( This was on a post card my sister in law found in an airport shop )

Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of your True Nature
Think long term
Go out on a limb

Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light,

Be content with your own natural beauty
drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!

By Ilan Shamir

HAPPY EARTH DAY 2010

…..And how are your expectations related to your life expectancy?  Humor me as I play on this theme for a moment.

I read an article this morning that stated, ” Insurance statistics show that the average person has a life expectancy of less than three years after retirement if he/she doesn’t have any goals beyond retirement.  The person that has a purpose or goal can expect to live up to nine years after retirement”. 

It made me think, how does this concept play out with our quality of life and health in retirement?  (For those that have goals and make it into their golden years).  Is our current medical care system supporting healthy and vibrant living?  What do we expect our health and retirement to be like?  (Hopefully not more of this Medicare bickering).

I taught a class last evening and most of the participants had a baffled look on their faces for the first 30 minutes.  They were hearing new thoughts, ideas, and holistic modalities (from a registered nurse), that were completely foreign to them.  Finally a woman asked, “How come I’ve never heard of this?  If these things can help get me off of medications, and I can be pain free, how come my doctors don’t know about this stuff”.

Fortunately for us, our time had come.  If we bring the law of attraction into the mix, they must have been EXPECTING more for themselves, their health, and their life.  We could not have attracted each other if we weren’t having thoughts and expectations of something “more”.  I expected that the people who were ready to move forward with new information for their health and wellbeing would come to find me.  I expected to be able to help and reach more people.   I prayed to be led with my heart to be able to help more people, to relieve pain or suffering, (the reason I became a nurse many years ago).  After twenty years of mainstream nursing I have been led as a professional healer and educator to give people the information they need to get out of the “sick-care” trap of mainstream medicine.

Yet without these new students having expectations, our meeting couldn’t have come to fruition.  Laws of attraction wouldn’t line us up with out a vision from them.  They decided to expect a solution beyond narcotics, surgery, and physical therapy.  They decided to feel empowered and to take action and responsibility for a better and different outcome.  They decided to put their trust in something new and unfamiliar.

They didn’t expect their doctor to have all the answers they needed.  They didn’t expect to get better if they followed on the same path they had been on.  They didn’t expect for their health insurance to make them feel better, or to pay for my classes, or to improve their quality of life.

So I’m wondering if our life expectancy has improved because we are a becoming a society that is shifting in a paradigm to expect more for ourselves, our health, and wellbeing?  What are you expecting for your self, and your health? 

If you are living with less than vibrant health, energy, and wellbeing are you doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting to get different results?   Where can you shift your expectations?  Just a wiggle…….to bring more of what you want to experience into your life?

Can you begin to dream of something different?  This is the first step; to have a vison….no matter how small, that you can expect to see a different outcome than the one you are experiencing right now.  Hold that vision every day, until it becomes and expectation.  By the natural laws of the universe, your expectation will become a real and tangible evidence.  With a different expectation you can shift the outcome of your health, your life, and your wellbeing.

If  managing stress in a more appropriate and health promoting way is on your list od resolutions for 2010, you may be exploring the idea of adding meditation or relaxation techniques to your self care routine.  Both offer numerous health benefits when practiced on a fairly consistent basis.    In Ayurveda, watching television on the couch is not considered part of an active relaxation practice. 

We often think of a glass of wine, a relaxing meal with family or friends, or enjoying a good book on a Sunday morning as relaxing.   But true relaxation is a regular practice that is cultivated and is defined by evoking and stimulating the relaxation response.   Some forms of conscious and guided relaxation may become meditation.   Many meditators find that their practice benefits from using a relaxation techniques that assists in accessing inner stillness.   Yet some forms of meditation are anything but relaxing.  Ultimately the difference lies in the practitioners intention and purpose.

All conscious relaxation techniques offer the practitioner a method for slowly relaxing all the major muscle groups in the body.  The intention  is to stimulate the relaxation response: deeper, slower breathing and other physiological changes that help you experience the whole body as relaxed.    Techniques include autogenic training, progressive muscle relaxation, and body scanning.  All these techniques bring an awareness and softening of the body through atttention to specific areas.

Meditation is a form of mind training, usually presented in one of three forms: concentration, mindfulness, and contemplation.  Mediatation operates on a fundamental principle that the mind determines your quality of life.  It is a practice that aligns your mind, teaching to see what is just as it is and freeing oneself from reactive conditioning.   Meditation is offered to relieve the mind from it’s busy programming of day to day events allowing the present moment to be accepted just as it is without needing to respond or react to it.

In either case, meditation and relaxation are both tools which offer stress relief and numerous health benefits when practiced regularly.  Many yoga centers and holistic health practitioners offer classes in both modalities. The beauty of these self care techniques is that they are low cost, (about the same as a co-pay at your doctor) , offer a community of like-minded friends also on a healing path,  and once you learn the basics you can practice at home and reap the long term benefits.

As summer winds down and we begin to transition into a new season, it is a
perfect time for cleansing our body,mind, and spirit.  In Ayurveda this
is done with Panchakarma.

It is commonly perceived as only an internal cleansing routine, but Panchkarma
is also a time used to meditate, journal, and get grounded and centered from within,
preparing for the more inward cycle of nature….Fall and Winter.

In Ayurveda, “Detoxification” is not just a physical regimen but also a
break from the often hectic pace of our external worlds, to focus on our
inner landscape, cleansing the mind and spirit, creating a feeling
of lightness, and a clear and calm mind.

Essential oils hold great benefits when used in conjunction with meditation or
guided relaxation.  One that I recommend to clients regularly
is “Magnify Your Purpose”  from Young Living.

It assists with algining your inner and outer purpose.  So many times we find
we have a strong inner passion, yet it can be a challenge to bring that into alignment
and live it with integrity, as an outer passion in our families, work, and communities.

We best serve our selves when we can align our inner
and outer purpose by “shining the light” that we are. 

Maginify your purpose is a specially crafted blend of essential oils that stimulates
creativity, desire, focus, and motivation.

Whether your challenges are physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual this oil
helps foster a positive attitude, encouraging you to rise above adversity,
seize the initiative,overcome procrastination, and magnify your life’s purpose.

Live the life you were meant to live. Maginify Your Purpose and move forward
to it.  Find your passion, find your health.  You came here with a purpose, to live
a happy, healthy, and vibrant life.

It is important to recognize that we are always in the midst of a transition.

Often when we examine our health it’s easy to focus on what’s wrong at that moment….instead of how we’d like it to be.  Sometimes, if you’re living with symptoms of pain or illness, it’s so
easy to become focused on uncomfortable symptoms and you may miss small signs that healing is taking place.

Sometimes the most challenging part of healing is shifting your perceptions and beliefs.

For example, I noticed this when I was challenged by a skin disorder.  Instead of blessing my body for doing it’s job,(removing toxins through my body’s largest organ),  I focused on the fact that my body looked,”ugly” with breakouts on my face and back.

Yet, I had been “asking” for a deep healing….a healing from the inside out. As you become aware and more conscious of the wisdom of your body’s natural healing mechanisms and apply them in the context holistic modalities, you will be less likely to feel that you need to cover up or annihilate a symptom. 

Instead, you can be grateful for the divine wisdom and healing, releasing judgement as to we how you think it should “look”. 

At the time, I was drinking a shot of wheat grass  almost every day….and the chlorophyll was purifying and detoxifying my blood, sending toxins to the surface of my skin to be removed.

At this point it was beneficial to reassess my healing plan to determine what the next step should be. That is the beauty of a holistic approach to healing….it is fluid and flexible….not the “one size fits all” approach that many doctors use.

What were those skin breakouts trying to communicate?   In a holistic model it is less likely that I needed a trip to a dermatologist for an acne or cortisone cream.

It is more likely I could benefit from the added boost of dry brushing, or taking a bath with dosha appropriate essential oils….opening up pores and penetrating deep into the tissues, to assist with further removal of the toxins.

Or, maybe I needed to drink more water.

The point here is this……no matter where you are starting from, you must look for the good….you must shift your perception and awareness.

Divine healing, often the “miracle”, spontaneous healings that we hear about…….I believe happen THROUGH you, not to you.  They can only happen when you are willing to choose it…..willing to acknowledge the good, the divine innate wisdom of your body, and give thanks with gratitude for the healing that occurs even when it’s is not as you imagine it.

Sometimes you can miss the healing if you’re focused with your mind as to how you “think” it should be.   Focus on the end result, not the how.

Become a channel for healing.  Take the steps you need to take, move towards postivie actions each day……see and feel the end result you desire.  As one of my early spiritual mentors Robert Schuller used to say…….Count your “haves” not your “have nots”. I am grateful for those little break outs, they let me know what my next steps should be.

Signs and symptoms in your body can be a blessing that provide information about your imbalances, they are valuable to a holistic practitioner in creating a treatment plan specific for your needs.

I have often been outspoken about the ‘Cancer Industry” here in the united states.  It is big business, whether you realize it or not.

Hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies make enormous profits from treating patients with cancer.

People don’t die from the cancer they die from the treatment.    As Deepak Chopra, MD has said, “Cancer is nothing more than a cell that has forgotten how to die.”   This seems like such a simple answer, and it is.  Our cells are constantly dying off and regenerating themselves.  A cancer cell has had something out of the ordinary happen to effect it’s cellular memory so that it continues to grow in a manner that attacks the body.

Perhaps this video can shed even more clarity.  Could prevention be as simple as sticking with an alkalizing diet to keep fungus at bay.

As the “Natural Health Maven” , I can only do what feels most conducive to health and healing on any given day and encourage, support and empower others I come in contact with.

Each morning I include this affirmation/prayer in my meditation. Each day just seems to get better and better. More abundance, health and energy come my way. Now isn’t that naturally better for our health than buying into fear and distress?

Sometimes I get a little frustrated. I have, “been around” as they say, when it comes to our western “mainstream” medical system.   As a registerd nurse for the last 19 years, I’ve worked in  just about EVERY facet of our healthcare system, (both as a provider and consumer).  It is because of what I have “seen” that I chose to be a provider of natural health services,  a holistic practitioner and educator.

At times I can tend to have a rather harsh take on the medical community, and it can almost be seen as a negative, “alarmist” point of view.  My intention is to let you know that YOU are your own best “specialist”. I have personally healed from many chronic and acute health issues over the last 18 years…….because I was educated and listened to my self and my body, (and also because I had the insider’s scoop).

You can do the same…..you should do the same. No one knows your body, mind, and spirit better than you. Be willing to take responsibility for your self and your own needs.   Be willing to educate yourself about all the options available to you…the western mainstream choices, and the complementary/alternative ones.

Before I knew better, I had 3 surgeries on my low back…..an injury resulting from lifting a patient.  But years later I had the right tools and information so that I could avoid the surgery that 3 doctors said I needed for the herniated discs in my neck.

Let’s get real…they are surgeons, that’s how they make a living, what else would they say?   It’s also what they’ve  studied and what they are fluent in……it is their language.   But are they able to learn another language?  Some are.   We are beginning to see an emergence of doctors that are willing to learn new ideas about medicine and healing.  I believe it is because enough patients have defied the previous “laws” of science and medicine……healed through  universal laws that apply to body, mind, and spirit……and the results are large enough that they can’t be ignored any longer.

At one point I had a fierce conversation with a worker’s compensation attorney until he represented MY interests and requested acupuncture visits from the worker’s compensation board.  Acupuncture treatment was not part of their language for health and wellness.  After 10 visits, (and some other care that I bartered for), I completely recoverd without surgery.   It was a much better deal for their pocket books. 

Listen to your inner self, your inner healer. More people die from hospital acquired infections than the medical condition they originally went in for!

In all cases, whether holistic medicine or allopathic medicine, the practitoner is seeking to facilitate a healing; to alter the current state of dis-ease in the body.  It is up to you how that occurs.   I urge you to take pause from the “norm” and consider what all your options might be, working most closely with the innate healing wisdom of nature and your body, rather than relinquishing control of the circumstances and outcome to  a mechanical system.

Learn to shift your focus and ask questions that are in your best interest.   Become willing to entertain the notion that every imbalance in the body can present the opportunity for growth and change.  Rather than lamenting, “Why is this happeneing to me ? ” ponder the thought, “What can I learn about my body and my self from this experience ? “  In that surrender is the potential for great healing, sometimes almost spontaneous.

This is where your inner healer comes to life, when you ask a different question and listen patiently for a reply from within, you have accessed your inner healer.