the relative world, they are never separate from the absolute. For our way to be spiritual, we must make the effort to live in harmony with divine consciousness.

Nurturing a spiritual life in a busy world entails a specific kind of effort that has to do with the attitude of heart with which we engage the world. It is not so much about an agenda of rules and procedures but the willingness to see for ourselves what clouds the mind and what clarifies it. Rules and precepts can be useful as guidelines, but there is a huge difference between following outside authorities, and being conscientious and compassionate in our daily lives.

Personal consciousness is the aspect of who we are that communicates directly with divine consciousness. Our destinies as living human beings go beyond the material world of appearances that constantly arise and pass away. Our lives are our journeys. The relative self is a necessary vehicle for us in the mundane world, but it doesn’t know where it’s going or how to find its spiritual home without the moral compass of divine consciousness.

This vehicle was born to be impermanent and it would not be wise for us to spend our whole lives tinkering with its physical appearance and chasing the aimless desires of a distracted driver. We can aspire to a spiritual life beyond just adopting convenient dogmas from secondhand sources. Spiritual maturation requires more from us than just agreeing with someone else’s beliefs and doing their rituals. We hold onto religious views like these for psychological security on journeys we don’t understand. If they actually worked, all would already be well.

Our conditioned minds are inherently confused about what our vehicles are and where they are going. We delight in the fun parts of the journey and contract when we suffer. Either way, events in this plane of existence do not include our spiritual destiny unless we consciously make them so. Whether we realize it or not, personal consciousness has only one true desire: to dissolve in the absolute peace and brilliance of divine love, which is our spiritual home. To understand this intuitively in our heart—beyond the mind’s capacity to hold views and opinions about it—is the task of the spiritual journey.

Our personal consciousness is always as close to divine consciousness as a wave is to the ocean. Imperience—conscious awareness—is our umbilical link to the absolute. Whether we are lost and tangled up in the world of experience or wholeheartedly in the imperience of the present moment is up to us. Following are some aspects of living wholesomely that strengthen the human capacity to awaken divine consciousness—here and now.

Morality and Ethics

When we listen to our conscience, we imperience the intuitive wisdom to embrace our authenticity and awaken our consciousness.

No principle governs spiritual development more than morality and ethics. Our thoughts, speech, and actions are guided by our intentions and determine the quality of our minds. When our minds are clouded, we cannot see clearly. Purification of the mind enables us to see the truth of life for ourselves. As we are interconnected with all beings, wholesome personal behavior benefits those around us as well and is compassionate by nature. Personal morality is how we take responsibility for our share of life and is in no way selfish or narcissistic.

Morality relates to natural laws of being, and how our behaviors affect the quality of our minds now and in the future. It is much more than just following rules issued by outside authorities, and it does not pertain to judgments about our behaviors by any being (seen or unseen). Precepts and moral guidelines can serve as wholesome intentions when they adhere to spiritual principles and don’t just prescribe behaviors.

Good and bad are relative terms that have all but lost their deeper meanings. In relation to moral behavior, actions can be considered good if they have a wholesome effect and bad if they are unwholesome and harmful (relative to the time and circumstance). Good and bad are not judgments meted out by an absolute authority outside ourselves. What might yield good consequences to one person could be detrimental to another. It is easy to see how extreme actions like killing, harming, stealing, and lying create mental conflict and entanglement, but we spend most of our lives amidst much subtler questions that still have effects.

In the relative world, we are incessantly engaged in thinking and feeling to help us fulfill our needs and desires. Problems arise when we become so focused in doing that we lose touch with being. When we are distracted and lost in busyness, we can be less conscious of the quality of our heart as we do things. We are more likely to act in self-interest and this can even corrupt good intentions. For instance, we might not notice the difference between giving “from the heart” with kindness, compassion, and no strings attached, and giving because we think we must or to get something in return.

In a spiritual life, our own needs and those of others are very much the same; we can’t separate one from the other. When we hold our personal needs and desires to be the only important things, our behaviors become selfish rather than selfless. Likewise, if we hold the needs of others to be the only important thing because of low self-esteem or a desired self-image, that separation also prevents us from being authentic and true. We benefit from deepening our understanding of morality and natural laws pertaining to wholesomeness.

Practicing morality focuses our intentions and allows our connection to the divine to be the ultimate aim and arbiter. Maintaining wholesome intentions weakens delusion no matter what we do. When we weaken delusion, we also weaken the force of desires and aversions conditioned by feelings that do not represent true moral authority. To be conscientious is to follow our heart.

For more information, visit http://www.erikknudhansen.com.

Imperience: Understanding the Heart of Consciousness
By Erik Knud-Hansen
ISBN: 978-1-5043-4447-0
Available in hardcover, softcover and e-book
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Balboa Press

About the author
Erik Knud-Hansen became devoted to spiritual practice in 1972, beginning years of intensive meditation, monastic training and helping to establish several retreat centers in the U.S. He has met and studied with many eminent masters representing each of the major schools of Buddhism and other traditions of spiritual wisdom. Erik’s primary interest lies in sharing ways of awakening reflecting the primary traditions in which he trained—namely Buddhism, Taoism and Advaita Vedanta. He is currently writing a memoir relating to the more personal side of spiritual practice, ”The Dharma, the Tao, the Here and Now.”

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26 May

Loving On Me

This is an excerpt from the book “Loving on Me!: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Mess to Message,” by Katrina McGhee.

One of the great benefits of dealing with the unaddressed issues of our past is that it clears up mental space in the present. It allows the whole of ourselves to focus on what’s before us, viewing life through a broader lens of possibility rather than pessimism, confusion, and defeat. It’s from this vantage point that we are best poised to explore life beyond our comfort zone.

After a few months of rest and reflection, I felt that shift happen for me. It was as if the fog surrounding my brain slowly began to recede, allowing my mind to fill with random thoughts and ideas. I couldn’t put it all together yet, but it felt like glimpses of the future.

Looking back, I see how God was taking me through a process of reshaping my thinking before he’d allow me to take those first steps. Bit by bit, spending time with Him evolved my beliefs about who I am and who He is. Knowing my true self, defining my worth based on who He created me to be, and accepting this one truth greatly expanded the prospects for my life:

I am because He is, and because He is, anything is possible.

Believing this meant I didn’t have to be confined by what I had been or knew how to do. I could be whoever He wanted me to be, and I could know that whatever He asked me to do, it would be enough. But what was it?

Journaling was the best way for me to get quiet enough to hear God’s answers. Through daily writing, I was able to slow down my constantly racing thoughts and drop into a space where it was He and me alone. It was there where my imagination took flight in a more cohesive manner.

Soon a cornucopia of ideas—both new and dusted-off old ones—emerged. My transition coach called it a creative tornado, but for me it felt like I was finally alive again, awake and ready to reengage with the world. What got me especially excited was a concept for a new women’s community. I referred to it as Do Good Girlz, a place where young women could connect their passion with their true purpose.

My idea was to get someone to write a program that would serve as the “brain” for our website, the goal being to use technology to match a woman’s unique gifts, talents, values, and resources with a variety of causes and organizations that, based on her responses, would be of interest. After completing our survey, each “Do Good Girl” would receive a unique plan to put her passions into action, and together we would change the world.

It sounded so wonderful, marrying all my loves—mentoring young women, creating communities, and supporting great causes. It also met a need. For years, young women had been asking me, “How do I know what I’m supposed to be doing? How do I take what I’m good at and help other people?” Well, here was the solution! Do Good Girlz would revolutionize the way women engaged in supporting local and global communities.

The best part was this was a natural next step for what I had been doing all my life, what I was good at. So I started getting all my ducks in a row. I secured the website, graphic designer, and a project manager. I even put together a small focus group and started meeting with them regularly to test out my ideas.

There was just one problem—they didn’t get it. What seemed so obvious on paper fell flat in the telling. They kept asking me hard questions like, “What’s the goal? What are you trying to achieve? Why would women engage, and why would they come back after the first time?” My answer was always, “Let me think about that.” What I really wanted to say was, “Look, this is an inspiration from God. Just go with it!”

But my gut was telling me they were right. There was something missing. It felt incomplete, like I had snatched up a piece and tried to make it the whole picture. You know how we do, so eager to get started we hear a smidgen of something and then take off running like we know the whole story, only to have to stop a few steps later to get the rest of what we need.

That’s what I ended up doing, going back to the journal to ask God what I was missing. And that’s when He started showering me with additional pieces to the puzzle.

It’s a movement, about women for women. It’s built on the spirit of abundance.
It’s a partnership and a platform.

It’s where inspiration meets opportunity. It’s about choices that change our world. It’s a blog. It’s a business. It’s a community. It’s a place of healing and restoration.

Honestly, I felt a little all over the place and yet still on the right path. Although “it” didn’t completely sync up with my original idea for Do Good Girlz, it totally lined up with this leg of my journey. Even the affirmations I scribbled in the margins of my journal were reflections of what God was teaching me about me.

I can change the world.
I was created for a unique purpose, something only I can do. I care about myself, my village, and my world.
I am mighty. I am strong. I am enough.
I choose to do good!

It seemed this message of being enough, which was so central to my own healing, was at the core of what God was asking me to share with the world. Whereas I had latched on to the “do” part, God backed me up once again to “be.”

 

About the author
Katrina McGhee is the founder and CEO of Loving On Me, a global movement to encourage women to love themselves more. She is a women’s advocate, non-profit leader, mentor and social responsibility pioneer whose desire to make a difference led to 20 years in leadership roles at two of the largest non-profit organizations in the world, including serving as executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For more information about Katrina, visit http://katrinamcghee.com.

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17 May

Effective Treatment For Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia and Muscle Pain

Ready to Get Well?

by Jacob Teitelbaum M.D.

Our study titled “Effective Treatment of CFS and Fibromyalgia”(Journal of CFS-see full text at https://secure.endfatigue.com/cfs-fibromyalgia/Effective-Treatment-Of-Severe-Chronic-Fatigue-States ) showed that over 90 percent of patients improved with treatment (p<. 0001 vs. placebo), with an average improvement in quality of life of 90 percent. Many patients no longer even qualified for the diagnosis of CFS or fibromyalgia after treatment! In support of our work, an editorial in the Journal of the American Academy of Pain Management (the largest multidisciplinary society of pain specialists in United States) noted ” the comprehensive and aggressive metabolic approach to treatment detailed in the Teitelbaum study are all highly successful approaches and make fibromyalgia a very treatment responsive disorder.  The study by Dr. Teitelbaum et al. and years of clinical experience make this approach an excellent and powerfully effective part of the standard of practice for treatment of people who suffer from fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome”. These same principles work wonderfully for optimizing energy in those with day to day fatigue. Dr. Oz has also repeatedly invited us to present our work on Oprah and Friends.

 

What is causing these syndromes?

CFS/FMS acts as a “circuit breaker”, with the hypothalamus decreasing its function to protect the individual in the face of what is perceived to be an overwhelming stress (just like blowing a fuse/circuit breaker in a house). This center controls sleep, hormones, temperature, and blood flow / blood pressure/sweating. In addition, if your muscles do not have enough energy, they will get stuck in the shortened position and you’ll be in pain (think rigor mortis).  This “Energy Crisis” can be caused by any of a number of infections, stresses, or injuries.

 

            Five main categories of problems need to be treated- Think “SHINE”!

These are the 5 key areas that need to be treated for your ‘circuit breaker to turn back on’ and for fatigue and pain to resolve:

1—Sleep. Because the hypothalamic “circuit breaker” that is offline controls sleep, most patients need a mix of natural and prescription sleep treatments.  For you to get well and pain free it is critical that you take enough of the correct natural & prescription sleep treatments to get 8 to 9 hours sleep at night!  I prefer to start with natural therapies.  An excellent one (which I developed –‘Revitalizing Sleep Formula’ by Enzymatic Therapy — 100 percent of my royalties for all products I develop are donated to charity) includes theanine, Jamaican Dogwood, wild lettuce, valerian, passionflower, and hops. Take 1-4 capsules 1 hour before bedtime. Ambien, trazodone, and other specific sleep aids that improve deep sleep can also help.

 

2–Hormonal deficiencies.  The hypothalamus is the main control center, via the pituitary, for most of the glands in the body.  Most of the normal ranges for our blood tests were not developed in the context of hypothalamic suppression or these syndromes.  Because of this (and for a number of other reasons) it is usually necessary to treat with natural thyroid, adrenal (e.g.-glandulars such as Adrenal Stress End & DHEA), and ovarian and testicular hormones — despite normal blood tests!  These hormones have been found to be reasonably safe when used in low doses.

Low thyroid, which reflects as fatigue, weight gain, cold intolerance and even unexplained infertility is especially common, and the majority of those who benefit from thyroid have NORMAL lab tests, so treatment trial should be given (using natural thyroid hormones) if symptoms are suggestive.

 

3—Infections.  Many studies have shown immune system dysfunction in FMS/CFS, which can result in many unusual infections. These include viral infections, parasites and other bowel infections and, most importantly fungal/Candida infections.

 

4–Nutritional supplementation.  Widespread nutritional deficiencies are common, and require dozens of nutrients. As people are tired of being part of the “Handful Club” (taking handfuls of supplement tablets each day), I developed a product that contains 50 key nutrients in 1 capsule and ½-1 scoop of powder taken daily (as a good tasting drink). Called the “Energy Revitalization System” by Enzymatic Therapy, it replaces well over 35 supplement tablets with 1 drink. Add Ribose (Corvalen) 5 gm(1 scoop)  3 x day for 3 weeks, then twice a day to powerfully jump start your energy.

 

5-Exercise as able. Do not push to the point of crashing the next day. Start by walking as long as you comfortably can (even if that is only 2 minutes). After 10 weeks on treatment, start to increase your walks by up to 1 minute more each day as able. When you are up to an hour of walking, you can increase intensity.

We wish you all of God’s blessings and our best wishes in your healing!

Jacob E Teitelbaum MD

Resources:

1-Begin by doing the free online program at https://secure.endfatigue.com/health-interests/energy-analysis-program

The short Online Program is a free online, patented computer program that will analyze your symptoms (and if available, your lab results) and design a SHINE treatment protocol tailored to your individual case. This is my gift to you to help you get well NOW!

2- To find a physician who knows how to get you well: www.ABIHM.org  . We also consult (often by phone) with people worldwide. For information, email Sarah at appointments@EndFatigue.com

3-the free Energy Analysis Program can analyze your symptoms and even pertinent lab tests to determine what is contributing to your fibromyalgia and how to effectively treat it (www.energyanalysisprogram.com )

Dr. Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and Medical director of the Practitioners Alliance Network.  Having suffered with and overcome these illnesses in 1975, he spent the next 30 years creating, researching, and teaching about effective therapies for fatigue and pain. He is the senior author of the landmark studies “Effective Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia — a Placebo-controlled Study” & “Effective Treatment of CFS & Fibromyalgia with D-Ribose”.

He lectures internationally.  He is also the author of the best-selling book” From Fatigued to Fantastic!” which is like a medical textbook on the illness, the “Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Solution” (Easy Reading), the popular Free Smart Phone App “ Cures A-Z” and “Pain Free 1-2-3- A Proven Program to Get YOU Pain Free! “(McGraw Hill 2006)  His web site can be found at: www.EndFatigue.com

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10 May

Coffee and Climate Change: Personal and Global Overstimulation

By Brendan Kelly

The National Coffee Association says 83% of Americans drink coffee, and that we’re the world’s biggest consumer of the beverage. With new gadgets and gourmet brews it’s an estimated $30+ Billion industry. But is coffee actually good for our health? Are we drinking more coffee to keep up with the increasing pace of the American lifestyle?

Brendan Kelly, co-founder of the Chinese medicine clinic Jade Mountain Wellness in Burlington, Vermont and author of The Yin and Yang of Climate Crisis, offers valuable insight on the Chinese Medicine perspective of coffee, here’s an excerpt from his new book:

But I heard that coffee was good for you. Coffee is clearly stimulating and does increase blood flow to the brain and other areas. It can provide a lift of energy, but many short-term fixes come with long-term costs. In addition to this heat, coffee is also damp, which can trap the overstimulation and make it harder to clear from the body. The excess rising energy of coffee can also compromise our descending relaxing energy, which is the very same dynamic happening to the climate. Just as the planet is warming as its ability to keep things cool and stable decreases, our bodies become overheated and inflamed as their ability to cool themselves is impaired. For us individually as for our planet, coffee causes a host of heat- related symptoms.

Some of you might be thinking: Well, if coffee is hot, then drinking iced coffee will help cool it down. In talking about the characteristics of food, Chinese medicine is describing the food’s inherent properties, which are different from its physical temperature. Putting ice in a cup of coffee does not transform its fundamental nature; what it does do is make it more difficult to digest. When a food or drink is below room temperature, the Stomach first needs to warm it before it can start digesting. The extra energy that this warming requires means there’s less available for digestion, making the food-to-energy process less efficient. As the digestive system gets bogged down from the cold, phlegm is generated. One common metaphor in Chinese nutrition is that the Stomach is a cooking pot that needs to be maintained at a warm temperature to work effectively. The cold of ice in coffee can decrease the warmth that the body needs to maintain effective digestion, potentially creating more phlegm.

You might be thinking: I drink decaf, so that makes it okay. As with putting ice in coffee, removing some of the caffeine does not change the coffee’s basic nature. Regardless of the particular level of caffeine, coffee is still coffee, which is hot and damp. In many cases, the chemical processes that are used to remove the caffeine add toxicity. But even if a more natural, water-based process is used, from a Chinese medical view, the nature of coffee doesn’t change with its level of a particular chemical.

Another common response is: I don’t feel good when I don’t drink coffee. A major reason we drink coffee is that we’re tired, and removing coffee’s very stimulating effects can make us more aware of what’s going on. In our era of a rapidly warming and destabilizing climate, it’s essential that we see the situation clearly, both for us and for our planet. Just as there is a long list of issues associated with drinking coffee, there can be a long list of symptoms associated with stopping. These include headaches, constipation, upset stomach, fatigue, lack of mental clarity, irritability, and cold sweats.

The good news is that acupuncture and herbal medicine can be very helpful mitigating or eliminating these symptoms. Not only can there be a relatively easy transition with the help of Chinese medicine, but people often quickly realize that they have more energy and clarity soon after stopping. The process of looking clearly at our lives involves not only considering what we are willing to do, but also considering what we are willing to do without. In addition to its relevance to our own well-being, addressing our use of coffee to keep going during our era of over-busyness has real, global importance.

Some people think: I like the feeling of being “up” from coffee. That “up” feeling is the coffee’s heat. This overstimulation mirrors the heat of climate change. Part of what coffee provides is a way to avoid actually experiencing our levels of energy. In our era of constant demands and distractions, it’s not surprising that so many of us are drawn to the overstimulation of being up rather than the relaxation of descending energy.

Some of you might be thinking: I put a lot of milk in my cup, so I’m not drinking too much coffee. From the viewpoint of Chinese nutrition, anything more than an occasional small amount of milk can create phlegm. Not only can this occur in the respiratory system, but it can occur throughout the body.  As coffee can also contribute to this phlegm, adding dairy to coffee can exacerbate its ill effects.

Maybe you’re like some people who have come to our clinic and say, I just like the richness of coffee. Luckily, there are many other rich drinks that don’t have the same heat- and damp-producing effects as coffee, such as tea from roasted dandelion roots.

Maybe you think, I like the hot drink in the morning and the ritual of making it. As we discussed, warm, cooked food and drinks help promote healthy digestion, and a morning ritual for starting the day can also promote health. However, having these include coffee is not particularly healthy.

Some of you might think, I’m supporting socially responsible companies when I buy fair-trade coffee. While buying fair-trade products can certainly be better for the people who grow it and for the planet, coffee remains a very stimulating drink. It’s not very likely that we’ll be able to address the root causes of climate change if we continue to be overstimulated internally. There are lots of other thoughtful, socially responsible drinks to choose.

Having worked with hundreds of people who have stopped drinking coffee, I realize that it is not always an easy process. If you want to stop or at least give it a try but are having a hard time, my recommendation is to find a good Chinese medicine practitioner. Rather than creating overstimulation, acupuncture and herbal medicine can provide what many of us are looking for when we drink coffee, namely energy. A well-trained practitioner can also help clear out the heat and dampness that has likely accumulated and help replace it with physical strength and mental clarity.

Brendan Kelly is the author of “The Yin and Yang of Climate Crisis,” which looks at the bigger and deeper issues of climate change through the lens of Chinese medicine. The co-founder and co-owner of Jade Mountain Wellness, where he currently practices acupuncture and herbalism, Kelly has also been actively involved with environmental issues for 25 years. For more information about Kelly, his book, recent articles and classes, visit personalasecological.com.

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