“Natural Awakenings” Magazine, February 2012 issue

Love

 Embracing Imperfections

natural

 9 Ways to Love Yourself

awakenings Magazine

Special Edition

YOUR HEALTHY MIND Ways to Boost Brain Power How to Thrive After Burnout Emotional Well-Being Feel-Good Exercise

February 2012 www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

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www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com February 2012

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Restore energy

with

natural

detoxification For decades, Americans have increasingly turned to “alternative” forms of medicine and natural treatments.

They have sought help for all kinds of diseases and conditions that were not helped by traditional Western medicine, which is often characterized by surgery and narcotics.

Lemire Clinic focuses on “functional natural medicine,” which does not rely only on invasive procedures or drugs. It combines modern science with ancient healing wisdom from different parts of the world, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

At Lemire Clinic, we combine various natural therapies with safe, proven medical treatment to help remove stress, reduce pain and anxiety, manage symptoms and promote well-being. Using these non-traditional pain management techniques and detoxification therapies, we can cleanse the body of chemical, heavy-metal and environmental toxins. We have successfully reduced pain and symptoms and improved the overall condition for many patients.

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Natural Awakenings is your guide to nutrition, fitness, personal growth, sustainable and “green” living, organic food, Buy Local, the Slow Food and Slow Money movements, creative expression, wholistic health care, and products and services that support a healthy lifestyle for people of all ages.

Publisher Carolyn Rose Blakeslee, Ocala Managing Editor Clark Dougherty Editors Sharon Bruckman S. Alison Chabonais Linda Sechrist Design + Production Stephen Gray-Blancett Carolyn Rose Blakeslee Jessi Miller, www.LittleBlackMask.com Contact Us 352-629-4000 Fax 352-351-5474 GoNaturalAwakenings@gmail.com P.O. Box 1140, Anthony, FL 32617 www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com Subscriptions Mailed subscriptions are available for $36/ year. Digital is free. Pick up the printed version at your local health food stores, area Publix and Sweetbay stores, and other locations—that’s free, too.

Natural Awakenings Gainesville/Ocala/The Villages is published every month in full color.

20,000 copies are distributed to health food stores, public libraries, Publix and Sweetbay stores, medical offices, restaurants and cafes, and other locations throughout North Central Florida.

Natural Awakenings cannot be responsible for the products or services herein. To determine whether a particular product or service is appropriate for you, consult your family physician or licensed wholistic practitioner.

Copyright ©2012 Natural Awakenings. All rights reserved.

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~ Features ~

10

Inspiration: A Conversation with Stephen Post

by S. Alison Chabonais

11

Chicken Caro

by Clark Dougherty

12

A Brain-Building Blueprint How to Keep the Mind Young and Memory Sharp

by Lisa Marshall

15

9 Ways to Love Yourself

by Nuris Lemire, MS, OTR/L, NC

16

Wise Words: The Benefits of Burnout Oxymoron? Not according to psychologist Joan Borysenko.

by Linda Sechrist

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Wabi Sabi Love: Embracing Imperfections

by Arielle Ford

18

Pain, Inflammation, and Free Radicals The Acid/Alkaline Connection

by Dr. Michael Badanek, DC, BS, CNS

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Emotional Well-Being: Key to Healthy Relationships

by Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. David Simon

23

Intimacy and Expectations

by Kylie Devi

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Exercise to Beat the Blues Staying Active Lifts Our Spirits

by Priscilla Goudreau-Santos

26

Letting Go: Detoxify and Live Life to the Fullest!

by Dr. Paula Koger, RN, MA, DOM, AP

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Yin & Tonic: Soup’s On

by Melody Murphy

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Mastermind Your Way to Success

by Colleen Griffin

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Dear Readers,





Happy Valentine’s Day! We hope this issue nourishes your spirit, heart, soul and mind.

Carolyn

MATERIALS DUE  Deadline for all materials is the 15th of the month (i.e.

February 15th for March issue).

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February 2012

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NewsBriefs Organic Gardening and Produce

On Saturday, February 25, Crones Cradle Conserve is offering their Organic Workshop from 9-4. The cost is $50 and covers everything from prep to pest control. Bring a bag lunch.

Also, Crones Cradle has Farm to Fare Organic Basket openings.

Each week for 13 weeks, participants receive baskets with five vegetables, a dozen eggs, recipes, fresh flowers, and more. Subscriptions cost $25/week plus $50 membership. Pickup/delivery times and locations vary.

Information: Crones Cradle, 6411 NE 217 Pl., Citra, FL 32113, 352-5953377, www.CronesCradleConserve. com.

Satvatove Workshop

The Satvatove Institute in Alachua is offering a Foundational Transformative Communication and Self-Empowerment Workshop on the weekend of February 24-26. The seminar will be facilitated by Dr. David Wolf, author of Relationships That Work: The Power of Conscious Living.

The 32-hour course teaches accessible and simple skills for improving relationships in all areas of life including career, family, marriage, and partnership. The course is highly interactive and teaches participants to overcome roadblocks to effective communication, use empathic listening, and feel empowered to take responsibility and make and keep commitments.

CEUs are available for nurses, massage therapists, and licensed acupuncturists through this course.

For more information or to register, contact Peter C. Sessler at skyy406@ hotmail.com or 352-425-5622.

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Qi Revolution April 28-May 1

Qi Revolution, the annual massive Qigong healing and breathing event, is the largest Qigong event ever to occur in Florida and has been praised by experts of yoga, Qigong, and naturopathic medicine. During the four-day event, high-powered breathing techniques, Qigong exercises, and food-based healing are taught with precise detail by Qigong practitioner Jeff Primack and more than 200 additional certified Qigong instructors.

“With thousands of beautiful people harnessing healing Qi, nowhere will the energy be stronger than in Orlando on April 28th,” says Primack, a 15-year Qigong practitioner. Primack healed himself of lifelong asthma and through his workshops has helped tens of thousands of people discover the secrets of maximizing their own healing potential.

During the first two days of the event, Primack and his team will teach guests Level One Qigong healing and breathing applications, and move into even more powerful breathing applications on days three and four.

Qi Revolution takes place at Orlando Convention Center, with advanced registration required. Cost is $99 for all four days. For more information call 800-298-8970 or visit www.Qigong. com.

Biosyntonie Workshop

regulation of the life forces are located on the vertebral column and will be used to revitalize the physical, psychological and spiritual vitality of every participant. The workshop fee is $600. For information call Dr. Talmor’s office at 352-377-0015, www.betterw. com.

Music and Chanting for Health and Healing

Bhagavan Das, teacher and counterculture icon, is offering the Nada Yoga Temple of Sound Workshop at the Amrit Yoga Institute in Salt Springs, Florida. Bhagavan Das has toured with Allen Ginsburg, opened for the Grateful Dead, sung with Bob Dylan, and was mentor to Ram Dass, the author of Be Here Now.

What Bhagavan Das shares in this workshop is how the purification and refinement of the chakras (subtle energy centers of the body) takes place through the vehicle of sound. Music and chanting carry frequencies that have a direct and rapid impact on our energy and our health. Bij (seed) mantras are used as well as chants that impact each chakra. Daily guided visualization meditations are also used in correlation with these bij mantras and chants to enliven and clarify the specific energies of each chakra.

The workshop will be held February 24-26. Tuition $495 includes kirtan, meals and accommodations. $445 includes kirtan and meals; no accommodations. February 24 kirtan only is $30 at the door and open to the public. For more information visit www.amrityoga.org, email info@ amrityoga.org or call (352) 685-3001.

... and many more ...

With the theme “The Key to Ancestral Energy,” Dr. Hanoch Talmor, M.D. is hosting a Biosyntonie workshop March 2-4 in Gainesville.

The workshop will be led by Pierre Nicolas, Independent Researcher, Founder and Developer of Biosyntonie and Terre de Lys technologies from Digeon, France. The doors of

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February 2012

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GlobalBriefs Counting our Natural Blessings

A

study by Canada’s Dalhousie University postulates that as many as 86 percent of Earth’s species are still unknown, and millions of organisms will remain undiscovered as extinctions accelerate worldwide.

If, as the study’s co-author Boris Worm suggests, our planet is home to 8.7 million species, it means scientists have cataloged fewer than 15 percent of species now alive. Many unknown organisms will likely wink out of existence before they can even be recorded.

Although the catalog of mammals and birds may be nearly complete, inventories of other classes of life are far behind. Only 7 percent of the predicted number of fungi and fewer than 10 percent of all ocean life forms have been identified.

Categorizing a new organism is more complicated than discovering one. “It’s a long process,” Worm explains. “Most scientists will describe dozens of species in their lifetime, if they’re really lucky. What’s been discovered so far are those things that are easy to find, that are conspicuous, that are relatively large. There is an age of discovery ahead of us when we could find out so much more of what lives with us on this planet.”

Source: National Geographic

Big Book Encyclopedia of Life Update

T

he second edition of the Smithsonian Institution’s free, online collaborative Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is now easier to use. It also has been vastly expanded, offering information on more than one-third of all known species on Earth, including hundreds of thousands of images and videos.

With the updated format, users can easily find species of interest; create personal collections of photos and information; find or upload pictures, videos and sounds; and share comments, questions and expertise with users worldwide who share similar interests.

EOL.org seeks to become a microscope in reverse, helping users to discern large-scale patterns. By aggregating for analysis information on Earth’s estimated 1.9 million known species, scientists say EOL could, for example, help map vectors of human disease; reveal mysteries behind longevity; suggest substitute plant pollinators for a swelling list of places where honeybees no longer provide the function; and foster strategies to slow the spread of invasive species.

All EOL information is available for reuse and is licensed under Creative Commons and other Open Access free licenses.

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Green Dads

Moving Sustainability from Niche to Normal

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new dimension of sustainable fathering is emerging among Americans. According to a consumer trend report by EcoFocus Worldwide, Make Way for EcoAware Dads, 65 percent of the nation’s 36 million dads agree that, “When my kids are grown, I want them to remember me as teaching them to be environmentally responsible.”

Eco-aware dads want their family’s home and lifestyle to be safe, efficient, and responsible, and they see room for improvement: Only 16 percent are very satisfied with how green or ecofriendly their lifestyles are today.

“For an eco-aware dad, this is all very integrated and very personal to his role as a father,” explains Lisa Harrison, the research leader for EcoFocus. “For example, while he may have insulated his family’s home for economic reasons first, the secondary benefit is in quality of life, because the home becomes a quieter and more comfortable living space.” More than eight in 10 agree that being ecofriendly is a way to improve quality of life for themselves and their families.

Eco-aware dads realize that changes sometimes take investments of both time and money, and they are concerned about affordability. Still, they see prospects for big payoffs; 83 percent have already changed the way they do things to make choices that are better for the environment.

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HealthBriefs

Mosswood Farm Store 703 NE Cholokka Blvd Micanopy, FL 32667 (352) 466-5002 www.MosswoodFarmStore.com

Meditation Boosts Brain Power

U

niversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers first discovered in 2009 that specific regions in the brains of longterm meditators were larger and contained more gray matter than those of a non-meditating control group. Now, a follow-up study by the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging suggests people who meditate regularly also display stronger neuronal connections between brain regions and less age-related atrophy (shrinkage) in all areas of the brain.

The study comprised 27 active meditation practitioners (average age 52) and 27 control subjects, matched by age and sex. The number of years of meditation ranged from five to 46 and included various styles. Using a type of brain imaging known as diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI—a new imaging mode that provides insights into the structural connectivity of the brain—the researchers found that long-term meditators have white matter fibers that are either more numerous, more dense or more insulated, throughout the brain. Although such tissue tends to decline with age, the study suggests that it can be preserved through active meditation practices.

Researcher Eileen Luders remarks, “If practiced regularly and over years, meditation may slow down aging-related brain atrophy, perhaps by positively affecting the immune system.

Meditation appears to be a powerful mental exercise with the potential to change the physical structure of the brain.”

Organic coffee and pastries, sustainable living books and earth friendly supplies, crafts, soaps, homemade bread, much more. Open every day 10-6.

Regular Bedtimes = Smarter Kids

A

ccording to research presented at the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, children who get adequate sleep score higher on a range of developmental assessments. The researchers emphasized that having a regular bedtime was the most consistent predictor of positive developmental outcomes at age 4. Scores for receptive and expressive language skills, awareness of sound-word structure, literacy and early math abilities were higher in children whose parents maintained rules about going to bed at a prescribed time. Having an earlier bedtime further supported higher scores for most developmental measures.

The study involved a nationally representative sample of approximately 8,000 children that completed a direct assessment at 4 years of age. They were part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort.

Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine

www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

February 2012

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Inspiration A Conversation with

Stephen Post founder of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People

by S. Alison Chabonais

Q. Why does the

world need your book?

A.

Why Good Things Happen to Good People brings readers the surprising news that doing good is actually good for you.

We know of 500 scientific studies that demonstrate the power of unselfish love to enhance health. Fifty recent studies funded by our Institute at 45 leading U.S. universities support this conclusion. Collectively they prove that giving—far more than receiving—is the most potent force for good on the planet. Acts of personal generosity reverberate across an entire lifetime, nourishing health, healing, and happiness in astonishing ways.

Even when people don’t understand that giving is its own reward, they still feel the helper’s high. As one inmate said to me, “It’s good to be good.” Our research shows that people want to be generous.

We have infinite ways to give. Ten quizzes in the book reveal our personal strengths and which areas might need work. Responding to what we learn can help gradually shift us to a life of greater giving to family, friends, neighbors and the larger community. Giving creates a healthier society.

Q. What’s the highest, most satisfying, life-enhancing form of giving?

A. They all are. It depends on the situation. Each of us has gifts that bless, and big or small, the internal compensation of giving love is great. Especially when compared with the alternative of internalizing disdain, hostility, and rage, which eat away at the body like acid.

When I first get up in the morning, I try to think about who in my life needs a little more compassion, who could 10

use a bit of affirmation and celebration, who needs me to listen, who would appreciate help with something. My meditation affirms how I can be most articulate and loving with each person scheduled in my day. Also, how will I treat the slow cashier or rude driver I’ll likely never see again?

What gift do they need? A small gesture can change the tone of a life.

This way I move into my day with a vision that helps me stay in the flow of a generous love all day. I call it the “dandelion effect.” You never know where a love-blown seed will connect and grow.

Q. Why is giving so closely tied to how we love?

A. When the happiness and security of another person mean as much or more to me as my own happiness and security, I love that person. So how do I cut to the chase?

That’s what the book does. It makes the gift of love more tangible in ways that make sense to people.

Q. How can we realize happy, healthy relationships?

A.

The wonderful gift of love makes relationships work.

It must be right-hearted and wise. It’s hard to love when there’s no loyalty or laughter. Love is more than duty, it embraces warmth and tenderness.

I believe that love is in the details. Our family often passes around a gratitude bell at dinner. Each of us in turn shares the three things we’re most grateful for, and also can report on anything for which we need help. Little rituals like this communicate caring. We feel attached at the heart.

How wonderful life is when we make the shift from self to other. We discover a deeper, richer sense of self as we give of ourselves more and stop seeing others as existing to fulfill our own agenda. We feel more fulfilled and connected. Admittedly there are times when we may find ourselves going through the motions of kindness on the basis of duty alone, but such periods can give way to real warmth and tender loving care.

Q. Are humans hard-wired to love?

A.

We have natural abilities for love. But due to culture, media, and a lack of mentors and role models, this innate gift can get lost. Being secular and compassionate is great.

But for me it’s a higher Source of Love that allows us to cut through the obscuring layers to our native spiritual intuition and realize love in our lives.

Despite all the violence and craziness in the world, at heart I firmly believe that love is a creative presence at the center of the Universe and that it’s active in our lives. The power of love, gratitude, awe, compassion, forgiveness, hope, and faith show up in all the great spiritual traditions.

Loving nurtures these qualities long-term.

For more information, visit WhyGoodThingsHappen.com and UnlimitedLoveInstitute.org.

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Chicken Caro

by Clark Dougherty Ingredients (serves 4):

4 five- to six-oz. chicken breast cutlets or scallopines 8 tbsp. flour 2 tbsp. garlic salt 2 tbsp. lemon pepper 2 tbsp. chopped, fresh basil 4 oz. sliced gourmet mushrooms 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 4 oz. unsalted butter 6 sliced bulb ends (white) of scallions 3-4 sliced (not minced) garlic cloves 1 medium lemon, juiced ½ cup heavy cream ½ cup chicken broth ½ cup white wine

Garni:

8 slices fresh lemon Fresh parmesan cheese, grated Chopped fresh dill, basil, and scallion greens

www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

Directions:

* Mix flour, garlic salt, lemon pepper, and chopped basil in mixing bowl. * Pat chicken dry and lightly dredge both sides of each piece of chicken in the flour mix, shaking off excess. * In a large skillet over MEDIUM heat, put EVO and half the butter. * Add cutlets. Cook the chicken until golden brown on both sides; remove from skillet and place on a full-sized plate. * Add the other half of butter to skillet along with mushrooms. Stir and sauté over medium heat for a couple of minutes; add sliced garlic and white end scallions. Reduce heat to LOW, stirring and simmering until garlic begins to turn golden. * Add lemon juice, stir briefly, then increase heat to MEDIUM HIGH, and quickly add white wine as if to deglaze.

Stir and cook for a minute or so. * Reduce heat to LOW and add chicken broth. Stir mixture for another minute, then add heavy cream. Stir to incorporate for a minute, add chicken and liquid from plate back to skillet. * Reduce heat to SIMMER and cook for five to six minutes, ensuring chicken is

sufficiently done. * Remove chicken to serving dish, spooning liquid over cutlets. Garnish with fresh parmesan cheese, lemon slices, fresh dill, basil, and green ends of scallions.

This recipe is named for the editor/publisher of Natural Awakenings magazine. She, her family and friends, and dozens of cast/crew members from Ocala Civic Theatre have been recipients of countless meals, desserts, and all-out dinner parties at my hand, usually in her home! I was kitchen-testing an entrée and came up with this dish, reminiscent of Chicken Picatta. So, I planted a flag in it, named it, and claimed it for Carolyn. Pair it with braised artichoke hearts and perhaps a Chateau Montelena chardonnay.

Enjoy!

February 2012

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The good news: Such fates are far from inevitable.

“People seem to expect that as soon as we start to need reading glasses, we should also expect some of these cognitive issues to arise, but it does not need to be that way,” says Naples, Florida-based Neurology Doctor David Perlmutter, co-author of Power up Your Brain. “You can absolutely do things early on in life and throughout your lifetime that work to maintain the bulk and function of the brain.”

Here’s how:

Stay lean. It may seem counterintuitive, but mounting evidence suggests that in order to grow a bigger brain, many of us should be eating less. “The key to the brain maintaining and even regenerating itself is the activation of

A Brain-Building Blueprint How to Keep the Mind Young and Memory Sharp

by Lisa Marshall

“Have you seen my keys?” “Now, why did I come in here?” “Her name is on the tip of my tongue.” If you catch yourself uttering such phrases, listen up:

“M

emory generally starts to decline in our 30s, as the brain shrinks with age. One of the first and most prominent signs is that ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon,” advises neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., co-author of Welcome to Your Brain.

Studies show that the adult brain can shrink as much as one-half to one percent annually in midlife, as neurons in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus wither and the branches between them thin. Add hormonal changes, which can starve gray matter of nour-

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ishing estrogen and progesterone; less-than-stellar cardiovascular health, which tends to limit blood flow to the brain; and a gummy protein called amyloid plaque, which can hamper neuronal function; and cognitive decline may be exacerbated.

Already, one in five people older than 65 suffer from “mild cognitive impairment” (persistent memory problems severe enough to be noticeable to others). According to the Alzheimer’s Association, if we live to age 90, as many as half of us could ultimately be diagnosed with that disease.

a set of genes that code for a protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF),” explains Perlmutter. “BDNF is significantly enhanced in people who simply cut down their calorie consumption.”

Several animal and human studies support this conclusion. One 2009 study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, divided 50 men and women age 50 and older into three groups that slashed calorie intake by 20 percent, 30 percent, and not at all. After three months, the groups that restricted their calories saw their verbal memory scores jump by more than 20 percent.

Perlmutter notes that just being overweight in the prime of life can promote excess inflammation and free radical production—two enemies of a healthy brain. A 2005 study of 10,000 men and women conducted

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by researchers at Kaiser Permanente found that people that were obese in their early 40s had a 74 percent increased risk of developing dementia later in life. “Just a 25 percent reduction in calories over one month’s time can have a profound effect on boosting memory,” Perlmutter notes.

Eat a brain-building diet. Aside from cutting calories, experts say it’s critical to load up on foods that boost neurogenesis (the development of new brain cells) and stall brain atrophy.

Eating more fish (or omega-3 supplements), adding fruits and vegetables and cutting back on refined carbohydrates do just that, advises Dr. Christiane Northrup, obstetrician, gynecologist and author of Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom. “The brain is mostly made up of omega-3 fats, and many women, in particular, are lacking them in their diet,” she observes.

Perlmutter notes that supplementing one’s intake of omega-3 fatty acid DHA, present in fatty fish and marine algae, has been shown to switch on

the genes that jumpstart BDNF production. DHA is also anti-inflammatory and promotes healthy blood flow to the brain. But people shouldn’t wait too long to load up on it.

One 2010 trial of 485 healthy adults with mild memory complaints found that those who took 900 milligrams per day of algae-based DHA supplements for six months made significantly fewer errors on memory tests than they had at the study’s onset.

Another study by the National Institute on Aging, however, found that DHA supplementation had little impact on patients once severe dementia had set in. So, sooner is better.

Healthy fats aside, dark-colored fruits such as blackberries, blueberries and plums are all rich with antioxidants, substances known to scavenge cell-damaging free radicals in the brain. Also, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and broccoli sprouts contain a powerful compound called sulforaphane, believed to boost the body’s own production of antioxidants.

One famous 2005 study followed 13,388 women over several decades, and found that those who ate the most cruciferous vegetables and leafy greens stayed mentally sharp for far longer than those that ate the least.

New research from Rush University, in Chicago, further suggests that a deficiency of Vitamin B-12, found in fish, liver, milk and eggs, may hasten brain shrinkage as previously functioning cells die off.

Overloading on refined carbohydrates like white flour, pasta and potatoes carries a similar result. “Elevated blood sugar can destroy the brain,” advises Perlmutter, pointing to a 2005 study in the journal Neurology, which linked accelerated brain shrinkage with elevated blood sugar.

Prevent hormonal havoc. Ebbing hormones can also have a measurable impact on our ability to recall words and follow through on tasks, says Hawaii naturopathic physician Laurie Steelsmith, author of Natural Choices for Women’s Health. (continued)

MA22645

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February 2012

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... Continued from p.13

One 2009 University of California study of 2,362 women between the ages of 42 and 52 found that 60 percent suffered memory and mental-processing problems. “I hear about it almost every day from women in my practice,” comments Steelsmith. “They’re trying to find the word for, say, ‘garlic’ or ‘pen,’ and it just won’t come to them. It can be very frustrating.”

Steelsmith notes that estrogen plays a critical role in influencing verbal and spatial memory and fine motor skills and bolstering the blood-brain barrier to keep toxins out.

Meanwhile, progesterone acts on the same brain receptors that Valium does, promoting calm and aiding sleep.

In the days immediately prior to menstruation, when estrogen and progesterone levels are low, or once women begin to approach menopause and they stay low, the brain feels it.

In an ideal world, the adrenal glands kick in to pick up where the ovaries leave off—producing sex hormones. “But women who are stressed out or not nourishing themselves tend to experience adrenal fatigue, so their adrenals are not able to act as a secondary source of hormones,” says Steelsmith.

For ovulating women, she recommends taking 100 to 175 milligrams (mg) daily of the herb Rhodiola rosea during the second half of the menstrual cycle to support fatigued adrenal glands and ward off hormone-related brain fog.

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If the condition occurs only for a few days before a menstrual period, and is accompanied by tender breasts, lack of sleep and heavy monthly bleeding, the problem may be low progesterone. For that, try the herb chaste tree berry during the second half of the menstrual cycle, or consider a low dose, over-the-counter progesterone cream, says Northrup.

For post-menopausal women, she recommends taking up to 50 mg per day of pregnenolone, an adrenal hormone that the body naturally converts into estrogen and progesterone.

(While pregnenolone is available over the counter, Steelsmith suggests that women have a naturopath first test their hormone levels in order to determine an appropriate dose.)

Or, older men and women experiencing age-related memory loss can try a soy-based nutritional supplement called phosphatidylserine (PS), which is believed to bolster cell-to-cell communication and levels of the memory-boosting neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Exercise mind and body. Aamodt notes that a common cause of cognitive decline is the accumulation of clogged blood vessels in the brain that choke off blood and oxygen.

Thus, “Regular exercise is the single most useful thing you can do to maintain your cognitive abilities later in life,” she says.

Recent studies by researchers at the University of Illinois and elsewhere have shown that as little as 45 minutes of aerobic exercise, three times per week, may not only stall age-related brain atrophy in the elderly, but even help regenerate parts of the brain that have withered. “There is no medication on the planet that can do that,” says Perlmutter.

Brain exercise is helpful, as well. Exposure to new experiences prompts the brain to literally lay down new neuronal networks, becoming stronger.

A 2009 Mayo Clinic study found that of 1,300 people ages 70 to 89, those who had regularly engaged in mentally challenging activities in their 50s and 60s (such as playing games, quilting, building model airplanes, or learning a new language or instrument) were 40 percent less likely to suffer memory problems.

The key, advise the experts, is not to stick with the same crossword puzzle for years. Instead, try something new. As Steelsmith puts it: “Use it or lose it.”

Lisa Marshall is a freelance health writer based in Colorado near Boulder. She can be contacted at Lisa@LisaAnnMarshall.com.

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9 Ways to Love Yourself

by Nuris Lemire, MS, OTR/L, NC

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hat does love mean to you?

Is it the love between a parent and a child? Is it the unconditional love between an owner and a pet? Or is it a connection between two souls?

How about self love? Where does it fit in your life?

Pay attention to yourself. Give to yourself. Love yourself. Make a mindful effort to give something to yourself each day. If you have mercy on yourself, then you can have mercy on others. Practice self-forgiveness, and mercy—then you can initiate and extend your forgiveness to others.

Remember: “You cannot give what you do not have.”

Sometimes people get carried away with just giving, helping, and doing for others. Often this comes with the price of forgetting that giving begins with self-giving, and self-love.

Using the analogy of a bank account: If you always withdraw, without making any deposits, you will overdraw sooner or later, i.e. experience burnout, or become ill or resentful.

So how are you going to make deposits into your account?

Here are some simple suggestions: 1. Take a nice walk connecting with nature around you.

2. Enjoy reading a special book.

3. Meditate daily.

4. Pray daily.

5. Use a gratitude journal, and write daily entries of the blessings you are grateful for.

6. Treat yourself to a relaxing facial or massage.

7. Say nice things to yourself during your constant self talk. www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

8. Take some time off from work.

9. Recognize and rejoice in the amazing creation you are.

These are just some simple ways to make deposits into your life enhancing account.

When a person is happy, feels love and compassion for all and is at peace with life, their cells have different hormones which work together with the

body to ward off negative influences and help maintain a healthy environment.

At a recent conference on Health, Aging and Longevity in Brisbane, Professor Marc Cohen, Founding Professor of Complementary Medicine at RMIT Melbourne, said that love is a prime cause for a long, high-quality life. He added, “There is increasing clinical evidence that enjoying loving activities will help prolong life.” That is, love whatever you are doing, because if you can’t or don’t love your work or your life, it could lit-

erally be making you sick!

The power to change is within you.

Any day, any time is the right time.

Fortunately, you have the power within you to change anger into assertiveness, motivation, and responsibility; fear into courage and alertness; anxiety and worry into compassion and contentment; and hate and despair into love, joy, and passion for life.

Instead of holding onto negative emotions, you also have the power to surrender to growth and to trust life.

The question is, how to effect the change?

The first thing you need to know is that there are both balanced and imbalanced emotions. The second thing you need to know is that whether you choose the balanced or the imbalanced expression, it is entirely under your control. Yes, this is the hard part, but it is not impossible. Begin by becoming aware of the imbalances you experience one day at a time—then, by using the power of your mind, choose not to be victimized by your own emotions.

For many years now, people such as Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and Caroline Myss have been saying that changing your thoughts, beliefs, and patterns of thinking can change virtually everything about your life, from improving health and slowing aging to having abundance and happy relationships.

It’s empowering to know that you are love. You are power. You are the living manifestation of Divine worldchanging love essence.

Nuris Lemire is certified in Neuromechanical Acupuncture, Lymphatic Drainage, Craniosacral and Heart Center Therapy; she is also a Reiki Master Practitioner, Wudang China External Qi Healer, and a practitioner of the Maya Abdominal Technique. Readers needing help in re-connecting with some of the healing, life-giving parts of self are encouraged to call the office for an appointment to experience the NASA technology of The Evox to unblock, release and re-align any patterns of imbalance within. Lemire Clinic: 352291-9459, www.lemireclinic.com.

Illustration: painting by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842).

February 2012

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wisewords

Not according to psychologist Joan Borysenko.

more because we practice self-care.

Keep in mind that we can’t solve burnout with the same level of consciousness that created it. We have to catch ourselves in the act of overlooking our true needs, stop, do a selfinquiry that looks at things as they are, and pinpoint what drains our energy, as well as what brings us to life.

by Linda Sechrist

How did writing Fried affect you?

The Benefits of Burnout An oxymoron?

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photo by Charles Bush

oan Borysenko, Ph.D., a pioneer in integrative medicine, is a renowned expert on the mind-body connection. Her work has been foundational in an international health care revolution that recognizes the role of meaning and the spiritual dimension of life as integral aspects of health and healing.

Most recently, the Harvard-trained biologist and psychologist explored the anatomy of burnout with Facebook friends in her latest book, Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive.

What does it mean to physically, emotionally, and spiritually burn out?

When you’re stressed out, you keep chasing the same old carrot, whatever that may be for you. But when you’re burned out, you eventually give up the chase. The hope that you can create a meaningful life fizzles and you find yourself sitting in the ashes of your dreams.

In a culture wedded to positive thinking, burnout and its first cousin, depression, are thought of as disorders in need of a fix. What if instead, we see them as losses of naïveté, false identities and faulty assumptions that are making way for a more authentic life? What if we viewed burnout as an invitation to come into alignment with a more elegant expression of our gifts, relationships and overall life energy?

The late psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, Ph.D., who first popularized the concept in his 1980 book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement, believed the condition is a painful affliction of good people trying to give their very best. He defined it as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s de-

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votion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”

Why do we burn out even when we regularly use self-care practices?

Many people are shocked to learn that even though I’m a positive person, with a regular yoga and meditation practice, as well as healthy eating habits, I have burned out more than once. Ironically, but predictably, I was trying to do and be my best. For me, burnout means that my most loving, creative self goes missing; I contract into the smallest, most negative version of myself, which is not a pretty picture.

I find that for many people who intellectualize a great portion of their lives, burnout doesn’t become real until they are not only physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, but are also in pain. Knowing ourselves and our limitations is essential, because our tendency is to become complacent and think we’re too busy to tend to our wellbeing, or else believe we can do even

In order to follow my own advice, I completely changed the way I live. I realized that at age 66, I needed to pay more attention to my physical body. Physical therapy and Pilates floor exercises are now a priority five days a week, as well as yoga, both of which have helped to correct my hip joint problems. For aerobic exercise, I walk fast for 45 minutes at least five days a week. In inclement weather, I ride an indoor bike. Altogether, it averages out to 90 minutes of daily exercise, five days a week.

My husband and I switched to a plant-based diet of organic whole foods, so we now set aside more time to plan, shop and cook. We also make more time for family and friends. We still both work, but fewer hours than before. In other words, I do what I can within a framework of love. I choose to do what is important to me—activities that give me life and energy.

What is it about living “in the now” that feels so enlivening?

When we live in our heads and intellectualize, we tend to spin negative thoughts that hurt our physical health and sap our energy. By actively focusing on what we are doing in the moment, we can engage our senses, more thoroughly enjoy ourselves, and have an awareness of being that is not possible when we are ruminating over past memories or projecting ourselves into daydreams about a far-off future. In such present moments, because we are relaxed and open to our inner wisdom, as well as our interconnection with the exquisite wholeness of life, we feel the most vital and alive.

Connect at JoanBorysenko.com and Facebook.com/pages/Joan-Borysenko/ 211406562428.

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WABI SABI LOVE Embracing Imperfections in Relationships

by Arielle Ford

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cultivate a more loving he ancient Japanese relationship through art form of Wabi Sabi humor, listening, intihonors all things old, macy and generosity, We shift our choices weathered, worn, and imeven when somepermanent by perceiving from “what I want,” one is acting out, the beauty in imperfecto what is refusing to listen, or tions. It discovers grace shutting down. in things modest, humble, ultimately best for Acceptance and unconventional. the relationship. and its counterpart,

Wabi Sabi love is the understanding, are cruart and practice of apprecicial to achieving relationating the quirks and imperfecship harmony. It’s the highest tions in our self and our partform of love and, like most things ner. Listening with our heart, we worth striving for, requires patience, come to see with it, too. Discerncommitment, personal responsibility, ing the hidden dance between playfulness, and practice. Imagine how partners brings emotional maturity to great it is to feel loved all the time by our relationships as we shift our focus a friend and partner—during the good, from what’s wrong to what’s right. This the bad, and everything in-between. new, true view deeply bonds us and It starts when we shift our peris a key to everlasting love—and any ception and see our mate’s behavior harmonious relationship. through a gentler and kinder lens of

Spiritual teacher David Deida mutual respect and lightheartedness. counsels, “Practicing love often means Research by psychologist Sandra Mur… surrendering all hold on the familiar ray, Ph.D., at the University of Buffalo, act you call ‘me.’” By choosing to turn reveals that donning “rose-colored everyday conflict into compassion, we

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glasses” and idealizing our partner leads to more happiness and satisfaction in a relationship, and that the happiest couples focus on what’s right.

In what is known as the Pygmalion effect, the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform.

Keeping an open heart and mind also prepares us to receive our partner’s best expectations and highest level of caring, even if it might seem different from what we expect. When we choose to lovingly accept each another, let go of issues, and apologize for any wrongdoing, it transforms the relationship.

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February 2012

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Pain, Inflammation, and Free Radicals: The Acid/Alkaline Connection

by Dr. Michael J. Badanek, DC, BS, CNS, DACBN, DCBCN, DM(P)

When you eat, drink, and live an acidic lifestyle, your cells and the inner environment become toxic. Your diet and lifestyle choices will either help or harm your delicate pH balance and improve or worsen your clinical outcomes.

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any conditions can precipitate chronic pain syndromes involving spinal pain, joint pains, muscle-ligament-tendon pains, and overall chronic fatigue and weakness of the body as a whole. In many cases, these chronic conditions are a result of lifestyles which cause inflammation and free radical damage.

How many patients seek care from health care providers only to receive temporary relief which lasts a few days, and then must return for treatment of the same condition over and over again? One must assume that something was not addressed by their treating physicians during this perpetual rollercoaster.

When a patient is willing to make recommended lifestyle changes along with clinical care, many of these conditions which are inflammatory in nature resolve faster and with longterm or even permanent relief.

Arthur Guyton, MD, in his Textbook of Medical Physiology, dedicates an entire chapter to alkaline balancing, and states that when the body is in a slightly alkaline state, it converts free radicals to harmless water and oxygen, which maintain energy and vitality.

The acid/alkaline balance relates to the chemistry of the body’s fluids and tissues as measured by pH. The cells of the body need a slightly alkaline environment to survive.

With a blood pH of 7.365, the cells are in homeostasis; they receive nourishment and release waste with ease.

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Free radicals, inflammation and pH Understanding the relationship of chronic muscle and joint pain, inflammation, and saliva pH is critical for improving outcomes.

Most chiropractors agree that the majority of injuries presented at their practices are chronic muscle and joint

pain problems. These problems may be secondary to acute or repetitive stress, but typically they develop from improperly managed inflammation and acid/alkaline imbalances in the body.

A major factor in the formation of chronic inflammation is the presence of free radicals occurring in greater abundance than the body’s ability to remove them, frequently referred to as “oxidative stress.” Excess consumption of acid-forming foods and drinks puts an enormous strain on your digestive system, liver, kidneys, and other areas prone to chronic inflammation.

The body’s attempt to neutralize all that acid creates even more free radicals, which further damage inflamed tissue cells and steal electrons—your life force—from healthy tissues.

Improved outcomes and faster healing times are experienced by people who use a simple saliva pH test and a daily alkaline, antioxidant, and phytonutrient-rich green drink supplement.

Monitoring your pH A simple and accurate way to read a person’s pH is to test the saliva using litmus paper strips, which are available over-the-counter in most pharmacies, as well as on Amazon.com. They come with a pH color chart to measure results. Track your readings a few times a week for two to three weeks to get a general idea of where you fall on the pH scale.

Keep in mind that pH operates on a logarithmic scale, meaning that each increase of a single number in either direction away from seven is a multiple of 10. So when your pH moves from seven to six on the scale, that’s 10 times more acidic; from seven to five is 100 times more acidic, and so on. Coffee, for example, has a pH of around four and soda a pH of two.

Guyton says it takes 20 molecules of alkalinity to neutralize one molecule of acid, which means when you drink one eight-ounce glass of cola, it will take 20 eight-ounce glasses of water to neutralize it. It’s obvious how the Standard American diet (SAD) can produce such devastating effects on our health.

The power of alkalizing the body Plant-based green foods add alkalinity to the reserves of your body. Barley grass, chlorella, spirulina, and vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, parsley, and kale along with fruits like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, plums, pears, and many others flood our bodies with chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, minerals,

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phytonutrients, and oxygen.

Healthy cells thrive on an alkaline, oxygen-rich, plant-based diet, while viruses, bacteria, and cancers hate oxygen. Pathogens prefer an acidic diet high in animal products, processed and refined foods, and synthetic chemicals.

When you eat a plant-based diet or supplement with an alkaline green drink, you assist the body in maintaining an alkaline aerobic environment.

The more oxygen you get in your food, the healthier you should feel.

Excessively acidic food creates an unhealthy cellular environment, which increases the chance of pathogen growth. Living foods from organically grown fruits and vegetables are the most alkaline, oxygen-rich foods you can eat. They are the prescription for optimum health because they still contain their life force.

Enzymes to the rescue

When it comes to muscle and joint pain, it’s likely that the tissues surrounding the area of main complaint are acidic and loaded with free radicals. Besides making dietary changes as described above, there’s an additional easy and simple way to alkalize your body and quench free radicals: enzymes. These work to reduce and help eliminate chronic inflammation and free radical damage.

Most Americans are severely enzyme deficient. Digestive enzymes have a twofold effect: helping you properly digest your food (and lessening symptoms such as acid indigestion), and acting as scavengers to help keep the blood and lymphatic tissue free from inflammatory products and free radicals.

I advise my patients to take specific enzymes while in inflammatory or free radical states to rapidly reduce symptoms while under clinical care.

Careful care is taken for each individual to make sure they are receiving the proper enzymes for the health challenge they are facing.

Putting it together

Most people, rightly or wrongly, think of chiropractors as neck- or www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

back-pain doctors. Most patients have difficulty in connecting their “back pain” to pH (inflammation) and free radical damage, and the benefits of natural nutritional supplements, foods, and enzymes to rapidly reduce presenting symptoms. In most cases, when my patients comply with the treatment protocol outlined here, they experience an almost immediate response and long-term relief as long as they keep up their new routine.

In chronic muscle and joint disorders, the presence of chronic inflammation, acid/alkaline imbalance, and oxidative stress in the myofascial tissues are inseparable; you cannot have one without the others.

Therefore, to correctly heal chronic muscle and joint problems, my treatment protocol consists of monitoring a patient’s saliva pH, recommending antioxidant-rich foods, and offering nutrients and enzymes that manage the metabolic factors of chronic inflammation and free radical damage.

The results can be astounding, both to me and to the patient.

Dr. Michael Badanek has been serving the Central Florida, Marion County region for more than 32 years in active clinical practice. Dr. Badanek is a licensed Chiropractic Physician with extensive continued training in alternative complementary medicine including nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathy, applied kinesiology, functional and traditional allopathic medicine, and electrodermal screening, with four board certifications in Clinical Nutrition (2), Homeopathy, and Naturopathic Medicine. His real love and zeal in healthcare is treating patients with all types of conditions with alternative/functional medicine, especially people with a problem or ailment which has not responded to traditional or alternative treatments.

Dr. Badanek’s website is www. alternativewholistic.com. Please call 352622-1151 for a courtesy consultation.

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Emotional Well-Being The Key to Healthy Relationships

o u r s o t h e r s l v

emotions s

by Dr. Deepak Chopra & Dr. David Simon

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ecoming aware of our emotions and how we manage them influences every aspect of our lives. Our emotions indicate our connection with other people and the world around us.

As humans, we share a common set of emotions—we all can relate to feelings of anger, sorrow, pride and joy. Our ability to feel these emotions and empathize with others as they experience them is what keeps us connected. This month, international mind-body health authorities and renowned medical doctors Deepak Chopra and David Simon, cofounders of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, share some practical steps to create and maintain emotional balance and freedom in our relationships.

Three Components of Healthy Relationships

by Deepak Chopra

As we embrace relationships, along with the energy we share with our family, friends, co-workers, and our self, we see how critically significant these interpersonal interactions are to our own emotional development. These evolving relationships are the most obvious barometers of our emotional well-being. At their heart, all relationships are spiritual experiences. They nurture us, teach us and connect us to the soul of others, and most

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significantly, to the depth of our very own souls.

Through the growth of these various relationships, and our continued journey on the path of emotional freedom, we discover extended states of awareness, which stretch out from our soul. This aspect of our humanity is the mirror of relationships. Each relationship is a reflection of our own soul and therefore a mechanism to take us to higher states of consciousness.

Emotions are released to restore balance in our psyches. The limits we impose on our emotions originated with the discomfort of our parents.

We formed our boundaries by reacting to theirs. They also were taught as children to recognize when an emotion was too much. Their sense of appropriateness was inherited, and they had little choice but to pass it on.

What this means is that our emotional life isn’t completely ours. It comes to us secondhand. Every tear we shed, every angry outburst and every peal of laughter reflects the emotional comfort

you are able to look beyond yourself to others. This leads you to the second component of emotional intelligence: empathy. Noticing another’s emotions is the essence of communication.

Can you feel what another person is feeling? By this I do not mean simply to understand what another person is feeling, but to actually feel it as if it permeates every cell in your body.

Manage relationships The third component of emotional intelligence is the ability to manage relationships. This is a sensitive combination of being true to oneself, being generous of heart and being fully present. This is often easier said than done, but reaching out to another with love, compassion, understanding, defenselessness, empathy and spontaneity takes you to higher planes of spiritual existence.

Managing relationships requires honesty, willingness and an open heart. This is sometimes more difficult for individuals who are unwilling

The most challenging aspect of emotions is to experience fully what is happening, while simultaneously maintaining the perspective of a wise observer. After the initial wave of feelings subsides, we can broaden our perspective by considering how we’d counsel a best friend in a similar situation. range of parents and grandparents— people other than us.

The emotional intelligence that is unique to each of us can be recaptured, rekindled and more highly developed if we acknowledge its potential and significance and incorporate three components into our daily activities: Place attention on your emotions Each day, from the moment you awaken to the moment you go to sleep, place your attention on your emotions. This critical first step will allow you to truly experience love and emotional compassion.

Practice empathy After the first step has been forged, www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

to make themselves vulnerable. Yet for those willing to take the chance, emotional intelligence is a lifelong gift that provides the gateway to spiritual intelligence—the interdependent coarising of events: synchronicity, magic, alchemy, miracles. We all have the capacity to reach that plane of existence if we start with a foundation of emotional intelligence.

SEVEN STEPS TO EMOTIONAL RELEASE Use this technique when you find yourself in emotional turmoil, as well as when you’re feeling depressed, “flat” or empty. It can help set you on the path to a new sense of self, a fresh perspective on life, even a childlike calm.

1. Identify the emotion. Find a quiet place and ask, “What am I feeling?” The one-word answer may be anger, sadness, fear, guilt, frustration, anxiety, etc. Define and describe the feeling as clearly as possible.

2. Witness the feeling in the body.

Notice where you feel it. Is it located in the stomach, heart, throat, genitals or the base of the spine? Observe closely and allow your attention to stay on the sensation. Breathe into the feeling. Fully experiencing the physical sensations allows the emotional charge to dissipate.

3. Take responsibility for what you are feeling. Understanding that you have a choice in how you respond to and interpret your experience is the key to healing the emotional body.

4. Express the emotion. Write about the emotion. Speak it out loud in private. Describe the situation and the effect it’s having on your heart and soul. This step offers clarity and insight while releasing emotional toxins.

5. Release the emotion through a physical ritual. Experiment to discover what works best. Dance with abandon, exercise deep breathing, go for a run, get a massage. Such activities help release the tension stored with the emotion.

6. Share the emotion. Once you’ve released it and calmed down, share what you felt and experienced with the person involved. Having completed steps 1 through 5, this may be done without blame and without intent to manipulate the other person toward approval or pity.

7. Celebrate! It’s time to reward yourself for identifying and releasing the painful emotion. Treat yourself to favorite music, a wonderful present or a delicious meal.

Source: Dr. Deepak Chopra ... Continued on the next page

February 2012

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UNCOVERING OUR TRUE NEEDS

by David Simon An emotion is the fundamental mind-body experience. We call emotions “feelings” because we feel them in our bodies. An emotion is a sensation in the body associated with a thought in the mind. Emotions are designed to ensure that we are paying attention so we can respond to what is happening around us.

All emotions can be reduced to two primary feelings—those of comfort and those of discomfort. Whether or not we are aware of it, every choice we make is based upon the expectation that the choice will lead to greater comfort. The anticipated feeling drives all our choices.

There is a simple but seldomrecognized principle that can help us achieve emotional freedom: the recognition that all emotions derive from needs. When we feel that our needs are being met, we experience feelings of comfort. The better we are at getting our needs met, the more peaceful and comfortable our lives will be.

The key question to achieving emotional freedom is, “How do we communicate our needs in such a way that we are more likely to have them met?”

Drawing on the work of psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, there are skills of conscious communication that can be learned. Focusing your attention on these four steps can lead the way to emotional freedom:

1. Identify the event that triggered your emotional upset.

Being an astute observer can help you move out of reactive modes into more conscious communication of your feelings and needs. Saying to your friend, “You are never on time,” will be less useful than saying, “We agreed to meet at the theater at 7 p.m., and you did not show up until 7:30 after the show began.” Be as accurate and precise with what has happened so you do not waste precious emotional resources arguing about how a specific event fits into a pattern of behavior.

2. Take responsibility for your feelings.

When describing your feelings, choose words that express the sensation you are experiencing, as in “I feel…sad, lonely, frustrated, jealous.” Try not to use labels, such as “I feel that you are… self centered, rude, arrogant.” Also,

When the body feels discomfort, it’s natural to try to anesthetize oneself with distractions, such as comfort foods, alcohol or TV. Instead, simply feel the sensations present and quietly ask, “What are you telling me?” avoid words that reinforce your sense of victimization, such as “I feel…neglected, rejected, betrayed.” When you take responsibility for your emotions, you are informing rather than blaming the people in your life.

3. Identify what you want that you are not getting.

As infants, we had caregivers continuously trying to figure out what we needed. As adults, identifying your own needs increases the chances that you will get them fulfilled.

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4. Ask for what you want.

Ask for specific words or actions that will fulfill your desires. For example, if you are seeking more attention from your partner, do not ask him or her just to spend more time with you. Ask your partner to take a walk after dinner or go to a movie on Saturday night.

Express your need in the form of a request rather than a demand. We all have an inherent impulse to resist demands, whereas our self-esteem is raised when we are able to fulfill requests.

Practicing this simple process can be remarkably effective in transforming turbulent relationships into harmonious ones. As we feel increasingly confident that we can get our emotional needs met in a relationship, we can spend more time celebrating, rather than lamenting, our lives and our loves.

David Simon, MD, is the CEO, cofounder and medical director of The Chopra Center and the author of groundbreaking books on health, balance and complementary healing. He’s lauded for his real-world practical applications of his message.

Deepak Chopra, MD, is acknowledged as one of the world’s great leaders in the field of mindbody medicine.

Through his books, lectures, radio show and The Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California, he is transforming our understanding of the meaning of health.

To attend an Emotional Freedom or Perfect Health workshop through The Chopra Center for Wellbeing visit Chopra.com.

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Intimacy and Expectations

by Kylie Devi

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fter I took the Satvatove Foundational Course, and in preparation for the Advanced, I was asked to rate my life in specific areas on a scale from 1-10. I took an honest look at my level of satisfaction with my career, finances, spiritual life, relationships, and intimacy. For most categories I rated myself between 8-10. However, in “intimacy” I gave myself a 2. This demonstrated an extreme imbalance, in contrast with the high level of contentment I felt in other areas.

In a sense, I was surprised that when honestly assessing this area I ranked it so low. What I learned about myself from this exercise, after giving it some deep contemplation, was that I was in the pattern of withholding myself from full participation in relationships. I did not give and receive, or interact openly, because my loved ones did not meet my high expectations. I experienced myself as allowing judgment and disappointment to get in the way of closeness.

When I took the Satvatove seminar, I was challenged to take on the perspective of “100% responsibility” for my experience of others. I found this difficult to www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

understand, because I had been living in an extremely subtle blame and game mentality. I was frequently frustrated with my partner’s unwillingness to trust me fully. I was angry with my parents for not respecting my life choices. I felt annoyed with my overbearing best friend. And because of this, I was shutting down and creating a lot more drama than necessary.

An example of 100% responsibility is demonstrated in Dr. David Wolf’s words: “I hear that it is important for you to be open and honest with your mother. My suggestion, then, is to be open and honest with her. Be that way. And, respect and honor her for however she chooses to respond. She might be so appreciative, touched, and inspired. She might become angry, or hurt. I suggest that you take full responsibility for being open and honest. Your openness and honesty is 0% dependent on your mother, and 100% dependent on you. Go into this without expectations.”

Because I was willing to try on this perspective, my relationships have drastically changed. I no longer believe thoughts such as “I am unhappy in my relationship because she didn’t listen” or “I can’t believe they don’t respect me, I’m not calling them anymore.” Once I realized that my full authentic expression is not based on how others may or may not react, freedom and space for genuine connection was created. My partner can be in a bad mood and push my buttons, and how I respond is 100% my choice. I can choose how to be in any given moment, and I can allow others to do the same. This is just a tiny aspect of “100% responsibility” that I have learned. Tiny as it may be, it completely changed my life.

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Kylie Devi is a writer, blogger, and founder of Recovering the Spirit. She has enthusiastically participated in the Satvatove Foundational and Advanced Course, as well as Satvatove III and Coaching. She can be reached at kyliedevi@gmail.com or on Facebook.

February 2012

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Exercise to Beat the Blues

Staying Active Lifts Our Spirits

by Priscilla Goudreau-Santos

Depression affects about one in 10 adults each year and nearly twice as many women as men, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

Although exercise may feel like the last thing you want to do when you are feeling blue, it’s a sure way to climb out of the morass and get a brighter outlook, higher energy levels and good heart health.

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n winter months, people get sluggish in many ways, and the resulting buildup of toxins can make them feel achy. They often interpret their fatigue and tension as depression, but that’s not necessarily so,” says Carolyn Dean, a pioneering physician, naturopath, nutritionist and author, with 25 years of experience treating diet and health issues.

“The best, most natural way to pull toxins out of the body is through movement,” she advises. Becoming active is a good way to both lift depression and promote overall health, including a healthy heart, one of the largest and most vital muscles in the body.

Getting off the couch often begins by identifying what you enjoy and will be most likely to continue doing. Setting reasonable goals is important. If you haven’t exercised in awhile or feel guilty for taking time out of an already busy day, try starting with a five-minute workout, and then increase the duration as you get stronger and feel better.

Dean suggests that one good way to start is by walking and using

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a pedometer, or climbing stairs with a step-counter (set a reachable goal).

You can make a game of competing against yourself.

Invite friends to walk with you or create your own walking club to help stay on track with a cardioexercise routine. Walking your dog or borrowing a neighbor’s pooch for a stroll around the neighborhood is fun.

Inject additional movement into daily routines via gardening, washing the car or playing with children.

Multiple Benefits

Although the scientific links between exercise and reduced anxiety and depression aren’t entirely known, it is clear that working out can help anyone relax and feel better. The Mayo Clinic reports that exercise helps ease depression by releasing feel good brain chemicals in the body; reducing immune system chemicals; increasing body temperature; boosting self-confidence; taking thoughts off of worries; and promoting social interaction, thus equipping individuals to better cope with life’s ups and downs.

“Exercise is sometimes stigmatized as an activity that’s hot, sticky and not fun,” notes Jess Martin, a wellness coordinator with the nationwide network of Healthstat, Inc. clinics, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We encourage our participants to instead think of exercise as fun.

Running, lifting weights and other fitness activities certainly get your heart pumping, but so can less intense forms of exercise. While we encourage everyone to have 30-minute workouts, you can also benefit from shorter intervals, such as two 15-minute or even three 10-minute sessions a day.”

As Martin notes, people that work out with a buddy are more likely to be accountable to an exercise routine.

Strengthening healthy social bonds reduces stresses at the same time.

“When you don’t exercise, the muscles of the body and the heart atrophy, he says. The more you exercise, the lower the heart rate tends to become, and the more efficient the heart function.”

Daily Do

“Daily exercise should be as much a part of your routine as meals,” counsels Dr. Gabriela Cora, vice-chair of the Council on Communications for the American Psychiatric Association, author, wellness and well-being coach and former researcher in mood and anxiety disorders at the National Institutes of Health. “This is even truer for busy people, because so many these days are sedentary; everyone needs to find a balance for any lack of energy flow.” She points out that while many tend to think of exercise as a hobby, it is really one of the four pillars of biological health—sleep, relaxation, nutrition and exercise.

Consult with a physician for advice about what exercise and level of intensity is best for you. If you exercise regularly, but anxiety or depression symptoms still interfere with daily life, follow up with a doctor or other qualified mental health provider.

Priscilla Goudreau-Santos is a freelance writer and owner of Priscilla Goudreau Public Relations and Marketing, in Jacksonville, FL. Connect at 904-371-7751.

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More Isn’t Better

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n recent years, multiple studies have touted the benefits of following a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins such as C and E. Now, new findings show that while antioxidant-rich foods are fine when eaten in large quantities, taking too many antioxidants in supplement form can put our health at risk.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute report that many people take way too many vitamins, believing that if a little is good, a lot must be better—but that is not the case. “If you are taking 10 or 100 times the amount in a daily multivitamin, you may be predisposing your cells to developing cancer,” warns institute Director Dr. Eduardo Marbán, who led the study.

Tai Chi Lessens Arthritis Pain

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ew research from Tufts University School of Medicine shows that patients with knee osteoarthritis who engage in regular Tai Chi exercise both improve their physical function and experience less pain. Tai Chi benefits arthritis sufferers, report researchers, because its range of slow rhythmic movements enhances balance, strength and flexibility and induces mental relaxation, all of which contribute to a more positive perception of health and well being.

Source: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009

www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

February 2012

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Letting Go

Detoxify and Live to the Fullest!

by Dr. Paula Koger, BSN, MA, DOM, AP

C

an what goes in always come out? There is one way to get healthier and feel younger every day—get it out and let it go.

Our beliefs, traumas, and the toxins we ingest are stored like data downloaded to the hard drive of a computer.

They attach to receptor sites in the matrix of our body’s systems as information or energetic frequencies. Unlike the computer, we do not have a delete button. However, we do emit energy that can be assessed by a computer as an indication of the information blocks we are holding. It takes detox stimulators, energy information, nutrition, and release work to get them out.

There is extensive research about the impact of toxins in the body. Research conducted at the University Of Calgary Faculty Of Medicine found that exposure to mercury caused the formation of “neurofibrillar tangles,” which are one of the two diagnostic markers for Alzheimer’s. The attached mercury interferes with the movement of energy along the neurotransmitters. This causes interference in transfer of thoughts, movements, and other neuromotor functions.

In medical care, we are now assessing the bowels, urine, and blood as an indication of health. What we still need to assess is the strength of our elimination effectiveness, the health of the tissues, and the amount of toxins we have stored. Fortunately, the new tools originally engineered by NASA provide us with a deeper picture. The levels of toxins can by assessed energetically using computer software and kinesiology. Dr.

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Richard Gerber, MD, in his book Vibrational Medicine, says,” it is only through acceptance of the multidimensional energetic framework of the functioning of the human body that scientists can begin to understand the reasons for illness.” Through energetic evaluation and therapy, much can be done, both before and after it becomes full-blown disease.

I have a client who had testicular cancer. After the doctor removed one of his testicles, the doctor said he had found evidence of lymph node involvement indicators in his lab values and would need to remove his lymph glands in several areas of his body. Based on computer analysis and kinesiology testing of his individual needs, he opted for detox. He changed his diet, cleared his emotional issues around loss of his father, cleared the blocks in his chakras using psychosomatic energetic homeopathy, had a lymph drainage treatment, and now lives well with no more surgery a year later. His oncologist follows and evaluates his remarkable improvement. We have been a team led by the patient himself, saving this young man from radical unnecessary surgery and assisting him to heal. The lab indicators have returned to normal.

Many conditions improve dramatically and even go away with the right detoxification program. These include autism, ADD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease, tremor, memory loss, arthritis, chronic fatigue, insomnia, depression, gastritis, pain, Lymes, migraines, impotence, or whatever is bothering you.

Many symptoms occur when toxins are present (metal, chemical, and emotional), including: numbness, headaches, tingling, tremors, fatigue, depression, indigestion, chest pain, difficulty breathing, muscle pains, nervousness and irritability, insomnia, lack of motivation, memory loss, and brain dysfunction of all types.

There are many reasons why the body does not effectively eliminate toxins well, including: tissue damage from drugs, chemicals and antibiotics; blocks in the pathways that eliminate toxins (liver, gallbladder, kidney, lymph, lungs, skin, or bowels) caused by drugs, scars, blocked emotions, etc.; absence of good fat or presence of wrong fat; digestive insufficiencies; acidity; traumas or emotional shocks stored in the tissues, on the neurotransmitters, and on the receptor sites; unresolved emotions; mercury, aluminum, cadmium and other heavy metal and environmental toxins; a diet high in carbohydrates; hormone imbalances; dehydration; chemicals such as Aspartame.

There is no general detox that works for everyone, as everyone has individual blocks. I have seen patients who had 56 IV chelating treatments for heavy metals. They still had heavy metals show up in their tissues because the other needs had not been correctly addressed. My education and experience have taught me the body must detox in systematic layers. The computers and testing can identify the layers to detox one step at a time. Detox can be complicated and take time—it can also improve and extend your life and reverse your disease.

Ideally we would begin detox shortly after birth and keep it up as a routine and essential part of health care.

I am always open to new ways. I think we have to be when we honestly look at what we are doing now. What matters is, does it work? What matters more: will it work for you?

Dr. Paula Koger was voted one of the top five doctors in the Tampa Bay area, during her 15 years there. She has been in the health care field for more than 25 years. She can be reached at 941-539-4232, www.WealthOfHealthCenter.com.

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Seaweed Loves the Heart

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ome relish seaweed, while others eye it with culinary suspicion. Now an article in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that many scientists have identified seaweed as a rich source of heart-healthy food ingredients. A review of nearly 100 studies shows that seaweed and other microalgae could rival milk products as sources of important bioactive peptides.

Maria Hayes, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the Teagasc Food Research Centre, in Dublin, Ireland, concluded that certain seaweed proteins work just like the bioactive peptides in milk products to reduce blood pressure, almost like angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor drugs. Thus, they could be used as ingredients in functional foods like soups and health beverages to provide nutrition, while offering medicinal effects in treating or preventing heart disease.

Seaweeds are a neglected alternative source of these bioactive peptides in this country, the researchers state, noting its popularity in other cultures.

Varieties of seaweed are known as nori in Japan, dulse in coastal parts of Europe and limu palahalaha in native Hawaiian cuisine.

In addition, notes Hayes, “Seaweeds are a known source of essential fatty acids, which are thought to reduce thrombosis and atherosclerosis—factors important in the reduction of the risk of heart disease.”

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February 2012

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Soup’s On

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n the wintertime, my thoughts turn to soup. The weather is cold, grey, damp and chilly, making me want to stay indoors, cozily curled up by my fire, watching old black-and-white movies or reading a good mystery novel. This is when I wish my house to smell warmly of woodsmoke and good things simmering.

Outdoors, people catch cold and go around sniffly and congested, looking pitiful and coughing like consumptive heroines. I am inclined to make soup for them.

Sometimes I think I could heal the whole world with soup. Not just any soup: homemade soup. I can’t fathom buying canned soup unless you are in a huge hurry and just absolutely dying for soup. Or if you are sick and don’t know anyone kind enough to make soup for you.

Making soup is not hard. It’s the easiest thing in the world. You get a big pot. You put a good amount of water in it. Maybe some broth, chicken or beef or vegetable. You can buy a can or two of that; it’s okay. Then you just start throwing stuff in: vegetables, meat, maybe some noodles or rice or potatoes. We’re not talking about cream soups here, though that isn’t hard either. This is just your basic soup.

Which is actually pretty healthy—it’s fat-free broth loaded with vegetables, and enough meat for seasoning—but it’s delicious, so rich and savory that it seems almost decadent.

You can buy ingredients specifically for your soup, or you probably can use scraps of whatever you have left over in the fridge. This

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is the making-do approach, which is exactly what our grandmothers did during the Great Depression or during the rationing years of WWII, and it worked out quite nicely.

Not enough corn and black beans left for two decent-sized servings? Put it in the soup. The vegetable medley you really didn’t want in the to-go box from dinner two nights ago? Soup it.

Yesterday’s mostly consumed rotisserie chicken carcass? Make stock from it.

Soup is the answer to whatever produce needs using. Have some slightly over-ripe tomatoes sitting on the kitchen counter? Cut ‘em up and throw ‘em in. Carrots beginning to sprout in the bottom of the crisper?

Trim them, cut them up, and drop them in there, too. Potatoes getting soft and sprouting eyes in the darkness under the sink? Ditto. Half-used bag of baby spinach now a little too wilted for salad? Yeah, toss that in, too.

See, the beauty of soup is that it unifies. It elevates common ingredients to their higher calling, which is soup.

Ingredients you don’t think would be good together or are no longer at their best alone somehow magically transform within the pot and, after a long time simmering, create this wondrous potion that is, as the sum of its parts, far superior to them individually. It is medieval alchemy at its finest.

Once it’s all in the pot, you add whatever herbs and spices and seasonings you deem fit. Then you cook it a really, really long time. You bring it to a boil, then you turn the heat down and clap on the lid and let it simmer as long as possible. Maybe stir it every

by Melody Murphy so often, with a long-handled wooden spoon if you have one. Add a little water if necessary. Taste it a few times, to make sure it’s seasoned to your liking. But that’s it. It requires no further attention until it’s time to ladle it into bowls.

While the soup is simmering, you can make one of the two proper accompaniments for soup: cornbread, or grilled cheese sandwiches. Either one requires a cast-iron skillet to achieve its highest level of awesomeness.

Points if it was your grandmother’s or great-grandmother’s skillet. That adds a certain something.

My beliefs on cornbread are fairly simple. It requires an extremely hot, well-greased skillet, to create the proper crisp golden-brown crust, and it requires buttermilk in the batter. And it should never, ever be served cold or unbuttered.

I could talk to you for a long time about grilled cheese. There are as many ways to prepare it as there are cheeses in France—and then some.

People don’t realize the full potential of a grilled cheese sandwich. They think it’s only bread and cheese, mashed together in a hot skillet until melty. Think again. There is a whole world of possibilities surrounding the wonder that is a good GCS.

A GCS can be the delicious canvas for your creative experimentation, if you will only venture past the traditional white bread and American cheese. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. This is a classic for good reason.

But just think of all the kinds of

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bread there are. Then think of all the kinds of cheese there are. Now get really creative and think of all the things that would be delicious between layers of toasted bread and melted cheese, which is basically anything. Bacon.

Pickles: sweet, dill, bread-and-butter.

Slices of ripe tomato. Crisp slices of apple or pear. Cranberry relish. Pumpkin butter. Chipotle mayonnaise and cilantro. Olive tapenade. Major Grey’s chutney. Pesto or fresh basil. Sun-dried tomato spread. Fresh spinach. Roasted garlic. Honey. Slices of Vidalia onion.

Ham and pineapple. Apricot jam. Orange marmalade. Turkey breast. Sage and thyme. Asparagus spears. Marinated artichoke hearts. Bleu cheese crumbles. Toasted pecans. Your sandwich is only limited by your imagination.

But we’ve spoken a long time of sandwiches. Back to the soup. People think of soup as a humble dish. And it is. Therein lies its beauty. But, on a cold grey winter afternoon, what would anyone like more than a simple, steaming bowl of hot homemade soup? I can’t think of anything better.

Consider having people over for soup the next time we have a cold snap. How beautifully simple: a meal of homemade soup or chili, cornbread or grilled cheese sandwiches, and then something equally homespun for dessert, such as a pie or a cobbler. Not a fancy meringue-topped pie or anything elaborate: just a plain, good old-fashioned apple pie or peach cobbler.

If your soup’s spicy, pour everybody a glass of milk to go with it.

Make some coffee to go with dessert.

Or, if you have a fireplace, or a fire pit in your back yard, toast marshmallows and have s’mores for dessert. Make some hot chocolate to go with it. How easy is that? You can barely call it entertaining. This isn’t “We’re having a few people over for dinner this evening”; it’s called, “Hey, y’all, come eat with us tonight, okay? I made soup.”

Don’t get out the good dishes or the best tablecloth; you can even sit at the kitchen table if there’s enough room. Put some 1940s jazz standards on low in the background. And by all means, light a fire in the fireplace if you have one. This should be simple www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

and no-fuss, easy and comfortable and perhaps even moderately impromptu if you can swing it. Just a cozy, homelike atmosphere, as warm and comforting as the food you’ve dished up.

Everybody shares a good, simple meal and convivial fellowship while the light fades outside and, through frosty windowpanes, bare black branches become silhouetted like lace against a chilly pink winter sunset.

There’s also the idea of the soup party. Start it earlier in the afternoon and ask everyone to bring an ingredient. The Abbotts bring carrots. The Browns bring tomatoes. The Wrights bring spinach. You provide the pot and the broth and the meat, if you’re putting any in. Everybody crowds into the kitchen and starts slicing and dicing and chopping. Conversation is good and cheerful when hands are busy. You dump it all in together, then you start getting opinions on seasoning. Too many cooks may spoil the soup, but at least it will be a fun hot mess.

Then, while it’s simmering, set out your bread and cheese and whatever creative additions you can think of, and have people start putting together their own custom-made grilled cheese sandwiches. It would take forever to use the skillet for a group, so butter both sides of the bread and put all the sandwiches on a baking sheet in the oven. Remember to turn them all halfway through.

Then, everybody sits down together and shares in the meal they all helped to prepare. It’s a delightful evening. After you clear away the dishes, get out the games—board games, card games, trivia games, whatever tickles your fancy—and play while you’re still gathered around the table. Or everybody go sit by the fire and toast marshmallows and watch an old movie. Or, if you live in the country, go outside and have a bonfire. It’s a great way to get rid of undiscarded Christmas trees, if they’re still lying around. (And make sure to do this in a clear space, because Christmas trees blaze up high.)

It’s so easy to entertain in the winter—to wintertain, as it were. You may get the winter doldrums once Christmas is over and it seems like

there won’t be anything fun to do for months, but come on. You have so much to work with. Have a soup party.

Have a Super Bowl party. Have a Valentine party. Have a Mardi Gras party.

Have a Chinese New Year party. Have a bonfire party. Have a Leap Day party.

Have a party for people to come sit by the fireplace and drink hot spiked beverages and play charades. Winter is wonderful for providing occasions to celebrate. The best part is, you can make it all so simple. Food and fire and friends. What more do you need for winter fun?

Entertaining—or wintertaining— is just like making soup. You throw a lot of different ingredients together in one big pot, add ample liquid, season it well, keep it warm, simmer it a long time until the flavors blend, and it all turns out beautifully. And people always want seconds.

Melody Murphy can be reached at yinandtonic12@yahoo.com

February 2012

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Mastermind Your Way to Success

by Colleen Griffin

A

re your New Year’s Resolutions falling by the wayside? Statistics show that 95% of all New Year Resolutions are abandoned before the end of January.

Before you abandon your goals, perhaps you should consider joining a Mastermind Group. A Mastermind Group can help you to turn your resolutions and dreams into reality.

The Mastermind Group concept was first introduced by Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich. It is a supportive group of like-minded people who are open and willing to share their visions, ideas, insights, and suggestions with others within the group, as well as receive the same benefit from those who collectively make up the Mastermind Group. It’s like having your own personal board of directors.

Below are some key elements of a Mastermind Group. This will give you an idea of how they work so you can decide whether or not you would like to join one.

A Mastermind Group moves you forward. It is about helping you achieve a dream or a goal. The Master-

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mind Group is about forward motion, not healing the past or complaining about the present. In order to sustain forward movement, all members of the Mastermind Group have to hold that level of energy, and set an intention to keep that momentum.

A Mastermind Group is about positive mindsets. Whining and complaining are not options! Each person has the opportunity to present his/ her vision to the group. The person presents his/her goals, dreams, and desires by focusing on what they desire, rather than on lacks or what they don’t want. Positive mindsets are a huge and extremely important part of the Mastermind Group. The focus must be on the desired result/outcome. The Mastermind Group provides a venue where participants can stay motivated and inspired.

A Mastermind Group is not about hanging out in the comfort zone. The purpose of the Mastermind Group is to support you in moving forward, not to keep you hanging out where you are.

Success rarely comes from inside the comfort zone. Mastermind Groups are effective because they require you to expand. In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons people want to participate in a Mastermind Group.

A Mastermind Group generates ideas and resources. When a group of supportive people give their full attention to one person and his/her dreams, all kinds of ideas and possibilities are generated. Resources and connections are often discovered in the process. This is just one of the many benefits of taking part in a Mastermind Group. You get the benefit of differing perspectives, inputs, experience, and feedback from a supportive group of people.

There is a mystical quality to the Mastermind Group. Napoleon Hill said, “No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.” In other words, your ability to create things in the world is increased by having that invisible “third mind” of the Mastermind Group. The intention

of the group creates a higher intelligence that is guiding the group and moving it forward. The awareness of this “third” mind helps the members of the group trust that there is something bigger happening.

In summary, a Mastermind Group is about moving one forward and helping one achieve a dream or a goal. The Mastermind Group is a very effective way to share ideas, resources, insights and experience, so that the goal can be achieved much faster than if one operated on their own.

If you’re seeking constructive and positive reinforcement in advancing towards your visions and accelerating your results, whether in your business or personal life, the power of a Mastermind Group may be just the tool you’ve been looking for.

Participating in a Mastermind Group has become a popular and extremely effective way to receive support and guidance in achieving goals.

By openly sharing your ideas, insights, perspectives, and thoughts, and being open to receiving insights and ideas from others with fresh and varying perspectives, the power of a Mastermind Group can become a powerful ally in advancing your personal/business goals. The results of your Mastermind Group can be exponential. Because each member is committed to the individual achievement of all members of the group, the potential for extreme success is magnified. The Mastermind Group helps you see things from several perspectives, helps you eliminate self-imposed limitations, and helps you get out of the way of your own progress. The concept of Mastermind Groups has grown and evolved to become a staple tool of many successful individuals.

The A-B-C Mastermind Group meets at the Ocala Inner Center on the second and fourth Mondays of each month from 5:30-6:30pm at the Ocala Inner Center, 205 S. Magnolia Ave, Ocala, FL 34471, www.OcalaInnerCenter.com.

For more info, contact Jean at 352817-0540 or Colleen at 352-301-4858.

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February 2012

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CommunityResourceGuide Acupuncture

Gluten Intolerance

Dr. Paula Koger, DOM, BS Nursing, MA Counseling 941-539-4232 / Dunnellon and Sarasota www.WealthOfHealthCenter.com Dr. Koger has a long history of success with people who are receptive to multiple ancient and high-tech healing techniques. 20 years’ experience including Professor and school health nurse; more than 17 years in Alternative healing practices with training from experts worldwide.

Gluten Intolerance Group / Gainesville 352-215-1078 / GIGgainesville@gmail.com www.glutenintolerancegroupgainesville.blogspot.com The Gluten Intolerance Group of North America proudly announces a new branch in Gainesville. Please call or email for information about our monthly meetings.

Share your stories, or give/get support! Gluten intolerance is more common, and more serious, than most people know.

Michael J. Badanek, BS,DC,CNS,DACBN,DCBCN 3391 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Suite #B Ocala, FL 34470 / 352-622-1151 www.alternativewholistichealth.com 30+ years in clinical practice with alternative wholistic complementary health services. Treating the body to support all health challenges with Wholistic Integrative Medicine. Treatments include Autoimmune disorders, Lyme disease, Autism, ADD/ ADHD, Musculoskeletal conditions, Heavy metal toxicity, Cardiovascular and endocrine conditions, Nutritional deficiencies/testing.

Biologic Dentistry

Holistic Medicine

Holistic Psychotherapy

Dr. Cornelius A. Link, DDS 352-732-8544 / Ocala / www.drlinkdds.com There must be a biologic balance in the mouth as part of total body health. This means being concerned about infections in the teeth and gums, the relationship of the teeth to the jaws, the teeth to each other, saliva pH and metal toxicity. As a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, we follow a recommended safety protocol for removal of amalgam fillings, if necessary. Dental materials compatibility testing available.

James E. Lemire, M.D., FAAFP Nuris Lemire, MS, OTR/L, NC The Lemire Clinic

Meditative PsychotherapyTM James R. Porter, Ph.D., LMHC Gainesville, Alachua 352-514-9810, www.WinningHarmony.com Consciousness, presence, awareness of your source. Dr. Porter provides a spiritual, omnicultural home for Western psychotherapeutic treatments.

Colonics Gentle Waters Healing Center 352-374-0600, Gainesville info@gentlewatershealing.com The therapists at Gentle Waters Healing Center will assist each individual with detoxing using colon hydrotherapy, Far Infrared Sauna, and/or Aqua Chi Lymphatic Drainage. We also carry probiotics, digestive enzymes, and other products for overall health. Proud sponsors of Barley Life Nutritional Products. Call Dawn Brower for more information or visit www.gentlewatershealing.com. MA41024, MM15426.

Fitness Hip Moves Fitness Studio Rona Bennett, BS, CPT Holistic Health, Personal Fitness Coaching 708 N.W. 23rd Ave., Gainesville www.hipmoves.com / 352-692-0132 An intimate fitness studio focusing on creativity and holistic health. Classes and private lessons in Belly Dance, Yoga, Pilates, and Personal Training.

Rental space available.

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11115 SW 93rd Ct. Rd., Suite 600 Ocala, FL 34481 / 352-291-9459 www.LemireClinic.com Dr. Lemire has been in practice for 32 years. He follows a Functional Medicine approach, utilizing up-todate techniques such as: Chelation, Detoxification, natural hormone replacement, nutrition, Prolo/Biopuncture, acupuncture, anti-aging, among others. Dr. Lemire along with his staff are dedicated to a joint partnership with their patients—a partnership that seeks to maximize the God-given life potential of each individual. We believe that true wellness for the whole person includes a healthy body (physical self), a healthy mind (emotions and intellect), and a spiritual peace. For this life-changing goal, Lemire Clinic commits their energy, their compassion and their skills.

Hanoch Talmor, M.D. Gainesville Holistic Center 352-377-0015 www.betterw.com We support all health challenges and the unlimited healing potential of God’s miracle: your body.

Chelation, Nutrition, Cleansing, Homeopathy, Natural Energy Healing, Detoxification, Wellness Education and more.

Hypnotherapy Christine Green CHt Hypnotherapy Gainesville Hypnotherapy 1212 NW 12th Ave., Suite C-3 Gainesville FL 32601 / 352-339-6078 www.OneStepDeeper.com Invite amazing changes into your life through Hypnosis.

The powerful process of Hypnotherapy guides you naturally and easily to the life you truly deserve. Free consultation: www.onestepdeeper.com and 352-339-6078.

Life Coaches Cynthia Christianson, M.A., CCC ThetaHealing™ Advanced Practitioner 352-374-7982 or 352-284-1107 www.thetahealingworks.net ThetaHealing™ coaching is using the Belief and Feeling Work to empower people with the ability to remove and replace negative emotions, feelings and thoughts with positive, beneficial ones. Change your negative beliefs and you will heal on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels thus really seeing this relief show up in your life.

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Massage

Piano Services

Tiara L. Catey, LMT Center for Balance 1705 N.W. 6th St., Gainesville 352-642-4545 / www.tiaracatey.com Relieve pain, manage stress and cultivate joyful relaxation and balance by including massage as an essential part of your self-care practices. Therapeutic massage, relaxation massage and lomilomi. Includes aromatherapy. Holistic approach. Some insurance accepted. Visa/MC. See www.tiaracatey.com for details. MA41831.

Hendrix Piano Service 352-895-5412, Serving north central Florida Tuning, repairs, cleaning, fine custom maintenance of your acoustic piano.

Pianist: accompaniment, weddings, other church services, concerts. Experience: churches, cabarets, Marion Chorale, Duelling Divas, much more. Fine used pianos available.

Clark Dougherty Therapeutic Massage Clinic 850 N.E. 36th Terr., Ocala 352-694-7255 / www.ClarkDougherty.com Offering a variety of therapeutic massage techniques for pain relief, improved flexibility, and other wonderful benefits. PIP and WorkComp always accepted, also group/private insurance in some instances. All credit cards accepted. Gift certificates are available now for Mother’s Day and birthdays with 25% discount on a second session. MA27082, MM9718.

Meryl Lowell, LMT The Health and Healing Center of Ocala 2206 SE 3rd Avenue, Ocala 352-622-9339 or 352-427-8525 www.backinbalancemassagetherapy.com MA#55987, MM#23420.

Therapeutic massage and Reiki for pain relief and relaxation.

Rolfing Carol L. Short / Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Craniosacral Therapist, Gainesville and North Central FL / 352-318-0509 Rolfing® is a system of body restructuring through systematic manipulation of muscle and fascial tissues. It promotes the release and realignment of long standing patterns of tension and dysfunction, bringing the body to greater balance, mobility, vitality, and ease.

A holistic approach to mobility, vitality and balance. MA16337/MM18921.

Classifieds Natural Skin Care System All Natural Skin Care System to remove fine lines, wrinkles, scars, age spots, large pores, and promote collagen growth. Aloe based, packaged in acrylic airless light-filtering cartridges Eco-friendly with money-saving discounted refills to keep re-order costs down. http://shop.blackboxcosmetics. com/BF0409 Ads: $25/up to 30 words, $1/each additional. Fax ad with credit/debit card info to 352-351-5474, or email to GoNaturalAwakenings@gmail.com.

Veterinary Care Medicine Wheel Veterinary Services Shauna Cantwell DVM, Ocala, FL www.shaunacantwell.com / 352-538-3021 Holistic veterinary medicine for small animals and horses.

Preventative health, arthritis, neurologic and hormonal dysfunction, skin, allergies, cancer, pain, immune and chronic disease, more. Certified Veterinary Acupuncture, certified cAVCA animal chiropractic, herbal therapy, tui na medical massage, functional neurology, postural rehabilitation, ozone therapy, homotoxicology, nutrition. Available for workshops.

British Medium Janette Marshall Returns to Gainesville March 15-18, 2012 Events held at Unity of Gainesville, 8801 NW 39th Ave. Private readings available.

Check our complete program on the website.

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February 2012

33

CalendarofEvents Listings are free for our sponsors and just $15 each for others. Visit www.

GoNaturalAwakenings.com/news.htm, email GoNaturalAwakenings@gmail. com, or call 352-629-4000.

Wednesday, February 1 HGC weight loss: safe homeopathic solution. Detox coaching and support.

FREE consultation; call for appointment.

Reesers Nutrition Center, 3243 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-732-0718, 3511298, www.ReesersNutritionCenter.com.

Thursday, February 2 Lecture on Cardiovascular Health,

by Dr. Jay Wilkins, ND, Cardiovascular Nutrition Specialist. The lecture is free and each attendee with receive a $10 coupon towards the DPA screening the following day. Please RSVP to 352-509-6839 by February 1. Vitalize Nutrition Company, Ocala, VitalizeNutrition.com.

February 2-26 “Nunsense II,” musical comedy. Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-236-2274, www.

OcalaCivicTheatre.com.

Friday, February 3

Digital Pulse Wave Analysis, 10:302:30 by appointment only. This tool is used for the early detection of arterial wall stiffness, pulse rate, hydration levels, heart strength, heart rhythm, and blood viscosity. $25. Receive a $10 off coupon by attending the lecture on Feb 2nd with Dr. Jay Wilkins. By appointment only. 352509-6839 by February 1. Vitalize Nutrition Company, Ocala, VitalizeNutrition.com.

Saturday, February 4 Building a Sweat Lodge with Tad DeGroat. 1-3pm, free. High Springs Emporium, 660 NW Santa Fe Blvd, High Springs, 386-454-8657, www. highspringsemporium.net.

Healing Fair, 11-2. Informational with different healing modalities. Unity of Ocala, 101 Cedar Rd, (off Maricamp), Ocala, www.unityocala.org, 352-6872113.

Wednesday, February 8 Metabolic balance. All natural weight loss. FREE consultation; call for appointment. Reesers Nutrition Center, 3243 E. Silver Springs Blvd.,

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Ocala, 352-732-0718, 351-1298, www.

ReesersNutritionCenter.com.

Saturday, February 11

Psychic/Medium Spiritual Development Class, 2-4:30pm. Includes meditation, lesson, practice. $25. Held at Unity of Gainesville, 8801 NW 39th Ave. Int’l Foundation for Spiritual Knowledge, www.ifsk.org, 407-673-9776.

Valentine’s Day Psychic Fair with Onialadora Ajamu, Sandy Grizzle, Tad DeGroat and friends. 12-6pm, all readings $20. High Springs Emporium, 660 NW Santa Fe Blvd, High Springs, 386-4548657, www.highspringsemporium.net.

Monday, February 13

Meet the Doctor Open House. Free, 6-7pm. Limited seating; call to reserve.

Lemire Clinic, 11115 SW 93rd Ct. Rd., #600, Ocala, 352-291-9459, www.

LemireClinic.com.

February 13-14

Auditions, “Squabbles,” comedy.

Director Christine Perry. Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-236-2274, www.

OcalaCivicTheatre.com.

Wednesday, February 15

Cleanse your body of toxic buildup, repair G.I. tract, support immune system, weight loss, anti-aging nutrition, protocol for radiation detoxification. FREE consultation; call for appointment. Reesers Nutrition Center, 3243 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-732-0718, 351-1298, www.ReesersNutritionCenter.com.

Saturday, February 18

2012 Crystal Skull Meditation Seminar with Tad DeGroat. 1-3pm, love offering.

Call to sign up. High Springs Emporium, 660 NW Santa Fe Blvd, High Springs, 386454-8657, www.highspringsemporium.net.

Sunday, February 19

“Relationships That Work” workshop.

Improve your relationships with better communication. Save your spot online at www.satvatove.com/register, or call 352538-0376.

“Why is this happening to me?” with Michael Ryce, 10am. Workshops during the week too. Unity of Ocala, 101 Cedar Rd, (off Maricamp), Ocala, www. unityocala.org, 352-687-2113.

Wednesday, February 22

Wellness Consultation on Irritable Bowel Syndrome. FREE consultation; call for appointment. Reesers Nutrition Center, 3243 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352732-0718, www.ReesersNutritionCenter. com.

Friday, February 24

Kirtan. $30, open to the public. See the following listing.

February 24-26

Temple of Sound Weekend. Join Yogi Amrit Desai and Bhagavan Das at the Amrit Yoga Institute for three days of Kirtan and Nada Yoga workshop based on the purification and refinement of the chakras (subtle energy centers of the body) through the vehicle of sound.

Tuition $495 includes kirtan, meals and accommodations (limited space – register early). February 24 Kirtan only is $30 at the door and open to the public. Amrit Yoga Institute, Salt Springs, www.amrityoga.org, info@amrityoga.org,352-685-3001.

Transformative Communication and Self-Empowerment Seminar facilitated by Dr. David Wolf, author of Relationships That Work. Country Inn and Suites, Gainesville, Florida. For more information and to register, call 386-418-8840 or visit www.satvatove.com.

Saturday, February 25

Animal Communication Readings with Melodye Gaskin, PhD. Bring a picture of your pet. 1-5pm, $20 per reading. High Springs Emporium, 660 NW Santa Fe Blvd, High Springs, 386-454-8657, www. highspringsemporium.net.

Organic Gardening Workshop. 9-4, $50. Crones Cradle, 6411 NE 217 Pl., Citra, FL 32113, 352-595-3377, www.

CronesCradleConserve.com.

Monday, February 27

Are You Digging Your Grave with Your Fork? Evening with Nuris Lemire, MS, OTR/L, NC. 6pm. The Healing Place, 1200 NE 5th St., Crystal River, FL, 352-7950250.

Wednesday, February 29

Signs and Symptoms Analysis. Any time any of the organs/systems of the body are out of balance, there are signs and symptoms. FREE. Call for appointment.

Reesers Nutrition Center, 3243 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-732-0718, www.

ReesersNutritionCenter.com. ... Continued on Page 36

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www.GoNaturalAwakenings.com

February 2012

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March 10-16 Satvatove Advanced Seminar Experience. 7 days of courageous introspection and self-empowerment, facilitated by Dr. David Wolf and Marie Glasheen. Days Inn, Gainesville. For more information and to register call 386-462-1438 or visit www.satvatove.com.

March 15-April 8

“Perfect Wedding,” comedy, Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-236-2274, www.OcalaCivicTheatre.com.

Saturday, March 24 Introduction to Initiation Healing® with Ojela Frank in Ocala.

12-4pm, $40. 352-239-9272, www.initiationhealing.com.

March 26-27 Auditions, “Fiddler on the Roof,” musical play. Director Greg Thompson. Ocala Civic Theatre, 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, 352-236-2274, www.OcalaCivicTheatre.com.

March 31-April 1 USUI REIKI I Healing Workshop with Ojela Frank, LMT, in Ocala. Sat. 9-5, Sun. 12-6, $100. 352-239-9272, www. initiationhealing.com.

April 14-15 USUI REIKI II Healing Workshop with Ojela Frank, LMT, in Ocala. Sat. 10-5:30, Sun. 1-4:30pm, $300. 352-239-9272, www. initiationhealing.com.

April 21-22 Initiation Healing® THERAPEUTICS Level I Workshop with Ojela Frank, LMT, in Ocala. Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-6, $100. 352-2399272, www.initiationhealing.com.

10:30am. Love offering. OakBrook Center for Spiritual Living, 1009 NE 28 Ave, Ocala, FL 352-629-3897, www.oakbrookcsl.org.

Sunday services, 11am. Unity of Gainesville, 8801 NW 39th Ave., Gainesville, 352-373-1030, www.UnityOfGainesville.org.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays

Massage Therapy specializing in Cranial Sacral, Reflexology, acupressure & Shiatsu. Refuge Transitions Wellness Center, 352624-0366.

Monday-Friday

Organic Food Pickups. Monday, Ocala; Tuesday, Eustis and Mt. Dora; Wednesday, Ocala and Gainesville; Friday, Oxford/ The Villages. Homegrown Organics by Doreen, 352-598-4184, http://www.homegrownorganics.vpweb.com. Recipes: http:// homegrowngainesville.wordpress.com/

Tuesdays

Zumba, 5-6pm. $25/4 classes, $7/drop-in. Unity of Ocala, 101 Cedar Rd, (off Maricamp), Ocala. Info: Sheila, 352-867-9660.

Tuesdays, Thursdays

Healing Yoga with Marque Kolack. 1-2pm, $25/4 sessions, $40/8, $7/drop-in. Unity of Ocala, 101 Cedar Rd, Ocala, 352-6879660.

Wednesdays

1pm radio show: 30 minutes of Powerful Transformative Radio: Satvatove Relationships That Work Show, online at http://www. blogtalkradio.com/satvatove-institute.

Thursdays

Amrit Yoga w/Veda, 5:30-6:30pm every Thursday. Downtown Public Library, 401 E. University Ave, Gainesville. Free. Dress warmly, bring light blanket. vedalewis@aol.com.

ONGOING Sundays Farmers Market, 12-4. Mosswood Farm Store, 703 NE Cholokka Blvd, Micanopy, 352-466-5002, www. mosswoodfarmstore.com.

Meditation and Spiritual Lesson, 10am. Unity of Ocala, Unity of Ocala, 101 Cedar Rd., Ocala, 352-687-2113, www.unityocala. org.

Science of Mind and Spirit Meditation 9:45am, Celebration /Message 10:30am, Youth and Children’s Celebration

The blog about wines that taste like a million bucks, but cost less than $20.

36

Saturdays

Farmstead Saturdays. Free, 9-3pm. Crones Cradle, 6411 NE 217 Pl, Citra. 352-595-3377, www.cronescradleconserve.com.

Tarot Readings with Rev. Lady Mac, 1-5pm. Realms Beyond, 500 SW 10th St., Suite 107, Ocala, 352-433-2624.

Seven days/week

Abraham, yoga, breathwork, reiki, much more—something every day. Unity of Gainesville, 8801 NW 39th Ave., 352-3731030, www.unityofgainesvillefl.org.

Bellydancing, fitness, yoga classes, personal training as early as 5:30am, as late as 7:30pm. Hip Moves, 708 NW 23rd Ave, Gainesville, 352-692-0132, www.hipmoves.com.

Yoga classes as early as 5:30am, as late as 8:30pm, beginners (including “Stiff Guys”) to experienced Hot Yoga. Big Ron’s Yoga College, Gainesville, 352-367-8434, www.bigronsyoga.com.

The Frugal Wine Snob

Fridays

Psychic Intuitive Lisa Fadley, psychometry. Realms Beyond, 500 SW 10th St., Suite 107, Ocala, 352-433-2624.

www.TheFrugalWineSnob.com

Dates vary

Specialized Community Groups: ACOA, women’s group, men’s group, eating disorders group, relapse prevention group held weekly at Refuge Transitions Wellness Center, 352-624-0366.

Community groups are facilitated by licensed therapists.

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