Thanks but no thanks.

All you hear on the news is about health care bills.  Frankly I don’t want the government running health care.  Have you seen how the post office is run?  That is going to be the mess of our health care system.  How about we all take our health care into our own hands. 

 I propose this bill, for myself.  To make myself so healthy I won’t need prescriptions, drs., hospitals, or anyone to take care of my health but me. How about we start our day with meditation and prayer for the answers to the thorny problems of health care?

  Then have a substantial breakfast of real food, not Cheerios full of sugar.  After meditation and a substantial breakfast what about making sure my day isn’t overrun with useless time wasters making me so stressed my blood pressure skyrockets.  My point here is the government isn’t responsible for our health, that was never the intent of our forefathers.  We are responsible for our health.  We must demand that the food we are getting from our farms are not covered with preservatives and pesticides that can cause cancer.  We must demand, the animals we consume are treated humanely.  We must demand that if we want to raise a cow, and drink its raw milk that the government won’t interfere.  The government doesn’t belong in our personal day-to-day life.  Those choices must stay in our control. 

With that freedom comes great responsibility.  You get this one body, find what makes it healthy.  Did you know that 90% of the illnesses we have that are killing us is lifestyle related?  It’s time to get disciplined, it’s time to stop looking for a pill for our ills, and eat right, drink good clean water, and sleep 8-10 hours a day.  It’s time we stop expecting the government to do everything, and be responsible for our own health. 

Just imagine a world where everyone is so healthy dr.’s are only needed in severe emergencies.  What a utopia that would be.  It’s in our hands, it’s always been in our hands.  All we have to do is seize it, and do it. 

Thank President Obama for trying to help, but I can do it myself thank you.

Acid is eating my bones.

Well, I’m on my way to becoming a Naturopathic Dr. I have had my first three classes. Here are some of the things I learned. There is so much illness that can be avoided just by having a diet that works with the body rather than against it. Did you know our bodies are slightly alkaline, and that when we eat acidic foods our bodies have to fight even to the point of taking calcium from our bones to neutralize the acid so it doesn’t burn our insides out.

If you ever had heart burn you know what I’m talking about. How do you find out if your acidic? Test the Ph of your urine and saliva, the lower the number the more acidic your body is.

What foods balance your ph and make you more alkaline? Fruits and vegtables. The diet recommended for health is 75% fruits and Veggies, and 25% of the rest, grains, dairy, fats, and last meat. Lean meat is very acidic. So even though the FDA’s pyramid is going in the right direction, it’s not there yet.

So load up on fruits and veggies, and cut down on the other stuff, and you just may head off a lot of the diseases most of us Americans are fighting.

Vaccines and other scarry things.

Recently I was asked what holistic healers such a I feel about the flu vaccine for HlNl.  Well as a rule, I believe that flu shots are ineffective, and in my experience they have actually given me the flu.  I am rarely ill so I know it was the flu shot, not that I was already coming down with it.  If you have read any liturature at all on Vaccines, the things they put in them are often worse on the body than the diseases that they were ment to treat.  This vaccine, has been made in a hurry, and I fear messing around with the immune system as we do, we will be setting ourselves up to even stronger mutations of this flu.  As it is the flu symptoms are mild, and mostly can be fought off with many natural immune boosters.  We can head off even getting the flu just by taking care of our health, and perhaps taking some supplements.  From what I have been reading, there are a great many people who have reservations about this vaccine.  Frankly I think the drug companys are whipping up a bunch of fear, so they can make a killing(forgive the pun) by pedeling useless, and deadly vaccines.  This is my opinion, on Vaccines, and especially the H1N1 vaccine.

Stopping the Monkey Mind.

 

Meditation is something that helps ease stress, center you, and helps you focus.  This being true, why do so many of us not do it?  Could it be because we have “Monkey Mind”?  Monkey mind is thoughts that feed off of each other.  For example, sitting down to meditate, you close your eyes, relax each part of your body, have turned off the phone, and are all ready. Then it comes.   Wonder what to make for dinner.  Did I take dinner out of the freezer? Damn I have to go to the store after this…on and on till you are so tense you have to get up and do something. 

That is what happens when you have “Monkey Mind.”  So how does one stop such thoughts?  I have found focusing on breath, or heartbeat to help.  It still takes effort till your mind gets used to meditation.  Meditation is a way to rest the mind, to be in the moment, and sometimes open up spiritually.  The key is to start very slowly.

First, relax your entire body, and be in a comfortable position.  I like laying on my back with my arms to my side, palms up.  Call out each part of your body, and tell  it to relax, then feel it obey.  When you have covered your entire body from head to toe, check to feel any areas which are still holding, or tense. 

 Next try focusing on the rise and fall of your chest as you breath in and out.  You can even focus by saying “breath in and breath out.”  After a time let go of the words and merely watch as an observer, then just listen to your breathing.  Your body may feel very heavy at this point, don’t panic it’s supposed to.  If you see colors, or things in your eyes even though they are closed, that is supposed to happen to.  Thoughts will try to come and pull you away from this state.  Visualize the thoughts floating away like big puffy clouds, and refocus on your breathing.  Try and do this for only a few minutes, and lengthen it everyday till you can stay focused on one thought for a full 10 minutes. 

After  your time is up, slowly come back, slowly tense your body, and breath deep. Move fingers, toes, and gradually start to move.  Note how  you feel. Do you feel relaxed, focused, like you had a nap?  That is the feeling that is usually described when clients are finished meditating.   Try to hold onto that feeling throughout the day.  Meditation is a simple technique, but only can be done if you make the effort to become master of your thoughts,  this kills Monkey Mind.

Change Your Mind

Thoughts.  We have a million of them a day.  How many are just random, and how many are focused negative thoughts?  If you find yourself getting in a negative mood, it has a ripple effect.  It affects your body, mind, spirit, and everyone, and everything around you.  If you had the choice to talk to a person who looks like they have been sucking on a lemon all day, and someone who has an honest open smile, which would you choose.  I know I would choose the smile.  Most people gravitate toward a positive upbeat person rather than a negative person who complains about everything.  So when you start hearing those negative thoughts come in…change your mind.  Look for everything your are grateful for, and counteract the negative thinking with it.   Smile, it’s hard to be down when you do.  Change your mind, and stay grateful in the moment, you will find people will gravitate toward you, and things will go better for you.  Change your mind, change your life. It’s your choice.

The mutant garden has taken over my yard!

May is the time gardeners plant their gardens.  Gardens are wonderful to add healthy vegetables to your diet.  Having a huge yard, a few friends got the bright idea to have a community garden.  We would all work on it together, weeding, harvesting and canning and reaping the benefits of having fresh veggies.  That was the plan. 

 Fast Forward to August.  The friends have either moved away or lost interest and moved on, and since it’s in my yard, well I’m sure you can guess the rest.  I have a mutant garden.  It’s churning out tomatoes like a factory.  Weeds are overrunning everything since I took a weeks vacation at the lake, making my garden dream a nightmare.  Luckily I have another week off, and I will use that to can the tomatoes, eggplant, cukcumbers, and whatever else is in there.  Gardening can be a wonderful pastime, but realize it does take commitment.  What seems fun in May, to plant everything, watch it grow, can become work quick when weeds grow, and harvest time comes.  What I thought would be something that would bring my friends and I closer together, ended up being a solo project that was way bigger than I ever would have planted.  So next year, I will still have a wonderful garden, but have learned my lesson, communal gardens are great in theory.  In the meantime, anyone know how to can eggplant?

They are coming to take me away!

The day starts with the alarm, and doesn’t end till exhaustion claims you, and the bed becomes your best friend.  The treadmill starts day after day until you feel heavy, and fatigued.  The colors of the day are grey, and the shades thereof, and there is no joy, no fun in anything.  This is the progression of burnout.  One of the many ways to prevent this dreaded mental and physical malady is to take a vacation.  Now for many of us, money is a huge problem, so vacations are the first things that are cut out of the budget.  We are working harder, for less pay, and time off is often a thing one dreams of.  Time away however, will make you healthier, and able to handle the daily grind. 

Many are taking staycations.  This is staying home, and becoming a tourist in your own town. When you are working, taking care of family, and in the daily merry go round, it’s easy to take our towns for granted.  There are so many free things to do now.  Free concerts and fairs come to mind.  A blanket, a pic nic basket, and your loved ones, and you can sit and listen to music under the stars, or watch a movie in the park.  Do this on a weekly basis and it helps to break up the week, and is like a little vacation.  Many cities, have wonderful parks, pools, and beaches all free for enjoying. 

Getting away for a long weekend doesn’t have to be an expensive affair.  Many motels are running specials, and a few State Parks are as low as $19.00 a night.  Camping brings families together, and can be great fun.  The trick is to involve everyone in the packing, and planning. 

Not all vacations have to be family affairs.  I for one, take a solo vacation every year. To be just responsible for yourself, to eat, sleep, and do whatever you want, when you want it, can be very refreshing.  When I return to work, I am enthusiastic and full of energy.  So if you feel you can’t take a vacation, think how your health is affected if you don’t.  Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless.

My Dogs Are Barking! Feet, That Is!

Ever notice that when your feet hurt the rest of you feels horrible?      A technique that originated in China,  called Reflexology, bases it’s system on the belief that all organs, and energies of the body, can be accessed by pressing on areas on the hands, feet, and ears.   If you are wearing heels all day, and can’t wait to get them off at the end of it, perhaps they were right in their assessment.

Reflexology is a wonderfully relaxing treatment, that can be done either with a practitioner, or by yourself.  It’s not a massage on the feet, but often after the treatment, a Reflexologist may do a foot massage.  It’s in a set pattern of  pressing with thumb or finger.  Eventually in a whole hour treatment, every part of the foot is touched a number of times.

The feet are first bathed, then the client lays on a massage table or chaise, and the Reflexologist, will warm the feet with her hands, and a few stretches, and then begin touching first the tops, then the bottoms  at very specific points.   There are many books on what areas of the foot correspond to the organs.  After treating both feet, the therapist will do a light massage and you are done.

When I had my first treatment, my body detoxed.  I left with a headache, and general malaise.  But after a few hours I felt no pain anywhere, and felt like I could do anything.  I had told my therapist of the headache, and she said to drink plenty of water on the way home, and in a few hours I would feel wonderful.  She was right.

People of all ages, can benefit from Reflexology treatments.  Pregnant women however, should refrain from it because certain areas may cause the uterus to react.  Other than that.  It’s a wonderful drug free way to keep healthy and happy.

Most holistic body work involve a detox period.  That is why it’s so important to try and schedule some downtime after a treatment.  Time to drink water, nap, rest.  It doesn’t have to be all day, maybe an hour.  You will be glad you did.  Realize however, your body will be detoxing for the rest of the day, so be gentle with it, eat light, and go with the flow.

What can Reiki do for me?

Reiki is a gentle, noninvasive healing technique.  It can ease pain, relax muscles and restore balance to mind, body, and spirit.  The first thing that happens when a person injures themselves is they put their hand over the painful area.  It’s a reflex or instinct.  In the animal word you will find mothers licking their babies for their well being.  When they are hurt they lick the wound.  All of this is the very basis for touch therapies.

  People are made of energy.  It’s a scientific fact. Reiki is a way to balance and clear these energies so that the body can heal itself.  The Reiki practitioner puts their hands on the person, and the healing energy flows through them, to their hands, and then to the client.  Reiki is pure energy, and is not directed by the practitioner, but goes where needed on it’s own.  The practitioners hands may become very hot, or cold, depending on the clients needs. 

 There are many touch therapies out there, but Reiki is unique in that the practitioner must be attuned by a Reiki Master.  An Attunement clears the energy centers so that practitioners can recieve the Reiki energy easily and quickly. 

Reiki is the wave of the future in my humble opinion.  It’s drug free, and side effect free.  I have used it on Hospice clients to ease pain when drugs had stopped being effective.  Animals are very open to it, my beagle loves it on her arthritic hip. It is a safe effective healing option for every age from newborn, to geriatrics.  It has kept me healthy, and strong through even the most desperate of times. 

What is a Reiki treatment like you may ask?  After being comfortably positioned on a massage table, the practitioner will ask you to take some deep breaths and relax your entire body.  Then she will either hover above your body a few inches, or actually put her hands on your body for a series of hand positions.  Each position may take 2-5 minutes, depending on how much Reiki that part needed.  The whole front from head to feet is done, then you turn and another series is done on the back.  It is not unheard of to fall asleep or be in a deep meditative state during the treatment.  This is not the time to balance your checkbook or go over problems.  However, sometimes because Reiki heals Body, Mind, and spirit, you may have an emotional release.  This may take form in crying, or being emotional.  If this happens your therapist will guide you through it, this is good, it’s healing.  After the treatment you may feel extremely relaxed, like you have meditated for an hour, or had a good nights sleep.  It’s important to go slow through the rest of your day, and drink plenty of water.  Your body may detox after this for the rest of the day, this is all part of the healing.  Ideally Reiki should be done everyday.  That is why Reiki classes to teach you to heal yourself is a wonderful gift.  But even Reiki practitioners like to recieve reiki from others, because sometimes it’s just needed.  If you don’t want to take Reiki classes, once a week is recommended for optimum health. 

Reiki lately has gone mainstream.  Many hospitals have practitioners on their staff.  It’s easy to locate a practitioner in your area, and give it a try.

What is Swedish Massage

When one thinks of massage, usually it’s connected to a spa.  For many of us this is the first exposure to massage.  Usually the massages done in Spa’s are Swedish in nature.  Swedish is the base massage that is taught to almost all massage therapists in school.

Did you know however, there are thousands of different kinds of bodywork?  Some of them have Swedish massage in them, others don’t.  Swedish is a compendium of techniques used to relax surface muscles, connect the body together, and detox the body.

The first of these Techniques is Efflurage.  These long sweeping strokes cover large areas of the body, and help the muscles to relax.

The second of these techniques is the use of Friction.  Friction increases the heat in the muscles, thereby relaxing them.  This is done with the palms of the hands applying vigorous strokes, or by the therapist rubbing her hands together thereby heating them, and applying them to an area.

The third technique is Petrissage, this is the act of kneeding the muscles similiar to the motions you use when kneeding bread.  They break down the tissue that is knotted from stress, and release impurities.  It’s a little deeper than the aforementioned techniques.

Tapotement, is often done as a finishing move to wake up the muscles, and energize them.  This is done by a chopping motion or tapping with fists.  Traction is basically the therapist stretching you, it is often done toward the end of the massage when the muscles are loose, or at the beginning to assess how tight muscles are.  Vibration is the last technique, and it’s basically done by shaking the skin, with fingers, palms or whole hands, this loosens tightness.

A good swedish massage should leave you relaxed, refreshed, and slightly sleepy. Don’t do a lot of heavy excersize after a massage to keep that relaxed feeling.  Drink a lot of water, and perhaps take an epsom salts bath to hold the feeling for days.