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May 5 2013

Feel Free To Judge

michelangelo_Last_JudgementHello fellow Peers,
Over time I have listened, and watched many of you enlighten me on lessons in this wonderful, crazy, zany, beautiful thing we all call life. Most often the sweet wholesome lessons are about self-image and stereotypes of how we all perceive one another.

I find your teachings to be wildly interesting, and enlightening. Your intimate thoughts and words are very passionate, but I find myself sometimes lost at the perspective you are attempting to illustrate to me.

There is a few of you who often contradict yourselves, you tell me that you are your own person, but you want me to identify you as a part of a group. So I am asking you, to identify me.
I wear flannel shirts, yet I am not a lumber jack, nor am I a cowboy.
I chew Tobacco, however that doesn’t make me a redneck or a dirty hick.
I enjoy education, I don’t identify myself as a nerd.
I am an owner of a classic car, I still wouldn’t classify myself as a gearhead.
I am employed in job that requires physical labor, somehow how I make more than minimum wage.
I am male, I don’t just seek sex.
Those are example of some attributes that very well may describe me. Individually I am none of those.

When you compile all of those features of me, and more you get me as a whole person, not any one description. Hello. Nice to meet you! I am Zane.

Hello fellow peers,
I recently have read and listened to some of your words, and I just wanted to let you know that I have heard what you had to say. Please judge me. For I am a person, and the actions I embark in are part of who I am. I value your opinion, you matter, especially to me.

My close friends and family are close because they judged me, taught me, and the result is all the attributes that add together to make me.

I was socialized, as were you. When you think me, I know more than one word comes to mind, because I am a person, not a stereotype, not one word.

Feel free to judge, just remember all of those puzzle pieces that paint my picture don’t paint it until all the pieces are together.

Zane  May 1, 2013

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May 3 2013

Open Your Mind To Receive

This is a reading of Catherine Ponder’s free e-book Open Your Mind To Receive (This is part 1 of 4) You can find additional Catherine Ponder resources at http://catherineponder.wwwhubs.com

Catherine Ponder is considered one of America’s foremost inspirational authors. She has written more than a dozen books, which include such bestsellers as her Millionaires of the Bible series. She is a minister of the non-denominational Unity faith — long known as the “pioneer of positive thinking” — and has been described by some as “the Norman Vincent Peale among lady ministers.” She has served in Unity Churches since 1956, and heads a global ministry in Palm Desert, California.

 

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Mar 28 2013

Hungary for Change

“Hungry For Change changed my life not just physically, but emotionally. The last 30 minutes of the video were unbelievably touching and true. No longer did I view the relationship between food and my life as something completely disconnected from my emotional well-being. I love myself, not in a narcissistic kind of way, but in a positive self-esteem way, and there is no way I would harm or break down someone or something I love. Same is true with my choices for my daughter. My house is now Fructose Corn Syrup free and Chia Seeds are no longer a stranger. I’ve told everyone I know about this documentary hoping it will do the same healing in their lives as it did for me.”

- Jasmine Woodson

From the creators of the groundbreaking documentary FOOD MATTERS comes another hard-hitting film certain to rock your world. HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight loss and food industry don’t want you to know about. In this free online screening event you’ll discover:

The real truth behind “DIET”, “SUGAR-FREE” and “FAT-FREE” products
How to overcome food addictions and cravings
How to navigate your supermarket – what to buy and what to avoid
Why fad diets don’t work
What food additives to avoid and how to read labels
The most effective detox and cleansing strategies, and
How to eat for clear eyes, glowing skin and healthy hair

Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational stories from those who know what it’s like to be sick and overweight. If they can do it so can you!

Click here for More!

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Mar 27 2013

You can clearly see the collapsing house of cards that the global financial system has become

03/27/2013 by John Smallman

controlled-demolition_collapseThe divine energy field enveloping you is strengthening and intensifying daily, matching your ability to meld with it more and more effectively, and of course its energy is Love, and that is permeating the hearts of those who are opening to It – the vast majority of humans – and helping you to release the attitudes and behaviors, the inflexible beliefs that so many have held for so long.  The results of this are visible all across the world as new ideas to deal with the major problems and issues facing you are expressed and shared.

The old, inflexible beliefs and the tools used to maintain them are still in evidence, but their ineffectiveness can no longer be disguised by blaming others for their failure to resolve the issues that they were supposed to solve.  The old order, the established order, has been in control, directing the business of politics, business, ethics, morality, religion — in fact, anything in which people interact together in any way at all — for a long time.  This order has remained hidden in the background while directing the activities of public figures so that its hidden agendas were achieved unseen, discreetly, and easily.

And frequently, some of those public figures did act in good faith, believing in the integrity and honesty of these “wise, intellectually brilliant elders” – their mentors and guides in the art of leadership – whose stated aim was to bring peace and abundance to all on Earth.  But of course those hidden ones, the elite, have always had their own completely self-serving, private agendas, and now the real intent of those agendas is being revealed, as more and more whistle-blowers find the courage to disclose the unconscionable secrets to which they have become party by blowing away the veils of secrecy under which so much has been hidden.

The old order is crumbling.  It no longer has the world in the iron grip by which it has attempted to control you all for so long.  Ironically, your mass communications are at the forefront of its undoing: it assumed that because it controlled the media, the politicians, the large corporations, and the major corporate-religious bodies, it still controlled all the primary information centers and access to them.  It has now become quite apparent that this is not the case, as more and more information of a sensitive nature is becoming public knowledge, disclosing the vast and unacceptable scale of corruption in high places.  The sheer speed of information exchange has stunned those who would keep secret the intrigues and corrupt agreements to which they are party, and which have personally benefited them enormously.

You can clearly see the collapsing house of cards that the global financial system has become, due to the unconscionable hubris and criminality of those who direct its activities, ably assisted by greedy underlings who proved to be totally bereft of any moral, ethical, let alone spiritual sense of responsibility.  Systems that are corrupt will always implode, and the scale of damage that occurs when this happens can have very far-reaching effects.

A new system of finance is essential in order for global stability to be renewed and maintained, and a new one has been designed, put into place, and is ready to be unveiled.  Those who have benefited by building fortunes through greed and corruption from the old system — which is now in the last stages of its final collapse due to their nefarious activities — will naturally be barred from holding any positions of responsibility or authority in the new one.  They may well find that their ill-gotten gains will drain rapidly away as a result of being excluded from the new system, which will be totally transparent in all its dealings and activities.

There will be a certain amount of confusion as the new replaces the old, but do not be alarmed as chaos will not ensue.  It will be as though an old and crumbling highway was closed off as a new one was opened to replace it.  Some will not have learnt that the old one is closed and will find themselves temporarily in a cul-de-sac where they have to turn around and retrace their steps to reach the new one.  But apart from a few minor teething problems while the change from the old to the new occurs, the transition should be relatively smooth.

The divine energies that envelop you are easing the fear and anxiety which the sight of the old systems collapsing has caused.  Keep your hearts open, receive the Love that is constantly offered to you, and share it widely and inclusively, yes, even with those who have caused much of the damage if you find yourselves interacting with them.  Blame, shame, and recrimination are not part of an awakened humanity, although those who have caused the severest damage will undoubtedly suffer much regret when they come to fully understand the extent of the suffering for which the bear some responsibility.

Love is the energy field in which all of creation has its existence.  It is powerful, mighty, wise and compassionate, and It willingly and enthusiastically hugs all who seek comfort in Its warm embrace.  None are excluded, although many may at first feel unworthy and hang back.  But no one is unworthy, and as this becomes apparent by Its indiscriminate and unconditional acceptance of all who approach It, those straggling or holding back will also approach and be swept up into the field of infinite, divine Love in which they were created.

With so very much love, Saul.

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Mar 14 2013

Probiotics – One of The Most Important Supplements You Can Take

 I am currently trying BioTrust’s Pro X-10. You can follow the link from the Products page to find out more. ~Danette

Posted By Dr. Mercola | September 24 2011

 

Story at-a-glance
  • Obesity, diabetes, depression, heart disease and irritable bowel syndrome are but a handful of conditions that may be helped by rebalancing your gut flora
  • Over 30 different beneficial pharmacological actions of probiotics have been identified
  • More than 200 studies show probiotics can be helpful for over 170 diseases
  • Symptoms indicating you’re lacking healthy bacteria include gas, bloating, constipation, frequent nausea, headaches, and sugar cravings

The more I study health, the more I have come to appreciate how crucially important the bacteria in your gut are to your health. The website Green Med Info has assembled an amazing list of more than 200 studies, which together explore more than 170 diseases which can be helped or treated with probiotics.

The conditions include:

  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Atopic Dermatitis
  • Diarrhea
  • Allergic Rhinitis
  • And even the common cold!

According to just one of the many studies linked on the site:

“The ability of the gut microbiota and oral probiotics to influence systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, glycemic control, tissue lipid content and even mood itself, may have important implications …”

Eating sugar actually nourishes the bad or pathogenic bacteria yeast and fungi in your gut, which may actually harm you more than its impact on insulin resistance.  One of the major results of eating a healthy diet is that you cause your beneficial gut bacteria to flourish, and they secondarily perform the real “magic” of restoring your health. You may have noticed that probiotics are now featuring in articles relating to all sorts of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, depression and heart disease.

As explained by Russian neurologist Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a woman’s gut flora can also influence the health of her child, and if your child’s gut flora is compromised from birth, he may be at an increased risk of vaccine damage. In fact, this imbalanced gut flora may be the primary factor that contributes to children having an adverse reaction to a vaccine! Fortunately, you can easily screen for this imbalance and if it is found, all immunizations should be avoided until it is corrected with strategies that are comprehensively described in Dr. McBride’s book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome, which is in my opinion essential reading for all parents and parent-to-be. The  simple and inexpensive screening she suggests  could prevent a lifetime of suffering…

All in all, the research into probiotics indicates that supplementing with probiotics is probably more important than taking a multi-vitamin and its true importance for your health is likely right up there with vitamin D.

Your Inner Ecosystem Influences Countless Aspects of Your Health

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria — more than 10 times the number of cells you have in your entire body. It’s now quite clear that the type and quantity of micro-organisms in your gut interact with your body in ways that can either prevent or encourage the development of many diseases.  The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85 percent “good” and 15 percent “bad.” Maintaining this optimal ratio is essential for good health, as probiotics (healthy bacteria) has over 30 beneficial pharmacological actions that we know of, including:

Anti-bacterial Anti-allergenic Anti-viral Immunomodulatory
Anti-infective Antioxidant Antiproliferative Apoptopic (cellular self-destruction)
Antidepressive Antifungal Cardioprotective Gastroprotective
Radio- and chemo protective Upregulates glutathione and certain glycoproteins that help regulate immune responses, including interleukin-4, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12 Downregulates interleukin-6 (a cytokine involved in chronic inflammation and age-related diseases) Inhibits tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha inhibitor, NF-kappaB, epidermal growth factor receptor, and more

 

Probiotics are also essential for optimal digestion of food and absorption of nutrients, and they help your body produce vitamins, absorb minerals and aid in the elimination of toxins. Green Med Info lists over 200 studies linking probiotics to more than 170 different diseases and health problems. Here’s just a sampling of the ailments that your gut flora can affect:

Celiac disease, leaky gut  and irritable bowel syndrome Mood, psychological health, and behavior Epstein-Barr virus Chronic fatigue syndrome
Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome,  and diabetes Common cold, influenza, and pneumonia High cholesterol and hypertension Acne
Eczema and atopic dermatitis Liver diseases, such as cirrhosis and cancer Herpes Food- and wheat allergies

How Do You Know Your Gut is Out of Whack?

It’s important to realize that your gut bacteria are very vulnerable to lifestyle- and environmental factors, such as:

Sugar / fructose Refined grains Processed foods Antibiotics (including antibiotics given to livestock for food production)
Chlorinated and fluoridated water Antibacterial soaps etc Agricultural chemicals and pesticides Pollution

 

All of these factors throw your gut flora out of balance, and, as you can see, many of these factors are pervasive and can be difficult to avoid. However, it’s not impossible. Simply altering your diet to avoid processed foods and focusing on whole (ideally locally grown organic) foods will make a big dent! That change alone will dramatically reduce the amount of sugar and fructose you consume, as well as automatically limit your exposure to antibiotics and agricultural chemicals.

How can you tell whether your health is already starting to suffer from a lack of healthy bacteria in your digestive system?  The following symptoms are all signs that unhealthy bacteria have taken over too much real estate in your gut, and that you probably need to add some healthy probiotics to your diet:

Gas and bloating Constipation or diarrhea Fatigue
Nausea Headaches Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods

Remember: Your Gut, Brain and Primary Immune Defense are All Connected…

Two additional signs that your gut flora may be adversely impacted are depression and lowered immunity. Both of these are actually common-sense side effects of poor gut health, but they’re usually completely overlooked…Most people, including many physicians, do not realize that 80 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, making a healthy gut a major focal point if you want to maintain optimal health.

Furthermore, your gut is quite literally your second brain, as it originates from the same type of tissue as your brain! During fetal development, one part turns into your central nervous system, while the other develops into your enteric nervous system. These two systems are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen. Hence your gut and your brain work in tandem, each influencing the other. And this is why your intestinal health can have such a profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa.

This also helps explain the link between neurological disorders (including ADHD and autism) and gastrointestinal dysfunction. For example, gluten intolerance is frequently a feature of autism, and many autistic children will improve when following a strict gluten-free diet.

However, even more importantly, establishing normal gut flora within the first 20 days or so of life plays a crucial role in appropriate maturation of your baby’s immune system.

Babies who develop abnormal gut flora are left with compromised immune systems, and this may be a crucial factor when it comes to vaccine-induced damage. As Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride explained in a recent interview, vaccinations were originally developed for children with healthy immune systems, and children with abnormal gut flora and therefore compromised immunity are not suitable candidates for our current vaccine schedule as they’re more prone to being harmed. To learn more about this, please see this previous article. Another detail that helps explain how abnormal gut flora can impact your neurological status is that certain probiotics also appear to play a role in detoxing harmful chemicals.

How to Optimize Your Gut Flora

The best way to ensure optimal gut flora is to regularly consume traditionally fermented foods. Healthy options include:

Lassi (an Indian yogurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner) Various pickled fermentations of cabbage sauerkraut,, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash, and carrots Tempeh
Fermented raw milk such as kefir or yogurt, but NOT commercial versions, which typically do not have live cultures and are loaded with sugars that feed pathogenic bacteria Natto (fermented soy) Kim chee

 

Just make sure to steer clear of pasteurized versions, as pasteurization will destroy many of the naturally occurring probiotics. For example, most of the “probiotic” yogurts you find in every grocery store these days are NOT good choices. Since they’re pasteurized, they will be associated with all of the problems of pasteurized milk products instead. They also typically contain added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, dyes, or artificial sweeteners; all of which will only worsen your health.

An added boon of traditionally fermented foods is that some of them are also excellent sources of vitamin K2, which is important for preventing arterial plaque buildup and heart disease. Cheese curd is an excellent source of both probiotics and vitamin K2. You can also obtain all the K2 you’ll need (about 200 micrograms) by eating 15 grams, or half an ounce, of natto daily.

That said, I realize that a lot of people do not enjoy the taste of fermented foods. In this case, taking a probiotic supplement is definitely advised. While I do not generally advocate taking a lot of supplements, a high quality probiotic is an exception. I recommend looking for a probiotic supplement that fulfills the following criteria, to ensure quality and efficacy:

  • The bacteria strains in the product must be able to survive your stomach acid and bile, so that they reach your intestines alive in adequate numbers.
  • The bacteria strains must have health-promoting features.
  • The probiotic activity must be guaranteed throughout the entire production process, storage period and shelf life of the product.

Through my years of clinical practice, I’ve found that no single probiotic supplement works for everyone. However, more people seem to respond favorably to Lactobacillus sporogenes than any other probiotic, so when in doubt, that’s a great place to start.

 

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Mar 14 2013

Saving Valentina

Beautiful!

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Mar 5 2013

Lymphatic Self Care: Boosting Your Body’s Ability to Heal Itself

By Eileen Laird, LMBT, LTC

As massage therapists, we spend our days caring for others and often arrive home too tired to take care of ourselves. What if there was a simple self-care protocol that you could do in 15 minutes, while you lay in bed at night, one that was relaxing as well as healing? Lymph drainage is just such a therapy.

The majority of lymph nodes are located on the front of the body, making them easy to reach. It’s gentle work, so it doesn’t strain over-tired hands and you can cleanse the main lymph nodes in just 15 minutes, which is plausible at the end of a long workday. The results are relaxation, detoxification and healing on many levels. I use this self-care sequence myself and have taught it to both clients and colleagues.

The Effects of Lymph Drainage

By manually stimulating the lymphatic system, you:

  • Increase the carrying capacity of the lymph system, allowing it to process up to 10 times more fluid than normal.
  • Increase the flow through the lymph nodes, filtering out waste products, dead cells, excess proteins and toxins from the tissues.
  • Increase the production of lymphocytes, thereby increasing the body’s ability to fight infections.
  • Activate the parasympathetic response, producing a body-wide relaxation effect.

So how do these broad changes specifically affect the body? The most famous application for lymph drainage is its effectiveness in treating edema and lymphedema. However, this therapy is profoundly effective for supporting our health overall. The Chikly Health Institute lists more than 100 indications for lymph drainage, from relieving pain to regulating digestion to treating skin conditions. “The curriculum has evolved, since we started,” says Dr. Bruno Chikly. “We have seen over 10,000 students and have developed both a lymphedema and non-lymphedema certification.” Their training includes applications for organs, joints, trigger points and fascial restrictions.

Isabelle Mender, a massage therapist in Eugene, Ore., gives herself a lymphatic boost seasonally. “During hay fever season, I usually treat myself twice a day. The treatments help to alleviate my sinus congestion, runny, itchy eyes and overall inflammation in my head.” David Doubblestein, a Lymph Drainage Therapy Instructor, uses lymphatic self-care to prevent illness and treat injury. “At the first sign of a cold, I do lymph drainage on myself and typically avoid the illness,” said Doubblestein. “I’ve also smashed my fingers more than once. (I admit I’m not the most graceful with tools.) Draining the area gets rid of the pain and throbbing sensation, and quickly too.” However, Doubblestein stresses that you don’t need to be sick or injured to practice lymphatic self-care. “I personally love the neck sequence anytime. In particular, it’s an excellent finish to yoga practice. You can do the neck sequence when you’re relaxing in corpse pose, and it puts your body in a parasympathetic state.” Mender agrees, “it’s a great way to simply chill out!”

Self Care Protocol

The lymph nodes are the powerhouses of the lymphatic system, and you have more than 500, located at pivotal points along your lymphatic vessels. The majority of your lymph nodes are located in the neck, armpits, abdomen and groin. These are the areas we’ll be addressing in this simplified self-care protocol. Stimulating the main lymph nodes of the body has a global effect on the lymphatic system, increasing lymph flow body-wide.

Lymph drainage is very different from traditional massage therapy. Here are some things to know:

  • Your touch needs to be very light, so light your mind will tell you it can’t possibly be effective, especially if you’re used to deep massage. However, 70% of the lymphatic vessels are located just underneath the skin. If you use too much pressure, you bypass these vessels. The lighter the touch, the more powerful the effect on the lymphatic system.
  • You’re not gliding across the skin. Rather, you’re very lightly stretching the skin. The lymphatic vessels are attached to the skin with small elastic fibers. When you stretch the skin, you’re manually pumping the lymphatic vessels simultaneously.
  • The stretch will always be in the direction that the lymph flows normally, and it’s important to lift your hands off the skin at the end of the stretch. Otherwise, you’re simply moving the lymph back and forth.
  • The lymphatic rhythm is slow. Take three full seconds to stretch the skin. Release your touch completely for three seconds. Then, repeat.
  • This self-care protocol is based on the Chikly Method. Techniques taught by other schools may vary slightly.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 1: Clavicle (Collarbone)

Hand Placement: Place your fingertips at the base of your neck, on the superior edge of your clavicle. Direction of Stroke: Using the lightest touch possible, stretch your skin medially, toward the sternal notch. This is a slow, three-second stretch. Release your touch completely for three seconds. Repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 2: Back Chain (Trapezius)

Hand Placement: Place the pads of your fingers on top of the trapezius muscle at the back of your shoulders. Direction of Stroke: Using the lightest touch possible, stretch your skin in a curving motion, laterally toward your outer shoulders and then slightly forward. Picture a candy cane. The long part of the candy cane is the stretch laterally across your trapezius muscle, then finish the stretch forward, like the hook on a candy cane. The total stretching movement lasts three seconds. Release your touch completely for three seconds, and then repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 3: Neck Hug

Hand Placement: Although this photo looks a bit like a choking hold, this hand position is very light, more like a butterfly’s wings. Place the pads of your fingers on your sternocleido-mastoid muscles. The rest of your hands shouldn’t touch your neck at all. In fact, there should be a gap between your hands and the front of your throat. Direction of Stroke: Using the lightest touch possible, stretch the skin over your SCM muscle directly down (inferior), toward your clavicle. This is a slow, three-second stretch. Release your touch completely for three seconds. Repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 4: Spinal Chain

Hand Placement: Place the pads of your fingers along the sides of your neck. Direction of Stroke: Using the lightest touch possible, stretch your skin slightly forward (anterior) and then down (inferior) toward the clavicle. The total stretching movement lasts three seconds. Release your touch completely for three seconds, and then repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 5: Waterwheel

Hand Placement: This is a small but very important lymph node area. The entire head and face drain through these nodes. Place the pads of two fingers behind your earlobe. You’ll feel a soft spot. That’s the waterwheel. Direction of Stroke:

Stretch the skin over the waterwheel directly down (inferior). It’s a small area, so the stretching movement will be short – approximately one inch. Stretch for three seconds, release for three seconds, and then repeat four more times.

Rinse the Neck

Now that you’ve opened up all the lymph nodes of the neck, it’s important to encourage free flow back to the clavicle. To do this, repeat the steps in reverse order (4, 3, 2 and 1). Then continue on to step 6 below.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 6: Axilla (Armpits)

Hand Placement: Lift your left arm slightly, and place the fingertips of your right hand in the peak of your left axilla (armpit). This is a very important region. The lymph of your arm, breast and part of your torso drain through here.

Direction of Stroke: Gently push inward, toward the center of your body. You are encouraging lymph flow back to your heart. Gently push in for three seconds, release for three seconds, and repeat four more times. Be sure and repeat this process for your opposite arm.

Relax the Abdomen

The next steps treat the lymphatic vessels of the deep abdomen. They are located beneath the abdominal muscles, so it is helpful to relax those muscles first. This can be done through deep belly breathing, or a few minutes of massage, your choice. After you have relaxed your abdomen, continue to step 7.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 7: Cisterna Chyli

Hand Placement: Place the pads of your fingertips on the center of your abdomen, between your rib cage and navel. The rest of your hand is lifted off your skin, so that your fingertips are the only part of your hand touching your abdomen.

Direction of Stroke: Gently push inward and upward. The pressure here is a little bit deeper. The rhythm, however, is the same: a three-second stretching movement; release for three seconds; repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 8: Abdominal “V”

Hand Placement: Place your hands flat on both sides of your lower abdomen. They’ll form the letter, “V.” Direction of Stroke: Gently push inward, and then upward on a diagonal, toward the sternum. (The movement is supero-medial.) The movement is a three-second deep stretch; release for three seconds; repeat four more times.

Lymphatic Self Care Step 9: Inguinals (Crease of Leg)

Hand Placement: Bend your knee and feel the angle that forms between your leg and pelvis. Place your fingertips on this crease.

Direction of Stroke: The pressure here is very gentle again, because these lymph nodes are just under the skin. Stretch the skin upward (superior). The length of the stretch is short – approximately one inch. Stretch for three seconds; release for three seconds; repeat four more times. Be sure and repeat this process for your opposite leg.

Rinse Back to the Heart

Now that you’ve opened up all the lymph nodes of the abdomen, it’s important to encourage free flow back to the heart. Repeat steps 8, 7 and then finish with step 1.

Contraindications

The same contraindications that apply for massage therapy also apply for lymph drainage. Professional course curriculum goes into these in more detail.

Sources:

  1. Bruno Chikly, MD, DO. Silent Waves: Theory and Practice of Lymph Drainage Therapy, 2nd ed. (Scottsdale: I.H.H. Publishing, 2004).

Eileen Laird, LMBT, LTC has been a massage therapist for 10 years and has a private practice specializing in Lymph Drainage Therapy. She is certified through the Chikly Institute in Lymphatic Techniques, which is the holistic branch of their curriculum. She is also the author of two books.

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Mar 1 2013

“The Truth About Your Transformation,” which in Truth is “Our Transformation.”

As life seems crazy, scary at this time, I ran across this post.  Hope it helps…
Danette

 

In recent weeks I have been made well aware, through Emails, sessions and more than a few close to me, that many are in despair now while being in a space of not knowing, or what I call “sacred space where transformation occurs.” For many, this space is unfamiliar, dark and deeply uncomfortable, immediately signaling to the mind and ego: Danger Ahead! Fight For Your Life!

Please don’t listen to ‘them.’ It’s the exact opposite. We are in a magnificent consciousness shift, and it’s quiet. The ego and mind don’t particularly like this, as they were comfortable in the old noisy, dramatic, grasping and clawing paradigm.

Each of us are being prepared to merge with the new 5th Dimensional paradigm filled with new choices, new perspectives, a new life, and a raised consciousness, unable to be recognized by you if you didn’t enter this still space.

Beloveds, in this space of not knowing, this void as some call it, human movement is brought to a halt, so Divine movement can move us forward into our authentic Life. The challenge is that humankind has long been addicted to constant movement. It is how we have come to believe we are validated and worthy in both an internal and external manner.

When that movement isn’t happening, emotional misinformation begins to flood the void, the ego begins to fight for its perception of ‘Life,’ which is never correct, and then the 3D mental projector projects into the future that which it is incapable of projecting, and, before you know it you are out of the void and into quicksand.

This sacred space, this space of not knowing, is where you are gifted the opportunity to know who you truly are, without distraction. It’s where you get the blessings of meeting yourself where you are at now, not before, but now.

It’s a place for discovering what your true passions are, to rearrange your choices, (this is KEY) start a new chapter for yourself, and chart your own course. It’s where you can really get creative and collaborative with the Divine in a thoughtful, focused manner.

It’s a space to discover love for yourself, and where you are made more available to retrieve powerful and significant codes of information about yourself, from other aspects of your multi-dimensional Self, which will greatly and positively alter your future.

Here, is the new energetic birthing ground for dreams to made manifest, magical destinies to be found, and transformation to be had. This space is grace, providing a sacred place for your final preparations to move into your new 5D life. The challenge is that many ‘thought’ this part would be over after 2012.

Beloveds this whole year is about endings and beginnings merging as One, and this is where the merging takes place. It’s deliberate in each of its sacred movements, whisperings, signs and symbols.

We are floating, in the now, in the cosmos of non-linear time and space. We have to in order to integrate the very real reconstruction of who you were in the Human Template and to have you and the Divine prepare you for who you are becoming in the Divine One. Nothing is wrong in this space, nothing is lost in this space, and most definitely the future cannot be predicted in or out of this space.

The space of not knowing forces one to stay in the now, for of our own accord we are always somewhere ahead or behind it, and that’s where we leak power, energy, vitality and perspective. Here we are being lovingly forced to “Be Here Now,” because anywhere else is nowhere else.

Though some appear to have moved through this void, or state of not knowing more quickly, it is only our tendency toward comparison that has any one of us feeling lost or left behind or that we must have done something wrong. Wrong!

The Divine knows who is ready to come out of this sacred space in right and appropriate order. And, our hearts know as well. Trust. Listen deeply to the information you are being given and begin the process of reprogramming your energy into where you prefer it, not where you don’t prefer it.

Become familiar with the new energies so you can, by your command; be lifted out of old stale used up energy and really feel what’s in the air, in our Mother Earth, the skies and all around you. It’s not the same compressed energy. There is freedom in the energy, if you will tap into it and try it out.

Did you know that your future is already in place waiting for you to fit into it just beautifully? It’s true.

Beloveds please take this to heart. No one can be lost or left behind in this sacred space, because it is where you go through the portal into other worlds of your untapped potential, and where we are held and moved forward in the hands of the Divine who would never lose us or leave us.

This is a grooming station, for your Ultimate Transformation and glorious adventure into a world you have never had the adventure, as humans, of ever stepping into before. It’s worth hanging out here for awhile.

If this is where you are, you are in the perfect space for you and your authentic life to meet. Don’t attempt to stop this most vital of processes for your complete transformation. Remember a butterfly cannot fly with the cocoon still hanging onto its wings.

When you feel edgy, this simple breath will help. Place your right hand over your heart, and breathe in gratitude for all that you are grateful for. Hold it for a moment as it circulates throughout your entire body. Feel it, and then breathe out the parts of yourself that are trespassing on your Divinity. Keep repeating this breath as many times as you need to. As you do so with deep intention and attention, you are setting into motion authentic alchemy.

Stay with it Beloveds. You will see and feel a transformation in yourself that will blow your mind! It’s like transforming base metal into gold, and you Beloveds are pure Gold!

Know you are loved.

Maureen

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Feb 22 2013

Qigong

What is Qigong (Chi Kung)?

‘Qi’ or ‘Chi’ means energy. In Yoga, it is called ‘Prana’. ‘Gong’ or ‘Kung’ means work. Therefore, Qigong means the exercise of your internal energy. It is a 5,000-year-old Chinese healthcare modality that has both endured the test of time and is making a tremendous resurgence at the threshold of the 21st Century. The benefits of Qigong are increasingly recognized for enhancing fitness in mind and body, developing vitality for sports and sex, and helping in the cure of stress as well as degenerative and chronic diseases. Literally millions practice Qigong in China and around the world each day to successfully treat diseases ranging from hypertension to cancer.


Dr. Josephine Briggs, Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine introduces the NCCAM video. [part 1 of 5]

Warm up exercises presented by Dr. Adeline Ge. Exercises are presented in this educational video from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NIH. Learn more about tai chi at nccam.nih.gov. [Part 2 of 5]

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Feb 15 2013

Yoga is Awesome, But Have You Tried Tai Chi?

By Bruce Frantzis | Energy Arts
864799165 Tips for Tai Chi Beginners

Here are five useful tips that I wish I had known before I started Tai chi as a beginner:

1. Choose the best Tai chi style to achieve your goals.
Each Tai Chi style has specific benefits associated with it, e.g., Wu style Tai Chi is the only T­­­ai Chi style associated with meditation.
2. The physical movements of Tai Chi comprise about five percent of the art of Tai Chi.
The other 95 percent is concerned with how you get the Chi in your Tai Chi by integrating the 16 neigongi (components of internal power).
3. There are seven basic stages in learning Tai Chi.
Knowing where you’re at on the map will help you overcome obstacles and personal setbacks to reap the deeper benefits that tai chi has to offer from ongoing practice.
4. Practicing Tai Chi requires patience.
Chi development progresses from gross to subtle, and the process cannot be rushed.
5. Not all teachers are created equal.
The skill of your teacher and his/her ability to impart their knowledge is invaluable to your personal progress and safety.

–Bruce Frantzis
Learning Tai Chi Fundamentals

In Tai Chi (taiji), who is the beginner? This is truly a trick question. Even after 20 years of practice, many students genuinely consider themselves beginners, especially after watching a high-level Tai Chi master at work.

Tai Chi’s beginning; intermediate and advanced practices are like a continuum without exact, defining landmarks. Criteria and standards of what constitute beginning, intermediate or advanced methods vary widely between individual teachers and entire schools of Tai Chi.

Some teachers have a larger, more complete knowledge of the entire tradition than others. Consequently, one group’s idea of what constitutes an advanced technique, by another group’s standards may be considered something only marginally more advanced than the basic level.

Within classes, you can expect to learn:

Sequences of movements
Basic body alignments
The 70 percent rule of moderation
Coordination
How to protect your joints.

During the first year, unless you are exceptionally sensitive, it is unreasonable to expect to feel a lot of Chi. Although at its advanced levels Tai Chi’s primary goal is to grow and balance your Chi, in the beginning approaching your practice only from the perspective of Chi is neither necessary nor desirable. Staying grounded in the body tends to keep any self-perceived experiences of energy from being pure fantasy or overly exaggerated.

Tai Chi’s physical movements serve as effective sensitivity and awareness exercises that keep the body flexible, reduce stress, and tone and strengthen muscles. In terms of health and longevity, tai chi is a non-impact, physical exercise without any notion of energy.
Tai Chi: Body-Energy-Spirit

All Taoist practices are based on the three treasures: body, energy and spirit (jing, chi and shen, respectively, in Chinese). Learning Tai chi serves as a body practice and advancement as an energy practice. So whether or not you have an interest in practicing tai chi for spiritual pursuits, it always starts with the body—making you incredibly healthy down to the cellular level.
Body

The physical body is the container through which your energy and spirit flow. This is the physical approach to health, longevity and optimum performance. Through Tai chi, you learn how to exercise the body down to its most subtle aspects. This can best be done if you understand the body’s physical mechanisms and realities, such as anatomical subtleties or how different parts of the body do or don’t work well or flow together.
Energy

The legendary martial arts abilities of many Tai chi masters derive from the development of the many functional kinds of subtle energy. This is where many of the “secrets” are hidden in Tai chi and for which some train arduously over decades to achieve and master.

Increasing your life-force energy, which can be achieved from regular Tai chi practice, can produce extraordinary healing and provides the gateway to human intuitive or psychic capacities. For people who are overly energetically sensitive or psychically developed, Tai chi can help ground and smooth their energy, so they can handle—rather than be overwhelmed by—their natural talents.

Spirit (Mind)

Spirit’s sphere of influence works directly with the mind and the invisible spirit within us. It involves the arts and sciences of meditation, which originally generated the first two levels of body and energy.

Spirit involves active use of the mind. It tells your body and chi when and how to move. Applying your spirit’s energy well is mandatory to get to the root of and fully engage your true personal power, obtain emotional balance and inner peace, and actualize the potential of your mind.

While intent can take you a long way with body and energy, the Heart-Mind is required to fully activate spirit, which is the center of your consciousness. That is the place where thoughts and images come from before they reach the conscious level.

Working with body, energy and spirit has within it beginning, intermediate and advanced techniques. They are learned much the same way as music: basic techniques build on each other until you can seamlessly blend them. The art of Tai chi is as complex as the greatest symphony. At its most advanced stages, the body, mind and spiritual components blend into a unified whole that lead you to experiencing the Tao.

Unlike learning music, however, where you progress by learning successively more challenging pieces of music, in Tai chi you perform the same series of movements, each time going deeper and learning more.
Tai Chi Beginners Resources

For beginners we offer the following products to help you learn Tai chi:

Tai Chi: Health for Life Book
Taoist Energy Arts DVD
Taoist Breathing for Qigong and Meditation 2-CD Set

You can also checkout our Tai Chi Forum or find an Energy Arts Tai Chi Instructor near you.
Learning Tai Chi is Challenging

Tai chi is challenging to learn. People who do Tai chi well make it look easy and effortless. But the truth is Tai chi is not especially easy to learn. An interesting point about learning anything of value is: Things are difficult when you can’t do them and easy when you can. The road to attaining fluidity, smoothness and relaxed movements in your Tai chi practice requires much patience and effort, just like any sport or art form.

Tai chi requires and progressively develops gross and subtle physical coordination. Tai chi is one of the most sophisticated methods of integrated whole-body movement.

Tai chi is a workout that can be as strenuous and invigorating as aerobics, even though it can look easy, simple and relaxed. You will likely use muscles that you didn’t know you had. Before you really learn to relax and soften your body, the habitual tension stored in your legs and shoulders may make you tremble and ache.

It is quite normal to feel some emotional unpleasantness, especially as you begin to really notice, often for the first time, what stress is doing to your nervous system, or how unquiet and devoid of inner peace your mind and emotions really are. For everyone, part of learning tai chi is learning to recognize the subtle tensions within your body and mind. This can freak you out as you may not be able to believe the degree of unconscious tension held by most people. However, if you can overcome it, you will feel truly empowered about your ability to let go.

At first, it may be difficult to practice on your own. It is best not to feel guilty about this; just accept your limitations rather than quitting. Attending a weekly class is the best way to create a regular practice rhythm.

Many students focus on learning movements correctly or doing them perfectly. It is not possible to do Tai chi perfectly, so don’t approach learning Tai chi with a been-there-done-that mentality.

I remember I once asked my Teacher Liu if he had ever done Tai chi perfectly and he said that he had. Later though, he said that he realized he had practiced Tai chi even better than the time before!–Bruce Frantzis

Although Tai chi is not especially easy to learn, it is not the most difficult thing to do either. Half of China’s 200 million people who successfully learn and practice tai chi daily begin after age 50. If they can learn Tai chi, so can you.

Some degree of challenge makes most recreational activities more fun, interesting and alive, whether they are physical (golf, skiing, tai chi), mental (reading good books, doing crossword puzzles), or artistic (playing music, painting). Lack of any challenge causes many activities to become boring, causing people to quit.

Conversely, all worthwhile activities that continue to have both short- and long-term pay-offs usually have continuing challenges.
Building a Sustainable Tai Chi Practice

You don’t have to be an expert to benefit from learning Tai chi. Even when done poorly, Tai chi fosters vibrant health from deep within your body. As you grow in experience and are able to pay more attention to body alignments and energy mechanics, you’ll find you gain more and more from your practice.

Give yourself time to absorb the big shapes of the movement. The most important thing is to learn the whole sequence together even if you have to fudge some moves. This builds confidence for the long haul. Refining the moves happens with practice, or in the next rounds of learning new information.

If you have specific moves you really like, do them singly outside the sequence of the form. This builds up your confidence and creates the foundational skills needed to eventually overcome the bigger challenges of more difficult moves.

Do not emotionally beat yourself up over moves that you personally find difficult. Just move on and complete the entire sequence as best you can. Don’t get hung up on one or two moves. You will improve with practice.

Whatever you do, don’t compare your learning speed to others. Tai chi is challenging for everyone to learn although some will pick it up faster than others. It’d your commitment that matters–not how fast you can play the game.

Above all, be patient with yourself.

Re-posted from The Healers Journal

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