Edge 11.2011

12 step for non-believers / 16

NOVEMBER 2011 • FREE MONTHLY • PAY IT FORWARD

An interview with Marya Hornbacher

Children of the

New Dawn

Insiah Beckman

Chanda Parkinson

An Interview on the Paradigmchanging Young People in our Midst A preview of this month’s Edge Life Health & Holistic Expo in Minneapolis / 10 featured the inner child / 20

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Sunny Dawn Johnston

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HOLISTIC LIVING

EDGE LIFE MINNEAPOLIS

HEALTH & HOLISTIC EXPO

An Event for the New Dawn of

Call ask about free tickets

2012

Are You Going to be Ready? in the upper Midwest at the Edge Life Expo. This 2 day event is an emporium of services, gifts, products and information to support holistic life. Bring your friends and enjoy yourself.     

Over 125 exhibitors including health and wellness providers 5 Keynote speakers 39 FREE Workshops 12 intuitive consultants Specialty gift products, art, spirituality resources, and more

Nov 19 - 20

Sat 10 - 6 & Sunday 10 - 5 Hyatt Regency Minneapolis! for Discount Tickets & More Info

www.EdgeLife.net or 1.877.776.5244

November 2011 edge magazine

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EDGE MAGAZINE P.O. Box 664, Anoka, MN 55303 Edgemagazine.net Facebook.com/edgemagazine.net Twitter: @theedgemagazine Publishers Tim Miejan & Cathy Jacobsen Editor: Tim Miejan tel / fax 651.578.8969 editor@edgemagazine.net P.O. Box 7324, Madison, WI 53707 POETRY EDITOR: William Ricci poetry@edgemagazine.net PRODUCTION: melissa may

contents NOVEMBER 2011 • Holistic Living • Serving the Upper Midwest…and beyond since 1992

FLIP THIS MAGAZINE OVER TO READ THE 2011 FALL EDGE DIRECTORY! Featuring descriptions of 70+ Holistic Businesses, Practitioners and Services Please support our Directory & Magazine Advertisers, for they make The Edge possible!

 FEATURING

 LIFE

10 Children of the New Dawn: An Edge Life Health & Holistic Preview, by Tim Miejan

08 National Conferences in 2012

Transcription: jean wallis Sales & Marketing: Cathy Jacobsen 763.433.9291, fax 763.433.9290 cathy@edgemagazine.net

16 Waiting: A NonBeliever’s Higher Power: An Interview with Marya Hornbacher,

by William Ricci

20 Featured: Your Inner Child – Healing It is our Life’s Work, by Eric J. Christopher

Proofreading: Rachel miejan

EDGE TALK RADIO coordinator: CATHRYN TAYLOR 612.710.7720 website mystic: suzanne ahjira

 FROM THE EDITOR 07 The Path of Least Resistance, by Tim Miejan

ISSN 1085-0996 Copyright © 2011.

All Rights Reserved. The Edge is published by The Edge LLC. Reproduction of articles in print or electronically without permission of the author is prohibited. The Edge does not necessarily agree with the views in articles. It accepts advertising at the discretion of the publisher and assumes no responsibility for any claims or representations contained in this publication or in any advertisement.

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HOLISTIC LIVING

28 A Step Away from Peace, by John Ptacek

 SPIRITUALITY 08 Twin Cities singer Alison Scott lends her voice to growing spiritual center 14 One Step at a Time, by Lori Baker

08 Minnetonka center joins effort to help troops with PTSD 15 Trend: Eating Disorders consuming Older Women, by Becky Henry 19 The Natural Path of Healing, by SchaOn 23 Brain Rhythm Feedback Therapy assists with ADHD, Autism, by Peter Jason Meilahn

 BEYOND 09 Pineal Toning™ & The Lemurian Choir

 FOOD 2 2 Recipe: Savory Rice Stuffed Squash for Holiday, by Maggie Christopher

18 Life as a Duck, by Michael Foley

20 An Edge Holistic Profile: Hypnotherapist Eric J. Christopher 21 Featured: Your Inner Child – Why It Needs Your Attention, by Ann Niebuhr 22 The Time is Now: Mission Happiness,

by Joni Schmidt 24 Finding Meaning in Mundane Tasks,

by Dr. Christine Breese 27 Intensity: Just Wait for Thanksgiving, Star Wisdom | November 2011, by DK Brainard

 NATURE 29 The Crow that Cheered my Spirit,

by Dr. Francine Juhasz

 THE ARTS 14 Holy Molé cartoon, by Rick Hotton 24 Poetry, by Edward Lee, Deanna Reiter and Craig W. Steele

 EDGE LISTINGS 31 Networking Source Business Listings 33 Community Business Resources, featuring Naturopathy & Osteopathy 33 Sacred Services Listings 33 Classifieds 34 Happenings Events Calendar Listings

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: An Interview with Michael Michalko, Author of Creative Thinkering  COLUMNS  VIDEO BLOGS  MORE

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Quantum Techniques Energetic Healing Sessions with Dr. Thomas Miller D.C. and Heidi Gilman

Are you looking for a way to improve your energy and overall well being?

• Are you chronically unwell or tired all the time?

• Are you concerned about foods and environmental toxins affecting your health and well being?

• Do you want to function at a higher level physically, mentally and emotionally?

Find a new level of healing with Quantum Techniques.

Energetic healing sessions are done over the phone.

Quantum Techniques energetic clearing and healing codes can help bring your body to a balanced energetic state.

For more information or to schedule a session please visit the Quantum Techniques website.

www.quantumtechniques.com

Purchase a product from the website for $25.00 or more and receive 30 min. free on your first session.

Mention this add to Tom or Heidi and receive a discount rate for your first 90 days of service.

Tom@quantumtechniques.com • 877-594-1265 Heidi@quantumtechniques.com • 877-484-2153 Join us for informational/demonstration sessions monthly at Total Health and Healing Clinic, Coon Rapids, MN.

www.totalhealthandhealing.com

November 2011 edge magazine

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FEATURED TOPICS

EDGE TALK RADIO SCHEDULE

Monthly special focus DECEMBER 2012 Predictions & Prophecies: What can we expect in 2012? due November 7

Expanding the Holistic Conversation Listen LIVE : call 1.714.364.4750 LISTEN ONLINE : blogtalkradio.com/ edgemagazine archives : edgemagazine.net/ edge-talk-radio

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tuesday, November 1, 6 PM | first tuesday “Edge Learning Well” with Carolyn Vinup —

WRITE

ON ALL ASPECTS OF HOLISTIC LIVING & TOPICS The Edge invites you to submit articles on our featured topic (above) or share your personal journey of holistic living with others through this publication.

Write on: Life • The Arts • Spirituality • Intuitive Arts • Health • Food • Nature • The Beyond & Paranormal Also submit: Press releases on coming events and news (except for new products). Letters to the editor are accepted.

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Learning Well – Your partner in integrative health education. You’ll hear from fascinating experts who will share rich information designed to enhance your health, career and relationships. Learning Well… bringing growth, joy and inspiration to your life! Sponsored by the Integrative Health Education Center of Normandale Community College.

Wednesday, november 2, 6 PM | first wednesday “Edge Astrology” with D.K. Brainard — The Edge’s

astrology columnist gives us a peek into the future. Discover the larger patterns behind life’s ups and downs. Find out how you can flow with the energy of the weeks ahead. Bring the wisdom of the stars into your life.

thursday, November 3, 6 PM | first thursday “Edge Intuitive Living” with Echo Bodine — Join

noted psychic, healer and teacher Echo Bodine for her one-hour program on living by our intuition. It is a mix of everything she does and teaches, and each program ends with a meditation.

SATURday, november 5, 11 AM | first SATURday “Edge Holistic Children” with Cathi Curen — Join

Cathi, who has spent 20+ years researching family dynamics, for an hour of exploring the latest concepts to assist families with their emotional, spiritual, physical, financial and environmental health.

Wednesday, november 9, 6 PM | second wednesday “Edge Innerviews” with Cathryn Taylor — Join

author and host Cathryn Taylor for this live conversation with Mirtha Solis on the benefits of therapeutic coaching the multitude of modalities offered at Meta Institute.

Sunday, november 13, 11 aM | second sunday “On the Edge” with SchaOn — Get fixed! Join SchaOn

and his monthly guests who are featured live at the new monthly gathering called Holistic Sundays - held every second Sunday at The Nicolett, 1931 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis. Learn more about the event at www.tchealers.com.

Wednesday, november 16, 6 PM | THANKSGIVING SHOW “Edge Wisdom & Happenings” with guest hosts Cathryn Taylor & Cathy Jacobsen — Edge Talk Radio

Coordinator Cathryn Taylor and Edge Publisher Cathy Jacobsen will team up to present a look back at this past year and forward to the possibilities of Edge Talk Radio. They also will talk about EFT, Cathryn Taylor’s specialty, to share more information about Energy Tapping.

NEW sATURday, november 19, 3 PM | third SATURDAY “Edge Mysteries & Beyond” with Joseph A. Amara — Join Joseph A. Amara, one of the owners of Magus

Books, as he discusses the Mysteries of life and spirituality that serve to bring wonder and meaning into our lives. He will highlight new and popular book titles, as well as answer listener questions and conduct interviews with luminaries in the fields of Magick and Mysticism.

Edge Talk Radio seeks a different member of the Holistic Community to guest host “Edge Wisdom” on the Third Wednesday of each month. Call for details. In addition, inquire about hosting your own monthly Edge Talk Radio program by calling Cathryn at 612.710.7720 or Cathy at 763.433.9291.

NEW TIME sunday, november 20, 11 aM | third SUNDAY “Edge Sage Pages” with Harmony Green — The

first half of the show are the Pages from the Path, when Harmony offers brief readings concerning Divine Life Purpose. Then, a guest will discuss his or her path and what gifts they are sharing with the world. Harmony hosts Pages from the Path at All about the Journey, her healing center in Minneapolis.

monday, november 21, 5:30 PM | third monday “Edge EFT Happy Hour” with Cathryn Taylor —

Stop by The Healing Loft after work (2112 Broadway, Suite 230250, Minneapolis) or listen live on the air! Take the edge off your day! Treat yourself to an hour of relaxation and relief with the new, innovative stress-reducing technique of Energy Tapping.

tuesday, november 22, 6 PM | fourth tuesday “Edge Live at the Healing Loft” — This show comes

to you live from The Healing Loft wellness center in Northeast Minneapolis with hosts Intuitive Medium/Energetic Empathy Healer Duncan Metzger, Certified BodyTalk Practitioner/Animal Communicator Kristen Scanlon, and Dr. Katie Fahnel, D.C., a Network Spinal Analysis Chiropractor. This show provides information about integrative medicine and healing to help you make wiser choices in your health and well-being.

FRIday, NOVEMBER 25, 6 PM | special TIME this month “Edge Insights” with Deborah Lynn11 — Twin Cities

Psychic Medium and Author Deborah Lynn11 helps you discover why and what it is you are working on in your life on earth. Learn how to manifest your life on earth as it is in your heaven.

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The path of least resistance

by Tim Miejan

T

he first time it happened was in the early 1990s. I had been a daily newspaper writer in Missouri for about ten years, and I was toying with the idea of making a career change. I set up an interview at a school of traditional Chinese medicine in Santa Fe and, before I knew it, I was throwing my bags in the backseat of my VW and heading down the road to New Mexico.

As the miles passed behind me, I thought about how I needed a change in scenery, about how rewarding it would be to help people with a natural system of healing that dates back thousands of years.

The outskirts of Santa Fe were on the horizon, and suddenly the engine light went on, the temperature gauge suddenly pegged to hot, the car sputtered to a stop and I was sitting still on the shoulder of the freeway. I was shocked. The car was in good mechanical shape before I left home, and now, seemingly dead on the highway. Before I could decide what to do next, I heard a voice in my mind as clear as day: “When you cool down, the car will cool down.”

And at that moment, I realized that I had been totally unaware of my body and what it was telling me. Inwardly, I was freaking out about making such a dramatic change in my life. I was boiling over with anxiety. I didn’t really know if this trip was just me grabbing for something…anything…that represented change.

I took the voice’s statement as fact. I worked to calm my inner being. I told myself that no decisions were going to be made today, and that all I needed to do was relax, breathe, and know that everything was okay.

And then the car started. The temperature gauge read normal and I was driving into Santa Fe as if nothing had happened. But it did.

Fast-forward to February 2011 when my wife and I were headed east on Interstate 94 from the Twin Cities to Madison to look for a home to rent. I had spent the past week searching on craigslist, but I was unsure if anything would pan out. And beyond that, I was anxious whether the move to Wisconsin was right for us, that my wife truly supported my need for change.

Then the engine light went on. Our hybrid Civic kept running, but we didn’t know if it would die at any moment. I was a bundle of nerves sitting next to my wife, as she drove us down the wintry highway. We had a blizzard the week before, and the whole trip seemed to be full of doubt.

And then I remembered Santa Fe. I tried to calm myself down. I told myself things would work out – and they did. One of my craigslist leads turned out to be the perfect choice, and the car ran normally all the way home. And all the way home I sat in gratitude to my body for helping me to awaken — and to my car, for communicating to me, in the only way it could. a

Tim Miejan is editor & co-publisher of Edge magazine. Contact him at editor@ edgemagazine.net or call 651.578.8969. Visit edgemagazine.net.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

November 2011 edge magazine

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Minnetonka center supports troops with PTSD

O

ne in five combat service men and women will develop some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to a Veteran’s Affairs study. The need for trauma treatment is a central focus for tens of millions of combat veterans and for everyone who has been touched by these men and women.

Medication and talk therapy have been standard treatments. Newer options are available that have been documented as effective on PTSD through research studies and testimonials. Those who suffer, however, are often unaware of these options.

These new alternatives are being viewed with optimism. One method, called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), is profiled in the documentary film Operation: Emotional Freedom.

Thousands of copies of the film are in circulation worldwide. Many veterans, family members, and practitioners have learned the techniques employed and taught to subjects in the film. What was intended as a video and research study has grown into a movement for learning and change. It has grown beyond an American story, bringing messages of hope, understanding, and healing for veterans, military families, and communities touched by the aftermath of war.

On November 11, communities around the world will pause to honor those who served. Beginning this year, in dozens of cities worldwide, the 11/11 PTSD & Trauma Awareness Day will also take place in multiple locations.

Sessions will include presentations on PTSD, along with its treatment and recovery. The interested public, therapists, and officials are invited to help us create greater awareness and support for those affected by war. The Operation: Emotional Freedom movie will be made available for screenings.

In the Twin Cities, veterans, family members and the general public are invited to attend a special gathering from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, at The Center for Harmonious Living, 12201 Minnetonka Blvd., Minnetonka, MN (call 952.938.1929). For more information, contact Valerie Lis at Valerie@CoursesForLife.com or call 763.315.0086.

All are welcome to attend this free event. If you are not a veteran, meet one and say thank you. a

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HOLISTIC LIVING

Twin Cities singer Alison Scott lends her voice to benefit LHSC

P

erched atop a hill overlooking Lake Harriet, Alison Scott, one of the Twin Cities’ most popular voices in the local music scene, will sing her heart out under a silver dome — all to help out a neighbor in need.

Alison Scott and guitarist Kevin Bowe will be performing a fundraiser at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, in the stained-glass sanctuary of Lake Harriet Spiritual Community in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Southwest Minneapolis. All proceeds will go toward Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, a vibrant, non-denominational spiritual center located in a gleaming, 100-year-old historical building.

Alison Scott Like nearly every non-profit organization, LHSC was hit hard as a result of the recession, seeing decreased donations and vacant rental spaces. However, through aggressive fiscal management, radical organizational changes and marketing ingenuity, LHSC is back on its feet once again and better than ever. To keep its momentum going toward becoming the preeminent transformational center in the Midwest, LHSC is continuing to look for creative ways to bring new people in the door and increase financial support.

Last year, LHSC’s Spiritual Director Theresa Rose invited Scott to sing at one of her Sunday morning services and noticed an instant correlation between Scott’s music and LHSC’s mission to become a center for conscious living. As a result, Rose reached out to Scott once again to ask for help. Since Scott hails from the quaint Minneapolis neighborhood and thoroughly enjoyed her previous experience in the one-of-a-kind venue, she immediately accepted.

“The first apartment I ever had all on my own was in Linden Hills,” Scott said, “and I hope to move back someday. It’s a wonderful community in Minneapolis and it sets a great example for other neighborhoods. I’m happy to contribute to it whenever possible, especially in conjunction with such a great performance space.”

Rose is delighted with the collaboration.

“Alison has an enormous heart and her talents are unlimited,” she said. “Her energy is exactly what we want for LHSC, and we are so grateful for her contributions to help us sustain and grow in this tough economic climate.”

While LHSC is not paying a fee for Scott’s appearance, they will be encouraging sales of Scott’s CDs and will have a bank of computers at the ready to give each attendee an opportunity to instantly “Like” Scott’s newest Facebook page. Tickets may be purchased at the door for $10 each.

For more information, visit LakeHarrietSpiritualCommunity.org or contact Theresa Rose, spiritual director, at 612.922.4272 or theresalhsc@gmail.com. For information on Alison, visit AlisonScott. com. Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, a Center for Conscious Living, is located at 4401 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis. a

National conferences in 2012…

The Second Annual Afterlife Awareness Conference — The Afterlife Education Foundation recently announced that its Second Annual Afterlife Awareness Conference will take place March 9 -11, 2012, in cooperation with Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, VA. The conference will feature workshops and presentations by a nationally-recognized consortium of researchers, educators and counselors in the field of death, bereavement and afterlife research.

The conference was organized to meet the need for a national discussion on the metaphysical aspects of death, dying and bereavement, including after-death communication, out-of-body experience, near-death experience, psychic research, hospice care, grief processing and related studies. This year’s roster of presenters includes some of leading names in the field,

including Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Melvin Morse, Bill Guggenheim and PMH Atwater. The conference will also include gallery-style readings by noted psychic mediums Suzane Northrop.

“This conference is an extraordinary opportunity to look at death and bereavement in a new light,” explains Terri Daniel, president of the Afterlife Education Foundation, the non-profit educational organization that sponsors the yearly event.

“Our audience is made up of hospice workers, clergy, the bereaved and the curious,” she says.

“We’ve all found, throughout our years of practice, that understanding how consciousness continues after the death of the body is a key to providing wisdom and comfort for the bereaved and overcoming the fear of death.”

Detailed information on the conference can be found at www.AfterlifeConference.com.

Pineal Toning™ & The Lemurian Choir “Duplicate the ritual that was done 26,000 years ago and create a ‘pineal choir’…

The old souls who remember this ritual will be there.

Collect them from all over the planet.

It will be a celebration like no other.” ~ Kryon, November 2010

A

Dr. Todd Ovokaitys

t the level of quantum understanding, everything in the universe is will be presenting simply waves and vibrations. The production of particular tones and a Rehearsal overtones may therefore directly tap into a deeper level of quantum Seminar teaching reality. The deep, peaceful states produced with Tibetan chants or the mantras the Lemurian of meditation show the power to relax and recharge the body with sound.

Pineal Tones™ in In 2001, Dr. Todd Ovokaitys began the process of remembering an ancient, Minneapolis, Nov. sacred practice of toning that activated the pineal gland and created profoundly 5-6. See www. expansive experiences. He intuitively knew the tones’ power and their intrinsic lemurianchoir.com benefit and impact on life extension, enhanced well-being and increased health. for details or call They produced especially profound states of mental stillness and allowed an Anita at 952.221.6372. expansion to subtler states of awareness.

Unaware of any higher purpose for the tones, he called it The Pineal Toning Technique™ and began to teach small groups how to use them for personal growth and healing. According to Kryon — an angelic entity channeled by Lee Carroll — Dr. Todd is the only human on the planet with these multi-dimensional tones.

In 2003, Kryon identified Dr. Todd as Yawee, a high priest in the days of ancient Lemuria and the choir master who developed the pineal tones and led an ancient choir in their annual ceremonial ritual.

Finally, the bigger picture was revealed; Dr. Todd’s Pineal Toning Technique™ is actually modeled after an ancient Lemurian system that used these vibratory resonances to produce a deeply peaceful and centered state of being. This allowed the activation of the pineal gland and the intrinsic ability of the body to heal and rejuvenate while opening the inner perceptual pathways to enhance intuition.

In November 2010, it became clear why the Pineal Tones™ came with such familiarity to Dr. Todd when Kryon said, “The irony here is that this is not the first time you have sat in front of Yawee and had him give you the tones. For some of you there is a remembrance… You’ve sat at his feet before…it rings in your DNA and you know it. More than sounds…they make colors when you tone. It is actually the light you make that makes the difference. Light is quantum.”

Kryon then spoke directly to Dr. Todd saying, “I wish to take you back in time. Only 30,000 years [ago to] Lemurian continued on page 29 

Being Human 2012: Science, Philosophy and Your Life – Pioneers in the exploration of human nature — from behavioral economics, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, social anthropology and philosophy — will come together for the first-ever multidisciplinary event of its kind. The purpose is to engage the public in a conversation about how recent revolutionary insights from science and philosophy challenge basic assumptions about human nature and how these insights can fundamentally shift one’s experience of daily life. The first Being Human event will be hosted at the Palace of Fine Arts, in San Francisco, on March 24, 2012.

“We live at the dawn of a scientific revolution.

Recent findings from science and philosophy promise to overthrow long-held biases and stories about what it means to be human,” said Peter Baumann, founder of The Baumann Foundation, the sponsoring San Francisco-based think-tank that explores the experience of being human in the context of cognitive science, evolutionary theory and philosophy to foster greater clarity about the human condition.

“Many of these fresh insights can have a profound impact on our experience of daily life,” Baumann said.

“Ultimately, our goal is to serve as a bridge between the theoretical and the practical, and to foster increased well-being.”

Moderating the event is Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a leader in the field of mind-body medicine, best-known for his research on brain plasticity, his collaboration with the Dalai Lama and studying the brain activity of meditating Tibetan Buddhist monks.

“This promises to be a unique event,” Davidson said, “where we will explore together the frontiers of understanding human nature, asking questions such as: How does the non-conscious mind influence the decisions we make? What is the relationship between self and culture? Are you who you think you are, or is that just an illusion? What does science tell us about our relationship with fellow humans? What are the evolutionary origins of the human mind?”

Register at www.beinghuman2012.org. a

November 2011 edge magazine

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Edge Life health & holistic Expo Preview

Children of the New Dawn An interview with Insiah Beckman, Chanda Parkinson and Sunny Dawn Johnston on their special workshop at the Edge Life Health & Holistic Expo

W

by Tim Miejan

ith the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and a greater focus on the evolution of human consciousness, children have always been a part of the conversation. The next generation. The ones who lead humanity forward. The ones who are born with innate gifts that synchronize perfectly with the challenges that lie in front of us.

Three highly intuitive teachers — Insiah Beckman, Chanda Parkinson and Sunny Dawn Johnston — will address the children of today, young people they consider “the most powerful beings on the planet,” during a special workshop intended for parents at the Edge Life Health & Holistic Expo November 19-20 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1300 Nicollet Mall.

The expo also will feature keynote speakers (tickets include expo admission), more than 100 exhibitors, a bookstore, intuitive and psychic readings, free workshops and expert seminars — on health, wellness and spirituality. The event is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20. Admission to expo hall (includes free workshops) is $7, or $5 each for groups of two or more.

“A Powerful Spiritual Workshop for Parents of Today’s Children” will share what we need to know about children who are spiritually conscious and how to support them as they grow up. Participants will learn how to support the healthy development of these young souls and how to invoke spiritual protection for them from the angels and archangels. The public also will learn what the angels have to say about these children, who often are called “indigos” or “crystals,” based on

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HOLISTIC LIVING

Insiah Beckman

Chanda Parkinson

qualities perceived in their auras.

The following is a conversation about the children of today, with the three spiritual teachers presenting this workshop: What signs tell you that the children of today are the most powerful beings on the planet?

Chanda Parkinson: The intensity to

their personalities is the first thing you can notice. They appear wise and often have a look in their eyes that tells you they understand more than they are able to let on. Often children of today are hyper-sensitive and empathic, so they have a difficult time keeping the world and what’s going on in it out.

This affects their moods and behaviors tremendously.

Insiah Beckman: Most of the children

of today, especially born in the last decade, are more conscious and aware, with special gifts of intelligence, insight, intuitiveness and psychic abilities. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to meet some of these bright shining stars of humanity in the work that I do. They come from all backgrounds – some from older parents, young parents, single households and different belief systems.

These “Children of the New Dawn” are the way-showers, bringing in all the

Sunny Dawn Johnston

positive changes of love, harmony and balance to a system that has forgotten its origins of love and compassion.

Sunny Dawn Johnston: The energy that they are coming in with is much more clear. You can feel it in their energy. If you are a visual person, you can see it in their aura. For someone who is not sensitive, it feels like someone who knows their purpose here and is clear about that.

What I see in them is a knowingness of their journey — sometimes that is conscious, but it is absolutely clear energetically.

They are coming en masse to help shift our planet, to shift the energy, to shift the models that no longer work, whether that’s in government, education or health care. These kids are coming in with a really clear intention of being here on their journey and knowing what they need to do, but not necessarily being able to express it.

How can parents better support these children as they interact in a culture that does not recognize their gifts?

Sunny Dawn Johnston: I think one of

the best ways the parents can support them is by acknowledging it with them: You are gifted, you are special, you have talents, and you may not be like everyone else, but we’re not supposed

Edge Life health & holistic Expo Preview to be. We’re supposed to be different. We’re supposed to be dynamic in our own ways, and your gifts and talents manifested differently than other people’s.

Too often kids get into that comparison game at a very young age, and so the parents can support them by walking that talk, by not getting wrapped up in the “keeping up with the Joneses” or focusing only on physical or material attributes — and really be that change that we want to see for our children.

Affirm for those children who they really are. “You know what? You are a very evolved soul and you might not have chosen an easy path, maybe you don’t feel like you fit in, but as you step into who you really are, you will attract those to you who are in alignment with your energy and your truth.”

It just so happens that a lot of people are unaware right now, but they are coming into awareness.

Insiah Beckman: Fortunately, it is much easier now than about 20 years ago when gifted children were frowned upon or thought to be weird or strange. People are more accepting. Many people believe in guides, angels and past lives.

Of primary importance is to ensure that children are in an environment of love and harmony. Because of their sensitive nature, parents should keep away from disruptive behavior in their presence. Everything is energy.

Words and sounds affect all around you, be it animals, plants or even just the environment.

I would strongly recommend lots of hugs and words of love and support at all times. Encourage them to be in nature as often as possible, for nature carries its own soothing and expansive energy, renewing and rejuvenating the soul. Listen to the sounds of nature, observe nature with joy and wonder, breathe in, exchange and integrate that which is part of all life — and part of you.

Chanda Parkinson: It’s not so much about spending a lot of time and energy trying to convince our culture to recognize the gifts as it is more important that the children have space in their family life to be exactly who they are without judgment or editing.

Create a safe, nurturing and protective sanctuary for

November 2011 edge magazine

11

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those little beings at home. Consistency in their daily rhythms is so important, as is having a strong spiritual presence in at least one of the parents who are there to support them and answer any questions that come up.

Children need time to allow their minds and inner eye to grow in a healthy way, unhindered by so much information that, with our technological age, it seems more and more difficult to get away from.

Restricting the influence of the information world is crucial to the spiritual development of all children, but especially children who are psychically gifted. Shut off the TV, monitor all media intake and get children connecting with nature. They need so much space to allow their full creativity to develop and their intuition to strengthen.

What are your guides or angels telling you about these children and the role they are to play in the future of the planet?

Chanda Parkinson: Right now, structures are

crumbling…these children come in with an enhanced creativity and wisdom that will allow them to rebuild what has fallen.

Insiah Beckman: These magnificent children are our future and have contracted to bring in the positive changes of love, peace and harmony to our beautiful planet. They also carry a vibration frequency of transformation with their light, love and expansive positive energy.

These beautiful Children of the New Dawn are ushering in a new golden age of love, peace and harmony for all in our beautiful planet. Humanity has abused and disrespected her for several thousands of years, saturating her with all the destructive toxins, chemicals and warfare, when we were heading for self-destruction. We are now getting to a time of balance and harmony.

Sunny Dawn Johnston: They are telling me that these children are the ones that are going to break down the system that no longer works for us, to help us to expand to a vision that is of oneness. They’re teaching us to come together. They are teaching us to look beyond what is seen physically, to look inside instead of outside, look within

instead of without. They are offering us an opportunity to heal by challenging the paradigms that we have been living.

I’ve walked this journey myself and with my son, and it’s challenging — and at the same time there’s so much relief and so much peace when you can get to that place.

Please share an experience you’ve had with a young person that represents what we are sharing about their abilities and gifts.

Sunny Dawn Johnston: My son is 21 now. I

think he was kind of a way-shower. And like him, a lot of the kids who are coming in have challenges — physical, mental, emotional issues that most people want to medicate or have them conform in particular ways.

My son came in with a bunch of diagnoses — attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, bipolar tendencies — and the medical world wanted to medicate him because that would make him conform. I tried that, because I didn’t know any better at the beginning.

Then, I started discovering that this response was actually stifling his spirit.

It was holding him back, so we started expanding and looking into alternative ways that I likely never would have done had I not had him. I had to look at alternative options in education; I pulled him out of the regular school system and put him into an alternative school system. I had to look at alternative health care, including chiropractic, biofeedback, energy healing.

Everything shifted from traditional to alternative because of my son’s energy. It came in in a way that doesn’t necessarily look like, “Oh, I’m a spiritual teacher who knows my journey.” And in the process, he learned about himself, and the experience was a ripple effect that led to teaching for my whole family, and teaching for my students and clients. Everyone has learned from this one little being.

My son opened me up to a new way of seeing and thinking, and so he has been that “Child of the New Dawn.” He has taught so many of those things, and then in my teachings I’ve been able to share them.

We don’t always teach through phenomenal, positive experiences. Sometimes the

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HOLISTIC LIVING

Carol Lowell (314) Deborah Lynn 11 (2) Psychics in the Cities (216) Sacred Thresholds (414) Walking on Sunshine (515) Leigh Cohen-Wyatt (8) and…look for The Edge’s booth and bring your ideas, questions & comments!

Edge Life health & holistic Expo Preview teaching is through the challenge and through the strength that you gain within yourself and your knowingness as you walk through those challenges.

I remember a time recently when we were driving to a doctor’s appointment and my daughter Addi kept looking at the seat next to her and saying “Hi Martin,” over and over again. Crystal clear as a bell. Once she got all of our attention, she then said, “bye bye see you soon.” Well, Martin happens to be my deceased grandfather and he has been known to visit the grandchildren in our family.

My son Jacob corrects my parenting occasionally. He will challenge me when I am making a decision that he feels is not for our highest good. He is so perceptive and highly intuitive.

I did not listen in the beginning and found that if I had, we would have been in better shape because of it. He is so kind-hearted, and he defends his sister Addi when she gets into trouble.

It is marvelous to watch his leadership and intuition shine forth constantly.

Chanda Parkinson:

On your personal journey in this lifetime, why do you feel called to speak about the Children of the New Dawn?

Chanda Parkinson: I have two precious

and adorable children, one an indigo and one a crystal. I have learned so much from them, but it has taken a tremendous act of discipline to slow down and pay attention to what is going on with my children. We now find ourselves tuning in to each other’s rhythms, and we now know the moment something is off with someone in our family. We are a tight psychic unit.

I am so passionate about working with families, because I have been there…in moments of total frustra-

tion confused by messages our society sends us to move faster, grow bigger, want more, more, more…knowing it was going against my very being and my intuition.

The formula is different for every family, but there are such simple things you can do immediately to eliminate the chaos in your life and bring so much more peace and joy to everyday living. It has not been an easy path to this awareness, but I have to believe that this message will resonate with the hearts of parents, and hopefully stir them into action.

Insiah Beckman: I strongly felt that it

was important for me to share some of my experiences for parents with children who are out of the norm. As a child, I always felt lost. I could not understand most of the behavioral patterns of people: hungry people, the lame, the sick, fighting, anger and a host of other human frailties. I could not resonate with what I was seeing or feeling. I would go outside at night and look at the stars and beg them to take me home. “I don’t understand what is going on, I don’t like it here!”

Fortunately for me, my mother was a beautiful soul, very loving and caring. She was religious then, and she became very spiritual in her later years. She explained to me some of my concerns to the best of her ability without the tools of all the spiritual knowledge and terms that present-day lightworkers use.

to be the way that I thought he was supposed to be either.

I think a lot of parents get stuck in the “I’m the parent, you’re the child” mentality. In my experience — and from what I’ve witnessed in a lot of my students and clients — they’re the teacher and we’re the students.

That’s sometimes hard for those of us that who were raised with the “I’m the boss” attitude.

I’ve lived it and I know what it’s like to be in the not-so-healthy space with it, and then I know what it’s like to make that transition and really embrace it. It’s really so heart-opening for everyone when we can just honor who they are and why they’re really here. a For more information on the Edge Life Health & Holistic Expo, visit www.edgelife.net. Advance discount tickets available online, or by contacting Gary Beckman at gary@edgelife.net or 763.427.7979.

Sunny Dawn Johnston: I have personally

experienced it as a transformational, life-changing, life-altering event in my life through having my son. Not only just the process of having to speak up and to hold space for him as a child who is different, but also to learn as a parent that I could not force him

November 2011 edge magazine

13

One Step at a Time

by Lori Baker

I

had always wanted to walk a labyrinth “someday” and my 40th birthday seemed like a perfectly timed “someday” to walk one, taking time to reflect on my life: its past, present and future.

So the afternoon of my birthday, with a small amethyst stone in my jeans’ front pocket, my husband Gary and I drove northward three hours to a bed-and-breakfast that had a labyrinth on its grounds.

As we checked in to the inn, I asked Clara, its owner, “Where can we find your labyrinth?” Grinning widely she handed me a trail map and said, “Here. Have the time of your life.”

Minutes later, map in hand, Gary and I began our trek through the estate’s thick woods. About a quarter mile into the forest sitting high in a clearing fortressed by ancient trees and framed with a thick carpet of bluegrass, we found the treasure that we sought: an eleven-circuit labyrinth laid out with silvery-brown slate and tumbledsmooth gravel.

Dusk had settled in as Gary and I climbed the wooden stairs to the entrance of the labyrinth. Gary stepped in first as I paused at the threshold, cupping my amethyst stone in my right hand. I knew that as I walked in toward the center I would contemplate, and yes, celebrate my first forty years of life. With a deep breath, I took my first step, a “baby” step. Then one step after the other, one foot in front of the other, I followed the path, thinking about the life I had lived.

Along the twists and turns inward, I remembered: my childhood beginnings, young adult years, newlywed years, mommy years; the bumps, the bruises; the tragedies, the triumphs; the wins, the losses; the beginnings, the endings. And with the memories, came the emotions that surrounded them.

When I reached the center, I fell into Gary’s open arms. As tears flowed I allowed myself to be loved

Holy Molé

without words, without questions, unconditional love from my partner and from this dear labyrinth.

I’m not sure how much time elapsed while in the center of the labyrinth and my husband’s arms; but I do know that it was enough. When the embrace ended, I laid my purple stone on the labyrinth’s center slate platform as a gift to it for helping me celebrate my forty-year life.

Now it was time to leave the center; leave my past behind. As I led the way out with Gary following, I imagined the years ahead of me: raising my children, enjoying grandchildren and great-grandchildren, visiting faraway places, making new friends, evolving as a human being.

At a couple of turns, fear gripped me. I thought: “Have I made a wrong turn? This doesn’t feel right. The path coming in was so familiar; I knew where to step. Now the path is different, reversed, strange. Oh my! Oh well! I’ll just keep putting one foot in front of the other. That’s the way I did it on the way in. One step at a time.”

What a metaphor for life! I realized that like these unfamiliar, sometimes disconcerting turns, I will face situations in the future that I have never faced before, paths not yet traveled. Nevertheless, I will walk into them, through them, just putting one foot in front of the other.

Before I knew it, I was at the end of my labyrinth journey; the end that was once my beginning, the exit that was once the entrance. Before I stepped across the threshold for the last time, I paused, not really wanting “it” to end; thinking that possibly at the end of my real life, I may not want it to end either. But knowing the inevitable had come, I stepped out into the soft grass, and waited for Gary. This time I held out my arms for him and another embrace sealed the experience.

We smiled at each other and as we headed back to the inn, I looked up into the night sky. There in all her glory, a very bright, very luminous half moon shone down upon me. Half Moon, mid in her cycle. Me, mid in mine. a Lori Baker is a wife, mother and budding writer. She enjoys allowing the secret splendor within to escape through her pen and computer keyboard, sending “her voice” across the miles like dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

is brought to you by Harmony Green, Intuitive Healer, owner of All about the Journey…a healing center, located at 5352½ Chicago Ave., Minneapolis, 612.354.2149, www.allowharmony.com | cartoon: Facebook.com/Holymolecartoon

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Trend: Eating disorders consuming older women

by Becky Henry

M

any of us, including health professionals, think of an emaciated young girl with anorexia when we hear of an eating disorder. First of all, anorexia is the least common of all eating disorders. These deadly illnesses exist on a spectrum from anorexia and bulimia to Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, which includes Binge Eating Disorder.

I found out the hard way (when it took two years to get my daughter diagnosed) that health professionals often aren’t taught that people with eating disorders come in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds and ages.

Not all skinny people have eating disorders. Not all fat people have eating disorders. Some “normal” size people have eating disorders.

It is common for women over age 50 to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and report feeling “fat” to the point that it is now “normal” to dislike our bodies.

An example is from a friend of mine who developed terminal cancer and began shrinking. Once she had reached a much smaller size she told me one good thing about cancer was that now she was thin. Sad. I have to wonder if a doctor was shown photos of my friend — one when large and one small, a year before she died — what photo would he or she believe is the “healthy” one. I’m certain most would choose the smaller size. Wouldn’t they be surprised to know she was very unhealthy — dying actually.

I can’t help but see the irony in our societal views.

A fond childhood memory is sitting on my greatgrandmother’s cushy lap and feeling like I was on a soft fluffy cloud. To me she was perfect. To the rest of the world she was a fat, old lady.

When we, as society, stop looking at the outside and start looking at souls and what is on the inside, we will all become stronger and better. a Becky Henry is president of Hope Network, LLC, [www.hopenetwork.info] based in Minnetonka, MN. She is a national award-winning author of: Just Tell Her to Stop: Family Stories of Eating Disorders, available at www.JustTellHerToStop.com. Read her blog at Coachbeckyhenry.blogspot.com. Visit www.facebook.com/HopeNetworkBeck.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

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15

Waiting: A NonBeliever’s Higher Power An i n t e r v i e w w i t h a w a r d - w i n n i n g a u t h o r M a r y a H o r n b a ch e r

by William Ricci

M

arya Hornbacher, a Pulitzer Prize and Pushcart Prize nominee, has written several books dealing with various mental illnesses, including eating and bipolar disorders. Her books have been translated into multiple languages and are taught as part of coursework at universities and literature programs in the United States and Europe.

Marya’s previous book, Sane: Mental Illness, Addiction, and the Twelve Steps, was written as a guide for those dealing with addictions and mental illness. Her most recent is Waiting: A Nonbeliever’s Higher Power (Hazelden).

Written by someone who does not believe in God and has been through AA and the 12-steps, it provides a working and grounded guide to spirituality, while exploring the principles within the Big Book.

What inspired you to write Waiting?

Marya Hornbacher: It seemed to me that there was a hole

in the recovery literature where the spiritual experience of the non-believer could be discussed. Much of recovery literature gives the impression that the non-believer does not have a place in the program; the statement that recovering people are welcome to find any “God of their understanding” is useful for many, but still assumes that all people will understand something, or someone, as a God or Higher Power.

There is a great deal of concern expressed by believers in the 12 Step program when a recovering person states that they do not believe in any God or Higher Power; there is sometimes an assumption that that person cannot “get” the program, or, in other words, cannot recover. I wanted there to be something in the recovery literature that discussed spirituality from the point of view of someone living a non-theistic, non-deistic, but nevertheless spiritual life. Waiting explores the possibility of spiritual practice, and recovery in a 12 Step program, for anyone.

What is the role of nature in writing and spirituality?

MH: I know that when I am reading, if I do not feel

Can silence be an answer to the hard questions we ask? How can we interpret silence?

MH: Waiting looks at exactly that question or premise

grounded in place and in the writer’s voice, I feel untethered; I want to put my feet on some solid ground as I read, and hear some human voice. So I think the writing I love best is that which gives me a sense that I can walk around in the world the writer describes, and can walk in the company of that writer as he or she speaks.

For myself, I want to show the reader the world I see — but that is inclusive of all places, whether I am writing of the countryside or the ocean or New York. This probably has to do with the fact that I generally don’t make a sharp distinction between “nature” and “non-nature” — I see both the inhabited world and the more “natural” world as possessed of beauty and possibility. As far as the role of spirituality in writing, I think writing hardly exists apart from spirituality. There’s a way in which the spirit speaks in any creative endeavor, and I do think that tapping into one’s creative impulse taps into one’s spiritual self at the same time.

What is the relationship and interconnectedness of humans and nature? Are they separate entities?

MH: This reminds me of the funny distinction we often

Do you consider yourself atheist or agnostic? Where did all of this come from, what created it, why are we here, where are we going?

MH: I can’t say that the terms are significant to me; I

that our hard questions will be met with silence (if we are looking for answers from without), and that as sentient beings it will be up to us how we interpret those silences.

The book’s purpose is to give readers a sense that their own process of “waiting” — often in silence, or in quietude listening to the spiritual self — is a spiritual process, and a means of discovering our own answers to those hard questions.

make between the physical body and the mind, or “self.”

We are the body. The body, nature, and all that is around us is not something else, but is actually what we’re made of. We consist of all we see, all we touch, taste, and breathe.

16

We are no more than, no less than, matter; and yet, what a wonder that from matter arises beauty, consciousness, oceans, heartbeats, glaciers, cultures, and breath. The spiritual self has evolved as much as the physical self. I think it is helpful to remain mindful of the fact that we are but a fragment of all that is. It keeps us aware of both our smallness and our responsibility to one another, and to the world.

A quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson sums this up: “So that we are all connected, to each other biologically, to the Earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically.”

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think each has gathered connotations that make it less helpful in understanding a person’s spiritual perspective, rather than more. The where, what and why are really the central premise of Waiting, and a big piece of my spiritual

practice: not knowing is the nature of the human condition, and I feel it can teach us humility and acceptance in a very deep sense.

The only portion of that question I’d begin to take a stab at is “why are we here,” and I would come up with a number of answers. The one most key to my spiritual practice, though, is the belief that we are here in great part for each other. I find my sense of purpose in focusing more on the needs I can try to meet in the human community, and less on determining answers to things I am incapable of answering.

Regardless of belief in a God or higher power, do you believe your gifts and purpose were pre-determined by a divine being or by yourself?

MH: Neither. I believe each person’s gifts and purpose

arise organically within them as they proceed through life, emerging from that person’s individual experience and their gathered wisdom as they go. I believe that gifts or purpose are often born of necessity: we are faced with our own challenges and opportunities, and our spiritual selves respond with the best that they have.

In your book, Waiting, you write that we as people need to come to grips and accept limitations. Please explain this more.

MH: I believe we must accept limitations within a spiritual

context as the spiritual basis to humility. At the end of the day I am only human, have no control over other people, and no control over time. We are free radicals bouncing around and reacting to each other.

When you come up against the wall of human capacity, a need arises for a spiritual connection to humans and people to overcome that wall. Finding and engaging within a community is part of accepting limitations as a solo human being.

In a spiritual state you come to be the right-size regarding self and emotions, creating balance and stability.

My purpose is to be of service; however, it requires another person to have the willingness to let go and they must have a need.

is surrendering and developing the awareness that you are not in control and that you are not alone. The intellectual version of self-control can create a disciplined spiritual practice as a foundation for this growth.

What is the catalyst to become more willing to change or do the next right thing, especially when spiritually bankrupt – a concept explored throughout your book?

MH: The act and moment of hitting bottom is real and

can be a slow process when spiritually bankrupt or in denial. It may be defined or surface when running out of money or hope, getting sick, or falling into a coma. Rarely does a change happen because of something little. The process requires you to do it on your own, in isolation, before reaching out to the community. Until the moment of bottoming out, there exists a sense of fissure between yourself and the community. The moment of clarity comes when you feel and want to be a part of this.

When the guiding principles of addiction fade, is this the “self” taking back control, or the principles becoming less controlling?

MH: I distinctly believe that the self fools itself if it believes

it controls very much, if anything at all. The premise of the 12 Step program is that we need to learn, and learn humility from, the fact that the individual holds very little power over realities of any kind. For those of us who do not hold theistic or deistic beliefs, I think the task is to let go of the notion that we can or one day will, control anything.

Again, this is about humility, and the real relief one can feel at recognizing the simple fact that we are not in control.

As the guiding principles of addiction fade, they hold less control over the self; the self, ideally, grows more spiritually aware, and in that awareness, comes to hold different principles dear — those principles (morals, ethics, tenants of faith) become the ones that guide us, where once addiction drove us forward toward our own destruction.

What did you learn while writing this book? How did this change after the book was completed?

MH: I went into the writing of the book with a slightly

How do you adapt the giving to something that is chaotic, in a state of flux, unpredictable? Is there a common or core set of needs that always need to be addressed?

MH: The core needs we have, as humans, beyond the basic

amorphous idea of what I believed. As I wrote, I felt my own spiritual life strengthening, my own ethical and moral beliefs becoming clearer to me, and the guiding spiritual principles of my life making themselves known. It is something I would recommend to anyone: simply write down what it is you believe, do not believe, what are the values you hold, how do you express yourself spiritually, how do you know when you are in spiritual need, and how do you get nourishment for that need. Basically, what is your spiritual practice? What would you like it to be? And how can it become that, and then continue to become deeper as you go?

Those were questions that I had the opportunity to face as I wrote Waiting, and I am grateful that I had that opportunity. a

Does self-control stem from or arise from a spiritual nature, in which there is an inherent balance? Does everything simply boil down to having self-control?

MH: Nothing boils down to self-control. I believe it exists

Read more about Marya at www.maryahornbacher.com

hierarchy of needs, are spiritual in nature, but differ from one individual to another. So yes, I think there is a common need: spiritual nourishment, and spiritual growth. It seems to me that regardless of era and culture, the expression of spirit has always manifested in myriad ways, not least of them art. This spiritual drive to express, connect, give, develop and grow is a constant; there is no need to adapt it to certain changing factors, but simply to continue living as human/spiritual beings, expressing and connecting and giving spiritually, becoming more enlightened as to what feeds the spiritual needs of the world over time.

as an intellectual concept in deciding to have two scoops of gelato instead of six. Self-control for me is a spiritual awareness, peace of mind, and willingness to do the next right thing, in the context of community and the earth. It

William Ricci is the poetry editor for The Edge magazine and co-editor for Whistling Shade. A writer of experimental poems and essays about nature and awareness, he searches for his muse while traveling, hiking, and experimenting with prairie restoration.

Publishing credits include: A View from the Loft, The Edge, Whistling Shade, Paper Darts, Whispering Angel, and Seven Circle Press. Contact him at wlricci@provenlife.com.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

November 2011 edge magazine

17

l i f e as a d u c k

by Michael Foley

O

nce upon a time in a land far, far away lived a majestic eagle and her brood of eaglets. They lived in a large nest high above the forest floor with a spectacular view of the valley down below. One day, while mama eagle was off gathering food, the tiniest eaglet, Squirt, tumbled out of the nest. He bounced off branches, brushed through leaves and landed on the dark forest floor.

Squirt was not injured in the fall, but he was confused and frightened.

He tried to climb back up the tree, but found he was not a good climber. The next morning as he lay cold, wet and hungry he saw what looked somewhat like his kin, but different and odd… kind of like distant relatives.

These relatives were from the duck family and would often quack, fuss and carry on. Out of options, Squirt decided to follow them. Mama duck looked at him oddly at first, but then took pity on the desperate little eaglet. She took Squirt in and raised him along with the rest of her ducklings.

Over time, Squirt forgot who he was and where he came from. He began to think of himself as a duck.

But no matter how hard he tried, he was not a very good duck. When the other ducks would quack, he would let out a blood curdling screech that would send the flock fleeing for their lives. When they would fly in formation, he would go too fast and send foul and feathers flying in all directions.

When they would paddle happily around the pond, he would stand on shore alone because he was web-challenged and would sink like a rock.

By the time Squirt began school with the ducklings, it was clear that he was having developmental difficulties. To help him assimilate, he was enrolled in remedial quacking class during the school year. His summer days were spent away at paddling camp with other “special” ducks.

No matter how much he tried, Squirt just had no interest in getting ahead on the pond. He was fascinated by the mountain range and spent his time daydreaming about the possibilities that lay far beyond.

This unusual behavior did not go unnoticed by his classmates and the ducklings would often have great fun at his expense. They called Squirt “birdbrain,” “freak,” “flake,” and worst of all, “odd duck.” He would often cry himself to sleep. The land of tears is indeed a lonely place.

By his late teens, he was desperate to find an answer.

Not one for giving up, he powered through all the self-help books: Awakening your Inner Duck, The Total Quacker,” The Power of Positive Paddling, How to Win Friends and Influence Flocks, Quack, Pray and Paddle, Mallards are from Mars, Loons are from Venus, Waddle like a Winner.

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Nothing worked. At his lowest, he even considered plastic surgery to modify his unusually large and pointy beak, razor sharp talons and ungainly wings. He knew he was different and nothing would ever change. No matter what he did, he could never relieve the ache in his heart.

One day, Squirt was feeling especially lonely and blue when suddenly a cacophony of hysterical quacking pierced the peace upon the pond. Soaring overhead was a proud eagle. Like a lightning bolt, the eagle swooped down and cornered the flock of quaking quackers. The king of the sky boldly strutted his way through the huddled mass of fear and feathers, and went straight for Squirt. Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, he dragged him over to the waters’ edge and thrust his face an inch from the surface. When our young feathery friend opened his eyes he saw two identical faces in the reflection. The world spun.

In a gruff voice, the older eagle shook him and imparted these words: “You’re an eagle just like me, now act like it.” And with that, he flew off.

Do you know what Squirt did? He didn’t get all the other ducks together to tutor them on the superior ways of eagles. He didn’t try to convince, cajole or persuade the ducks to see life as a mystery with infinite possibilities. He didn’t try to find common ground or consensus, because there was none.

Nor did Squirt tell them that all their fussing, drama and striving to get ahead on the duck pond was a complete waste of time. In his heart, he knew they had no interest in life’s possibilities beyond the pond. At best, they might feign interest, but all they really ever wanted was a better spot on the pond. He resolved that he would no longer fight to be a duck. Nor would he fight to convince ducks to be eagles.

In that moment, Squirt straightened up, raised his beak toward the heavens and spread his six-foot wingspan. And then…he just flew away. If any ducks wanted to join him, that was fine; he would welcome them and do what he could to help. However, he would never compromise himself ever again by pretending to be a duck. It served no one, least of all himself. He knew who he was and his first priority would be to be true to his eagle nature. He soared high and far and never looked back, not even once. He was free. a Michael Foley is the founder of Clarity Central (www.claritycentral.net), a consulting firm based in Minneapolis specializing in communications skills, interpersonal effectiveness, and sailing adventures. His stories and humor have been at the core of his success as a speaker and spiritual coach. For more information, Michael can be reached at 612.210.7936 or mike@claritycentral.net.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The natural path of healing

Increasingly nurses, and even doctors, are using natural forms of medicine

by SchaOn Blodgett

A

s we see more articles each day about declining health of individuals in America, coupled with rising health care costs, nurses and doctors are starting to look elsewhere to improve not just their own health, but that of their families and their clients.

This nation is now ranked 49th in the world for life expectancy, dropping more and more each year from our highest point in 1950 when we had the 5th highest ranking, yet we spend more on modern medicine than any other nation!

According to research published in the Health Services Research Journal, 76 percent of health care workers are now using Complementary and Alternative forms of Medicine (CAM). Insiders of allopathic, or modern, medicine speculate that so many health care workers use CAM healing because they know the shortcomings of the allopathic system.

Joya Lynn-Schoen, M.D., told Health Behavior News Service, “As insiders, health care workers understand what’s missing in our medical system. They’re more educated than others about orthodox and alternative medicine…. Mainstream medicine will say, ‘Here’s a pill’ or ‘Have an operation’ or ‘There’s nothing wrong with you.

You’re just tired.’ ” Or maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that one in five hospital patients will have a preventable adverse drug reaction causing additional injury or even death.

Average Americans seem to be catching onto this as well, as 63 percent of us are now utilizing natural forms of healing, compared to 2007 when only about 38 percent of adults and 12 percent of children in the U.S. utilized CAM therapies. In just four years, we have seen this number almost double!

In Minnesota, we are very fortunate. We have a wide variety of CAM therapies and thousands of well trained, professional practitioners available to us, with a wide range of modalities, from Therapeutic Massage to Yoga

to Acupuncture to Color Light Therapies, Reiki and Shamanism, and much more. With such a diverse selection of CAM therapies, you are sure to find a therapy system and practitioner that works well with you and your individual, specific situation. Know that the state of Minnesota requires that each CAM practitioner must give a “Client Bill of Rights” to each client as defined by statute, and each practitioner must adhere to specific standards by listing the practitioner’s educational background, pricing, confidentiality of client information and much more. CAM therapists will not tell you to stop any allopathic treatment; instead, they will help you to find what works best for you within their scope of knowledge based on their trainings. They also will encourage you to have an active conversation with your allopathic doctor to also come to an individualized solution within that system that is best for you.

How do you find a practitioner or natural healing modality that works well for you and your individual situation? This is one of the reasons that The Edge magazine is so great! In this magazine, you can find listings of holistic health practitioners that you can call and interview, or explore the happenings event listings and attend expos and events where you can meet with holistic health practitioners face-to-face. Articles also help you discover something new for yourself.

Ask your friends or family members what they have tried – or your allopathic doctors and nurses, since so many of them are also looking for natural ways to heal themselves and their loved ones! a SchaOn Blodgett, CCP, is certified in Esogetics Colorpuncture. He has also studied Transmitter Relays, Crystal Therapies, Kirlian Energy Emission Analysis, Chakra Healing and much more. SchaOn is the Organizer for the Twin Cities Energy & Holistic Workers group on Meetup and Facebook (a group of over 1,000 individuals and practitioners). SchaOn is very active in the Holistic Health community and organizes Natural Wellness events for practitioners and individuals to meet one another. Find out more about SchaOn at http://heal.psinergy.info.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Reiki by Miejan Reiki I & II Classes in the Twin Cities: January 28-29 Empower & Bring Balance to Yourself & Others!

Learn Reiki, the ultimate Self-Healing modality, to enhance your life on all levels.

Call or email to schedule your Reiki class today.

Rachel Miejan Traditional  Reiki

Reiki Master Channel since 1985

rachel.miejan@gmail.com

facebook . com / edgemagazine . net

651.735.2863

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November 2011 edge magazine

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featured:

Your Inner Child

Healing it is our life’s work

by Eric J. Christopher

I

’m aware that “healing the inner child” is not high on the average guy’s to-do list, and probably isn’t a hot-topic among most people.

However, whether we know it or not, we all operate from limiting subconscious beliefs that formed during our childhood experiences.

It is possible to discover and unravel what these beliefs are, because they get triggered during times of stress. More accurately, they cause our stress. For instance, underneath anxiety about school might be an early life subconscious belief of, “I must get a good grade” or “I can’t make a mistake.”

These mind programs guide our lives behind the scene.

Healing inner child wounds is not only for severe abuse cases, but also for individuals awakening to their mental and emotional programming and conditioning that formed at an early age. It’s a natural part of being human. In fact, becoming aware of our negative belief system lessens stress and enhances our lives. Anais Nin wrote: “We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”

As children, we are completely dependent on our parents not only for food and shelter, but also a sense of security, love, connection and value. They are like our gods. If there’s disharmony in the home, and a child does not experience these feelings often, they may assume that they are the cause of the problem.

If a circumstance causes them to feel hurt or unwanted, a deep unworthy mind program can develop to match their feeling. They often take negative feelings personally. If they feel unloved they don’t have the capability to say, “Dad’s inability to express love has to do with his own baggage.” Instead, they silently assume it’s all about them.

These wounds continue to be turned inward and later contribute to anxiety and depression. The subconscious mind programs from these wounds then influence the way we respond to life until we liberate ourselves from these self-defeating beliefs by becoming aware of them as adults.

The messages we receive as children go directly into the subconscious

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HOLISTIC LIVING

An Edge Holistic Profile:

Hypnotherapist Eric J. Christopher What happens when liberating spiritual teachings blend with the most effective emotional healing methods? A productive, results-oriented therapy that becomes an awakening experience in each session. Eric Christopher, Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, Certified Hypnotherapist, specializes in emotions – anxiety, fear, depression or any stuck, unwanted feeling or pattern.

From his own 20-year quest for spiritual truth, Eric knows that beneath the most disturbing emotions or negative beliefs lie wholeness, wisdom and deep peace. Therefore, he guides clients to experientially feel this aspect of themselves in each session. From this perspective, solutions replace problems, deep insights and harmony overshadow turmoil. His approach reveals the truth of Einstein’s words: “You can’t solve a problem at the level of consciousness that created the problem.” The problem dissolves from a “deeper” or “higher” perspective.

Freedom from a negative emotional issue (anxiety, depression, “stuckness”) is achieved when two things happen: • You dissect the problematic emotion to its subconscious core, revealing a body sensation and a memory which carries a false, unconscious belief.

• You view the issue from a dimension of yourself that already feels whole and secure, untouched by the problem.

“I often ask my clients toward the end of the session: ‘Is there anything in the universe than can harm you?’ The answer is always an emphatic ‘NO!’ because they are tuning into and responding from a soul aspect of themselves that possesses ‘clear seeing’ without fears.”

Many people find that after years of counseling they still have old beliefs that trigger them during stressful times. Eric guides clients to see through these limiting subconscious beliefs that underlie depression and anxiety. Although we can intellectually understand our problem, we’ll repeat the same patterns until the body and subconscious are fully aware of the truth. While immersed in “true seeing,” you become free from the grip of negative subconscious beliefs. As you go within, you truly get what you need. More than a therapy, it’s an awakening experience. A session is tailor-made for each client using a variety of therapeutic modalities.

For more information, visit www.ericjchristopher.com or call him at 651.649.1952.

mind. The body then feels those hurtful messages, and because they are not able to be articulated and expressed, or “emoted” through us, they become stuck emotions, or stuck “energy in motion” in the body. As a result, when we enter adulthood, though we can intellectually understand that it’s not our fault, that we really are worthy of love, and that our parents did the best they could, those mind programs continue to work on a subconscious level as stuck energy in the body which sabotages our present life.

One way to begin the journey to release this energy is simply to become aware of any negative feeling the next time you’re emotionally triggered. Feel in the body the sensation

a

whether anxiety, fear, or any other one that starts to bubble up into your consciousness. Begin by tracing it back to the earliest time you can remember, then let the story of the past drop, and focus on only the sensation of the emotion in the body with pure awareness.

Be fully present with it for about 30 seconds with a curiosity of what the sensation of that particular memory or emotion feels like in the body.

Breathe oxygen into the sensation to help dissolve it. Eckhart Tolle writes that this will bring about an alchemical reaction that will dissipate the knot of that emotion like the sun melts an ice cube. In this manner, we can be liberated from the false beliefs that held us captive. 

featured:

Your Inner Child

Why It Needs Your Attention

by Ann Niebuhr

T

he circle of trust” (as quoted by the movie Fockers) within oneself is constantly being adjusted. Inside all of us are unmet needs that cry for our attention and affection.

If a need is not met, we will fill it somehow — perhaps not in a healthy way, but in some compulsive way or covered up way that leads us to a destructive path that leads us to less accountability and causes a pain under the surface. It may be in the form of a string of relationships that are shallow, a love affair to kindle passion, eating food, watching TV, playing videogames, shopping, gossiping, raising our children without boundaries, passing on bad habits to our children, drinking to a buzz, people pleasing or following, and following the plans of others instead of your plan for your life and priorities.

The land of the free is the land of children, yet as adults why do we throw this to the wind and follow different standards? Why do we, as children, follow? As adults, do we think that our ego and position and rank are too high to follow the codes we learned as children? To love. Share. Gentle touches.

Play. That’s enough. Good listeners. You are the student. Sometimes it is a corner of our heart that darkened where a light is shed and we are shown what we can become. All it takes is a spark in the heart inside to let us see.

There is a great big world waiting to discover what you want and can be — if only you believe. You are not your mother, your grandmother or even your father. You are unique, and the capacity that you hold within cannot be measured and may have never been seen before. This could be the very first discovery of you being born and birthed to the world to what you are capable of and what you want to achieve in your lifetime — and the journey will be uncovered with you having a front row seat that only you can attend and the players that are revealed as time passes.

Letting go of inner childhood wounds does not have to involve years of therapy.

It really needs your focused attention for a while. Instead of something to battle against, think of them as a nagging 5-year old trying to get your attention so it can be released and healed. Healing is about making the unconscious conscious so we are no longer governed by the hidden mind programs that

This is life and a journey and a process and no one knows all the answers or how it all ends, but that’s a good thing.

Children are the part that believe — the essence of Disney movies, the princess being rescued, the prince saving the day, people helping people, the widow being loved, enough for everyone. That is the part of the inner child, and when you quiet enough to listen or receive, you hear the truth. You watch kids, they believe this. When they see someone they like, they reach out their hand in love. It is obvious — black and white. They do not try to figure everything out either; they enjoy the moments of life.

When children get a bad report, they don’t want their parent to find out, and when they are surrounded by the love and acceptance and discipline of their parents, then the children blossom and often make good choices.

That is why it is important to listen to the inner child and find out what it needs. It is a guide to the kind of parenting that may be lacking in the child’s life. Once you are an adult, you are the parent. So if you listen inside and the child is angry, give it freedom and love. If you listen inside and the child is tired, give it comfort. If you listen inside and it is scared, give it strength.

It may have different needs for everyone, but the important part is for it to be heard — because it will find a way to be. Inside, the child is asking you questions still. It may not be in the frame of an adult, because the questions were of a little girl or boy. But now, you are all grown up and the questions remain, but they are reframed. What are the questions that keep going through your head day-by-day? The ones you wrestle with? We too need to wrestle and win — for the little one within. a Ann Niebuhr has a degree in Psychology/Theolology, and for the past eight years she has worked in mental health and education with children. She is a marathon runner, writer, avid reader, self-employed business owner with a love for volunteering over the holidays. She lives in Anoka, MN. Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

limit us. As a result, we become increasingly freer, more awake and able to be more fully present in the here and now. a Eric J. Christopher, MSMFT, CHT, helps people release and heal the inner wounds that underlie anxiety and depression.

He also guides clients in past life regression and life-betweenlives. He has a private practice in St. Paul. For more information, visit www.ericjchristopher.com, or call 651.649.1952.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

November 2011 edge magazine

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A Gluten-free, Dairy-free Whole Food Recipe

Savory Rice Stuffed Squash for holiday

by Maggie Christopher This recipe is great for holiday gatherings or as a warm autumn meal.

3 small acorn squash, cut in half crosswise 1 cup organic brown rice 2 cups water Pinch of sea salt 1 TBS unrefined olive oil 1 leek, chopped 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 celery stalks, chopped 2 links cooked, organic sage chicken sausage (optional) 1 tsp dried sage 1 tsp dried thyme 1/2 tsp sea salt 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 organic dried cranberries (fruit juice sweetened) 3/4 cup pecans, chopped 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scoop out seeds and pith from squash and place squash halves flesh side down in a casserole dish filled with 1/4 inch of water. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.

2. While squash is cooking, prepare the rice.

Place brown rice in a heavy bottomed two quart pot. Add water and sea salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer for 45 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Remove pot from heat and let stand while preparing other ingredients.

3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat.

Add olive oil and leeks. Sauté about 3 minutes.

Add crushed garlic, chopped celery, dried herbs, cooked sausage (if using) and sea salt. Saute for 5 to 6 minutes more. Place the leek-celery mixture into a bowl. Add parsley, dried cranberries, pecans, and cooked rice. Mix well. Taste and adjust salt and seasonings as desired.

4. Take squash halves and evenly distribute mixture into the center of each. Place stuffed squash back into the pan and into the oven for 10 to 20 minutes, or until heated all the way through. Serves 6. a Maggie Christopher, CHNC, is a certified holistic nutrition counselor in St. Paul. She specializes in digestive issues, sugar cravings and weight loss. She teaches people how to eat whole, natural foods in a way that is delicious and satisfying. Call 651.231.1360 for a 60-minute, complimentary consultation to learn more or visit www. maggiechristopher.com.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The Time is Now:

Mission Happiness

by Joni Schmidt

M

ost of us “get” the importance of taking care of ourselves physically. It’s also important to be aware of our mental bodies by way of our thoughts, our emotional bodies, and how we are feeling. And we can do all of this when we recharge though our spiritual self.

We exercise the way we have been told and eat the way we feel is healthy. I think that the understanding of eating organic and taking responsibility for our environment is very prominent if we are aware.

Going green is a very hip today, and it has been for a while. You can pretty much walk into any grocery store and find an organic/natural section. When someone asks me if I eat and use all organic products, my answer is, “As much as possible.” I am practical, in that it is not always available. Do the best you can, with what is available for you at this time. The intention is key to creating more opportunities to make your world toxic free in all ways.

The fact of the matter is, we all have intelligence – our inner wisdom.

And then there is intellect, what is learned (our mind). What is learned is helpful in ways of cooking, planning and completing the mundane tasks of life. It has its place. Knowledge and inner wisdom work together.

But remember, it’s not safe to let the mind control. You know what I’m talkin’ about. It’s when the thoughts start looping and the rampant, relentless, repetitive recordings will not shut up! Rehashing the past of coulda, woulda. Time to shut down the program, the thought patterns of learned behavior. Outdated software!

The new Earth is here, the new human is here. It’s time to take on a new mission in life. Be happy.

Connect and tune in daily to Source. Take a few moments every day, and hold a space for love. Feel solid in your heart, with the light of your Soul, and then connecting upward to Source creating a solid pillar of light that extends below your feet. This is centering, and this is the best way to tune in that I know. This is something everyone can do, anywhere, any time. You know how to do this. As many of us know, when we do this consistently, the connection comes easier and more solid.

We live in a dualistic world. Collective consciousness is very powerful (group thought/mind-control). It’s time to take charge. Keep pure on all levels with the physical body, thoughts and emotions. This will bring you the energy of beauty, joy and love that is here. Now. a Joni Schmidt is an Energy Healing Consultant and an Ascension Guide. Joni has worked in radio in Minneapolis on LOVE105, and most recently in Santa Fe. Now moving on from New Mexico after two years, of raising vibrations through word, deed and sound, she continues her quest to help others find their joy through the empowerment of Source Energy. Contact her at 505.225.TRUE, 612.701.8282 or email itsallaboutenergy@ live.com.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

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HOLISTIC LIVING

Brain Rhythm Feedback Therapy assists with ADHD, Autism

by Peter Jason Meilahn

W

hile the soul is beautifully indefinable, our brains show evidence of the mind’s activity in their electrical rhythms. In recent years we have learned what rhythms go with what part of learning, emotions, and even social thinking.

This allows people to heal weaknesses and strengthen and improve the core of who they are.

The way the training works is astonishingly simple. A computer is set up to monitor a needed frequency known from research, and it monitors brain rhythms while an adult or child watches a movie or a simple game like Pac-Man. When the person makes the desired rhythm, the game and movie play; when they don’t, the screen dims or stops for a second. The challenge gets readjusted constantly to make it a gentle, rewarding experience.

This technique is called EEG biofeedback or neurofeedback.

The computer gives instant feedback, before the person fully analyzes it, so the person starts to adjust their brain behavior almost immediately.

This develops new awareness and brain habits. It changes the brain structure, because the rhythms affect blood flow and the way the brain works. It happens subtly during a movie or game so it is interesting enough for those who need something more than typical mindfulness exercises. And this is a great way to regain the self-respect and control needed for certain learning and emotional styles, or difficulties like ADHD, autism, migraines or other struggles.

It is like immediate mirroring from another person. It also builds the person’s awareness of how they understand their self-regulation in relationships, because it shows them their internal states in a fun way.

Fascinating experiences for most clients are the “Aha” moments. These are the moments of clarity where they experience how their mind is affecting their brain and the world around them, like the screen.

This is often an experience of safety, of awakening, and the way we are dealing with illusions and stress.

In therapy this is a chance to talk about one’s life, as well. The mind gets help putting together the creative and the logical, calm and clarity, the right and left sides, and focus and relaxation. It also changes the brain to be able to think more socially.

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced its support for this therapy for ADHD as of June 2010 because of the breadth of research from the last 30 years. One study shows how it is as effective as stimulant medications. Recently an Edina parent, a family therapist herself, has done this therapy for her son’s anxiety and attention problems.

She has said, “He is doing so good… his teachers thought we put him on medication.” There also are similar results for adults who often reduce or avoid medication. Because of this, some insurance providers, like the State of Minnesota, pay for biofeedback in schools, homes or in clinics.

Brain problems with ADHD are similar to those with Autism, and researchers worldwide have done biofeedback research for autism during the last ten years. The results are good, and dramatic changes result with enough mindfulness work. It helps people change their brain’s ability to integrate their environment, think socially, filter distractions, plan better, and it does it by re-opening or expanding brain blood flow. EEG Biofeedback also can be used to reduce stress, enhance performance, recover from trauma, migraines and attachment or emotional health.

We are coming into an era where these tools are increasingly available.

The knowledge just needs to be spread around more. EEG Biofeedback is like techno meditation, and I foresee it as a future tool in all schools and homes, because it enhances the understanding of our world and the self-mastery that will come with our future times of peace. a Peter Jason Meilahn is a brain biofeedback (EEG Biofeedback or neurofeedback) practitioner and psychotherapist at Franklin Family Services and the Minnesota Biofeedback Clinic in St. Louis Park and locations around the Twin Cities. He has years of experience with the struggle in this article and as a biofeedback practitioner.

Contact him at 612.840.1447 or petermeilahn@yahoo. com, and visit www.minnesotabiofeedbackclinic.com.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

November 2011 edge magazine

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Finding meaning …in mundane tasks

by Dr. Christine Breese

W

hile we are focused on spirituality, ascension, awakening, deepening, enlightenment and higher consciousness, well, sometimes life gets in the way, doesn’t it? It would be nice if we could just be in a constant state of Nirvana or Samadhi and never have to come down to Earth and do anything mundane, right? It would be nice if we didn’t have schedules to meet and physical tasks to do.

No such luck being a human, though! This is still a hands-on reality, and things don’t get done by themselves.

Maybe someday we can clean our bathrooms with a flick of the pony tail or a wiggle of the nose, but that day in human evolution is not here yet.

After all, you still have to earn a living while you’re attaining spiritual knowledge. You still have to take care of the kids while you’re discovering the mysteries of the universe. You still have to clean the cat litter box while you’re awakening to your true nature as eternal being in human form. You still have to fix the bed even while you are becoming Christ Consciousness. Right?

In fact, it can get downright ugly to be a human!

Sometimes you have to get in the trenches and battle it out with somewhat non-evolved specimens of the human race.

You might even have to get “dirty” doing it, use the law, or rock the boat. Being a spiritual person does not mean that you must let everyone walk all over you, and sometimes you have to defend your rights, your space, your family, your friends, and your very way of life, or act quite human in order to get your needs met. All sorts of things come up that challenge your zen. Being human is no small matter.

So how do you find meaning in all this? How do you make being human a divine experience?

My spiritual path

For decades during my spiritual path, I did quite mundane tasks for a living. I cleaned toilets in bars for a living in the mornings and waited tables at night. I painted houses and cleaned offices. I did yard work, office work, driving, sweating it out on a farm, all kinds of things for a living.

Needless to say, none of these jobs were spiritually fulfilling to me. I felt destined for something more meaningful, but it seemed ever elusive. I thought I would never get to the point where I was doing something important in life. In fact, I became really discouraged at times, wondering if I would ever amount to anything more than a maid, a painter or a waitress.

There came a day when I realized that this was exactly what was needed in my spiritual training, or I wouldn’t be in this situation. Somehow, I had to make peace with being just an ordinary person doing ordinary things for a living. I realized I had to find meaning, or let go of the need for meaning, in everything that I did in life. Some things seemed to have meaning, like my meditations, study and self introspection, while others seemed to completely lack meaning, like the mundane tasks of life.

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How could my whole life have meaning, not just part of it? That became my spiritual quest at the time, to find meaning in absolutely everything, or transcend the need for any of it to have meaning whatsoever.

Since at the time I was cleaning barroom toilets and floors for a living, this was an extra challenge!

I felt it was the perfect opportunity to explore this part of my growth, and in fact, cleaning toilets for a living became one of the most enlightening, humbling, and eye opening experiences of my whole spiritual journey.

Have a good time

As I wiped throw up off toilets and floors in Key West, FL, a vacation spot for many people and where getting drunk to the point of throwing up was something a lot of people did there, I thought about how this affected those people. We all like to go out and have a good time, right? It’s therapeutic after a long week of work, or good for a short vacation, which all of us have so few of. My idea of a good time isn’t getting so drunk to the point that I have to throw up, but for some people it is. So how was I contributing to their good time, their therapy, their time with loved ones and friends? How was I helping them? What was the meaning of my work?

I was creating a clean place for them to use the bathroom, and even to throw up in. I created a venue where they could have a memorable moment that they would always look back on with fondness. I was setting up a situation where they could have an event in consciousness that was meaningful to them. Without me, none of this would be possible. I was in service. I had always wanted to be of service to others, and this is just one form of many kinds of service. My idea of being in service at the time was being of spiritual service, but that’s not the only kind of service people need. At this time in my life, this was the kind of service I was providing to humanity.

To be in service

The physical world is what it is. Things need to be cleaned, built, assembled, disassembled, reassembled, maintained, and everything in between. At the office, emails must be answered, phone calls must be returned, and bank books need to be balanced. At this time, physical reality is a hands-on kind of reality. Bathrooms don’t just clean themselves. Maybe someday we can “think” things clean or build

them with our minds, but at this time, we just have to roll up the shirt sleeves and get it done! So who is going to be doing the cleaning if everyone is too “lofty” to be in service this way? How will we have a clean place to meditate and explore the mysteries of the universe if no one is willing to clean the rooms and the toilets?

I saw the situation clearly, that we all have to do our fair share of the mundane work, and at different points in our lives we might be in service in ways we do not prefer, and we might have to do more than our share of the mundane work while we build our businesses and right livelihood. For instance, it’s pretty normal that younger people have to do more of the mundane tasks while they get their education, build their businesses, and later get to a point where they are successful enough financially to pay other people to do the mundane tasks, possibly new young people who are hopeful upstarts looking for their life purpose and work. It’s what’s called “paying your dues.” Most of us have to start in the mailroom in the basement while we’re young before we get to be chief editor of the newspaper once we’re older.

I knew I wouldn’t be in that situation forever, having to make a living cleaning toilets, but I knew that it was in my life for this moment to learn something from it. I stopped resisting it, and decided to face the suffering I was creating in my mind because of it. It was not a pleasant task. Believe me, they party hard down there in Key West and make quite a mess!

Self-importance issues

I suffered because I felt it was just so degrading to be doing this work. I was too good for this. How could it have turned out like this, with all my education, all my spiritual knowledge, all my evolution? How did I end up being a maid? In my mind, I was supposed to be a spiritual teacher, helping people in their quest for spiritual knowledge. I was supposed to be something else entirely. Or was I? My selfimportance issues were truly being challenged.

To find peace in this mundane life I was leading, I had to let go of everything I hoped to be in the future. I had to just be in the moment, cleaning toilets, with peace in my heart and mind, accepting where I was in life. I pretended I was God, or an angel sometimes, washing the toilets, which is the truth, actually, since God is our consciousness. It’s all one being living all these lives. I asked myself, “How would God or an angel approach cleaning bar-room toilets? What would be God’s mindset? What would be in God’s heart?

How would an angel clean toilets? How can cleaning toilets be a divine experience?”

Just asking those questions changed the whole experi-

ence. Most people looked at me as just the unimportant cleaning girl who comes in the mornings to wipe up the mess from the night before, and some people couldn’t even give me the time of the day. However, once I had my epiphany, it didn’t bother me anymore. It also didn’t bother me that I hadn’t amounted to anything in life yet either, and I wasn’t attached to whether I would amount to anything or not. Who determines what “amounting to something” is, anyway? Is not a person who lives an ordinary life just as important to God’s experience of self as a famous person who leads nations?

Just realizing that you are divinity in the flesh, that is enough. That is all that is important. While people looked at me as “just the cleaning girl,” I was secretly grinning inside because I had just discovered one of the most powerful and important spiritual truths that can be discovered, all while cleaning throw up off a bar-room toilet. Divine truth was revealed to me. It did not matter what I was doing, I was still divinity no matter what, whether cleaning toilets or speaking to people in a spiritual seminar. It didn’t matter.

Under my nose

It was a humbling, and exhilarating, at the same time.

From then on, I did not look at people the same. I did not judge people’s spiritual levels anymore by their success or lack of success, or what kind of work they were doing. I immediately realized that there could be a Buddha hiding under the disguise of “janitor” anywhere, right there under my nose, just like I was a “janitor” Buddha. Suddenly, out of the woodwork, I started discovering many very enlightened people doing quite mundane tasks that you would not assume a person of those spiritual “levels” would be doing.

I was pretty young, in my early 20s when I discovered this, and I would have missed out on meeting so many amazing people if I had continued through life just judging everyone’s spiritual level by their physical manifestations.

Like many people do, I judged whether someone was truly enlightened by what they had going on at the physical plane level. Little did I realize at the time that that has nothing to do with spiritual enlightenment.

You see, it’s all the same. Nothing really changes on the outside. It only changes on the inside. A single mom with three kids holding two jobs can be just as enlightened, possibly even more enlightened, than a fancy dressed guru sitting on a throne dispersing spiritual teachings to multitudes of people. A janitor might have more insight into the mysteries of the universe than a best-selling, self-help author who makes gobs of money with followers everywhere. In fact, some of the most enlightened people

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I have ever met are living very simple lives and don’t have a lot of money. I experienced more wisdom coming from a common lawn mower guy living peacefully in a shack than I ever have from a lofty famous spiritual teacher. That lawn mower man really knew how to be present in the ever unfolding eternal now, more than all the spiritual teachers who talk about it.

Sure, maybe some day you will be a spiritual teacher recognized for your work if that is something you aspire to, maybe not. However, that does not change the fact that you are a spiritual teacher, if that is what you are, right now!

Even as I cleaned toilets for the rest of that year, being fully at peace with the mundane-ness of my life, I was a spiritual teacher to those around me. There were a few people who noticed I was unusual for a cleaning girl, that I went about it without hating it like most people do. Sometimes during the 15-minute breaks we would get into deep conversations about spirituality, or even talk while we were working.

Sometimes I had the opportunities to share what I had to share. Other times there weren’t the openings.

Budding Buddhas are everywhere. Humanity is awakening in leaps and bounds, and a snowball effect is happening, gathering speed. Who knows how many Buddhas are walking around in the local supermarket or pumping gas at the local gas station? How many Buddhas clean toilets?

Is that a Buddha who is waiting on your table at the restaurant? Is that a Buddha who just drove by in a road cleaning machine? Is that a Buddha fixing your banister on your house? What is enlightenment supposed to really look like?

Does anything really change?

It is all divine, not just some of it. All of life is a meditation for the soul. All of life is God dreaming, through you.

Next time you wash the dishes, see how it feels to wash them if you are Eternal Being, Godself or Buddha washing them. What would it be like? How would the experience be different? Put yourself fully in the now. Forget what you want to become, what you’re “supposed” to be, or who you wish you were. Be here fully in this mundane task, and be in service to humanity, just as you are, cleaning the toilet!

Even enlightened people still have to clean a toilet now and then, or at least some kind of mundane task.

A budding Buddha

Either way, I was happy. Secretly I knew that I was a budding Buddha disguised as a toilet cleaner, learning one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life, which would change how I approach mundane tasks in life forever.

Mundane tasks cannot be escaped by most of us, no matter how awakened we get. Sure, maybe there’s the guru here and there who everyone serves and doesn’t have to do anything mundane, but that’s not the norm — and might even be an abuse of power.

Gandhi even cleaned toilets. Did you know that? At his compound, everyone had assigned tasks, rotating through the most unpleasant ones so no one person had to do the unpleasant tasks all the time, like cleaning the latrine.

Gandhi’s wife got very upset when he put himself and her on the rotating list for cleaning the latrines. She said, “But you are the leader! You are the one everyone is looking up to! Why should you be cleaning latrines? This is ridiculous!” He explained to her that no one man’s time is more valuable than another’s, not even his.

I have to say, that was one seriously enlightened chap!

Gandhi is possibly the one I respect the most out of all the spiritual leaders I have ever heard of, just for that statement alone. I have to admit that I get really disgusted by the multitudes of spiritual leaders and teachers around these days who everyone is serving hand and foot, and they wouldn’t even think of cleaning a toilet, since there are so many devotees who will do it for them. I consider that an abuse of power, and a self-importance trap.

There is a saying in Buddhist teachings: “Before I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water. After I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water.” There is nothing that says it in a nutshell quite like that. Before you were spiritually awakened, life had mundane tasks in it, and after you are spiritually awakened, life still has mundane tasks in it. It’s all in how you approach them that changes.

That is all. Enlightenment is nothing more.

The suffering stopped

Once I retrieved the pearl of wisdom from the experience and started to do my task with joy and non-attachment to anything else being my reality, accepting fully that I was just a “lowly” toilet cleaner and I was still divinity anyway, no matter what I was doing, then the suffering stopped.

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Nothing matters

Now, the real awakening came when I realized that none of it had meaning at all! Not even something as lofty as being a spiritual teacher has meaning. It’s just something you’re doing, an experience you are having, adding to the mass consciousness memory bank in God’s mind. Godself wants to experience it all, from being the toilet cleaner to being the lofty, well-respected spiritual leader, and everything in between. When you die and start passing into the other dimensions, nothing you were doing on the Earth matters.

Nothing.

When you leave the Earth, your whole life becomes but a memory in the mind of God, a wisp of a dream that passed quite quickly in the perception of Eternal Self, an entry in the akashic library of God’s experiences. It doesn’t matter who you were mad at, who you were in love with, what you were doing, what you experienced, what your plans were, not even your family is important anymore. None of it is important when you suddenly find yourself in the vastness of self that you really are. All it becomes is an entry in the memory banks.

Experience of the game

I have crossed over and had a near-death experience, twice in this lifetime, and both times, whatever was going on in Earth reality was completely unimportant. It was like an interrupted video game that you could just start over whenever you wanted, and the video game was just for fun, since you knew it wasn’t real, and it didn’t matter if you even won, since it’s more about the experience of the game than winning.

The real enlightenment happens when you stop looking for meaning in everything, and just find the experience alone as being meaningful enough. After all, why is consciousness doing all this? Because it can. That’s all.

There is no particular goal or outcome. There is no finish line to reach. It is all about having the experience of this or that. That is what the meaning of life is, to experience fully. That is what God is trying to do, explore Self fully.

God is trying to experience absolutely everything it can from every possible perspective, and discover itself through this activity within its consciousness. All of this is but a journey of self-discovery for God, and you are part of that

self-discovery process God is experiencing.

So, if you are cleaning toilets for a living right now, well, for some reason God is experiencing that, along with the frustration of it, through you. You are part of God’s self-exploration journey, and through you, God is discovering Self. See what you can contribute to Godself’s journey with your experience, no matter how lofty or mundane it might be. You are God dreaming, so if you are God dreaming and you are cleaning toilets, do it with full lucidity! Be awake in the dream.

OK, well, I’m writing this article on a day full of really boring administrative stuff I have to do, and also when I am about to do the task of the weekly house cleaning.

That includes cleaning toilets! So off I go to clean a couple toilets! I know it’s politically incorrect to say one is enlightened, so that’s not exactly what I’m saying since it’s an ever-unfolding process. One never truly reaches enlightenment, because real enlightenment is a deepening in self discovery that never ends, but I’m going to say this anyway, since it’s so fitting to this conversation!

Forgive me!

Before I was enlightened, I cleaned toilets. After I was enlightened, I cleaned toilets! a Christine Breese is the founder of University of Metaphysical Sciences and has studied a variety of world philosophies. She is the author of Reclaiming The Shadow Self, director of the TV series “Spirit Talk” and she facilitates meditation retreats and workshops. She has a Doctor Of Divinity Degree in Metaphysical Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Metaphysical Counseling. Dr. Breese has developed her own unique style of teaching which focuses on intensive guided meditation to facilitate direct and profound experiences of expanded states of consciousness. A live campus and branch of University of Metaphysical Sciences will open soon in Ecuador. Visit christinebreese.com or www.umsonline. org. Email cbreese@umsonline.org.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Intensity: just wait for thanksgiving

Star Wisdom NOVEMber 2011

by DK Brainard

E

nthusiasm builds and inspiration abounds. We seek the truth and suspect it just might set us free. The mood intensifies at Thanksgiving, when a solar eclipse and the last Mercury Retrograde of 2011 show up for dinner hand-in-hand. It will be a holiday to remember….

Aries (Mar. 21-Apr. 19)…It’s time to get to work creating that vision you see in your heart. You are your ruler Mars in your house of work: You’ve got plenty of drive and the ability to focus on tasks you’d normally ignore. You’ve also got a direct channel open to your Higher Self this month, so tune in, take notes – and then act on the wisdom you’re downloading.

Taurus (Apr. 20-May 20)…Look seriously at what’s being reflected to you from the important people in your life because you can make a powerful identity shift that will help you create more of the life you want. You’re driven to revive a stalled creative project and you’ve got the focus to see it through. If you need financial support, ask. You might be surprised at someone’s generosity.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)…You’re trying to figure out how to restructure your job, your routine or your health in order to have the energy you need to move forward. At the same time, you just can’t help but relate.

People are magnetically drawn to you but pay attention to the people you’re attracting. The solar eclipse on Thanksgiving wants to help you bring a powerful new soul into your life.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)…Life lurches forward this month, at long last. Your energy has been so internal for a while, but you suddenly feel like getting out and having fun again. You’ve got a ton of creative energy after the 10th, though you may have to force yourself to make a start. If you’ve been meaning to write a book or finish that website or blog, you’ve got the drive, energy and focus to make big progress.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)…You might be spending more money than you wanted to this month, but you can take heart knowing that the infrastructure you’re building is leading directly to the realization of your dream. Look for a career opportunity to show up around the 10th. This looks solid but someone involved could be a bit slippery.

Make sure you’re very clear about what’s on offer and who is agreeing to do what.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)…The plans you’ve been hatching over the often-difficult course of this year start to take wing this month as energy planet Mars moves into your sign on the 10th. Mars has been holding you back and forcing you to get rid of old baggage; now you’re traveling light – and you have the energy, drive and willpower to move forward with newfound assertiveness.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)…Some of the pressure comes off this month and you might feel the need to crash a little bit. If so, give yourself extra time to rest and recuperate. You’ve earned it – and you’ll get valuable insights during your down time. With Mercury and Venus together in your communications house, you’ve got the

silver tongue. Great time to pitch a project, do some PR, or start on that book project.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)…The more fully you come into yourself the better your relationship options get.

You’ve dumped a ton of baggage in the last couple months, you’ve gotten clearer on who you are and how to communicate that to others, and you’ve been working like a fiend on your life goals. Use this month to take a step back and honor all you’ve accomplished – and to focus on what you want to create next.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)…This is a big one, Sag. Although you continue to be a bit preoccupied by all the percolation happening in your subconscious, you’re getting clearer and clearer on who you are, what you want, and what you need from a partner. This all comes to a head at the solar eclipse in your sign on Thanksgiving. Speak your truth, clearly and kindly – your words hold great power to make it so.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)…This may be one of those hermit-type months for you. You’ve got so much happening in your unconscious mind, you need extra time to filter out the gunk and tune in to the messages trying to flow through to you. Show up for your spiritual practice. Yoga, meditation, and other body-centered methods are especially good for grounding you and keeping your psychic energy flowing.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)…At least one person close to you understands what you’re trying to do and wants to help you make it happen. You are able to talk about your ideals – both to yourself and others – in a way that inspires real change. Connect with friends, colleagues and members of your network with this enthusiasm and just watch what starts taking shape.

Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20)…You’re highly motivated to work with others this month. Beware of leaning too hard on any one person, though. Set your terms, be firm and know that there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

People and opportunity are gravitating to you this month – your words seem to be alive and glowing. So don’t hide your light under a bushel. a Listen to “Edge Astrology with D.K. Brainard” at 6 p.m. Central on the first Wednesday of each month, November 2, by calling 1.714.364.4750 or go to BlogTalkRadio.com/edgemagazine.

Listen to all archives at Edgemagazine.net/ edge-talk-radio.

D.K. Brainard, M.A., C.H., is a writer, musician, astrologer and certified hypnotherapist who specializes in helping clients identify where they are on their own Hero’s Journey and take appropriate steps to reconnect with their soul/Higher Self/ creative unconscious. To carry out this work, D.K. uses the tools of astrology, energy work, compassion and hypnotic shared exploration of limiting identity states and desired goal states.

Get in-depth weekly horoscopes for each sign of the zodiac, plus monthly video forecasts and weekly astrology podcasts at DK’s website: www.wordsforthepeople.com.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

November 2011 edge magazine

27

A Step Away from Peace

by John Ptacek

I

magine that you are standing under a waterfall. The water pounds down on your head and shoulders and pins your feet to the ground. The steady rush of water feels good. At times, it feels ecstatic.

But often the force of the water is too much. It hurts.

You want it to stop. You tilt your body slightly, hoping to find a gap in the sheets of water cascading down on you.

You do, and for a moment the pain lessens. But then the full force of the water finds you again. The pain is intense.

You feel trapped.

Now imagine that one day, for no reason you can think of, you step back from the waterfall. You had no idea there was a space behind you the whole time, a cavern cut into the rock that easily accommodates your frame. The relief you feel is immense.

Your body feels light. You witness the water pouring down inches from your nose.

The inches seem like miles.

Now the water begins to flow from you. Tears of joy are streaming down your cheeks.

You have stepped away from the steady rush of water, from the endless cycle of pleasure and pain you’d been experiencing for as long as you can remember.

We spend our lives immersed in a flood of thoughts, unaware that another dimension of consciousness is available to us. It is a dimension in which we come to know ourselves as something other than thinkers. By taking a step back, we become the witness of our thoughts. Of the millions of steps we’ve taken in our lives, this subtle but radical step may be the most important because it leads to a profound sense of peace.

We cannot think our way into this witnessing dimension. It only emerges when thought subsides, hopping like a bunny from the bushes when the coast is clear. The thoughts that pleaded for our attention gradually recede in the presence of our steady witnessing gaze. In this

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transformative moment we have stepped back from the flow of thought into the serene space of our awareness.

This space is not as mystical as it might seem. Haven’t we all experienced moments when we’ve witnessed the thoughts flowing through our minds without getting dragged into their current?

Have you ever quarreled with someone and refrained from expressing a hurtful thought that surfaced in your mind? How were you able to perceive that thought? Was it illuminated by the light of your awareness?

Have you ever sat on an airplane, minutes before takeoff, fearing that it was going to crash and that you’d never see your loved ones again? What stopped you from unbuckling your seatbelt and bolting for the door?

Was it because you were you aware, if only vaguely, that the thoughts parading through your mind were a bit farfetched?

We experience these brief, but revealing, glimpses of our witnessing capacity without recognizing their value.

We move past them inattentively, the way we might a Rembrandt at a yard sale. But to spend one clear-eyed moment in this space is to observe that the territory of thought is limited, that it is easily contained within the greater space of our awareness. This flash of insight will awaken us to a new identity. By observing thought, we are born as its witness.

If we wish to dwell rather than dart in and out of this vibrant dimension, we must do more than simply change the way we think; we must change our relationship with thought. We must become its ever-present witness to avoid being its ever-suffering accomplice. Helpful one moment and devious the next, thought is like a petulant child requiring our constant attention.

As thought’s witness, we are its master. We can summon it if we wish to bake a cake or split an atom, and dismiss it when it shows up uninvited. But for this cozy relationship with thought to last, we must keep it permanently in our sights. This will take every ounce of energy we have, and at first even that won’t be enough. We have been thought’s servant for so long that we’ll continue to obey it by sheer habit.

But in time our tolerance for suffering at the hands of thought will lessen. The pleasure will no longer seem worth the pain. And those isolated moments when we glimpse the chains and pulleys driving our thought process will begin to connect like stars in a constellation. As we step further and further back from the realm of thought, we will see it in its entirety and know that we exist beyond its borders. a John Ptacek’s essays explore the unquestioned assumptions that limit our capacity for happiness. They appear on his website, On Second Thought, www.johnptacek.com.

He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Kitty.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The crow that cheered my spirit

by Dr. Francine Juhasz

C

arl Jung encouraged us to look on trivial events as metaphors, small dramas giving us advice, confirming our decisions or supporting us in some way. Given that metaphors are figures of speech that appear in high school English classes and usually are left far behind at graduation, Jung’s insightful tip appears now to be blowing in the wind.

Not always. Although it was a windy day, his words were not blowing my way as I paced the sidewalks in my neighborhood park, rehearsing the presentation I was due to give the next day to parents on the benefits of having their children’s energy charts done. The charts are a great aid for understanding on a deep subtle level especially gifted, introverted, artistically inclined or otherwise difficult-toraise children and teenagers.

Now, too much rehearsing definitely is not good for me.

It upsets my stomach, constricts my throat as it tightens my vocal chords and – most of all – turns my knowledge, wisdom and carefully-prepared words into a paralyzed blank.

It’s a miracle I noticed the crow. It had been flying circles over my head in the wind, skillfully dodging other crows intent on relieving it of the contents of its beak.

Another crow nearly collided with it overhead. The abrupt movement made the crow cry out as it sent what looked like a piece of bread tumbling to the ground right in front of me.

As I kicked it away into the grass, Carl Jung and what I had read long ago about metaphors being a heuristic method of intuitive help were the furthest thing from my mind.

I think it was the fact that what the crow dropped was brown and gooey and left some frosting on my shoe that made me take a closer look. It was not a piece of bread, but a piece of cake. Chocolate cake.

As I stared at the piece of cake, something inside me was screaming, “What are you looking at?”

“A piece of cake,” I almost screamed back. Can inner voices be that dumb?

A piece of cake! It suddenly hit me. The few odd words of Jung I remembered pushed into my consciousness. I was looking at a heuristic metaphorical drama (a bit like a charade) that was acted out for me. After all, the piece of cake fell right in front of me.

In other words, maybe this piece of cake was telling me that my presentation was going to be… you guessed it… a

 Lemurian continued from page 9 Lemuria… I take you into a stadium, Yawee. It is filled with almost 800 people. Four hundred are on one side facing the four hundred on the other side. You, Yawee, are in the middle, and they are singing pairs of pineal tones, creating quantum magic.”

Since Dr. Todd’s sacred assignment was to assemble a “pineal choir” of several hundred people from all over the world… to sing the tones in pairs and activate their

piece of cake! Easy. So, why worry? Why over-rehearse?

And why not give the crow a chance?

“Experiment!” an inner voice crowed.

It was a struggle, but I made myself remember that piece of cake all that evening and the following morning, especially as I stood before the assembled group of parents.

And what do you know? The crow was right. My presentation felt remarkably easy, and several parents signed up to have their teenagers’ energy charts done right on the spot. It was a piece of cake.

And when I was alone, I howled with laughter.

Experiment and see if trivial events are talking to you: • Be aware of what is preoccupying you.

• At the same time, watch out for any slightly unusual drama occurring around you.

• Match up the two as you play charades with the trivial event, naming and renaming it until it speaks to your preoccupation.

• If the message is negative in any way, ignore it.

• If it is positive and helpful, rejoice emotionally in the help, suggestion or confirmation you are being given.

• Say thanks, and live it and be amazed. a Francine Juhasz, Ph.D. in psychology with 30 years counseling experience, is a psychotherapist, speaker and published author of the book, Geocaching for Personally Valuable Treasure: Treasure Hunting in Random Trite Events, available on her website: www.evolvingtowardjoy.syncscapes.com. She interprets personal energy charts of children and teenagers to parents by phone and mailed CD to assist them with understanding their children on a deep, subtle level. Contact Francine at 303.955.4186 or email francinejuhasz@comcast.net.

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

pineal transmitters…at a specific time for a sacred purpose…he felt the urgency to begin anchoring this concept quickly.

So he named it “The Lemurian Choir Project” and vowed to offer as many seminars as possible to reach as many people as he can before the final performance in 2012. Then he went back to teaching the tones just as he had been for past ten years.

But he added something very special to the program — the sacred energy of the intention of this higher purpose…and the invitation to all

of the old souls that are called to be there.

Come experience this immersion in personally transformative tonal vibrations that can send intensified waves of healing throughout the entire global energetic grid system. The Lemurian Choir project is building to the ultimate re-creation of an ancient method of choiring, lost in antiquity.

On December 21, 2012 in Maui, Hawaii, we will transmit vocal harmonics through time and space, sending a message unsung for 26,000 years…we remember…and we thank you. a November 2011 edge magazine

29

Belief is not Always Belief

Decision Tree

I do not believe in god nor all the applications and attachments that come with him, but yet, I still visit my father’s grave and light a candle in a church on his birthday.

Occasionally I even speak to him just to speak to him, launch a “hello” into the space where foolish men say hovers a heaven, knowing no reply will ever come, nor wanting one.

I stand on tip-toes and lean just-barely-not-too-far-out from my perch, anchored by one hand gripping the trunk, the other shielding my eyes from the light.

I glance around and wonder where I’d be and what I’d be doing if I’d climbed onto another branch of probability radiating through my life; how different would reality appear to be had I not let this branch remain entwined with yours?

My father was a believer.

Even as a dozen ailments land-mined his body and mind he believed. If it had been any other person I would have considered them a fool, but he was my father, and so it is for this unfailing belief that I light these candles, visit his remains, speak these unheard words.

I believe in his belief.

When there is so little in this burning world I hold hope for I shall always believe in his belief. ~ Edward Lee

Escape

Escape ~ Craig W. Steele Walk away Burn bridges Let it all go You’re not needed in this as much as you think One step away shifts your transfixed path Disappear Release Run Drop the death grip on your self On who you think you are And who you want to be Open to the possibilities Of emptiness Openness Space Allow nothing to replace The depth and breadth Of Nothingness And then expand that Until inner space Transcends outer space Let the mind empty and clear Find solace in stillness Flow Erase Rewind Escape. ~ Deanna Reiter

Edward Lee is from Dublin, Ireland. His poetry, short stories and photography have been published in magazines in Ireland, England and America, including The Stinging Fly, Acumen, Smiths Knoll, The SHOp, The Moon, and The Sunday Tribune New Irish Writing. His debut collection of poetry, “Playing Poohsticks On Ha’Penny Bridge,” was recently published by Spider Press. He is currently working towards his second poetry collection, and a photography exhibition entitled “Lying Down With The Dead.” Contact him at lastimages@yahoo.com.

Deanna Reiter, M.A., is an expert in the world of positive thinking and releasing sabotage. She is a public speaker, stand-up comedian and the author of Dancing with Divinity: Positive Affirmations for any Situation and The Nine Scoundrels: How to Rec-

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ognize and Release Subtle Patterns of Sabotage. She is also the creator of two DVDs: Dancing with Divinity Yoga and Reiki Affirmation Dance. Deanna is a Certified Yoga Instructor, Breathworker and Reiki Practitioner. For more information, please contact Deanna through her website: www.dayawati.com.

Craig W. Steele is a university biologist whose creative musings occur in the urban countryside of northwestern Pennsylvania. His poetry has appeared recently or is forthcoming in The Lyric, the Aurorean, Willows Wept Review, Yale Anglers’ Journal, Farming Magazine, The Healing Muse, Magnapoets and several other places. Contact him at csteele@wildblue.net.

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Chiropractic: Gentle chiropractic to Discover, Transform, and Awaken wellness strategies through the spine. Dr. Katie Fahnel, DC, 612.208.1408, healing@thehealingloftmpls.com, www.thehealingloftmpls.com Clairvoyant Psychic: Award Winning, World Renowned Clairvoyant Psychic Medium Dr. Rose Ann Schwab, Ph.D., & Angelic Inspirations. Visions & Predictions: Cred, Honest, Est Rep, 50+ years exp. Tested by Law Enforcement to be 98% accurate. Miracles & Love website: www.angelicinspirations. com, Sessions by appointment. In person, by phone 763.535.7982. Fees Required. New books authored: The River’s Dawn, Rose’s life & cases & The Littlest Angel children’s book series.

CLASSICAL HOMEOPATHY: Skilled, experienced, compassionate, effective homeopathy for your ailments.

Marybeth Buchele, HMC, Health Naturally Homeopathy, 952.933.6068, healthnaturally9@aol.com, www.healthnaturally.biz COACHING / COUNSELING: Transpersonal Psychology, Flower Essences, Energy Healing, Judy Steele, M.T.P. 612.590.3193, judy.steele@earthlink.net, www.schoolforliving.org COLONICS: Detoxification with Colon Hydrotherapy & Ion Cleanse Foot Bath, Carol Edel, 2409 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls, MN (Ecopolitan Bldg) 952.474.2627, caroledel@gmail.com COUNSELING (INTUITIVE GUIDED IMAGERY & ENERGY WORK): Wings of Freedom, Maureen Higgins, M.A, 651.665.0104, wingsoffreedom1@gmail.com, www.wingsoffreedom1.com CRYSTALS, STONES, STONE ENERGY: Ki Stones features mineral specimens, crystals, tumbled stones (over 150 types), carved stone items (wands, spheres, animals, candles), decorator pieces, jewelry. Information on energy properties provided with all stones sold. Sheryl and Dale Fisher, Maple Grove, 763.420.9017, kistones@comcast.net, www.kistones.com EFT: Guaranteed Fast & Easy relief. Change your life Now. Dr. Kim Eisen, Experienced and Intuitive, Master of EFT, 612.802.HEAL (4325), kim@DoEFT.com, www.DoEFT.com EMOTIONAL HEALING & SOUL MENTORING: Release your emotional blocks and align with your soul to let go of life and move into living! Julie Lyden, www.movingbeyondyourself.com, 612.414.6273, julie@movingbeyondyourself.com ENERGY WORK & UNWINDING: CranioSacral Myofascial, Healing Touch, Reiki, Matrix, Quantum. Intuitive classes and house parties. Chakra readings. Jody Tschida, HTCP, RMT, Medical Intuitive, 651.808.0111, jodytschida@msn.com, www.UnwindMeNow.com EPFX / SCIO QUANTUM BIOFEEDBACK: This high-tech health device tests the body’s energy field revealing anything negatively affecting your health. Detects and corrects weaknesses or abnormalities in organs, toxins, allergies, risks of disease, emotional issues,nutrition, aging & stress reduction and much more! Distance session conveniently done over the phone. Susan Opsahl, C.T., 320.492.2132, spiritwithinu@gmx.com EXPOS: Hosting expos of 12-20 exhibitors in small business locations throughout the Metro. Organizing, enlisting exhibitors, print, email and online marketing, outdoor signage, and catering! All for free! Metro Mini Expos 612.708.7233, www.MetroMiniExpos.com FENG SHUI CONSULTATION: Consultations, one-on-one professional mentoring, and workshops, Barbara Bobrowitz, Energetic Alignments, 763.571.9437, www.energeticalignments.com

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FLOWER ESSENCES: Numerous Flower Essences for spiritual and emotional healing. Books, Practitioners Available.

Bob Gallagher, Martin Bulgerin, Present Moment Herbs & Books, 3546 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612.824.3157, 1.800.378.3245, herbshop@presentmoment.com, www. presentmoment.com HEALING & SPIRITUAL GROWTH: Magnified Healing® heals on all levels—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Easy to learn and to use, it allows us to clear our karma, activates all 12 strands of DNA, and transforms us into our Light Bodies. Sheryl and Dale Fisher 763.420.9017, dashf@comcast.net HERBS: 600+ herbs, tinctures, capsules & oils, books, Natural healing practitioners available. Bob Gallagher, Andrew Lucking ND, Duane Givens, Present Moment Herbs & Books, 3546 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612.824.3157, 1.800.378.3245, herbshop@presentmoment.com, www.presentmoment.com HOLISTIC / INTEGRATIVE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: Counseling and therapy for adults. Specialties include ADD, anxiety and mind/body concerns. Creative treatment options, including in-home. Kim Carter 612.750.2918, www.kimcartercounseling.com, kim@kimcartercounseling.com HOLISTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY: Counseling, Stress Management, Hypnosis, Sheryl Fisher, MSW, LICSW, 763.420.9782 HOMEOPATHY: 2000 Homeopathic Remedies, Individual Potencies, Books, Practitioners Available. Bob Gallagher, Andrew Lucking ND, Martin Bulgerin, Present Moment Herbs & Books, 3546 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612.824.3157, 1.800.378.3245, herbshop@presentmoment.com, www.presentmoment.com

INTUITIVE CLASSES & READINGS: Eye of Horus Metaphysical 612.872.1292. Intutive Tarot, Psychic & Palm readers available for in-store private readings or events.

Classes in Psychic Development, Tarot & Runes. Schedule online at www.EyeofHorus.biz INTUITIVE CONSULTANT & ANIMAL INTUITION: Alison James - Readings by phone and in-person Home Galleries. Psychic Mastery Circle. Workshops: www.alisonjamespsychic.com/contact-me/ • Online scheduling: www.alisonjamespsychic.com Kundalini Awakening Systems1: Kundalini is a powerful force within all humans. KAS1 offers protocols that will help one activate or balance the energy if already activated. Join our community and open to your Divine within.

Email ekundalini@gmail.com or call 239.246.5608.

NUTRITION: Do you have a gluten or dairy allergy?

I teach women how to eat to reduce sugar cravings, increase energy and have better moods by eating wholesome, nutritious foods that taste great. Free, 60-minute consultation.

Maggie Christopher, Certified Holistic Nutrition Counselor, St. Paul, 651.231.1360, www.maggiechristopher.com PSYCHIC / INTUITIVE READER: Soul Readings and Psychic Development Classes, Cindy Lehman 612.669.1861, cindy@cindylehman.com, www.cindylehman.com PSYCHIC MEDIUM: Well-known Psychic Medium Deborah Lynn11 is proud to announce that her long-awaited book is now available. Visit www.Murphyslawnomore.com or call 651.439.5337

Homeopathy: Skilled, experienced, compassionate, effective homeopathy for your ailments. Marybeth Buchele, HMC, Health Naturally Homeopathy, 952.933.6068, healthnaturally9@aol.com, www.healthnaturally.biz

Reiki Healing: Awaken your spirit, Usui Tibetan Reiki and crystal healing sessions/classes. Kellie Haehnel 612.804.4463, kellie@thespiritwellnesscenter.com, www.thespiritwellnesscenter.com

HYPNOSIS & TRAINING: Hypnotherapy, Past Lives, Healing, Susan Just, CH & CPHI, Dynamic Minds, Inc., Hypnotherapy Center & Training, 612.827.8094, www.dynamicmindsinc.com

REIKI HEALING: Feel Empowered on Every Level! Reiki Training and Sessions, schedule a Reiki I or II class next: January 28-29, Rachel Miejan, Reiki by Miejan, 651.735.2863, rachel.miejan@gmail.com, ReikibyMiejan.com

HYPNOSIS & TRAINING: Past Life, Life-Between-Lives Regression, Madonna Kettler, Ph.D(c), L.B.L, Center for Inner Peace, 612.709.5578, Madonna@madonnakettler.com HYPNOSIS, FLOWER ESSENCES & NUTRITION: Counseling & Classes to Eliminate Addictions, Fears, Habits, Pain & Stress, Amy Zilka, M.A., M.F.T., CH. 952.938.9085, www.hypnoessence.com, amy@hypnoessence.com Hypnotherapy: Build your own skills for relationships across the veil, interactive prayer, an inner source of joy, and do-it-yourself therapy. Get help with smoking cessation, pastlives, between lives, and healing trauma, sexual abuse and other issues. Jerry Buchmeier, Ph.D., psychotherapist, channel for Mother Mary. 763.546.4133, jerrybuchmeier@comcast.net, www.jerrybuchmeier.com HYPNOTHERAPY: Need relief from anxiety, depression, phobias or PTSD? Ready to gain insight into your soul’s purpose through Past Life or Life-Between-Lives regression?

10 Years Experience. Eric Christopher, MSMFT, CHT, St. Paul, 651.649.1952, www.ericjchristopher.com Hypnotherapy: Past Life Regression Therapy, Dolores Cannon Method. Brainerd Lakes Area, Vicki Hanson, 218.232.0586, vicki@newawarenessproject.com, www.newawarenessproject.com HYPNOTHERAPY & CONSCIOUSNESS COACHING™: Change your mind. Change your life. Five Phase Advanced Transformational Hypnotherapy.™ Transform limiting beliefs, fears, anxiety, relationships, self-esteem, weight loss, smoking, habits. Mind-Body-Spirit stress reduction, breath work, selfhypnosis, meditation Judith Froemming, BA, CH, CTC, HNLP, Infinite Mind Hypnosis and Coaching, 651.216.0085, www.infinitemindhypnosis.com

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INNER CHILD WORK & EFT: Author of the best-selling Inner Child Workbook & EFT (Tapping) Practitioner, Cathryn Taylor 612.710.7720, www.JoinCathrynTaylor.com

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HOLISTIC LIVING

SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS: Do you transform people’s lives, but are struggling to get more clients, money, or grow your business? Check out the “Shortcut to Success – Quick Start Program.” Kim Eisen, Success Coach, Master of EFT, 612.802.4325, kim@ShortcutToSuccess.com, www.ShortcutToSuccess.com Soul Coaching: Energetic Empathy Chakra Healing, soul coaching, intuitive readings with or without Tarot and Astrological Counseling, Duncan Metzger 612.208.1408, healing@thehealingloftmpls.com, www.thehealingloftmpls.com SPIRITUAL READINGS AND ENERGY HEALING: NW Metro location, Contact your spiritual guides for inspiration and guidance in person or via phone and/or receive Energy healing through Chakra clearing. Nancy L. Robinson 703.589.5047, mysticalnancy@aol.com, on Facebook as Mystical Nancy.

Tarot, Divination & Massage: $1/minute - Available 7 days/week @ Magus Books & Herbs in Dinkytown. Park in the 5th Street Lot and we will validate for up to 1 hour (min. $5 purchase). Other divination services include: Astrological Charts, Aura Photography and Palmistry. 612.379.7669 or www.facebook.com/MagusBooks, or book online at www.MagusBooks.Appointy.com THOUGHT FIELD THERAPY / HYPNOTHERAPY / TRUE HEALING WORKSHOPS: Gary Dallek 612.202.6738, garydallek.com

 E D G E C O M M U N ITY B USI N E SS LISTI N G S

CLASSIFIEDS

…provide category and text. $1 per word, 20-word minimum. Ads are due by the 15th of the month prior to publish date. Major credit cards accepted. Call 763.433.9291 or e-mail cathy@edgemagazine.net.

PUBLICATION CHRISTIAN GNOSIS – A bi-monthly journal dedicated to spreading the message of Esoteric Christianity. Email lippertjt@aol.com to receive this publication as a PDF Document.

ROOM WANTED Wanted: Room to Rent – Minneapolis or suburbs. Near shopping and office rentals. Opening a business. Will consider trading rent for small share of business. Richard Dupuis, 206.933.5899, email richarddupuis@juno.com.

SACRED

SERVICES listings

…provide name, address, phone, website, service times + brief description. $75 total for 3 mos., $120 total for 6 mos., $180 total for one year. Deadline: 15th of each month.

Major credit cards accepted. Order online at Edgemagazine.net. Contact: 763.433.9291 or cathy@edgemagazine.net

Dances of Universal Peace: 651.307.3849, www.peacedancemn.com – An interfaith spiritual practice in motion, blending sacred phrases, chant, music and movement into a living experience of Unity and sacred community, 7pm. Every third Sunday at Friends Meeting House, St. Paul. First Friday at Pathways, Minneapolis.

ECKANKAR / TEMPLE OF ECK: Religion of the Light and Sound of God, 7450 Powers Blvd., Chanhassen, MN, 952.380.2200, www.TempleofECK.org – Keys to spiritual experiences: Explore past lives, dreams and Soul Travel. Worship Service: first Sunday of each month, 10-11am Youth programs. Community HU Song: third Sunday of each month, 10-10:30am. Free workshops: Wednesdays, 7-8:30pm Tours available.

KEY TO LIFE CENTER: 14800 34th Ave., Plymouth, 763.477.6577, www. keytolifecenter.com, keytolifecenter@aol.com – Empowering Topics, Empowering Meditations, Empowering Music! Minister: Lenni Garin; Music Director: Debbie Duncan. Key’s core philosophy is “Keyology;” the study of diverse spiritual principles to unlock inner wisdom.” Every Sunday: 10:30am. Listen to “Edge Empowered Living” with Lenni Garin on the first Monday of every month at 6pm at www.blogtalkradio.com/ edgemagazine. Spiritual Recovery Support Meetings (Soul of an Addict) Tuesdays 6:308pm. Free Event. Donations accepted.

Lake Harriet Spiritual Community: A Center for Conscious Living: 4401 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, www.lakeharrietspiritualcommunity.org, 612.922.4272 – Encouraging authentic spiritual connection through Sunday services, classes and workshops. Sunday 10:30am Services are led by our resident speakers Patty Peterson, Christine Day,Cindi Claypatch and Linda Elwell; guest speakers; or Spiritual Director, Theresa Rose. Space also available for weddings, concerts and special events.

SAINT FRANCIS LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH: 3201 Pleasant Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612.823.4276, www.stfrancisliberalcatholicchurch.org – Communion available to everyone.

Freedom of Conscience and belief. Holy Orders for Women. Seven Sacraments. Holy Eucharist 10am Sundays; Rosary 9:30am First Saturdays. Find us on Facebook.

SPIRIT UNITED CHURCH: 3204 Como Ave. SE, Minneapolis, 612.378.3602, contact@ spiritunited.com, www.spiritunited.com – Worshiping the Wonder, birthing the Emerging Spirituality. Welcoming ~ Supportive ~ Healing ~ Transformational. Discover your spiritual home. On Sundays: 10:30am Main service, 10:30am Kids With Spirit Class.

UNITY CHRIST CHURCH: 4000 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, 763.521.4793, www.unitychristchurch.org – Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here. Sunday 9 & 11am, nursery and Sunday School at both services; Monday Meditation & Lecture 7pm; Healing Service 7pm on 1st and 3rd Tuesday. Adult education classes throughout the year.

Unity of the Valley Spiritual Center: 4011 W. Hwy 13, Savage, MN, 952.895.0745, www.unityofthevalleymn.org – “Celebrating the Light of Spirit within you.” Sunday service, Nursery, Rainbow Circles for children, and Uniteens at 10 am. Our Many Paths Metaphysical Book and Gift store is open Mon.–Thurs. 11am-3pm, Sundays 11am-12:30pm. Chanting and Meditation service on the 3rd Friday of the month at 7 pm Intuitive readings by Susan Shopek before and after the service. Call for appointment.

Bookstore that evening open until 9 pm. Adult classes and workshops. Rental space available.

Naturopathy & Osteopathy There are several vital holistic medical practices that provide extensive care for the whole body: Naturopathy and Osteopathy. Naturopathy is a system of medicine based on the healing power of nature, and most naturopathic doctors use a variety of therapies and techniques. Osteopathy is a drug-free, non-invasive medicine that focuses on total body health to positively affect the nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems. The following are sources for Naturopathic and Osteopathic health care in the Upper Midwest: All Ways Health Center, Dr. Kathleen Higgins, director, 2585 Hamline Ave. N., Suite E, Roseville, MN 55113, 651.631.9488, www.allwayshealthcenter. com — Receive gentle, award winning Naturopathic, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Massage, Energy and Body Work. Feel better with less structural, chemical, mental and environmental stress. Our Health Coach program offers Toxicity testing, supervised Detoxification and Weight Loss programs. Quality Supplements. Free on/off site Community/Corporate Health Workshops. 25 years experience.

A. Bruce Boraas, ND, Center for Natural Healing, 3728 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55409, 612.825.3070, www.drboraas.com, www.naturalhealingstore.com — Your body gives us sign of what’s wrong and how to treat you. We us only nature’s remedies along with whole foods diet, cleansing, and acu-flex therapies to work with you and your health to provide treatments which get at the cause of your health problems. Naturopathic cures work safely and effectively to allow you better energy and health to do the things you want to do in life. To begin, give us a call now Cathy Estenson, Certified Traditional Naturopath, Eagle Services, locations: Whitehall, WI, 715.299.0003, www.hopehealinghealth.com; Eau Claire, WI, at Optima Health and Vitality Center, 715.832.1953, www.optimahvc.com — Eagle Services — Hope, Healing, Health…Naturally. Naturopathic services provided by Cathy Estenson, Certified Traditional Naturopath. Relational style is Intrinsic Coaching®.

Services include electrodermal screening, Nutritional support, and dowsing for geopathic stress.

Functional Medicine Naturopathic Center, Pamela Hartung (N.D., C.N.C.), 7364 Kirkwood Court, Maple Grove, MN 55369, 763.424.7030, Pamela@funmedctr.com, www.funmedctr.com — If you’ve tried everything else this could be your answer; helping you to take a proactive approach to health. Find the answers you have been searching for and learn the targeted nutrition your body needs for optimal health and balance. Call, email, or visit our website for more details.

Erica Geier, Hummingbird Natural Health, 81 Lowry Ave. NE, Suite 124, Minneapolis, MN 55418, 952.353.6096, Ericacst@hummingbirdnaturalhealth. com, www.hummingbirdnaturalhealth.com — Erica meets you where you are on your healing journey with an open heart. At a very young age she was inspired by CranioSacral Therapy and natural health. Erica is dedicated to your health and in a warm and caring way she will help you feel in balance again!

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COMMUNITY BUSINESS LISTINGS Please visit all of our Community Business Listings online at edgemagazine.net/category/community/

Next month: If you offer Herbal Medicine, be listed here for only $25. Contact info + 50-word description of what you offer the community. Order your listing conveniently at Edgemagazine.net. For more info: 763.433.9291 or cathy@edgemagazine.net. Deadline: November 17.

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HAPPENINGS

born. Deborah Lynn11 will give mini psychic readings during this speaking engagement. Be prepared to be astounded. Discover your “Sacred Divine Path.”

Info: call 651.439.5337. Tickets are $26 each. www. deborahlynn11.com

Calendar listings

…provide date, title and text. $29: up to 35 words. $45: 36-70 words each month. Listings over 70 words will be edited. Deadline is the 15th of each month. Listings must include specific event dates. Major credit cards accepted.

Order online at Edgemagazine.net. Call 763.433.9291 or e-mail cathy@edgemagazine.net.

November 1, 8, 15 – Fundamentals of Acupressure & Shiatsu: 3-part series with Dr. Larry Caldwell Instructor, 6:30-8:30pm, $145. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale.augusoft.net November 1-December 6 – Unlimited Breath and Conscious Creation: 6-part series with Patrick Weseman, Tuesday, 6:30-9pm, $299. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale.augusoft. net November 2 & 19 – Essential Oil Therapy for Stress: 2-part series with Jodi Baglien, Wednesday, 6-9pm, $99 plus $10 material fee. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale.augusoft.net November 3 – Holistic Wellness Expo: Free Event 5-8pm! Explore & Expand Your Wellness Options!

12+ Exhibitors! Unique alternative products and services! Visit this beautiful yoga studio! Expo Special – 30 Days of Yoga for $30!! Spirit of the Lake Yoga, 244 Water St., Excelsior, MN, 952.474.7707, www. metrominiexpos.info/slyoga.html November 4 – Ladies Fun Night Out: Free Event 5-8pm! Visit this friendly downtown location to enjoy energy drinks and smoothies! Expo of 20+ Boutique and Wellness Exhibitors. Enjoy a smoothie while you explore unique products and services! Plus fabulous prizes and lots of fun! Nutrition Revolution, 200 Chestnut St. E., Stillwater, MN, 651.439.9263, www. metrominiexpos.info/nr.html November 4 & 5 – Sound Mastery: Voice 1 – Your Soul Signature & Voice II – As a Healing Tool: With Kay Grace, Saturday 9am-4pm, Sunday 9am-3pm. $145 each class. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale.augusoft.net November 5 – What’s Behind your Back? Dr. Ian Grunberg will share his unique perspective on staying healthy to make our journey through life more pliable and responsive to our goals. $35, 10am-Noon. IHT: 651.645.1291, www.ihtyoga.org

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HOLISTIC LIVING

NOVEMBER 2011

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Bookmark the Happenings Calendar online. Buy an extended listing with photos & press release at Edgemagazine.net or call 763.433.9291.

November 5 & 6 – Open House: 9am-5pm, Crystals, stones, Angel Star gift items, FES and Bach blends, jewelry. Ellen Goldammer, EG Wellness Resources, 760 Clearbrook Lane, Vadnais Heights, MN November 7 – Day of Reflection: Theme is The Form - “Whatever you believe is true - for you… Noting changes until the form we hold is challenged.” Ritual, input, quiet time/reflection, and discussion. Select two healing modalities: contemplative healing touch, cranial sacral, reflexology, or spiritual direction. 9am-4pm with Delmarie Gibney, D.Min., $60 (includes lunch).

WomanWell, A Place for Spirituality & Healing at 1784 Lacrosse Ave., St. Paul. Call 651.739.7953 or www. womanwell.org

November 12 – Rosicrucian Open Meeting: “Spiritual Laws that Govern Humanity and the Universe,” 11am1pm, 4718 42nd Ave. N., Robbinsdale. Parking & entrance in back of building. www.tiny.cc/essene November 12 – Spirit United Church Fall Festival!

Come join the fun with friendly people! We’ll have spiritual readers to open heart/mind to challenges/opportunities of the times. Soothing hands-on healings.

Bake sale. Hearty lunch. Vendors: Gourmet coffees, teas and candy; Jewelry; Textiles; Original art; Pottery; Handcrafts. Soul portraits, Silent auction, Book sale, Wonderful door prize. $5 per ticket for healers, readers, lunch (under 12 free), 10am-3pm, 3204 Como Ave. SE, Minneapolis, 612.378.3602, www.spiritunited. com, contact@spiritunited.com. Bring friends & neighbors.

November 12 – Superconscious Meditation I: Learn the basics of the science of meditation, the finest tool for physical, mental, and spiritual growth. Taught by Ma Devi. $40, or $35 pre-registered. 10am-12:30pm.

IHT: 651.645.1291, www.ihtyoga.org November 12 – Reclaim Your Intuition: How to access intuition for self-care and personal growth. Experiential and interactive workshop. Learn a five-step method and practice specific skills so that you can discover ways to remove blocks that inhibit fuller exercise of intuition in your daily living. 9:30am-3:30pm.

Facilitator, Jean Kasparbauer, FSPA. $70 (includes lunch). WomanWell at 1784 Lacrosse Ave., St. Paul.

651.739.7953 or www.womanwell.org November 12 – The Tools of the Energy Trade: With Cyndi Dale, Saturday, 9am-4pm, $145. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale. augusoft.net

November 9, 16, 30 – Discover Soul Travel! Find out how to do it. Expand your consciousness. Prove your eternal nature. Free. Come any or all Wednesdays; November 9-30, 7-8:30pm. Eckankar, 952.380.2200, 7450 Powers Blvd., Chanhassen. Pre-register, free booklet! www.TempleofECK.org

November 16 – Body Signals: Developing a Relationship with Body: With Margaret McRaith, Wednesday, 6-9pm, $69. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale.augusoft.net

November 11 – “Your Name Says it All”: Deborah Lynn11 will offer a powerful presentation of “Your Name Says it All” on 11/11/11, from 7:30-10pm at the Center for Harmonious Living. Discover the real meaning of the name you chose before you were

November 17 – 5 Secrets to Authentically Make Money with Meaning: Are you a heart-centered entrepreneur who transforms people’s lives with your gift?

Do you struggle with getting more clients, being overwhelmed, selling your services, and not having enough money or fun? Learn how to start turning that around on

the Free Call. Just go to www.ShortcutToSuccess.com to register. Kim Eisen, Success Coach, Master of EFT. November 19 – You are the One: Mike Foley will discuss how our personal life story, habits of mind, and misidentification keep us from the truth. $35. 10amNoon. Call IHT: 651.645.1291, www.ihtyoga.org November 19 – Reiki Energy Therapy Level II: With Lucille Crow, Saturday, 8am-4pm, $150. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale. augusoft.net November 19-20 – Mankato’s 2011 Natural Healing & Psychic Expo: Best Western Conference Center, N. Mankato, MN, will feature exhibitors ranging from intuitive readers, integrated healing practitioners, natural beauty and nutritional products, jewelry, crystals, books and products to bring Holistic Healing into your life.

Our Keynote Speakers are Psychic Mediums Robert Baca & Alice May. Expo Tickets at the door: $3 for 1-Day Pass & $5 for Weekend Pass. See website for all information. www.matrixmediaexpo.com November 19-20 – Edge Life Health & Holistic Expo: 125+ exhibitors including health and wellness providers, five Keynote speakers, 75 Free Workshops, 12 intuitive consultants. Specialty gift products, art, spirituality resources, and more. Diverse array of health, wellness, and spirituality vendor exhibits. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis , 10am-6pm Nov. 19, 10am-5pm Nov. 20. $7 advance, $9 at the door, $5 groups of 2 or more. Advance discount tickets call 1.877.776.5244, www.Edgelife.net November 20 – Let Go and Let God: Chant HU! Chanting this once-secret name for God, HU, has helped people throughout time find inner peace and divine love. Maybe it will help you. All are welcome! Free! Sunday, November 20, 10-10:30am Temple of ECK. Eckankar. www.TempleofECK.org, 952.380.2200, 7450 Powers Blvd., Chanhassen

November 20 – Dances of Universal Peace: An interfaith gathering, blending sacred phrases, chant, music and movement into a living experience of Unity and sacred community. No experience necessary, free will donation. 7pm Sunday, Friends Meeting House, 1725 Grand Ave., St. Paul, www.PeaceDanceMN.com, 651.307.3849.

November 30 & December 7 – Holistic Health Assessment – Energy Centers: 2-part series with Maureen Pelton, Wednesday, 7-9pm, $89. Normandale Community College, 9700 France Ave. S., Bloomington, MN. To register 952.358.8343. Visit normandale. augusoft.net December 2-5 – Shamanic Breathwork Workshop: Use the power of Shamanic Breathwork and the Cycles of Change to make the desired changes in your life. For personal growth and/or as part of Facilitator Training. Info: www.shamanshearth.org, 952.250.2543, deb.irestone@shamanshearth.org December 5 – Day of Reflection: Theme for the month: The Challenge - “…You cannot return to the old form - it no longer works.” Ritual, input, quiet time/ reflection, and discussion. Select two healing modalities: contemplative healing touch, cranial sacral, reflexology, or spiritual direction. 9am-4pm with Delmarie Gibney, D.Min, $60 (includes lunch). WomanWell, A Place for Spirituality and Healing at 1784 Lacrosse Ave., St. Paul. 651.739.7953 or www.womanwell.org December 7, 14 & 21 – Spiritual Wisdom on Karma and Reincarnation: Are you ready to put the puzzle pieces together that link this life to your past lives?

Understand the interplay of karma and reincarnation and lead a more joy-filled life. Find keys to spiritual liberation today! Free three-week class. Wednesdays, December 7-21, 7-8:30pm, Eckankar. TempleofECK. org, 952.380.2200, 7450 Powers Blvd., Chanhassen.

Pre-register, free booklet!

December 9 – Weekend Retreat: “Nurturing the Sacred Within”: This retreat will be an introduction of

the chakra system whereby you learn to honor and pay attention to the concepts and theories through nurturing the sacred within. 7-9pm Friday, 9am-5pm Saturday, 10am-3pm Sunday. Facilitator, Corrina Thomas, FSPA. Commuter $100 (includes 2 lunches). Overnight $150 (also includes 2 nights). WomanWell at 1784 Lacrosse Ave., St. Paul, 651.739.7953 or www. womanwell.org January 21-22 – Healthy Life Expo™: Nutrition, Fitness and Longevity – It’s all here! Explore 200+ exhibitors, 3 Stages of speaker presentations, demonstrations and entertainment. Natural products, holistic services, free mini massage, beauty products and fitness experts. Hourly drawings and free health information. 10am-5pm Saturday and Sunday at Minneapolis Convention Center, 1302 2nd St., Minneapolis. $6 admission, or free with Food Shelf donation. Exhibit or Attend: 952.238.1700 or www.MediaMaxEvents.com January 28-29 – Reiki Classes in the Twin Cities: Balance all levels of your being with Reiki! Register for Reiki I or Reiki II classes or discuss an apprenticeship option. Other dates available if needed. More info: 651.735,2863, rachel.miejan@gmail.com, or visit ReikibyMiejan.com Ongoing – Community Colorpuncture w/ Acupuncture & Meditation Circle: Stop in Wednesdays from 11:30am-2pm or from 4:30-7:30pm for Community Colorpuncture w/ Acupuncture (no-needle options available). Sliding-Fee: $15 to $40. At 8pm, join us for a Group Meditation through an Esogetics Sound Therapy ($5 donation suggested). Info: www.tchealers. com or meetup.com/tc-energy Ongoing – Holistic Diag I • The Body & Herbs • Making Herbal Remedies • Herbal Materia Medica: Every Wednesday starting at 6:30pm, join us at Magus Books & Herbs to explore the Natural side of Health & Wellness! Different classes ($15-$25 each) held every Wednesday. More Info: facebook.com/ MagusBooks -> “Events.” or call 612.379.7669.

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over to read the 2011 fall edge directory …featuring more than 70 holistic healers, practitioners, services & businesses in the Upper Midwest...and beyond November 2011 edge magazine

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