Natural Grief or Persistent Depression?

Before talking about depression, it is important to distinguish it from the natural and necessary process of grieving. Depression is not grief. Grief is a normal and healthy way to cope with traumatic or sad events in your life. It is indeed a necessary mechanism to help you move on when things fall apart or you experience a loss. We all feel great sadness at different times in our lives, perhaps from the end of relationships, a divorce, moving away from family and friends, losing a job, or falling ill.

Even if you feel confused or hopeless after a loss or traumatic event, it does not necessarily mean you are depressed. You may be simply going through the grieving process, which is absolutely natural. Furthermore, since some events are more traumatic than others, they may require more time to grieve and recover. Now, if the sadness or depressed mood continues for a long period, then there is a chance you may be experiencing depression, and should seek professional help. Early treatment of depression can definitely help with a successful recovery and prevent severe recurrences.

Depression involves your mind, body, mood, and energy. It affects not only how you perceive the world, but also how you eat, sleep, think, and feel about yourself and others. It is not a sign of personal weakeness, it is a serious imbalance that needs attention and may have emerged from a variety of factors, both conscious and unconscious, past and present. Read the rest of this entry »

( 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.

This has been a saying that I adotped many years ago.  I can’t honestly remember when or where I first heard it.  When a colleague sent me this article by one of the leading experts in the field of clinical aromatherapy  I felt it an important reminder for any one wishing to heal illness with a bodymind approach.

Release the Emotion and the Disease Disappears
~~ by David Stewart

There are many books that connect physical diseases, illnesses, and conditions with unresolved emotions buried in our body and psyche. These books include “Feelings Buried Alive Never Die,” by Karol Truman, “A More Excellent Way,” by Henry Wright, “Heal Your Body,” by Louise Hay, and “Releasing Emotional Patterns with Essential Oils,” by Carolyn Mein. There is also a DVD entitled, “Emotional Releasing With Oils,” by David Stewart.

The idea is this. When we face a stressful emotional issue that we are unable to handle, our mind saves the memory for us to access at a later time when we will be more mature and better able to deal with it. Experiences that result in buried feelings tend to happen more often in our childhoods when we are less able to cope. They may be forgotten, consciously, but they are not lost. Instead they lodge as cellular memories, lurking in our bodies, only to come back to us as teenagers or adults resurrected, but disguised, as physical maladies. How does this happen?

Your Body as a Digital Library

Each cell of our body has 6 gigabytes of memory and we have an estimated 100 trillion cells. This provides each and every one of us an almost unlimited capability to store memories of forgotten traumas in our cells. When we face a situation we can’t handle, we don’t get to avoid it. We can postpone it, but we can’t avoid it. Stressful situations are opportunities to learn spiritual lessons we need to learn. So if we don’t handle the situation and resolve the feelings now, in present time, our minds do not forget and erase. They just postpone us having to deal with the crisis until we are more ready at some future time.

At the instant of the unbearable experience, your emotional (limbic) brain acts as a librarian with your body as the library. Your mind will choose a place to store that memory for future reference. If, say, the chosen place in your bodily library is your pancreas, then that tramatic memory will lodge there and you won’t even know such a memory is there, perhaps, for years. Eventually you develop hypoglycemia or a pain in your left side, which is your Pancreas’ way of tapping you on the shoulder to say, “There is an issue here you need to deal with.” If we don’t understand that the pancreas is attempting to communicate a message to us and we keep misunderstanding and postponing the taking of appropriate action, the hypoglycemia develops into diabetes or the pain just gets more severe. If we still don’t understand the message and respond, the condition can get worse and worse until we die.

Diseases as Coded Messages

Most bodily diseases are coded messages from our subconscious minds to remind us that unresolved issues, stored in our tissues, are seeking to be resolved. They are saying, “Now is the time. Fix it now.” You don’t need to wonder if you are ready and able to deal with the buried issues at this time or not. Your body’s wisdom knows when you are ready and chooses the right time for you. So any time you suffer from any physical condition, chronic or acute, ask yourself what happened in the past, perhaps even the distant past, that is the root cause this condition and then attempt to decode the message and take action to resolve it.

It takes a lot of honest introspection, prayer, and inner spiritual effort to succeed, but it is what we have to do. An emotional issue resolved is a spiritual lesson learned. When the emotional root of a physical condition has been resolved, the physical condition will disappear because it was only a message, a message no longer needed. It may not disappear overnight, it may take time, but it will disappear and, sometimes, literally overnight.

The rewards for engaging in dialy efforts to clear our emotional baggage are many. Our physical disabilities can disappear. Our happiness level increases and a sense of peace comes over us. We feel closer to God and a greater sense of security. We become more stable, more focused, and a more pleasant person to be around. Working on ourselves to throw out our emotional hitchhikders is one of the most rewarding things we can do for ourselves and for everyone around us.

A Case in Point

I recently was witness to a near-instant healing from an emotional release that dramatically demonstrated that “When the underlying emotion is cleared, the overlying malady disappears.”

I was doing a free public program on emotional releasing. 40-50 people had come. Before the meeting began I noticed a lady seated beyond the back row with her legs proped on a chair. I went back to tell her that she wouldn’t be able to see or hear as well back there and there were plenty of seats closer to the front. She replied that her legs and feet were severaly swollen and she had to keep them up on a chair in order to sit through the program without too much discomfort. She said that she did not know anything about essential oils and had come out of curiosity.

I returned to the front of the room and began the program. About an hour into the program I was talking about how certain physical conditions correspond to certain emotions. I asked the audience to name me some physical problems and I would look the roots in one of the books I had on hand. The lady in the back raised her hand and asked me to look up “edema or swelling in the lower limbs.” I did, and the answer was this is symbolic of “hanging onto things you need to let go of.” She nodded in agreement with that finding.

Later, during the last 45 minutes of the program, I called for a volunteer to be the receiver of a facilitated emotional release to be done on a massage table a the front of the room. Since many raised their hands as willing volunteers, we took names and drew one from a hat. The person with edema in the back of the room was the one drawn.

We went through the emotional releasing protocol, using a number of oils, as a teaching demonstration for the audience. Oils were applied to her feet, neck, and head while she was given oils to apply to her abdomen and heart at certain times during the demonstration. After the preparatory stage, releasing stage, and concluding grounding stage, all of which took only about 30 minutes, she was ready to sit up. She commented that she had let go of a lot of “stuff.” But that was all she said. She was given a bottle of water to drink and the program was concluded. That was in the afternoon.

“My Edema is No More!”

That evening I was giving a public program on “Healing Oils of the Bible” at the same community hall. An even larger group showed up for that when in walked the lady who had had the swollen legs and feet.

“Dr. Stewart,” she said, “Look at my shoes. They are brand new but I have not been able to wear them for months because of the swelling. But look! My edema is no more!” she exclaimed. “Today, within an hour after the program, my edema completely and totally disappeared and I can wear my new shoes again.”

It was quite visible that her extremities were no longer swollen. She was very happy and her face appeared to be years younger. That afternoon she had not been planning to return that evening for the Scriptural Oils program, but she did. And she was able to sit comfortably in a chair for a program lasting two-and-a-half hours without needing to prop her legs up, as had been necessary just a few hours earlier.

This is a good illustration of the dictum: “When emotions are resolved, the corresponding body condition disappears, because it was only a message which is now understood, acted upon, and no longer necessary.”

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 had the great fortune, when living in Austin, Tx, to meet Christopher Ian Chenowith,  I fell in love, (with his spirit).  He is one of the kindest and inspirational “new thought” leaders I know.

I receive his “daily inspiration” email/prayers, and they are ALWAYS right on.  Just what I need….even if it is three days old when I read it.

Today’s was  a good reminder to take time, and remember, when things seem tough; take the “High” road.  Surrender you will, take a deep breath and have faith in your higher path and higher purpose.  Natural Health is as much about our spiritual wellbeing as it is our physical wellness.

If you are living with health challenges, know that “this too shall pass”.  Let go!  Try a new approach that you may not have considerd before.  Be aware of new opportunites to heal.  Let go of what you thought it should be like, there may be another way.

Here is today’s Daily Inspiration from Chris………..

FREE Positive Daily Inspiration Television Message:
http://app.talkfusion.com/fusion2/view.asp?MzIzNjUx_1047760

Hello from our Positive Christianity family sailing the Mexican Riviera on
the beautiful Carnival Pride. Today we are sailing south having a full day
at sea. All morning long we are offering our Spiritual Retreat Programs.LET GO AND LET GOD

“In Thee my soul takes refuge.” Psalms 57:1

What do you let go, when you let go and let God?

Certainly, you let go of fear, you let anxiety go; you let feelings of
impatience go. You let go of any tendency to belittle or depreciate
yourself or to downgrade your abilities.

You decide once and for all to let go of a habit of saying, “I can’t,” and
hold to the realization that through the power of God in you – YOU CAN!

You let go of being upset or unhappy. If you have been upset or unhappy
because of the words or actions of another person, you let go and let God
by letting love take the place of these feelings.

You let go of criticism and blame. If you have criticized or blamed
another person, you let go and let God as you let God’s love and
forgiveness fill your heart in the new spirit of praise and appreciation.

You let go of the negative. When you let go and let God, you let go of the
negative stress and actively implement the positive.

This day, if any unwanted thoughts or feelings try to takeover, you
quietly and calmly let go and let God. Inside of your soul, there will be
a spirit of peace.

As you let go and let God, inside of your soul will be a spirit of love.

As you let go and let God, inside of your soul will be a spirit of faith.

As you let go and let God, inside of your soul will be a spirit of good.

God will take over in you and in all that concerns you.

“In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

In the quietness of prayer and in the full trust of God, will be your
strength this day.

There are times when you may have something to meet that seems almost
beyond your power to handle. At such times, let go and let God. Remember
that you never have to meet anything alone. God is with you, and with
God’s help you can meet the situation, whatever it may be, and you can
gain a blessing from it.

As you let go and let God, you overcome fear and uncertainty. As you place
yourself in all that concerns you lovingly in the hands of God, you will
know that God is in charge and all is well.

As you let go and let God, you are steadied in purpose, you are
strengthened in spirit, and you are quieted and calmed in your emotions.
As you let go and let God, you will know without any doubt that God is in
charge. God’s power is with you right now. God’s Spirit is working through
you right now to bless and transform every circumstance or condition. You
can come through victoriously, for God is with you.

Today is a day to let go and let God – place yourself and all that
concerns you lovingly in the hands of God, knowing that God is in charge
and all is well.

God Bless You! Have a GREAT day.
Rev. Christopher Ian Chenoweth
_____________________________________

Join us on our NEXT 2009 Positive Christianity Cruise:

http://www.positivechristianity.org/retreats.htm
Just $99 today signs you up: http://PositiveChristianity.org/donation.htm

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.