OMTimes Magazine December A 2016 Edition

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December A 2016

Cover Story

Personal Growth

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88

Carmel Niland - Merlin's Secrets

Health & Healing 44 46 50

3 Sure-Fire Ways To Permanently Beat Food Cravings How Conscious Breathing Can Help with Overeating 3 Powerful Ways to Guard your DNA

Spirituality 56 60 64

The Tao of Life The Power of OM Creating Your Own Sacred Space

OM Living 72 76 82

Can Good Feng Shui Increase Libido?

Yoga Studio: 4 Amenities to Make Yours Zen Out OMTimes Radio Host Spotlight - Carrie Turcotte

Know the Peace of Now

World Vision 94 98

Standing in Solidarity with Standing Rock The Tanner’s Tale

Books 104 The Tao of Sudoku

Carmel Niland Interviewed

By Victor Fuhrman

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Carmel Niland "Merlin's Secrets."

A Darker Magic This Way Comes is the first tale in Merlin’s Secrets, a series of five books. It is an epic story of love and war, knights and wizardry, angels and goddesses and the cosmic clash between Darkness and Light. It is an exhilarating mix of adventure, myth, poetry, music, dance, philosophy and magic. It re-imagines of the Arthurian legend, written by Merlin to inspire the returning Arthur. But who is this Merlin? He is a man with the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, but with a wand. He reveals the secrets of his role as a shaman, magician and engineer in the first Battle of Britain.

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Figure 1 CAMELOT: Castle of king Arthur on his fabulous island.

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3 Sure-Fire Ways To Permanently Beat Food Cravings

By Marcia Sirota, MD.

Are You Wishing to Overcome Food Cravings?

There are lots of things that people say about how to overcome food cravings, but I have a sure-fire way that anyone can use, with guaranteed results.

There are three steps to overcoming your food cravings, and you’ll need to do all three if you want to succeed.

Step One: stabilize your blood sugar. Swings in your blood sugar are responsible for a lot of your food cravings, so if you keep your levels steady, you’ll be able to reduce a significant proportion of our food cravings.

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You can do this by avoiding foods that spike your blood sugar, like simple carbs (high-fructose corn syrup, white sugar, and white flour) and by eating foods that will stabilize your blood sugar.

Dried beans and peas are an excellent example of this.

The Importance of Managing Blood Sugar Also, making sure that you always have a bit of protein to eat will help reduce your food cravings.

A lot of the time, you think that you want sweets, but it’s just a need for protein. Having regular amounts of good quality protein, like fish, nuts and seeds, and eggs, for example, will do the trick.

Step Two: cut out the foods that you crave. Usually, when you crave food, you binge on the food. This creates a vicious circle in your brain. The dopamine system is activated whenever you eat this “trigger food, “ and it paradoxically produces more cravings, the more you eat.

The only way to eliminate the craving is to go “cold turkey” on this food.

Initially, you’ll crave it even more, as your dopamine system is screaming for the food it craves, but within one or two months, sometimes shorter, you’ll have fewer and fewer cravings, until they’re completely gone. Of course, if you re-introduce the food, the cravings will come back in full force.

Step Three: look at what the cravings mean to you, psychologically. People tend to eat compulsively when they’re using food to deal with some emotional hurt or need. When you look inside and see why you’re craving this food, then you can begin to give yourself what you need; for example, love, nurturing and comfort.

Once you have what you truly

need, the cravings for food can disappear.

There are lots and lots of things written about overcoming food cravings, but the three steps above are the only real way to get rid of food cravings simply, effectively and permanently.

Recommended Resources Provide Insight and Help My book, Emotional Overeating, goes through all the psychological issues involved with overeating and gives simple and effective tools for freeing yourself from compulsive eating, forever.

My book, Loving Heart, Quiet Mind, Healthy Body, gives affirmations and visualizations to help you quickly and easily overcome your addiction to food.

About the Author Marcia Sirota is an author, speaker, coach, and psychiatrist.

She is the founder of the Ruthless Compassion Institute.

It has the mandate of helping people have better relationships, be happier, and create good habits. www. marciasirotamd.com Omtimes.com

How Conscious Breathing Can Help with Overeating

By Rebecca Clio Gould

Have you ever overeaten and then felt uncomfortable afterward? For example, just when you’d had enough at a holiday meal, someone brought out another side dish or dessert, or your grandma or mother-in-law insisted you eat more. And you went from

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enjoying yourself and the food and feeling pretty good to feeling lethargic and like you just might burst?

Part of that discomfort is because when you eat too much, it’s harder to breathe. I find this to be the case both in a physical way, like there’s not enough room for my lungs to expand, and in another way.

What’s this other way? Denial or resistance-not wanting to feel.

foods that bloat you can result in the diaphragm moving up into the chest area, thereby crowding the lungs. Emotionally, maybe you feel guilt or shame, a yucky kind of feeling. Mentally, there are thoughts about how much you just ate, again guilt, shame, or some sort of judgment and evaluation. And spiritually? There’s a dampening down of energy and a feeling of being out of alignment with your greatest good.

What Happens with Overeating?

Are There Any Ways to Feel More Comfortable?

If you overeat and then take a deep breath, you have no choice but to feel the discomfort. And, sure, sometimes what we feel is satisfaction. But typically, breathing deeply into an over-stuffed belly feels uncomfortable physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually.

How can you remedy this?

Awareness is the first step.

And mindful breathing can be used as your awareness practice here.

If you stuff yourself full of food, there is less room for you to take full inhalations. Physically, eating too much or choosing

In The Multi-Orgasmic Diet, I explain that conscious breathing is one of the keys to living a healthier, happier, juicier life. Breath is life. It’s soul food. It helps you relax, open, and drop into your body so that you can feel all the pleasure there is to be felt.

Conscious breathing not only

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relaxes you and reduces stress, but it also enhances your sensory perception, thereby increasing your pleasure potential, and pleasure is crucial to your overall health and well-being.

So how can breath help with having a healthier diet and eating habits, you ask?

Breathing can literally fill you up with more energy and a feeling of satisfaction and joy.

This makes you less likely to turn to unhealthy or excessive amounts of food to feel a sense of fulfillment.

Next time you sit down for a meal or snack, take a few moments to just breathe and connect with the bliss of breath before you start eating. If you can close your eyes, that is best, and this can take as few as three breaths.

As you breathe, notice the air coming in through your nose.

See if you can feel a sort of tickle inside your nostrils and your breath continuing down through your windpipe, internally massaging your throat.

A Helpful Conscious Breathing Exercise

Notice your body softening and relaxing with each breath.

Allow your breath to nourish every cell and to fill you with the feeling of love and pleasure.

Breath is one of the most effective techniques I have found for stopping myself from eating something I know I would regret. And there are various breathing practices that can help you, too. Today, let’s just look at one from my book. This one is called “Save Room for Breath.”

Then open your eyes, or keep them closed, as you start eating. Try to maintain that same or similar sense of fullness and ease you were just feeling while breathing. And before getting to a point of no longer being able to feel as good and light and free with your breath,

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stop eating. Instead of saving room for dessert, save room for breath. Deep and easy, pleasure-filled, energizing, relaxing breaths. Yum!

Breath” practice, and then comment here or drop me a line to tell me how it went.

The Effects of Conscious Breathing

Rebecca Clio Gould is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Sexual Awakening for Women Facilitator, Qigong and Meditation Teacher, and Author of “The MultiOrgasmic Diet: Embrace Your Sexual Energy and Awaken Your Senses for a Healthier, Happier, Sexier You”. Her commitment to spreading love and light is evident in the work she does helping others learn how to juicier lives. She is known to be a “possibility realist”-offering uplifting spiritual guidance while also grounded in reality. Rebecca claims to have mastered Savasana and loves dancing and singing in her car. Learn more about her at www. rebeccacliogould.com.

Breathing mindfully like this will also help you slow down and chew more thoroughly. The more thoroughly you chew, the easier it will be to digest, and the slower you eat, the more time your body has to signal that it’s full. By connecting to your breath throughout the dining experience, you’ll eat more slowly. You will experience more pleasure, and still feel nice and satisfied when finished.

When you incorporate conscious breathing into your life and learn to take deeper, fuller breaths all throughout your day, you’ll naturally have more energy, eat less, and exude a radiant glow. Be sure to try the “Save Room for

About the Author

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3 Powerful Ways to Guard your DNA

By Dr. Jennifer Stagg, ND.

Our Genes Are Not Our Destiny Our understanding of DNA is a relatively new science and one of the most rapidly evolving fields in medical research. It was initially thought that the

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pattern of our genes was set in stone, and in a way that is true. Your genetic code, which we could call your ‘book of life’ is pretty much static.

But, it turns out that there is much more to the equation: how your genes get expressed is highly affected by your environment, with everything from stress to exercise to food making a huge impact.

This concept is referred to epigenetics. Strands of DNA inside every cell in your body can get ‘”tagged” or modified as the result of small chemical reactions, and this can affect whether a gene gets turned on or turned off, also known as gene expression. For example, we have genes called tumor suppressor genes, which as you might have guessed can impact the development of a cancerous tumor. If this type of gene gets turned off, then you could be in big trouble. Therefore, the bulk of the research being

done in epigenetics focuses on developing targeted pharmaceutical cancer therapies.

A Paradigm Shift in Promoting Health As a physician who works with patients to help promote their innate health potential, I believe there needs to be a paradigm shift focusing on health promotion instead of disease treatment.

Of course, I am not suggesting that we stop treating diseases, and there is certainly a time and place for medication. What I am suggesting is that research efforts be shifted toward understanding what keeps us healthy. There are more genes for resilience that help us stay well than there are for diseases. These genes are only in their infancy of being understood.

It is generally accepted that our health status is the result of 30% genetics and a

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whopping 70% environment.

This is fantastic news; it means that we are essentially in the driver’s seat and can take control of our health by the lifestyle choices we make. In my clinical practice, I refer to this concept as Precision Lifestyle Medicine or PLM.

Key Choices to Guard Your DNA Essentially, it means that I teach patients specific ways to bring back balance into their life. My patients also have access to genomic wellness testing to help further personalize which choices will be best for them, addressing specifics like their mindset around food, type of exercise, the right balance of dietary fats, carbs, and proteins, and even which vitamins might be of concern.

There are many simple, generalized ways that have been shown to affect how your genes are expressed.

What are the key choices

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you can make to guard your DNA, and thereby enhance your health?

The Truth behind Superfoods - We Are What We Eat 1. The truth behind superfoods. The concept of a superfood has been around for some time and is not a medical term. It has historically been used to describe foods that are loaded with compounds with health benefits like vitamins, omega-3s or anti-oxidants.

Unfortunately, these foods are not often commonly consumed in our Western Culture, and may not be widely available. However, I view superfoods with a bit of a twist. Any food or beverage that contains compounds that can affect your DNA expression can also fit the bill.

And, the added benefit for many of these is that they are widely available and often delicious. Some of my top superfoods are dark chocolate,

green tea, coffee, blueberries and other dark berries, salmon, garlic, broccoli, turmeric and red wine.

Genetic Fitness - Impact of Exercise on our Genes 2. Shake up your Genes.

Knowing that dietary choice is critical to protecting your DNA, it comes as no surprise that exercise can directly influence how your genes are expressed. Regular physical activity can radically change gene patterns so that someone at higher risk for disease can become a low risk. And, even more, outstanding is that the impact of exercise can be immediate, with changes in gene expression seen after a single workout!

Chill Out - Meditation and Less Stress 3. Chill Out. I’m not talking about cryotherapy here; I am instead referring to being as cool as a cucumber. The effect

of stress on DNA expression is one of the key factors impacting the expression of genes associated with the development of disease states. While you may not be able to change many of the stressors in your environment, you can change how you react to those stressors. In my experience, the single most effective way to achieve this is through a regular practice of meditation. Meditation has been documented to change the connections in the brain that wire up to the fear center.

About the Author Dr. Jennifer Stagg is an experienced physician, author of Unzip Your Genes, and noted authority in in Precision Lifestyle Medicinean emerging approach for disease prevention that considers an individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle.

Find out more at http://www. drstagg.com/.

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Simply Spiritual To perceive reality from a different perspective is to open oneself to the wonders and unlimited wealth of creation. Simply Spiritual offers the opportunity to visit new places, new methods, and different ways to perceive the vast human knowledge of our Universe.

The

TAO of Life

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December A 2016 Edition

What is the Tao? Why does it matter?

What does it have to do with life? Why should I care? If we believe quality of life matters, we all need to care about ourselves and each other. The Tao represents a path of personal and professional mastery that applies to all aspects of life- work, play, relationships, family etc. It brings the spotlight onto who we most often leave out of the equation: ourselves.

Each of us has a unique path. The way we grew up is part of our path. How we have grown and changed over the years is an element of our journey. How we treat ourselves and the world around us is a signpost along our way, pointing us in the next direction. The way we live our lives is our Tao, our path.

A Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-Tzu in the sixth century BCE, the Tao is the symbolic ‘path’ or 'way' of being. It is seeing all of life’s experiences as ongoing practices for the attainment of ever expanding mastery, the road to enlightenment. In this context, it is not a religion but a spiritual and philosophical approach to life.

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December A 2016 Edition

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. ~ Lao-Tzu When we realize that our life is our spiritual journey, everything shifts. Our awareness becomes tuned to seeing ourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way around. Here’s the exquisite truth: we are all limitless, sacred beings. We can do whatever we choose. We learn. We grow. We evolve. Doing anything in life with intention, mindfulness and loving kindness is truly a path to ever deepening mastery.

Taking the scenic route of conscious personal evolution requires dedicated time and space, courage, and the willingness to look within unflinchingly and with compassion, and say, “I like this about myself. I don’t like that.”

We need to take time to act and time to reflect. Journaling, goal setting and finding the willingness to say yes to new types of experiences support that element. We need to

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allow space within our lives to let go and refill. Yoga, meditation, and visualization help create that sacred space.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. ~ Lao Tzu This letting go of what we are is a form of surrender. Joseph Campbell carried this ancient wisdom teaching forward when he said, “You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” That kind of surrender creates room within our consciousness and subtle body (bio-field) for more presence and awareness of the infinite nature of each beautiful soul.

Though this sounds simple, it is not necessarily easy. Practice, failure, patience, and openness are essential on the path. It is the Tao. There is great comfort in the familiar, even if it is familiar pain and suffering. Life may be filled with intricately intertwined relationships and circumstances that seem impossible to untangle.

Whatever the situations, when

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we allow ourselves to accept where we are right now, love ourselves anyway, and realize we may choose what happens next, then we have begun the delicate process of evolution.

The recognition of our free will through choice is accepting the huge responsibility that the only person we can change is ourselves. It is through that acknowledgment that we are able to admit the true power of self-mastery into our lives. All of the baby steps and giant leaps we have taken over the years continue to reveal the next possibilities on that path of selfmastery. Honor and appreciate those accomplishments. Honor and appreciate yourself and all your hard work, including (sometimes especially) the painful lessons. Choose the next direction on the Way. That is the life of Tao, and the Tao of Life.

About the Author Author, healer and medical intuitive, Cristina Smith is a member of the Biofield Viewer™ U.S. research team.

Her writings, sessions and programs skillfully weave proven techniques and profound wisdom from the subtle energy realms of healing and the esoteric into ways to make your life better now.

Cristina Smith is the author of The Tao of Sudoku

Every step is on the path. ~ Lao-Tzu

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December A 2016 Edition

The Power of OM

by Lisa Shaw

If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it fall, does it make a sound? This question, historically posed to puzzle fledgling philosophy students, doesn’t consider that sound is the primordial energy of the universe, existing before the evolution of physical life.

Scientists now explain that after the big bang creation of the universe, sound not only preceded life but enabled it.

According to space.com, “The Omtimes.com

early universe rang with the sound of countless cosmic bells, which filled the primordial darkness with ripples like the surface of a pond pounded by stones. The wave fronts later served as spawning grounds for galaxies.” It is no wonder, then, that in our deepest psychic centers, we respond to the energy of sound, particularly of healing sound, the Sanskrit word OM identified as the most powerful of those planetary sounds.

The OM (or AUM) connects us to the divine, harmonizes our physical bodies. It is said the om is the sound the earth makes, so when we sound it, we resonate more deeply with the earth.

When can chant it, we feel our entire being vibrate with the final “mmmm” sound: OOOMMMMMMMM. If we close our eye, s we feel wrapped in multiple layers of the vibration. Those who are uncomfortable with chanting, can listen to a recorded chant and experience the same effect. One of the most engaging recordings is “The Eternal Om,” available in its entirety on YouTube. A fiveminute excerpt is available here: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=WTylTtQREMc.

During the chant, we shake loose the lodged energetic debris that has slowed our

spiritual progress, creating blocks to our ascension.

Such obstacles keep us from earthly manifestation as well, since our experience in the physical reflects our spiritual health. We remove plugs that have partially obstructed our channel to the Divine, and we awaken more fully to infinite wisdom and love.

This, in turn, brings us more wisdom, more understanding, higher perspectives that translate into better choices, clear communication with ourselves and others, smoother relationships. When we begin to emanate peace, the paths in front of us clear.

But how do we reconcile dependence upon an Eastern philosophy I we are products of Western religion and culture? Deeper investigation reveals that the om is not completely distinct from Western religious theory and practice. According to Light of the Spirit Monastery, the three-letter spelling of AUM reflects the spiritual Trinity of Christianity which parallels “the fundamental consciousness and power of the three aspects of God–the Omtimes.com

mystery of the eternal Trinity Itself. They are a triune unity that restores our personal, eternal unity/trinity and unites it with the Cosmic Trinity.”

The mysticism of Kabbalistic Judaism links the om to the unspoken name of God, “I am that I am spelled in the Hebrew letters (yud, hay, vav, hay). This tetragrammaton invokes the same aspect of God, a complicated, multilayered understanding of the Divine and our soul’s connection to it.

When we chant the om from a deep place, within minutes we feel joined by an angelic chorus so that our own sound no longer feels individual.

We feel part of a choir, an experience that is at once ethereal and physical, not just hearing but feeling multiple layers of voices, assuring us that we are not alone in the sacred space we have invoked.

Can this be manifestation of the trinity within ourselves?

Is it that we are literally transported to higher realms where we are welcomed and

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consciously integrated in a Divine dimension? The om has the power of such transport.

The traditional Buddhist chant, “Om mani padme hum” is said to contain all the teachings of the Buddha.

While it is not possible to accurately translate the phrase, it is accepted as a gateway to is compassion, the antidote to conflict, strife, fear, all the human psychic creations that stunt us. The om serves the invitation to unconditional love both for ourselves and others, its reverberation the sounding of peace across the universe.

About the Author Lisa Shaw is an animal communicator, Reiki Master, writer, and professor who lives in South Florida with her furry and feathered companions.

Her book “Illumination: Life Lessons from our Animal Companions” is available for download on Amazon.

She conducts a free Animal Reiki Circle every Sunday on Facebook.

Creating your own Sacred Space

By Jill Mattson

Using Sound Vibrations to Create Sacred Spaces Creating sacred space was a titillating ancient secret.

Observe how far people travel to a sacred site, without knowing that they can create

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such spaces themselves.

Everything is vibration and every vibration has a frequency; such as the rocks in the ground, mineral content of the soil, the presence of water in the air (or not). These things contribute to the “frequency potpourri” of a location. For example, reflect on the feeling of being in a desert and then near the ocean. The amount of water in the air makes a difference in the feel of a location.

Perhaps the crystal content in the soil, the type of rocks beneath the soil, or the magnetic flow deep under the surface contribute to the positive feelings emanating from special spots. Locations on ley line intersections (energy currents from the Earth’s molten iron core) were desired. These enhanced the sacred energy that masters created, combined with the energy of the ley lines and impacted a broader area.

Geographical Areas that Remain Sacred Spaces Likewise, it was important to locate spots on underground

waterways so the good vibes practiced at the site, would travel in the water to upgrade the geographical area that the stream nourished. Special places uplift people, increase their strength and healing. Yet we can notice how any space feels. For example, it feels better to visit Machu Picchu, a sacred site, than Auschwitz, the former concentration camp. The history of events at a certain location contribute to its “feel.”

Peoples’ feelings and consciousness subtly float in the air around them. This energy is like snowflakes floating to the ground. Highly evolved peoples’ “energy-droplets” soak into the ground. For example, places where people pray become peaceful.

Each direction was associated with precise subtle feelings.

Try it! Face North, South East and West, while paying attention to the tiniest feelings that you can detect. There are subtle differences in feelings, although you must be quite intuitive to notice the sure-but-tiny variations. These

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“directional” energies feel different in a variety of locations. Applying this technique, helped ancient people select a balanced location to become a sacred spot.

The North, Vowel sound: ooo, felt like earth and brightened the mental body.

The Way of the Ancients in Finding Balance

Ancient people were well versed in tiny subtleties. They needed a method to describe the gamut of tiny amounts of energies they felt. People divided all types of subtle energy into categories and compared each category to feelings of nature. They called this “elemental energy.”

With this “elemental” energy in balance, it benefited an individual in this location, also becoming balanced on body, mind and spirit levels.

When the perfect site was not found, secret techniques were used to uplift the energy of an area. Ancient spiritual leaders faced each direction and spent many hours singing vowels sounds to balance the feeling of each direction. The sounds varied a bit with each culture, but they experimented to find a tone to bring harmony into the feeling they got from each direction.

Below is one Native American set of associations.

The East, Vowel sound: eeeee, felt like air and uplifted the spiritual body The South, Vowel sound: aye, felt like fire, and raised the energy of the emotional body The West, Vowel sound: uuu, felt like water, enhanced the physical body

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Subtle, Elemental Energies and Vibrations They Bring

Each culture used different elements to compare to the same feeling. For example, one culture might compare a feeling to Earth and the next group compared the same energy to wood. The energy did not vary, but the associations used to describe it did.

Another secret was to observe your feelings while on each

square foot of a property.

Perhaps one area felt better than another. Crystals dug into the ground lifted any pockets or negative energy. Beautiful songs were sung on the low energy spots.

Natural Alignments and Sacred Geometry Join in Harmony Buildings or stones were aligned with magnetic energies of north and sound; again, to improve the “balanced” feeling of a location. Star positions copied in building placement resonated with a star system and subtly download the energies of those stars. Nature shapes (sacred geometry) also copied in building design added the deep comforting feelings of Mother Earth.

Masters converted sacred geometry to sounds. Some musicians have done this today, such as in Mattson’s Paint Your Soul and Star Dust CDs. Music and sound are most powerful tools in the creation of sacred space!

Ancient people sang their most uplifting songs to create

sacred space. With prayerful intent and sound vibrations, strong doses of divine energy entered the air and settled in the soil. Musical repetitions are necessary as sound is subtle energy (tiny amounts of energy). Each time one sings a song, it adds one drop of positive energy to the location. Singing continued until the area was overflowing with uplifting energy. Rocks also slowly absorbed the singing and intent, adding to the permanent healing capacities of the location; an ancient version of a free health care center.

Sacred space is uplifting and transformative. You can create it in your location, uplifting not only yourself, but many others and the Earth herself.

About the Author Jill Mattson, four-time author, composer, and expert in Sound Healing CDs. International awards include Best Book & Sound Healing CD 2016, Best CD 2015, Best CD Silver. Free music: Discover more at: www. jillswingsoflight.com

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OM Living For those living a more Conscious Lifestyle

Can Good Feng Shui Increase Libido?

By Kartar Diamond

I have had menopausal women ask me if Feng Shui remedies can increase their libido. This is a fair question because some of modern Feng Shui’s popularity has been riding on New Age notions about Romance and Marriage corners of the house. Certainly, relationship scenarios are a big topic in my field, where certain house types and areas of each house which can trigger arguments or disharmony between spouses.

In a codified way we refer to some of these energies, it is the “4” star that is related to sexuality and flirtation. The flying star “7” is also Omtimes.com

related to sex. These numbers are derived from the calculations done on a structure based on when it was built and its magnetic compass orientation. The numbers represent an unseen magnetic field.

For example, if a bedroom hosts the 4 or 7 stars, then there is a stronger chance that a person may be naturally more sexually active or have more interest in sex. In fact, Feng Shui can be so specific that even the type of sexual activity engaged in can be predicted. This is usually not information taught openly in beginner’s classes; rather it is something

which can be learned in a more advanced training environment.

Stimulating these energies with natural elements in a room can often attract more sexual opportunities to a person. This is built on the concept that your house acts like a satellite dish to attract people and events into your life. The elements used can include real water. But can this increase libido?

Feng Shui can be very specific in what it can predict, enhance or diminish, but sometimes we cannot resolve every problem.

In the same way that there is no Feng Shui magic cure for weight loss, there is nothing so specific as to address libido. However, when a person is healthy, they stand a much better chance of having a strong sex drive. And when we remove other undermining influences which can contribute to depression, fatigue, or tension, then a predictable outcome would be an indirect boost in someone’s libido.

I have asked clients to move their bed or sleeping arrangement to be spending more time in the flying stars related to sex. Feedback from

one client was that as long as she slept on the side of the bed in the area noted for this extra sexual energy, she was more interested. To be clear: the way I know what part of a bedroom may be more conducive to sex, I must work with a to-scale floor plan. This can then reveal if the bedroom has the components I am referring to since the entire floor plan needs to be divided up into directional zones.

The theories and practices behind this ancient tradition are not about defying or overriding the laws of nature; rather, they are about going with the flow and accepting the laws of nature. There is a time in life when the sex drive wanes for many people, just as fertility eventually comes to an end.

During this phase of life, there would be little Feng Shui could do to reverse that.

About the Author Kartar Diamond trained classically in Feng Shui and is a practitioner since 1992. The author of several books, she helps many clients through her company. Find out more at: http://fengshuisolutions.net Omtimes.com

Yoga Studio: 4 Amenities to Make Yours Zen Out

by Rachelle Wilber

Welcoming Amenities Can Bring Warmth to Larger Spaces The Yogi who opens a studio to extend the wisdom and traditions of this ancient healing body meditation of yoga has many opportunities to craft a unique stamp upon the studio. One way is through the aesthetics of the space, employing color, sound, scent, and light to make the studio communicate a vision. Another way is through hospitality. Offering tea, water, comfortable seating, and a pleasant changing room can all impact the soul of the studio.

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However, what it all comes down to is the basics, the pose is paramount. What can you offer that will help the student practitioner find their best workout? One thing that is fast becoming very popular is Hot Yoga, replicating the conditions in India, where yoga has its deep roots.

An Amenity of the Fire Element For those who like it hot, infrared space heater aficionados swear by their benefits. Some companies, like Heating Revolution, realize how helpful this kind of device is for yoga studios. As it warms the

space, clients will find that the heat opens capillaries, which helps oxygenates the blood. Executing yoga poses in a hot studio encourages a detoxifying sweat.

Muscles, joints, and bones loosen in the hot environment, allowing for greater flexibility.

The Element of Water Consider adding a humidifier to your yoga studio. The optimum balance between heat and moisture will aid practitioners in warming up and creating a healing sweat. The best balance some would say is 105 degrees with relative humidity of 40 percent. The optimum result would be to use a humidifier that will adjust to the changing levels of humidity as the yogis find their poses.

Balance is Another Amenity to Seek As you seek harmony as you enter the studio, so you seek harmony within. With heat comes the desire to balance heat/moisture.

Then, with humidity comes a need to find the balancing element of air to maintain a safe and tranquil space. A dehumidifier can help your space retain a peaceful, healthy, and tranquil environment.

The desire to create a space to teach and share a love of yoga begins with the knowledge of the yogi. It begins with the being in the moment and honoring it. It follows into the passion of helping aid each student become centered in the pose. It inspires envisions, fashions, and calls into a being a yoga studio that is a gathering place to pass on ancient traditions, to carve space to slow down in a fast-paced world, to discover a community with like-minded individuals whose singular paths may converge for the space of a sitting.

About the Author Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies.

She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, at the beach, or at the gym. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @RachelleWilber; https:// www.facebook.com/profile. php?id=100009221637700 Omtimes.com

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Carrie Turcotte is an intuitive psychic medium, spiritual teacher and an international motivational speaker.

With over 20 years of experience in event marketing/management, Carrie Turcotte has orchestrated hundreds of high profile events, spoke at numerous conferences, association meetings, and sat on many industry boards/committees.She is also an authorized associate with the Insight Learning Foundation. She has specialized in instructing others on personality traits for over 25 years and has integrated this knowledge into her everyday life.

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Personal Growth & Development

We grow as individuals as we face challenges and overcome life’s obstacles. This section is dedicated to helping you chart your course.

Know the Peace of Now

By Guy Finley

A Special Vantage Point in Self-Awareness We have within us a vantage point--a very special part of ourselves within which we may be at peace regardless of what goes on around us. This yet-tobe realized state of ourselves may be called conscious selfawareness. Through its power, Omtimes.com

instead of being pulled down into painful identification with the passing shadows of life, we can discover a life in a peace far above the reach of any fear.

One thing needs to be clear about true peace of mind: Either we are at peace wherever we are--because this peace goes with us--or what we call

our peace is a product of some pleasurable condition over which we have temporary command.

In situations like the latter, though largely unconscious to us, we sense that our peace is conditional.

Peace in the Now Free from Fear We know that we must work to keep certain prevailing conditions in place to remain at peace. And this, of course, means that we will resist any movement that threatens our desired state.

Clearly such a tentative peace is not true peace at all, because it dwells side by side, in league with an unseen conflict that is a basic requirement of its existence.

What does this insight teach us?

True peace is never a sensation. Its hidden nature is the expression of a timeless stillness, a silence not born of, and therefore beyond, the play of the opposites. This silence cannot be possessed.

As it cannot be gained, neither can it be lost, which means that whomever it embraces lives in a world free of fear.

Courting the Silence of Peace in the Now What does this mean to us? True

silence may be called upon, but as it is without cause, it always appears on its own, remaining only as it pleases its purpose.

Nevertheless, one may court this stillness through a quiet wish to understand its life within one’s own. For this reason, our momentto-moment meditation becomes a revelation if we open ourselves to truth and listen to what it reveals.

Study the next “Seven Insights into True Silence� and allow their understanding to reveal the secret home of peace within you. Ponder these truths. Quietly turn them over and over in your mind. Soon you will hear what cannot be told.

Seven Insights into True Silence 1. Just as true emptiness holds all things; true silence bears all things. Whatever is brought into this silence, whatever it touches, is gradually silenced . . . not by an act of domination, but through a peaceful integration of a lesser peace into a greater one.

2. True silence is an interior presence and not an exterior circumstance. Its peace has no opposite and is not created, which means nothing can act against it or serve to enhance its existence.

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3. True silence cannot be cultivated, but the interior conditions that prohibit its presence, and our relationship to the peace within it, may be recognized and released, allowing us to realize the silence we seek.

4. True silence is perfectly empty of content and completely full of peace, without any contradiction between the two.

5. True silence is without preference, and as it neither rejects nor resists any condition, it is always at peace.

6. True silence doesn’t have intelligence-it is intelligence of an order, which a divided mind cannot comprehend. Its peace surpasses all understanding.

7. If we wish for the presence and peace of true silence, then the great necessity of solitude should be as evident to us as the knowledge that any seedling must be left undisturbed, if it is ever to break out of its dark ground and live in the light.

This Peaceable Kingdom Dwells Within Us Let all we have considered

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together show you that there is a higher world and that this peaceable kingdom of Now dwells within you. Allow your heart to remind you what the mind so easily forgets: there is a peace. There is a shelter. There is a timeless place in each of us that no darkness can shatter or dispel. Make it your one intention to spend your time there. Prefer its ever-present company to that of any promise of peace to come, and watch how your life grows happy and whole in stillness beyond compare.

(Excerpted from Let Go and Live in the Now, published by Redwheel/Weiser) About the Author Director of the non-profit Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization and higher success. His works have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into twelve languages. For information please visit https://www. guyfinley.org/, where you can also sign up to receive a free, weekly Key Lessons.

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When you look at the view of Earth from space, you are immediately in awe of what you do see: the incredible beauty of Creation. It is not until you look closer that you realize what you do not see.

You do not see lines partitioning countries.

You do not see separation between races.

You do not see division between religions.

You do not see the walls people build to isolate themselves from each other.

There is only One Planet. There is only One Humanity.

This section is dedicated to introducing thoughts and ideas to foster a greater understanding of Humanity’s interdependence.

World Vision

Standing in Solidarity with Standing Rock

by Kathy Custren

The Protest in Standing Rock is a Crossroads Event While many remain oblivious, there is a fair amount of coverage in the press and on social media about the group of Native Americas who are holding a peaceful protest at Standing Rock, North

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Dakota. Members of the Sioux, Lakota, and other First Nations tribal groups have joined in the thousands. They protest the building of an oil pipeline in and through lands and territory adjacent to reservations. Thus, the flags of many nations fly at Standing Rock, as testament to the wide-reaching support of the effort.

Concerns over the North Dakota Access Pipeline project (or DAPL, for short), have captured the spirit.

Many join in solidarity with the protesters. Despite our heavy use of oil-based products, the cost of even a minor spill or problem along these sacred lands would be devastating. The bottom line many are questioning is, ‘Is it worth it?’ The economic ‘advantages’ such as jobs and energy independence away from

foreign sources of oil come at a very high price, indeed.

Worries of the land and pipeline activities concern the protesters. As a result, many are standing up for the basic and fundamental right to clean water. The potential for harm to the watershed and rivers in the area would mean placing at risk the drinking water for many millions of unsuspecting people. Images of the pipeline look like a scar across four states the middle of the U.S.: North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.

Standing Up for the Earth and Water has Its Price The #NoDAPL protest has gained attention in recent days due to a swell of reported violence. However, the group has been taking a peaceful stand since August

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and early September, when the numbers and interest first grew. Today, thousands join in the effort of being there, in person. They are part of the active protest brigades or serve in support camps providing aid. Many more are joining with the online attendance-in-spirit.

Camping rough in an otherwise open territory is something one must do with much forethought and planning. For those who are there without the funds to leave, on-going support of food and medical supplies are in constant demand. Money raised to help support is instead used for jail fines and fees. Individuals are rounded up and arrested over being in the ‘wrong place.’ Fueling some of the discord about the protest are some erroneously reported incidents.

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The charges against persons protesting are real enough; thus, the fees are adding up.

The violent mistreatment of elders in bogus arrest situations during a time of civil protest is yet another cause for concern. Physical debasement is the preferred method for those with the firepower to enforce it.

The Challenges to People and Animals There is a growing threat, aside from the colder temperatures. It is the toll on the animals that are also participating in the protest. One willing veterinarian moved by the plight she observed offered her equine services on Facebook recently. She seeks to join with other vets-intraining who see this as an opportunity to be of service and gain some added experience.

Added to the mix are the many lawyers with special training in Native American studies who are finally putting these skills to more active use. The lawyers act as liaisons and facilitators between the water protectors and the pipeline personnel or their security details. They offer an important opportunity to share the voice of people.

These are people suffering in silence for far too long.

Like the earth and water they represent, the Native Americans standing up in solidarity at Standing Rock peacefully challenge us to align our energies with their own.

Consequently, will we seek the disruption that the pipeline brings across middle America?

Or, will we go with the flow and accept that there are essential elements to our lives that are so very sacred?

The time for sitting still is over,

and it is time to stand up. We are at a physical and spiritual crossroads, and they intersect at Standing Rock.

References: http://www.daplpipelinefacts. com/docs-dapl/08092016/DAPL_ FactSheet3... https://www.thenation.com/ article/the-standing-rock-siouxhave-been... http://www.nbcnews.com/news/ us-news/standing-rock-pipelinefight-dr... http://www.standingrock.org/ About the Author Kathy Custren, OMTimes Senior Editor, is a mother of four. She strives for balance and has a deep respect for All. Interests include education, elements, nature, humanity’s cosmic origins, philosophy, spirituality, and wellness. Connect with her community page “Consciousness Live” on Facebook.

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The Tanner's Tale

by Nicholas Jubber

A Look at Life in the Medina of Fez It’s the smell that hits you first: a ureic stench so thick it feels like something solid is foraging up your nostrils. Tourists are given sprigs of mint or rosemary, like the nosegays Omtimes.com

carried by Renaissance gentlefolk. But if you want to be accepted by the tanners, you have to go unprotected.

I’m turning up for my first day as an apprentice tanner, in the old city of Fez, with nothing to filter out the odors.

The Ain Azletoun tannery squats at the back of a zigzag of wood-scaffolding, flakingplaster alleyways. Pressing yourself to a gap-toothed mudbrick wall, you breathe in to let the hide-laden mules pass (along with the smell, they are the best clue you’re heading in the right direction). Following your nose, you’re guided by the thickening stench - a toxic mixture of lime and pigeon excrement. It builds to a peak outside a fortress-like mud wall, where piles of goat hides hug the sides, like the bones of slain adventurers outside a dragon’s lair.

Inside, you slide through a soggy passageway of wooden joists and crumbling brick, crabbing up a wall-ledge to lever yourself onto a narrow

walkway. Here, you can watch the first stage of the dyeing process: a honeycomb of stone pits, greasy with limewater and speckled with goat hairs. Only the most reckless would perch on the edge: the slightest stumble is likely to pitch you right into the acidic potions, and there’s a reason the workers go about in kneelength waders!

My guide into this secretive world is a curly-haired junior tanner called Najib. After several coaxing glasses of mint tea, he takes me along, and his boss accepts me as an unofficial apprentice. They’re a tough, no-nonsense bunch, thick in the shoulders and thighs, the latter bulging out of crinkly leather shorts. Paid per hide (at a rate of one dirham - less than 10 cents - a piece), they haven’t any time to mess about, and it shows in their brisk, unstinting workrate. Relaxation is ciphered by the cigarette packets scattered around the work-cells and the tunes playing on many of the tanners’ mobile phones (Najib’s

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favorite is Busta Rhymes, but his boss is a Michael Jackson die-hard).

Once a batch of hides has been soaked, they are carried to a corrugated iron shed and dumped inside the ghaseel or ‘washer’ - a wooden barrel big enough for a giant’s beer keg, which is turned by an electric pulley. This is one of the simpler jobs, which means it’s allotted to me: hoisting hides alongside Najib, dropping them into the barrel, our voices lost beneath its creaky rumble and the splash of water frothing out of a grille in the side.

The next stage is my favorite.

Bearing a dozen hides at a time, Najib and I climb a narrow stairwell. Up on the rooftop, burning yellow in the sun, are hundreds of besaffroned pelts. We tiptoe between them, picking our way across the cracked cement, carrying our piles to a corner of the roof. Oil and saffron dye are added from a bucket, before we lay

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our skins beside the others, placing stones at the edges to hold them fast. It’s a beautiful spot, surrounded by the ripple of Fez’s majestic roofscape: sparrows wheeling over minarets and pigeon coops, black smoke puffing out of chimneys fueled by olive pits, all framed by the gentle swell of the Middle Atlas foothills.

Long regarded as Morocco’s spiritual capital (ever since its founding at the end of the 9th century by a holy warrior), Fez is equally wellknown for its workshops. This is a place where things get made. One of its most famous citizens was the explorer, Leo Africanus, who described the range of trade in the early 16th century - everything from wool-chapmen and waxmakers to snake-charmers and necromancers. Many of these trades have passed down the generations; and it’s the authenticity of transmission that makes Fez’s products so desirable. As Najib’s boss tells me, ‘we use no chemicals.

We do the same way as our ancestors, because it works!’

Najib’s team spends the bulk of its time in the work cells which are so small and dusty, they feel monastic. Cobwebs dangle overhead and you have to duck to avoid the pelts hanging from the wooden beams. Sitting on scraps of yellow leather, we take turns to wrap our thighs around the balaat (a mushroomshaped buffing stool), rubbing the skins over the grooves, softening the hides to a creamy leather; whilst other workers use broad-bladed knives to ‘break’ the skins, slicing off the rough edges.

‘It is hard work, of course,’ says Najib, as the day draws to an end. ‘But my family has worked in the tannery for many generations and we are proud of this.’

Wandering back through the labyrinthine streets of the bazaar, he points a saffron-stained finger at the

tannery products around us: from handbags to cushioncovers, shagreen notebooks to sequin-dotted camel toys. Most exciting for him (because these are the products in which his team specializes) are the bright yellow babouche slippers.

‘Now,’ he says, ‘it is time to relax.’

An evening in the hammam is the perfect wind-down. Wielding bars of extra-strong black soap (made from the residue of pressed olives), we rinse off the stains and smells accumulated in the course of the day. By the time we emerge, there isn’t a whiff of the tannery on us. At least, that’s the intention! Which should mean we are able to wander back through the bazaar, without people raising sprigs of mint or rosemary as we pass.

About the Author Nicholas Jubber is the author of The Timbuktu School for Nomads: Across the Sahara in the Shadow of Jihad (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, November 2016.)

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Books

The Tao of Sudoku

The Tao of Sudoku, invites you to play! Both a profound philosophy and fun puzzle book, it is yoga for the brain that stretches your mind, nourishes your soul and touches your heart.

Most people don’t think of puzzles and philosophy in the same sentence. That’s what is unique about The Tao of Sudoku. It uses the model of solving puzzles as a method to awaken mindfulness, improve intuition, charge up and utilize the brain, and have fun! Complete the puzzles in the book and in the process, you will discover that you have also solved more of the puzzle that is your inner self.

The Tao of Sudoku encourages readers to have fun with a purpose. It can reveal hidden facets of the mind and unlock keys to inner wisdom. It provides fascinating facts, metaphysical musings and the surprising benefits of this popular puzzle, including reducing the risk of early onset Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The 100 easy to intermediate Sudoku puzzles come with an inspiring quote designed to make every page both a challenge to be solved and a meditation for selfrealization.

Asked about the inspiration for The Tao of Sudoku, author Cristina Smith reveals, “I made the choice to do something I would never have imagined before- number puzzles. I approached learning to play as a way to train my mind and as part of my spiritual path. The results were remarkable. It’s amazing how sometimes the most unexpected things can trigger the deepest revelations.”

For more information, or to purchase the book, click the cover or visit:

Amazon.com

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MAGAZINE

December A 2016 Contributors Writers Cristina Smith Guy Finley Jennifer Stagg ND Jill Mattson Kartar Diamond Kathy Custren Lisa Shaw Marcia Sirota MD Nicholas Jubber Rachelle Wilber Rebecca Clio Gould Victor Fuhrman

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