Day's Top Stories

The Genuine Key

2011-08-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

What The Heck Do You Do When You Have No Peers?

2011-08-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

You Can Heal Anything: You Are the New Medicine

2011-08-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

The origin of healing systems

The division of medicine into traditional/conventional and alternative/complementary did not occur by accident. Mankind as a whole needed to experience both of them before it was ready for a system of medicine whose purpose would be of a higher nature than is currently available. The new medicine, although it is so unlike the conventional and alternative models, is being birthed by both of them

Other than the Lemurian and Atlantean approaches to healing, it is clear that the 'medicine of nature' has been the most influential in recorded history. Nobody created this form of medicine; it was simply there to be re-cognized or discovered by those who had direct access to the language of nature called Veda, which means knowledge or science. The first written records of nature's medicine appeared about 6,000 years ago. They were channeled messages written down by Vedic sages in direct response to the first occurrences of illness on the planet. This system, which kept illness and suffering at bay for hundreds of years, became known as Ayurveda, or the 'Science of Life'.

Although Ayurveda only survived the passage of time in India and some in areas of Brazil and China, it remains a universal form of medicine. Today it stands revived to some of its original form. It greatly contrasts with the western approach to modern medicine in that it seeks to address the underlying imbalance responsible for the symptoms of illness rather than trying to alleviate or remove the effects of the imbalance.

Outsmarting the violation of the laws of nature

Before Ayurveda became a textbook science of healing, people knew how to live in harmony with the laws of nature. As a result, sickness, pain and poverty weren't part of life. But as time progressed, we began to replace some of the laws of nature with our own laws; in other words, we violated natural law. To try to address the consequences of this transgression from natural living, a system of healing (Ayurveda) was developed to treat the physical and mental effects resulting from the deviations from natural law. A new set of natural laws needed to be employed to undo the damage that was caused by the violation of the original laws of nature. When you dam a stream of water and it flows over its banks, the flooding caused by this action requires a different approach than just letting the stream flow in its own course. We needed to employ new laws and insights to help us deal with the damage once done. The first violations of the laws of nature on Earth created the need for a natural system of healing, one that would give us access to those secondary laws that would reduce the damage caused by violation of the primary laws. This system would show us how to release the obstruction that hinders the flow of the stream in its natural direction. Without anyone violating the primary laws of nature, such healing systems would otherwise be unnecessary.

Hippocrates was perhaps the most enlightened father of nature's medicine in the more recent history of our species. He understood that the need for healing (applying secondary laws) resulted from the loss of alignment with one's inner wisdom and intuition. The more humans distanced themselves from their own inner wisdom and the rules of the natural world, the harsher were the corrective measures needed to be taken by the force of nature. So, killer diseases such as the plague began to decimate the population, which then generated the urge for a new kind of medicine, which would combat disease-causing germs and stop each new one dead before it became an epidemic. This approach is what has become known as the conventional system of modern medicine. Of course, all of this was part of the master plan - to throw much of humanity into the other end of the spectrum of duality for the purposes of greater learning and growth in consciousness.

Breeding illness

Just like Ayurvedic medicine, modern medicine, too, was unable to prevent the escalation of disease on the planet. Modern medicine was so concerned with the effects or symptoms of disease that it lost sight of the reasons why people fell sick, most of which weren't even physical causes. The discovery of the first antibiotic medicine (penicillin) caused euphoria among the medical circles and general population. Years later, the enthusiasm of developing an effective drug for almost every infectious disease became dampened by the fact that the side effects generated by the poisons contained in the drugs were so severe that they often outweighed their benefits. In fact, they actually contributed to the emergence of an entirely new class of diseases now known as chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, only 10 percent of all diseases fell into this category. The rest were acute problems, including fractures, infections, burns, etc. By around 1980, over 90 percent of all diseases had reached a chronic stage, meaning they couldn't be cured by modern medicine. They also became known as the killer diseases of the modern era. Since our genes haven't changed a bit over the past hundreds or thousands of years, genetic errors cannot be held responsible for such a sudden and dramatic escalation of diseases, especially when most of them occur only in the modernized world. What's more, having defective genes doesn't mean an affected person is going to get ill. Research on the blood disease thalassaemia, for example, has shown that patients who have exactly the same defect in the gene may be extremely sick, mildly ill, or completely healthy. This applies to most other 'genetic' illnesses, too. There may be just as many people with healthy genes who suffer from diabetes or asthma as there are those who have defective genes.

The symptom-oriented approach of modern medicine became synonymous with the revival of the old epidemics that so scared and scarred humanity less than a hundred years ago. The wide use of antibiotics and steroids have forced the targeted microbes, blamed for causing infectious disease, to resist the drugs' action and mutate into what is termed 'antibiotic resistant organisms'. The germs, following their natural survival instincts, are now outsmarting one drug after another, which means that there are now very few effective 'treatments' left for diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. Millions more people each year are dying from these 'new' infectious diseases than ever before and the current trends suggest it will get worse. Unless medicine takes a complete u-turn in its approach, or healing is practiced in a different fashion, mankind will be greatly decimated once again.

It is highly unlikely, though, that modern medicine is going to save humanity from self-destruction. The side-effects of drugs and treatments are breeding so many different diseases and causing so many deaths every minute of the day that it is virtually impossible to even remotely win the battle against disease as long as people believe they depend on any form of medicine, even an alternative one. Since the current medical system is primarily controlled by financiers who have a vested interest in keeping it going and even expanding it further, it is not in the investors' interest to find a real cure for the most common illnesses, for this would mean the end of medicine. Modern medicine is not designed to make people healthy; it is designed to make and keep people sick.

Many voices among doctors, patients and alternative practitioners denounce the exploitation of 'innocent' people. However, they have not yet realized that the same medical system that is misleading and enslaving mankind and robbing millions of people of their sense of sovereignty and self-empowerment is also instrumental in birthing a new medicine, one that will make everyone their own best healer. The government, health care agencies, medical associations, insurance carriers, and drug companies are unaware that they are key players in the cosmic game of transformation. They have helped a major portion of mankind to feel helpless and powerless against microbes and other disease-causing factors. The extreme denial of the infinite power of healing and rejuvenation that lies inherent in everyone is forcing the pendulum of time to swing back and allow the masses to gain complete and unrestricted access to this power within. Without the hazards of the old medicine, the new medicine could not come about.

The perfection of all this lies in the fact that no person can fall ill, regardless of whether it is through a microbe or a medical drug or treatment, without having (unconsciously) agreed to this. The Universal Law of Non-interference makes certain there are no victims and no victimizers. Each person's Higher Self knows exactly what lessons are needed to move on and evolve toward greater wisdom, love, compassion and self-empowerment, however hard and painful the learning process may appear to be. The final lesson of each individual is to discover and produce the New Medicine, the medicine of one's Higher Self.

The New Medicine

The return of old diseases and the emergence of chronic illness divided mankind into two camps: One that continues to uphold the trust and confidence in modern medicine, and one that takes recourse to natural methods of healing. Although alternative (complementary) medicine is still battling to make its approaches available to the masses, in some countries of the world such as Australia, Germany, England, New Zealand and now also in the United States, it is becoming more and more common sense to try the natural route, either along with or without conventional medicine. Now both approaches are well represented in the overall scheme of things and can be accessed by almost anyone. Medical doctors still risk prosecution and loss of their license to practice medicine if they dare speak out in favor of alternative health modalities or even apply these in their practice. But before long we will find that both approaches of medicine will intermix or merge together. Indications for merger are already subtly there; when it happens in a more obvious way, a New Medicine will be born, one that will be entirely different from that which existed before. It will work according to the principle, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."

The New Medicine will be less concerned about what is wrong with the body or mind; it won't need to be. Instead, it will focus on unleashing the creative power of the individual as the principle source of health and youthfulness. The New Medicine will recognize that disease is ultimately the result of disconnection from our Source intelligence and Source energy. It will give health care back to the people. Miracles will take place as frequently as operations take place today. Reconnecting with our spirit Source will be the most important thing that can be done to improve one's health. It's like switching on the light that dispels darkness. Mankind as a whole will realize that trying to find out everything about the symptoms of disease is like trying to investigate all the possible problems that darkness could cause to a person who has no light to see the path along which he is walking. Although switching on the light is a very simple act, it can solve some of the most complex problems arising from being in the dark. Imagine if there was no light. What could you possibly do in your life except sit, think and worry? Fixing diseases is similar to fixing darkness; there is no end to the fixing.

Both the alternative/complementary and conventional systems of medicine are incapable of eliminating disease on this planet. Both of these systems are expressions of duality; therefore, their scope of influence remains very limited and incomplete. They each have their value in upholding their particular expression of duality; some of it is effective, and some of it is not. To find the eternal fountain of youth and healing, however, we must return to the origin of both these streams, that is, human consciousness. Now is the time to move collectively into the Divine moment where the consciousness of spirit and the physical matter of the body meet, and are recognized as one. It is in the gap of the moment where the two spirals of duality find their common origin. Of the two approaches neither is better or more important than the other. Both are capable of taking us to the desired place of wholeness. Here in this gap of simple existence we activate our creative intelligence, the intention of desire that becomes instant manifestation. The power surge emanating from the Divine moment of being within our own awareness creates the instant and automatic healing of that which is without.

In the gap of Non-Judgment

Healing does not need to take long. In fact, if it does it is likely to be incomplete. According to Japanese research studies, spontaneous remission and complete cure of cancer occurs when those afflicted with the disease move into the gap of non-judgment or non-duality, i.e., when they relinquish all needs or desires to have it one way or the other. This cannot be accomplished by will or by use of the rational mind. It may occur when someone faces death and, oddly, loses all hope for survival. Giving into death may take someone into the gap of their eternal spirit self, provided this is in the person's highest interest. Thus, consciously losing the fear of dying and stepping into one's essence may instantly stimulate the body's immune system into a powerful response that can dismantle egg-sized malignant tumors in the brain, bladder, intestines, etc., within less than 24 hours, in some instances within as little as 15 seconds. There are thousands of documented cases like these.

What is most interesting in these cases of spontaneous remission is that the healing merely (if that is not enough) consisted of gaining freedom from judgment, of accepting one's situation at that moment. Fighting for life doesn't get you to this magical place of the Divine moment, for effort and struggle are born out of fear. Giving up one's desire to live, on the other hand, is born out of resignation, frustration and merely represents the other end of duality awareness. However, accepting death without trying to avoid or enforce it moves you into the Divine moment where miracles take place.

Of course, we don't all have to face death, either our own or someone else's, in order to find the opening to slip into the Divine moment. Life provides us with plenty of other opportunities that can serve in the same way. All we need to do is to keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to receive and accept these opportunities, many of which may show up in the disguise of problems and misfortunes. In due time, our polarized duality consciousness becomes anchored in the singularity of Self. The body simply follows suit. Once we lose our polarity thinking, that is, our mode of reference to what we believe is right and wrong or good and bad, the DNA of our body begins to lose its polarity mode as well. As soon as we are able to accept whatever is, which means all our strong and weak sides, our successes and failures, fears, anger, and guilt, etc., our body will move, automatically and spontaneously, out of its polarity mode.

You can make your body do anything

When you are under the strong emotional influences of fear, anger, or even excessive joy, your body is out of balance, too. The stress of sudden joy can cause a heart attack just as easily as the stress of sudden rage. Being 'good' is no antidote to disease. We need to remember here that being or expressing one quality also means that its opposite is not far away; in fact, it lurks in the invisible shadow part of our consciousness known as the subconscious mind. True healing begins when we can be both qualities and have no judgment about which one is better or worse. Shadow and light serve each other well and co-exist all the time. The reason we have 'weak' spots in our attitudes and behavior is to bring out and develop their opposite, 'strong' counterparts. Accepting both creates oneness or balance, and balance is the key to healing. Preferring one quality to another generates discord in the body and mind. For example, even if we choose happiness over sadness, it counts as an imbalance. Consequently, the body has no other choice but to develop a physical imbalance, too.

Everything in life is valuable, and once we see that we then become graced with the perception of oneness. Since the body does nothing of its own accord but simply follows instructions, the new perception of oneness and acceptance of whatever is becomes the new blueprint reference for DNA. The genetic codes in your body's DNA adjust to the 'new you' and copy that information into a new RNA which subsequently alters the functioning of your body, making complete rejuvenation not just possible but unavoidable. When the adjustment is complete, the DNA structure will go off like a time bomb in order to accommodate the light of oneness. The time for genetic detonation is now.

Our body is nothing but soft clay, shaped and molded on a minute-by-minute and day-by-day basis. If you tell your body that something is good for you, it believes you. It has no other choice but to serve one master, you. If you tell your body it cannot heal itself and requires help from outside it will believe this too and you will find yourself in need of a doctor, a drug or surgery.

On the other hand, your body can walk on fire if you can convince it that it can. You can even pierce your body with knives and needles and suffer no injuries if you can make it believe that this won't hurt it. If you persuade your body that it can live without air for several days while being buried under the earth, then it can even do that for you. Levitating in mid air or walking on water are other so called 'impossible feats' the body can accomplish if it trusts its instructor enough. Sri Chin Moi, the well-known peacemaker and musician from India living in the United States, repeatedly lifts 1,000 pounds of weights in front of camera crews. He claims that the power is coming from his mind. Numerous 'miracle performers' have been scientifically studied and show that the above abilities have actually nothing to do with the body but come from the power of the mind. Likewise, your body can remove a tumor that has metastasized (spread) everywhere.

But for this to happen, you need to step outside the awareness of the body (duality) and move into the awareness of the spirit (oneness).

[This is an excerpt from the book LIFTING THE VEIL OF DUALITY by Andreas Moritz]

Andreas Moritz is a writer and practitioner in the field of Integrative Medicine. He is the author of 13 books ( http://www.ener-chi.com/book.htm ) on various subjects pertaining to holistic health and spirituality, including 'The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush', 'Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation', 'It's Time to Come Alive', and 'Cancer Is Not a Disease, It's a Survival Mechanism'.

His most recent book is titled 'Vaccine-Nation: Poisoning the Population, One Shot at a Time'.

Moritz is also the creator of Ener-Chi Art and Sacred Santémony. Much of his life's work has been dedicated to understanding and treating the root causes of illness, and helping the body, mind, spirit and heart to heal naturally.

Connect with Andreas at: http://www.facebook.com/enerchi.wellness

View the original article here

The Stress Antidote: Restoring Health by Evoking the Relaxation Response

2011-08-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

Stress has been listed as one of the major causative factors for preventable disease. It is known to set in to motion an unhealthy chain of events within the body, causing damage to health. Just as damage can be derived from stress related illness, studies now show that the body can be healed through using techniques that calm the mind and body by evoking the relaxation response.

This response can be elicited through any of the practices listed under the "focused relaxation" umbrella such as yoga, tai chi, guided imagery, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation and meditation, just to scratch the surface. These techniques are being used to manage all kinds of pain, infertility, insomnia, and numerous health conditions.

Dr. Herbert Benson,who heads the Behavioral Medicine Section at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston and who also teaches at Harvard Medical School, describes the phenomenon: "What we have found is that when you evoke the relaxation response, the very genes that are turned on or off by stress are turned the other way. The mind can actively turn on and turn off genes. The mind is not separated from the body."

New studies are showing that relaxation techniques can actually improve health by changing the patterns of gene activity which affect how the body responds to stress. The positive effects were seen in the genetic analysis of both long-term and short-term users of such techniques. They showed changes in their cellular metabolism, response to oxidative stress and other processes. All of which may contribute to cellular damage from chronic stress.

While these positive outcomes from relaxation techniques were once thought to be "all in the head" of the user, Scientists are now starting to find more definitive proof that these techniques, that elicit a relaxation response, have a biofeedback mechanism that alters gene expression. This is the first research of its kind, showing the systemic changes produced through focused relaxation techniques.

The work of Dr. Herbert Benson has been ground breaking in the study of the effects of focused relaxation. He is the leading authority on matter. Dr. Benson's work is part of a new scientific field of study called psychoneuroimmunology or PNI. It draws from psychology, immunology, neurology and other fields to investigate the interaction of mind and body.

In his book, The Relaxation Response, Dr. Benson discusses the actions of the "fight or flight" response and how, when repeatedly accessed, it can cause harm to the body. He notes, "Our studies revealed the opposite was also true. The body is also imbued with what I termed the Relaxation Response - an inducible physiological state of quietude."

He goes on to discuss how the body is able to "heal and rejuvenate itself" through this process. In explanation he states, "Regular elicitation of the Relaxation Response can prevent and compensate for, the damage incurred by frequent nervous reactions that pulse through our hearts and bodies." His research concludes that not only is this process good for health, but it can help to restore it.

In society today, where busyness and multitasking is the norm, it becomes even more important to understand the physical and mental toll that a fast paced lifestyle has on ones health and wellbeing. By understanding and taking measures to counteract the negative effects of stress, you can enhance and potentially prolong your life.

Focused relaxation is a tool that is easy to implement and one to consider as a way to improve personal wellness. Brilliant in its simplicity, many professionals are reluctant to consider it as a viable alternative for traditional treatment methods. However, as more research emerges, it is plausible that acceptance and use of focused relaxation will dramatically rise.

At the very least, regularly evoking the relaxation response allows users to find increased balance and peace. The healing effects that it yields are not just temporary boosts; they can substantially impact your systemic health, making it more resilient to future stressful encounters. This is Part four of a five-part series on the benefits of focused relaxation.

"Wellness Matters" Article Series by Lisa Schilling RN, CPT
Speaker, Writer, Wellness Coach & Consultant

Lisa Schilling is the author of "The Get REAL Guide to Health and Fitness-FIVE STEPS to Create Your Own Personal Wellness Plan" She is juggles life as a doting wife and the mother of three boys, who keep her feet firmly planted on the ground!

Lisa is a Registered Nurse, author and recovering pageant queen, who spreads hope with her Get REAL approach to wellness. She empowers women, caregivers and groups to unleash their fullest potential by helping them to see their true beauty and discover their REAL value. She feels passionate about spreading this message of hope and acceptance to help others be PROactive about their health and not simply REactive. Lisa uses her enthusiasm to inspire people to value and appreciate who they are. She helps people build a bridge from where they are, to where they want to be.

As an outspoken advocate for wellness and prevention, her motto is: "See one, do one, teach one!" Visit Lisa's website http://www.getrealwellnesssolutions.com/ to claim your FREE Bonus Gifts!

View the original article here

Threat of Perry could force Romney to jump-start his dormant Iowa campaign

2011-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

You Have the Power, Talk Yourself Up

2011-08-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

What Is the Happy Zone? Exposed For The First Time Ever

2011-08-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

White House goes mum on financial crisis

2011-08-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Treating Chronic Wounds

2011-08-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

When Wounds Don't Heal: Treating Chronic Wounds Skip to content Home & News WebMD Home WebMD News Home Free Health Newsletters WebMD Community & Experts See All Expert Blogs WebMD the Magazine Digital Health A-Z ADD/ADHD Allergies Allergy TV Alzheimer's Anxiety Disorders Arthritis Asthma Back Pain Bipolar Disorder Bipolar TV Breast Cancer Cancer Cancer Communities Cholesterol Cold & Flu Colorectal Cancer COPD Depression Depression TV Diabetes Erectile Dysfunction Eye Health Fibromyalgia Heart Disease Heartburn/GERD Herpes Hypertension IBS Incontinence/OAB Inflammatory Bowel Menopause Mental Health Migraines Multiple Sclerosis Osteoporosis Pain Management Parkinson's Disease Rheumatoid Arthritis Sexual Conditions Shingles Skin Problems Sleep Disorders Stroke See All Topics Videos A-Z Community & Experts Experts A-Z First Aid A-Z Games A-Z Tests & Tools A-Z Slideshows A-Z Drugs & Medications Center Find or Review a Drug Pill Identifier Drug News Mobile Drug Information Find a Vitamin or Supplement First Aid & Emergencies WebMD Community & Experts WebMD Ask the Pharmacist Healthy Living Women's Health Men's Health Pet Health Oral Health Emotional Health Mental Health Communities Find a Therapist Green Living 50+: Live Better, Longer Sex & Relationships Healthy Beauty Healthy Skin TV Sexual Health Communities See All Topics Women's Health Communities Skin & Beauty Community Men's Health Communities Healthy Eating & Diet Healthy Eating & Diet Food & Cooking Food-o-Meter Fit-o-Meter Fitness & Exercise Food & Fitness Planner Portion Size Helper Personal Diet Evaluator BMI Plus Calculator Eating & Diet Communities Digestive Disorders Communities Parenting & Pregnancy Parenting Pregnancy Children's Health Children's Vaccines Newborn & Baby New! Raising Fit Kids New! WebMD for Kids Parenting Communities Pregnancy Communities Trying to Conceive Communities Teen Health Teen Girls Teen Boys coming soon! New! WebMD FIT Teen Food Move Recharge Mood Pet Health Healthy Dogs Healthy Cats Healthy Pets Community Enter Search Keywords:Other search tools:Symptoms|Doctors|Medical Dictionary /* Basic styles to avoid the jumping when things load. */.bottom_header #reglinks { float:right; position:relative; margin:0px; padding:0px; height:22px; width: 330px; z-index:96; }.bottom_header #reglinks .login_rdr { display:none; width: 330px; }#reglinks .login_rdr ul#registration_hdr { float: right; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0; padding: 5px 0 3px 0; }#reglinks .login_rdr ul#registration_hdr li { background:none; display: inline-block; float: left; padding: 0; }Find us on: WebMD Home A to Z Guides Wound Care: Your Essential First Aid Care Guide Email a FriendPrint Article Wound Care: Your Essential First Aid Care Guide This content is selected and controlled by WebMD's editorial staff and is brought to you by BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages, NEOSPORIN® and Johnson & Johnson RED CROSS® Brand. NEXT ARTICLE Skip to Article Content Wound Care: Your Essential First Aid Care Guide 5 Common Home Injuries How to prevent and treat common wounds. Reducing Scars: Tips From Dermatologists How to prevent, reduce, or minimize scars. Diabetes and Wound Care Knowing how to deal with even small wounds is critical to your diabetes care. Preventing & Treating Burns Thermal burns, scalds, sunburns -- avoiding injury and accidents. Reducing Pain While a Wound Heals Keep the wound covered and other tips for fast healing and less pain. Caring for Wounds During Pregnancy From blisters to episiotomies, how to treat problems during pregnancy. First Aid While Waiting for Help What to do about injuries while you're calling 911. Staying Safe When Playing Sports Helmets and other sports safety gear that protect your and your kids. Protect Bones: How to Avoid Falls Tips on home safety and hazards to identify for people with osteoporosis. Preventing and Treating Bug Bites From spiders to mosquitoes to ticks, here's how to get the upper hand. Quiz: First Aid for Serious Wounds If someone is seriously injured, do you know what to do until help arrives? False When Wounds Don't Heal: Treating Chronic Wounds WebMD Feature

By R. Morgan Griffin

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

For most people, a minor wound -- a blister from a new pair of shoes, for instance -- is nothing to worry about. It hurts and then goes away. But for some, sores or cuts just won't heal -- for months or even years. High blood sugar, circulation problems, smoking, peripheral neuropathy, aging, and malnutrition can all cause long-lasting wounds that don't heal.

"Chronic wounds are an awful and underappreciated problem," says Gerald Lazarus MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Wound Center and chief of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. "They're painful, ugly, and debilitating."

They can be socially isolating too. People are often ashamed of how the wounds look and -- in some cases -- how they smell, Lazarus says. Chronic wounds are also a sign of a potentially serious underlying condition that needs treatment.

Up to 2% of people in the U.S. have chronic wounds. If you have a wound that just won't heal, it's not enough to bandage it every day and hope it goes away. You need help. Here's what you should know about healing a chronic wound.

What Causes Chronic Wounds?

Doctors consider any sore that doesn't heal within six weeks to be a chronic wound. Although the wound clearly needs medical care itself, it's really a symptom of deeper health issue, Lazarus says.

"Healthy people don't get chronic wounds," Lazarus says. "You need to discover and treat the underlying problem that's causing them."

Some of the most common include:

Chronic venous insufficiency, diabetes, and other circulation problems. For a wound to heal well, it needs good blood flow. Chronic venous insufficiency -- a circulation problem in which blood tends to accumulate in the veins of the legs -- causes about 60% of all chronic wounds. Diabetes also causes poor circulation, and it's another leading cause of chronic wounds, Lazarus says. People with diabetes may have nerve damage in their feet that prevents them from feeling an injury. Plaque in the arteries -- atherosclerosis -- can also cut off blood supply, causing wounds that don't heal. Pressure. In people who are in a bed or wheelchair, pressure ulcers, or bedsores, are a common problem. Since the pressure never lets up, the wound never gets a chance to heal. "I've met people who are paraplegic who tell me that they've almost come to grips with their condition," says Lazarus. "[But] what they're really worn out by is dealing with this awful, messy wound that won't heal." Surgery or radiation treatment. Surgery or radiation treatment for cancer can sometimes cause lasting damage to the skin that won't heal. Other health problems. Many conditions -- ranging from bowel disease to rheumatologic problems such as lupus -- can contribute to chronic wounds.

Other factors can play a role in chronic wounds. The overuse of antibiotics, allergic reactions to wound dressings, and common drugs such as corticosteroids and NSAID pain relievers can affect wound healing.

Lazarus says that chronic wounds are a serious and growing concern in the U.S. Why? "I think the rise in obesity is the biggest problem," he tells WebMD. Obesity is related to the growth in diabetes. It also makes conditions such as chronic venous insufficiency worse.

1 2 #url_reference {display: none};#url_reference { display: block; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10px; }#logo_rdr img { visibility: visible; }.titleBar_rdr .titleBarMiddle_fmt { padding-top: 1.5em;} Wound Care Guide Wound Care Dos and Don'ts Wound Care Basics Bandaging Wounds First Aid Kits First Aid Kit Builder Reducing Scars Prevent 5 Common Injuries Diabetes Wound Care Treating Burns Reducing Pain Wound Care & Pregnancy Calling 911 Sports Safety Avoiding Falls Bug Bites Quiz: Serious Wounds Video: Expert Tips Sponsor Resources Honest Wound Care Let's Be Honest about Wound Care Will a Covered Wound Really Heal Faster? Do All Cuts Really Need to Be Treated? Do Serious Wounds Really Need Serious Care? Find the Products You Need.

Use all products as directed. From Our Sponsors

close From Our Sponsors

Content under this heading is from or created on behalf of the named sponsor. This content is not subject to the WebMD Editorial Policy and is not reviewed by the WebMD Editorial department for accuracy, objectivity or balance.

Related Slideshows Dos and Don'ts of Wound Care Wound Care 101: Cuts, Scrapes, and Burns How to Bandage a Wound Your Mobile First Aid Kit People Put What in Their Wounds?

There are some crazy wound care remedies out there.

WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.

View the original article here

What Part of You Listens to Your Thoughts

2011-08-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

From this consciousness, intuition guides us. Intuition is to know without reason. This is connected to The Wisdom of your Body and has the power to embrace the moment and love from an ego-less perspective.

You may not be able to control your thoughts, but you can control what part of you listens and interprets. Most people have such a strong habit of focusing on their thoughts, they interpret their life simply by the way they have been conditioned to think.

We think to our self-image and, though our self-image has been developed throughout our entire life, it is possible to create a self-image that is based on the most positive parts of your life. Most people's self-image is a blend of everything they learned and interacted with during their life.

Imagine having your thoughts interpreted solely a self-image that was created in your most conscious moments. Just think, if you could isolate specific parts of your life, when you were conscious in the moment and your heart was full of love. You would be free from your past and your interpretations of the events in your life would be an expression of your deepest wisdom.

We have the ability to create a self-image like that and trigger it whenever a negative self-image appears. This is what I mean by 'what part of you listens to your thoughts.' You have the ability to control your self-image and interpret your life from a conscious perspective. Nobody else but you can control this.

The simple fact of controlling what part of you interprets your life is an essential key in creating a quality life.

It is essential when dealing with a chronic illness or disability to have conscious interpretations. Simple problems, like falling down, having your body not respond to your mind and difficulties communicating with people are significantly influenced by the way you interpret what is going on.

Most people focus on their thoughts and the focus of their awareness naturally goes to the object of their thoughts. In our culture, the value of thinking is a precious gift. Inventions and technological progress solve problems, but sometimes our problem exists in how we interact with a challenge. Through past conditioning and habits, our character is defined. We are taught to believe that that is who we really are. Sometimes, though, during the most difficult times of our life, we are forced to explore the inner reality that exists beyond that conditioning.

People who live a comfortable life are not often forced to this depth. This depth, though, is available to every person and would benefit everyone's life if they accepted this inner reality. It is from this depth that the expression of their heart is pure. It lacks the thoughts and conditioning of ego and is purely an expression of their deepest wisdom. The quality of their love would be selfless, not compromised by their ego.

In loving moments, that inner reality is there. Unfortunately, the habit of focusing on thinking blocks us from staying in that consciousness. Too often, we think that if we change our mind and think a certain way, our problems will be solved.

When we venture beyond our thoughts and experience this reality, that state of mind would serve us in everything we do. We just need to learn how to get there when we need it.

Marc Lerner teaches people how to create conscious habits that take us to that depth. Learn how to create these habits through the Life Skills techniques: go to http://lifeskillsinc.com/ to learn about the Life Skills Approach and link to his archived radio shows that explain his techniques. The quality of life does not depend on the health of your body; it depends on your focus.

View the original article here

The Healing Energy Of Reiki

2011-08-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

One of my very first experiences with Reiki was after becoming a Reiki Practitioner. I had been studying Level I and then after some months I was permitted to take Level II. Things are different these days in the world of Reiki regarding how much time before and after one is permitted to take Levels I or II but if you are fortunate enough to acquire a good teacher (Master) then it does not really matter. My first personal experience was with a woman in our area who belongs to a rather prominent family. She was concerned that others not find out (particularly her family) that she was seeing a Reiki therapist. Of course and as always it is essential to keep confidential what your client requests of you.

This particular client came to me after having had a botched surgery to one of her arms. The first surgery consisted of setting a nasty break, and the second surgery required that the arm be broken again, this time by the surgeon due to the bones having grown back to together in a crooked manner after having been set improperly. The second surgery necessitated six to eight screws being imbedded into the re fractured ulna and carpal bones. This poor woman had been standing on a step ladder and lost her balance thus breaking her arm and wrist. If you are over fifty please let another younger person do the chore that you might otherwise do and then break a hip, leg or arm trying it yourself. At times I think that we forget that we have grown older and can still do what we could do years ago.

My first appointment with her was really one of getting acquainted and becoming familiar with each other. In fact we had little time for Reiki after talking about her injury and what her expectations were of what Reiki could or could not do. I was however able to get her onto the table and show her some of the hand positions both on her body and about six inches above her body. Initially she was not sure whether she wanted hands on or hands off. It was not until the second session later that week that she decided to let me place my hands on her injured area. It is vital to make sure that your clients are comfortable with what you do and how you do it.

The second appointment was at my house, her home had steps both outside and inside her residence, and it was apparent that not climbing them with my Reiki table was much easier for me. Once my client got on the table she almost immediately began to drift into a semi conscious state. This was before I even had the chance to put on some relaxing CD music. It is important to ask your client, friend or family member if they prefer to have music on or off as well as hand positions otherwise this will create an atmosphere of tension or suspicion with the client and not allowing them to relax.

I did not start on her injured area although it is sometimes best to go directly to the injured area and wait until later to use the rest of the hand positions and sometimes leaving them out altogether. Once I did get to the area of her surgical incision she tensed up and opened her eyes looking up at the ceiling. I could tell that her eyes were beginning to well up so I gently began reassuring her by engaging her in a dialogue of how my hands felt on her arm, or if she was in any discomfort. She assured me that all was well and after a few minutes she released her body tension and then just melted both emotionally and physically.

All was going well, or so I thought until she began to cry. I thought that my client was weeping due to pain or some other discomfort in her arm. When I asked her what was wrong she told me that she had not felt such warmth and relief in her arm since before she injured arm. What was happening to my client and to myself was simply amazing. I had never experienced such a dramatic event such as this with the use of Reiki, it was really something to witness. She asked me to hold my hands there for a while longer, and before either one of us knew it our time was up. After the session I helped her up and we discussed what she had experienced, how she felt and I explained to her why she had such an intense experience. She thanked me by showing the range of motion she now had back in her arm and hand and then she was gone. I have not seen her since and this was many years ago.

Many times when we get injured and our body has had time to heal even after a difficulty such as my client's we tend to shift our emotions back to these injured areas thus becoming our weak link. By doing this we create emotional and energetic blocks that psychologists call "body armor." If we are not careful we can end up with an entire suit of this body armor. Many of my clients generally have a rich experience whether it is emotional, physical or a combination of the two. Once they can release these areas of tension the body can then repair what many times we do not allow whether it is consciously or subconsciously. After such a clearing of an energy block we will feel a great sense of well being and wonderment.

Reiki is a tremendous healing tool and what is really significant is that anyone can learn to use this energetic modality in a relatively short period of time. I would never advocate the use of Reiki over seeing your family doctor regardless of illness or injury but Reiki is such a tremendous adjunct to any medicine, whether it is Western or Eastern medicine. Think about the possibilities for using Reiki if your child or grandchild were to become ill or any family member or friend. After some training you can send Reiki around the world to those you know and those you have never met without ever leaving the comfort of your home.

If you would like more information regarding Reiki classes and their Levels please contact Curtis Williams either by phone (805-234-7615), or e-mail (curtis@astrologyreiki.com).

View the original article here

Uncommon Skin Infection Linked to Tattoos

2011-08-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Researchers Report Cases of Mycobacterium haemophilum in Tattoo Parlor Customers

Aug. 11, 2011 -- Practices at some tattoo parlors may increase the risk for developing a type of skin infection that more typically occurs in people with compromised immune systems, a study shows.

Two reported cases of Mycobacterium haemophilum skin infections in tattoo parlor customers mark the first time this type of skin infection has been linked to tattoos and tattooing.

The findings are published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Researchers say two people may have developed Mycobacterium haemophilum skin infections after getting a tattoo at the same parlor.

The researchers suspect the infections developed because the tattoo parlor operator used tap water, not sterilized water, in a rinsing solution to dilute the ink for shading.

"Although infections attributable to water appear uncommon, we advise against using tap water for tattoo procedures," conclude study authors who were led by Meagan K. Kay of the CDC in King County, Wash.

In August 2009, a healthy 44-year old man developed a painless rash where he received a tattoo. A doctor eventually identified the cause of the infection as Mycobacterium haemophilum, and the man was successfully treated with antibiotics. Another healthy 35-year-old man developed a similar infection after receiving a tattoo at the same tattoo parlor. The infection source was suspected but not confirmed in the second patient.

The researchers were unable to pinpoint the bacterial source in the municipal water supply because such testing is difficult and time consuming, but they believe it is the likely source. The tattoo parlor is now instructed to use sterile water for rinsing solutions.

View the original article here

Working Mums - Seven Simple Ways To Take Time Out And Relax Your Mind

2011-08-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

As a busy mum, working from home and juggling the demands of parenting and growing your business, how do you find time to care for yourself? I would like to share with you seven simple ways you can easily slip "two minutes time out vacations" to relax your mind and refresh your spirits.

Time Out Is Important

From personal experience I know how tiring and hard it is to carve out "Me-Time" - especially if you work from home where the lines between family time and work time blur. One minute you are thinking of ways to develop your latest project and the next you have to down tools, cook dinner and ferry your "darling babies" to their various social and after school activities.

In the midst of all this activity your mind is on constant alert, trying to hold and remember all the other 101 commitments you said yes to.

Lack Of Time Out Leads To Burn-Out

Constantly living life in the fast lane, managing conflicting deadlines from work and family leaves you frazzled, tired and exhausted. If your mind is on constant overdrive and the thought of taking time-out scares you, than that is a sure-fire sign you need to stop and reassess your life direction. Sometimes, this isn't possible. Most of us do not the luxury of taking a year out or going on five-star spa breaks every season.

However, to do your best - to give your full attention to your work, care for your family and keep an eye on your well-being you need to find ways to build in some form of rest and relaxation into your day.

If you catch yourself looking ragged, worn-out and constantly nagging and yelling at your kids. Stop. Take a breather and practice any one of the following seven 2 minute-time-out tips.

Seven Two Minute Time-Out Activities

1. Smile. What makes you happy? Daydream and remember something or someone who lights up your life. Maybe your child brought home one of their art work creations home and proudly gave it to you. Maybe you saw something funny on the school run, which made you laugh. Just spend two minutes vividly recalling all the sensations and thoughts of that happy moment.

2. Breathe Deeply. Throughout your day take deep yogic breaths especially when you feel anxious and worried at the length of your To-Do list. Simply rest your hands on your lap, sit up straight and breathe in slowly and fully through your nose for a count of three and slowly breathe out through your nose. Repeat 3-5 times. You will feel energised, calm and refocused.

3. Open your heart. Take time, every day to look in the mirror and say "I Love You" as you give yourself a hug. Look deep into your reflection and be happy with what you see. Release judgement and just be glad you are you. Remind yourself just how special and worthy you are. No one else in this planet can do what you do

4. Trust yourself. You are your own keeper and guide. Even though you wear the label of mother, partner, sister, daughter, friend, entrepreneur or employee, ultimately the only label you wear is the one that nurtures your soul. Learn to trust yourself. To have faith in you and follow your dreams. Grab a pen and sheet of paper and spend two minutes drawing your dream life. Then pin your drawing up and let your art work take centre stage on the fridge door for a change.

5. Meditate. Find a quiet space and each day sit there. Sit quietly and practice a simple meditation. If you don't have a quiet zone, sit on the stairs and meditate. You can practice a simple breathing meditation anywhere, anytime. If you feel more active, then practice a walking meditation along the hall way.

6. Romance. Find time, every day to treat yourself. Have play dates with friends or just by yourself. Enjoy relaxed informal breaks in the park, go to the cinema and see a movie, buy yourself flowers, sit outside and watch the moon, wear a top which makes your heart sing and brings colour to your cheeks.

7. Sign up for an inspirational daily tip. When the tip lands in your inbox, take a few moments to relax and read the inspirational message/story. Read aloud, reflect and ponder a while about the deeper meaning and impact the message has on you.

So, there you have it. seven simple steps to support your wish for two minutes peace and quiet in your hectic life.. It isn't easy, yet the more time you invest in yourself, the more energy you have to navigate the ups and downs of family home work life.

And now, would you like more self care and time-out tips? Then I invite you to visit my blog and subscribe to my Free YogaInspiresYou enewsletter, full of practical inspirations and ideas how to weave yoga relaxation exercises into your everyday life.

Plus when you subscribe you will get your Free Instant Access to "Yoga For Beginners-All The Facts And Advice You Need To Start Your First Yoga Class" eBook. Click here for more info http://www.yogainspires.co.uk/

Thank You

Stay Blessed and Be Well

From: Ntathu Allen, Yoga and Meditation Teacher

View the original article here

Who Do You Think You Are? The Way We Describe Ourselves Does Make a Difference

2011-08-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have a very unassuming, quick-thinking question. Don't ponder the answer; just blurt it out. Ready? (Um, that's not the question.)

Here we go: "Who are you?"

At first blush, it's such an innocuous query and our replies come by rote. We provide our name. But, in reality, that's not accurate, because my name is not WHO I am, it's WHAT I am called; it's a label.

Okay, take it down a level: Who is - in my case - Scott Marcus?

Well, I could reply, "a man," "father," or even "American." Those are all true - and actually more descriptive than responding with my name. They deliver more detail, but are still painfully vague. One person's "man" creates images of football players, while another's is an accountant, neither of which fit me. Piling on additional descriptors becomes the next step, "56 year old speaker, writer, father of two sons, married, lives in Eureka."

Certainly this constructs a more vibrant portrayal, but it is still soooooo scratching the surface. For example, should I move from my coastal community to the Arizona desert, would I then be a different person? Better yet, am I still the same person I was a few years ago, or do every 365 days establish a new being?

Circumstances change, but that alone does not mean we are no longer who we were; there is a consistency that remains our core. These modifiers therefore, no matter how many we use, are not answering the core issue. Something lacks.

So, why does this matter?

Words, the vehicle by which we think, create images, which we call "perceptions." Each of us develops reflex like responses to those perceptions. So, should I say "filthy rich man" or "homeless woman," we create immediately an image in our mind about who are each of those people. (I know you did when you read them, as did I.) The hitch is we do not see "individuals;" what we envision are our perceptions of that class of society. Should you be strolling through Old Towne and view someone you perceive to be, for example, a "homeless man," you create an entire story in your head, BEFORE even meeting him.

This process is not only in action when we see - and label - others. It is also very much in play in how we view ourselves. The words we tap to describe who we are to ourselves affect the images we see about us, portrayed externally to others via our resultant actions.

If I enquire of myself, "Who am I?" And the reply comes: "A clumsy, stupid, moron who cannot do anything right," I create powerful internal imagery, which in turn, generates an emotional state. Those emotions drive our actions. Logically, therefore, if the language is negative, so too will be its result.

More happily, if my answer is, "A fully-functioning, basically happy, honest, caring, contributing member of society whose doing the best he can to love others, make the world a better place, and take care of himself as well as he can;" those result feelings, and their actions, will be vastly different. (Saying each answer to yourself and notice how you feel.)

When greeted at a party, that answer might not be appropriate. However, we'll experience a far healthier and happier life when we can learn to answer our own internal questions in a more positive fashion.

Besides, who would I be if I steered you wrong?

Scott "Q" Marcus is a THINspirational speaker, Recovering Perfectionist, Syndicated Columnist, and the founder of ThisTimeIMeanIt.com, a site for people who are tired of making promises to themselves but are willing to do what it takes to actually makes changes. In addition, he conducts speeches, workshops, and presentations throughout the country on how to achieve goals, improve attitude, and enjoy the process. You can contact him for speaking, coaching or consulting, or you can sign up for his free ezine, "This Time I Mean It" at http://www.scottqmarcus.com/ or at his blog at http://www.thistimeimeanit.com/

View the original article here

Family Bonding: The Open Sesame to Happiness and Health

2011-08-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

One of the key determinants of health is the development of supportive network of family and friends. Kinship ties and camaraderie and not among life's optional extras, they're absolutely vital to our contentment and physical well-being. When psychologists at Brigham Young University, London carried out a meta-analysis of the data from 148 earlier long term studies they found that people with a loving family and ample friends lived significantly longer than average. To be precise, they discovered that living in social isolation can be as unhealthy as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, being an alcoholic or leading the life of a total couch potato. As the leader of the team reported: 'When someone is connected to a group and feels responsibility for other people, that sense of purpose and meaning translates to taking better care of themselves.' A similar conclusion was reached by the famous study carried out in Alameda County, California, when the sickness records of seven thousand residents were carefully monitored over a period of nine years. At the end of this time it was found that unmarried individuals with few friends and no links with a church or outside community group had a death rate from all causes which was two to five times higher than those with a well-developed network of friends. We can jog a long in isolation when all is going well, but when disaster strikes it's then we need the support of family and friends. Nowadays disaster victims are still being offered professional counselling, even though a recent review of fifteen medical trials has shown that this often makes matters worse rather than better, largely because it encourages sufferers to dwell on their misfortunes rather than banish them from their memories and get on with their lives. After a catastrophe, the finest therapy is the love and support of family and friends, people who know us well and are best placed to offer us sympathy, guidance and practical help. In his fascinating autobiography, Des O'Connor, the international comedian/singer tells how his terraced home in the East End of London was totally destroyed in a bombing raid during WW2. His father was away working a night shift in a local factory when the blitzkrieg struck. When he returned home in the early morning he found his wife and two young children standing amid the ruins sobbing uncontrollably, in total bewilderment and shock. His wife moaned: 'We've lost everything'. 'No, Maude', his perennially upbeat father said as he gathered the foursome together in a family huddle, 'we haven't lost everything. We've got the only thing that really matters. We've still got us.'

Families are a wellspring not only of health but also of happiness. Epicurus, the Greek philosopher, spent a lifetime studying the ways of achieving happiness, and came to the conclusion that, 'by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.' This was emphasised at the end of 2006 when a group of English people was asked what had given them the greatest pleasure during their Christmas vacations. Seven per cent said they most enjoyed the time off work; three per cent the food and drink and two per cent the presents. But these minor delights were totally overshadowed by the eighty-six per cent who had not a shadow of a doubt that for them the best thing about Xmas was spending time with their family and friends. These times of togetherness are rarer now that they ever were before. This was shown in a recent survey which revealed that that in any one week over three million British people over the age of sixty-five have no contact whatsoever with a neighbour, friend or family member. This isolation is so distressing in Japan that some older couples, having lost contact with their daughters, are now hiring young actresses to visit them on a Sunday to say 'Hi Mum!, Hi Pop!', since they've lost total contact with their daughters. Divorce is clearly adding to the decline of family ties, with half of all US children now living with only one of their original parents by the time their fifteen. The work pressures experienced by dual career families are another factor making it difficult for parents to enjoy quality time with their children. One large survey revealed that nearly half of children between the ages of 11-15 'hardly ever' speak to their fathers about important topics. Approximately a third of British parents who commute to work now spend more time in their cars than they do with their family and friends. When they get home from school and work, families no longer cluster together around the fire to chat and play games, for central heating makes it possible for everyone to retire to their own rooms and living areas. As a result an increasing number of children are becoming bored and claiming that life is meaningless and not worth living. More than a quarter of British 16-25 year olds, interviewed by the Prince's Trust, said they felt depressed. According to a spokesperson for the Trust: 'Young people tell us that the family is key to their happiness, yet too often we find they don't have this support.'

Two things can be done to cure this malaise. In the first place family members must make an effort to keep in touch and build up a kinship network of intimacy and trust..Hugh Everett, the brilliant quantum physicist, was so absorbed with his battle to unravel the mysterious behaviour of sub-atomic particles that he had scant time to spend with his family. He died at 51 from a massive heart attack, and was discovered by his son Mark, who tried without avail to revive him by subjecting his chest to rhythmic compression. This, he said poignantly afterwards, was the only time he'd had physical contact with his father. The second way of building kinship ties is to revert to the old practice of having family meals. Barrack Obama has confessed that 'Among the many wonderful things about being President, the best is that I get to live above the office and see Michelle and the kids every day....We have dinner every night. It is the thing which sustains me.' That act of breaking bread together is the very essence of companionship, a word derived from the words com pagne meaning 'with bread'.

This re-establishment of close family ties is now one of the major aims of politicians and religious leaders. In Britain, David Cameron has launched a Government initiative to measure wellbeing and happiness. His aim is to focus not just on the bottom line but also on all those things that make life worthwhile. He wants to create a climate in Britain, 'that is more family-friendly and more conducive to the good life.' That's also the goal of Britain's Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sachs, who in his latest book The Home We Build Together stresses the need to rebuild communities based on the family and home. The family is the basic unit of every peaceful and civilised society, as Sach's observes. 'Cyberspace can't compensate for real space. We benefit from chatting to people face to face. We need to rediscover the idea of the common good and work together to build a home.'

View the original article here

Staying Motivated for Fitness

2011-08-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

Motivation seems to be the hardest thing to maintain when it comes to anything especially working out and dieting. I am going to give you some tips on how to stay motivated so you can reach your ultimate goal.

Goal that is the key word here, what is your goal behind your exercise and diet regimen. My goal for me is to be a pro strongman and the best trainer on the planet. I have a plan to reach those goals that I've drawn out and follow to a tee. I know that everyday I will either get closer to my goal or further away there is no such thing as staying the same. I need to eat, train, and read everyday in order to be the best for my goals. Without these goals what do I have, I would go to the gym everyday with no energy, motivation, or drive because I have nothing to shoot for. You have to set your goals before embarking on a new fitness lifestyle or else you will fail before you ever begin. Be sure to be extremely specific with your goals; don't just say I want to lose weight say I want to lose 15lbs in 2 months. Set deadlines for your goals and make them public. This will ensure that you stay on course because all your friends and family know exactly what you are doing and they won't let you slip.

Friends and family play a huge role in your success be sure to surround yourself with people that will help you achieve your goals and stay away from the people who will say "your losing to much weight, you look sick" or "your getting to muscular" or my favorite" Why do you eat that crap don't you want to be happy" meanwhile they a sitting on the couch drinking soda and eating a big Mac from McDonald's and are wondering why there clothes don't fit anymore.

In order to stay motivated you have to have fun exercising and dieting you have to find ways to make eating fun, whether its trying out new healthy recipes or finding different seasonings to make your food taste better. It is imperative that you find a gym that you feel comfortable with and that you enjoy going to on an everyday basis. We pride ourselves on having the friendliest and best personal trainers in Port Saint Lucie. We also feel we create a lot of fun at all our fitness boot camps to you coming back for more. You have to find that place or else you will never reach your goals.

Find a partner who will do everything with you helps out a lot as well. If you have someone dieting, running and working out with you everyday then you will be able to hold each other accountable. Make a friendly wager between the two of you, like whoever loses the most weight in two months wins an all expense paid trip to the spa for a day. You have to think of ways to keep it interesting or your motivation will leave fast.

Its real simple you can either buy new clothes and keep growing or you can change you life and fit into your old clothes that haven't fit in 10 years. The choice is yours.

For more information be sure to check out http://www.samsonstrengthconditioning.com/

Tony Montgomery is a Port Saint Lucie Personal Trainer

He has helped hundreds of people lose weight and change their lifestyle.

View the original article here

The Importance of Getting the Proper Amount of Sleep

2011-08-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Sleeping eight hours per night has many health benefits and in this article I am going to discuss some of them. There are many studies on sleep and the effects upon the body and I find them quite fascinating and very interesting. For example, a good nights' sleep may actually result in weight loss which I find, kind of, hard to believe. I have always thought that if you slept less and are active it would result in weight loss.

Actually, if you get the proper amount of sleep you will have a smaller appetite as there are certain chemicals that tend to regulate or manage our appetite which do not work as well in the body when it experiences a lack of sleep.

Another advantage of a good nights sleep is improved memory. While you are sleeping your brain is actually working and, like a computer, processing information which allows your memory to be more productive each day. It is similar to computer downloading and if you do not download your mind or memory tends to get somewhat disorganized and cluttered thus reducing the effectiveness of your memory. The fact that the proper amount of sleep improves your sharpness or alertness is pretty obvious. When you sleep well, you wake up sharp and with energy. I am sure all of you have experienced this feeling.

Another advantage of getting the proper amount of sleep is it will reduce your probability of a heart attack. The majority of heart attacks occur during the early morning hours and, apparently, if you do not get enough sleep you tend to have higher blood pressure as sleep tends to impact your blood vessels.

Also, like many other organs in the body sleep allows the body to, sort of, repair itself. I find this aspect of sleep extremely interesting. I have always thought that the body repairs itself in some manner while sleeping. It actually does as we are always exposed to harmful environmental factors such as air pollution, too much sun, too much alcohol etc and while sleeping the body has the opportunity to perform its maintenance which results in less disease and health problems. Now, here is something very interesting. Proper sleep can reduce the probably of contracting cancer.

Apparently, there is a relationship with light and a chemical called melatonin which protects us against cancer. The darkness allows our the body to produce the proper amount of melatonin so it is extremely important for you to sleep in a dark room. I sleep with the TV on - I think I better change that habit. Although there are many other obvious advantages of getting the proper amount of sleep but I want to mention an important one which is the benefits of taking a nap. that there are many studies that indicate that a daily nap. It has been shown that people who take regular naps tend to live longer and have less incidence of cancer and heart disease. This website is designed to provide you low cost insurance and provide you with information on how you can maintain and improve your health. This topic is fascinating and deserves a great dealt more attention. I realize it is difficult for you to get eight hours of sleep per night. I am not even close but we should try.

We,are dedicated to provide low cost insurance with the most comprehensive coverage possible. My articles are mostly focused upon protecting and improving your health.

View the original article here

Out Of Body Experience - How To Be Successful

2011-08-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

If a person wants to have an out of body experience, how to do astral projection is one of the first things that come to his or her mind. An astral projection is a practice that is believed to be developed thousands of years ago. This practice involves a person leaving his or her own body and goes to a place known as an astral plane, which is believed to be a world of immortal creatures.

A lot of people are wondering if astral projection is true. People are questioning if this practice really gives an out of body experience or how to know if it is already working. It may be hard to believe at first but experts say that once a person masters astral projection, he or she will have an incomparable peace and will experience unusual events.

Experts say that an out of body experience may be done voluntarily or it may just happen without knowing. There are several types of an out of body experience. For spontaneous events, some people reported that they had an out of body experience while they were sleeping. These people stated that during this time, they can see their bodies lying on the bed and can see the activities done by other people inside the house.

Aside from experiencing astral projection while sleeping, there are reports when the out of experience was felt during a person's near death situation. There are stories reported wherein a person can see his or her body lying on a surgical bed and is being operated by a surgeon. There are those who can see themselves being revived by doctors or nurses. In these scenarios, experts believe that these people are almost dead but needed to go back to their bodies for some reason.

In some accounts or stories, there are those who are saying that they are really tired from doing extraneous activities. Masters of this practice also believe that extreme efforts during a physical activity may also lead a person to have an out of body experience.

If some people are experiencing astral projection involuntarily, there are those who do this practice deliberately because they want to have an out of body experience such as flying or floating, traveling across the globe, see other people's activities or visit their loved ones who passed away. Practitioners say that performing this practice is not as easy as one may think, especially to those who are doing it for the first time. With this, experts recommend that before actually trying astral projection, beginners should do extensive research or consult long-time practitioners and ask the basics of an out of body experience and how to successfully perform it.

This practice needs a lot of hard work and patience. Experts say that it is normal to be unsuccessful in the first few trials of astral projection. There are a lot of things to learn before having an out of body experience and how to manage the astral body when it is already traveling. It is important for people to believe in themselves to succeed in this practice.

Brian is an astral travel publisher. For more great tips on out of body experience how to, visit http://www.astraltravelguide.info/

View the original article here

How to Create a Greater Amount of Freedom in Your World

2011-08-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Chevy to Sell Its Smallest Car Ever in U.S.

2011-08-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

By John Voelcker

Published August 04, 2011

| High Gear Media

The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact just going into production this month is the smallest car sold by Chevrolet in the U.S., but the bowtie brand isn't finished downsizing yet.

Today, General Motors confirmed that the Chevrolet Spark minicar will be sold in the U.S. GM's executive director of North American product communications, Jason Laird, confirmed with GreenCarReports that it would arrive "next year," with a launch during the first half (January to June) as a 2013 model.

In January 2009, before its bankruptcy and government-backed refinancing, GM had announced that the Spark would be sold in the U.S. in 2011--along with the Chevrolet Orlando small minivan, which was subsequently dropped from the U.S. product plan. Restructuring thus delayed the Spark's arrival roughly a year.

The Spark is the smallest car ever sold as a Chevy, with its roots in a trio of minicar concepts shown way back in 2007. The tiny five-door Spark hatchback is now on sale in a number of Asian countries, and has been an important model for Chevrolet in the global minicar segment, where the brand has had only a minor presence until now.

It is fitted with a variety of engines, starting with a 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

Laird tweeted from the Management Briefing Seminar conference in Traverse City, Michigan, that GM product chief Mark Reuss said the "Spark minicar will give Chevrolet A-B-C-D-E segment coverage for first time in [the] U.S."

In world auto-industry terminology, the Chevrolet Spark is considered an A-segment, or minicar, vehicle.

The Sonic is B-segment, or subcompact; the Cruze is C-segment, or compact; the Malibu is D-segment, or U.S. mid-size; and the Impala is E-segment, or full-size.

Click here for more from Green Car Reports

View the original article here

Are Humans Really a Co-Operative Community?

2011-08-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

We tend to think of ourselves as highly independent creatures that interact with others in our environment. But some very interesting new research puts another twist on our self image. As it turns out, the "lowly bacteria," may turn out to have more "say" in who we are than we would like to believe. "Microbiome" is the new term used to describe the complex communities of bacteria and other organisms which live in our bodies, and this new area of research is revolutionizing the way we think of ourselves and our health.

There is a "Human Microbiome Project," sponsored by the National Institute of Health that "aims to characterize the microbial communities found at several different sites on the human body, including nasal passages, oral cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract, and to analyze the role of these microbes in human health and disease."

We already know that "beneficial flora" in our digestive tract are vital to our health, assisting us in digestion, manufacturing vitamins, and protecting our digestive system from the overgrowth of disease-causing organisms. Research is now suggesting that their influence is more far reaching and may help determine our mental states, and even the development of our brains during infancy.

Gut Bacteria "Talk" to Genes
A recent study published in the periodical "Neurogastroenterology and Motility," studied the performance of mice that lacked gut bacteria and normal mice. They found that the mice without bacteria engaged in higher anxiety and risk related behaviors than normal mice, and this behavior was accompanied by chemical changes in the brains of the mice. Bacteria colonize the gut in the days following birth during a sensitive period of brain development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing changes in the expression of certain genes.

This is a mind-bending finding! Gut bacteria "talk" to genes (the DNA present in every living organism), and can influence brain development, mental states, and behavior, at least in mice. We already know that there is communication between the "gut" and the brain in humans, as seratonin, one of the main brain chemicals that influences mood actually has its highest concentration in our digestive tract. Learn more about digestive health by downloading a complimentary wellness guide.

Another interesting twist found in research on mice suggests that bacteria also influence the tendency to store fat and become obese. They found that certain strains of bacteria were found in high concentrations in the gut of obese mice, and different strains in mice that were thin. This raises the possibility of developing probiotic supplements for humans that change the bacteria toward the variety associated with "thinness." More research needs to be done; however this is another clue that bacteria are very much a part of "us" and how we look, feel and think.

What This Means on a Practical Level
Limit antibiotic use: Protect your gut bacteria by avoiding antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Overuse of antibiotics has resulted in an epidemic of children and adults who lack healthy gut bacteria. Prevent infection by healthy dietary practices. If your children have repeated colds and ear infections, take them off of sugar, dairy and gluten. This will prevent a large percentage of infections! Breastfeeding helps your infant develop a good population of healthy gut bacteria and protects your infant against disease. If you are not able to breast feed, consider giving your infant appropriate probiotics that are specific for infants. These are not the same as the adult variety, so do not substitute.

Add cultured vegetables to your diet: Build your healthy gut bacteria by eating fermented foods such as unsweetened or homemade kefir, and raw cultured vegetables (not pasteurized). There are many resources online for instructions on making your own cultured vegetables, and you can find them at many health food stores. These foods contain healthy bacteria, so daily consumption can help you maintain your own healthy bacteria. You can also take a good probiotic which contains multiple types of bacteria including Lactobacillus acidophilis and Bifidobacterium.

Avoid processed foods: Avoid diet and lifestyle factors that damage healthy bacteria, such as overconsumption of sugar and white flour products, and overuse of alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. Use organic and unprocessed foods whenever possible to avoid chemical additives and pesticides.

Is it time to place a "crown" upon the "heads" of the lowly bacteria? We certainly cannot live without them, and they in turn cannot live without us. It is clearer now than ever before that we are indeed a co-operative community. Be sure to engage in these simple practices to keep yourself and "your" bacteria happy and healthy.

Dr. Isaac Eliaz is a respected author, lecturer, researcher, product formulator, and clinical practitioner. He has been a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine since the early 1980s. Dr. Eliaz is a frequent guest lecturer on integrative medical approaches to health, immune enhancement, and cancer prevention and treatment. For more information, please visit http://www.dreliaz.org/.

View the original article here

Generating New Experiences With Meditation to Create Happiness

2011-08-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

7 Ways to Live Happy and Love Your Life Right Now: Have Fun and Don't Live In The Past Or Future

2011-08-19T00:59:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

How To Be Optimistic And Happy In 5 Easy Steps

2011-08-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Top 7 New Year's Resolutions to Inspire You

2011-08-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

We hear it every year, "What's your New Year's resolution?" We may even make them but when it comes to New Year's resolutions why do we let them drop by the wayside? I am as guilty as the next person. Mine has been "to not make a resolution," for the past 10 years. Why should we make them if we never keep them? What is the point and does anyone ever keep a New Year's resolution that they make? The short answer is, "Yes". It is never too late to make changes in your life if, in fact, change is what you intend for yourself in the new year. Every year we have a new opportunity to start fresh, to make a change and to accomplish goals that we have laid out for ourselves, but, perhaps, have not had the courage to make them a reality. It's OK to admit this and it's OK to start fresh even tomorrow. We don't need to ring in the New Year to make resolutions. We could do them in the next minute. Why delay any further?

One of my favourite quotes is, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." by Albert Einstein. Where there are things in our lives that keep on repeating and the outcome is always the same but never what we have intended, it may be time to interrupt the pattern. Where can we change the patterns and shake things up a bit? In my personal experience, no matter what maps or GPS devices I have at my fingertips I ALWAYS end up walking in the wrong direction and end up late to whatever event or meeting I have scheduled. The other day when I exited the public transit system I arrived on a street disoriented. My instinct was to go left but, instead, I decided to go right because whenever I follow the route I think I should go it is always in the wrong direction. Surprisingly I found that using the method opposite to what I normally used (which always got me lost) took me in the right direction and I arrived at my destination in the nick of time.

This is a very basic example but we all have unfinished goals or things in our lives that we would like to have turn out differently but somehow we keep on going in circles. Where can we interrupt these patterns and try a new method? If Einstein hadn't followed his advice where would we be in science today? Would he have developed the theory of relativity and gone on to be one of the greatest legends in Science?

Are you looking for ideas for resolutions to ring in the New Year? Here are my top 7 New Year's resolutions you may want to add to your list or perhaps to inspire you to come up with your own.

1.) Get a piggy bank and save your loose change every week. After about 6 months take a tally of how much you have collected and treat yourself to a massage or vacation.

2.) Speaking of vacations, is there a place that you have always wanted to visit but somehow it seems like a distant pipe dream? Go to your favorite online travel site and make a booking. You can save the booking without purchasing it. If you start to visualize yourself booking a trip there you may be closer to setting foot in your dream destination.

3.) Is there someone out there who you care about that may not know it? Write them a letter telling them how you feel about them. You don't have to send it but if you can if you feel inspired. That person may be very surprised and touched by your sentiments. It always feels good to get things off your chest.

4.) Do you fear speaking or singing in public? It's time to get some friends together and do karaoke. The worst fear that most people have with public speaking/singing is sounding terrible. With karaoke it is expected that people sound terrible and, in fact, it is more fun. When you give yourself a break you may be pleasantly surprised at how good you sound!

5.) Are you stuck in a career that you do not like and wish for a change but, somehow, keep on getting the same kinds of jobs? Start looking in a field that you are passionate about and apply, apply, apply. Don't have any experience? It doesn't matter. Persistence will get you everywhere. You may have to start at the bottom for a bit but recruiters are not only looking for resumes. Cover letters that explain your passion and that are written with enthusiasm set your resume apart from the rest. Bosses are looking to hire people that are there for the long haul. Nothing is more frustrating than having to hire someone new and train them all over again. Life is short. Think about where you want to be 5-10 years down the line and if it is the job that you are currently at then bravo! If it not then it may be time for a career change.

6.) Do something that you have never tried before that scares you. It doesn't have to be something that risks your life but perhaps baby steps. Are you terrified of cutting your hair? Have you ever tried sushi? Did you ever want to learn a new language? I am sure you can come up with even better ones for yourself. Do it!

7.) Are you feeling bored and uninspired in your life? Donate or volunteer at your favorite charity. Personally I like World Vision because they have an online catalogue. You can buy a family a goat or education for a child. In a way, giving is almost selfish because it makes you feel so good about yourself!

The Nutritiongal wishes you a very happy and healthy New Year! May you be filled with prosperity, joy and inspiration in the coming year!

Sincerely,

Stephanie Siemion
The Nutritiongal - AADP Certified Health Coach Find your bliss. Find your balance

"Fire the diet police and take back your health!"

Visit http://www.nutritiongal.com/ and fill out a health questionnaire for a free consultation today!

View the original article here

Pollution Can Also Lead to Brain Damage

2011-08-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

The pleasures and convenience of modern life comes at a cost, almost like a trade-off. Most of the developments bring with it negative effects, one of the most important and structural one is pollution. The Green movements have been developing over the past decades around the world, and in reality much has been done lately to fight the effects of the industrial development and consumption. Bat needless to say, that has just been the tip of the iceberg.

In a study from the University of Ohio, published this week in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, it has been indicated that prolonged exposure to air pollution can damage the brain and lead to problems in learning, memory and depression. While writing this I cannot avoid but thinking: "apart from all the negative effects pollution already has in our lives, now it's been investigated its effects on the center of our being, our brain!".

In fact, tests in mice showed that in the long-term pollution can cause real physical changes in the brain which in turn has had negative effects in its functioning. Although other studies have examined the effect of polluted air is the heart and lungs, this is one of the first to investigate its effect on the brain. The findings also note that this means serious consequences for people who live and work in polluted areas around the world.

The mice in this research have been exposed to filtered air or polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week, for almost half of their life span (which is about 10 months). The polluted air was similar to the one created by cars or factories, the same type of pollution a human being can experience as well while living in an urban area.

In previous experiments with mice, it was found that fine particles from the air could cause a generalized inflammation in the body and it may be associated with hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Now the researchers wanted to develop these conclusions by looking at the brain. The findings are therefore worrying for the extensive effects of pollution.

After 10 months of exposure, behavioral tests were performed, including learning and memory tests. The mice who breathed polluted air took more time to find out where the exit was tested and subsequently more likely to forget where he was.

A second experiment showed mice exposed to polluted air at higher depressive-like and higher anxiety-like behavior in a trial, but not in the control group. To find out how the contamination has led to changes in learning, memory and mood, the researchers tested the region of the hippocampus brains of mice and found clear physical differences. They also found some inflammation of the hippocampus and the active chemical messengers that cause inflammation in mice who breathed polluted air, which is related to learning and decreasing memory capacity.

These findings can also be developed into new findings in following research, as the systemic inflammation caused by inhalation of polluted air is communicated to the central nervous system. And again, we come to a very simple conclusion which has already been proven right previously. Our lives and health suffer many risks every day, and the positive effects of the society developments are quickly challenged by the risks that development poses. But as science creates the development, it also creates the alternatives to cope with the risks. Brain Training and Neuroscience are the answers to the risks of diminishing brain capacity and cognitive abilities, and help each of the individuals to live a brain fit life.

Pedro Teixeira is Commercial and SEO Manager at CogniFit, an innovative company which develops software for measuring and training the cognitive abilities - brain fitness.

We believe that understanding and improving the Brain is the next stepchange revolution the world is going to have, and we work everyday not only to be part of that revolution, but most of all to create it. We believe it is our mission to improve people's lives through cognitive fitness. Start your own brain fitness program today: It's Free! http://www.cognifit.com/

You can provide your comments and thoughts to Pedro, by sending him a message on Facebook at http://facebook.com/teixeira.p

View the original article here

Joywork Part 1: Make Work a Productive Pleasure

2011-08-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Happiness and 5 Anti-Worry Tips

2011-08-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Be Truly Happy With 3 Attitudes: Be Blissful, Grateful and Laugh a Lot

2011-08-18T01:35:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Transcending the Law of Attraction - Healing Your Physical Body With the Divine

2011-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Let's face it; no matter how good of shape you are or aren't in at times you more than likely sense that you aren't feeling your best physically.

But at the same time, it is in moments like these that you can use as an opportunity to lovingly visualize that your body is infused divine light. You can gratefully begin to imagine that divine light is blessing your bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments, as you know they are helping to support you and allow you the freedom of movement.

To further reinforce this fact, continue to silently visualize that divine light blessing the intricate systems that digest your food, circulate oxygen in your blood, provide you with protection, and in fact even allow you to see these words and all your other senses.

For this reason you relax your whole body from your head to your toes as you begin to consciously realize once again that your body is continuously supporting, renewing and repairing itself in truly amazing ways.

Are you beginning to see how your body is the creation of God's perfect idea?

And as this begins to happen you can give thanks for your body's health and wholeness as it supports you on your journey.

As these thoughts sink deep into your subconscious, your body responds with energy and vitality as you fill your mind with thoughts of gratitude and blessing for all that you have in health and wholeness.

In a moment I'll tell you that if you are seriously interested in being able to love your body with a sense of gratitude and appreciation that let's your body heal in so many different ways then meditating on a daily basis is something that you will want to consider.

However, before I tell you this, you should also know that people who meditate on a daily basis notice that they suddenly have a tendency towards feeling more energy and vitality than they did before they began meditating on a daily basis.

In any event, if you are seriously interested in being able to love your body with a sense of gratitude and appreciation so that your body can heal itself with energy and vitality then you will want to begin to meditate on a daily basis so that you can connect with and experience that divine light that is within you.

What's more, you will be glad to know that the practice of Yoga Nidra is one of the most powerful guided meditation techniques on the planet that will have you connecting with that divine light within you more and more each day.

Thaddeus Ferguson has dedicated himself to the cause of helping people heal themselves first in order to help heal the world during this amazing time of transformation.

The practice of Meditation and/or Yoga Nidra is just one of the many powerful tools that you can use in order to help Heal You First.

Discover many of the Benefits of Meditation Now!

Join Thaddeus in a state of Being LOVE at http://www.yogibiglove.com/ Now!

View the original article here

Chiropractic Care - Dangers And Risks

2011-08-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Living a healthy lifestyle has quickly gained popularity. People are realizing that everything they do to their body has immediate and long lasting consequences. This includes the type of medical care they receive. Alternative medical care is replacing traditional medical treatment(s) due to the fact that there are fewer side effects. The majority of the medical community is now agreeing that chiropractic care if one of the safest forms of medical treatment. It is a drug-free alternative to treating diseases, conditions, and injuries.

Although chiropractic care is one of the safest methods of medical care to date, every medical treatment has some form of side effect. Chiropractic care is no exception. Although there are very few side effects compared to traditional treatment methods, chiropractic care does have side effects that patients should be made aware of before they choose this type of treatment.

The most common side effects are muscle spasms, fatigue, headaches/migraines, and soreness at the site of the adjustment. These typically gos away in 24 to 48 hours for people who have had adjustments in the past. For those who have never had chiropractic adjustments and, depending on the person's sensitivity to pain, the soreness may last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. This is especially true for Fibromyalgia patients or anyone with a condition that makes them extremely sensitive to the touch. Patients with FMS (or anyone in general) can experience soreness and pain for about 2 to 4 weeks, and with severe FMS up to 6 weeks or longer. It also depends on whether or not they are experiencing a Fibro flare-up at the time of the adjustment. Then again, some people no matter what disorder/condition or injury they have, experience no pain or soreness at all and feel immediate relief.

Although quite rare, there are a few severe side effects that come with chiropractic adjustments. Blood clots/strokes, spinal cord injuries, and death are the most rare and are not scientifically proven. In the US and Canada, studies show that there is no concrete evidence that directly links these to chiropractic adjustments (or SM aka Spinal Manipulation), but it is still being constantly researched and there is still so much that can be learned about chiropractic care. Even though the side effects are either minimal or highly rare, people still need to know the possible risks. Without all the facts, patients can not make an informed and educated decision about which avenue of care they feel is best for them.

Some other rare side effects are: damage to the vertebrae and nerves, herniated disk(s), stroke-like symptoms due to nerve damage, and paralysis. Again, these are extremely rare if the adjustments are done by a licensed (in your own state), highly educated, and skilled chiropractor.

Other battles that chiropractic care has had to fight are the myths being told by the media. They have put the spotlight on chiropractic treatment and labeled it as a dangerous and extremely risky form of medical treatment, which is far from the truth. If this is not the case, then how does the public get this information? There are some physicians that write letters to medical journals which is published as their "opinion". The press gets a hold of these "opinions" and releases them, along with their own thoughts, to the masses. This is where the myths and rumors begin.

Is this to say that there are no risks involved in a spinal adjustment? Absolutely not! There are people out there who have suffered from some of the rare and more severe side effects; but, when you look into their current and past medical history, you will find that they had medical issues at the adjustments performed.

These health issues resulted in stroke(s), severe damage, and even death. When you compare the risks of chiropractic adjustments with traditional medical treatments, you will find that there are only a few side effects (most very rare and not supported with scientific evidence) compared to the hundreds of side effects from surgery and medications.

The best way to find out if chiropractic care is right for you and will not interfere with or cause further damage to your body is to talk with your primary physician. Ask questions and discuss any fear(s) you may have about this method of treatment. S/he will evaluate you and should be in constant contact with your physician. Working as a team will result in reaching your maximum mobility and optimal health goal(s).

The author agrees with fitness expert Dr. Joyce Verdel who has been quoted to say "Chiropractic helps athletes and people working out, engaging in a sport or even just performing daily functions such as walking and sitting, to operate at their peak levels of performance without pain. I highly recommend that you pay a visit to your local chiropractor." More video and article information can be found at http://chiropractor.inmoreheadcitylocalarea.com/

View the original article here

An Exercise in Gratefulness

2011-08-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Moving Slowly in Tai Chi

2011-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

Why are tai chi movements done so slowly? I get this question from beginning students. I'm sure most other teachers do, too. There are many benefits to slow movement. As far as I am concerned, one of the major reasons for slow movement is so that the learner can pay attention to every detail. When we move quickly, we move in the way we have always moved. We have habits that we follow. Moving slowly allows us to pay attention to how we want to move instead of how we usually move.

It can be very difficult for beginners to move slowly. They do not have a well-develop sense of proprioception. Their mind is not even aware of where and how their body is placed. A beginning tai chi class starts to develop this skill in the students. With continued practice, they can become aware of and control finer movements.

For more advanced students, slow movements also help you identify the rough edges that need work. Sometimes we don't notice that something isn't quite right until we slow down enough to see it better.

It is important to complete one movement before moving into the next. Beginners often get sloppy when in transition between one form and another. Moving slowly helps them become aware of what is happening. With slow movement, beginners can learn to become more aware of how they are moving from one stance to another.

Tai Chi Principles

There are many principles that students learn as part of their tai chi practice. It would be too much to discuss them all here. I decided to focus on just a few of them to show how slow movement enhances the student's ability to learn and practice them.

Coordinating the upper and lower. The first things students learn is the physical movements of the forms. With slow movement, it is easier to figure out where to place your feet and hands, when and how to turn, and where to look. A common mistake for beginners is to have the lower body move faster than the upper body. In other words, they finish stepping and shifting their weight before they finish their hand movements. Sometimes it is the other way around where they finish their hand movements too soon. Moving slowly allows the learner to understand the relative speeds and how to coordinate the movement. Slow movement allows you to think about and analyze what is happening as you move.

Song. One of the first principles typically taught to students is Song, or relax and loosen. Quick movements hide the tension. It is easier to identify any areas of tightness in the muscles and joints when moving slowly. It allows us to feel every muscle as it contracts and loosens.

Distinguish Between Substantial and Insubstantial. Another common problem for beginners is learning how to step. If the feet make any sound while stepping, it means that the movement is too fast. A common visual used to teach students how to step is to have them imagine walking like a cat. Each foot is carefully placed before any weight is placed on it. I also use another visual. I have students imagine wearing tap dancing shoes and try to step without making a sound. A good student will try several different ways of moving until they have enough experience to understand what the teacher is saying. This can only happen when the movements are slow.

One students learn to step, they can learn to distinguish between substantial and insubstantial so they are able to turn and move lightly and gracefully. If you can't tell the difference, your steps will be heavy and sluggish. When you prepare to move, place all your weight on one leg. That becomes full, or substantial, and the other becomes empty, or insubstantial. Slow movement makes it possible to understand this. In addition, it is easier to focus on your breath and coordinate your exhales with your yang movements.

Stillness Within Movement. Tai chi emphasizes stillness instead of movement. Even when moving, the form appears to be tranquil. Slow movements in tai chi force you to spend time with all your weight on one leg as you step and move. This develops leg strength and improves balance. Better strength and balance leads to smooth and tranquil movements.

Calm Mind. With slow movements, the body and mind learn to relax naturally. It is in introduction to the meditative state. In her book, Tai Chi as Spiritual Practice, Caroline Demoise says, "Slow movement calms your mind and leads you on a path in ward to experience the stillness at the center of your being. The energy of tai chi is innately meditative and produces this inner alignment. The underlying principles teach you to harmonize with Tao and flow with change."

That sounds like Meditation in Motion to me. Smile, enjoy, and play tai chi.

Read more at http://eric-taichi.blogspot.com/

View the original article here

Are You An Atheist? Understanding God's Words Through Dream Translation

2011-08-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you are an atheist you are going to change your mind after reading my statements. You'll discover God's wisdom through dream translation.

Do you think that I would spend 19 years of my life translating numerous dreams for many desperate people without compensation if dreams were not a true salvation from despair? Dreams are very powerful because the unconscious mind that produces our dreams is in fact God's mind.

This means that you understand God's words when you translate the meaning of your dreams according to the scientific method of dream interpretation, which was discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by me.

I'm a very intelligent and attractive woman, I studied in one of the best schools of my country, my parents were rich, and I have an extraordinary literary talent. I could merely be another schizophrenic in our crazy world, and give many orders to everyone without respecting their rights.

If you have a lot of money on Earth you are very powerful. You have protection, everyone is very kind with you, and you believe that Earth is a paradise. You can simply pay everyone, and everyone will obviously agree with your absurd desires, in all circumstances.

I could be very rich and have special protection. However, God showed me in my dreams that everyone would suffer due to my existence. I would be very cruel and indifferent to human pain.

I already was totally insensitive when I discovered the unconscious wisdom for being able to accurately translate the meaning of dreams.

I understood that I was a monster completely dominated by my anti-conscience. The anti-conscience is our wild and evil conscience that didn't evolve. When it manages to destroy a big portion of our human conscience it controls our minds and our behavior.

God gave me a cross, telling me that I had to carry it for many years in order to eliminate my satanic anti-conscience. I also had to pass through a crucifixion. I had to help God eliminate evilness on Earth.

My heroic mission would work like psychotherapy for me. I needed salvation. I had to become sensitive instead of being a cold iceberg. I had to stop being demanding and impatient. I had to learn how to be humble and wise.

I was only 28 years old at the time. I accepted to be very obedient without complaining. I understood that I was receiving a grace. I had the opportunity to save my mental health.

Later, I started complaining. I didn't want to be a hero.

However, I understood that I had to be very obedient if I wanted to recuperate my sensitivity and stop having repetitive thoughts of revenge that I could not control. I saw that I really was an insensitive monster who would torture everyone around me, the same way that my schizophrenic father used to torture those who depended on him.

I had to continue Carl Jung's research not only because I had to be cured. I also had to simplify the dream language, and:

* Prove to our atheistic world that our dreams are produced by God.

* Prove to our crazy world that we are under-developed primates unable to understand what is right or wrong.

* Prove to our pride psychiatrists that they don't know what they are doing when they give medicine to their patients. There is too much craziness in the human brain. Only God knows how to cure all mental illnesses.

* Prove to the indifferent population of our selfish world that everyone must obey God's guidance in order to find peace and happiness, instead of doing what their absurd conscience desires.

This was my moral obligation because I only had the chance to be saved from schizophrenia because God needed my example. I didn't deserve to be cured.

Without psychotherapy, I would spread terror and suffering on Earth. By helping numerous people through dream translation for two decades without compensation, I had the chance to purify my spirit. At the same time, I was gradually eliminating my poisonous ego.

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung's research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.
Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com/

Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!).

View the original article here

How to Increase Brain Power by Decreasing Stress and Negativity

2011-08-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

Most people do not appreciate how damaging stress and negativity are to the brain and the body. Most people think that stress and negativity come from without, and if they could just get themselves to a place where other people weren't crazy and where life was simpler, stress and negativity would dissolve away forever. Some people think that if they learn some more about how to increase their brain power by absorbing and applying more information, that this will do the trick. The thing is that most people today are wired for stress and negativity. If stress did not appear "outside of them" they would quickly feel, think and act in ways that would lead them to experiences of stress and negativity that are more familiar and comfortable than peace and joy.

The brain and the body create all kinds of associations between stimuli and survival. Just because they do this does not mean that it is a perfect system. Nor are these systems designed to lead people to joy and other such sublime perceptions. Survival is about keeping the body alive, and while this is a worthy goal at the level of biology, it is not the ultimate goal for human beings.

So if stress and negativity are such a challenge to our ability to increase brain power, and we have become wired to experience these perceptions in order to assure our very survival, then what can we do to increase brain power through reducing these factors?

The first thing to recognize that all experience is interpretation. This means that just because you experience something a certain way does not mean that that is the only possible, let alone the ideal interpretation. Just creating some "distance" or space between your perceptions and your reactions or responses is helpful.

Secondly, it is helpful to recognize that your mind and brain are operating from programs. Most people, most of the time, operate from programs. Just as in cybernetics and computer science, a program is an energy form that takes in a limited amount of data, processes it, and creates predictable outputs based on the inputs. The human mind and body (for most people) are mostly operating according to programs. The problem with programs is that they are limited and predictable and based upon circumstances from the past which can never be perfectly replicated in the present moment. So when we operate from programs and memories we are stuck in the past and unable to respond to the present moment with novel, creative, and completely appropriate responses.

Thirdly, it is important to develop personal practices that help our minds and bodies to disconnect from programs so that we can begin to respond to the actual content of the present moment, rather than limited interpretations of it. It is possible to live program-free. When more and more of us do this, we will increase brain power, because instead of running old version of programs, we will be able to pick up signals and act upon them in ways that lead to new results, solutions, answers, and perhaps most importantly, better questions.

Most people think increasing brain power is a matter of storing and retrieving more and more information. For me, increased brain power is about using the brain more and more as a receiver and less and less as a computer that runs programs. Learn and develop a practice for erasing programs and your brain power will increase dramatically. Erase away!

To learn more about the how our brain works and the power of the quantum brain please visit http://www.increasebrainpower.net/

Bill Frase is a personal coach and writer who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife and son. For more information, check out his blog at http://spiritualpowerforall.blogspot.com/ or follow him on Twitter-BillFrase. The practical implications of spirituality are a really big deal too.

View the original article here

The Power of Visualization As Part of Your Health Journey

2011-08-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Those with health concerns and body-image frustrations should not dismiss the Power of Visualization to help them achieve good health and a harmonious self-image. One must first visualize being healthy, thin or beautiful before one can take steps to achieve that vision.

Visualization is always a key to success in any human endeavour, whether an artist creating a masterpiece, a corporate wizard executing a business plan, an Olympic athlete breaking a world record, or an everyday man or woman setting out to change something about their lives and achieve more humble goals, such as losing unwanted weight or finding solutions and remedies for their health and wellness concerns.

Many people dismiss visualization techniques as being hokey and faddish New Age practices, but visualization is not simply daydreaming about ones wants, needs or desires. The power of this technique to transform mundane daydreams into reality is more than merely the ability to immerse oneself in an imagined vision of a need or desire; it is a method of focusing mental energies to reinforce our conscious efforts. It is the practice of seeking to change the outer world through changing our internal thought processes.

Visualization should be an integral part of everyone's health journey. Health and wellness is achieved and maintained through a mindset that at its core is founded upon a vision of being healthy and fit. The first step in any weight loss program or health and wellness regimen is changing your mind and correcting the thought processes that allowed the weight gain or poor health to develop in the first place.

The transformative qualities of visualization are in many ways akin to the sympathetic magic's practiced by primitive peoples from time immemorial. The idea that a shaman wielding talismans and chanting incantations could heal the sick often would unlock the healing potential within the body of the patient who, through visualization, believed in the efficacy of the shaman's conjuring. The power of ideas within the mind can have a profound physiological effect on the health of the body, as medical science has long acknowledged.

So too does visualization work according to those who swear by it. Imagery and meditation visualization techniques can relieve pain; promote the healing process, combat stress and anxiety and general tension and is an effective healing tool that has long been overlooked and downplayed by western medicine.

Visualization can be said to be the conscious creation of our own reality by training the sub-conscious mind to accept as reality the achievement of our conscious goals, and thus we attract the desired reality through our conscious and sub-conscious efforts. It is said to work for any goal from athletics to business success to romance, but most important is the well-attested effect of visualization upon health, wellness and feelings well-being.

Learn more, download the free report "Solutions for Lifelong Health and Beauty" here and find out how you can enjoy health and wellness plus look and feel your best. The report is provided by Seymour M. Weaver III MD, publisher of http://DrSeymourWeaver.com/dermatology-blog who is devoted to helping you enjoy the best life possible.

View the original article here

Viola Davis Adopting a Baby

2011-08-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Julius Tennon and Viola Davis

Sara De Boer/Startraks

Viola Davis and her husband, actor Julius Tennon, are in the process of adopting a child, the couple tells E! News.

Speaking from the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of her new movie, The Help, Davis, 45, confirmed: "Yes, we're about to adopt a baby."

Davis said she and Tennon are planning to adopt "domestically," but did not elaborate.

This will be the first child together for the couple, who have been married since 2003. Tennon has two children from previous relationships.

View the original article here

How Do You 'DO' Happy?

2011-08-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

New Habits Change The Thinking Mode

2011-08-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

The formation of new habits is an intensive brain training exercise. But it is not an easy one. In fact, it takes many conditions and joint efforts to bring an individual, and a society, to change the way they do things. On a broader level, it is frequently terrible events, such as wars, depressions, or natural disasters that trigger the largest changes in a whole group.

But this article is not about disasters, it is about forming new habits in our real world, in our lives, and how it affects our brain. Take the example of mobile phones, a device used by the most of the population. For decades, the only telephones available to the general public were landline ones. Although the mobile phone technology was developed since as early as the 40's, it was not until the early 90's that the market really started to boom, and became mainstream in most countries by the end of the decade.

Why did it take so long? For one, the technology and the call quality were not close enough to the landlines to convince for a change (the distance from the current habit to the new one was still large). The price and size of the products inhibited an effortless change, as well as the price of the communications (the usage frequency was not encouraged). The mainstream influencers (cinema and TV essentially) took a long time to adopt this new technology and to introduce it as a common or normal habit. Net, most of the conditions for a new habit development didn't exist until the 90's.

The change to a habit of being available on the phone anywhere and anytime has been slow at first, but once the barriers were correctly addressed a revolution happened. Our brain quickly adapted to the new way of communicating, and has changed the way it perceives the reality. Today, the big question for the telecom companies is not whether the landlines will be over someday or not, but rather when will they be totally substituted by the mobile world. Interestingly, in some countries that missed most of the early telecommunications' development, the mobile phones are stepping ahead of landlines as the first national network (mainly in some African countries).

Today we have already gone over the mobile phone period, we're in the broadband mobile internet and data era. Our lives will never be the same, our brain has totally adapted to living with mobile communications and plan the actions based in that habit. And with it, new challenges arise: if you had a date today with your friend at the shopping mall, would you be able to find him/her without your mobile phone? Surely the answer is an easy yes, but it's not that sure it would be that simple.

Pedro Teixeira is Commercial and SEO Manager at CogniFit, an innovative company which develops software for measuring and training the cognitive abilities - brain fitness.

You can provide your comments and thoughts to Pedro, by sending him a message on Facebook at http://facebook.com/teixeira.p

View the original article here

Thank God It's Friday - Waiting Until The Weekend To Find Reason to Celebrate

2011-08-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

When Is "Enough" Enough?

2011-08-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

What Makes You Happy or Unhappy? Just Think About That!

2011-08-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Formula One Coming to New Jersey?

2011-08-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. -- Formula One, the world's richest and most glamorous racing circuit, may be headed to New Jersey for an event in the shadow of the Manhattan skyline.

The mayors of Weehawken and West New York, N.J., said Tuesday that they are in early stages of talks with a group of investors led by Leo Hindery Jr., a former chief executive of the YES Network, to bring an F1 event to the area as soon as 2013. The race would run on existing streets in these cities, with New York as the backdrop.

The event would put the region in the company of Monaco, Montreal, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which host annual F1 events. Bernie Ecclestone, the head of F1, could not be reached for comment, The Wall Street Journal reported.

If approved, the proposed race would be a second US event for F1, which has announced an annual race in Austin, Texas, starting next year.

Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner and West New York Mayor Felix Roque suggested in a joint statement that the race could prove to be a lucrative annual source of income for the area. They said no tax dollars would be involved in staging the race.

"In these uncertain economic times when every direct and indirect revenue source is vital, our own Formula One race could be a very positive boost to our citizens," the mayors said. "This said, we need to ensure that the financial benefits from the privilege of having these races in our towns are equitably shared and that no tax dollars are used. The investor group has already told us that our towns would be substantially compensated annually."

There were discussions last year about bringing an F1 race to Jersey City, N.J. So far, the difference between that failed initiative and the new one is that public officials appear to be on board.

Last year, Destination Jersey City, an organization operated by the city's economic-development department, created a proposal to hold an F1 race at Liberty State Park, near the Statue of Liberty. Government officials quickly objected to the idea amid public protest, with Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy saying the event was not suited for the park.

Representatives of Weehawken and West New York have had preliminary talks with Gov. Chris Christie's administration about the new proposal, according to Kevin Roberts, a Christie spokesman. "The prospect of having Formula One come to New Jersey is exciting," he said.

This season's 19-race F1 calendar includes events in Australia, Asia, Europe and South and North America.

The one place that F1 has not had a steady foothold historically is in the US. Numerous localities across the country have held F1 races over the past half century, including Watkins Glen, N.Y., Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix. Most faced attendance problems or track difficulties. The last US F1 race took place in Indianapolis in 2007.

View the original article here

Driver of Motorized Beer Cooler Charged With Drunk Driving

2011-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Published August 08, 2011

| NewsCore

NOOSA, Australia -- An Australian man caught driving a motorized cooler box through a beachside resort town appeared in court charged with drunk driving, The Courier Mail reported Monday.

Christopher Ian Petrie, 23, faces charges of driving under the influence and driving without a license after police caught him on the makeshift vehicle, which was powered by a 50cc engine.

The incident took place on June 16 in Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.

Petrie's lawyers won an adjournment from magistrate John Parker as they sought to establish "whether a motorized esky [cooler box] was in fact a motor vehicle."

An amused Parker inquired with Petrie about his cooler box's performance.

"How much beer can it hold?" he asked the defendant. Petrie told the court the cooler box could hold "at least a couple of cartons."

He will re-appear in court August 16.

Click here for more from Fox Car Report

View the original article here

Pure Essential Oils

2011-08-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Pure essential oils are hard to come by these days due to the time consuming and intricate process involved. The high demand is more than the supply. First you need to ask what constitutes them? There are many factors that play a role in its purity. It has hundreds of different chemical constituents that can give the oil its overall power and purity for medicinal uses.

The essential oil constituents are categorized into the following 13 different categories: Alkanes, Phenols, Terpenes, Alcohols, Ethers, Aldehydes, Ketones, Carboxylic acids, Esters, Oxides, Lactones, Coumarins, and Furanoids. The constituents are all affected by many variables such as geographical region, climate, altitude, soil condition, fertilizer, harvesting methods, the part of the plant the oil came from, and the distillation process. In order to get pure on all of the variables that affect the constituents need to be optimal for the plant, especially the distillation process.

When it is being produced, it needs to have the aromatic compounds preserved as much as possible. The aromatic chemicals are very fragile and can be killed by high temperature, pressure, and chemically reactive metals. It should be distilled in stainless steel cooking chambers at low temperatures and low pressure.

You want a pure therapeutic-grade essential oil that has been cared for in the growing process, distillation process and also in the testing phase. It will cost more for the pure ones, but if you buy cheap oils chances are it is synthetic and can be harmful. You want to know that the plants are free of herbicides, pesticides, and all other agrichemicals. These harmful chemicals can mix with the oils during distillation and produce toxic compounds.

The main constituents and fragrance have been successfully created in the laboratory by chemists. These are called synthetic oils and lack the true purity of therapeutic-grade essential oils. The chemist is unable to manufacture all of its molecules and isomers leaving the synthetic oils in an unnatural state. This can lead to the synthetic oils being harmful and having no real benefits to you. This is a big concern because the demand for oil is more than the supply so a lot of the oil on the market is synthetic.

True pure oils take a lot of preparation, time and testing to be labeled as therapeutic. It starts with the seed and ends with the distillation process. It is very important to be aware of who you're buying your essential oils from and how they process them. The therapeutic-grade essential oils can greatly benefit your mind, body, and spirit. So just remember, in order to receive the health benefits from essential oils they must be pure.

To achieve the maximum benefits for yourself using essential oils please visit: http://www.essentialoils4life.com/ and try out the purest essential oils available.

View the original article here

Little Things Can Make You Happy As You Experience Joy, Satisfaction, and Contentment

2011-08-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

How to Overcome Fear in 10 Minutes a Day

2011-08-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Discover The Main Benefits Of Hypnotherapy

2011-08-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of hypnotherapy? You may not know it but you might have a problem that can be treated using this technique. And that is why it can be worthy of your time to at least read some of the top benefits of hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy is the process or technique of utilizing hypnosis to assist an individual to make some positive changes in his life. And those changes can be physical, mental, or emotional. And of course these procedures are administered by a trained hypnotherapist. What it does really is to try to access the subconscious mind which actually has a great effect on our whole self. You alter the subconscious and you will start to see major changes in your life.

In case you are wondering, what is the difference between hypnosis and hypnotherapy since they seem to be similar concepts? Understandably both have similarities but they differ in one main thing: hypnotherapy makes use of hypnosis to treat certain problems of an individual. In short hypnosis is the tool.

So here are some of the major benefits of hypnotherapy that you might be interested to know.

It can help you connect your present difficulties or problems with something that happened in the past that directly or indirectly caused you those problems. How can this be useful? If you know about those things then your hypnotherapist can now help fix them for you or at least guide you to the right healing process.

It can actually help in reducing your daily stress level, minimize your anxieties and along the way also help in improving your immune system. And when you are free from stress and your body's immunity is at its peak, less diseases will be affecting you from now on.

Hypnotherapy can also help clear your cluttered mind and as such helps to let out the creative part of your brain. So if you think you are being hindered by something, especially by your thoughts, from achieving your full potential as an artist you should definitely give this a try.

Are you feeling down? Is depression affecting the way you live your life and your relationship with the people that you love? Depression is a very serious problem that can lead to more grave consequences. Therefore before it starts to escalates in its gravity, look to a hypnotherapist to help you out.

Are you suffering from a phobia? Many people have claimed that hypnotherapy was able to relieve them from their phobias. Hypnosis have been known to achieve such healing milestones especially because it is able to reach into the subconscious which is mainly where our phobias reside.

And finally if you are just seeking some inner peace, if you are seeking life's purpose, this procedure can help you find all that. It sets you straight on the right path because it can help you feel more assertive and feel more peaceful.

So there you have it. These are just some of the top benefits of hypnotherapy. If you think you have a problem that this method can treat, contact a hypnotherapist today.

View the original article here

Psychic Events

2011-08-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

Psychic events demonstrate in various ways and one of the most common is in dreams. There are times when one has had a dream that has left them feeling uneasy or just overwhelmed. This is because the dream could be about an important event or person that you are anticipating to happen soon. Dreams often leave a significant impact in an individual's life and sometimes form an accurate basis for telepathic readings.

Psychic mediums usually tap into the spiritual realm to generate accurate psychic events and readings. When one posses a unique psychic ability, there is a likelihood that it will manifest as you continue to dream. There are common kinds of dreams that signify psychic events and readings.

Lucid dreams and their meanings

For one to be in a lucid dream, it means that they are aware of the dream. However, you cannot force yourself to wake up or change the cause of event in the dream. Usually, the dream is accurate and can reveal realistic psychic events from the same dream. Lucid dreams are interpreted in different ways and seeking help from a psychic will enable you interpret the dream correctly.

Recurrent dream

These kinds of dreams communicate an important message regarding psychic events. When one repeatedly dreams a specific dream, it is good to try to remember all the details each one at a time. This may include the clothes the person was wearing in the dream and the colors surrounding them. If possible, you should write them down in order to remember and help you retain the image and continue with the psychic skill.

After death visitation dreams

When the spirits of loved ones who have departed appear in dreams, there may be a set of challenges waiting. Look out for the body language the loved one is using in the dream and how the things they are saying is imparting you. These may be your spirit guides or guardian angels that who are using the person's image to grab your attention.

Evidence of psychic events in a research study

In a study examining the well-known priming effect that was irreversible, people viewed photos and they had to indicate quickly if the photo represented a negative or a positive image. For example if the photo had a cute kitten, they indicated a positive, and if the photo had worms, they indicated negative by pressing a button. A lot of research has been done n how subliminal priming can quicken one's ability to recognize photos. This is a technique where a word flashes on a computer screen and the subconscious mind does not have enough time to identify with what they have seen, but deep within you, you are able to recognize the image and categorize it as positive or negative things.

Sarah Saxon writes for the psychic & metaphysical arena and is a reiki master.
psychic reading
psychics

View the original article here

Kate Hudson: I Hope to Let My Kids 'Make Mistakes Without' Judging Them

2011-08-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Kate Hudson in ELLE

Courtesy Elle

Kate Hudson ended up being a successful actress and loving mommy of two, but she doesn't credit her charmed life with being overly disciplined by her mom and dad growing up.

"My parents allowed my brother and I to have our freedom," she tells Elle magazine. "[We could] be ourselves and feel confident in our choices and make mistakes without too much judgment."

Hudson, 32, who has "had lots of talks about parenting and being a working mom" with her mother Goldie Hawn, says she hopes she "can do as good a job" as her parents did with letting sons Ryder, 7½, and Bingham, 4 weeks, find their own path without unnecessary criticism.

"[My mom] never hands out unsolicited preachy words of wisdom," Hudson says.

Although the Something Borrowed star just gave birth to Bing with fiancé Matt Bellamy – and the duo has a wedding in the works – Hudson has no plans to slow down her fast-paced lifestyle.

"I would never want to be with someone who complains and goes, 'Oh, my god, my life is so crazy,' " she says. "If you make the best of it, it can be amazing."

"Most relationships I've had in my life have been with people who travel quite a bit for work," Hudson continues. "It is nice to be with somebody who understands having to be on the move."

View the original article here

How Yoga Impacts Our Health

2011-08-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

I tell my clients that if they have time for only one activity then do Yoga. Why yoga? Yoga impacts what I refer to as the triad of well-being---mind ( psychological), body ( physiological), and spirit (emotions/perceptions). It is an ancient spiritual practice, a moving meditation, that keeps the focus on what is happening in the present.

The Psychological Benefits of yoga include: improved mood, decrease in anxiety and depression, improved interpersonal relationships, and somatic and kinesthetic awareness.

A consistent yoga practice improves mood and the ability to be resilient. The ability to handle stressful situations improves and a sense of tranquility lessens fears and worries by focusing on thinking, feeling, and doing in the present moment.

Social adjustment increases through the ability to maintain strong interpersonal relationships.The non-competitive nature of yoga fosters a sense of interconnectedness and belonging to a community

Since Yoga is a moving meditation, the result is a decrease in anxiety and depression. The physical postures ( Asanas) aid in the regulation of hormone activity which helps to regulate mood

Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase as one begins to live in the present, concentrating on what is happening in the here and now.

The Physiologic Benefits of yoga are well documented in medical literature and include: the stabilization and balance of the autonomic nervous system which "turns off" the body's physiological stress response, a stronger and more efficient heart muscle, and increased lung capacity and more efficient use of oxygen.

Additionally, blood pressure decreases as less tension is placed on the blood vessels and the entire vascular system. Gastrointestinal function normalizes decreasing the chances for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Constipation, and Ulcers.

Yoga has a direct effect on thyroid gland, lessening the chance of developing thyroid disorders and aids in the regulation of blood sugar which decreases the potential for developing diabetes.

Increased muscle flexibility and strength and improved range of motion and sense of balance are the result of yoga directly impacting all the muscles in the body. In addition, there is decreased risk of developing Osteoporosis because of the direct physical impact on the large bones in the body.

Additionally, a consistent yoga practice aids in weight management and improvement in sleep. Yoga boosts the immune system minimizing the risk of colds and infections. Pain decreases because more oxygen is available for the cells and muscles, total cholesterol and triglycerides decrease; lessening the chances of developing heart disease. Brain cells are nourished due to the increase availability of oxygen to the brain and Oxytocin ( the binding/relationship hormone) is increased.

Medical Science is now recognizing how our Spirit impacts our health and well-being. The balance and harmony between our mind-body-and spirit is essential for well- being. The root cause of many chronic diseases and illness are emotional and spiritual in nature. Heart Disease, Asthma, Gastric Ulcers, and even some forms of cancer are linked to negativity, depression, anger, and isolation. Illness and disease can not always be prevented, there are measures that can be taken to help minimize the risk of illness and disease.

Yoga helps us to grow in love, compassion, and gratitude; becoming more self-accepting and more accepting of others. Hostility decreases and a sense of peace and tranquility permeates our being. Negative feelings and emotions are replaced with contentment, The result is becoming pro-active instead of reactive to life situations.

Yoga requires no specific skills and is suitable for most. Yoga is empowering and a consistent practice can help maintain good health and well-being.

Teresa Palmer, MSN, RN ( http://www.wellnesswithoutboundaries.com/ ) has been in the healing profession for 30 years. She is a Registered Nurse, Nationally Certified Nurse Practitioner, and Certified Yoga Therapist with an expertise in Health and Spirituality. She is often a guest on WBAI ( 99.5FM) radio and The Positive Mind with Armand DiMele. Teresa is the Founder of Wellness Without Boundaries, a consultancy focusing on strategies for better managing illness and disease holistically through counseling, behavior modification, meditation, and yoga.

View the original article here

Understanding Astral Projection Frequencies

2011-08-14T03:57:00.000-07:00

Astral projection frequencies play a big role in doing astral projection. But before learning the importance and use of these frequencies, it is best to understand the whole concept of astral travel.

What is astral projection? This, which is also known as astral travel, is an ancient interpretation of an out of body experience, wherein a person leaves his or her physical body. The body that leaves the physical one is known as an astral body. During the out of body experience, the astral body travels to or visits the astral plane. The astral plane is like a life after death platform, where angels, spirits and other immaterial beings are present.

It is believed that anyone can conduct an out of body experience since no special powers or skills are needed to project the astral body. But experts say that in most cases, older people tend to lose the ability to visit the astral plane.

Even though there are times that it would be hard to conduct astral travel, studies were made by experts and thus the birth of astral projection frequencies. Many believe that these frequencies make it easier for practitioners to perform astral travel. Researches show that brainwaves are connected in astral projections. Furthermore, these frequencies show the different stages to be considered for a successful astral travel.

There are a total of six frequencies. The first stage is the gamma frequency. This frequency is the stage of strong perception, awareness and consciousness. The second stage is the beta frequency, in which the mind of the person is thought to be in the state of solving his or her problems. The next stage, the alpha frequency, is the stage wherein the brainwaves are slower and calmer, which gives more relaxation to the mind of the person.

The other three higher stages are theta, delta and lambda or epsilon frequencies. Astral projection takes place in the fourth stage, which is the theta stage. This is the point where the mind of the person is meditating. The fifth stage, which is the delta frequency, is when the person is already in his or her deep sleep. The lambda or epsilon stage is the final stage or level where the mystical consciousness of a person is opened.

Science indicates that by combining these six frequencies, the person will be successful in performing astral travel. It is believed that the person who will properly apply these frequencies will be able to visit the astral plane in not more thirty minutes. Aside from precisely following the stages or steps of astral projections, experts believe that an audio recording can further help the brainwaves of a person to be in the right state while doing this process.

Astral travel may sound complicated for some people. Religious beliefs clearly have an influence in understanding and accepting all this. Aside from the presence of astral projection frequencies, the thought of having another world, which is the astral plane, is a big question for other religions. Nonetheless, many still patronized astral projection for meditation and for an out of body relaxation.

Brian is an astral travel publisher. For more great tips on astral projection frequencies, visit http://www.astraltravelguide.info/

View the original article here

A Happy Life Is No Longer a Dream!

2011-08-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Medical School and The Mind

2011-08-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the California study that randomly selected a group of teachers and assigned randomly selected students to them. They told both the teachers and the students that they were selected from the top 10% of their respective groups and that everyone expected outstanding results from this combination of elite teachers and elite students. Guess what? By the end of the school year, they did achieve outstanding marks, and only then were they told that they had been randomly selected, and on balance, were just average performers in their respective groups.

We all know the story about the little train that could - he could because he believed he could. Henry Ford put this same idea rather succinctly: "If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're right." As most people know, much has been written about the power of belief, intent, expectation, and thought in creating reality. Basically, the authors are all saying that we create our reality by what we think and believe. Sound familiar? Law of Attraction maybe?

Recently, I finished a book by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. entitled: The Biology of Belief. Lipton is a former cell biologist and medical school professor who came to the conclusion that the health or illness of cells is determined by what we think and believe. As well as using science to explain what mystics (Christ, Buddha, etc.) have been telling us for millennia, he clearly describes how genes do not cause disease. He points out that genes may have the potential for a particular disease but whether or not that disease catches hold is the result of our thoughts and beliefs.

The good news about this is that we now know we are not the victims we once thought we were, when for instance, we'd say things like: "I got cancer because it's in the family and I inherited my parents' genes." Lipton allows the point that being in a particular family may be the cause of a disease, but he points out that the environment in which one grows up within a family, is where the thoughts and beliefs begin. One of his chapters is entitled: "It's The Environment, Stupid."

Besides Lipton, there are many medical researchers who have come to the same conclusion. However, none of this has found its way into any medical school curriculum. The closest the medical profession seems to come to this idea is that it acknowledges the placebo effect, where the belief that a pill is beneficial produces a beneficial effect, often to the same extent as the real drug against which it has been tested, and without the adverse side effects. Most Physicians know that a patient's blood pressure will rise significantly if taken in a clinic by someone wearing a white coat or a doctor's uniform. It's interesting, that with things like this in everyday evidence right under their noses, these very bright people don't take the mind into account when attempting to restore health.

It's remarkable as well, that current medical practice is still based on the Newtonian model of reality that deals with matter, and cause and effect. For example, do this, you get that; take this pill, you get that effect, when for the past 75 years or more, science has been applying and validating the findings of Quantum Physics. Quantum Physics has validated such things as: thought moves matter, distance and location don't matter, things can move faster that light, we are all one energy, etc.

So, why isn't the mind included in medical studies and practice? These aren't ignorant or stupid people and the science is clear. I can only think of two possible reasons: 1) The people running the medical profession have somehow lost sight of their original purpose or else they don't want to change, or 2) The pharmaceutical industry feels threatened by the prospects of a declining demand for pills. Which do you think it is 1), 2), or both? Hint: Follow the money.

For more information, see: www.mycapco.ca.

Peter Dennis, B.Comm, B. Ed., M.B.A, is a Certified Consulting Hypnotist specializing in weight reduction, smoking cessation, insomnia, exam anxiety, stress reduction, and spiritual regression. He also teaches meditation to small groups, and is a popular speaker on the subjects of hypnosis, meditation, self-hypnosis, and handwriting analysis.

Peter Lives north of Toronto and works in and around the town of Richmond Hill. For more information, see: http://www.mycapco.ca/.

View the original article here

June: A Whole Month of Happiness and Wellbeing

2011-08-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Life Is About Living Not Remembering

2011-08-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

It was one of the last nights of our vacation. My husband, son, daughter, dog, and I were sitting around a campfire with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the lake. The kids were roasting marshmallows for s'mores, the dog was calm, and the mosquitoes weren't yet out. Then it hit me: this is perfect. At first, the thought made me undeniably happy, I was in the moment enjoying the whole scene.

However, soon my thoughts turned and I got a sort of panicky feeling. "I'll never remember this moment fully", "the kids are growing up so fast", etc. You get the idea. I took a couple of pictures to capture the moment, but it didn't make me feel much better. All I could think of was how many beautiful moments we've had as a family that I can't fully remember.

It took a few moments, but I soon returned to my senses. Life is not about remembering every little detail. Certainly, it's impossible to achieve that level of memory and what would be the good in it anyway? Life is about living not remembering. We don't love people because of a particular moment that we've had with them. Love is built on moment after moment and experience after experience shared with another person. It isn't important to remember the details because it's the building of the relationship that means so much.

So get out there and be present in every moment with your family. Amazingly enough, when you experience each moment fully, life slows down to a pace that doesn't make you want to panic.

Betsy McGuire invites you to visit http://www.chickpeawellness.com/ and sign up to receive her mind, body, and spirit blog the day entries are made. You can also "like" Chickpea Wellness on Facebook and receive new articles on your wall.

View the original article here

How to Keep Your Life in Balance During The Twists and Turns of Life

2011-08-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone has heard that keeping your life in balance enables you to have a certain amount of stability when life circumstances and situations begin to twist and turn in ways that you could have never even imagined. Consequently for this reason if you are feeling down, you can do something good for someone else and notice how it naturally lifts your spirits.

Equally important if you feel a lack of energy you can exercise which will help reconnect you with that powerful reservoir of energy that is within you. Given these facts you can also make and keep regular prayer and meditation appointments so that you can make sure that you spend some quality alone time with God each day.

The fact of the matter is as a result of all this the serenity you will begin to experience will provide you with a sense of inner and outer balance to your entire life. It is quite obvious that staying connected to the good in you allows you to be in harmony with the good of all creation. The right thing to do is center yourself each day with God who is the source of all life and also allows you to bring and keep your life in perspective.

Again to repeat, making and keeping regular prayer and meditation appointments is a really great way to center yourself each day with God. And when you are able to meditate on a daily basis you might even begin to notice how it allows you to receive that inner knowing of making conscious contact with God.

Believe me, when you begin to know that you are making conscious contact with God each day through prayer and meditation your life naturally begins to take on a greater sense of balance and perspective that can only be experienced through the presence of God that is within you.

By the way, you will also be glad to know that the practice of Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation technique that is so advance it is actually simple. The practice of Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation technique that is experienced while lying down on your back in a comfortable position as you are guided into the deepest states of your being where Love, Joy and Peace reside within you.

Finally, in conclusion if you are truly interested in maintaining and achieving the kind of balance in your life that will allow you to experience a certain kind of serenity in your life that is everlasting then you are going to want to make a commitment towards meditating and praying on a daily basis.

Thaddeus Ferguson has dedicated himself to the cause of helping people heal themselves first in order to help heal the world during this amazing time of transformation.

The practice of Meditation and/or Yoga Nidra is just one of the many powerful tools that you can use in order to help Heal You First.

Discover many of the Benefits of Meditation Now!

Learn more about Yoga Nidra Now!

View the original article here

The Home of the Future Is Almost Here

2011-08-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

The future was supposed to be here by now.

For years, we’ve been promised smart home technologies, those fantastical futuristic toys that would transform the home into a gleaming digital palace, but they never seem to materialize.

Sure, we’ve come close. But while “The Jetsons” had a robo-maid, we’ve had to make do with mere robo-vacuums. While “Back to the Future II” promised us wall-sized videophones, we Skype, provided the WiFi isn’t acting up.

So why has it taken so long for the home to be truly transformed by tech?

“It’s probably because we didn’t have the infrastructure in place,” says Laura Hubbard, spokeswoman for the Consumer Electronics Association. “But now with wireless technology and more homes being connected to broadband, it’s much easier for the homeowner to connect stuff in the home. There are a lot more do-it-yourself options.”

Though our humble homes fail to meet the wide-eyed promises of Hollywood and Hanna-Barbera, today’s smart home technology is actually pretty cool.

Information Overload

You might be asking, what separates smart home technology from the everyday devices already found in the home? Well, it’s all about connectivity.

“In a smart home, all of the devices and different consumer electronic products you have talk to each other,” Hubbard said.

When it comes to plugging into media, consumers already have a lot to choose from. Internet-connected set-top boxes like Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee and others are all the rage this year, capable of wirelessly linking streaming services like Netflix and Hulu to your TV, or blasting your iTunes library through your stereo. Yes, folks, the future means we’ll never be more than a moment away from an on-demand rerun of “Friends” or an endless loop of Rihanna’s latest single. Isn’t it glorious?

While set-top boxes certainly add great functionality to your media systems, the future is also going to look a whole lot more integrated. Many of the TVs hitting the market right now, like Vizio’s V.I.A. line, have Internet capabilities baked right in, making your TV a seamless hub of streaming content without having to install a separate box-top unit.

And if information overload from your TV alone isn’t enough to satiate your craving for news and media, there’s always the Cybertecture Mirror, a mirror that allows you to read the latest headlines and check Facebook while you shave or get ready in the morning.

One Panel to Rule Them All

At first we had analog thermostats with big broad dials and crude temperature gauges that clicked on seemingly at random, never able to maintain an optimal temperature for more than a few minutes. Then programmable thermostats hit the market, sporting rubberized buttons and digital readouts that conferred the illusion of precision. But tomorrow’s “home of the future” won’t have a thermostat at all. In its place will sit a touchscreen tablet capable of controlling everything in the house.

“Smart house control panels are an extremely exciting trend,” said Candice Cerro, a spokeswoman with Move.com, a site that tracks trends in real estate. “The ability to control lighting, sound, temperature and more from one spot in the house is the ultimate luxury.”

Today’s systems, like Control4, Intel’s Home Dashboard, and Cisco’s Home Energy Controller allow you to take charge of everything operating in the home, all from a single touchscreen display. These cutting-edge systems look cool, but having to buy a standalone device just to manage home functions does feel like a bit of a backwards step, particularly since we are living in an age when most of us carry smart phones with more computing power than it took to land Apollo 11 on the moon.

Once all these functions get shifted to iPhones, iPads and Android devices, rather than requiring a separate device, a digital home dashboard system will really start to look attractive to consumers. These displays also promise to revolutionize the way we think about home security, learning and adapting to our behavior in order to keep thieves on their toes.

“For those worried about safety while on vacation, smart house security systems make it easy for them to check in from their phones or tablets,” Cerro says. “Some smart houses can even record the owners’ typical light usage and mimic it throughout the day while they are away to make it appear as if someone is always home.”

The Future Is Imminent

Of course, many of the best future gadgets haven’t been invented yet; or, in the case of something like the Xbox Kinect, the technology is there, but the use has yet to be devised.

The Kinect is a powerful motion-sensing suite of microphones and cameras that transforms your body into a video game controller. But calling it a mere video game system is like calling the iPhone a mere phone. Sure it does video games, but a legion of hackers is busy at work dreaming up new uses for this powerful piece of technology.

In the future, you’ll be able to ditch your remote and simply swipe your hand through the air to change channels. Or how about integrating a Kinect with a cleaning robot, allowing it to interact with humans and map its surroundings.

The possibilities in the home are already exciting, and we have only yet seen a small portion of possible applications for devices like the Kinect.

So bring on the future and let the machines rule, I say. Let’s just hope the future looks more like “The Jetsons” and less like the “Terminator.”

View the original article here

The 3 Areas Of Fulfillment

2011-08-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

View the original article here

Inside President Obama's Visit with Grieving Navy SEAL Families

2011-08-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama

Jason Reed/Landov

President Obama paid his respects – and offered a shoulder to cry on – at Dover Air Force Base Tuesday as he consoled families of the 30 U.S. troops whose remains were brought home from Afghanistan.

"I told him, I want you to give me my grandson back. I want him alive," Madeline Bernice Strange tells PEOPLE. Her grandson, Navy SEAL Michael Strange, 25, was among the servicemen killed Aug. 6 when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan – the single deadliest loss in the decade-long war there.

"I told the President we never should've been there" in Afghanistan, said Madeline Strange. "And he told me, 'I'm trying to get them out as quick as possible.' "

Michael's father, Charles, also tried to question the President, says Madeline Strange. "But Charlie started to cry so loud and hard, the President just held him."

The Stranges and 29 other grieving families now struggle to plan funerals while their husbands' and sons' remains are sorted and identified through DNA, dental records and fingerprints.

Personal – and emotional – tributes offered a rare public glimpse inside the secretive world of the Navy SEALs, which lost 22 men in the weekend crash. Near Virginia Beach, where Kraig Vickers, a bomb disposal technician working with the SEALs, liked to surf, more than 200 surfers carrying red flowers ceremoniously paddled out into the ocean on Tuesday, attended by dolphins, to cast the flowers into the water in Vickers's honor.

Here, PEOPLE puts names and faces to these American heroes. The full list of casualties will be posted when it is available.

Clockwise from top left: Kevin Houston; Brian Bill; Patrick Hamburger; John W. Brown; Michael Strange; Chris Campbell

Courtesy of families: Kelly; Bill; Peck; Brown; Jones; Campbell

Alexander Bennett, 23, Army
Kansas City, Mo.
Bennett grew up in Tacoma, Wash., before joining the Army and had served in Iraq.

Darrik Benson, 29, Navy
Angwin, Calif.
Benson, a Navy SEAL who grew up in Napa County, Calif., had deployed several times to Afghanistan.

Brian Bill, 31, Navy
Stamford, Conn.
"He had laser focus. But he loved to let loose among his close friends. He'd do Jim Carey impersonations and get on the piano. He had an eclectic taste in music, from Beethoven to Metallica," a friend, Jonathan Scofield, tells PEOPLE.

John W. Brown, 33, Air Force
Siloam Springs, Ark.
"He was interested in the medical field and told me joining the Air Force was an opportunity to help people in a different way from a hospital. He flew 300 days a year and earned a Bronze Star," his dad, Dan Brown, tells PEOPLE.

Chris Campbell, 36, Navy
Jacksonville, N.C.
"If Chris though he could, he would try," his mom tells Jacksonville's Daily News. He supported the Wounded Warrior Project and was a fun-loving jock who played baseball, football, basketball and surfed.

Spencer C. Duncan, 21, Army
Olathe, Kan.
Duncan, an Army soldier from Kansas, was a helicopter door gunner who had been in Afghanistan only a few months.

Patrick Hamburger, 30, Army National Guard
Grand Island, Neb.
Hamburger, an Army soldier who grew up in Nebraska, arrived in Afghanistan only last week for his first tour of duty there.

Kevin Houston, 36, Navy
Cape Cod, Mass.
"He'd ask to see my Vietnam photo album, then bring out his laptop and show me films of his missions. They were classified, but he said, 'Aww, I can show you.' He hugged me like he was my own kid," Houston's mentor, veteran Chris Kelly, tells PEOPLE.

Jonas Kelsall, 33, Navy
Shreveport, La.
Kelsall, who also grew up in Shreveport, joined the SEALs and had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander.

Stephen M. Mills , 36, Navy
Bastrop, Texas
Mills, of Arlington, Texas, served as a Navy SEAL for 14 years.

Bryan Nichols, 31, Army
Kansas City, Mo.
Nicols, of Kansas City, Mo., was a U.S. Army pilot who was about to return home to his family on a two-week leave.

Thomas Ratzlaff, 34, Navy
Green Forest, Ark.
Ratzlaff, another Navy SEAL, of Green Forest, Ark., leaves behind a wife and two sons. He and his wife were expecting a daughter this fall.

Robert James Reeves, 32, Navy
Shreveport, La.
Reeves, a Navy SEAL, grew up in Shreveport, La., and had been deployed to war zones more than a dozen times.

Nick Spehar, 24, Navy
Chisago City, Minn.
Spehar, of Chisago City, Minn., joined the SEALs and is remembered as a "quiet leader."

Michael Strange, 25, Navy
Mayfair, Penn.
Strange was a Navy SEAL who grew up in Philadelphia but had recently moved to Virginia and had become engaged. He wanted to be a nurse and always brought his grandma flowers.

"It was a thing between him and me to say 'love to love' before we hung up the phone. Last time, I forgot, and he called me right back," Strange, 78, tells PEOPLE through tears. "For what he did in the SEALs, he was very tender."

Jon Tumilson, 35, Navy
Rockford, Iowa
Tumilson, a native of Rockford, Iowa, served in the SEALs and would have had 20 years in the Navy in three years.

Aaron Vaughn, 30, Navy
Union City, Tenn.
Vaughn, a Navy SEAL, got married three years ago and lived with his family in Virginia Beach.

Kraig Vickers, 36, Navy
Maui, Hawaii
Vickers was an explosive-ordnance-disposal specialist in the Navy who grew up in Hawaii.

Jason Workman, 32, Navy
Blanding, Utah
Workman, a SEAL who grew up in Utah, had served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil and Pennsylvania.

John Douangdara, 26, Navy
Sioux City, Iowa
Douangdara, a SEAL who had grown up in South Sioux City, Neb., was a lead dog handler for his unit.

Matt Mason, 37, Navy
Kearney, Mo.
Mason, a Navy SEAL who grew up in Missouri, had been injured while serving in Iraq.

Daniel Zerbe, 28, Navy
Red Lion, Pa.
Zerbe, from Pennsylvania, was a pararescue jumper in the Air Force.

David Carter, 47, Army National Guard
Aurora, Colo.
Carter, a Colorado National Guardsman from Aurora, was a pilot.

Lou Langlais, 44, Navy
Virginia Beach, Va.
Langlais was a Navy SEAL who lived in Virginia Beach and worshiped at the same church as Kevin Houston, another of the SEAL killed in the crash.

Jesse Pittman, 27, Navy
Angwin, Calif.
Pittman, a Navy SEAL, was a former firefighter from California.

Heath Robinson, 34, Navy
Petoskey, Mich.
Robinson, a Navy SEAL, grew up in Petoskey, Mich.

View the original article here

How Distance Spiritual Healing Works

2011-08-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Distance spiritual healing is also known as remote or absent healing. Spiritual healing started a long time ago by the Shamans and traditional medicine men and continues today. Many kinds of spiritual distant healing correspond to the various levels of spiritual awareness and understanding of the spiritual healer. There are two main kinds of understanding based on reality, which is either absolute or relative.

The distance healer works the chi, prana, or meridian lines and sometimes uses the human energy field. The meridians and chakras are a part of the virtual reality of spiritual healing. We learn from quantum psychics that all things are relative to the universe in energy and all things are unified in one way or the other. Distant spiritual healing affects our energies whether we are a few feet away or thousands of miles away. Regardless of the fact that chi and prana healing are used for distant healing, they are limited to the virtual physical and restrained energies.

Different terms are used to describe distant healing interventions that include intercessory prayers non-directed prayers, energy healing level III, and Reiki among others. Each of these terms is used to describe a particular form of healing be it biological or mental.

Distant healing explained
Distant healing constitutes a wide range of healing practices, based on ancient telepathic traditions. It happens across all religions including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and others and encourages the use of distant healing and other forms of spiritual distant healing. The most popular forms of spiritual healing are prayer and meditation. Some of the practices focus attention on specific disease areas while others emphasize on creating a superior environment for healing. Essentially all healing practices focus on alleviating the persons suffering and increase their well-being and that of humanity as a whole.

Conditions treated with distant spiritual healing
There are different conditions that are treated with distant healing. These are answered in different ways depending on the healers' orientation. Most distant spiritual healers treat form a spiritual rather than a medical perspective and hardly use the terminology disease to describe a condition. They also do not claim to heal medical conditions but create a positive environment for healing.

Spiritual healing focuses primarily on creating an environment for well being and that catalyzes an individuals overall healing process. The approach is aimed at rebalancing the body's systems in collaboration with other telepathic therapies.

Effectiveness of distant healing
Studies suggest that spiritual healing is beneficial to an individual's health. Some clinical studies have also shown they have therapeutic effects. Many healers recommend that spiritual healing be understood as one aspect of an overall and integral medicine model where several therapies are used to treat a condition.

Various approaches are used to treat different conditions however the overall effect is dependent on the patients faith. Some healers work by altering the physical reality in which spiritual healing comes about. Spiritual healers believe that it takes the power of the mind to bring about the non local transfer of positive energy that facilitates the healing.

Sarah Saxon writes for the psychic & metaphysical arena and is a reiki master.

psychic reading
psychic reading

View the original article here

Heath - Mental Illnesses and Physical Diseases You Can Prevent Through Dream Therapy

2011-08-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

The meaning of dreams is very important when accurately translated. The unconscious mind that produces your dreams is a doctor. All dreams contain precious messages that protect your mental and physical health. You can prevent all mental illnesses, physical diseases, accidents, and other misfortunes if you follow the guidance given by the unconscious mind in your dreams.

The saintly unconscious mind is your protector. You need protection because you are basically absurd. All mental illnesses and physical diseases are consequences of your absurdity.

You don't know how to analyze your behavior and understand your psychological system. However, the truth is that everything in your life is a result of your behavior, which is constantly influenced by your wild tendencies.

Study for a while the scientific method of dream interpretation, and you will be able to understand the helpful lessons of your natural doctor; the wise unconscious mind that produces your dreams. This method was discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by me, who continued his research.

Whenever you suffer from a mental or physical illness, the first, basic reason why you are sick is your own absurd attitude in a certain matter of your life.

You may believe you are right in all points. You may consider yourself a balanced and normal person. However, this is not true. You are too ignorant, and you have a deficient conscience that must be developed. Besides this fact, you have inherited too much craziness into the biggest part of your brain.

The absurd content (anti-conscience) you have inherited cannot but already prove by itself that you are absurd. You don't have a healthy brain from birth. You inherit an absurd and deficient brain, which must be developed during your life.

Through dream therapy you have the chance to develop your conscience, becoming always more intelligent. You also have the privilege of being able to protect your health, and avoid suffering.

You must care about your health more than anything else. Even if you are a millionaire, without health you can only feel very sad. Nothing has any meaning when you are dying.

Thanks to Carl Jung's research, and thanks to my own research, today you can prevent all mental illnesses. When you acquire sound mental health, you have physical health. Your physical health depends on your mental health.

You may believe that people become sick by chance, and that there is no way one can be cured from cancer only by translating his or her dreams. However, you ignore many new scientific discoveries that prove the existence of God, and also the fact that human beings are under-developed primates. You ignore the meaning of life and the meaning of death. You should not believe in your own suppositions.

Nothing happens by chance on our planet. Everything works in a very well-organized manner because your planet is a place of transformation. We must pass through psychotherapy while we are alive, so that we may stop being wild animals, and become real human beings.

There is a God who organizes the functioning of our complex planet and who created its complex nature, with so many different live species, in only approximately 4 billion years, which is the age of our young planet. Nothing had enough time to appear 'by chance' on Earth. There is a purpose for the human life.

The same God sends us dreams through the unconscious mind in order to help us transform our evil nature into human nature. All physical diseases try to prevent mental illnesses because when we become mentally ill we are controlled by our absurd anti-conscience, the primitive side of our conscience that didn't evolve like our human side. This is a very dangerous condition.

If you are sick, this means that your anti-conscience is controlling your behavior. In order to recuperate your physical health, you must solve various problems that are threatening your mental stability.

Once you discover your mistakes through dream translation, and you correct these mistakes doing what is positive for you, you recover your health. This is a common process. Numerous people were cured through dream translation from all types of physical diseases and mental disorders.

However, the truth is that you must be prudent and prevent all mental illnesses before acquiring severe physical diseases. Nothing is easy when we deal with diseases and mental illnesses.

For example, if you have recurring dreams this is a serious indication that you might face serious health problems in the future, or an indication that you will become mentally ill.

I've helped numerous people through dream translation. I've also learned the dreams of many people who relate them to me, without following dream therapy. I can tell you that whenever someone has recurring dreams, the problems they face a certain day are really unbearable. Besides indicating future mental illnesses or diseases, recurring dreams can also indicate other misfortunes, like being betrayed by someone you trust, or losing someone you love.

For example, dreams about blood coming out from your head indicate a severe mental illness. You will have this dream before losing your mind. The unconscious mind always shows you all dangers beforehand. You still have enough time to save your mental health. Follow dream therapy, and you will manage to eliminate your dangerous anti-conscience before becoming its victim.

Dreams about blood can have a different meaning, like the recurring dream of one of my mother's friends. She used to see that she was praying in a church and Saint Mary would appear crying before her. Saint Mary's tears were made of blood, they were not common tears. This friend had this recurring dream for many years, before dying from cancer.

Unfortunately, she refused following dream therapy, even though I tried to help her many times.

In this case, blood represents pain. Saint Mary's blood tears reflect the saint's pain. The dreamer couldn't understand the real meaning of suffering.

Her recurring dream was showing her that she was superficial. She had to understand God's pain, and the pain of all saints because we, human beings, are evil. The dreamer had to pass through psychotherapy and develop her sensitivity, but she was indifferent to the power of dreams.

Unfortunately, most people neglect the value of dream therapy, and they are not saved, while they could find salvation if they would care about following the unconscious guidance in their dreams.

The first miracle I saw through dream therapy was the cure of a very thin girl who was always sick and had various health problems, besides suffering from depression and from two phobias. She needed a surgical operation because her intestine was not working. However, this operation was miraculously avoided through dream therapy.

Fortunately, this 21-years-old girl was an excellent student; she paid real attention to my lessons, precisely following the unconscious guidance.

She was very intelligent. At least she had this advantage in life. She had so many health problems, and she was so thin that one could only feel sorry for her.

She was completely cured from her depression, from her phobias, and from her intestinal problems through dream therapy in only one year of psychotherapy. Today she is happily married, and a mother of two children.

I saw very clearly from the beginning of my practice that dream therapy works for all cases, without exceptions. However, only those who pay attention to the guidance they receive in their dreams can be saved. If you are indifferent to the unconscious wisdom, there is no way you may find salvation.

You have to participate of your psychotherapy or physical therapy because your own intelligence must be developed. The unconscious mind gives you many clues and explanations, but you have to think about this information, and find the treasure of wisdom by yourself.

You also have to do what your unconscious doctor shows you that you have to, without insisting on your plans, and without being lazy. When you are an obedient student and patient, your cure is guaranteed.

I advise you to be very serious, like those who suffer from serious health problems are, but before acquiring a severe mental illness or an invincible physical disease. Study the meaning of your dreams, and follow the wise guidance of your natural doctor with all your attention.

View the original article here

Spiritual Healing - How to Heal Your Body With the Power of Spirit

2011-08-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that you can heal the body through the power of Spirit. Especially when you begin to realize that wholeness is your natural state as an expression of God. In your mind now I invite you to affirm your strength, health and well-being as you restore vitality to each and every part of your being.

Take a deep breath in and as you inhale notice the oxygen-rich air that is restoring the cells of your lungs. Begin to appreciate the wondrous workings of your body as you give thanks for its ever continuous and ongoing healing and restoration. Allow your mind and heart to open to divine inspiration and guidance that will show you in a way that you shall know how to best take care of yourself.

Recognizing that eating nutritious foods prepared in healthful ways has now become a part of your spiritual practice you can begin to exercise regularly so that you can tone and strengthen the physical body that you have been given as a spiritual being. Again, take a deep breath in and as you exhale know that you are an expression of God, and because of this you take care of your body, mind and soul in all ways.

While you're sitting down analyzing the words that are appearing before you I want you to understand just understand that you can heal your body through the power of Spirit and so much more when you begin to meditate on a daily basis.

The reality of the situation is when you meditate on a daily basis you have a tendency towards stronger immune functioning and a fit cardiovascular system and part of the reason why this happens is because when you meditate it allows the mind to settle down in ways that helps the body settle down as well.

Keep in mind that consistently meditating on a fairly regular basis also leads to you having that inner knowing of making conscious contact with God which can only be experienced rather than explained. Now, let me ask you a person question...

Is part of the reason why you aren't already meditating on a daily basis have to do with the thought of meditating being too complicated or difficult? If you can lie down on your back or sit in a comfortable seated position (of your choosing) then you will be glad to know that you can let go of any thoughts, fears or worries of meditating on a daily basis being a complicated or difficult process.

I have found that the practice of Yoga Nidra which is a guided meditation technique that you can experience either laying down on your back or sitting in a comfortable position to be one of the most advanced and beneficial meditation techniques on the planet. What this means is that if you are truly interested in creating a stronger and much more conscious connection with the Spirit of Love, Joy and Peace that is within you then you no longer have a valid reason to not meditate on a daily basis with the practice of Yoga Nidra.

Thaddeus Ferguson has dedicated himself to the cause of helping people heal themselves first in order to help heal the world during this amazing time of transformation.

The practice of Meditation is just one of the many powerful tools that you can use in order to help Heal You First.

Discover many of the Benefits of Meditation Now!

Learn the most amazingly Powerful Meditation Techniques Now!

View the original article here

The Joys Of Walking Your Dog

2011-08-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

It struck me while out walking my dog, Holly, this morning how wonderful it is to have a dog and to have a reason to be out walking every day.

The dog's joy is obvious as she runs free across the fields, weaving and winding, sniffing and following interesting scents and bounding here, there and everywhere with her tail high and her ears back. As she races backwards and forwards enjoying the fresh air and the chance to run wild I realise how rewarding and how much fun it is having a dog. I appreciate her a little more every day. The simple pleasures in life are often the most rewarding.

Seeing her enjoy her freedom makes me happy and reminds me that there is more to life than the everyday stresses and strains of modern life. My pleasure is just as great as hers. Walking a dog brings many benefits, physical, mental and emotional.

When I'm out walking the dog my mind clears and I'm able to think. Striding briskly across the fields I'm reminded of how lucky I am to be alive and healthy. To have the energy to walk as far as I want, to enjoy time with my dog and to feel the vitality of walking whatever the weather and whatever is going on in my life.

Walking wakes your body up and energises you. It gets your circulation going, makes the blood pump round your body and makes you feel alive, and grateful to be so. The exercise and the fresh air feel so good and so healthy.

Being out in nature is refreshing and where I live I'm able to fully appreciate the beautiful views, the sweeping English countryside, the blue skies, the green fields, the red poppies, the birds swooping in the sky. And, the absolute peace and quiet of the countryside. In the city we enjoy exploring new neighbourhoods, searching for some green space to throw the ball. We never fail to find something of interest on our jaunts together.

We are, perhaps, a little more able to put life into perspective when out walking. Biologically, you are reducing the cortisone and other stress hormones in your body with a brisk walk. The chance to still your mind and realise your place in the bigger scheme of things is very centring. I often use my dog-walking time to reflect on issues that I need to deal with. Being out in nature with my faithful four-legged companion gives me a unique perspective on life, love and the universe.

Dog walking with a friend is fun too and offers the opportunity to share the experience, the exercise, the views and the exploration, and gives time for in-depth conversation. Together, you have the chance to look at the bigger picture of things, and to let the conversation take a different turn as a result of the stimulation of the great outdoors, and the exercise.

My heart warms when I see my dog bounding towards me, her tongue lolling out, waiting for my approval to go bounding off ahead again. The sheer enjoyment of our walks together makes this one of life's most simple but most valuable pleasures.

Our walks bond us together and we both look forward to them, regardless of the weather or the time of day. And of course, all this walking is healthy exercise and will hopefully keep us dog-lovers fit and trim, as well as happy.

Follow Holly, the rescue border collie's adventures at http://www.hollydogblog.com/. You'll also find lots of useful tips and advice on adopting and living happily with a dog.

View the original article here

Is the Audi A7 the World's Sexiest Station Wagon?

2011-08-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

So, this is what the Porsche Panamera could’ve looked like?

Theoretically, yes. The 2012 Audi A7 shares the same five-door layout as the plump Porsche. The difference is…well, isn’t it obvious?

The A7 is simply a knockout. While the Porsche has presence, its VW Group cousin has polish. It’s been said that Americans hate hatchbacks. If that’s true, it’s because don’t see too many like this.

But it’s not just the gentle way that the rear end is handled. The entire A7, from its supercar face to its athletic flanks, is a work of four-passenger art. It fulfills all of the promise of 2008’s gorgeous A5 coupe that was not quite fulfilled by the handsome, but safe A4, A6 and A8 redesigns that followed it.

The A7 is built on the same platform and wheelbase as the middle child of those, the A6, but is lower, a little longer and a touch heavier, despite being one seat short. The dashboard design of the two cars is identical and a masterwork in wood and soft-touch plastics. Slightly recessed below the base of the windshield, its vaguely ocular shapes are a delight to the eyes and more than make up for the fact that there isn’t a swatch of leather in sight.

Instead, the A7 gets high tech features like a thin-film display filling the space between the analog gauges in the instrument cluster and an 8-inch monitor that slides out of the center console. Along with typical infotainment functions, the navigation system has a Google Maps satellite view that’s entirely unnecessary, but very cool, and a news service provided by Agency France Presse. It is a European car, after all.

More interesting is a built-in WiFi hotspot, courtesy of a T-Mobile cellular connection. Eight different wireless devices can connect to it simultaneously – handy in a four-passenger car - and it works on the move. Well, usually. Go on a long road trip and you’ll discover that the service can be a little spotty – who even knew 2G still existed? The data plan is free for the first 6 months, and $25 per month after that. In a car that starts at $59,250 it’s a relative pittance, as long as you expect to have other people in the car most of the time. Otherwise, it’s kind of useless unless you spend a lot of time sitting around parked cars, weirdo.

There is an even more novel feature that’s just the thing for a solo commuter, however. Next to the lever for the 8-speed automatic gearbox is a touchpad that lets you scribble in the names of destinations with your finger. It works well, but if it’s not your thing you can always use the Multi Media Interface dial next to it, or your voice for most functions.

Fold down the rear seats – which you can do with the fronts positioned all the way back – and this executive cruiser transforms into a cavernous cargo carrier. There is a station wagonesque amount of room back there, and a six-footer can even lie down comfortably for a stylish camping trip or other weirdo activities. It’s a satisfying bit of functionality, and with the rear seats up and the hard luggage cover in place still holds over 24 cubic feet of stuff, 10 more than the traditional trunk on the A6 can handle.

Tucked into the other end of the car is Audi’s turbine-smooth 3.0-liter supercharged V6. Here it puts out 310 horsepower and, thanks to all of those gears to the box, gets the A7 off the line with the urgency of a pro stock dragster while allowing it to cruise down the highway barely above idle. Fuel economy is 28 mph highway. Please let us know if you can find a car this big with this many doors and this much horsepower that can do better.

On A7s fitted with Audi’s Drive Select, you can change the steering feel, throttle response and transmission logic independently to fit your mood. Unfortunately, and unlike some other Audis with the system, you can’t adjust the suspension, which would make this a much more appealing option. As it is, the A7 is tuned to the sporty side of the spectrum. On the 20-inch wheels that my test car was fitted with, perhaps too much so for the urban grind.

But hit a patch of stimulus-smooth highway and it all coalesces into a blissful clarity of German engineering. The sleek, aerodynamic shape cuts through the air in near silence, while the wheels make love to the tarmac, fed by the rear-biased Quattro all-wheel-drive system. A sports car it is not, a sports sedan it is, even if it’s not really a sedan.

All told, this could be the perfect luxury car for the family of four…that doesn’t want to look like one.

----------

2012 Audi A7

Base Price: $59,250

Type: 5-door, 4-passenger hatchback

Engine: 3.0L supercharged V6

Power: 310 hp, 325 lb-ft torque

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

MPG: 18 city/28 hwy

View the original article here

Beware the Moon

2011-08-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

Few people are aware, or even believe, that the moon has any kind of affect on our mood. But whilst every schoolboy knows that tidal flow is caused by the gravitational pull of the moon (though I once worked with a colleague who thought I was making that up), most rational people scoff at the idea that the moon could affect something as complex as a human being. And yet, perhaps the fact that our bodies are between 55 and 78% water goes some way towards explaining what police departments and accident and emergency wards have known for years - there may be a statistically significant correlation (and I chose that word carefully) between the phases of moon and the activities of people.

Now I'm not saying that around a full moon you might find yourself sprouting more facial hair, and developing a craving for dog food (although, maybe) but you might find yourself a little more stressed, a little more harassed. There have been studies (though I can't vouch for any of them) that show that during or immediately following a full moon there will be more births, more animal bites, more incidents of 'fake' strokes (people with stroke-like symptoms that later turn out to be fine), and more visits to the doctor - presumably from all the births, animal bites and fake strokes. Though there are less cardiac arrests. There's also (according to one study) less alcohol consumed; 26% less. And yet there are more incidents of violent crime, arson, and dangerous driving. And if the statistics are to be believed then these people who are beating each other up, setting fire to things or driving like idiots are apparently eating more; meal sizes allegedly increase by around 8% during a full moon. Why? No one knows.

It's worth mentioning that there seem to be as many people ready dismiss and dispute these findings, as there are those ready to believe them. A simple internet search will return a bewildering number of websites arguing both sides of the debate.

In my own life however I've noticed that events and appointments seem to bunch up around a full moon, as if the people I work with unconsciously gravitate towards that date. And I'm not alone. Of course, we could all be seeing a pattern where none really exists, but it's significant enough for me to find difficult to ignore.

More interestingly however is the waning moon. A week of so after the full moon, or to use the technical term, when the moon is "waning" (disappearing) as we move towards a new (dark) moon, some people find themselves feeling a little 'flat', lethargic or depressed. They don't want to do anything. They just want to sit, and brood. And think. And wish. And imagine. Which is probably why I personally find this time of the month particularly good for generating new ideas about, well, everything!

Now I know how all this sounds. This post was originally an early chapter within my book How To Do Everything And Be Happy (available now from all good online booksellers!) - but I took it out at the last minute fearing that readers might get to that chapter and then read no further. The moon indeed! However, if there's a shred of truth behind the numbers, if the moon really does affect us, directly or indirectly, this is information you can use. I myself have a Luna calendar, and the cycles of the moon in my diary. They're not expensive, there are websites where you can print your own - there's even an iPhone app. But I encourage you, the next time you're feeling low or stressed, especially if it's for no discernable reason, consult your luna calendar, and see if you notice a pattern emerging.

Peter Jones lives just few miles outside of London, with his cat CJ, who's possibly the smartest animal never to have appeared in a cartoon. From his window he can see France and the Eiffel Tower. Or is that Canvey Island Oil Refinery?

Peter started life as a particularly rubbish Graphic Artist, followed by a stint as a mediocre Petrol Pump attendant. After that he got embroiled in the murky world of credit cards until a freak accident with a zip zap machine (remember those?) restructured my DNA at the molecular level and gave him entrepreneurial powers.

Now, when he's not filling my days with the things he laughably call work, he's writing. Even now he's finishing his novel cheefully entitled "The Good Guy's Guide To Getting Girls". It's good stuff. Honest. But don't take our word for it, read more at:

http://www.thegoodguysguidetogettinggirls.com/

The paperback version of his popular ebook 'How to do Everything and Be Happy' will be available June 2011. Nip over to http://www.howtodoeverythingandbehappy.co.uk/ for more info.

He doesn't own a large departmental store and probably isn't the same guy you've seen on the TV show Dragon's Den.

Twitter: @soundhaven

View the original article here

Dancing Feet

2011-08-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how you feel so much lighter and happier after a few dances? Ever notice that people are in good moods and their energy is higher when dancing. There are a few reasons for that,one being its all about energy movement, the other being that as adults we are allowing ourselves to have fun, something we don't do often enough. The music also vibrates through our bodies moving even more energy around.

We have energy chakra's in our and around our bodies. They are like a fan that spins in a clockwise direction(when healthy) that interchange energy with our bodies and the universe. The main chakra's in our bodies are aligned along the spine starting at the tip of the tail bone(root) and moving upwards to the tip of your head(crown). Each chakra has an important roll in governing certain emotions and organs in our bodies. When these start to get clogged with debris (negative energy) they do not exchange energy properly, eventually creating a block in the flow of energy, and creating disease if left unattended long enough. Most mainstream doctors will not tell you this.

So what does this have to do with dancing? Energy needs to move, with the body movement in dancing you are actually exercising and moving energy through your chakra's. When you move your hips you are generating energy in your root chakra which starts to move up the spine into each energy center along the spin. This energy stored in the root chakra is called Kundalini energy, it is a firey passionate energy, which clears the system and activates each chakra as it moves up along the spine.

The energy in a dance room is so high because of the release of this Kundalini. Many don't realize it but you don't really need to drink in order to feel high on a night out. You may think you need it to get the courage up to get on the dance floor, but that courage is already within you.

People may feel more sexual after an evening of dancing, this is due to the movement in the sacral chakra, located about 2 inches below the belly button. This chakra is our sexual and pleasure center, located around the hips it gets a great workout during a dance. Opening up this center and getting that energy flowing through the body. I wonder if that has anything to do with the number of people who get picked up at a bar??

The solar plexis, located just below the ribcage is our control center, our will center. As we dance and move our bodies around we are moving energy through this, clearing out anything that is blocking it from moving freely and exchanging energy with the universe. We seem to be better able to let things go as the night progresses. Ever noticed that the things that were bothering you before you went out, just don't seem to matter as much anymore.

The throat chakra gets a work out when the head and neck are moving around, the muscle in the throat also get used when trying to talk over the music. This chakra is also connected to your ears, the amount of vibrations coming in is enough to clear away any blocks in this area. One should be careful not to damage this with loud sounds.

If you look around the dance floor and the people moving around you may be able to see flashes of colored light, reds, oranges, yellows, blues and purples. These are energy releases coming from the different chakras. As the energy moves up the body from the root it enters the 3rd eye, which opens up our abilities to see beyond what the naked eye can see. A trained eye can see these flashes of colors around people, during a night of dancing they are so much easier to see.

Once the Kundalini energy has moved its way up the body it has to be released somewhere, it travels out the crown chakra. This is the center where we receive our divine guidance. Have you ever had the experience of getting a really great idea or having met the exact person you needed to meet during an evening of dance? Think about it everything is open, you are relaxed and having fun, it is more than possible for the guidance to not only come through, but to be noticed. Is that why the worlds troubles can be solved on a bar stool???? Not sure if that would be the booze talking or true guidance. Perhaps the guidance is there, the booze just elaborates and fills it with ego minded b.s.

The point here is that music and body movement can prevent any type of dis-ease by moving energy through the body and releasing anything that is unneeded. It will always make you feel lighter and more energized with more benefits that the mind and eye can not see. Get out and shake that body, feel the vibrations, and release the old.

I am Jenn Prothero an angel therapy practitioner, reiki practitioner, and crystal healer, intuitive life coach, author, teacher, meditation specialist, and radio personality. I enjoy empowering people to live the life of their dreams, to assist them in letting go of the past and moving forward into a brighter light.

Please feel free to visit my website for all the services I provide

http://jennprothero.webs.com/

I can also be reached at http://www.sjlightworkers.com/, listen live Tuesday evenings at 8 Pm Est.

View the original article here

Cadillac Teases New Compact Sedan

2011-08-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Published August 04, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Cadillac has revealed the first official image of its highly anticipated compact sports sedan.

Codenamed ATS, the rear-wheel-drive four-door is aimed directly at the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Technical details are still under wraps, but the design seen in the teaser image taps styling cues from Caddy's popular CTS mid-size sedan. Headlight clusters that appear to stretch nearly halfway up the sides of the hood are a particularly unique and dramatic element.

Its likely that the ATS will be available with a combination of turbocharged 4-cylinder and V6 engines, although an expected ATS-V high-performance version could be powered by the 6.2-liter V8 from the Chevrolet Camaro. Pricing has not been announced, but the CTS undercuts its German rivals by up to 30 percent.

Cadillac says the ATS is set to go on sale in summer of 2012, following the introduction of a yet to be unveiled full-size XTS sedan in the spring.

Click here for more from Fox Car Report

View the original article here

Qigong Video: Effective, Practical, and Valuable Qigong Videos

2011-08-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Qigong Video is compiling videos and information for multiple applications and organizing them for ease of use and greater comprehension. We will be adding diverse categories of Qigong methods and applications including martial arts Qigong, anti-aging, energy enhancement and cultivation, developing strength and flexibility, increased vitality and overall health, medical Qigong and achieving a comprehensive body-mind-spirit balance.

Qigong is the study, practice, development, accumulation and refinement of life energy or Qi.

For centuries many of these specialized practices have been held in secrecy and obscurity and have only recently surfaced into mainstream availability. Traditionally they were handed down from generation to generation within a family or a small circle of practitioners.

Martial Arts in America

During the 1966-67 television season, millions of Americans - with little or no prior knowledge of martial arts - were both captivated and fascinated by Kato on the Green Hornet series. Subsequently, Bruce Lee went on to revolutionize martial arts movies and played a major role in making martial arts a national interest.

Although there were early pioneers in American martial artists like Jim Harrison, Ed Parker and Professor Wally Jay, Robert Smith and others who dedicated their lives to excellence in their arts and creating a legacy for future generations, the energy aspects of martial arts have remained relatively obscure and hidden until very recently.

Qigong and Internal Martial Arts in America

Even to this day, many martial arts practitioners and hard stylists scoff at the internal arts and the power of internal Qi (Chi) development, although this is starting to change. There is often an attitude of "until you show me I don't believe it" among many martial artists and a skepticism that is fairly widespread.

Many in martial arts regard feats of internal power as legend - or mere parlor tricks - and perhaps this stems from never being exposed to a real physical expression of that internal Qi in either a combat situation or a healing one. And there are many phonies who are more competent at showmanship than energy. When you experience the real stuff, you know the difference from that point forward.

In many cases, the most accomplished internal stylists have nothing to prove and are not looking for fame and fortune in a spotlight. They choose instead to grow their art, focus on excellence, self-improvement, martial science and expanding human consciousness. Power is attractive and with it there is great responsibility.

How fortunate we are to have access to such powerful and amazing information and what a difference the Internet has made in terms of sharing Qigong worldwide.

Michael Barrett
Energy Transformation Coach

I am an active Certified Core Health and Heart Forgiveness Facilitator in Sarasota, Florida with 20 + years experience in Qigong practice and 35 + years study and practice in natural health. My mission is to help as many people as possible achieve a happy and healthy lifestyle.

You can find out more about Qigong Videos here:

http://qigongvideo.org/

View the original article here

Jacques Pepin Loves Food More Than Stardom

2011-08-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

MADISON, Conn. – Back in the woods, behind the kitchen, French and American flags fly over Jacques Pepin's petanque court. He launches his heavy, metallic ball toward a visitor's, popping it off course with a sharp, expert crack.

"That is how you play petanque," he says, smiling at his pupil.

Whether it's lawn bowling or making an omelet as bright and unblemished as the noontime sun, Pepin is, above all things, a teacher. A trim, elegant 75, the greatest cooking instructor America has ever known has entered a genteel upper middle age. His hair is thinner, the limp from the car accident that turned him from chef to professor is a bit more pronounced. But the man who taught two generations of home cooks — and many of today's celebrity chefs — how to hold a knife can still out-chop a food processor and make boning a chicken look like magic.

"I tell a student that the most important class you can take is technique," Pepin says while chopping chives beneath a decorative tile that reads: "A great chef is first a great technician." ''If you are a jeweler, or a surgeon or a cook, you have to know the trade in your hand. You have to learn the process. You learn it through endless repetition until it belongs to you."

And nobody owns technique like Pepin. Born in the eastern French town of Bourg-en-Bresse just before World War II, he peeled, diced, whisked and braised in his mother's restaurants from the time he was tall enough to reach the counter until he left home at 13 for a formal apprenticeship. In the decades that followed, he served as the personal chef to French president Charles De Gaulle, helped introduce Americans to French cuisine as a chef at the iconic New York restaurant Le Pavillon, turned down the Kennedy White House to pioneer mass produced restaurant food for the Howard Johnson's chain, and ran with James Beard, Craig Claiborne and the rest of the culinary Rat Pack that transformed the way Americans think about food.

"He was very much part of this group," says David Kamp, author of "The United States of Arugula." ''He's the last living representative of that wonderful group that elevated the game for Americans."

But it is Pepin's message of craftsmanship that is likely to be his legacy. In more than two dozen books and 11 public television series, Pepin has stressed the importance of basic skills in mastering the art of any cooking. His 1970s classic "La Technique" and its sister volume "La Methode" used hundreds of black-and-white photos to illustrate every procedure from cracking an egg to making puff pastry. They remain the standard references of any serious home cook, and the basis for what happens in professional kitchens from New York to Los Angeles.

"Jacques stressed that cooking is not about recipes, it's about techniques and methods," says Tom Colicchio, New York restaurateur and co-host of Bravo's "Top Chef," who discovered "La Technique" as a teenager. "That really spoke to me and really cut through all the gibberish. I realized that you don't need recipes. You can approach anything as long as you know how to cook. It really unlocked the door for me."

Boston super-chef Jamie Bissonnette — young enough at 33 to be Pepin's son — even admits to stealing "La Technique" from the public library as a kid. "As a teenager who wanted to cook you'd look at it and say, 'Wow, I can do that,'" says Bissonnette, who recently won Food & Wine magazine's People's Best New Chef award. "I've never stolen anything else in my entire life." Last Christmas, he gave each of his chefs a copy of the book (which he purchased).

But Pepin's newest book, "Essential Pepin," is the story of the man today: a French chef turned quintessential American cook whose formidable skills and affable manner make him the ultimate culinary teacher. More than 700 recipes trace the history of his palate from his mother's mustardy les oeufs Jeannette to the light, fresh taste of salmon in basil sauce. The book's accompanying three-hour, searchable DVD promises to demonstrate "every technique a cook will ever need," some of which he'll perform on the companion TV series.

"I don't cook the way I cooked 35 years ago," Pepin says, "but the way you make an omelet, the way you bone a chicken, that doesn't change."

So what has changed? "My palate is simpler than it used to be," he says. "A young chef adds and adds and adds to the plate. As you get older, you start to take away."

When he arrived in the United States in 1959, Pepin carried with him the rigid French view of food: that if you add carrots to boeuf bourguignon it ceases to be boeuf bourguignon. But he immediately embraced his adopted country's flexibility and its diverse people, foods and ingredients, including an alluring herb called "cilantro," which he learned about from his wife Gloria, who has Puerto Rican roots.

"Five years after I was here, my mother would say, 'This is really good, but it's not French,'" he says. "I'm not trying to be French. But I'm also not trying not to be French. I think more in terms of 'It's a good idea.' Or 'It's fresh.'"

If Pepin's good friend and long-time cooking cohort Julia Child introduced Americans to classical French cooking — the intricate, time-consuming recipes created in Michelin-starred restaurants — Pepin brought a much earthier understanding to the genre. His food was born of war and privation, of the days when his mother biked through the countryside scavenging bread, eggs and butter, boiled beets to make sweetener, and later, in her restaurants, offered hearty plates of rabbit stew or creamed chicken to patrons who were friends and neighbors.

"Jacques is fundamental," says Rux Martin, Pepin's editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing. "When he writes a cookbook, it's for a home cook. He's not a synthesizer of restaurant classical French cooking. And Jacques's heart is fundamentally like his mother's, who came out of that country French cooking."

"Julia and Jacques" were perhaps the most beloved duo ever to cook on television, their easy banter and clear devotion to food capturing hearts and stomachs across the country. And though these programs, as well as Pepin's solo shows, helped usher in the era of food television — and, by default, laid the groundwork for the celebrity chef phenomenon — Pepin has little patience with the fetishizing of food and the rock star status of today's chefs.

"The whole food world has changed," he says. "Any good mother would have wanted her child to be a doctor, a lawyer, not a cook. Now we are geniuses."

In reality, he says, chefs are basically "soup merchants." ''But," he adds with his trademark twinkle, "there is good soup and bad soup."

Pepin means no offense. And it is almost impossible to take any from him, so wry and sprite-like is his manner. But he is old school in the best sense of the phrase, from an era when cooking was a vocation not a profession, when chefs learned at the elbow of a mentor, not in a fancy cooking school. In fact, the culinary program he and Child helped found at Boston University still follows that model, offering only a single semester of basic skills before sending its charges into professional kitchens.

"It was his theory that people who want to learn about food and want to learn classical French technique do not have to go to school for two years or four years," says Rebecca Alssid, the university's director of food and wine studies. "They need an intensive schooling in the techniques that are important... He felt that when someone graduated after 14 weeks of working four days a week on technique they could go into a restaurant and perfect it."

Pepin takes the same no-frills approach on his cooking shows. "Essential Pepin," which begins airing in October, will have no giant clocks dangling over contestants' heads, no one yelling "Bam!" as they throw garlic into a pan, no beautiful woman telling chefs to pack their knives. There'll just be a guy with a smile chopping chives.

"I'm sure a lot of people say my shows are really boring," Pepin says. "But you can't escape yourself. I'm not an actor. I am who I am. And I'm still teaching cooking. Which is what I do. It's good for me, it's no good for someone else."

This sense of authenticity, his devotion not to his own stardom, but to the food and the food alone, is what has kept people watching Pepin. Even in this era of flash and glitz, his executives at San Francisco's KQED, which produces his shows, say his audience has remained steady and that he is more widely distributed and watched than Food Network peers.

"He's about sharing good food, demonstrating good technique and really educating the viewer," says Tina Salter, Pepin's producer at KQED, who notes that she usually has to drag him out of the kitchen to get him into makeup. "That's what separates him from everyone else. He's the consummate teacher."

So once again, Pepin is walking the line between two cultures, not French and American this time, but entertainment and education. And once again, say his supporters, he will bridge that gap. And secure a place with the next generation.

"He's a cook's cook," says Russ Parsons, food editor at The Los Angeles Times. "And that's not to belittle the Food Network because they're bringing people into the church. And when they become true believers, they'll find Jacques. And Jacques will be waiting."

View the original article here

Reports: TV's Mr. Bean crashes his supercar in UK

2011-08-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Published August 05, 2011

| Associated Press

LONDON – British media say actor Rowan Atkinson, famed for his "Mr. Bean" television shows and films, is recovering in hospital after crashing his supercar.

The 56-year-old comedian, also known for the "Blackadder" historical comedy shows, was expected to be discharged on Friday after treatment for a shoulder injury, the Daily Mirror reported.

Atkinson's spokesman could not immediately be reached.

Police and firefighters both said that a vehicle crashed late Thursday close to Haddon, a village about 85 miles (137km) north of London.

The car struck a tree, a lamppost and caught fire, authorities said. Firefighters said the driver was not trapped and he was taken to hospital.

Atkinson was driving his McLaren F1 supercar — one of the world's fastest road cars, the newspaper said.

View the original article here

Microbreweries Growing Through Shrinkage

2011-08-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

FREDERICK, Md. – Some craft brewers are growing by shrinking.

After years of shipping beer farther and farther away, many small brewers are now shrinking distribution to sell beer more profitably at home.

The strategy reflects the nation's growing thirst for boutique beers from independent breweries that simply can't produce enough to meet the demand of a larger market — so they're putting local customers first.

"The idea of leaving sales territories is not ideal, but demand locally is necessitating it," said Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association, a craft-beer trade group in Boulder, Colo.

It's a good problem for Frederick-based Flying Dog Brewery, known for highly-hopped ales with naughty names like Doggy Style and Raging Bitch. Chief Executive Jim Caruso announced in June the company was halting distribution in 13 Southern, Midwestern and Western states to bolster its position in what he called "the new world of craft beer."

The pullback leaves Flying Dog in 33 states — but probably not for long. In a July interview at the company's brewing plant in an industrial park, Caruso said he aims to shrink distribution further, with a goal of selling 70 percent of Flying Dog's output in Maryland, the District of Columbia and northern Virginia within three years. The region currently accounts for about 50 percent of the 1 million cases Flying Dog sells annually.

"If the market in Frederick were such that we could sell a million cases in Frederick, that would be my strategy," Caruso said.

At the same time, he's considering building a new brewery, three to five times bigger than the current plant. And Caruso figures he can sell virtually all that beer within a few hundred miles of home.

Brewers like Flying Dog are betting on local growth because there are so many drinkers left to convert. Craft breweries — those selling 6 million barrels or less a year — accounted for just 5 percent of the 204 million barrels of beer sold in the United States last year, according to the Brewers Association. A barrel holds 13.8 cases of beer.

And craft beer's growth is heady. Sales rose 11 percent by volume in 2010, at a time when overall beer sales slipped 1 percent, the association said.

Demand is so strong that craft brewers who've spread themselves too thin must ration their beer — supply some distributors and leave others short.

That can get annoying for tavern owners like Kathy Reeder. Her Hempen Hill BBQ in Hagerstown, Md., has a Starr Hill Brewery sign in its front window, but she had none of the Virginia-made beer on tap one recent July night.

She said occasional shortages are acceptable; they can even heighten a brand's mystique. And she wants to support regional craft brewers. But she can't let a tap sit idle too long.

"Sometimes we need to move on to other products," she said.

And there are plenty available. The number of craft brewers has mushroomed from eight in 1980 to more than 1,600 last year. Starr Hill, founded in 1999 in Charlottesville, has at least three newer competitors in northern Virginia alone.

Starr Hill founder Mark Thompson said he'd like to expand production but there's a long waiting list for necessary equipment, such as brewing kettles and fermenting tanks.

"We only have a certain amount of brewing capacity," he said. "We are all evaluating reducing the footprint we have and selling more in our local market. And that's considered a strength, not a weakness."

Pulling back also saves on shipping costs. Brewers and distributors sometimes swallow part of the transportation costs, but the brewers say they mostly suffer because shipping to far-flung states increases the price of the beer to consumers, making their beer less competitive in distant markets.

Eighteen-year-old New Glarus Brewing Co. of New Glarus, Wis., has thrived by selling beer only in its home state since the late 1990s. The company's slogan: "Drink indigenous."

"The idea of continually expanding your footprint and then pretending you're growing your business, I just don't see it," said Deb Carey, the company's president. "How can you say you're growing your business if all you're doing is expanding your territory?"

With annual production exceeding 100,000 barrels and sales running 20 percent above last year, Carey said she's more interested in making good beer and improving the lives of her 60 workers than in shipping beer cross-country.

"As a craft brewer, my goal is to be part of the fabric of Wisconsin, which is my home state and a place I love," she said.

Benj Stein, editor of brewing industry trade journal Beer Marketers' Insights, said craft brewing kingpin Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, doesn't need to pull back because it's so well-established nationally. And Stein said big international brewers like Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and SABMiller PLC, aren't losing much to craft brewers because they're a relatively tiny part of the overall industry.

He said the fight among small craft brewers for local sales will produce some winners and losers, with the victors eventually expanding their reach once again.

"Wide distribution — ultimately, I think that would be the preference over time," Stein said.

And even as they strive to become known as your friendly or funky or edgy local brewery, craft brewers know that selling into their backyard is just good business, said Starr Hill's Thompson.

"At the end of the day, we all like to sell beer and make money," he said. "This is not a hobby for me."

View the original article here

Change The Voices In Your Head

2011-08-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

How To Identify The Voices That Keep You Stuck

Ever wish you could quiet the voices in your head?

While spending time with my aunt in a quaint, small town gift shop, we came across a picture that had the following quote on it: "Can I get caller ID for the voices in my head?" I had never seen such a picture before and I immediately laughed out loud as I realized that I identify with this particular message far too often.

On my journey of overcoming cystic fibrosis, PTSD, and every obstacle that comes my way, I have often wished that I could get caller ID for the voices in my own head. I've learned some tricks and tools to help me recognize when I'm listening to the wrong voices, and it's beginning to get easier, but every now and then I accidentally answer the wrong line and find myself in a conversation with someone I'd rather not listen to. Maybe you can relate to some of these voices too...

1. "What Will People Think?!" - This voice is usually high pitched. It also gasps and causes anxiety. This irritating voice calls whenever we're about to take a huge leap of faith that others might scorn at. I've personally gotten to the point now where I can predict when/where this voice will appear so I combat it by telling myself that it doesn't matter what other people think. What matters is what I think, and what God thinks!

2. "Hurry Up Because Your Clock Is Ticking!" - Isn't he a special one? This voice often pops up in the heads of those who are overcoming disease or seemingly insurmountable obstacles that could eventually lead to a pre-mature death. He used to consume my thoughts so much that I willingly played his message over and over again in the back of my mind subconsciously. This voice makes us feel anxious, hopeless, overwhelmed, and ultimately like we're never going to reach our destiny because our lives will be cut short. Can I tell you something? This voice is nothing but a liar from the pit of hell. In fact, when he calls, don't avoid him. Avoiding him makes it worse. Answer his call and boldly demand that he goes back to hell where he belongs! You, my friend, were not meant to live in a life of bondage feeling like you're never going to get there. In fact, it's promised in the book of Proverbs that through God Almighty our days will be many and years will be added to our lives! Speak that over your life the next time this voice tries to tell you otherwise - you'll be surprised what begins to happen when you do!

3. "You Will Never Be Good Enough, But You're So Much Better Than They Are!" - This is the bi-polar voice of comparing yourself to others. She sounds seductive no matter which line she feeds us. First she tells us that we'll never be good enough so that we stay comfortable and small right where we are. Then she slyly points out how we're better than some of the others in our lives. She easily deals out judgment towards those who are doing the amazing things we ourselves wish we could do. She's dangerous, evil, and must be cut out of our lives completely in order to succeed with the dreams in our hearts. The only way we can erase her voicemails and dodge her calls all together is to extend forgiveness. Forgiveness toward ourselves for believing that we aren't good enough; toward others for making us feel like we aren't good enough; and even seeking forgiveness from God for thinking that we were better than other people. (Do you see how messed up this voice is? She's got us believing both sides of a lie so we stay confused and in the dark!)

Truthfully, from time to time we all experience these voices. You're not alone if you've experienced them, and it doesn't have to be this way from this point on. You now have the caller ID of these pesky, worthless voices and you can join those of us who are screening their calls so we can live a life of freedom and true wholeness.

My challenge to you is to make a commitment every day to start changing the voices in your own head. Make your voices like you; make them encourage you and watch what happens in your own life!

I believe in you, and I'm honored to be a part of your journey!

By: Mandy B. Anderson

Born with cystic fibrosis, Mandy B. Anderson's journey of overcoming a life-threatening disease encourages and equips people to rise up and conquer their own barriers in life. She is an inspirational speaker, singer, writer and Juice Plus+®wellness coordinator who shares her life in such a way that you feel like you just spent time with your best friend. Mandy cares about people, and is passionate about helping them overcome their obstacles so they can live their lives in true wholeness. Download your free copy of the E-book "True Wholeness: Lessons Learned On My Journey From Cystic Fibrosis To Total Health" at http://www.mandybanderson.com/

View the original article here

How to Understand God's Words by Translating The Meaning of Dreams

2011-08-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have already mentioned many times that my own literary work gave me the key of knowledge when I learned how to translate the meaning of the dream symbols according to Carl Jung's method of dream interpretation. He is the only person in this world who managed to really understand the mysterious meaning of the dream language. Our world must recognize the value of his precious discoveries.

The dream language is very complicated because in order to understand it, you must follow the unconscious logic. I could continue Jung's research and better understand the meaning of the dream language thanks to my own poetry. I was a literature writer who used to write based on the unconscious inspiration. The wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams gives us also artistic, religious, and philosophical inclinations.

The dream language is based on poetry. This happens because the wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams is constantly helping us become more sensitive. The unconscious mind is in fact God's mind. My scientific discoveries, after continuing the work of a psychiatrist, prove God's existence to our atheistic world.

There is a God. There is salvation. Now everyone can easily learn the dream language and have a direct communication with God by translating the wise messages contained in their dreams.

I share this privilege with you, teaching you everything I know. You need this alternative too.

Now, I'm going to give you an important lesson, so that you may perceive the poetry and the sanctity contained in the divine unconscious messages.

Think about one of your dreams. How do you feel when you look at the dream scenes? You feel that nothing makes any sense, because there are many things that don't fit together in the association existent between the dream images. Your dreams reflect absurd and unreal things that cannot really happen in your daily life.

This is what you see because you look at your dreams based on the logic of your ignorant human conscience. You must learn the meaning that the divine unconscious mind gives to the images it uses in order to send you important secret warnings.

You are the human being concentrated into the human part of your brain. You have to control your behavior, and help God transform you into a real human being.

Unfortunately, you are basically a demon. This is the bitter truth I discovered after continuing Carl Jung's research. I completely trusted the divine unconscious mind recognizing that I was crazy, and I needed salvation. This is why I could discover the satanic origin of the human being.

I recognized that I was a terrible sinner, and I felt ashamed of my horrible psychical content. I was a monster. I would provoke many destructions with my demanding and impatient impositions. I was a dictator, a selfish and lazy dictator.

Besides this fact, I was also ready to betray my husband because I fell in love with a married man. Exactly then, the unconscious mind showed me the real dimension of the dream images and the existence of our anti-conscience, which is our wild and evil conscience that didn't evolve like the human side of our conscience.

I was saved from schizophrenia because I didn't get involved with this man and I didn't betray my husband, obeying the unconscious guidance. I could recognize the unconscious sanctity that Jung was not able to perceive because I was a sinner. Jung didn't look at the unconscious mind as if he was a sinner, even though he should, because everyone is a sinner. We are sinners only because we inherit a demonic conscience. We are very far from sanctity.

My position didn't let me doubt that I was a terrible sinner. I remembered all the lessons I had at the Catholic school I studied since I was 6-years-old, until I became 17-years-old. I was very religious during my childhood, but I had lost my faith after suffering a tragic car accident when I was 15-years-old.

The unconscious mind showed me in a dream that I had to suffer from the terrible car accident because I had to become older very fast. I had to fight against craziness and terror. This is was my mission.

I accepted this mission when the unconscious mind announced me the truth because I recognized that I was a crazy sinner and I needed psychotherapy. I accepted to obey the unconscious mind especially because I could see that it was God's mind.

If you are atheist, you must simply change your mind and humbly recognize that you were wrong for imagining that our complex planet could be created by chance. There is a God, but we cannot respect His existence because we are monsters. This is why we insist on doubting that God exists. We don't want to respect rules.

We are totally absurd. We generate our own suffering.

If you want to enter into contact with God, you must recognize the depth of your ignorance, and you must recognize the fact that you are a sinner. If you are not a saintly creature, you are a sinner.

You have to study the dream language, so that you may understand the meaning of the images used by the unconscious mind and learn how to become a sensible and sensitive human being.

I will show you now the poetry and the wisdom contained in the unconscious messages, by using an example.

Let's analyze a certain man's dream:

"I was walking in the street. I was near my grandparent's house. There was no light in the streets, and it was very dark. Somebody starts chasing me, and I get lost, but then I discover that I was in front of my grandparents' house.

I open the door feeling relieved, and I enter there. I want to lock the door, afraid of the person who was chasing me in the street. However, I cannot find the key. At this moment, a woman knocks the door. I don't want to open the door because I'm afraid, but I can see her beautiful face. I wish I could open the door. At this moment, I woke up."

The translation of the meaning of this dream is very simple. However, first of all we must learn more details about the dreamer's life story and the issues he is facing now. Most dreams give to the dreamer many answers about their doubts and fears, showing them their mistakes.

Of course, dreams can only reflect our mistakes, since we are basically absurd demons. We inherit a totally crazy primitive conscience into the biggest part of our brain. We are merely animals that can think. We have no human sensitivity, no compassion, and no goodness in our hearts. Our tiny human conscience must obey the unconscious guidance in order to evolve.

Now, let me translate this dream for you, after mentioning a few details about the dreamer's life. The dreamer is a man who is unmarried and has no girlfriend, even though he is already 40 years old. He had many deceptions in his life, he was rejected by many women, and he was also betrayed by a certain woman.

He believes that he is a big victim. He lives alone, and he has no intention to have another love relationship in his life.

Dream Translation:

"I was walking in the street. I was near my grandparent's house. There was no light in the streets, and it was very dark."

The dreamer is in a dangerous situation since he is in the street.

His grandparents represent the roots of his absurdity. Thus, the dreamer was near the roots of his absurdity.

There was no light because the dreamer ignores many things about himself and his reality.

"Somebody starts chasing me, and I get lost, but then I discover that I was in front of my grandparents' house."

The dreamer was chased by an absurd part of his personality that belongs to his anti-conscience. Dreams about being chased are very common. They always mean that a negative part of the dreamer's personality is trying to control his behavior.

However, the dreamer is near the roots of his absurdity. (His grandparents' house). In other words, he is trying to avoid a trap, but entering into another one. His grandparents' house has a negative meaning, since his grandparents represent the roots of craziness.

"I open the door feeling relieved, and I enter there. I want to lock the door, afraid of the person who was chasing me in the street. However, I cannot find the key."

The dreamer ignores that he is in fact trapped for being at his grandparents' house. This means that he will simply repeat the same sins repeated by older generations. He will follow the absurdity he has inherited in his brain. He won't be able to escape from craziness and terror.

He cannot find the key because he cannot find a solution for his dilemma. (He is trying to avoid the control of a negative part of his personality - the person chasing him in the street - while finding a solution that is not real because his grandparents' house represents absurdity.)

"At this moment, a woman knocks the door. I don't want to open the door because I'm afraid, but I can see her beautiful face. I wish I could open the door. At this moment, I woke up."

The woman who knocks the door is the dreamer's anima, in order words, his perfect match. This part of the dream shows to the dreamer that there is an ideal woman for him, who is looking for him. However, he never opens the door for her, in other words, he never let's her approach him because he is a slave of the absurdity he has inherited in the biggest part of his brain. (Inside his grandparents' house)

This is why he never has a perfect relationship in his life. He keeps repeating the same mistakes repeated by all generations.

In other words, his own behavior is responsible for his own suffering. He must stop repeating the same mistakes in order to finally meet his perfect match.

As you can see, the unconscious guidance in dreams is an invitation for a transformation. The unconscious mind shows to the dreamer that he is repeating his ancestors' mistakes.

He is a slave of his absurd reactions. He doesn't know how to find the right woman for him. He keeps getting involved with women who want to take advantage of him. This is why he had many traumatic experiences.

However, he is still young. There is an ideal woman for him. There is hope. He has to get rid of the negative components of his personality in order to finally find the ideal woman for him, and have a perfect relationship. His anima is knocking the door (inviting him), and waiting for him.

From this example you can understand the psychotherapeutical value of the dream messages. The unconscious guidance shows to all dreamers that they have to transform their personalities if they want to find peace and happiness in life. This is the same as to say that God shows to all sinners that they must learn how to be good, kind, sensitive, sincere, generous, and humble if they want to live peacefully and happily.

The dreamer must stop being selfish, insecure, and indifferent. He must acquire complete consciousness and become a wise human being. (He has to get out of his grandparents' house instead of feeling safe there).

In a few words, the dreamer must abandon his primitive behavior.

By following dream therapy, he will surely get rid of his negative tendencies and evolve. Therefore, he will learn how to be a good partner for his wife.

He must be transformed before finally meeting the ideal woman for his personality type. This is how the unconscious psychotherapy works.

The unconscious mind prepares all dreamers for meeting the right person for them, so that they may be able to have a perfect relationship after meeting the ideal person.

Now, let me show you the poetic and religious meaning of the unconscious words. The unconscious mind was telling to the dreamer that:

"Only when you'll stop acting like your absurd tendencies impose on you, will you surely find salvation.

Don't let the worst components of your personality control your behavior and destroy your life. You must fight against your absurd tendencies.

If you never open the door for your heart, how can you find happiness in life?

Don't be afraid to find your freedom."

The poetic and religious meaning of these words is visible especially when we consider the fact that the unconscious mind is a very serious doctor who is trying to transform indifferent monsters into sensitive human beings. This is why the generous unconscious mind gives us (monsters) many explanations in dreams.

The revolted dreamer couldn't understand that he was responsible for his own suffering. Now he understood that he must change his behavior if he wants to ever have a positive love relationship. He must also learn how to find the right woman for him, instead of having dangerous relationships with women that will ruin his life. (He must stop being controlled by the negative part of his personality that was chasing him in the street, and he must get out of his grandparents' house).

The dreamer stopped feeling like a victim. He is now building his self-confidence, and beginning a new life. Everything depends on his transformation.

View the original article here

General Health Care Tips

2011-08-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Each of us wants to live a long and happy life. A lot depends on a health state of a person. It is said not in vain that health is the greatest wealth. Not something else but namely good health state makes a person happy. Being healthy means being happy.

Other life goals it is possible to reach, but health is something that you will never pay, it can be managed, controlled, improved if there is such a possibility. Therefore from the very childhood it is so important to watch out the health condition and try not to spoil the health.

Here are some general tips which will allow you to support your well-being:

1. Sleep no less than 7-8 hours. Try to stick to a definite regime. If you suffer from permanent insomnia, take anti-stress medications or visit a health care provider for a consultation.

2. Try to stick to a healthy diet. Eliminate products which do not suit you. Drink more water and eat more fruits and vegetables. Try to eat light food.

3. Avoid smoking and drinking too much alcohol. This can lead to depression, thus influencing your health state.

4. Concentrate on your work or studies. Try to be involved in various activities, as it will make you feel needed in the society. Your self-esteem will grow - and it also contributes to a better well-being.

5. Try to find a kind of hobby which you will like.

6. Spend more time on fresh air. Nature usually calms down and relaxes.

7. If you know you have a certain disease, don't postpone a visit to a physician! Consult with your doctor and finish a prescribed course of treatment.

8. In order to feel healthy it is recommended to go in for sport. Choose a sport activity which suits you.

9. Avoid stresses pessimistic disposition and thoughts, depressive state or something associated with mental disorder. It is known that stress and depression spoil the nervous system.

10. Smile more! Positive thinking is a 50% of successful life and good health state!

Everything is in our hands. Each of us is a "creator" of his/her own life. And it is essential to do everything possible to reach those goals set for us. Without health it is impossible to achieve most of the life goals. Taking care of health is important in any age, as people have goals and wishes in any age. Support your health and be happy!

View the original article here

The Healing Powers of Writing

2011-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ever since written language developed thousands of years ago, it has been used as a channel for emotional expression. Many influential works of biography, fiction and poetry have been born out of their authors' personal experience of sickness, loss or war. Private individuals have turned their troubles into stories, and confided their feelings to their diary or, in modern times, to their blog.

The value of writing as therapy has been formally recognized in recent years. A number of research studies, some carried out on healthy volunteers and others on patients with various disease conditions, have shown benefits for both physical and mental health. Writing about an emotionally distressing topic of the person's own choice, even if upsetting in the short term, has been found to bring lasting long-term improvement in most cases. Writing about something neutral has little effect. Writing for periods of 20 or 30 minutes each day for several days is usually recommended and this can be done individually or in a group, by hand or on a computer. On-going work may take the form of a journal, focused on thoughts and feelings rather than outside events. It is best to let the words 'flow' without concern for spelling or grammar; technical errors can be corrected later on if desired.

Writing about pleasant topics is therapeutic too. Keeping a 'positive diary' to record things which have gone well in the day gone by, or a 'gratitude diary' of things you appreciate, is a proven method of lifting the spirits. Techniques of 'creative visualization' include writing a description of your ideal future as if it exists already, using the present tense. This is more powerful than simply imagining it.

Some prefer to keep the content of their writing completely private, others to discuss it with a therapist either face-to-face or by email. Special techniques may be used, for example writing a letter to someone with whom there is 'unfinished business'. Usually, such letters are not actually sent. If the person wants to forget or 'move on' from the issue, they might ceremoniously burn or tear up what they wrote.

Other forms of therapeutic writing are intended not for forgetting but for remembering. For example, many hospices and aged care facilities offer 'life review' programs in which a therapist or trained volunteer facilitates the preparation of a short autobiography. Not only is this process intended to be helpful to the writer, it will result in a tangible legacy for surviving relatives. Not everyone will want to undertake a project of this kind, which may entail confronting their own mortality, or revealing skeletons in the family cupboard.

Writing therapy promotes the open expression of emotion, and the reframing of problem situations so that they can be seen in a new light. In these respects it is similar to the other 'creative therapies' such as art therapy and music therapy, and to the many forms of psychotherapy, though it is likely that each of these modalities - art, music, talking, and writing - involve different neurological pathways in the brain, and different people will find some of them more helpful than others.

If the work is to be published more widely it will benefit other people besides the writer. Reading about how one person has coped with a particular kind of illness, bereavement or traumatic event can be very helpful to others facing a similar situation.

Like anything else, writing has its downside, especially if it takes up too much time and energy. But even if you are suffering the effects of lack of exercise, repetitive strain injury, social isolation from the 'real' world, or the pain of rejection by a publisher, it may be comforting to reflect that in many ways writing is good for you.

Jennifer Barraclough is a graduate of Oxford University Medical School and practiced for many years as a medical doctor in England before moving to New Zealand and becoming a Bach flower therapist and life coach. She has authored or edited several previous books including 'An Outline of Modern Psychiatry' 'Cancer and 'Emotion' and 'Enhancing Cancer Care', and published a number of research papers. She lives in Auckland with her husband and cats. To learn more, please visit: http://www.jenni.co.nz/

View the original article here

Mind-Body Healing With the Bach Flower Remedies

2011-08-10T05:55:00.000-07:00

Bach flower remedies are a form of vibrational, or energy, medicine that act at the psychological and spiritual levels. Nowadays the remedies are mainly used for treating emotional problems, but people dealing with physical illness can often benefit too. These remedies can safely be combined with other treatments, and they have no side effects (except possibly in cases where alcohol is forbidden, because they contain traces of brandy as a preservative). It is important to understand that they are complementary, not alternative, to orthodox medicine and that they do not offer direct treatment for specific disease conditions. Every person requires a different combination of remedies, and up to six flowers can be mixed in the same course of treatment.

The primary aim is to relieve the emotional distress caused by the illness, making it easier to cope in a more positive way, and I have found that around 80% of clients in my practice report benefit in this respect. Here are a few examples of flowers that may be useful:

Understandable fear and anxiety about the illness itself, or about the prospect of medical or surgical treatment: Mimulus

Feelings of impurity or 'body image' problems such as may accompany infections, skin lesions, or heavy medication: Crab Apple

Shock or grief after hearing bad news: Star of Bethlehem or the Rescue Remedy

Difficulty in making decisions, such as choosing between two kinds of treatment: Scleranthus or Cerato

The flower remedies do not suppress these natural negative feelings, but help bring them to the surface of awareness, so that they can be processed and released and replaced by their positive equivalents.

Another aim is to enhance the potential for self-healing. Dr Edward Bach (1886 - 1936) taught that imbalance of mind and spirit plays a major part in causing disease and that his flower remedies, by helping to correct such disharmony, could promote recovery. In his classic short text Heal Thyself Bach explained disease in terms of a learning experience, an opportunity for positive transformation and reorientation to one's true path in life.

Many of Bach's intuitive insights in this field have since been validated by research showing that negative mental states, when combined with biological risk factors, predispose to physical illness including such major conditions as cancer and cardiovascular disease. The mind-body link is complex, made up of many strands. Emotional state has a direct impact on physiology, including the neurological, endocrine and immune systems; it may lead to behavioral choices that affect health; and it colors the perception of bodily sensations.

Examples of characteristics which might have contributed to development of an illness or are hindering its recovery, and can be helped by the flower remedies, would be:

Impatience and irritability: Impatiens

A pessimistic or hopeless outlook: Gorse or Gentian

An overly strong sense of duty leading to overwork and exhaustion: Oak

Excessive self-discipline and self-denial: Rock Water

Changing 'maladaptive' personality traits such as these will be worthwhile for its own sake, though it carries no guarantee of physical improvement because medical prognosis depends on so many different factors.

True healing is not just about dispelling sickness and negativity. It also involves mobilizing feelings of love and joy, and activities that serve to fulfill a sense of purpose in life. This may pose a challenge for those who have mental 'blocks' preventing them recognizing or following their true calling. Here again the flower remedies can help. Examples:

For those who lack the confidence to make the most of their talents: Larch

For those who give others' needs too much priority over their own: Centaury

For those who want to do something worthwhile with their lives but do not know what it is: Wild Oat

With the Bach system, uncovering the emotional history does not require detailed deep analysis, but is a gentle process with its own natural pace. Different flowers may be needed to deal with the layers of a problem as they are revealed: 'peeling the onion'.

View the original article here

Is Your Life Zooming in the Fast Lane?

2011-08-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

As you rush to catch your breath at the end of your day, how many of you realize that you're (stuck) in the fast lane? A whole lot of rushing around, more hurry-hurry-WAIT- going no where fast, and at the end of the day, there ain't a lot left to give?

This phenomenon of American's living life at this break neck pace is a lethal way to live. When predictions consistently read that 80% of modern illness or diseases are stress related, many of these conditions are related to lifestyle/eating habits! Shouldn't we all be choking on the smell of burnt coffee? At least ask yourselves: is this really how I want to live? Is this how I want my family to live? How I want my family to see me? What I want to teach my kids?

These topics beg a broader question of awareness: much like the old joke where the patient shows up at the doctor's office with pain in his left arm, crying, "Doctor, it hurts when I touch here!" Of course, "Well, then don't touch there!" gets us all rolling on the floor over the hilarity of the doctor's apt retort to the patient's foolishness.

Awareness brings a double-edged sword to the table. You can live with many select layers of awareness. But with greater awareness you can learn phenomenal things. As you learn, you can change. As you change you can grow more deeply. This is how you can live with deeper appreciation of what you DO have, and of the trials before you, to recognize that life in the fast lane is a choice. Sure, some days, it is truly inevitable. But how many times do you mistake today's TO DO list for a MUST DO or DIE list? Survey says: You are not alone!

What would really happen if you didn't get the TO DO list eliminated and off your plate? How would you actually feel to release the hold of stress over you? The truth is the world would still spin, you would still get paid the same, and if you were aware of your true efforts, perhaps you could let yourself off the hook if the results of those efforts did not show up immediately.

If you cannot enjoy the fruits of your labors, what is the point exactly? If you value your family above all else, but work 80 hours a week, where is the value for them? Or for you? Perhaps unknowingly you value the appearance that more stress means greater success? Simply because the neighbors, or other family are out of their minds with stress means you should be too? It is a quandary that Americans seem addicted to. Yet the stress of trying to squeeze so much into 24 hours is, literally, killing us.

You have innumerable choices daily, and as you ponder your options or your pace, remember to breathe to clear and calm the mind...or slow down so you can breathe and feel the present that is the gift of today. If it sounds too simple to be true, see what happens when you keep yourself (and your mind) open to the possibilities. Surprises are meant to bring us the unexpected. Embracing the unknown is an incredible way to step into the greater power of inner peace.

Namaste'

Maria C. Camacho
Founder + Owner
My Health As Wealth
http://www.myhealthaswealth.com/

View the original article here

Ten Steps to Self-Healing

2011-08-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

If you are coping with an illness there are many simple but powerful things you can do to help yourself, in addition to taking advantage of medical and surgical care.

ONE: Accept some responsibility for your own health. Research shows that taking a proactive stance, for example being involved in choices about treatment and making lifestyle changes, is associated with good medical outcomes for many disease conditions. But some aspects are not within personal control and sometimes it is best to accept this and 'go with the flow'.

TWO: Cultivate a positive outlook. Emotions and attitudes affect hormonal and immune function, and can even change the structure of the brain and expression of the genes. Qualities such as hope, love, joy and forgiveness will directly assist physical healing, besides making it easier to cope with the illness. This does not mean denying the negative feelings such as anxiety, sadness or anger which are natural reactions to being ill, and it is important to acknowledge and process such feelings before being able to reach a genuinely positive state of mind.

THREE: Balance the various domains of your life. Illness and its treatment can easily come to overshadow everything else, but it is better to spread your time and energy more widely, with activities and goals in other fields - especially those which are creative and fun. And according to the Law of Attraction, the vibrations radiated by our thoughts and feelings act like a magnet, so that 'you become what you think about'. Focusing too much attention on illness-related topics is therefore not a good idea.

FOUR: Take a holistic approach. Health, sickness and healing involve the whole person - body, emotions, mind and spirit - all of which are interconnected in numerous ways. This is sometimes neglected in modern medical and surgical practice, which has inevitably become highly specialized with experts in particular fields. Having an illness can be a stimulus to evaluating all parts of your life, with the aim of eliminating anything which is not working well for you and introducing more of what you consider enjoyable and worthwhile.

FIVE: Research the causes of your illness. The internet is an invaluable source, but different sites vary in quality and may contain conflicting information, so do not rely on just one. Most conditions are not due to a single cause, but result from a complex combination of different factors which might include genetic make-up, nutritional deficiencies or excesses, infection, toxins in the environment, mental attitudes and response to stress. If it is possible to remove a causative factor it makes sense to do so, though this alone may not be enough to produce a cure.

SIX: Improve your physical self-care. It is well known that a good diet, regular exercise and adequate sleep are good for the health, though making long-term lifestyle changes is often easier said than done.

SEVEN: Learn one or more mind-body techniques. Relaxation, visualization, affirmations, meditation, self-hypnosis and yoga can be learned from books or audios or from a therapist, and practiced at home. They need to be done regularly for maximum benefit.

EIGHT: Make informed choices about professional care. Few significant health problems can be successfully managed by self-help methods alone, and there is usually a need for one or more forms of external treatment too. Both 'orthodox' and 'alternative' approaches have their advantages and their downside. It pays to research the options thoroughly; talk to other people who have experienced the treatment; seek out competent practitioners who will support you on the healing journey; and trust your own intuition about what will work best for you.

NINE: Seek meanings and messages in the illness. Have you been working too many hours, neglecting your diet, putting other people's needs too much before your own, become stuck in an unsatisfactory life situation or developed a chronically negative mindset? Some metaphysical healers, often using the chakra system, maintain that disorders of certain body parts reflect certain types of psychological imbalance. These guidelines can be helpful but it is always the individual's own perception of meaning which counts.

TEN: Make the illness experience an opportunity for positive transformation. It can serve to clarify your true priorities and values, providing the impetus to pursue the way of life which suits you, to surround yourself with a supportive network of friends, unleash your creative talents, enhance spiritual awareness, and learn the art of 'living in the present moment'.

View the original article here

2011-02-19T18:00:00.001-08:00

The Numerous Effects Of Global Warming On The Environment

2011-02-18T18:00:00.001-08:00

Many people have heard about the effects of global warming on the environment. While there are still some people that do not have the hard facts, many more are beginning to really look at global warming. This can open up a new way for people to come together and really begin looking at ways to combat this troubling problem. You do not have to look far to see the effects that global warming is having possibly where you live. Floods, hurricanes and many other disasters are beginning to occur at very odd times. This has caused alarm in the scientific community and there is real data out there suggesting that many of the natural upheavals are direct effects of the global warming phenomenon. Agricultural is one area that is affected by global warming and this is one area people should not ignore. If agricultural is affected, the food supply could be affected and this is something that could have devastating consequences. If the climate is unstable, it makes it very hard to for farmers to predict crops and this is something that can cause instability in the agricultural world. The effects of global warming are something that is cause for a deeper look by everyone. It is not just up to scientists to monitor these conditions and this is something that each individual needs to keep a closer eye on. If we sit back and do nothing we could make it very hard for future generations. We do not want out generations to be plagued by the fact that we have done nothing and you can start living today for the future.

sondra fortunato

2008-12-15T18:03:00.000-08:00

Sondra Fortunato Photo: Sexy Miss NFL Racy Santa Claus Outfit for Giants
by Mike Baron

The NFL's New York Giants

aren't amused by fan Sondra Fortunato's decision to show up for a game in a skimpy

Santa Claus outfit last week, revealing a little more than anyone wanted to see.

Sondra Fortunato, a middle-aged blonde, made other women "jealous" last week when she showed up to a Giants game wearing a skimpy Santa Claus outfit, which, according to the AP, consisted of a tiara, fishnet stockings, a bathing suit bottom and high-heeled boots.

Security escorted her from the stadium.

While fellow fans and the Giants have expressed their disdain for Sondra's less-than-Santa-like outfit, she claims it wasn't offensive at all:

"You couldn't even see my underwear."

huntsman spider

2008-12-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Found: Rare Pink Dragon Millipede Photo - Bizzare Huntsman Spider
by Jack Ryan

More than a 1000 species have been discover in the Greater Mekong region of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Of these they found a bright Barbie car pink millipede called a Dragon Millipede or the Demoxytes purprosea. You have to see it to believe it, a bright pink insect!

These Dragon Millipedes were discovered in the Hup Pa tard cavern in Thailand. they love crawling on palm trees and limestones. Dr. Somsak Panhaz was one of the members of the Thailand research team who found them. It is said that these creepy crawlers are pink to warn it's predators of it's poison.

Strange & Interesting News

Published: Dec 15, 2008

Share It | Most Popular | Send A Tip

Found: Rare Pink Dragon Millipede Photo - Bizzare Huntsman Spider
by Jack Ryan

More than a 1000 species have been discover in the Greater Mekong region of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Of these they found a bright Barbie car pink millipede called a Dragon Millipede or the Demoxytes purprosea. You have to see it to believe it, a bright pink insect!

Among the other newly discovered creatures was the Heteropoda or better known as the Huntsman spider. This creepy crawling giant spider of 30 cm or about 12 inches is one of the largest spiders in the world. According to Wikipedia these spiders are found in "Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, Florida, and Hawaii, and possibly in many other tropical and semi-tropical regions. They can be found as far north as England, Sweden and Wales." They do bite, but they are not dangerous to humans research says. (c) tPC

Click Here for more pictures

ascot fund

2008-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Madoff scandal rocks Jewish philanthropic world

By Jacob Berkman · December 14, 2008

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Tthe securities fraud of Bernard Madoff has rocked the Jewish nonprofit world -- and the worst may be yet to come.

Madoff, the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested Dec. 11 after admitting to his board that a hedge fund he ran was essentially a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

At least two foundations have been forced to close because they had invested their funds with Madoff.

The Robert I. Lappin Foundation in Salem, Mass., announced Dec. 12 that it would shut down after losing $8 million -- all of its money. And the Chais Family Foundation, which gives out some $12.5 million each year to Jewish causes in Israel, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, announced its closing Dec. 14.

At least one nonprofit is calling out for help in the wake of Madoff’s collapse. The Gift of Life Foundation, a Jewish bone marrow registry that relied heavily on Madoff as a benefactor, announced on its Web site Sunday that it would immediately need to raise $1.8 million to make up for recent losses.

Sources close to Yeshiva University, where Madoff served as treasurer of the board of trustees and board chairman of the university's Sy Syms School of Business until he resigned last week, said the school has lost at least $100 million. Y.U. officials declined to offer any specifics.

Just as the reverberations of the subprime mortgage collapse are still seen as contributing to the nation's wider economic meltdown, philanthropic insiders say the fallout from Madoff's scheme could be even greater. The insiders note that Madoff and others heavily invested in his fraudulent fund were major supporters of a plethora of nonprofit organizations, served on their boards or advised those organizations on how to invest their money -- in some cases placing large sums of the groups' capital in Madoff’s hands.

Reflecting this sense that the full extent of the damage is still unclear, the executive vice president and CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York said that even though its endowments were not exposed, the organization still could be hurt if donors lost money in the scheme.

“We do not yet know the full extent of the losses that supporters of UJA-Federation and other Jewish institutions have had,” John Ruskay said. “But we have already heard that many major institutions had substantial funds invested, as did foundations. Already in the context of a very challenging economic environment this will present another significant difficulty. We don’t know yet the extent of the wreckage.”

Reports are trickling out in the national media about prominent businessmen from across the country who lost money in Madoff's scheme.

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, GMAC Financial Services chairman J. Ezra Merkin and former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman all were reported to have taken significant hits due to their dealings with Madoff, who reportedly would not accept any investment in his fund below $10 million.

Reports have surfaced also that media magnate Mortimer Zuckerman was significantly hurt by investing with Madoff.

In Los Angeles, the Jewish Community Foundation’s $238 million Common Investment Pool lost $18 million it had invested with Madoff, according to a letter sent out by the foundation.

Among other Jewish institutions and foundations believed to be hit by the Madoff scandal: the American Jewish Congress, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Steven Spielberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation, Elie Wiesel’s Foundation for Humanity and Carl Shapiro’s charitable foundation.

But Merkin, who last week told investors in his hedge fund, Ascot Partners, that all of their money had been defrauded by Madoff, is of particular interest to the Jewish community. He has philanthropic ties to a number of Jewish organizations and institutions, serving as a volunteer investment adviser for many of them, including Yeshiva University. Among other causes with which he is said to be connected are the SAR Academy, a Jewish day school in the Bronx, as well as State of Israel Bonds, The Jewish Campus Life Fund, Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, the Ramaz School, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Fifth Avenue Synagogue.

Sources say that several of these entities had money in Ascot, which they now stand to lose because of Merkin's decision to invest so heavily in Madoff's fund. According to Orthodox communal insiders, Ramaz and SAR lost millions between them.

A woman who answered the phone Sunday at one of Merkin's listed numbers suggested that he could be reached in the office Monday.

An official at one major Jewish foundation told JTA that it had been advised to invest with Madoff, but decided against it after concluding that his return-on-investment forecasts seemed too good to be true.

Certainly the extent of the damage to the philanthropic world could become clearer as details emerge in coming days and weeks of just who was invested with Madoff.

One philanthropic official said there is a lesson to be learned here for the philanthropy world, where Jewish businessmen and philanthropists directed their own private funds and the funds of institutions that they help oversee toward Madoff.

“What really emerges out of this,” said Jeffrey Solomon, the president of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, is that "people sometimes forget to conduct the due diligence when dealing with others with social prominence -- and especially in the hedge-fund area where people think you have to be really smart to be in hedge funds. In many ways for all investments something like this is tragic, but for nonprofits where boards have the fiduciary responsibility of acting with great prudence, it is even more tragic.”

According to a fund-raiser who has been scouring recent 990 tax filings to see how this might affect his nonprofit, several other major philanthropists have put money in Madoff's hands: As of the end of 2007, Sandy Gottesman had $20 million of his foundation's $144 million invested with Madoff and Robert Beren had two foundations with more than that in endowments invested with Ascot. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) says his foundation has about $15 million invested with Madoff.

Yeshiva University issued a statement via e-mail to JTA on Sunday.

“We are shocked at this revelation,” the university said. “Bernard Madoff has tendered his resignation from all positions affiliated with the university and involvement with the university. Our lawyers and accountants are investigating all aspects of his relationship to Yeshiva University. We reserve our comments until we complete our investigation.”

visa black card

2008-12-04T01:40:00.000-08:00

Rosemary Roberts: Shop 'til you drop -- but pay with cash

This is Black Friday, the day that officially launches the Christmas shopping season. Customers wake up before daylight to storm the doors of stores where wondrous bargains supposedly await them.

At the risk of putting a damper on Black Friday, let's talk about credit cards. The News & Record published a front-page story this week telling you what you've probably noticed: that Americans' love affair with credit cards may be cooling.

In the past, we've hauled out our little pieces of plastic to pay for everything from coffee at Starbucks to airplane tickets to big-ticket cars. We Americans spend more and save less than any people on the planet. On trips to China and Russia, I've learned that the Chinese and Russians don't buy something unless they can pay for it. Maybe it's their repressive history that's taught them to toe the line. Not us. We free-wheeling Americans put it on plastic.

According to the Associated Press story, the sour economy may be changing our consumer habits. Americans have discovered old-fashioned greenbacks. "Retailers such as Walmart, Target and J.C. Penney are noticing a shift away from credit cards in favor of cash and debit cards," the AP story said.

I can personally attest to this turnabout. I was standing in the checkout line at Target last week and noticed that the three shoppers ahead of me were paying with -- gasp! -- dollars.

One customer's shopping basket was overflowing with purchases, suggesting a hefty bill. She still paid with cash, not plastic. I was so impressed that I put my Visa card back in my purse and paid with cash, too. That's the way trends get started.

My late father would have applauded. When credit cards were a relatively new invention in the early 1950s, I was still a child and remember thinking it would be so sophisticated if my parents had a credit card. (Today, some people have dozens!) The Diners Club was a pioneer of the new credit card industry. First issued in 1950, the Diners Club card was used to pay restaurant bills. My uncle had a Diners card, and I was extremely impressed when he whipped it out to pay for dinner at a Birmingham restaurant.

It would take years before my father grudgingly owned a credit card, and even then he rarely used it. My father had lived through the Great Depression and, like others of that generation, he believed in thrift and savings accounts. His motto: If you can't afford it, don't buy it. He was a devoted believer in pay as you go. The Diners card -- and later American Express, Visa, Mastercard, etc. -- did not fit in his financial firmament.

Today, he would be appalled by my mail. Several times a week I am bombarded with unsolicited letters asking me to sign up for credit cards. I'm convinced that anybody -- teenagers, college students, the unemployed -- would qualify even if they have no financial means to pay credit card bills. But consumer behavior may be changing. According to the AP story, Walmart and Target officials say credit card use has declined during this frightening economic downturn. Credit card companies are also cutting back on issuing cards. In short, we may be learning to live like our grandparents once did.

But here's the downside of life without credit cards. If shoppers shelve credit cards, it will discourage them from spending money, analysts say. And that will worsen our sick economy.

Tom Friedman, the syndicated columnist, recently told readers to "go shopping" and stimulate the economy. He momentarily caught me off guard. He was seeming to contradict what we've been told not to do when our personal finances are uncertain. But Friedman added one caveat: "go saving," too, and don't buy what you can't afford.

If you happen to read this column before you join Black Friday's madding crowd, feel free to shop 'til you drop -- but preferably pay with cash. Who knows? You might be starting a healthy new habit!

Rosemary Roberts writes a Friday column. E-mail: rmroberts@triad.rr.com

who is victoria s secret

2008-12-04T01:36:00.000-08:00

who is victoria s secret

Victoria's Secret angels descend on New York

The Victoria's Secret angels were on hand for the opening of the company's flagship store in New York City.

While it's not the biggest store in the chain, it's certainly the most unique. Customers can purchase products at this boutique that they cannot anywhere else.

It has a fragrance bar, where customers can design their own scent. A monogram service will embroider any garment - and they mean any garment. And there's even a personal shopper to help primarily male customers find that perfect gift.

But with all this, all the models could talk about was the airing of the Victoria's Secret show on CBS Wednesday night.

Heidi Klum said this year's show is the best yet. And this time says she means it.

That renewed excitement is due in part to this year's location, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel. It just got a US$1 billion facelift. So the extensive fittings and rehearsals created the atmosphere for a grand show.

This is the fourth show for Selita Ebanks who described the feeling of her first as being "a deer caught in the headlights." And Alessandra Ambrosio said she no longer fears walking the runway with a giant set of wings on her back.

Marisa Miller, Doutzen Kroes and Miranda Kerr are the newest models to be given their wings by the lingerie giant. They're joining Ebanks, Heidi Klum, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, and Alessandra Ambrosio as the brand's top models.

All three of the newbies had graced the Victoria's Secret catwalk before but they weren't fully part of the family until they went to Miami last month for the new runway show spectacle that will be seen on CBS Wednesday night.

APTN

raising canes

2008-12-04T01:35:00.000-08:00

raising canes

Raising Cane’s CEO to star in reality show

Todd Graves, multimillionaire founder of Raising Cane's Chicken, today will debut with wife Gwen on the new Fox reality show "Secret Millionaire."

The show features six millionaires who go undercover in some of the hardest-hit areas of the country to help those in need.

"It was one of most inspiring things I've ever done in my life," said Graves, 36.

Fox sent him to a coastal Louisiana community still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005. The New Orleans-born, Baton Rouge-raised entrepreneur had to spend a week living and working with his neighbors before deciding which of them will receive at least $100,000 of his money.

"Going back to eating ramen noodles and hamburger meat cooked 30 different ways, it really brought me back," Graves said. "I don't live this crazy, lavish lifestyle. I have a very nice lifestyle, but living on a budget really brought me back."

If living on a budget brought Graves back, it brought him back to cold nights on the Alaskan shores, where he worked as a salmon fisherman after college, and the refineries of Los Angeles, where he was a boilermaker. Graves worked these jobs to raise money for the first Raising Canes chicken finger store, which he opened with friend and partner Craig Silvey in 1996.

When asked for one word to sum up every entrepreneur needs, Graves responded "passion."

"It's got to be real passion. It is so hard to start your own business. Even if you're told 'no' 99 out of 100 times, one out of 100 times someone will say, 'That's great: make it work.'"

Passion is why Graves said he kept pushing for a chicken fingers-only chain, a business plan he submitted to his college professors (he graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia) and received "the lowest grade in the class." Today, there are 75 Raising Cane's stores in 13 states, a $125 million company.

Graves will be joined on "Secret Millionaire" by an Internet startup mogul, a magazine founder and other millionaires in their quest to find America's unsung heroes from places like New Orleans, a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, Las Vegas and elsewhere.

Graves said the show's philanthropic aspect is what drew him to it, and he credited that same attitude as inspiration for the friendly Cane's staff.

"The reason our crew is so friendly, such great people, it's because we're doing this for the right reason," Graves said. "We want to give back to the community."

As for all those questions you might have about Graves:

Yes, Cane's is doing well financially. Sales have been up lately, which Graves attributes to more people wanting to eat out for cheap.

No, Graves is not thinking about running for office.

No, he is not happy about state of Georgia Bulldogs football right now.

No, he has no plans to get another Raising Cane, the dog after which he named the company. Graves' current dog is actually Raising Canes the Second, is a she and is 9 years old.

And no, he cannot tell you what's in the special sauce. "I hate to be cliche, but I really would have to kill you," Graves said with a chuckle.

As for what's next, Graves said the only answer is more: more business, more success and more Raising Cane's.

"I want to grow everywhere we can. ... I want to grow old in this business."

By Drew Pierson • dpierson@gannett.com

Latest Local

2008-06-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

Top USA

2008-06-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

world views

2008-06-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

computerized diet monitor

2007-11-29T01:56:00.002-08:00

lose pounds or pay

2007-11-29T01:56:00.001-08:00

senior living-home for holidays

2007-11-29T01:50:00.000-08:00

car of the year-2008

2007-11-29T01:45:00.000-08:00

unwrap your perfect body-holiday season

2007-11-29T01:40:00.000-08:00

moving houseplants back indoors

2007-11-29T01:38:00.000-08:00

hpv and cervical cancer-a true life story

2007-11-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

sean taylor

2007-11-29T01:27:00.000-08:00

emergency car repairs-during holidays

2007-11-29T01:24:00.000-08:00

tentative agreement-broadway strike

2007-11-29T01:22:00.000-08:00