Conscious Life Free Online Magazine Ed 54 March 2019

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Conscious Life Magazine

CONTENTS 10

[

LOVE STARTS WITHIN

SELF DEVELOPMENT & PERSONAL GROWTH

12

3 CREATIVE WAYS TO HEAR YOUR INNER TRUTH

16

WHAT NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT COUPLES THERAPY

20

HOW TO MAKE RELATIONSHIPS WORK

25

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?

R

NATURAL HEALTH & WELLNESS

30

STRESS & STRESS MANAGEMENT

34

LOOKING TO BOOST POWER? TRY THIS 10-MINUTE TRICK

38

HOW POTASSIUM CAN HELP YOUR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

46

CAN TURMERIC REALLY COMBAT DISEASE



CONSCIOUS HEALING

56

HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR INNER CHILD DOING?

58

WHY WE NEED AN EMPATHY REVOLUTION

62

THE CONCEPT OF PEACE

65

CREATIVE PROJECT: YOUR SOUL LONGS TO EXPRESS ITSELF…

68

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL - CLEARING

70

JYOTISH VEDIC ASTROLOGY

R

HEALTHY INTAKE

75

SPOTLIGHT ON….BROAD BEANS

77

MANGO MOJITO SMOOTHIE RECIPE

b CONSCIOUS BODY 80

6 REASONS EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRY TAI CHI

Conscious Life Magazine

CONTENTS H

GREEN LIVING

88

TOP 10 HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS

91

BAMBOO AND BANANA BRAS? TIME TO LOOK AT ECO-FIBRES FROM PLANTS

_ ANIMAL WORLD 99

THE ADVANTAGES OF NEUTERING MALE DOGS & CATS

101

FISH ARE CAPABLE OF HUMAN-LIKE LOGIC

P WORKSHOPS, COURSES & RETREATS 106

RETREATS AT DHARMAGIRI SACRED MOUNTAIN RETREAT

P

GETAWAYS, SHOWS & EVENTS

118 SUNFLOWER FUND FUNDRAISING GOLF AND SPA DAYS 119 GREENPOP FESTIVALS THIS YEAR 120 AWESOME SHOWS AND EVENTS INCLUDING VALENTINE’S EVENTS 124 TRANQUIL GETAWAYS

_ REACH OUT 131 REACH OUT & HELP: DESERVING CHARITIES AND CAUSES

25

34

30

88

80

38

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Contributing Team & Experts

ABOUT US www.childoftheuniverse.co.za PUBLISHER 2Luni Media Articles from the late

EDITOR/OWNER Candida “Cj“ Matticks 087 802 6102 candida@childoftheuniverse.co.za

LOUISE L. HAY Author/Inspirational Speaker

MICHAEL HOWARD Mindshare

Copy Editor Linda Navon BrainGym

DR CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP

Articles written by the late

BRENT LINDEQUE

DR. WAYNE DYER

The Good Things Guy

HANNA KOK

SALES & MARKETING Sales & Marketing Manager Cj Matticks Sales Linda Navon CREATIVE TEAM Designer & Creative Director Cj Matticks

Author & Motivator

Content & Layout Assistant Linda Navon Digital Manager & Social Media Cj Matticks DISTRIBUTION & ACCOUNTS

Lee Coulter lee@childoftheuniverse.co.za

Articles written by the late

TORSTEN A. LANGE

HEATHER PICTON Founder ADHASA

Author, founder & director Reiki Academy London

LINDA NAVON Deputy Editor

CJ MATTICKS Editor

CONTACT NUMBERS TEL: 087 802 6102 011 026 2643 011 046 8737

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Contributing Team & Experts

MARGI McALPINE

PENNI DU PLESSIS

Angel Connection School

Divine Space

MICHELLE LESKE

DR SHAVIT SACHS

Egypt Tour Goddess

Naturopath

SIMON WING-LUN

VERONICA HAUPT

Founder: Unconditional Love Healing

Re-code Your Life

WHAT WE ARE ABOUT We believe in the ‘FIRST DO NO HARM’ principle and we select our content and advertisers accordingly. Our focus is on conscious lifestyle.

We cover topics around natural health & wellness: body, mind & spirit; conscious living for a cleaner planet, healthy recipes and fitness.

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ISSUU APP Conscious Life Magazine is published on ISSUU. Please download the ISSUU app via the Android and Apple App Stores. It is free to use. Please follow us on there. www.issuu.com/2luni-media DISCLAIMER The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the editor, advertisers or endorsers. While every effort has been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are both accurate and truthful, the publisher and editor accept no responsibility for inaccurate or misleading information that may be contained herein.

MEDIA & OTHER PARTNERS

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By Louise Hay & Robert Holden, Ph.D. “…until you know what you really want to say yes to, you will continue to say yes to everything else.” — Robert Holden In my experience, people say yes to too many things—we all do. Being a “Yes Man” or “Yes Woman” is something that is rewarded in our society—and yes, it is important to be a team player and share your gifts—but too often we don’t know where to draw the line, and we soon find that our own health and well-being has been compromised.

Is this a challenge that you can relate to in your own life?

The truth is: until you know what you really want to say yes to, you will continue to say yes to everything else.

Not knowing what you want can cause you to experience inner doubt, to be torn between contradictory goals, to get distracted and scattered, to feel compromised, to be exhausted, to get into unhealthy sacrifice.

Ultimately, the end result of this cycle is that you give your power away.

Find Your Inner Truth With an Affirmation Board So how can you get clear on what you want? How do you find your inner truth and reclaim your power? I want to share with you a practice Louise and I call My Affirmation Board.

An affirmation board is a self-portrait. It’s a presentation of everything your entire being says yes to. If you are familiar with the notion of a “vision board,” it’s very similar but we want Conscious Life Magazine

you to know that you don’t have to be limited to just images. The form of your affirmation board is entirely up to you, but here are some suggestions to get you started. Select a medium with which you are comfortable working.

Idea 1: Make a Collage Much like a vision board, you might do a collage of hand-drawn images, or pictures cut out of magazines or printed off the Internet. If you want to travel more, find pictures of the location you have always wanted to visit. If you want to take care of your body more, find mouth-watering images of healthy foods that will honor your body like the temple it is.

As you lay out your collage, be honest with yourself: what do you really want?

Idea 2: Make a List You might prefer to do a written list. Write down everything that you love, that makes you happy, or something that you want to bring into your life.

Louise and I have noticed that people’s first attempts at creating an affirmation board often focus on having and getting.

We encourage you to make sure your Sacred Yesses are more than just a shopping list. You might include developing a quality like courage, gratitude, or forgiveness, for instance. Maybe you want to practice a skill like meditation, yoga, painting, or cooking.

Photo by picjumbo.com from Pexels

Idea 3: Create a Mind Map Maybe you’d like to do a mind map. There are wonderful examples of mind maps on Pinterest that you can browse for ideas.

Ask yourself, “What do I want to learn?” and “What do I want to experience?” Include your favorite affirmation or a personal mantra, for instance.

Whatever you do, keep it to one page.

What Are Your Sacred Yesses?

You create your affirmation board by listening within. You are listening for your Sacred Yesses. These Sacred Yesses belong to you. They’re not your parents’ yesses or your partner’s, your children’s, or anybody else’s. They‘re not about what you should do with your life; they are about following your joy.

They affirm what you love, what you believe in, and what you cherish and value. They are about you living your truth. Find your Sacred Yesses, and you find your inner truth.

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The key is to express yourself, heart and soul. To focus on being rather than doing.

Louise and I encourage you to give your affirmation board plenty of time. Express yourself.

Be creative. Feel free to experiment. It’s not about getting it right. And it’s not about creating something that looks good.

If you want, you can share your board with a coach or a trusted friend. It’s good to get feedback.

Maybe they will point out something that you’ve missed. Finally, make sure that your affirmation board is about what you say yes to today—right now—not someday in the future. Remember, this isn’t about chasing happiness—it is about following your joy.

As you get clearer about the Sacred Yesses of your life, you experience a sense of empowerment and grace that helps you to live a truly blessed life.

Adapted from Life Loves You (2015) by Louise Hay & Robert Holden, Ph.D. “Life loves you and you have the power within you to create a life you love.”

Do we live in a friendly universe?

Is there a kindness to life’s design?

Is there a bigger plan for your life?

Louise Hay has been an inspiration to millions since her best-selling book You Can Heal Your Life was published, and in this new book—a joint project between Louise and Robert Holden, Ph.D., best-selling author of Shift Happens! and Loveability—readers will delve into the power of one of Louise’s most loved affirmations: Life Loves You. It is the heart thought that represents her life and her work. Together, Louise and Robert look at what life loves you really means. Life doesn’t just happen to you; it happens for you. In a series of intimate and candid conversations, they dig deep into the power of love, the benevolent nature of reality, the friendly universe, and the heart of who we really are.

See More

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Other books written by Louise L. Hay

By Lexi Weber

I believed couples therapy would pretty much guarantee that the two of us would work out all of our issues as a couple. Spoiler alert: It didn't.

My boyfriend and I had been dating for over a year. After separating for a couple of months, we happily rekindled and decided together that we should enlist an impartial professional to help us work through some communication issues and learn how to fight better. An older, mutual friend who my boyfriend and I both respected had shared with us that before proposing to his wife, they agreed to couples counseling. "You know," he said, "to make sure that we weren't dragging any dead bodies into the relationship. No lingering resentments, secrets, or issues. It was just what we needed," he told us. I felt my hopes skyrocket.

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So, once a week we'd meet in a tiny, dimly lit office and unpack all of our past hurt and childhood wounds under the guidance of a psychologist. She studied our dynamics and how they were preserving patterns that were driving us crazy. Because ours wasn't a last-ditch effort to mend the relationship, I thought that it would just make what was good better. The beauty, it seemed, was that we were in this thing together.

In the first several sessions, I looked forward to digging deeper into the inner workings of our relationship. We were in love, and I naively believed that love was all a couple really needs.

"Often, underlying concerns that have not been acknowledged will emerge [during couples therapy]," Sonny Kalis, a licensed clinical professional counselor who specializes in relationships, tells me. "It is often surprising to people to discover that actually bringing things to light makes the resolution much easier. The hard part is for each of us to know and acknowledge our truth.

This is often very scary. Vulnerability and intimacy are closely interwoven, but we are often selfprotective and defensive about revealing our truth to ourselves and to our partners.“ More issues were revealed as our sessions continued. When I wanted to sit down and discuss the hard things, he didn't. When he wanted to talk, I could never find my footing or my voice.

We both cared deeply about the other person, there was a shared history and some semblance of hope for the future—but the trust was disappearing. When things got too uncomfortable or hard, my go-to reaction was packing my bags and running for the hills or the spare room in my friend's apartment or my parents' house a few miles away. When it came to fight or flight, I was always opting for the latter.

There comes a point in couples' therapy when you have to be able to answer some hard questions: Am I still willing to do the work together?

When it came to tackling our disagreements, we tried what I thought was compromise. He wanted to spend time exploring his interests; I wanted to spend time as a couple outside of therapy. So I became interested in the things he was doing in his spare time: long-distance running, CrossFit, learning how to adopt a paleo lifestyle, and training for a triathlon. I joined the same gym, bought a road bike, and learned how to make cherry cobbler with an almond flour crust and a whipped cream topping made out of coconut milk. My friends wondered why I stopped reading my poetry in local cafes and hanging out with them on Sunday mornings eating pancakes. I told them that I was really into perfecting my handstand pushups and living a healthier lifestyle. In many ways, this was very true, but what I couldn't see yet was how far away from myself I had gotten.

About four months in, I understood that the fairy-tale ending I was hoping for was probably not in the cards for us. The therapy that I thought would bring us closer together only showed us why we needed to spend some more time apart. In fact, it became clear that my boyfriend and I were no longer on the same page of the narrative I had crafted. I kept thinking that if I could just fix these things about myself that drove him crazy, if only I could change a bit faster, or evolve the right way, then we would be fine.

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I'd get my happy ending. I was white-knuckling the process, hoping something would eventually shift us back into that happy-on-the-surface-and-still-very-hopeful couple who walked in the doors of therapy for the first time. This is not to say that the therapy wasn't working; it just was not working the way that I wanted it to. We were learning more about each other and our dynamic; we just weren't liking what we were finding.

There comes a point in couples' therapy when you have to be able to answer some hard questions: Am I still willing to do the work together? Do I want to keep searching below the surface? Do I have the courage and compassion to really lean into the ugly and uncomfortable?

"Once that doubt about the marriage creeps in, it becomes harder to remember the reason you got married in the first place," says Eddy Wooten, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

"Once in session, the goal is usually to stop discussing what the spouse is or isn't doing and to focus on what each person is contributing to the marriage and how they can contribute more.

Couples that do come in to see me often question their compatibility. However, during the therapeutic process, they begin to realize they were working way too hard to get their spouse to please them, resulting in them forgetting what it takes to please themselves. These, as well as most couples I encounter, begin to find happiness in their marriage again when they finally decide to accept their partners for who they are and feel free to live their lives without judgment from their spouse as well.“ I spent so much time trying to navigate my way through the relationship that I lost total sight of myself. We eventually stopped attending joint sessions, and I began going on my own. Within a year, our relationship finally came to an end. I think on some very subconscious level, we both knew that we needed out, and as the old saying goes, the only way out was through. Through the wonderfully sweet moments, through the painful separations, through the doors of therapy.

No one told me that couples therapy could lead to the end of a relationship I so desperately wanted to work—or that breaking up could actually be the best thing for the both of us.

Although I didn't know it at the time, the therapy had worked: It had delivered us our relationship's much-needed culmination, which I know looking back was, in fact, the healthiest path forward for us.

Sometimes I wish I could sit down with that terrified, codependent young woman who'd first sat down on that psychologist's couch and share the outcome with her. Not the end of the relationship but the beginning of an entirely new chapter of her life. The heartache will be awful and scary and probably worse than you're imagining, I would tell her, but there is so much joy and peace just on the other side.

I'd like to remind her of the long game she was playing, that by letting go of this relationship, she was saving the one she has with herself.

Conscious Life Magazine

As you love, you attract.

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

You cannot escape the result of your thoughts; But you can endure and learn, accept and be glad.

You will realize the vision of your heart, not the idle wish.

You will gravitate toward that which you secretly most love.

In to your hands will be placed the exact result you earn; no more, no less.

Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts…

Your vision…

Your ideal.

So watch your thoughts – they make your world!

Anonymous

How to Make Relationships Work

Article by Sergio Salotto

Photo by picjumbo.com from Pexels

Before writing anything on this subject, I first looked up the definition of a relationship. The Collins Dictionary shows: Relationship: the state of being connected or related.

As that does not seem to explain much about a relationship, I looked up the definition for "related".

Related: having a mutual relation or connection Okay, maybe getting closer.

Relation: any connection, correspondence or association, which can be conceived as naturally existing between things.

Though each of these words have several other definitions, I have chosen these specific ones because I think they are rather pertinent for exploring my point about how to make relationships work.

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The first thing I note about the inter-relationship of these words is that a relation is something which naturally exists between things. It does not differentiate between anything or anybody.

Being natural by nature implies to me that it does not require working at, it just is – as a relationship should be. By combining the definitions of these three words, a relationship could be defined to mean: the state of being mutually related in a natural way. If a relationship was to exist naturally like this, then by this definition we ought to be able to enjoy a natural, non-discriminatory, unconditional, mutual relationship with anything and anybody. Okay, you could say I am just playing with words and manipulating them to satisfy my own objective. But that is far from my intention and objective. From what follows you might see why I use of this definition to describe or define a relationship.

Applying this definition as a means for analyzing the problems we experience in our relationships, this says nothing about such things as:

• • • • • • • • • •

exercising or having control over anything or anybody being domineering and judgmental having to compromise oneself for the sake of others having to work to keep things together being conditional being greater or lesser than someone else discriminating between anything or anybody having any rights to or over anything or anybody expecting others to fulfil your needs having the right to take from others making others responsible for your welfare

Where this definition best manifests itself is probably in nature where no two things are exactly the same not even the petals of a flower. Each is unique.

Together they create the beauty of the flower as a whole. The flower is in turn unique and unlike any other. Put together they form a beautiful bunch regardless of whether or not they are of the same kind. Consider how it would be if every flower was exactly the same – yes, boring, uninteresting. Much like a vase of manmade artificial satin/plastic flowers.

Photo by Jasmine Wallace Carter from Pexels

Photo by Zun Zun from Pexels

•

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What if humans were each like the petal of a flower? Unique individuals which, by "standing" together, could manifest the beauty of the human specie. If we are able to accept nature unconditionally for what it is, why are we not be able to unconditionally accept every person for who and what they are? And experience each other's beauty in the same manner as we experience the beauty of nature?

One of the reasons cited for our relationships not working naturally and perfectly is based on our belief that humans are imperfect. But what is imperfection? How do we measure it?

What basis or point of reference do we have about perfection to conclude that we are imperfect? Is it religious faith, a human notion, man’s history of destructive behaviour, or is it simply a belief we are proclaiming and holding onto as a fact of human reality?

Without knowing what constitutes perfection, how do we conclude whether or not we are imperfect? By seeing and considering ourselves imperfect it makes us deficient and therefore in need. And where there is need there will be fear – the fear of not being good enough, not having, not achieving. Fears that block and prevent us from exercising any degree of real freedom of choice. If we do not exercise free choice, we cannot experience fulfilment, inner peace and contentment. That will result in us continuing to war both with ourselves and those around us in our need to fight for and take in order to fulfil our emotional needs - which are driven by our MOULD. One of our fundamental objectives for everything we do in our life is to get recognition, unconditional acceptance, and, ultimately, love. Now, where do you think you will find all these things? There is only one source. Within yourself. You will not find them anywhere or from anyone else. Like a new

born child, you are born with all the love, happiness, joy, self-worth, confidence, peace and contentment that you will ever need.

What that means is that you actually have no needs, you already have everything you are looking for. The only thing blocking you from experiencing your greatness, are your feelings and belief driven by your MOULD. Except for that, you would have no needs. Which means, that if you have no needs, then you are and have been a complete human being from the beginning. And if you are complete, then you are also whole. If you are whole, then you are perfect.

The long held belief and notion that humans are imperfect is false. And this belief is the root source of all our problems ... and what continues to drive our destructive behaviour.

For you to experience your perfection, you must realise and accept responsibility that your MOULD is nothing more than a belief of your own creation and that you therefore have total control and the power to un-create it. The way to un-create and eliminate this from your life is to accept that you have no needs, that you are already complete, and accept yourself unconditionally without any form of judgement. That will enable you to live your life exercising true freedom of choice to live your life liking what you do - fulfilling your life purpose. By this you become an automatic Giver to everyone and everything irrespective of culture, religion, gender, colour or creed – because you have no emotional needs to satisfy.

Where two people get into a relationship as Givers, the relationship takes on a completely different meaning. It now takes on a real purpose. The purpose of unconditionally accepting and supporting one another to fulfil each one's respective life purpose. A relationship created through this, allows each person to conduct their lives independently of the other yet at the same

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time, it achieves an indescribable bond and sense of togetherness - at all levels.

In case this should raise the question of infidelity, the unity and independence created by such a relationship will not result in a free license for a partner to sleep around. If anything, it has the opposite effect because one has no emotional needs or ego to satisfy through sleep around, partying and getting drunk, using drugs or anything of that nature.

When coming from a point of perfection, love also takes on a far greater and profound meaning of togetherness. The need to use sex as a means for experiencing being loved and accepted does not exist. As unconditional love can exist without sexual involvement, in such a relationship sex becomes an awesome expression of each partner’s self-love and of giving unconditionally and totally to their partner.

Two people in a relationship of unconditional acceptance of their own perfection will experience their relationship as a state of being mutually related in a natural way.

If you have to work at keeping your relationship together, the chances are that it is not really working to its true and natural potential. Chances therefore are that you are on rocky ground.

Photo by Drigo Diniz from Pexels

In such a relationship there will be no need to work at it to keep it together or going. It just works.

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Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

Article by Michael Howard If you know the answer to this question, you’re probably deluded.

Your purpose (delusion) is keeping you happy – like a mind-numbing drug. And it’s keeping you trapped, unable to think further than the ‘you’ it’s built around.

I say probably because there are people that know their purpose and see absolutely correctly. The light of truth has shone though to illuminate their deepest selves, where they’ve discovered the treasure of the only true purpose.

Purpose is intention These few know there is no purpose other than one: to know self fully.

This one is not so much a purpose as it is an intention. It is not something you can achieve through a set of new-year resolutions and disciplines. It is a simple state of living with openness to knowing all there is to know about your life. It is a state of humble inward seeking.

The Christian mystic, Thomas Keating, says the purpose of life is to reach union with the

ultimate reality, which is none other than the true self. He propounds a daily practice of affirming one’s intention to let go of the false self and all its habitual thoughts and emotions; the false self that may have latched onto some other so-called purposes (delusions).

Islam teaches that the purpose of life is to find peace within ourselves.

Buddhism talks of a happy life through being compassionate to all sentient beings.

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Yogi and mystic, Sadhguru, says the purpose of life is to live fully, which means knowing every dimension of yourself.

As can be seen, these wisdom traditions all point to an inward experience in the quest for purpose and meaning.

Outward purpose The worst disservice of western culture is that we are brainwashed into believing we must have an outward purpose. We must seek this purpose.

We have wonderful success stories paraded in the media, especially autobiographies on social media, of those who have found their purpose.

We compare ourselves to them, as we flounder around not knowing ours.

We are bombarded with positive psychology and quick-steps to success that talk of goal-setting and attainment.

We feed the need for delusion – for the belief that we must have a purpose and that we are all destined for some outward success. It is our birth right to have a God-given purpose.

And so we expend undue mental and emotional energy seeking it. If we can’t seem to find it, we think there must be something wrong with us.

We call those who find life purposeless or meaningless, depressed. Or we say they’re just lazy, or unproductive – not contributing to our wonderful societies of success.

Or, in religiousrighteousness we look down on them as forsaken.

“Shame, she apparently has a chemical imbalance that prevents her from functioning in ‘normal’ life.”

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“Poor guy, he has obviously not been blessed like those who know their purpose and are on the road to achieving it… like those prosperous religious folk over there.”

True self But this ‘normal’ of society is defined by a culture that is deluded in the sense that it operates at the level of feeding the false self – a very limited and lower dimension of human being.

The journey Those that struggle long and hard with the question, “What is my purpose?” are on a journey of true-self-discovery. For them life is not simple, nor easy, nor happy, for much of the time.

This is because they are not living in the consoling delusional dimension of false self.

Those that are cruising on a certain path, with sure purpose, are missing the real purpose of their lives. They are more likely to be well-adapted to life, to be achieving their goals and attaining success. But they are less likely to be learning much about their inner selves – about ultimate reality.

So, if you should find yourself struggling to find a purpose and meaning for your life, do not despair. Instead embrace it.

Intentionally let go of what you’ve been told and allow yourself on an exploration of true self. There you’ll find true purpose.

Simply live in the present moment, and commit, again and again, to the intention to let go. An intention is much gentler than a purpose. It is largely out of your hands. All you have to do is practice affirming the intention. The rest is done for you.

The beauty of your true self, and the peace of knowing every dimension of yourself, dawns upon you like a gift.

And when you have tasted that gift, you will see the mindnumbing delusion of life for what it is. You will have nothing to fulfill. You will just live.

Click Here To Buy My Novel Death is a delusion. See for yourself. Greta, Anne and Mark make an unusual love triangle.

Greta is the late wife who died of Huntington’s disease. And Anne, the volatile second wife, sees dead people.

Husband Mark is a consulting engineer with no inclination toward flights of fancy, until Anne’s shocking death. He’s convinced he spent hours in conversation with her, but she was already lying lifeless in a coroner’s office miles away. The doctor tells him his experience is typical of psychotic episodes induced by trauma.

Photo By Nine Kopfer on Unsplash

What is far more ‘normal’ for conscious, trans-personal beings like we humans are, is to be engrossed in the inner beauty of the true self. To know our selves more deeply. To find happiness in compassion. These are the endeavours we should be expending energy on for they point to a reality way higher than the physical… and coincidentally other lifenecessities flow effortlessly after we have prioritised true self.

So begins Mark’s journey into the paranormal. He worries his experiences are symptoms of his cracked mind, but the enlightening presence of Anne, and a spiritual teacher’s wisdom, begin to convince him otherwise.

Then indisputable proof. Mangled metal and dismembered bodies fade from his sight as he enters the eternal sea of consciousness.

It is time to know that the good doctor’s diagnosis was wrong.

Time to look and see for himself that the line between this world and the next is blurred, and death is a delusion.

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Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

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Conscious ConsciousLife LifeMagazine Magazine

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By Dr Shavit Sachs - Naturopath

The year has started and as we’ve fallen into daily routine, I’m sure we’ve also fallen into the same stress routine – a stressful one. One that isn’t so easy to manage, or one that isn’t managed at all! In this day and age, we cannot stress LESS. Stress forms part of our daily lives. However, we can stress BETTER! WHAT IS STRESS? Your stress hormone is called cortisol and its function is to mediate stress by suppressing inflammation and the immune system.

Stress can be good – that surge of adrenaline that you feel before a date, interview, a new job helps boost energy, attentiveness and helps us perform better! But this surge comes just as quickly as it goes, that’s when it is useful. When this becomes a long-term activation, we need to take a step back and understand what’s gotten to us and why our body is in overdrive.

With long term stress, suppression of inflammation and immune system is overridden. While cortisol usually tells the immune system to calm down, long term stress (which means high cortisol), causes the body to become somewhat deaf to cortisol saying, “let’s cool it with the inflammation, body!”

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This long term stress causes your body to function in a fight and flight mode. Constantly.

Now, good digestion, sleep, relaxation, brain function, and over all well-being all rely on a good balance between fight and flight (called the sympathetic nervous system SNS) and rest and digest (called the parasympathetic nervous system PNS). And this is where stress management plays a huge role as having a constantly stressed out state doesn’t allow the body to go into PNS. The idea with stress management is to allow the body to have this good balance and implementing stress management techniques will aid this process.

PARASYMPATHETIC WHAT? Important functions which are mediated by your PNS are good quality sleep, salivation, digestion, sexual arousal, tears, defecation and proper respiration. Isn’t it incredible

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to think that if we managed our stress better we’d sleep better, digest better, have less bouts of bloating, cramping, constipation, oxygenate our blood better, ... When our body is in a constant fight or flight mode, these processes cannot occur correctly causing us to get indigestion, constipation, fatigue, bad moods, disturbed sleep...

PRACTICAL STRESS MANAGEMENT TIPS: The easiest (and most overlooked) technique of all is deep breathing! Inhale deeply for 4 counts, hold your breath for 6 counts, and exhale for 8 counts. Another way of doing it is inhaling fully, holding your breath for 7 counts and slowly exhaling out. Doing these deep breaths 10-12 times is enough to switch your body from fight and flight to rest and digest! Doing these deep breaths before meals will also help the body transition into the rest and digest mode so to eat and digest better. This forms part of mindful eating so breath deeply and be present in your meals.

Meditation is another great way of practicing stress management, and it doesn’t need to be the “classical” meditation we know. Find a sound or guided meditation online and listen to it after work or before bed. Better yet, download one of the many meditation apps around! Currently, my favourite is Simple Habit.

Journaling and speaking are my favourite ways of venting out. Whether on a page, in a journal, to a close friend or a therapist, this can help to release pent up frustration! Remember to preface your vent with “I just need you to listen” if that’s what you need.

Gratitude journaling is a wonderful way to center ourselves and bring us back to reality. Every morning or evening (or both!) write three things for which you are grateful. It helps even the worst of the worst of days.

Adaptogens are an amazing group of herbs that work to help the body adapt to external

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stressors. My favourites are Rhodiola and Ashwaganda. Rhodiola was used by ancient Viking to increase physical strength and endurance and to treat the nervous system.

Ashwaganda is an ayurvedic herb that has historically been used to release emotional tension, physical discomfort and promotes stability in the body.

When I really can’t sleep, my mind is racing or the anxiety and worry is super high, I love to use L-theanine – an amino acid that is sometimes referred to as “yoga in a bottle”.

Always check with your naturopath or healthcare practitioner before taking any new supplements.

Most of us would benefit from an individualised stress management plan, so consider visiting your naturopath or healthcare practitioner for a personalised stress and lifestyle assessment.

Solgar’s Rhodiola Root Extract R343.95 from Wellness Warehouse Click Here For More Info & To Buy

Good Life Organic Ashwagandha (Winter Cherry) R133.00 from Faithful To Nature Click Here For More Info & To Buy

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Photo by Andrey Pavlov

Article by By Darcy McDonough - MindBodyGreen You probably already know about the myriad health benefits associated with a daily mindfulness practice. Meditation has been credited with everything from stress relief to weight loss and even increasing longevity. But finding the time and patience to actually implement a regular meditation practice can be intimidating. Who has 10—or even five—extra minutes in their busy schedule to just sit down and be? And when you actually do try it out, you might feel like you aren't getting anything out of it.

Not to worry, though: Turns out, you can reap the brain-boosting benefits of meditation even if you haven't made a regular habit of it. A new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, found that just one 10-minute meditation session improved cognitive function and performance.

In the study, college students were asked to either listen to a 10-minute guided meditation or a control recording before taking a test. Students who had listened to the meditation performed significantly better than the control students. Interestingly, none of the students had meditated before the study, suggesting even a newbie can reap the benefits. Meaning: Just one session of mindfulness meditation can instantly boost your brain power, no experience necessary.

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So if you have a test, job interview, or big presentation coming up, try taking 10 minutes to yourself for a quick meditation beforehand. You might just find you are cognitively sharper and— dare we say it?—smarter for it.

The benefits of meditation go beyond feeling smarter.

Some other cool benefits of meditation? Meditation can make you a better athlete. A recent study in the Journal of Health Psychologyfound that mindfulness meditation can improve recovery time, prevent athlete burnout, and increase motivation to exercise regularly—implying that meditation not only strengthens our minds but can help strengthen our bodies, as well.

In addition, meditation may make you a better romantic partner. A meta-analysis in the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension found that mindfulness improved relationship satisfaction and connectedness. It might even quell the occasional lover's spat. Due to meditation's positive influence on the area of the brain responsible for detecting threats and regulating emotions, it may help you keep your cool in an argument or stop it from happening in the first place. One study even found that mindfulness may deactivate parts of the brain associated with negative emotions and criticism.

Not into meditation yet? Here are some tips for starting your own practice.

Sold on meditation but not sure where to start? You can certainly use the 10-minute meditation trick for a quick brain boost. But if you are looking to start a long-term practice, here's what some of our favorite experts recommend: 1. Functional medicine expert, mbg class instructor, and mbg Collective member Will Cole, D.C., IFMCP, thinks the mind is one of the most neglected aspects of health. In fact, he prescribes meditation to all of his patients. He told us, "We can eat the healthiest foods in the world, chug kombucha, and throw back wheatgrass shots—but we can't be truly healthy if we aren't feeding our mind. What does it serve us if we're eating organic but serving ourselves toxic thoughts and emotions?" To create a manageable meditation practice, Cole suggests starting small with just a few minutes a day, twice a day, and working your way up to 10 to 20 minutes.

2. This year, at revitalize, yoga teacher, mbg class instructor, and mbg Collective member Caley Alyssa led us through a guided meditation with yoga nidra. Sometimes referred to as "yogic sleep," this relaxing form of meditative yoga is practiced by learning to allow the body to fall asleep while the mind remains awake. Yoga nidra can boost resilience and restore energy. If you are already a yogi, you may find this a nice transition to including more mindfulness practices into your routine.

3. If your mind is all over the place and you are worried you aren't getting anything out of meditating, don't sweat it. mbg class instructor and Vedic meditation teacher Light Watkins told us, "The mistake new meditators often make is to look for signs of success within the meditation itself. But success in meditation should not be measured by the frequency or content of your thoughts during the practice. True success can only be determined by what happens outside of your daily practice." So keep at it, even if you don't think you are doing it "right.”

Whether you are looking for a quick brain boost or long-term health benefits, meditation is the perfect addition to your wellness routine.

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Ready to start meditating? Check out our 14-Day Guide to Meditation, led by expert Light Watkins.

And are you ready to learn more about how to unlock the power of food to heal your body, prevent disease & achieve optimal health? Register now for our FREE Functional Nutrition Webinar with Kelly LeVeque.

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How Potassium Can Help Your High Blood Pressure

By Dr Joseph Mercola According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one-third of Americans suffers from high blood pressure (hypertension).1 Another 33 percent have pre-hypertension, where their blood pressure is higher than desirable but not high enough to be classified as hypertension.

Hypertension carries a high cost to your health. It is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke,2 which are in the first and fifth position for leading causes of death in the U.S.3 The financial burden is over $48 billion each year in direct medical costs and lost work days, but does not include a number of other health conditions worsened by hypertension, including kidney disease and cognitive decline.

Only 54 percent of those with hypertension have their blood pressure under 4 control. Unfortunately, while blood pressure monitoring has become commonplace at the

dentist's and eye doctor's offices, the CDC estimates 1 in 5 people are not aware they have hypertension.

There are several ways to reduce your blood pressure without drugs, which I discuss below.

Among them is balancing your potassium level, as this electrolyte has a significant effect on muscle contraction and arterial wall relaxation, but most Americans barely get half of the recommended daily allowance.5

What Is High Blood Pressure?

When your physician takes your blood pressure, he uses a sphygmomanometer to measure the amount of pressure your heart exerts to push blood through your arterial

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system. The top number represents the highest pressure and the bottom number is the lowest pressure needed. These numbers are related to the elasticity and diameter of your arterial walls.

When the pressure required to circulate your blood is high, it places an abnormal amount of stress on your heart muscle and smaller arteries, and reduces the amount of oxygen delivered to the smallest blood vessels in your body. Both of these consequences account for many of the secondary effects of hypertension.

Your blood pressure reading can vary throughout the day, so one high reading is not a concern. It is only when your blood pressure is consistently or chronically higher than normal that significant health conditions may occur.

The validity of your blood pressure reading will be affected by the size of the blood pressure cuff, the position of the cuff on your arm and whether you're nervous.

Measuring your blood pressure in both arms at the same office visit may also give your vital information about your circulatory health.

A number of studies have revealed that a significant difference between your right and left arm pressure may indicate circulatory problems that raise your risk for stroke, peripheral artery disease or other cardiovascular problems.

While small differences between your arms is normal, researchers found when there is a difference of 5 points in the systolic reading (top number) it doubled the risk of dying from heart disease in the following eight years.6 The difference suggests the presence of plaque in the artery supplying the arm with the higher pressure.7

In a meta-analysis evaluating mortality rates of over 17,000 participants with inter-arm systolic blood pressure differences, researchers found participants with less than 10 points difference compared to those with greater than 10 point difference between arms suffered a 58 percent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.8 However, when the difference increased to 15 points, the risk increased to 88 percent.

“Potassium works in your body to relax the walls of your arteries, keep your muscles from cramping, and lowers your blood pressure�

Dr. Paul Welton, professor of epidemiology at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, did an analysis in 1997 of over 29 trials that demonstrated low levels of potassium resulted in higher systolic blood pressure readings.10 Studies performed since then have found similar results.11,12According to Welton:13 "The evidence is very strong and very consistent. A higher potassium intake may blunt the effects of excess salt on blood pressure. Potassium's effect is bigger in people who have higher blood pressure, bigger in older people, bigger in people who are consuming a lot of salt and bigger in black people.�

Potassium works in your body to relax the walls of your arteries, keep your muscles from cramping, and lowers your blood 14 pressure. The reduction in blood pressure with added potassium has also been associated in studies with a reduced risk of stroke.15

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The Many Benefits of Potassium Recent research found that women without hypertension who consumed the most potassium (nearly 3,200 mg/day) had a 21 percent reduced risk of stroke. Further, women who consumed the most potassium were 12 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who consumed the least.16 According to the study's lead researcher:17 "Potassium may play a role in improving blood vessel function in our brains. This could allow better oxygenation of our brain tissue, and prevent tissue death that occurs from lack of oxygen to the brain ‌ The effect of potassium consumption on reduced stroke risk could also be due to a better diet overall, though we did not investigate this in our study."

Potassium should be the third most abundant mineral in the human body. Adequate amounts of potassium are also associated with quicker recovery from exercise and improved muscle strength.18,19As an electrolyte, potassium helps to regulate the fluid balance in your cells and throughout your body.20 Fluid balance is essential to maintaining life, preventing dehydration at the cellular level and maintaining brain function.21 Potassium is important in the transmission of nerve impulses in your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.22 Nerve impulses transmitting information from one nerve to the next happens as the result of electrical activity. This activity is what an electrocardiogram measures as it tracks heart activity.

Low levels of potassium have been linked with high levels of insulin and glucose, associated with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.23 These results have been found in several studies,24leading researchers to recommend dietary choices that boost potassium levels and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Effects of High Blood Pressure on Your Body Unfortunately, 20 percent of people who suffer with high blood pressure are unaware of the condition, significantly increasing their potential risk of health problems. With uncontrolled or poorly controlled hypertension, you

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increase the risk of significant health effects that reduce your quality of life and have a negative effect on the length of your life.

Hypertension increases your risk of stroke as it can cause blood vessels in your brain to rupture or clog more easily. In both instances, oxygen supply to a portion of the brain ceases and a stroke results.25 The increased workload on the heart muscle may result in heart failure, and damage to the arteries supplying the heart muscle with oxygen may result in a heart attack.

Hypertension may damage the smaller arteries, reducing the amount of oxygen delivered and severely impacting the ability of organs to function, such as your kidneys and eyes. This may result in kidney failure and vision loss. The damage to smaller blood vessels is called microvascular disease and may lead to angina, or chest pain when the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, and sexual dysfunction.

Atherosclerosis is another form of damage to the arterial system from hypertension that may result in peripheral vascular disease. The narrowing of the arteries may occur in the legs, arms, stomach and head, triggering pain and fatigue.

Sodium/Potassium Ratio Is Key to Strong Muscles and Relaxed Arteries The key to relaxing your arterial walls and reducing your blood pressure is the sodium to potassium ratio. In the United States and many other developed countries, salt has been vilified as a primary cause of high blood pressure and heart disease. According to research presented at last year's American Heart Association meeting,26 excessive salt consumption contributed to 2.3 million heartrelated deaths worldwide in 2010.

However, it's important to realize that most Americans and other Westerners get the majority of their sodium from commercially available table salt and processed foods — not from natural unprocessed salt. So, not only is the ratio between potassium and sodium important, so is the type of sodium consumed.

If you eat a lot of processed foods and not many vegetables, there's a good chance your sodium-to-potassium ratio is unbalanced. If you're not sure, try using cronometer.com/mercola, which allows you to enter the foods you eat and then calculates the ratio automatically. It's generally recommended that you consume five times more potassium than sodium, but most Americans get the opposite ratio, eating two times more sodium than potassium.

This ratio is more important than your overall salt intake.27 A better strategy to promote public health would be to forgo the strict sodium reduction element and focus recommendations instead on a high-quality diet rich in potassium, as this nutrient helps offset the hypertensive effects of sodium.

Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:

Kidney Stones

Memory Decline

Osteoporosis

Cataracts

Erectile Dysfunction

Stomach Ulcers

Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Why a Balanced Diet Is Your Best Option to Improve Your Potassium Level Getting nutrients from your food instead of supplements is preferable as your food contains more than a single nutrient and in different forms. For instance, potassium found in fruits and vegetablesis potassium citrate or potassium malate, while supplements are often potassium chloride. The citrate and malate forms help produce alkali, which may promote bone health28 and preserve lean muscle mass as you age.29 Bone loss may lead to brittle bones or even osteoporosis. While potassium in fruits and vegetables may help build bone health, potassium chloride may not. As researcher Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes from Tufts University explains:30 "If you don't have adequate alkali to balance the acid load from the grains and protein in a typical American diet, you lose calcium in the urine and you have bone loss … When the body has more acid than it is easily able to excrete, bone cells get a signal that the body needs to neutralize the acid with alkali … And bone is a big alkali reservoir, so the body breaks down some bone to add alkali to the system.”

Research by Dawson-Hughes found that people who were in the neutral range for net acid excretion, meaning they had a fairly healthy balance for bone and muscle health, were eating just over eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day along with 5.5 servings of grains.

When they rounded this out, it came to about half as many grains as fruits and vegetables. For many Americans a simple recommendation to increase your alkali (and potassium) while reducing acid is to eat more vegetables and fewer grains.31

Other Drug-Free Methods to Keep Blood Pressure Under Control Here are several suggestions to help keep your blood pressure under control and reduce your risk of organ damage.

Address insulin and leptin resistance to impact magnesium and nitric oxide — High blood pressure is associated with insulin resistance, which results from eating a diet too high in sugar. As your insulin level rises, so does your blood pressure. Insulin stores magnesium, but if your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can't store magnesium so it passes out of your body through urination.

Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles. If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax, and this constriction raises your blood pressure.

Fructose also elevates uric acid, which drives up your blood pressure by inhibiting the nitric oxide in your blood vessels. (Uric acid is a byproduct of fructose metabolism. In fact, fructose typically generates uric acid within minutes of ingestion.) Nitric oxide helps your vessels maintain their elasticity, so nitric oxide suppression leads to increases in blood pressure.

If you're healthy, and want to stay that way, the general rule is to keep your total fructose intake to 25 grams per day or less. If you're insulin resistant and/or have high blood pressure, keep your total fructose to 15 grams or less per day until your condition has resolved.

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Eat real food — A processed food diet, loaded with net carbohydrates (non-fiber carbs like sugar, fructose and grains) and trans fat (margarines and vegetable oils) is a recipe for hypertension.

Instead, make whole, ideally organic foods the focus of your diet.

Also remember to swap non-fiber carbs for healthy fats such as avocados, butter made from raw, grass-fed organic milk, organic pastured egg yolks, coconuts and coconut oil, raw nuts such as pecans and macadamia, grass-fed meats and pasture raised poultry. To learn more about healthy eating, please see my optimal nutrition plan.

Mind your sodium to potassium ratio — According to Lawrence Appel, lead researcher on the DASH diet and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, your diet as a whole is the key to controlling hypertension — not salt reduction alone.

He believes a major part of the equation is this balance of minerals, i.e., most people need less 32 sodium and more potassium, calcium and magnesium. According to Appel, "Higher levels of potassium blunt the effects of sodium. If you can't reduce or won't reduce sodium, adding potassium may help. But doing both is better.”

Indeed, maintaining a proper potassium to sodium ratio in your diet is very important, and hypertension is but one of many side effects of an imbalance. A processed food diet virtually guarantees you'll have a lopsided ratio of too much sodium to potassium.

Making the switch from processed foods to whole foods will automatically improve your ratios.

Include foods high in potassium such as sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, beets, black beans, wild caught salmon, edamame, butternut squash, Swiss chard, apricots, cantaloupe, mushrooms 33,34 and tuna.

Load up on veggies — Juicing is a simple way to increase the amount of vegetables in your diet, and many NO3-rich veggies (which raise your nitric oxide level) are suitable for juicing, such as beets, kale, celery, spinach, carrots and more. Allicin-rich garlic, leeks, shallots and chives also help improve your blood pressure, and are easy to add to salads and various dishes.

Optimize your vitamin D level — To learn more about vitamin D testing, please see my previous article, "How Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help You Optimize Your Health."

Boost your animal-based omega-3 intake — The best way to boost your omega-3 is to eat plenty of oily fish that are low in mercury and other pollutants. Good options include wild caught Alaskan salmon, sardines and anchovies. Alternatively, take a high-quality krill oil or fish oil supplement. Krill oil has advantages over fish oil, which is why I prefer it.

Consider intermittent fasting — Intermittent fasting is one of the most effective ways I've found to normalize your insulin/leptin sensitivity. It's not a diet in conventional terms, but rather a way of scheduling eating in such a way as to promote efficient energy use.

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Essentially, intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific window of the day, and choosing not to eat food during the rest. When you eat, your body reacts by elevating insulin and leptin.

Exercise regularly — A comprehensive fitness program can go a long way toward regaining your insulin sensitivity and normalizing your blood pressure. To reap the greatest rewards, I recommend including high intensity interval exercises in your routine.

I also recommend training yourself to breathe through your nose when exercising, as mouth breathing during exercise can raise your heart rate and blood pressure, sometimes resulting in fatigue and dizziness. To learn more about this, please refer to my previous article on the Buteyko breathing method.

Avoid smoking and other forms of pollution — Smoking is known to contribute to high blood pressure, as are other forms of air pollution, even noise pollution. To address these, avoid smoking, consider using ear plugs during sleep if you live in a noisy neighborhood (provided you cannot move), and take steps to improve your indoor air quality.

Walk barefoot — Going barefoot will help you ground to the earth. Experiments show that walking barefoot outside (also referred to as Earthing or grounding) improves blood viscosity and blood flow, which help regulate blood pressure. So, do yourself a favor and ditch your shoes now and then.

Grounding also calms your sympathetic nervous system, which supports your heart rate variability. This in turn promotes homeostatis, or balance, in your autonomic nervous system. In essence, anytime you improve heart rate variability, you're improving your entire body and all of its functions.

Address your stress — The connection between stress and hypertension is well documented, yet still does not receive the emphasis it deserves. In fact, it has been shown that people with heart disease can lower their risk of subsequent cardiac events by over 70 percent simply by learning to manage their stress.

Suppressed negative emotions such as fear, anger and sadness can severely limit your ability to cope with the unavoidable every day stresses of life. It's not the stressful events themselves that are harmful, but your lack of ability to cope.

The good news is, strategies exist that quickly and effectively transform your suppressed, negative emotions, and relieve stress. My preferred method is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), an easy to learn, easy to use technique for releasing negative emotions.

EFT combines visualization with calm, relaxed breathing, while employing gentle tapping to "reprogram" deeply seated emotional patterns.

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Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Demonstration

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Can Turmeric Really Combat Disease?

By Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DMN, CNS Turmeric (Curcuma longa), the main spice in the Indian dish curry, is argued by many to be the most powerful herb on the planet at fighting and potentially reversing disease. Turmeric benefits are incredibly vast and very thoroughly researched. Currently, there are over 12,500 peer-reviewed articles published proving turmeric benefits, especially one of its renowned healing compounds, curcumin. In fact, turmeric is even good for dogs.

This puts turmeric on top of the list as one of the most frequently mentioned medicinal herbs in all of science. Here’s what you need to know about turmeric curcumin benefits and more.

What Is Turmeric?

Turmeric comes from the Curcuma longa plant, which grows in India and other Southeast Asian countries. The dried root of the Curcuma longa plant is ground into the distinctive yellow turmeric powder.

There are several chemical compounds found in turmeric, known as curcuminoids. The active substance in turmeric is curcumin. Curcumin is what makes turmeric a “functional food,” defined by the Mayo Clinic as “foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond basic nutrition.”

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Turmeric Nutrition • • • • • • • • • • • •

One tablespoon (about seven grams) of ground turmeric contains approximately: 23.9 calories 4.4 grams carbohydrates 0.5 gram protein 0.7 gram fat 1.4 grams fiber 0.5 milligram manganese (26 percent DV) 2.8 milligrams iron (16 percent DV) 0.1 milligram vitamin B6 (6 percent DV) 170 milligrams potassium (5 percent DV) 1.7 milligrams vitamin C (3 percent DV) 13 milligrams magnesium (3 percent DV)

12 Turmeric Curcumin Benefits Practitioners in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda have been prescribing turmeric for centuries, knowing the power of turmeric benefits.

May Slow or Prevent Blood Clots In both lab and animal studies, the use of turmeric curcumin greatly reduces instances of platelet aggregation and potentially reduces the risk of blood clots forming.

One combination lab and animal study conducted in 1986 even suggests curcumin may be a preferable treatment method for people “prone to vascular thrombosis and requiring antiarthritic therapy.” However, this result still needs to be replicated in human trials.

Reduces Depression Symptoms Although few studies have been conducted on humans, dozens of research trials have proven that turmeric benefits include being especially effective in reducing depression symptoms in laboratory animals. These results seem to be connected to the way curcumin impacts neurotransmitter function through the brainderived neurotrophic factor.

The journal Phytotherapy Research published the results of an amazing, innovative study in

2014. The study took 60 volunteers diagnosed with major depressive disorder and split the group to determine how patients treated by turmeric curcumin fared against fluoxetine and a combination of the two. Curcumin was equally effective as fluoxetine in managing depression by the sixweek mark.

Since that breakthrough trial, at least two other studies have observed the impact of turmeric’s major compound, curcumin, in patients with depression. The first involved 56 individuals (male and female), and the second involved 108 male participants. Both used a placebo but did not compare curcumin to any antidepressant, and both studies found that curcumin effectively reduced depression symptoms more than placebo.

Fights Inflammation Arguably, the most powerful aspect of curcumin is its ability to control inflammation.

The journal Oncogene published the results of a study that evaluated several anti-inflammatory compounds and found that curcumin is among the most effective anti-inflammatory compounds in the world.

Several animal trials have been completed investigating the relationship of curcumin and Alzheimer’s disease. In mice, it seems that curcumin “reverses existing amyloid pathology and associated neurotoxicity,” a key feature of the progression of this neurological disease related to chronic inflammation.

Boosts Skin Health Turmeric benefits include anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that have proven effective in treating multiple skin conditions.

Turmeric benefits for skin include increasing “glow and luster” of the skin, speeding up wound healing, calming the pores to decrease acne and acne scarring,

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Image by karenski1 on Pixabay

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and controlling psoriasis flares. One uncontrolled pilot study involving 814 participants even suggests that turmeric paste could cure 97 percent of scabies cases within three to 15 days.

Try my Turmeric Face Mask for Glowing Skin.

Just keep in mind that turmeric can stain the skin, and it may cause an allergic reaction. Do a patch test by applying a dime-size amount to your forearm. Then, wait 24–48 hours to check for any reaction before applying turmeric to your face.

May Outperform Arthritis Drug

Common

Because curcumin is known for its powerful anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing characteristics, a study was conducted on 45 rheumatoid arthritis patients to compare the benefits of curcumin in turmeric to the arthritis drug diclofenac sodium (an NSAID), which put people at risk of developing leaky gut and heart disease. The study split these volunteers into three groups: curcumin treatment alone, diclofenac sodium alone and a combination of the two. The results of the trial were eye-opening: The curcumin group showed the highest percentage of improvement in overall [Disease Activity Score] scores and these scores were significantly better than the patients in the diclofenac sodium group. More importantly, curcumin treatment was found to be safe and did not relate with any adverse events. Our study provides the first evidence for the safety and superiority of curcumin treatment in patients with active RA, and highlights the need for future large-scale trials to validate these findings in patients with RA and other arthritic conditions.

A review of available randomized, controlled trials confirmed that, of the eight studies available fitting the criteria, “these

randomized clinical trials] provide scientific[evidence that supports the efficacy of turmeric extract (about 1000 mg/day of curcumin) in the treatment of arthritis.”

Could Treat/Prevent Certain Cancers Of all the various topics scientists have tackled in regard to curcumin and disease reversal, cancer (of various types) is one of the most thoroughly researched topics. In the words of global authorities like Cancer Research UK: A number of laboratory studies on cancer cells have shown that curcumin does have anticancer effects. It seems to be able to kill cancer cells and prevent more from growing. It has the best effects on breast cancer, bowel cancer, stomach cancer and skin cancer cells.

A July 2017 animal study by researchers at Baylor Scott & White Research Institute found that curcumin may even be able to break through chemo-resistance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

May Help Manage Diabetes In 2009, Biochemistry and Biophysical Research Communications published a lab study out of Auburn University that explored the potential of curcuminoids to lower glucose levels. The study discovered that curcumin in turmeric is literally 400 times more potent than metformin (a common diabetes drug) in activating the enzyme AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase).

One compound produced by fermentation of curcumin, tetrahydrocurcumin, activated AMPK up to 100,000 times more than metformin in certain cells. AMPK activation is considered by researchers to be a “therapeutic target” for type 2 diabetes, meaning that figuring out how to activate this enzyme has major potential for developing more effective treatments for reducing insulin resistance and reversing diabetes.

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One of the most common complications of diabetes is damage to nerves known as diabetic neuropathy, which takes several forms and can cause serious symptoms throughout the body from muscle weakness to blindness. A study conducted on rats found that supplementing with curcumin significantly reduced diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (typically localized to feet, legs, arms and hands). Diabetic neuropathy can also lead to kidney failure. A metaanalysis of randomized, controlled trials confirmed that, in animals, curcumin protects the kidneys of diabetic subjects from the damage of diabetic nephropathy.

Combats Obesity A study published in the journal Biofactors showed that curcumin may help reduce proliferation (growth) of fat cells, based on lab results. The researchers found that the anti-inflammatory properties in curcumin were effective at suppressing the inflammatory processes of obesity, therefore helping to reduce obesity and its “adverse health effects.”

Supports Management Inflammatory Bowel Disease

of

An in-depth analysis of all the studies evaluating curcumin’s ability to manage ulcerative colitis found that one very well-designed trial tested curcumin plus mesalazine (the typical NSAID prescribed for this condition) against placebo plus mesalazine. Patients taking only placebo and mesalazine were over four times more likely to experience a relapse or flare-up of ulcerative colitis during the six months of the study, suggesting that turmeric benefits may include helping to maintain remission of this chronic disease.

One small pilot study investigated the benefit of curcumin supplementation for patients with ulcerative colitis and patients

with Crohn’s disease. Although the sample size was very small, all of the ulcerative colitis patients and four out of five Crohn’s patients had marked improvements over two months, suggesting the need for additional research.

May Regulate Cholesterol A study published by Drugs in R&D found that curcumin was comparable to atorvastatin at reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in the treatment of high cholesterol in humans.

This was a follow-up on prior animal researchfinding similar results. However, a 2014 meta-analysis concluded that curcumin had no effect overall on blood cholesterol (together or split into LDL vs. HDL) or on triglycerides. The study author noted that these results may be due to short study durations and poor bioavailability of the studied curcumin formulations.

Further research is needed, but there is evidence that turmeric curcumin may help manage cholesterol levels.

Works as a Natural Pain Reliever One of the more widely accepted properties of curcumin in scientific communities is its ability to manage pain. Breakthrough studies and reviews (some in animals, others in humans) have found that curcumin may be a beneficial natural painkiller for: •

Wound healing and burn pain

•

Post-operative pain

•

Inflammation-induced arthritic pain

•

Neuropathic pain caused by constriction injury

•

Orofacial pain (pertaining to mouth, jaws and face, most commonly related to dental issues)

•

Sciatic nerve pain constrictive injury (57)

•

Arthritis/joint pain

from

chronic

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Aids in Detoxification An important benefit of turmeric is its ability to detoxify the body. Every day, you are likely exposed to environmental and dietary toxins known as xenobiotics. These chemical substances and not generally present in the human body and are often associated with increased amounts of inflammation and higher risk of cancer.

It seems that consumption of turmeric and its active compound, curcumin, can help the liver efficiently detoxify the body and alleviate some of the effects of dangerous carcinogens.

This process operates in tandem with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions of turmeric.

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Turmeric Supplements Although using turmeric frequently in your cooking is a great way to take advantage of the spice, turmeric only contains about 3 percent absorbable curcumin in the powdered form used in food. Along with adding turmeric into your diet, you may also consider taking it or curcumin in supplement form — some high-quality turmeric pills contain up to 95 percent curcuminoids.

There are a few things to consider when purchasing a good turmeric supplement. For one, try to find a turmeric supplement containing black pepper to get the maximum absorbability, as turmeric and black pepperwork in tandem. Second, consider a fermented turmeric pill or capsule — the predigestion process of fermentation helps you to absorb it more effectively. Next, look for a turmeric supplement with other supporting ingredients like ashwagandha, milk thistle, dandelion and peppermint. Last, make sure that the product you get is made from organic turmeric if at all possible, with no GMOs. Note that turmeric dosage recommendations vary depending on a number of factors.

Turmeric Essential Oil

How to Use Turmeric Curcumin in Your Diet Turmeric Recipes You may be wondering how to use turmeric root. One of my favorite recipes to incorporate turmeric benefits in your diet is turmeric tea, sometimes referred to as liquid gold or golden milk. Also, consuming turmeric eggs for breakfast and curried carrot soup is an excellent way to get more turmeric in your diet.

I enjoy using coconut flakes, gluten-free flour and turmeric to bread chicken or sprinkle turmeric in my hamburger meat. I like to call that one a “Power Burger,” and there are many more turmeric recipes you can use.

Turmeric is also available as an essential oil, which can be used alongside turmeric in food and supplement form. I personally prefer consuming a CO2-extracted form of turmeric essential oil. Quality is key here, particularly if you’re going to use turmeric essential oil internally. Always dilute in water or other liquids. For example, you can put one drop in a smoothie in the morning.

Turmeric Side Effects and Caution What are the side effects of turmeric?

Turmeric might be allergic to some, as some people have reported allergic reactions to turmeric, especially after skin exposure.

Typically this is experienced as a mild, itchy rash. In addition, high doses of turmeric have

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been observed to cause: • Nausea • Diarrhea • Increased risk of bleeding • Increased liver function tests • Hyperactive gallbladder contractions • Hypotension (lowered blood pressure) • Uterine contractions in pregnant women • Increased menstrual flow

Final Thoughts on Turmeric Curcumin Turmeric herb is one of the top nutrients in the world. There’s a reason it’s been used throughout history by some of the most effective health care providers in the world.

Turmeric curcumin benefits range in everything from helping with blood clots and depression to combating inflammation, boosting skin health, regulating cholesterol and more.

I highly recommend using turmeric in recipes and perhaps even purchasing it in supplement form to take advantage of turmeric benefits. Make sure to add only organic turmeric to your food, and finding a high-quality turmeric supplement made from organic turmeric, coupled with black pepper and preferably prepared by fermentation.

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Image: emmacodd on Pixabay

Photo by: rhythmuswege on Pixabay

Image: Geralt on Pixabay

Photo by Dani Costelo on Unsplash

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How are you and your inner child doing today? Are you getting to know each other a little better? I have found that working with the inner child is extremely valuable in helping to heal the hurts of the past. We are not always in touch with the feelings of the frightened little child within us.

If your childhood was full of fear and physical or verbal battles, you may have a habit of mentally beating yourself up. When you do this, you are continuing to treat your inner child in much the same way. The child inside, however, has no place to go.

Many of us have an inner child who is lost and lonely and feels rejected. Perhaps the only contact we have had with our inner child for a long time is to scold and criticize it. Then we wonder why we are unhappy. We cannot reject a part of ourselves and still be in harmony within.

Your inner child still carries the beliefs you developed early on. If your parents had rigid ideas and you are now very hard on yourself or you tend to build walls around you, your inner child is probably still following your parents’ rules. If you continue to pick on yourself for every mistake, it must be very scary for your inner child to wake up in the morning thinking, What is my parent going to yell at me about today?

What our parents did to us in the past was a product of their consciousness. We are the parents now. We are using our consciousness now. If you are still refusing to take care of your inner child, you are stuck in your own resentment. Invariably that means there is someone you still need to forgive. What resentment do you need to let go of? What haven’t you forgiven yourself for?

For now, visualize that you are taking your inner child by the hand and going everywhere together for a few days. See what joyous experiences you can have. This may sound silly, but please try it. It really works. Create a wonderful life for yourself and your inner child. The Universe will respond, and you will find ways to heal your inner child and the adult you.

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No matter what your early childhood was like—happy or sad—you and only you are in charge of your life now. You can spend your time blaming your parents, or you can embrace love.

Love is the biggest eraser there is. It erases even the deepest and most painful memories, because love goes deeper than anything else. Think for a moment: Do you want a life of pain or one of joy? The choice and power are always within you. Look into your eyes, and love yourself and the little child within.

Let’s affirm: I love my inner child. I am in charge of my life now.

Mirror Work Exercise I Am Willing to Change and Grow 1. Go to your bathroom mirror and look at the picture of yourself as a child - tape this picture to your mirror.

2. Take a moment right now and tell your inner child that you care. Say these affirmations: I care about you. I love you. I really love you.

3. Sit in front of your mirror, if you can, or sit and look into a handheld mirror. Continue the conversation with your inner child that you began yesterday. You could open with an apology, saying something like I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you over the years. I’m sorry I scolded you for so long. I want to make up for all the time we spent apart from each other.

4. If you haven’t talked to your inner child in 50 or 60 years, it may take some time before you feel like you’re reconnecting. But be persistent. Eventually you will make a connection. You may feel the child inside you. You may hear the child inside you. You may even see the child inside you.

5. Keep your tissue box nearby. It’s okay to cry while you are talking to your inner child. Tears will help you to break through and connect with the child inside you.

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Why We Need an Empathy Revolution

BY JILL SUTTIE

It’s hard to watch someone who is suffering. We may feel their pain or absorb their sorrow; we may worry that we won’t know what to do or say. Those uncomfortable moments might make us turn away from their distress—to preserve our own well-being or to carry on with our lives.

But this is the wrong approach, says psychiatrist and researcher Helen Riess, author of the new book The Empathy Effect. The ability to connect empathically with others—to feel with them, to care about their well-being, and to act with compassion—is critical to our lives, helping us to get along, work more effectively, and thrive as a society.

Most of Riess’s research on empathy has focused on health care. Since doctors are confronted with suffering day in and day out, their situation is fitting for observing how empathy affects well-being. While doctors may think turning off their feelings and creating emotional distance helps them remain objective and provide better care, Riess’s research has shown that doing so makes patients distrustful, disgruntled, and less cooperative. And it makes for lonelier, less effective, and more burned-out physicians.

What should doctors—and the rest of us—do instead? Practice empathy, says Riess. Not only does being empathic improve health care, she argues, it also improves human interactions in general.

“All parties are equally enriched when we perceive and respond to each other with empathy and compassion,” she writes. “After all, it’s the human bond that adds the music to the words in life.”

What is empathy?

Many confuse empathy (feeling with someone) with sympathy (feeling sorry for someone), and even researchers who study it have muddied the waters with many definitions. But Riess does a good job of untangling that and explaining the many dimensions of empathy. Empathy, she writes, involves an ability to perceive others’ feelings (and to recognize our own emotions), to imagine why someone might be feeling a certain way, and to have concern for their welfare.

Once empathy is activated, compassionate action is the most logical response.

Empathy relies on specific parts of the brain that evolved to enable emotional connection with others and the motivation to care.

Empathy relies on specific parts of the brain that evolved to enable emotional connection with others and the motivation to care. When we see someone in pain—let’s say, because we witnessed them accidentally cut themselves—pain pathways in our own brains light up, though to a lesser degree. This is the emotional part of empathy—sometimes called emotional resonance—that many doctors ignore or push away, though that works against their compassionate instincts, says Riess. “[Your] sophisticated neurological system allows you to observe others hurting and gives you just enough of a taste of the pain to consider helping them out,” she writes.

Still, we can’t rely on emotional resonance alone. For one thing, it tends to be stronger for people who are similar to us, and that’s problematic in a doctor’s office…and in life. Luckily, empathy also has a cognitive component—an understanding that our feelings may not be the same as someone else’s. Separating our pain from theirs allows us to soothe any discomfort we feel, while staying curious about what they are going through.

“We must understand the situation from the other person’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual perspectives,” she says.

The third aspect of empathy is concern—“the inner motivation that moves people to respond and express the urge to care about another person’s welfare.” Unfortunately, that concern varies a lot from person to person and is influenced by different environmental factors, such as how much the person in need resembles you (and your “tribe”), whether you encounter suffering in one person or the suffering of multitudes, whether you think someone deserves to suffer because of their bad behavior, and your social status (the more powerful or rich you are, the less likely you will be to notice suffering and care to intervene).

This suggests that while empathy is a built-in biological response to suffering, we still need to work at it, if we want to use it in more trying situations.

Empathy can be taught We may find it hard to empathize with some people. But that doesn’t mean we can’t strengthen our empathy muscles, according to Riess. She suggests becoming more adept at perceiving others’ emotions, learning self-regulation techniques to help us not get overwhelmed by excessive emotional resonance, and finding ways to encourage perspective taking.

To that end, she has developed a program called EMPATHICS that has been taught to physicians and successfully improves their ability to read emotions and their level of burnout, as well as patient satisfaction. This is good news, as doctor/patient relationships seem to make a significant contribution to patient health.

Riess uses the acronym EMPATHY to outline the steps of her program: E: Eye contact. An appropriate level of eye contact makes people feel seen and improves effective communication. Riess recommends focusing on someone’s eyes at least long enough to gauge eye color, and making sure you are face to face when communicating.

M: Muscles in facial expressions. As humans, we often automatically mimic other people’s expressions without even realizing it. By being able to identify another’s feelings—often by distinctive facial muscle patterns—and mirroring them, we can help communicate empathy.

P: Posture. Sitting in a slumped position can indicate a lack of interest, dejection, or sadness; sitting upright signals respect and confidence. By understanding what postures communicate, we can take a more open posture—face forward, legs and arms uncrossed, leaning toward someone—to encourage more open communication and trust.

A: Affect (or emotions). Learning to identify what another is feeling and naming it can help us better understand their behavior or the message behind their words.

T: Tone. “Because tone of voice conveys over 38 percent of the nonverbal emotional content of what a person communicates, it is a vital key to empathy,” writes Riess. She suggests matching the volume and tone of the person you are talking to and, generally, using a soothing tone to make someone feel heard. However, when a person is communicating outrage, moderating your tone—rather than matching theirs—is more appropriate.

H: Hearing. Too often, we don’t truly listen to one another, possibly because of preconceptions or simply being too distracted and stressed. Empathic listening means asking questions that help people express what’s really going on and listening without judgment.

Y: Your response. Riess is not talking about what you’ll say next, but how you resonate with the person you are talking to. Whether or not we’re aware of it, we tend to synch up emotionally with people, and how well we do it plays a role in how much we understand and like them.

Empathy beyond health care settings While Riess has mostly focused on doctor/patient relationships, her book is a plea to look beyond health care and imagine a world where empathy is infused into everyday life.

Even young children can read others’ emotions and have a propensity to want to help people in distress, Riess points out. We could help them to build on those skills through role modeling and giving them opportunities to flex their empathy muscles. How well parents understand their children’s emotions, try to take their perspective, and affirm their worth is tied to how they do later in life.

“When a child is not mirrored, he may give up trying to achieve his goals, or if he becomes a high-achiever, his accomplishments may give him little pleasure,” she writes.

Of course, as children grow, other relationships become important, too. School teachers can increase children’s sense of self-worth by treating them with respect and warmth, avoiding harsh disciplinary tactics, and engaging them in learning, says Riess. They can also directly teach empathy through literature, simulations, and other techniques.

Riess describes other instances where empathy is crucial—for example, when we encounter people who are different from us, when we ourselves have made a mistake and need selfempathy, in our workplaces, and even within government. And she examines the potential downsides of empathy, too—like when perspective taking is used to get inside people’s heads and manipulate them rather than to show caring.

Still, the importance of empathy in everyday life cannot be oversold. By understanding how it works and can be augmented in ourselves and our children, we have one of the key tools to cultural transformation, Riess believes.

She writes, “We have hope to help shape a more civil society, respectful discourse, understanding of others, and a humane world.”

THE CONCEPT OF PEACE The word peace is derived from the original Latin word pax which means a pact, a control or an agreement to end war or any dispute and conflict between two people, two nations or two antagonistic groups of people.

Peace is the concept of harmonious well-being and freedom from hostile aggression.

In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or heterogeneous (relatively foreign or distinct) groups.

Peace is what everyone would love in their lives and that for most is an illusion and something that they aspire to!

Whether it is world peace or your own personal peace it will have a profound and sometimes devastating effect on your life as well as on your Spirituality.

Living in turmoil has long standing effects on society as well as individuals.

Those that have lived through war will attest to the trauma they are left with and often the feeling of hopelessness and devastation that remains with them throughout their lives.

If you have lived in a home where there is continual fighting and aggression you will have been scarred by this and will carry it into adulthood often causing many problems in later life.

Many young adults who have lived in this type of environment will often have lives on the other side of the law as the aggression and lack of compassion grows. When you have known nothing else you don’t have much to send you in any other direction!

It is also not possible to live a Spiritual life if you are filled with anger and aggression.

So not only is your physical life being influenced but your Spiritual life as well.

Life is so busy and hectic and it is often very difficult to find time to step into the space that is so desperately needed to enable you to be calm and peaceful.

We live in duality. Polarities may seem like total opposites but they are actually connected at the core and therefore hold the opposite aspects of the issue in place so that the whole thing is actually balanced, just like the negative and positive charges of an atom.

You are ready to allow resolution to take place when your heart and your mind are able to harmonise and therefore are in perfect balance.

If you have an issue or conflict with someone see the person as a reflection of yourself. Look at the mirror they are holding up to you which is never easy or comfortable to do. There is possibly something that you do not want to look at either in yourself or in your life and this person has become a reflection of that.

Look beyond the surface issue so that you are able to see what they are reflecting back to you.

You are then able to take action using the higher truth where your ego is not part of the resolution. You might also be experiencing an inner conflict where your feelings and your mind are taking opposite stances.

Go into meditation and become silent so that you can hear and feel what part of this is fear and what is truth and what is ego and what is higher self. Then you are able to make the correct choices which are for your highest good. This will enable you to experience a sense of oneness and connection with all that is.

You are able to realise that the two polarities form a whole picture. When you are in balance you don’t need to play out the polarity outside of yourself. See the issue within yourself so that you can bring it into balance.

This takes out the need for conflict and releases you as well as others from having to play a role in a conflict situation.

Call on the Angels and Beings of Light to assist you to forgive totally and unconditionally not only others but also yourself.

Peace is the greatest and highest goal or hope that everyone wishes to achieve personally and expects to be created in society and in the world.

So many wish for peace in the world and yet if you do not have peace in your own life there can never be world peace.

But for many they expect others to bring in world peace never realising that they too have a

responsibility to achieve this by ensuring that their own lives are peaceful.

However “peace” is really just a concept which will mean different things to different people depending on what your perception of it truly is!

To me the word “peace” means me being in alignment with what I was put on this earth to do. I feel so peaceful at those moments, and feel absolutely out of place when I’m doing something that is against my core and inner values.

Peace occurs when you see and feel the world in balance.

Peace is when you love yourself enough to forgive others around you.

Peace will be when everything around you stops and you live in the moment.

When you transcend the dual mind you are able to still your mind which enables your emotions to become still and calm.

Peace brings in a feeling of total acceptance and total acceptance brings in a feeling of peace.

So what does peace mean to you?

Today the Angels are telling you that it is of vital importance that you do this now.

You are probably feeling chaotic, out of touch and frustrated with what is happening around you.

There are many things that can bring peace into your life including being out in Nature, meditation, yoga and a realisation that you feel fulfilled because you are in perfect balance.

Make the time and space to connect to God, life and nature whatever they might mean to you.

Everything begins with you. Make time today to allow yourself to go into a serene, tranquil and peaceful state which will give you an inner strength to cope with anything happening around you. Your wonderful peaceful energy will influence others to do the same.

Change the world around you with one peaceful thought after another and together as a collective consciousness wonderful new energy will influence everyone and everything!

Angel light and blessings Margi (Angel Connection)

“Creative Project

Your soul longs to express itself in creative ways.

We are guiding you to infuse artistry and creativity into your life. Creative expression makes you feel alive and excited and reignites passion towards your life.�

Interpretation When you get so busy because of all the responsibilities you have, you tend to put your creative abilities aside and only concentrate on the work in hand. Today the Angels are telling you that your soul longs to express itself through your creative abilities because it has been stifled for far too long.

Perhaps you are an artist or a writer and because you have not used your creative abilities for so long you feel that you are no longer able to create. Call on the mighty Archangel Gabriel to assist you. He will enable your creative juices to flow again and make you feel enthusiastic about what you are about to bring forth. Being creative is not just restricted to painting or writing. Anything that you are able to create brings forth your expressive side. Perhaps you are a wonderful cook or baker or you might love sewing or knitting and of course making music is also very special. You might have many other abilities and the Angels are now urging you to bring them to the surface. This will feel like a breath of fresh air igniting your passion once more and making you feel excited and alive for the first time in a very long time. Make time today to create something special for yourself and perhaps to share with others!

Angel light and blessings Margi Angel Connection School

Ask about our courses for Teenagers

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Archangel Michael -ClearingClearance brings in clarity!

Today the Angels are telling you that it is time to clear all the clutter out of your life. This includes your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. On a physical level it may be time to clear out all your cupboards and clutter that is cluttering up your life. If you are no longer using it then give it to someone who needs it and can use it. Open all the windows and allow the fresh air to circulate through your home. Perhaps you can even do a cleansing with noise, incense and light so that all negative energies are also removed from your home.

You also need to cleanse and clear your body by drinking lots of water and eating a nourishing and healthy diet which includes exercise of some sort. Clear yourself emotionally by writing down all the negative things in your life from as far back as you can remember and then burning them so that you release them to the Universe. Cut ties to anything and anyone that is holding you back with ties that are created when things are not done in unconditional love.

Ask Archangel Michael to use his golden sword to cut the ties between you. Review your mental and Spiritual condition. Perhaps you need to think in a different way about certain things. You might need to break a negative habit and create some positive habits instead. It might take lots of work and discipline as well as awareness but you will get through and change these patterns if you keep repeating and honouring the new thought process. Create a new space for yourself with an inner stillness and calm. Ask Archangel Michael for the courage and strength to clear away the clutter and destructive ties and patterns in your life. In this way you will take control of your life and bring in amazing new Angel light and blessings Margi (Angel Connection) Interpretation by Margi of Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue

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By Robert Rittel

robert.vedicastrology@gmail.com

March 2019 Aries, 21 March – 19 April: Mars has moved into Taurus and likes to play with those earthy elements. A strong sense of relationship or partnership is seeking its balance in this environment. The mars energy here has to create stable, enduring forms of preserving beauty without to become possessive about it.

Photo by bruce mars from Pexels

Taurus, 20 April – 20 May: The morning star seen now in the constellation of Aquarius likes to show the luminous colours of visibility. Venus here is full of allure and often in regrets, doubt and fears, when the heart speaks in tears. Unusual perceptions painting landscapes not easy accepted. Images to proclaim in trust and dare, or obstinate tendencies will follow.

Gemini, 21 May – 20 June: Mercury on its way to Aries giving your thoughts and speech another gear. Giving an energetic nature, which is seeking change and interchange, motion and invention? If you seeking from the poetic heart so dear, the mental union and the mutable air will let the words in rhyme appear.

Cancer, 21 June – 22 July: The cardinal water seeks affirmation with others and makes himself vulnerable to the moods of the people in social influence and recognition. Your devotion, loving and intuitive senses need to observed carefully, otherwise some scrutinise people will bound you to fixation or attachments which will cost a lot.

Leo, 23 July – 22 August: The fixed fire shows a need for order and harmony around a central will and character influence. Leos know that and want others to recognize that. Aristocratic and ambitious boldness to the point of vain is that self expression. The spiral of dreams, the treasure one seeks vanishes as quickly as one in pretence speaks.

Virgo, 23 August – 22 September: The mutable earth declares the important balancing act between body and mind. Your command of the language and its nervous sensitivity is very good for teaching and all trivia’s. All discriminations come from spiritual experience and need to be turned into philosophies which are built for the purity of the mind.

Libra, 23 September – 22 October: Cardinal air or the scale of balance has a strong sense of harmony, justice and realms of ideas. Their orientation is to often political and creating a zeal, which comes across like propagandists. The desire to become recognized in their ideas has its tipping point when they get lost in goals and projects.

Scorpio, 23 October – 21 November: Fixed water or the need for balance and stability on a deeper or psychic level. Scorpions are fascinated with techniques or technology for directing energies inwardly, expressing analysed profoundness. The active subconscious loves to develop a psychological disposition and introvert ness, others can rarely attain.

Sagittarius, 22 November – 21 December: Mutable fire or the manifestation of the will in action. As Jupiter is at home in this sign this year, all group or organizations in which you are involved have special orientations and expansions. If the mind is too much into discrimination and fault finding, you may be unable to see your limitations, and the expansion.

Capricorn, 22 December – 19 January: Cardinal earth, or the power and order in complete organization are the sign for practical realization. The art of self surrender and taking oneself less seriously helps to be less concerned about outer forms. Higher intellectual or spiritual values are the traditional faculties to long term success.

Aquarius, 20 January – 18 February: Fixed air indicates the making to become a master, having more faith and the capacity to surrender the ego to the divine. They believe in others and denigrate themselves. Aquarians are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of all and exercising real humanitarian concern. Truth from their intuitive perceptions.

Pisces, 19 February - 20 March: Mutable water and the necessarily need for proper integration. All emotional, expansive, intuitive and imaginative enthusiastic, but not wisely in actions or confirmations. They like to influence others, but are easily influenced, becoming vulnerable or impressionable, too easily moved by sympathy and pity.

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Spotlight on.... Broad Beans

By Natalie Hartley – first published in Biophile magazine

Broad beans are a fantastic vegetable for the home gardener to grow even if they are an acquired taste for some! They are a very nutritious vegetable, add protein to your winter diet and increase nitrogen levels in your soil.

Broad beans are easy to cultivate and enjoy the cold, moist conditions of the Western Cape winter. If winters are mild, and in warmer areas of the country, although the plants may flourish, few flowers set and therefore the yield is much lower.

Broad beans rather like clayey soil, but will do well in most soils. They should be planted at 4week intervals but be sure not to sow them where summer beans have been growing. Soak the seeds for eight hours before planting to speed up germination and sprinkle a little agricultural lime (very little) onto the soil before planting. Give them a side dressing of wood ash (not coal or anthracite ash) about three months after planting - the potassium in the ash stimulates flower and fruit formation. Remember that flowers will not set in hot or very cold weather.

Support the plants well with frames made out of stakes and string so that they don’t fall over if severe cold were to make the stems soft and limp, or when the stormy north-westerly winds howl through your garden.

When the plants are 1 meter high, remove about 12 cms from the top to encourage side growth. The tips can be added to the pot when you are cooking other vegetables or soups and stews. Pods should be harvested young for the best flavour. Cook the beans in their pods (which are also good to eat). The more you pick the young pods the more new beans will be produced.

Broad beans are susceptible to attack by black aphids at any time. These tiny black creatures cluster thickly on the stem tips and leaves, sucking out sap and severely damaging the plants.

The best way to control them is to inspect your plants daily, and the moment you see them rub them off using your thumb and forefinger, a wet piece of cloth or cotton wool, or spray them off with a jet of soapy (or plain) water. Interpolating with nasturtiums or petunias may help to keep them away. Do not grow broad beans in the same soil for at least three years.

As always, remember vegetables plucked from your garden straight from the plant have a flavour that is never found in bought ones!

Mango Mojito Smoothie Recipe Refreshing, sweet, and incredibly delicious, this tropical mojito-inspired smoothie is sure to please! The combination of mango, barley grass juice powder, lime juice and the other ingredients makes for a liver-loving and cleansing smoothie that will also nourish your adrenals and give you energy. Enjoy this smoothie for breakfast, as a light lunch, or for an easy snack between meals.

Barley grass juice powder: Contains phytonutrients that feed an undernourished liver while allowing it to detoxify dozens of toxins and poisons inherited from the past and exposed to in the present moment. It’s a responsible detoxifier with take-and-give integrity, replacing the troublemakers it removes with vital nutrients.

Mangoes: Cool a toxic, overheated liver, soothing and calming it to prevent the organ from going into spasm. The yellow-to-orange pigment in mangoes feeds liver lobules and strengthens hepatocytes and Kupffer cells, allowing them to do the jobs they need to do. Mangoes also have a unique phytochemical compound that helps the liver’s immune system destroy the pockets of bacteria that create liver abscesses. Help prevent your liver from aging and cells from dying while improving bile production.

Serves 2 Ingredients: 2 cups frozen mango cubes (about 2 large mango cheeks) 2 tsp barley grass juice powder Large handful of fresh mint 3 tbsp fresh lime juice 2 cups coconut water 1-2 medjool dates (optional) Directions: Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.)

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By Jillian Levy, CHHC of Dr Axe Eastern medicine practices have always placed a strong emphasis on prevention and treating diseases naturally whenever possible. Now, in many ways, Western medicine is catching up, particularly when it comes to utilizing tai chi moves to improve the mind, body and heart.

A growing number of people around the world are now interested in traditional Eastern systems of healing — including Tai chi, yoga, acupuncture and meditation — due to mounting evidence that they can help prevent and treat many health problems such as arthritis, anxiety and chronic pain.

Harvard Medical School reports that although tai chi is a slow and gentle practice, it effectively addresses several core benefits of exercise: boosting muscle strength, maintaining flexibility, increasing and sustaining balance and sometimes even providing an aerobic workout that’s important for your heart. Harvard researchers even recently published a guide to tai chi, stating that a regular practice for as little as 12 weeks could help give you a “healthy body, strong heart and sharp mind.” (1)

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What Is Tai Chi? Tai chi is a mind-body exercise rooted in multiple Asian traditions. It’s one of many types of qigong exercises, which combine the principles of martial arts, controlled breathing, traditional Chinese medicine and Eastern philosophies.

In the West, the deeper meanings and significance of tai chi can be somewhat difficult to explain, considering it has a very long history dating back thousands of years.

Tai chi moves also involve components that are not very easy to translate. Tai chi derives its name from the Eastern concept of yin and yang; in fact the black and white circular symbol that represents yin yang is also often used to represent tai chi — since the practice is said to unite “body and mind.” Tai chi is also strongly rooted in another ancient Eastern philosophical concept that is still foreign to most Westerners: “Qi“, which roughly translates to life force or vital energy.

Research shows that tai chi has multiple benefits for both young and older practitioners. However, it’s gained the most attention for its strong anti-aging effects. A report published in the Official Publication of The State Medical Society of Wisconsin states that: “Tai chi is an exercise form especially effective for seniors. Tai chi exercise is a relatively low-tech approach to preventing disability and maintaining physical performance in older adults.” (2)

Who Can Benefit from Tai Chi Moves?

Most Western research involves investigating the health benefits of qigong, particularly tai chi. Increasingly popular in the U.S. and Europe, tai chi moves are customizable for different audiences and well-suited to manage many different health conditions. A 2010 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Health

Promotion included more than 70 published articles and found that tai chi offered benefits in several outcome categories: improved bone density, cardiopulmonary effects, physical functioning, quality of life, self-efficacy, psychological symptoms and immune function. (3) Based on the fact that it can help control stress and lower cortisol levels, lower joint pain, build strength and stamina, reduce the chance of falling or injuries and enhance the immune system, people who can benefit from tai chi moves the most include those with: (4) • limited physical abilities, including older adults who aren’t able to do intense exercises. Tai chi and other forms of qigong are most popular among middleaged to older-aged adults. Many practitioners find that it helps them to regain flexibility and strength while helping people remain calm in stressful times. For older adults, tai chi also lowers the risk of falling and can improve recovery time from injuries or illnesses.

• chronic stress • heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol • muscle aches and pains • joint pain, osteoarthritis or tendonitis • fatigue, low energy and trouble sleeping • learning disabilities, including ADHD • low immune system function and susceptibility to infections or illnesses • those with other circulatory, lymphatic and digestive problems (such as intestinal or kidney problems)

6 Benefits of Tai Chi Moves 1. Increased flexibility As a type of fluid bodyweight exercise, tai chi moves help boost upper- and lower-body flexibility, along with coordination and strength. Tai chi moves are done in many different positions, sometimes standing or sitting, which helps to warm-up, stretch and

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relax tense muscle and joint tissue.

Most tai chi classes or routines begin with a warm-up period to ease into motions, such as shoulder circles, turning the head from side to side, or rocking back and forth. Over time this practice can reduce stiffness, pains, strains, falls, injuries or tears.

2. Improved & better maintained balance University of Liverpool researchers found tai chi can improve balance and strength, along with reducing the risk of falls in the elderly, especially those “at high risk.” Tai chi also aids in proprioception, the ability to sense the position of one’s body in space.

Proprioception generally declines as someone ages due to changes in inner ear structure, along with decreasing strength of certain muscles and ligaments. Tai chi helps train proprioception sensory neurons in the inner ear and also restore muscle strength and coordination.

One study documented changes in balance and cardiovascular responses for a community of middleaged women. Relatively sedentary but healthy women 33 to 55 years old took part in tai chi exercise three times per week. After 12 weeks, compared to the control group, the women doing tai chi moves experienced significant improvements in “dynamic balance” measured by the Functional Reach Test. Tai chi also significantly decreased both mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, showing it has multiple protective benefits for aging adults. (5)

3. Improved muscle strength & conditioning Tai chi moves can also improve both lower-body strength and upper-body strength simultaneously, even comparably to other forms of gentle resistance-training such as yoga or using bands and light cables. Tai chi improves upper body strength by incorporating many unsupported arm exercises that involve holding the arms up.

It can also improve strength of the knees and lower body, core muscles, back and abdomen due to incorporating dynamic movements like leg lunges, squatting moves, twists, kicks, crouching and bends. (6)

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4. Better heart health Tai chi helps lower blood pressure by reducing the body’s stress response, improves “gas exchange” and breathing, can help reduce inflammation and can sometimes serve as an aerobic workout. Harvard Medical School notes that quicker-moving forms of tai chi have similar benefits to brisk walking.

Studies show that a regular tai chi practice helps improve strength of the heart and durability of the blood vessels and other bodily tissues. It also helps lower inflammatory responses caused by an overactive autonomic nervous system.

5. Lowers stress, anxiety & depression Many view tai chi as much more than just an exercise. Historically, tai chi boasts a strong spiritual dimension and promotes greater selfawareness. Studies show that tai chi is a natural stress reliever and promotes positive effects on depression and anxiety in a way similar to yoga or other mind-body exercises. (7)

visualization, imagery, mantras or affirmations while performing tai chi moves.

Tai Chi Exercises & Workout People usually practice tai chi as a series of fluid motions that accompany the breath.

Series of movements can vary in length from about 15 minutes, all the way up to 2 hours. Chen Meng was a master of tai chi who is now credited with creating a popular, shortened version of traditional tai chi that lasts about 15 minutes. His method, which has influenced many others to create other similar short series, is considered a good practice of tai chi for beginners. (8)

Before you get started practicing tai chi, keep these tips in mind: •

• •

Often people find that the controlled breathing and focus involved in practicing tai chi promotes a calm mind, increased connection to others, patience, compassion and acceptance. Practicing tai chi outdoors in a natural environment, such as a park or beach, can also lower stress by bringing someone’s attention to how they are connected with their surroundings, a greater purpose and those living around them.

•

Tai chi series normally require a significant amount of open space, so it’s common to practice outside in a field or in a large empty room (such as gymnasium).

Most Tai chi beginner’s programs last at least 12 weeks, with practices taking place at least twice a week.

Always make sure to start with a brief warm-up; for several minutes practice simple stretches or calisthenics to move your legs, arms and back. Wear loose clothing that allows you to move around and stay cool.

For tai chi beginners, it’s usually best to take things very slow and spend 10 to 20 minutes a day learning just a few postures rather than rushing through an entire routine.

6. Sharper focus

Tai Chi Moves for Beginner’s:

Studies suggest that tai chi’s slow pace, attention to detail and circular motions helps lower “mind chatter” and improve attention.

People often describe tai chi as a “moving meditation” because it involves following the breath in a rhythmic way that causes ruminating or wandering thoughts to decrease. Some people also choose to further improve focus by using practices such as

•

Beginner posture: This is the most basic tai chi move (also known as a pose). It requires your feet to be shoulder distance apart, your toes facing slightly inward, knees soft, chest and chin slightly hollowed, and hips slightly tucked. Some describe the pose like you’re sitting in a high stool.

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•

•

•

•

•

Tai Chi Basic Stepping: Stepping is an important movement in tai chi, and is required to transition smoothly and gently from one move to the next. Stepping is done in a rolling motion, placing the feet with balanced weight one in front of the other. Keep your center of gravity low while stepping and rolling your entire foot so that both feet rest on the ground in the end position.

Raising Power: This move is often used as an opening or closing to a series. It’s sometimes also called “Catch a Ball” or “Ball of Energy.” It works by rubbing your hands together and then pulling them apart. Bring them close together once again, but don’t allow them to touch. Feel the warmth and energy (qi) between your hands as you continue to practice this motion, perhaps while stepping at the same time.

Withdraw and Push: This move is used to “cleanse the body” and requires forward and backward movements like a wave.

Start with one foot in front of other, with your weight on your back legs. Circle the hands upward in a wave motion, lift your back heel, roll/shift your weight forward as you picture a wave moving up and through the body.

Brush Knee: This move helps strengthen the arms, relax the muscles and center the mind. The weight is centered between the legs and arms are held outward. As one hand rises, the other one sinks down (one palm is up and one down) in a rolling motion. As you step forward, your torso turns and arms alternate positions.

Roll back/Ward Off: This move uses the waist and is done in a diagonal position.

Put weight on left leg and turn waist to the left. The right arm curves to hold a ball against your chest, fingers move upward while left arm arcs first downward, then left arm floats up to shoulder height.

•

Single Whip: This moving hand position is typically used for jabbing, whipping, striking or even in massage. Place the hand with palm facings downward and the four fingers curled to lightly touch the thumb. The front leg is extended out, body open to the side, front arm moves forward and the wrist bends down as the fingers open and close.

Qigong vs. Tai Chi: How Are They Related?

Qigong is an ancient Chinese healthcare practice that has been in existence for more than 2,000 years. Tai chi is one form of qigong; it’s far from the only type, but is probably the most well-researched type in existence today.

There are thousands of different styles of qigong practiced throughout the world, all of which integrate physical postures, breathing techniques and focused intention (just like tai chi does).

The benefits of different forms of qigong range depending on the exact type. Benefits can include stress reduction, decreased joint pain, improved heart health, better physical functioning, improved balance and protection from falls.

Some of the things that make tai chi different from other forms of qigong is that tai chi involves a specific series of postures and exercises, while qigong can be practiced in no particular order.

Tai chi is one of the most popular forms of qigong in the West and is a gentle, slow, flowing style of martial arts. But qigong itself does not always have to be performed this way. For example, qigong can also be static, such as the style called Zhan Zhuag, or very rapid and intense, such as the style called Dayan. Tai chi practices range from anywhere between 10 minutes to 2 hours long.

History of Tai Chi As a form of qigong with a history dating back more than 2,000 years, tai chi has

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been interpreted and influenced by many different leaders. Tai chi is believed to have been influenced by Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian philosophies. Historically, tai chi training and knowledge was passed down from one master to a dedicated student, which has created distinct lineages and many unique methods.

Tai chi relates to yin/yang in several important ways, including how the practice combines two complimentary, but opposite, forces of energy that lead to overall balance and health.

The yang aspect of tai chi relates to how the practice increases strength, endurance and energy, while the yin aspect relates to how it improves concentration, a sense of being grounded and introspection.

• Yin/yang can also be applied to tai chi in that the practice uses opposing parts of the body to improve coordination and balance: left and right and upper and lower.

• Probably the most important way that yin/yang applies to tai chi is how it connects the physical body with the cognitive mind. Tai chi involves movements done simultaneously with controlled breathing and concentration, which helps improve relaxation, attention, selfawareness and confidence through visualization, intention and imagery.

• “Qi” is another important element that gives tai chi deeper meaning: • Qi represents energy flow in the body and is said to be balanced and maintained through physical activity, coupled with breathing exercises and concentration. This is why tai chi is said to improve the mind-body connection and offer both physical and emotional benefits at the same time.

• True to most Eastern philosophical and medicinal concepts, tai chi rests on the fact that every aspect of a person and the whole body is connected; the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind.

Tai Chi Precautions Tai chi moves are considered a very safe form of exercise even for people with limited abilities, however, there are some circumstances when it’s best to talk with your doctor before starting. If you have an injury that’s still healing, any limiting musculoskeletal problem or you take medications that can make you dizzy or lightheaded if your heart rate goes up, it’s a good idea to get a professional opinion first.It’s recommended that tai chi beginners take an instructed class to learn movements safely and to obtain feedback.

Low-cost senior centers or community education centers often offer tai chi classes. You can always choose to watch instructive videos online for free, too. Keep in mind there are no formal training or licensing requirements in place for tai chi instructors, so seek out a referral in your area and do your research to learn from someone who’s knowledgeable and experienced.

The Tai Chi Health Center offers help finding an instructor or becoming an instructor yourself.

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Top 10 Hazardous Household Chemicals

By Richard Alexander – Biophile magazine

AIR FRESHENERS Most air fresheners interfere with your ability to smell by coating your nasal passages with an oil film, or by releasing a nerve deadening agent.

Known toxic chemicals found in an air fresheners: Formaldehyde – Highly toxic, known carcinogen. Phenol – When phenol touches your skin it can cause it to swell, burn, peel, and break out in hives. Can cause cold sweats, convulsions, circulatory collapse, coma and even death.

AMMONIA It is a very volatile chemical, it is very damaging to your eyes, respiratory tract and skin.

BLEACH It is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested. WARNING: never mix bleach with ammonia, it may cause fumes which can be deadly.

CARPET & UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOO Most formulas are designed to over pow3er the stain itself, the accomplish the task but not without using highly toxic substances. Some include: Perchlorethylene, known carcinogen damages liver, kidney and nervous system damage. Ammonium Hydroxide: Corrosive, extremely irritable to eyes, skin and respiratory passages.

DISHWASHER DETERGENTS Most products contain chlorine in a dry form that is highly concentrated. Number 1 cause of child poisonings, according to poison control centres.

DRAIN CLEANER Most drain cleaners contain lye, hydrochloric acid or trychlororethane. Lye: Caustic, burns skin and eyes, if ingested will damage esophagus and stomach. Hydrochloric acid: Corrosive, eye and skin irritant, damages kidneys, liver and digestive tract. Trichloroethane: eye and skin irritant, nervous system depressant, damages liver and kidneys

FURNITURE POLISH Petroleum Distillates: Highly flammable, can cause skin and lung cancer. Phenol (see Air Fresheners, Phenol.) Nitrobenzene: Easily absorbed through the skin, extremely toxic.

MOLD AND MILDEW CLEANERS Chemicals contained are: Sodium hypochlorite: corrosive, irritates or burns skin and eyes, causes fluid in the lungs which can lead to coma or death. Formaldehyde: highly toxic, know carcinogen. Irritant to eyes nose throat and skin. May cause nausea, headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, memory loss and shortness of breath.

OVEN CLEANER Sodium Hydroxide (Lye): caustic, strong irritant, burns to both skin and eyes. Inhibits reflexes, will cause severe tissue damage is swallowed.

ANTIBACTERIAL CLEANERS May contain: Triclosan: absorption through the skin can be tied to liver damage.

LAUNDRY ROOM PRODUCTS Sodium or calcium hypocrite: highly corrosive, irritates or burns skin, eyes or respiratory tract.

Linear alkylate sulfonate. Absorbed through the skin. Known Liver damaging agent. Sodium Tripolyphosphate: irritates skin and mucous membranes,, causes vomiting. Easily absorbed through the skin from clothes.

TOILET BOWL CLEANERS Hydrochloric acid: highly corrosive, irritant to both skin and eyes. Damages kidneys and liver.

Hypochlorite Bleach: corrosive, irritates or burns eyes, skin and respiratory tract. May cause pulmonary edema, committing or coma if ingested. Contact with other chemicals may cause chlorine fumes which may be fatal.

PTJER NASTY THINGS THAT ARE AROUND YOUR HOME PESTICIDES Most pesticides have ingredients that affect the nervous system of insects. Dimpylate: Better know as Diazinon, extremely toxic, Impairs the central nervous system Chlorinate Hydrocarbons: Suspected carcinogen and mutantagen. Accumulates in food and in fatty tissue. Will attack the nervous system. Organophosphates: toxic and poisonous. If you can smell it, your lungs are absorbing it.

FLEA POWDERS Carbaryl: very toxic, causes skin, respiratory and cardiovascular system damage: accumulates in the food chain, may damage eyes, lungs, liver,, kidney and skin. Dichlorophene: skin irritation.

May damage liver, kidneys, spleen and central nervous system.

LICE SHAMPOO Children are especially vulnerable. Lindane: inhalation, ingestion, or absorption through the skin causes vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and circulatory collapse. May cause liver damage, stillbirths, birth defects and cancer.

CAR WASH AND POLISH Petroleum Distillates: Associated with skin and lung cancer, irritant to skin, eyes, nose and lungs. Entry into the lungs may cause fatal pulmonary edema, most marked danger, harmful or fatal.

TAR AND BUG REMOVER Contains xylene and petroleum distillates.

Warning terms used are significant: DANGER Harmful or fatal if swallowed. A taste to a teaspoonful taken by mouth could kill an average sized adult.

WARNING Harmful if swallowed. A teaspoonful to an ounce taken by mouth could kill an average sized adult.

CAUTION Harmful is swallowed.

By Georgina Lockwood / Life Green Group – Sourced from Greenpop

Looking for a natural fit from an all-natural knit? Pull off the nylon; stop the silkworms spinning and move over the mohair. It’s time to start making fabric fibres from plants. At Life &Photo Earth weHondow specialise in

by Brett on Pixabay food waste recycling and are always on the lookout for carbon positive, sustainable ways to reuse organic matter. We found the answer: taking by-products of agricultural plants to make natural materials.

We’re not going to get all vegan about it, but this is nothing new to mankind, fabrics have been spun from natural fibres extracted from the leaves, seeds or stems of plants.

The fashion industry is some of the most wasteful with trends changing with next issue of Vogue. Monoculture… it’s monotonous. The cotton industry using up to 20,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of cotton, that’s one pair of blue jeans.

It’s time to start thinking sustainable and taking note of conscientious consumerism.

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Bananas about natural fibres?

It’s a concept Leo DiCaprio and Elon Musk would be bananas about. Approximately one billion tons of banana plant stems are squandered each year. Fruitless? We, at Life Green Group, think so.

The banana plant in the tropics (its natural environment) does not require any additional pesticides or fertilisers, making banana yarn an eco-friendly source of clothing, paper and potassium. Too long have banana leaves been the inspiration behind the fabric print, it’s now the actual fabric.

Leather from pineapples – a mouth-watering concept.

Aloha?! It’s swanky to say your leather shoes are made from pineapples. The fibres from the leaves of the pineapples are strong enough to be made into durable natural leather.

The eco-logic and perfection behind pineapple leather is the fibres are a by-product of pineapple farming. This means farmers are able to upscale their produce, creates more jobs, and zero organic waste to landfills. Pineapple fibres are so versatile they can be added to the other material to improve quality and application.

Another fruit you can pluck from the fruit bowl for clothing is the coconut and its husk.

Of coconuts, volcanos and sports gear.

Got 99 problems and the coconut solved about 97 of them. That list now includes textiles.

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The coconut has naturalised on almost every tropical island in the world and is an important source of milk, water, oil, and ‘meat’ and now fibre.

Cocona is a natural textile made from coconut shells and volcanic materials. The technology is being utilised by North Face and other major active brands. The genius behind coconut cottons is a farmer can harvest every 30- 45 days, with a 1,000 coconuts producing 10kg of fibre.

Get on the Hemp highway Not just proverbially… This versatile herb is rumoured to have over 25,000 uses to mankind, including hempcrete, beauty products, biofuels, oil, plastic composites and clothing.

Hemp monoculture ? We’re not smoking. The cannabis plant is one of the oldest domesticated plants and has been selected for different traits, one of them being THC that comes from the marijuana subspecies. Hemp, on the other hand, has no medicinal, religious or recreation value and can be used to make all sorts of useful material including clothing.

Bras made from Bamboo.

Wool in all its thermos-regulating brilliance is ovine and overdone, time to step away from the herd. Bamboo fibres, like wool, will keep you sweat-free in summer and toasty in winter.

It’s not just pandas who are obsessed. There has been a movement to produce female under garments from breathable bamboo material. Bamboo fabrics are lighter, softer and more ecofriendly than cotton. An added bonus is bamboo textiles are they are naturally; anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, hypoallergenic, and static and wrinkle free!

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Got an itch to splurge on that nettle dress This natural knit that won’t itch! Before cotton, nettle was the preferred material for clothing because it was parasite resistant and glossy therefore it was regarded as more formal by the upper classes. Get suited and booted in clothing that won’t sting your carbon footprint.

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*2018-2019 COMPASSIONATE NO ANIMAL-TESTING PRODUCT GUIDE*

2018-2019

COMPASSIONATE NO ANIMAL-TESTING

PRODUCT GUIDE South Africa

Intro edition

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THE ADVANTAGES OF NEUTERING MALE DOGS & CATS

DOGS 1. Has no effect on the dog's alertness or natural protective instincts.

2. Minimizes sexual and territorial aggression.

3. Reduces hyperactivity and the dog becomes more relaxed in its home environment.

4. Lowers the dog's general activity level (advantageous with certain breeds such as Boxers).

5. The dog becomes more affectionate with the owners, children and other pets.

6. Minimizes or eliminates bad habits such as jumping over fences, chasing of cars, urinating in the house, etc.

7. Minimizes the likelihood of having prostate problems.

CATS 1. Neutered cats become more affectionate and less inclined to wander off their territories.

2. Neutering reduces and even eliminates spraying altogether.

3. Reduces and even eliminates “cat choruses” which are usually caused by unneutered males challenging each other for females “in season” or for territory (i.e. minimizes sexual and territorial aggression).

DOGS AND CATS 1. Stops straying when females "in season" are in the neighbourhood and also reduces the possibility of the male getting into fights or being run over by a motor vehicle - which can prove to be costly in terms of veterinary fees.

2. Prevents mating with females "in season" in the neighbourhood.

3. Minimizes or eliminates the possibility of the male contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

4. Reduces the possibility of the male developing tumours in the anus.

NOTE 1. Results can be expected to show within six weeks to three months of the operation.

2. A MALE CAN FERTILISE MORE FEMALES IN A YEAR THAN A FEMALE CAN HAVE LITTERS IN HER LIFETIME. Conscious Life Magazine

UNWANTED PUPPIES AND KITTENS ARE PREVENTED. DID YOU KNOW THAT: • • •

thousands of animals are euthanized annually in animal welfare organisations throughout South Africa; spaying your female would help to reduce this tragedy; the cost in terms of euthanase, burial/incineration and even human stress are enormous.

GIVING PUPPIES AND KITTENS AWAY (E.G. “FREE TO GOOD HOME”) CAN HAVE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES: • •

recent investigations by the SPCA have revealed that dogs are being obtained under false pretenses by “brokers” who then sell them to security companies in other parts of Africa; cats and kittens are obtained under false pretenses to be used as bait to train dogs for fighting or to train dogs for illegal racing and hunting.

UNSPAYED BITCHES AND QUEENS: • • • • • •

• • •

can become infected with sexually transmitted diseases or pyometra (pus in the womb); these conditions cannot always be cured and may lead to your pet having to be euthanized; become disobedient, restless and noisy when in season; if kept at home, risk being covered; cause uncastrated males in the neighbourhood to wander and risk injury due to fighting or as a result of motor vehicle accidents; are not always able to give birth naturally, and this incurs high veterinary costs as caesareans may need to be performed and/or other complications may arise; many animals die in labour; an unspayed female cat will come into season approximately every 3 weeks for about 7 days until she becomes pregnant, which can be as early as 4 months of age.

HOWEVER, THE ADVANTAGES IN OWNING ANY STERILISED ANIMAL: • • • • • • • • • •

avoid pyometra (pus in the womb), as well as other womb and sexually transmitted diseases; have a reduced risk of mammary tumours; will not wander; will not cause upheaval in the neighbourhood; have a reduced risk of many costly veterinary bills; are healthier; although a spayed bitch will have a calmer temperament, this will not affect her protective instincts.

Source: NSPCA

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FISH ARE CAPABLE OF HUMAN-LIKE LOGIC Source: Biophile Magazine

Fish have the reasoning capacity of a 4- or 5-year-old child when it comes to figuring out who among their peers is ‘top dog’, new research shows.

Stanford University scientists made the discovery – said to be the first demonstration that fish can use logical reasoning to figure out their social pecking order – by studying fights among small, highly territorial, spiny-finned fish called cichlids, common in freshwater in tropical Africa, including in Lake Tanganyika in central Africa.

Logan Grosenick, a graduate student in statistics, and his colleagues found that a sixth fish could infer or learn indirectly which were the 1st through 5th strongest simply by observing fights among them in adjacent, transparent tanks, rather than by directly fighting each fish itself or seeing each fish fight all four others.

This type of reasoning, called transitive inference (TI), is a developmental milestone for human children, showing up nonverbally as early as ages 4 and 5; it also has been reported in monkey, rats and birds. It allows thinkers to reason that if A is bigger than B, and B is bigger than C, then A is also bigger than C.

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Dear Reader, Because of animal lovers like you, Humane Society International is working around the clock to fight the gruesome dog meat industry – to end it for good.

We’ve slammed the doors permanently on nine dog meat farms in South Korea and rescued more than 900 dogs. Not only that, but we’re lobbying hard for better laws throughout Asia to fight the cruelty, transition farmers out of the business of cruelty, and so much more.

Here is one transformation that we can't stop smiling about. Sophie was rescued just this year from a horrible life on a dog meat farm. Now, she is running free and playing in the grass, surrounded by the love of her forever family:

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This kind of ending never gets old, but so many other dogs still need you.

You can make a difference for dogs caught up in this brutal industry: Sign the dog meat pledge today.

With you by our side, we're committed to this huge fight against the dog meat trade. We’re closing farms and rescuing the animals; we’re raising public and political awareness of the cruelty involved; and we’re growing substantial support for a phase out and ban of South Korea’s dog meat farms. Become a part of the global campaign to end the dog meat trade—sign your name right now.

Thank you, for protecting animals from cruelty all across the globe.

Sincerely, Kitty Block President Humane Society International

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Welcome To The Angel Connection School of Africa The Angel Connection School of Africa, established as a non-profit organisation, for the highest good of all, will incorporate all forms of Spirituality continuing with the basic teachings of Angels, Ascension, Atlantis etc. which we all know to be Universal.

The teachings of various modalities will however, be enhanced by adding the specific requirements of our culture and ethnicity, whilst retaining flexibility.

The mission statement of the school is:“To Light up Africa so that Africa can Light up the World”

A Letter From The School Principal – Margi McAlpine

Angel Connection Day

Meditations

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The Buddhist Retreat Centre, where people of all religions, and none, come to experience peace and tranquility.

How to Retreat The Buddhist Retreat Centre offers various types of retreats, ranging from those investigating Buddhist thought and philosophy, through to practice retreats where the emphasis is on meditation; as well as retreats featuring bird watching, cookery, drumming, pottery and photography. At first glance the latter might appear to be unrelated to Buddhism but even these retreats will contain some element of meditation, of mindful awareness, refracting the chosen subject matter through a Buddhist lens.

People from all walks of life come to these retreats with a variety of motivations and expectations. Perhaps they want to deepen their meditation practice, to take some time out from a hectic working life; to reflect on a tense domestic situation; to consider the trajectory of their lives; to make a decision about a way forward. Maybe they just want to learn how to take a good photograph. Each person will have a different reason for going on a retreat. Different paths will have led them to this place.

We all need to make an appointment with ourselves from time to time. To re-connect with who we are; to maintain balance; to recharge exhausted batteries. To make time to go on a retreat is a necessary and healthy step for anyone.

General Information The Centre has been established on an exquisite 125-hectare country estate near the village of Ixopo, KwaZuluNatal 90 kilometers south of Pietermaritzburg, one and a half hours’ drive from Durban.

Set in hilly grasslands amongst dams, indigenous bush and forests, it overlooks one of the great valleys in the Umkomaas river system. CNN featured the BRC as one of the ten finest retreat centres in the world. It was awarded Natural Heritage status by President Nelson Mandela in recognition of its success in establishing indigenous vegetation on the property and providing habitats for wildlife to return, including the endangered Blue Swallow. It is a birder’s paradise with more 160 species recorded.

Walks lead to many interesting sites and viewpoints on the property, including evidence that Bushman lived there and Voortrekkers and Settlers passed through. In 2000, the BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa valley. It continues to support the organisation in a variety of ways.

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Accommodation Fifty retreatants can be accommodated in single and twin-bedded rooms, en-suite cottages and thatched chalets overlooking the secluded valleys on the property – a short distance away from the dining room, office, library, studio and meditation hall.

The Centre is justly famous for its fine lacto-ovo vegetarian cuisine which is featured in its own bestselling recipe books, Quiet Food, The Cake the Buddha Ate and Plentiful: The Big Book Of Buddha Food. The BRC menu includes organically grown vegetables and farm-baked bread.

Observances The Retreat Centre offers a tranquil environment for the study and practice of philosophy, psychology, meditation and the arts associated with Buddhist culture. The Centre therefore encourages adherence to traditional Buddhist moral principles during retreats, such as respect for all forms of life and abstinence from alcoholic drinks and hallucinogenic drugs. Noble Silence is maintained from the last meditation at night until the first session after breakfast in the morning.

During some retreats, Noble Silence is maintained throughout. Pets are not allowed at the Centre. Only some retreats are suitable for children: please check with the Administrator.

Forthcoming Retreats: For full details of each retreat please go to the website page: http://www.brcixopo.co.za/retreats/detailed-list-ofretreats.html

Email: brcixopo@futurenet.co.za Tel: +27(0)39 834 1863 or 0878091687 Mobile: 082 579 3037 www.brcixopo.co.za

MAR-APR 2017

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Reconnect with Spirit

Rediscover your Life Force Restore Balance

PSYCHIC MEDIUM As a Psychic Medium, I am able to connect with spirit guides, where I receive messages about a clients past, present and future. These messages may be beneficial to help bring clarity

on their lives and where be leading.

Many of the messages have received for my have been healing on levels.

it may that I clients many

REIKI A quantity that is almost impossible to define! Energy can never be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. Among the familiar forms are heat energy, energy of motion, electrical energy, and sound energy.

Reiki is a form of energy healing. This form of healing helps to maintain balance within, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Reiki is a form or spiritual or energy healing. It helps open up and remove blockages

within the system. Each system within our bodies is intimately connected to the seven major charkas.

Reiki will help remove these blockages and restore balance.

Contact Damian Wood Email: damian@woodswellness.co.za Mobile: 082 863 8842 www.woodswellness.co.za Conscious Life Magazine

Conscious Life Magazine

FIND & BOOK ECO-FRIENDLY ACCOMMODATION IN SOUTH AFRICA lovetostay.co.za is your green heart guide to eco-friendly accommodation throughout beautiful South Africa. We partner with all kinds of accommodation establishments that operate in an eco-friendly, sustainable and responsible way. So whether you opt for a luxury boutique hotel or rustic tree house, you can feel good knowing your holiday supports a place that serves the environment and community in a positive way. To help you make these good choices, we are committed to growing a wonderful selection of urban and country, luxury and rustic green accommodation options where you will love to stay!

Search for your next green getaway on www.lovetostay.co.za by location or type; the Check Availability & Book Online green button will enable you to check real-time availability, make a booking & secure online payment through the Nightsbridge booking system at no extra charge.

WHAT IS ECO-FRIENDLY ACCOMMODATION? Eco-friendly accommodation is defined as a lodging establishment with structural features that minimize the impact and footprint on the environment; as well as well as those that follow green living, sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

WHAT ARE GREEN HEARTS? Look out for the Green Hearts Seal of each establishment. We are proud to showcase all of our members and love to highlight their specific efforts to protect and conserve the environment. Seals display between 1-5 Green Hearts as awarded to them for their positive Green Acts. Here`s more info!

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WHAT’S ON

The Beautiful Hopi Indian Labyrinth at Thirsty Falls Guest Farm

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The Antbear Drakensberg Lodge is a thatched, whitewashed lodge built high on a natural platform overlooking the Bushman's River and Giants Castle.

Antbear Drakensberg Lodge offers various Drakensberg accommodation options in en suite double rooms, luxury suites, family units and also boasts a luxury cave too.

Antbear Drakensberg Lodge is one of those smaller intimate kind places which has been lovingly put together. The natural setting of the accommodation is stunning and we have managed to encase all this beauty with an atmosphere of comfort and ease.

The cottages are smartly appointed and individually designed and the fact that we are a small place makes for an intimate and personal accommodation experience. Each of the accommodation units are different and are decorated with uniquely eccentric and artistic wooden furniture.

It is a bit off the beaten track and is more of an insider tip than just another bed and breakfast. We cater for small intimate groups and never have more than 45 guests at a time. It's a laid back, lovingly cared for kind of place where you feel a sense of happiness and peace. Honeymoon stays turn into anniversary commemorations just as guests become friends. Even foreign tourists return for a second and third taste.

Attractions Drakensburg Hiking Trails Bushman Rock Art Giant’s Castle Kamberg Weenen Game Reserve Royal Natal National Park Drakensburg Boys Choir

Horse Trails Injasuti Nature Reserve Monks Cowl Natal Midlands Tugela Falls Sani Pass Fly Fishing

Retreats The Antbear Drakensberg Lodge is the ideal retreat venue where we can provide all the services and accommodation for your retreat. Situated 4 hours from Johannesburg and 2 hours from Durban with easy access from the N3 Antbear Lodge is easy to get to but has the feeling of being far from the madding crowd. This wonderful place for group retreats offers spectacular views, vast spaces, wild winds, rain, sunshine, clouds and rainbows and in all of this – silence and peace.

Retreat groups can book the whole lodge for their exclusive use.

The Lodge can accommodate 44 persons in 15 separate accommodation units Antbear Drakensberg Lodge has a spacious dining room with a wood-burning fireplace, a comfortable lounge with a fireplace and spectacular views, a breakaway meeting room, a large veranda and a large meeting room for retreat, team building or training activities. We provide excellent meals and will fit our menu to your expectations.

Conscious Life Magazine

Conscious Life Magazine

Because food is an important part of your stay Meals are part of the real surprises that the Antbear Lodge has to offer where home grown cooking is part of the deal. We like to use our own home grown organic vegetables and if we haven’t got, then we lean heavily on those local providers with similar attitudes to our own. Conny and Andrew both like cooking and are up to changing just about anything to suit tastes or philosophies. Our cooking experience is in part a journal, a record of events and memories expressed in recipes. In the course of our travels we have filed away many recipes and with them images of people and places and their lives. How food tastes has much to do with the associations we make and if you would like to hear the tales of our meals we would love to tell them.

Sustainable & responsible tourism is our social responsibility and what we do to give something back to our community and environment We believe in sustainable tourism and social responsibility. We live is a spectacularly beautiful place called the Drakensberg and our standard of living here is exceptional.

But around us lie contrasts of poverty and lack of development. If we are to keep our way of life then it surely follows that we must do everything in our power to contribute to the upliftment and prosperity of this rural area. We believe that the future of South Africa is linked to the prosperity of the people, and that upliftment is linked to education. And as such we have chosen to support our local primary school called Vulakani Primary School.

Pet friendly accommodation Drakensberg One of the few pet-friendly places in the Drakensberg. Beautiful, vast views of the Drakensberg with plenty of ground for my dogs to roam. Walk for hours.

Your dogs will be happy with lots of dams to swim in and horses to discover. One of the accommodation units at Antbear Lodge is fenced in so its really easy to leave your dog behind if you would like to explore some of the sights where pets are not that welcome. If country life is for you and you would love to take your pet with you then Antbear Lodge is a great accommodation choice. Your hosts will advise you on all the activities available. Antbear Lodge prides itself on being both family-friendly and petfriendly.

CONTACT Mobile 076 441 2362 Email: reservations@antbear.co.za Web: www.antbear.co.za

Conscious Life Magazine

Conscious Life Magazine

EVERY HOME NEEDS A LOVING PET! THERE ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS WAITING TO BE ADOPTED – PLEASE REACH OUT! WE ALSO ENCOCURAGE YOU TO REACH INTO YOUR HEARTS FOR THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE AND REALLY NEED OUR HELP.

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At Operation Smile we believe every child suffering from cleft lip or cleft palate deserves exceptional surgical care.

For too many families around the world, safe surgery is not an option.

At Operation Smile we believe every child deserves exceptional surgical care. We believe all children deserve to be treated as if they were our own.

EVERY 3 MINUTES, a child is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and may suffer from torments, malnourishment and difficulty with speech.

We dream of a world where no child suffers from lack of access to safe surgery. Learn why we do what we do in the video below.

That’s what drives each and every one of us: our global network of medical professionals, who donate hundreds of thousands of hours toward the care of children around the world each year, and our supporters who are moved every day to make a difference in the lives of children they’ve never met.

How you can help Operation Smile South Africa Building 17, 103/104, Waverley Office Park 5 Wyecroft Rd, Observatory 7925 (+27) 021 447 3608 infosa@operationsmile.org NPO number 083-117 NPO

A child’s cleft lip or cleft palate can be repaired for as little as R5500 and in as few as 45 minutes, but your gift is more than a surgery. All of our supporters give renewed hope to children and families around the world.

Conscious Life Magazine

Help us bring hope to girls without and choices to those with none.

Founded in 2000 by Khanyisile Motsa, and run under her diligent care ever, Home of Hope for Girls is an autonomous, self-started initiative to provide real care for exploited, trafficked and abused children in the city of Johannesburg.

It is more than just a residential shelter; it is a loving home where dignity is restored, the past is healed and the girls are given the tools to take control of their futures. Home of Hope also reaches out to the community offering the most vulnerable members support, practical help and a lifeline.

The Background to Home of Hope An estimated 10,000 children are prostitutes in Johannesburg and this figure is increasing.

When Khanyisile Motsa relocated to Hillbrow she was shocked to observe girls as young as nine working as prostitutes and selling drugs on the streets at night. The truth about these forgotten children is: • • • •

• •

Child Prostitute. Photo by Tseliso Monaheng

Criminals pay agents to recruit children They usually target often orphans or/and those from very disadvantaged rural communities Victims are trafficked or seduced to leave with lies about a life in the city Their IDs are frequently taken from them to make escape and identification difficult Their IDs are often sold on the black market ‘Owned’ by their exploiters they are prostituted, abused, made to sell drugs

Email: info@hopehome.org.za Mam Khanyi: 073 250 2086 Telephone: 011 614 0861 Conscious Life Magazine

Call 012 430 7775 Lines open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In South Africa and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

We need your help to ensure that no child is left behind.

In a tough funding environment, we have ensured we have multiple avenues of funding and are proud to have 11,000 generous individual donors contributing monthly. We will continue to be innovative in securing funding to enable us to reach more children and will work on increasing unrestricted and consistent funding streams.

You can help us make a difference. Even just by becoming aware of our work by reading our annual report.

To download and read the full annual report, click here.

Help us do whatever it takes to save the children.

Thank You Gugulethu Ndebele CEO

www.savethechildren.org.za Conscious Life Magazine

With much appreciation to our advertisers, contributors, endorsers and of course, our readers Namaste

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