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DEC / JAN 2015 CONSCIOUS LIVING IN THE 21ST CENTURYEARTH STAREARTH STAR
NEW SLOW CITY
BERNIE S. SIEGEL
YYOOGGAA FFOORR CCAANNCCEERR
WALKING HOMEWALKING HOME
THE COLORS OF LOVE
THE COLORS OF LOVE
EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE
EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE
NEW SLOW CITY
YYOOGGAA FFOORR CCAANNCCEERR
BERNIE S. SIEGEL
SONIA CHOQUETTESONIA CHOQUETTE
www.earthstarmag.com2 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
Contact Christopher for a remote Divine HealingDivine Healing sessionby phone or Skype.
http://www.christophermacklinministries.com
www.earthstarmag.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 3
4 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
ON THE COVER
27 Walking HomeDay 25: Rabanal to Ponferrada (32 km)by Sonia Choquette
38 Everything Is A MiracleExcerpts from A Book of Miraclesby Dr. Bernie Siegel
51 The Colors of LoveExcerpts from The Light by Keidi Keatingby Don Miguel Ruiz
56 Yoga for CancerCreating Your Yoga Practice and Learning the Posesby Tari Prinster
59 New Slow CityLiving Simply…No Matter Where You Are by William Powers
FEATURES12 Down To Earth Astrology
by Tim Gunns
16 Rhythm Alchemyby Martin Ivanov\
22 Discover the Benefits of K-Laser Class 4 Laser Therapy Treatmentsby Dr. Joseph Mercola
31 Strange Electromagnetic Energiesby Louis Proud
43 The Real Brass RingChange Your Life Course Nowby Dianne Bischoff James
45 Natural Extracts Lower Blood Pressureby Brandon Dewitte
64 4 Myths That Keep You From Living Fully and Fearlesslyby Anita Moorjani
DEPARTMENTS5 Up Front
18 Book Reviews
EARTH STARCONTENTS DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
Page 38
Page 51
Page 27
Cover Art Flight of Music
by Jean-Paul Avisse
For further information,contact
Prestige Art Galleries, 3909 W. Howard, Skokie,IL 60076. (874) 679-2555,www.prestigeartskokie.com
.
For a free color brochure,please send a S.A.S.E.
Jean-Paul Avisse
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 5www.earthstarmag.com
Earth Star Up FrontPHILAE TTouches Down on the Surface of a ouches Down on the Surface of a Comet
T ouchdown! The Philae probehas landed on the surface of acomet, scientists from the
European Space Agency (ESA)announced November 12th.
It is the first time a soft landing hasbeen achieved on a comet.
However, project scientists believeanchors that hold the probe to the sur-face failed to work properly and are nowtrying to find out why, according to ESAtweets.
ESA lander systemengineer LaurenceO'Rourke told CNN thatengineers are still check-ing the data to see “howwe landed and where welanded.”
Shortly after landingwas confirmed, the probetweeted: “Touchdown! Mynew address: 67P!” Later,it tweeted again: “I’m onthe surface but my har-poons did not fire.”
ESA director Jean-Jacques Dordaintold colleagues who had waited anx-iously for confirmation of the landing.“This is a big step for human civiliza-tion. The biggest problem with successis it looks easy.”
And William Shatner, who playedCaptain Kirk in the science fiction seriesStar Trek retweeted: “touchdown con-
fi rmed for away team @Philae2014,captain!”
Led by ESA with a consortium ofpartners including NASA, scientists onthe Rosetta mission hope to learn moreabout the composition of comets andhow they interact with the solar wind—high energy particles blasted into spaceby the Sun. —CNN
Being NeighborNeighbor llyy Promotes a HealthHealthy Heary Hear tt
T here may be something more toheart health for everyonebeyond genes, diet and exer-
cise. This heart-health booster is some-thing we don’t think about, and yetthere it is, right in front of our noses.And this newly proven secret to hearthealth and longevity is free and nothard to do—all you have to do is beneighborly.
That's right—just be neighborly tolive longer! Here’s why.
We know that negative aspects ofphysical environments—noise, trafficand pollution—can harm our health.It’s a no-brainer. But recently, a studyby researchers from the University ofMichigan looked at the impact of posi-
tive rather than the negative aspects ofneighborhood living. The researchteam wanted to find out whether feelingpart of a community, trusting neighborsand feeling safe had an impact on hearthealth. They called these feelings aboutcommunity connections perceivedneighborhood social cohesion.
Drawing data from the Universityof Michigan’s ongoing Health andRetirement Study, the researchers iden-tified 5,276 heart-healthy people andfollowed them for four years. The aver-age age of these folks was 70. TheHealth and Retirement Study is a large,national program that collects informa-tion on health, health-care economics,aging and quality of life in adults olderthan 50 through questionnaires that aresent every two years to the more than22,000 participants in the program.
Researchers asked the participantshow they felt about the area within a20-minute walk or one-mile radius oftheir homes, and how much they agreedwith these four statements:• I really feel part of this area.• If you were in trouble, there are lots ofpeople in this area who would help you.• Most people in this area can be trusted.
• Most people in this area are friendly.Depending on how strongly a par-
ticipant agreed with each statement, heor she was put into one of four groups.
During the four-year study period,148 of the participants had heartattacks. The researchers took this infor-mation and sliced and diced it with thedata they had collected about neighbor-hood social cohesion and demographicfactors (for example, age, sex, race,marital status, education level andincome) of their study population.
When the researchers adjusted datato compensate for the impact of demo-graphic factors on heart attack risk,they found that, compared with peoplewith low neighborhood social cohe-sion, people with low-to-moderatesocial cohesion were 34% less likely tohave heart attacks and people with themoderate-to-high or high social cohe-sion were about 45% less likely to haveheart attacks.
Those are stunning numbers—youcan potentially reduce your risk ofheart attack by half by just being neigh-borly and liking and being involvedwith where you live.—Daily Health News
www.earthstarmag.com6 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
EARTH STARThe Leading Magazine for Holistic Living
in New England
EDITOR/PUBLISHERCody Bideaux
ASSOCIATE EDITORTim Gunns
ADVERTISING OFFICES828-452-9378
email: [email protected]
EDITORIAL OFFICE828-452-9378
email: [email protected]
ADVERTISING MANAGERSTim Gunns
Janessa Howard
DESIGN & PRODUCTIONEarthstar ProductionsJay Scott Hackleman
CONTRIBUTING WRITERSSonia Choquette • Brandon Dewitte
Tim Gunns • Martin Ivanov Dianne Bischoff James • Keidi Keating
Joseph Mercola • William PowersTari Prinster • Louis Proud
Don Miguel Ruiz • Bernie S. Siegel
SUBMISSIONSManuscripts, artwork, and photographs
must be accompanied by a self-addressed,stamped envelope. Earth Star Magazine
cannot be responsible for loss ordamage of unsolicited materials.
Earth Star Magazine is not responsible for advertising claims.
Earth Star Magazine, Copyright © 2014by Earth Star Magazine Incorporated,
All Rights Reserved. No articles may be used without written permission of the publisher
Volume XXXVIl No. 221 — December / January 2015
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www.earthstarmag.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 7
Earth Star Up FrontAerAerotootoxic Syndrxic Syndromeome Threatens Airline Passengers
T here are many air travel victimswhose mysterious health issuesare not publicized or understood
by medical authorities, and apparentlythe international airline and aircraftindustries would like to keep it that way.
Toxins from bleed air bleeding intothe cockpits and cabins of commercialairplanes have the potential to createAerotoxic Syndrome, an illness that canlead to a long term debilitation thatmakes it quite difficult to ever regainhealth. All jet liners and turbopropplanes use the bleed air technique forcabin air with the exception of theBoeing Dream Liner.
Bleed air is air that is forced into anairplane for breathing via engine turbinecompression sections. The air is cooledand forced into the aircraft interior frominside the engine cowling or cover. Mostcabin air is 60% bleed air and 40% recy-cled air. Pilots are subject to 100% bleedair, so they get hit the hardest from bleedair contaminants.
The contaminants are in engine andhydraulic oils that sometimes leak andburn off vapors into the bleed air. Someof those oils contain large amounts of anorganophosphatecalled tricresyl phos-phate (TCP). Organophosphates arenerve gas agents used in insecticides andpesticides, and many nations havebanned them. Organophosphates aredeadly!
A group of Swiss/German TVinvestigative journalists swabbed interi-or cabin samples from 31 different com-mercial aircraft and handed them over toProfessor Christian van Netten, a lead-ing toxicologist at the University ofBritish Columbia. Professor van Nettenfound 28 of those swabs contained TCP!
The long term effects of TCP aremostly neurological, but sometimes pul-monary. These effects create varioussymptoms identical to MS (multiplesclerosis) or Guillain-Barre, a paralysisthat sometimes occurs after vaccina-tions. The symptoms vary in intensity,and they’re crippling in different ways.
Bleed air incidents from the 1960swere rarely connected to neurologicaldamage from cabin air contamination.The airline industry has covered themup since the connection was first made
and the dangersbecame known in1977. But now the veilof censorship has beenripped away by somekey victim activistswho have done theresearch and providedproof to use in lawsuitsagainst airlines andaircraft manufacturers.Victims involved withthe lawsuits have beenmostly airline crewsand flight attendantswhose repeated expo-sure to bleed air con-taminants made themmost vulnerable toaerotoxic syndrome.
These activist vic-tims are not disgrun-tled employees look-ing to get somethingout of their employers. Many pilots andflight attendants who had previouslyloved their jobs have been forced intomedical retirement with debilitatinghealth issues as the result of bleed air.The UK Independent reported that 27pilots suffering from cognitive dysfunc-tion were tested at University CollegeLondon in 2006, and high amounts ofjet-engine oil chemicals including TCPwere discovered in their blood and fat.
There have been incidents wherepilots couldn’t function and were losingvision, or were desperately ill untilmoments after donning their oxygenmasks. Sometimes one of the pilotswould pass out, leaving the other strick-en pilot with the task of handling the air-craft. Incapacitated pilots are invitationsto disaster!
Flight crews and attendants havebeen aware of this toxic situation with-out speaking out for some time. Butalmost all passengers are cluelessregarding these dangerous toxins. Cabinair filters are useless for protectingagainst heated oil TCP contaminants.There are reported cases of passengerswho have had problems, some very seri-ous and long lasting, from even oneflight where the burnt oil smell wasnoticeable.
A pilot who had protected himselfwith oxygen reported passengers lookedill and “zombie-like” from a surge ofburnt oil bleed air that had been sentthroughout the plane. How many ofthose passengers had lingering negativehealth effects that would never be con-nected to bleed air contamination onthat flight? Some passengers wereaware of a noxious odor and then dizzi-ness, which turned into long term neuro-logical problems with debilitating MSsymptoms.
That’s the problem with long termhealth issues for the unsuspecting. Theyoften kick in strongly days or evenweeks after the toxic flight. And sincepassengers know virtually nothing ofaerotoxic syndrome, they don’t connectwhat’s wrong with them with the flightthat released TCP fumes.
For prevention, there are compactmasks lined with highly effective acti-vated charcoal to adsorb TCP mole-cules. Adsorbing differs from absorbingbecause it involves a more effectivetoxin elimination by electronic or ionicbonding of molecules, rather thansponge-like soaking.
Masks are available fromhttp://www.aerotoxic.org —AlignLife
8 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
Earth Star Up FrontVolkswagen’s New 300 MPG Car Not Allowed In America
Y ou won’t find the 300 MPGVolkswagen XL1 in anAmerican showroom, in fact it
has even been denied a tour of Americabecause it is too efficient for theAmerican public to be made widelyaware of, and oil profits are too high inAmerica with the status quo in place.No tour has been allowed for this carbecause the myth that 50 mpg is virtuallyimpossible to obtain from even astripped down econobox is too prof-itable to let go of, and when it comes tocorporate oil profits, ignorance is bliss.
Years ago we had calculated that itshould be possible to get a small car toexceed 100 mpg by putting paralleldirect to cylinder water injectors side byside with the fuel injectors, and usingthe exhaust manifold to preheat thewater so it would enter the cylinders asdry steam, thus providing added expan-sion (which drives the engine) whileallowing the combustion process to pro-ceed without reducing it’s efficiency.But we were obviously wrong with ourcalculations, because they were in factover 2x conservative.
The 100 mpg carburetor was indeeda reality, and the Volkswagen XL1proves it with only straightforwardnothing special technology we have hadsince the 1970?s.Though the XL1 canbe plugged in to deliver a 40 mile allelectric drive, it does not need to beplugged in EVER to achieve 300 mpg.And it does not cheat in any way toachieve the rating, it weighs over 1,700pounds, has normal tires, and delivers a
very good driving experience with agoverned top speed of 99 mph. The XL1could reach a top speed in excess of 110mph absent governor and turns in a 0-60time of 11.5 seconds which is by nomeans leisurely for a car designed forefficiency. The XL1 in no way cheats onperformance to hit it’s rating. It is sim-ply the car we should have always had,and have had taken from us in the nameof oil profits.
Though the XL1 can hit 300 mpgunder ideal driving conditions, it’s com-bined mileage is usually a little over 200mpg, and if you do city driving only thatwill drop to a minimum of 180 mpgunder the worst driving conditions. Butwe’d be happy with that no doubt.
If the XL1 was equipped with an 18gallon fuel tank, and you did all high-way driving, you could fill it up with an
oil change andwhen the nextchange was dueyou couldchange the oiland keep drivingwithout fillingup for and addi-tional 2,400miles. But itcomes with amuch smallerfuel tank,because if itcould go thatlong on a singletank chances are
the fuel would foul before it got used.The tank is only 2.6 gallons to preventfuel age related problems from happen-ing. So fill ups are cheap.
Many of the publications whichspeak about the XL1 did so when it wasa concept car predicted to get rightaround 250 MPG. But in 2014, afterextensive testing of cars now produced,test drivers report economy above 300mpg under the correct driving condi-tions, which would be close to sea level,a flat straight road with no stops, andreasonable speeds. To get rid ofmiles/imperial/U.S. gallon confusion, inthe metric system the XL1 is rated todeliver 100 kilometers per litre.Translated for the U.S., that meansapproximately 65 miles per quart.
We remember how we laughed atthe Smart Fortwo, because even a fullsize 4 doorChevy Impala significantlybeat the “Smart’s” fuel economy, andwith the Impala you would get a wholecar. The Volkswagen XL1 is clearly thetwo seater the Smart should have been ifit really was what the name implies, andthe XL1 is in contrast, a car we’d beproud to be seen in.
You will NOT see the Xl1 inAmerica, however,
Even it’s far less efficient 85 mpgnon hybrid full size station wagon coun-terpart, the Jetta TDI blue motion wagon(Carscoops.com), which is made inAmerica, is banned from Americanroads. —Peak Oil
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 9www.earthstarmag.com
Earth Star Up FrontSMART METERSSMART METERS Are Poor VAre Poor Value, Find 10 EU Countriesalue, Find 10 EU Countries
N early half of European Unitedcountries have decided againsta large scale rollout of smart
meters, calculating that the new technol-ogy can be poor value for money.
Digital smart meters are a big inno-vation over present analogue versions,allowing grid operators and utilities toview power consumption at the house-hold level, but they also involve a signif-icant upfront cost.
EU member states were supposedto replace at least 80% of all electricitymeter with “smart” versions by 2020,provided that they found smart meterssaved money in the long run, under theEnergy Efficiency Directive.
Only 16 out of 28 countries in thebloc found a conclusive net benefit,however, according to a new report fromthe European Commission.
The European Commission paintedan upbeat view of the rollout proceedingin those countries, but acknowledgedthe set back.
“The business case for rolling outsmart metering is not yet overwhelmingthroughout Europe,” the Commissionsaid, in its report, “Benchmarking smartmetering deployment in the EU-27”.
“Sixteen Member States will pro-ceed with large-scale roll-out of smartmeters by 2020 or earlier, or havealready done so.”
“In seven Member States, the cost-benefit analysis for large-scale roll-outby 2020 were negative or inconclusive.In Germany, Latvia and Slovakia smartmetering was found to be economicallyjustified for particular groups of cus-tomers. For four Member States, thecost benefit analysis or rollout planswere not available at the time of writ-ing.”
The Commission report found ahuge range of values for costs and bene-fits per smart meter across the differentmember states.
Costs ranged from 77 to 766 eurosper meter, and benefits from 18 to 654euros.
Some of the differences in costwere down to technical accountingissues, such as the assumed lifetime ofthe meter, rather than actual differencessuch as in installation or labour costs.
The smart meter rollout is part ofthe EU’s 2009 “third energy package”meant to achieve an internal energymarket targeting secure and affordableenergy.
Other measures under the packageinclude linking cross-border markets, sothat electricity flows from cheaper tomore expensive countries.
Smart meters allow two-way com-munication between a house and utility,whether by cable or wireless, replacingpresent meters which simply measurehousehold electricity consumption.
Utilities benefit by reading metersremotely, rather than manually at present.
And they would allow grid opera-tors to balance power demand and sup-ply better, by having real-time data onelectricity consumption at the householdinstead of electricity sub-station level.
Where the meters can communicatewith individual plugs or appliances inthe home, they would also allow utilitiesto shut down power supply for house-holds in return for cheaper tariffs.
Such “demand response” could rev-olutionise grid management, givingoperators an alternative tool for manag-ing surges in electricity demand, as wellas variable wind and solar power supply.
Instead of investing in new powergeneration, they could pay consumersnot to use electricity during demandsurges. Such so-called “peak load shift-
ing” could save billions of euros byallowing countries to avoid investing innew power generation, much of which ispresently kept idle.
But not all smart meters have suchdemand response functionality yet.
Smart meters could also help con-sumers to monitor their energy use andeven control appliances remotely bysmart phone.
But the European Commissionreport found that smart meters in sevenof the 16 countries proceeding with alarge scale rollout did not have the func-tionality to report consumption databack to consumers.
Some consumer groups are con-cerned at the amount of detailed house-hold data which smart meters give toutilities, including how many people arein the house in real time. The EU’s effi-ciency law protects such consumer data,the Commission report said.
“A high level of personal data pro-tection must remain a central concern inthe development of smart standards.”
“An intensive communication effortis required to help consumers under-stand their rights, the benefits ofinstalling smart meters and participatingin demand response programmes.Consumers should be informed aboutthe functionalities, what data will becollected, and what these data will beused for.” —rtcc.org
1 0 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
Earth Star Up FrontSEABUCKTHORN: “Holy Fruit of the Himalayas” or “Wonder Berry”
S eabuckthorn is known as nature’smost balanced fruit. This “HolyFruit of the Himalayas” has been
cherished by native Tibetans for cen-turies for its incredible nutritive quali-ties. The Seabuckthorn fruit is alsoknown throughtout the world asSandthorn, Sandorn, and the “WonderBerry”. Consider seabuckthorn’s nutri-tional profile: Seabuckthorn containsmore than 190 biologically active com-pounds and with its full range of omegafatty acids in perfect balance.Seabuckthorn contains more than 60antioxidants and high ORAC value. Thefruit of Seabuckthorn is very rich invitamin C (300-1600 mg/100 g), whichis 4 - l00 times higher than any veg-etable and fruit.
Seabuckthorn is a small, yellow-orange to orange-red berry with a sour-ish taste that are native to China, Russia,and Mongolia. Seabuckthorn was usedin China for over twelve centuries whereit was first used for traditional Chinesemedicine strengthening stomach, bloodcirculation and respiration.
Seabuckthorn is currently used injuice, sports drinks, jellies, ice cream,cosmetics and medicines.
Seabuckthon is rich inmacronutrients and micronutri-ents. Seabuckthorn containsvitamins B1, B2, folic acid, C, E,beta-carotene (provitamin A),and K. It contains carotenoids,flavonoids, phenols, terpenesand at least 20 mineral cofactors.Seabuckthorn also naturally con-tains 5-HT (serotonin), a neuro-transmitter that helps regulateemotions. Seabuckthorn numer-ous health benefits include cardiovascu-lar, immunity, anticancer, memory,growth, anti-inflammatory, and skinhealth. Seabuckthorn is known asnature’s most balanced fruit.
In addition to omega-7’s, seabuck-thorn also provides a rich source ofpowerful antioxidant and anti-inflam-matory constituents includingcarotenoids (pro-vitamin A), mixedtocopherols and tocotrienols (vitaminE), phytosterols and beneficial omega 3,6, and 9 fatty acids.
Together with omega-7 fatty acids,these compounds deliver proven benefitsto gut mucosa while providing a widerange of benefits to the cardiovascular,immune, and integumentary system.
In numerous animal models, seabuckthorn has been shown to preventand repair ulceration of the digestivetract caused by common stressors likenoise, radiation, vibration, and acidicenvironments. These impressive find-ings have prompted further researchexamining this effect in humans.
In one clinical study involving 30subjects diagnosed with peptic ulcer dis-ease, sea buckthorn supplementation forone month was deemed an effectivetreatment for 96.7 percent of cases andhad a 76.6 percent cure rate. Its restora-tive effects on oral and vaginal mucosahave also been studied in humans andare equally impressive.—NaturalHealthyChoices.weebly.com
S purred on by his own extensivetravel and friends’ involvementin NGOs, designer Gabriele
Diamanti developed a fascination withglobal water scarcity as a graduate stu-dent at Milan Polytechnic in 2005; herecently decided to pursue his interestagain and the result is Eliodomestico, anopen-source variation on a solar still.
Cooking with a solar oven is proba-bly the greenest method of preparingyour food or water. It is also one of themost easily accessible forms of solarpower.
A solar oven is a device that har-nesses sunlight to create heat energy. Itdoesn’t use any fuel, and it doesn’t costa thing to operate it. It can help slowdown the deforestation and desertifica-tion caused by harvesting naturalresources which are used in conven-tional fuel production.
There are many solar oven designs,
but each of them uses the same basicprinciples. They concentrate sunlight,using mirrors or other types of reflec-tive metal, into their designated cook-ing areas. The more concentrated thelight, the more potent the concentrationwill be.
Diamanti’s design functions byfilling the black boiler with salty seawater in the morning, then tighteningthe cap. As the temperature and pres-sure grows, steam is forced downwardsthrough a connection pipe and collectsin the lid, which acts as a condenser,turning the steam into fresh water.Once Diamanti established the funda-mentals were sound, he experimentedwith a series of concepts for the aes-thetic of the object. “My goal was todesign something friendly and recog-nizable for the users,” he explains.“The process developed quite naturallyto determine the current shape; every
detail is there for a reason, so the form,as well as production techniques, repre-sent a compromise between technicaland traditional.”
While solar stills aren’t a totallynew concept, Diamanti says it’s rare tofind them in a domestic context ratherthan in missions or hospitals, or aslarge plants overseen by qualified per-sonnel that serve entire communities.“I tried to make something for a realhousehold that could be operateddirectly by the families,” he says.—PreventDisease.com
Simple Simple SSOLAROLAR OOVENVEN Makes Salt Water Drinkable
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 1 1www.earthstarmag.com
Earth Star Up Front
A new study found that a moder-ate dose of CoQ10 improvedsymptoms of Gulf War illness
(such as word recall, fatigue, and irri-tability) in veterans. A larger dose didnot show this effect.
CoQ10 and its activated form,ubiquinol, are now among the most pop-ular supplements in the U.S. They may
be useful in treating or preventing arange of conditions including conges-tive heart failure, migraine headache,high blood pressure, and Parkinson’sdisease. CoQ10 and ubiquinol may alsoreverse side-effects of “statin” drugs andimprove “vitality” —although the evi-dence is not conclusive.—ConsumerLab.com
CoQ10CoQ10 Improves Symptoms in WImproves Symptoms in War Var Veteranseterans
A uthors claim that there is aconnection between longdelayed echos and reports that
Nikola Tesla picked up a repeatingradio signal in 1899 which he believedwas coming from space. The satelliteexplanation originated in 1954 whennewspapers including the St. Louis PostDispatch and the San FranciscoExaminer ran stories attributed to UFOresearcher Donald Keyhoe saying thatthe US Air Force had reported that twosatellites orbiting the Earth had been
detected. At this time no man-madesatellites had been launched.
In February 1960 there was a fur-ther report that the US Navy haddetected a dark, tumbling object in anorbit inclined at 79° from the equatorwith an orbital period of 104.5 minutes.Its orbit was also highly eccentric withan apogee of 1,728 km (1,074 mi) anda perigee of only 216 km (134 mi) Atthe time the Navy was tracking a frag-ment of casing from the DiscovererVIII satellite launch which had a very
similar orbit.In 1973 the Scottish writer
Duncan Lunan analyzed the datafrom the Norwegian radioresearchers, coming to the conclu-sion that they produced a star chartpointing the way to Epsilon Boötis,a double star in the constellation ofBoötes. Lunan’s hypothesis was thatthese signals were being transmittedfrom a 12,600 year old object locat-ed at one of Earth’s Lagrangianpoints.
An object photographed in 1998during the STS-88 mission has been
widely claimed to be this “alienartefact”.
People analyzing these pictureshave claimed that it could be the PakalSpacecraft, a supposed Mayan space-craft written about by Erich vonDaniken
Black Knight, also known as theBlack Knight satellite, is an allegedobject orbiting Earth in near-polar orbitthat ufologists and fringe authorsbelieve is approximately 13,000 yearsold and of extraterrestrial origin. —Before It’s News
The “Black Knight” Satellite is Transmitting Signals
Buried Treasures Pulled from ‘Titanic of Ancient World’
A ncient tableware, leadanchors and a giantbronze spear have been
recovered during an expedition tothe 2,000-year-old Antikytherashipwreck in Greece.
The treasure-filled sunkenship was first discovered morethan a century ago. Now, underseaexcavators who are revisiting thewreck say it actually covers a
much bigger area than expected.“The evidence shows this is the
largest ancient shipwreck ever discov-ered,” Brendan Foley, a marine archae-ologist from the Woods HoleOceanographic Institution (WHOI) inMassachusetts, said in a statement.“It’s the Titanic of the ancient world.”[In Photo: Mission to 2,000-Year-OldAntikythera Shipwreck]—LiveScience.com
/www.earthstarmag.com1 2 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
Hard work and purposefulaction win the day onDecember 1st when actionplanet, Mars, sextilesSaturn. Ambition is stimu-
lated now, so act on business or careeroptions. Do work requiring physical stamina.
When Venus trines expansive Jupiter on the4th, make time to consider the future, and toreview your hopes and wishes. Financialenterprise, foreign investments, and travelare particularly favored now.
Seek innovative ways of raising investmentcapital or of financing a project when the suntrines Uranus also on the 4th. A flash of puregenius could facilitate progress towards agoal or ambition now.
Mars enters Aquarius later on the 4th, for thenext six weeks, encouraging us to be moreorganized and to clarify our goals. Pursuitsrequiring teamwork are supported now.
December’s full moon culminates on the 6th,in 15° Gemini. Some may be contemplatinga change of surroundings, while it could evenbe forced upon others. Release whatever orwhoever no longer serves you now, particu-larly in regard to associations that may nolonger have relevance.
When the sun and Mercury align in conjunc-tion in 17° Sagittarius on the 8th, you’ll bemore inclined to express your thoughts andviews. This is often a planetary transit thatcoincides with important announcements. Beon the lookout for business or educationalopportunities.
Jupiter stations Retrograde later on the 8th, at22°38' Leo (till April 8th, 2015), a celestialreminder that we will need to exercise greater
tolerance of others' philosophies and method-ologies during the next four months.Consolidate recent gains or business progress.While the truth “out there” may be harder toget at, we would be best served now by seek-ing our own truths within.
Venus enters the serious, business-like realm ofCapricorn on the 10th, when business interestsmay actually have greater appeal than pleasurepursuits. A new source of investment or work-ing capital could appear during this transit, or apresent source could dry up. Emotional insecu-rities could manifest as a desire to go out andshop!
Steady progress can be made in business,commerce, and legal affairs when Mercurytrines Jupiter on the 12th. However, be awareof the future consequences of your actionsnow. Get some physical and mental exercise
The sun and Jupiter align in a free flowingtrine on the 14th, an aspect that favors expand-ing one's outlook on life, and the pursuit ofeducational goals. Plan a long-distance busi-ness trip, or vacation in search of spiritualknowledge—a pilgrimage or quest, perhaps.Spend time with friends, or participate inuplifting group activities. Reflect on life.
Uranus squares Pluto precisely later on the14th, presaging a period of radical change,extreme behavior, political upheaval, and anacceleration of geophysical turbulence aroundthe planet. Wild and exciting times indeed layahead, with disruptions in daily life and rou-tines becoming more commonplace.
Mercury enters Capricorn on the 16th (tillJan 4, 2015), when thoughts become moreserious and turn toward business, career andpractical considerations. Ambition is furtherfueled, while patience and discipline are
easier to come by.
Be alert to compulsive behavior when Venusand Pluto align in conjunction on the 20th, in13° Capricorn. For some, a new love interestor fascination could develop, for others afinancial windfall is possible. This aspect isfavorable for corporate business interests andjoint financial concerns. Powerful energiesalso exist for healing.
The red planet, Mars, sextiles Uranus later onthe 20th, a favorable planetary auspicesunder which to initiate new activities or ven-tures. Progressive career opportunities maypresent themselves, perhaps at a party orsocial gathering. However, be discerning. Agood physical workout will help to reduceany stress that may develop.
After five months in retrograde, Uranus, plan-et of innovation, stations Direct on the 21st, in13° Aries. Ambition is powerfully kindled atthis time, and goal setting is favored, while thespirit of innovation abounds. There is alsoheightened potential for geophysical activityand unstable weather for several days aroundthis potent planetary station.
The winter solstice arrives on the 21st. justminutes after the Uranus station, as the sunleaves outgoing Sagittarius and enters thecool, calculating domain of Capricorn, wherethe creative energies of the sun are con-strained, disciplined and focused on achieve-ment in this Saturn-ruled sign. Over the nextfour weeks, try to get a handle on whereyou’re going, career-wise, and focus on yourprofessional aspirations.
December’s new moon occurs later on the21st, in 01° Capricorn. With this lunationoccurring at the winter solstice, much cre-ative impetus exists for planning practical,
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ambitious new business ventures now, and inthe weeks ahead.
A significant shift in the force occurs onDecember 23rd, when we will have our firsttaste of Saturn in tropical Sagittarius since itslast visit, from 1985 - 1988. It will, however,retrograde back into Scorpio from June 14 toSept 17, 2015, when it will finally leaveScorpio for the sign of the Archer, where itwill remain till 2017. During the ringed plan-et’s transit here we will be presented with newchallenges to overcome, principally inSagittarius-ruled areas such as truth; freedom;spirituality; higher education; long-distancetravel; and communication matters, includingcontrol of the press, free speech, and Internetneutrality. People will become more commit-ted to their beliefs, and therefor more willingto fight for what they feel is right. Indeed, thetruth shall set you free.
Mercury squares Uranus on the 24th, whenmechanical or systems failures are possible.Therefore, be sure to back-up data files, orget your vehicle checked out beforehand.Postpone important decisions or signings fora few days, as mental processes may tend tobe somewhat erratic. This is a great time tobrainstorm, though. Mercury is also conjunctPluto today, so be aware of all you say anddo...thoughts and words have much power!
Imagination can be truly inspired when thesun sextiles Neptune on the 26th.Experiment with telepathy or lucid dream-ing; try going to bed with the firm knowl-edge that you will receive an answer to a par-ticular question in your dreams.
Mars opposes Jupiter on New Year’s Day, sig-naling a time for caution, and to examinematerial motives. Beware of biting off morethan you can chew, taking too much for grant-ed, or rushing into new ventures without fullyassessing all the ramifications. The wise willexercise moderation in all activities.
The Sun squares Uranus on the 3rd, which,potentially, can be a real earth shaker! Flowwith any changes in circumstances beyondyour control, but this is not the time to rebel,or initiate change based solely upon a desirefor greater personal freedom or independ-ence. Nonetheless, creative inspirationabounds now, so tap into it.
Venus enters Aquarius on the 3rd (till Jan
27), a time to be more sociable, and to con-nect with friends and colleagues.Relationships can take an unconventionaltwist. Seek financing for an innovative proj-ect. Pursue business, educational or creativegoals with renewed fervor.
When the sun conjuncts distant Pluto preciselylater on the 3rd, in 14°Capricorn, willpowerand assertiveness are greatly intensified.Watch out for ego clashes, or attempts at coer-cion now. A glimpse of the darker side of life,or of oneself, could be revealed.
Mercury moves on from Capricorn’s realmof rules and tradition into revolutionaryAquarius on the 4th (till Jan 27), a transitespecially favorable for creative writing,conceiving progressive ideas, and for thestudy of metaphysics, science, and astrology.
January’s full moon culminates later on the4th, in 15° Cancer, suggesting that domesticresponsibilities may be pressing, while theneed to take care of business will also bestrong. Strike a healthy balance betweenhome and business or career needs.
Mars heads into dreamy Pisces for a six-week sojourn on the 12th, when unconsciousdesires are powerfully stimulated. Maintaincontact with reality now as strong emotionalturbulence and sensitivity could temporarilyundermine one’s self-confidence.
Mars squares Saturn on the 14th, when thecustomary vim and vigor conferred by Marsis inhibited by the constraining influence ofSaturn. Don’t push too hard now. Be sure toget plenty of rest.
Self-discipline may be lacking when Venusopposes Jupiter on the 19th. Beware of pursu-ing pleasures while duties go unfulfilled.Safeguard your resources, as financial extrav-agance will be rampant now. In addition, Marsis conjunct Neptune today, so subconsciousself-destructive impulses could emerge, givingvent to suppressed anger or repressed escapisttendencies. This is certainly not a good time tomake financial decisions!
The sun enters forward-looking Aquarius onJanuary 20th, a time to assess whether you’re“up to speed” with the techniques or tech-nologies that can keep you at or get you tothe head of the pack in your chosen field.Consider your goals and ambitions over the
next four weeks. Are you on target? Alignwith organizations, groups or friends whoshare your objectives.
January’s new moon on the 20th, in 01° ofprogressive Aquarius, will inspire bold newobjectives in some, while others may find thatthey require a greater sense of freedom. As allnew moons are imbued with the energy andattributes of Aries, new beginnings of oneform or another will likely be in the wind.
Mercury stations Retrograde on the 21st, in18° Aquarius (till Feb 11) so plans or arrange-ments of any importance should be imple-mented prior to this period. However, whileMercury is retrograde, you may safely makerevisions or otherwise go over previously cov-ered territory for inconsistencies or errors.
Even with Mercury virtually motionless atpresent, constructive progress can still bemade towards career goals, as the sun andSaturn align in sextile on the 22nd. By beingboth practical and creative you can achievetangible results now. If necessary, seekadvice from an elder or authority figure.
Venus enters Pisces on the 27th, when judg-ment in business or partnership matters maybe below par.. However, aesthetic sensitivityis heightened and intuition is enhanced,while creative inspiration abounds.
A momentous sextile (60° aspect) betweenMars and Pluto perfects on the 30th. Whenthe god of war and the lord of the under-world get together, highly unstable andvolatile conditions can typically exist for afew days, and explosive events are possible.However, as this is a generally harmoniousalignment, much potential exists to imple-ment positive changes in one’s life aroundthis juncture. Nonetheless, issues concerningpower or willpower are likely to arise, soavoid locking horns with anyone who willsurely defend their beliefs as fiercely as youwould your own. Constructive activities arestrongly favored under this potent planetaryinfluence. Improve efficiency whereverpossible.
Following is a general overview of how theplanetary trends for December/January2015 apply to each sun sign. If you knowyour rising sign (Ascendant), read that, too,for additional insights.
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DDoowwnn TToo EEaarrtthh AAssttrroollooggyyAries (March 20—April 19)
You’ll be in the mood to broaden yourhorizons and, more particularly, boost your
career potential throughout this forecast period. Indeed,given free rein, there’ll be no holding you back once youget the bit between your teeth. An element of goodfortune, too, can help keep the cosmic wind at your back,while doors to new opportunities might now open to you.Connect with groups and individuals who share your goalsand interests, and be receptive to tips and advice fromthose in a position to help you. Make adequate quiet timefor yourself during the early weeks of the new year, torecharge your energies, and to review your plans andobjectives, to ensure that you’re still on course.
Taurus (April 19—May 20)
Your ambition is growing by leaps andbounds, and there could be some big changes
taking place during this forecast period. Renewal, inpreparation for new growth, is a prominent theme inDecember, when at times you might feel like you’re on anemotional roller coaster. Such can be the intensity andimplication of events that transpire now that you sensethere’ll be no turning back to the way things were. Andthat will be just fine with you, as you’re strongly motivat-ed to expand your horizons, and to enhance your prospectsfor the future. Accept all opportunities to socialize over theHoliday season and in the early weeks of 2015, as thereare new friends to be made now, with the potential to con-nect with like-minded people. For some there could evenbe a soul mate connection just waiting to happen.
Gemini (May 20—June 21)
You’ve been giving some serious thoughttowards ways to enhance your career orbusiness prospects and to that end, a new
partnership or alliance might be the most direct wayforward. How convenient, then, that fate may likelyconnect you with someone who can fast track you towardsa particular objective; your mission will be to recognizethem, and the opportunities they bear, when they show up.This can be a time of great transformation andmetamorphosis, especially in your preconceived notionsabout where your highest potential might lay, and how itcould be best expressed. While your interests are varied,there may be one or two that you feel a special affinity for,and it’s one of these that you’re now keen to investigatefurther, one which could lead you in a very satisfying, andgratifying, professional direction. toward an objective.
Cancer (June 21—July22)
It may be possible to breathe new life intoa once successful career path that has
remained somewhat dormant of late, but which mightonce again shortly bear fruit. You become more keenlyaware of your health and nutritional needs, especiallyafter the likely excesses of the Holiday season,recognizing that your physical energy levels might behigher, and general fitness improved, as you look tothe future with renewed hope, and at the prospect ofbecoming busier. The potential looks good forfinancial gain, particularly during January, when alittle good fortune could go a long way towardshelping you to meet certain financial obligations.
Leo (July 22—August 23)
You’re in your playful and fun lovingelement during the Holiday season, which
is just as well, as friends and family will be vying foryour attention and participation in various activities;and you’re only to happy to oblige. Your creativeenergies are flowing rather well now, so be sure tochannel them into some form of self-expression;writing, music, or singing might feel particularlysatisfying, for those inclined. For others, energeticphysical activities would be an ideal outlet. A moredisciplined health and fitness regime could be onyour New Year’s resolution list, which may please apartner or significant other even more than you.
Virgo (August 23—September 23)
Changes or improvements are afoot on thehome front as the Holidays approach, when
a spot of nest feathering might be on your agenda.Some may be considering putting down firmer roots,while others could be contemplating a move. There’sa part of you that would secretly love to be havingmore fun these days, and yet your obligations andsense of duty keep you focused on what you reallyneed to be doing. Indeed, there certainly seems to beenough work to keep you gainfully occupied for awhile, with the prospect of even more throughoutwinter. A need for more security may become evidenton different levels, from the desire for a more stablehome environment, to a new and improved sense ofself worth.
Libra (September 23—October 23)
You’re keen to leave your own indelibleimprint on the world, and on your chosen
field of endeavor, be it in the form of a novel, notion,or new philosophy for getting more joy out of life thatyou feel would benefit humanity. There is so muchthat you want to express to the world at large, and yetmust devise the best method of delivery. Ever fleet ofthought, you decide to teach from experience, that is,
www.earthstarmag.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 1 5
DDoowwnn TToo EEaarrtthh AAssttrroollooggyyconvey what you know, and in an entertaining andefficient way. Be sure, however, to pace yourself inyour endeavors, to avoid undue physical or, indeed,mental strain. You may have a long row to hoe, so planyour activities wisely.
Scorpio (October 23—November 22)
You’re beginning to get more serious aboutstabilizing your finances, and find ever more
creative ways to add to your income. Some notions maybe truly inspired, while others a product of your deepestthoughts. Indeed, you’ll have a bountiful supply ofbright ideas, some of which could help to bring aboutnew professional possibilities. Your domesticenvironment could be a hive of activity, from homeimprovements to worldly endeavors. Therefore, greatereffort may be required to maintain emotionalequilibrium to avoid conflict with family members.With Saturn leaving your sign and moving intoSagittarius around Christmas, you begin to feel alightening of the personal load you feel you’ve beencarrying these past few years.
Sagittarius (November 21—December 21)
You feel more focused, more vibrant, andready to meet life’s challenges head on in
December, when new personal objectives may crossyour mind. You’re not short of creative ideas, that’s forsure, and one or two of them you might eventually beable to take to the bank. Speaking of bank, consideropening a new savings account; it might help you to bemore conscientious about putting a portion of yourincome to one side for that proverbial rainy day. WithSaturn entering your sign over Christmas, entering yoursolar first house, you will become a lot moreconscientious about a good many things over the nextcouple of years, and as a result will have become amuch more substantial individual.
Capricorn (December 21—January 19)
You’re strongly motivated to move forwardwith a personal project, one that may, however,
require the acquisition of additional funds or resources tomake it possible, and timing might also be an issue. Youmay be looking to create your own “fortress of solitude”,in which you can retreat from the world whenever youwant, to feel safe, secure and protected. The fulfillment ofa long held professional goal might also be on youragenda. If so, your ruling planet, Saturn’s, entrance intoSagittarius and your solar twelfth house over Christmaswill provide you with an able ally in your quest,conferring the mental, emotional and spiritual disciplineyou will need to remain focused on your objective.
Aquarius (January 19—February 18)
You may have several bold, ambitiousplans or creative projects on the back
burner and are now keen to see them come to theboil, and yet there are elements connected to themthat are beyond your immediate control. Meanwhile,review your journey, the chain of events andcircumstances that have brought you to this point intime; assimilate what you’ve learned from thoseexperiences into your awareness of where you are,who you are, and what you hope to accomplishmoving forward. The benefits of this process willshortly become apparent, when you get the greenlight to proceed with a professional venture, andfeel all the better equipped to handle the new set ofchallenges and responsibilities that will likely comeyour way.
Pisces (February 18—March 20)
You may feel like you’re approaching theend of a steep learning curve in life,
during which you’ve been challenged to grow anddevelop in ways you would have scarcely imaginedyears ago. As a result, you feel more confident abouttackling a new and ambitious professionalopportunity that suddenly appears on your radar,perhaps inspiring a bold new objective. Your hopesand dreams for the future are still very much alive;you’d also like to leave your enduring mark on theworld, but are not exactly sure what that might looklike. As you change, your values and priorities alsochange, which can directly influence your goals. Alittle soul searching might be called for now.
Tim Gunns is an astrological consultant,conference coordinator and producer,and formerly program director of theLos Angeles Conscious Life Expo, andthe nat ional Whole Life Expos.Tim prepares personalized no-nonsense inter-
pretations of Natal Horoscopes ($40), Future Forecast TransitReports ($75 for 1 full year), and Relationship CompatibilityReports ($45). Shipping is free. Send: Name (as you'd like it toappear on the chart), Date of Birth, Time (as close as possible),Place of Birth (city/country, etc.) for each person, and your returnaddress, phone# and check to: Tim Gunns, c/o 110 Hilltop Drive,Waynesville NC 28786. 828-452-7885. Consultations byphone may also be scheduled. Payment can be made via Paypalto [email protected] http://www.earthstarmag.com
1 6 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
What is rhythm? According to theEncyclopaedia Columbia, rhythmis the basic element in music. It isconnected with time, linked to theduration of sounds and their
arrangement and emphasis, whether chaotic or organ-ized, in straight and symmetric models. The westernEuropean tact system and its notation began with theformulation of rhythmic models at the end of the 17thcentury.
The explanation of the word continues in the samestyle. It is explained from a purely musical point of view,ie., that rhythm is linked primarily with music. There isno doubt that most of us accept rhythm with its musicalnuance, in the way in which it affects our mood or in theway in which we react to it with our bodies. This factmay sound strange and contradictory, since in the history
of the universe and humanity, rhythm has existed in allforms long before the conscious creation and under-standing of music.
What word did they use before the advent of musicto refer to and designate the cyclical nature and frequencyof events in ancient times? The etymology of the word“rhythm” is rooted in some of the most ancient lan-guages: ancient Greek (ritmos) and Latin (ritmus). It isclear that in the distant past people did not have the sameunderstanding of rhythm, which we have created overtime. The word rhythm was equivalent to motion andtime, while for us today the words rhythm and time havesomewhat different meanings. While time is a phenom-enon, which allows mankind to register the changes inthe environment and the universe, rhythm is more close-ly connected to music and the changes and frequenciescontained therein. Is it indeed possible to merge the
By Martin Ivanov
RRRRhhhhyyyytttthhhhmmmm AlchemyAlchemy
Motion is the significance of life, and the law of motion is rhythm.Rhythm is life disguised in motion, and in every guise it seems
to attract the attention of man: from a child, who is pleased withthe moving of a rattle and is soothed by the swing of its cradle,to a grown person whose every game, sport and enjoyment has
rhythm disguised in it in some way or another—H A Z R A T I N A Y A T K H A N 13
meaning of these two words?Most contemporary scientific, esoteric and psycho-
logical literature views time not as a fact but rather aconcept or an idea. Even quantum physicists do not usethe word time. They refer to the space-time continuum.Dr. Deepak Chopra in his book,Power, Freedom andGrace writes:
Time is an illusion; it is an internal dialogue, whichwe use to explain our sense or perception of changeand connection.
At the same time, in the same book and in manyother works, rhythm is treated as an absolute fact.However, since it is also connected with time it shouldalso be unreal. Thus if we as human beings are struc-tured in such a way as to accept the space time continu-um in a certain way, then is the sequence of the seasonsa real phenomenon, are days and nights, high and lowtides, bird and fish migration real phenomena? What isused to measure them? Who measures them? Only us ashumans?
Both the cosmic and the individual reason possessconscious knowledge: ie., not only we, but the Sun,Moon, Stars, Earth, Animals, Fish, Insects and Plantsthink and possess awareness. If we as people have suchan illusory notion of time, how do the Sun, Moon andstars influence with such great accuracy the world’soceans and create the rhythms of the high and low tides?
How does the Earth rotate at a specific speed to cre-ate a twenty-four-hour cycleof day and night we refer toas the circadian rhythm? How does the mutually inter-dependent rhythm of the Sun, Moon and Earth cre-ate the Lunar Rhythm, which represents a cycle of 28
days? How does the grunion fish make its way to a spe-cific place (Newport Beach, California), exactly at mid-night on a precise day of the year, creating the rhythm oftheir migration? Is time really a fruit of our illusorynotions? Clearly since all the events in the lives of plan-ets, animals and plants happen with such precision, theymust measure the rhythm of their lives using the expres-sive resources of time.
The clock—the main spokesperson of time—meas-ures every second with perfect precision and gives formto time with equally spaced ticking. If time did not exist,rhythm would not exist or vice versa.
Excerpted with permission from Rhythm Alchemy, by MartinIvanov, published by Findhorn Press,http://www.findhornpress.com
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 1 7
Healing Crystals (2nd edition) The A - Z Guide to 555 GemstonesBy Michael Gienger
This 2nd updated edition is based on new find-ings in mineralogy and new experiences andresearch results in the field of gem therapy,including information for an additional 125 crys-tals not present in the 1st edition, some of whichthat have been discovered in recent years. WithHealing Crystals, Michael Gienger presents acomprehensive directory of all the gemstonescurrently in use in crystal healing. Clear, conciseand precise in style, with photographs of each of
the crystals accompanying the text, he describes the characteristics andhealing functions of each crystal. All the important information about 555healing gemstones in a neat pocket-book! Though it may appear small, itencompasses the contents of a whole encyclopedia.
Findhorn Press. Paperback, $9.95.
The Real Brass RingChange Your Life Course NowBy Dianne Bischoff James
The Real Brass Ring takes The Secret on ahigh-speed road test in a tale of midlife trans-formation in the real, flesh-and-blood world ofcontemporary Chicago. It is the story of a“midlife reboot,” a raw, unfiltered journey ofenlightenment that illustrates a woman’sdaunting personal reinvention and the rewardsof fearlessly pursuing a life’s true calling. Aftera jolting encounter with internationally knownpsychic and author Sonia Choquette, DianneBischoff James is forced to face the truth
about her life.
Turning Stone Press. Paperback, $19.95.
1 8 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
Akashic AlphabetBy Trenace Rose
Within the akasha, the space between matter,lies a treasure trove of memories known as theakashic records, containing a history of theinfinite, stored from the origins of time. Thewisdom from this resonating, energetic heart,whose fabric connects all humanity, life-formsand elements, is accessible to all with pureintention, through meditation. Akashic
Alphabet is received from the akashic records, housed within thespace of the collective mind, the cosmic container of all that is andever has been. This thought-provoking series of vision narratives cou-pled with acutely sensitive Illustrations painted by a Master Artist,conveys diverse cultural and spiritual philosophies from around theworld, revealing a graceful connection of Oneness in all.
Dementi Milestone Publishing. Hardcover, $38.95.
The Psychic & SpiritualAwareness Manual
A guide to DIY enlightenmentBy Kevin West
Aimed at people who wish to develop their psychicand spiritual awareness in a very practical way, eachchapter deals with a separate aspect of develop-ment and also acts as a diagnostic empoweringtool. It is based around the Spiritualist and New Ageapproach to full realisation, and filled with helpfulexercises and hands-on techniques designed toempower the reader. Chapters include healing,meditation, psychic awareness, clairvoyance, psychometry, scrying,colours, auras and their energies, and much more.
6th Books. Paperback, $14.95.
A Book of MiraclesInspiring True Stories of Healing,Gratitude, and LoveBy Dr. Bernie S. Siegel
Bernie Siegel first wrote about miracles when hewas a practicing surgeon and founded ExceptionalCancer Patients, a groundbreaking synthesis ofgroup, individual, dream, and art therapy that pro-vided patients with a “carefrontation.” Compiledduring his more than thirty years of practice,speaking, and teaching, the stories in these pagesare riveting, warm, and belief expanding. Their sub-jects include a girl whose baby brother helped herovercome anorexia, a woman whose cancerhelped her heal by teaching her to stand up for
herself, and a family that was saved from a burning house by bats. Withoutdiminishing the reality of pain and hardship, the stories show real peopleturning crisis into blessing by responding to adversity in ways thatempower and heal. They demonstrate what we are capable of and showus that we can achieve miracles as we confront life’s difficulties.
New World Library. Paperback, $14.95.
The DNA Field and the Law of ResonanceCreating Reality through
Conscious ThoughtBy Pierre Franckh
Taking the law of attraction to an entirely newlevel, Pierre Franckh reveals how human DNAhas a direct effect on the physical world aroundus--an effect we can consciously focus to man-ifest our desires. Sharing groundbreakingexperiments on the influence of DNA on pho-tons and on the interactions between emotionsand DNA, Franckh explains how our thoughts,emotions, and beliefs, whether positive or negative, build a field of res-onance around us. Through this quantum field, our DNA is continu-ously communicating our unique vibration to those around us, andreceiving their unique oscillations in return. By focusing our intentionsand removing negativity from our beliefs about ourselves, our past, andour future, we can use our DNA to communicate our thoughts anddesires to the universe. Through focused thoughts and intentions wedraw the same resonant energy to us, thus bringing our intentions anddesires into manifestation.
Destiny Books. Paperback, $16.95.
Winter Reading Winter Reading
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 1 9www.earthstarmag.com
Strange ElectromagneticDimensionsThe Science of the UnexplainableBy Louis Proud
We live in an environment permeated by both nat-ural and artificial sources of electromagnetic ener-gy, while we ourselves are electromagneticbeings. As we continue to pollute and therebyalter our electromagnetic environment, we arealso altering ourselves. In particular, thesechanges infringe on the psychic side of our being.This exciting and controversial new title shows
how all things, from the mundane to the mysterious, are tied together bya vast—and largely invisible—electromagnetic web. It examines ESP, pol-tergeist disturbances, psychokinesis, electric people, UFOs, and otherparanormal phenomena from an electromagnetic perspective. It alsoreveals how the artificial, alien energies we’ve been introducing into ourenvironment shape the way we experience the paranormal.
New Page Books. Paperback, $16.99.
New Slow CityLiving Simply in the World’s Fastest CityBy William Powers
Burned-out after years of doing development workaround the world, William Powers spent a season ina 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in NorthCarolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoirTwelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalistlife in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powersand his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, lefttheir 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, andmoved into a 350-square-foot “micro-apartment” inGreenwich Village. Powers explores the viability of
Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries.Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the cultureof Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying tomake urban life more people- and planet-friendly.
New World Library. Paperback, $15.95.
The Immortal MindScience and the Continuity of
Consciousness beyond the BrainBy Ervin Laszlo
with Anthony Peake
Based on a new scientific paradigm in sync withexperience-based spirituality, Ervin Laszlo andAnthony Peake explore how consciousness is con-tinually present in the cosmos and can exist withoutconnection to a living organism. They examine therapidly growing body of scientific evidence support-ing the continuity of consciousness, including near-death experiences, after-death communication, rein-carnation, and neurosensory information received inaltered states. They explain how the persistence of consciousness beyondthe demise of the body means that, in essence, we are not mortal—....wecontinue to exist even when our physical existence has come to an end.This correlates precisely with cutting-edge physics, which posits thatthings in our plane of time and space are not intrinsically real but are man-ifestations of a hidden dimension where they exist in the form of super-strings, information fields, and energy matrices.
Inner Traditions. Paperback, $16.95.
The Case of the Disappearing Cancer
And other stories of illness and healing, life and death
By Louis Heyse-Moore
Everyone has experienced some suffering in theirlife, often through illness, and, of course, everyonewants to heal. This is a book about healing based onLouis Heyse-Moore’s forty years of experience as adoctor, counsellor and a Somatic Experiencing trau-ma therapist. The author believes healing is muchmore than just physical cure. Over the many yearsthat he has worked with ill people, it has become obvious to him that theirbody, mind and spirit are all affected when they are sick. Many doctors areexcellent at treating and curing physical illnesses but may miss the otheraspects of healing. The Case of the Disappearing Cancer attempts toredress the balance.
AYNI Books. Paperback, $24.95.
Your Hidden RichesUnleashing the Power of Ritual toCreate a Life of Meaning and PurposeBy Janet Bray Attwood, Chris Attwoodand Sylva Dvorak, Ph.D
Passion Test comes a book that will teach read-ers to harness the power of ritual to unlock theirunique gifts and create a life of love, wealth, andhappiness. Rituals are the common feature ofevery ancient culture on Earth. Yet, modern soci-ety has lost touch with the power and value ofritual to create a rhythm for daily life, balance,and a connection with others. In the process,
many of us have lost touch with ourselves. Your Hidden Riches is a callto reignite the power of personal and community rituals--to sustain usin the midst of an ever-increasing onslaught of information and expec-tations, and to sustain our world by reawakening the awareness of ourinterconnection with all life.
Harmony Books. Hardcover, $25.00.
Of Course!How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change?
By Ian Patrick
In Of Course!, Ian Patrick discusses some of the tough-est challenges known to students of A Course in
Miracles: facing the deaths of loved ones; letting go oflong-held grievances; trying to comprehend NelsonMandela meeting the Spice Girls; and much more. Inthis new edition, O-Books presents the best of Ian’sinsights and personal reflections in one volume, select-ed from over 100 editions of the UK’s highly respectedCourse periodical, Miracle Worker. From the lighthearted to the profound,these short essays reveal the down-to-earth illumination of a dedicatedCourse student who "remembers to laugh" at the ego - and who under-stands the everyday joys and difficulties of working miracles.
O-Books. Paperback, $18.95.
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2 0 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
Death, the Last GodA Modern Book of the DeadBy Anne Geraghty
Anne Geraghty was a clinical psychologist and psy-chotherapist when her son, Tim Guest, author of My
Life in Orange died suddenly. Her old life ended. Shewent on a search for her lost son. Where was he?Did he live on in some other realm? Or had he falleninto the darkness of oblivion? Her search for Timbecame an exploration into the nature of death itself.We die as we have lived. Our lives are not like thoseof a C12th Tibetan, a C15th Cardinal or a Zen monk;
we cannot, therefore, simply turn to old maps and myths of what hap-pens when we die. We need a new narrative of death that embraces ourmodern understandings of our humanity and the workings of the uni-verse. This book is an investigation into death in our modern world, andan exploration of our struggles to live well in the ever-present shadow ofdeath, which offers fresh and original ideas about death and dying.
O-Books. Paperback, $22.95.
The Alchemy of Self HealingA Revolutionary 30-Day Plan to ChangeHow You Relate to Your Body and HealthBy Jeannine Wiest
We have more power to heal ourselves than wehave been led to believe. Your body is “InstantMessaging” you all the time. These messages con-tain a unique cellular treasure waiting to beaccessed. The discovery that your body (not yourmind) is listening to you will transform your life. Yourmind runs old programs, “defaults” to all that is
familiar in your life, even when what’s familiar is pain. The Alchemy of
Self Healing will show you how to tap into your body wisdom thatcraves health and joy. Take the Alchemy Quiz, follow the exercises, readthe essays. At the end of 30 days, when you retake the quiz, you’ll dis-cover you have new resources and tools at your fingertips.
New Page Books. Paperback, $15.99.
Rebel Angels in ExilePleiadians, Watchers, and the Spiritual
Quickening of HumanityBy Timothy Wyllie
After the angelic rebellion 203,000 years ago, Earthand 36 other planets were quarantined from thelarger Multiverse. Despite aligning with Lucifer andthe rebel angels, Georgia—an angel of Seraphic sta-tus—was permitted to remain on Earth and contin-ue her role as a Watcher. In this book, Georgia, writ-ing together with Timothy Wyllie, shares her per-sonal account of half a million years on this planet.Focusing this volume 38,000 years after the angelicrebellion, Georgia shares her experiences being present for key decisionstaken by the rebel angel leadership, witnessing firsthand Earth’s steadydescent into darkness, ignorance, and confusion. She explores thesupreme significance of the Earth as a world on which the rebel angelshave been accorded the privilege of mortal incarnation and as an arenafor accelerating spiritual growth.
Bear & Company. Paperback, $20.00.
Rewilding Our HeartsBuilding Pathways of Compassion
and CoexistenceBy Marc Bekoff
In wildlife conservation, rewilding refers torestoring habitats and creating corridorsbetween preserved lands to allow declining pop-ulations to rebound. Marc Bekoff, one of theworld’s leading animal experts and activists, hereapplies rewilding to human attitudes. Rewilding
Our Hearts invites readers to do the essentialwork of becoming reenchanted with the world,acting from the inside out, and dissolving falseboundaries to truly connect with both nature and themselves.
New World Library. Paperback, $14.95.
Walking HomePilgrimage from Humbled to HealedBy Sonia Choquette
Life was falling apart. Within the space of three years,Sonia Choquette had suffered the unexpected deathof two close family members, seen her marriageimplode, and been let down by trusted colleagues.And sympathy was not forthcoming. “You’re a world-renowned spiritual teacher and intuitive guide,” peo-ple jeered. “How could you not have seen this com-ing?” Having intuitive abilities didn’t make her super-human, however. Nor did it exempt her from being
wounded or suffering the pain of loss and the consequences of our all-too-human traits such as anger, resentment, and pride-traits that can lead eventhe best of us to stray from our spiritual path. In order to regain her spiritu-al footing, Sonia turned to the age-old practice of pilgrimage and set out towalk the legendary Camino de Santiago, an 820-kilometer trek over thePyrenees and across northern Spain. Day after day she pushed throughhunger, exhaustion, and pain to reach her destination. Eventually, mortifi-cation of the flesh gave way to spiritual renewal, and she rediscovered thegifts of humility and forgiveness that she needed to repair her world.
Hay House. Hardcover, $26.95.
Voices of the Sacred FeminineConversations to Re-Shape Our World
Edited by Rev. Dr. Karen Tate
Most of us have come to realize patriarchy—rule bya male-dominated society revering solely a maleGod—is not working for Mother Earth or most ofthe people on the planet. How do we counterbeliefs that there is no option but the authoritarianfather? How does society go about making acourse correction? How do ideas that permeateevery level of society from womb to tomb, board-room to bedroom, voting booth to the workplaceshift into a more fair, equal, and just world of part-nership, sharing, caring and peace? Those are exactly the questionsdiscussed on the long-running radio show, Voices of the SacredFeminine, hosted by Rev. Dr. Karen Tate, dedicated to the SacredFeminine as deity, archetype and ideal. If we can imagine it, vision it, andrestore ancient truths then we can manifest it! Here are solutions fromthese visionaries, scholars, wayshowers, foremothers and activists—women and men— dedicated to reshaping our world.
Changemakers Books. Paperback, $24.95
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 2 1www.earthstarmag.com
The Science and Practice of HumilityThe Path to Ultimate FreedomBy Jason GregoryForeword by Daniel Reid
From Krishna and Lao-tzu to Buddha and Jesus,each enlightened master discovered how beingreceptive to all experience was the key tobecoming one with the universe and its sponta-neous patterns of order and chaos. Revealinghumility as the purest expression of this recep-tivity, Jason Gregory integrates classic teachingsof Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and
Hermeticism with principles from quantum physics to explain the sci-ence of humility as practiced by the ancient masters.
Inner Traditions. Paperback, $16.95.
DepressionUnderstanding the Black DogBy Stephanie Sorrell
Having suffered from major depression for muchof her life, Stephanie Sorrell has learned to workwith the disease rather than against it. Where somany mental-health books feature ‘fighting andovercoming‘ depression, her experience andunderstanding have enabled her to see thevalue of the condition rather than what it cantake away. In this easy-to-read introduction todepression, Stephanie shows the various waysin which it manifests, what is available on a nat-
ural as well as chemical level and how the diversity of psychologicaltherapies serve and hold depression. There is also a spiritual threadrunning throughout which invites the reader to go further.
Psyche Books. Paperback, $11.95.
MetrophageA Novel
By Richard Kadrey
The cult-classic dystopian cyberpunk talefrom New York Times bestselling authorRichard Kadrey, after twenty years, now backin print in a special signed, collectible edition.Welcome to our future: L.A. in the late twenty-first century—a segregated city of haves andhave-nots, where morality is dead and tech-nology rules. Here, a small wealthy groupsecludes themselves in gilded cages. Beyondtheir high-security compounds, far from theirpretty comforts, lies a lawless wastelandwhere the angry masses battle hunger, rampant disease, and their owndespair in order to survive. Jonny was born into this Hobbesian paradise.A streetwise hustler who deals drugs on the black market—narcoticsthat heal the body and cool the mind—he looks out for nobody but him-self. Until a terrifying plague sweeps through L.A., wreaking death andpanic, and no one, not even a clever operator like Jonny, is safe.
Harper Voyager. Paperback, $14.99.
Vibrant EmeritusThe Elder in the Twenty-First Century
By Richard Stuecker
Enter the second half of your life journeywith vibrancy, generativity, creativity andblessing! One’s second half of life can be anamazing adventure of abundance, generativ-ity, and deepening spirituality. Vibrant
Emeritus: The Elder in the Twenty-First
Century offers a path. that embraces a viewof life that counters the belief that one’s"second journey" is one of dissipation anddisappointment, focusing on the transitionsmen and women make in the “SecondJourney” they make in their lives after 50.
O-Books. Paperback, $19.95.
The Light: A Book of WisdomHow to Lead an Enlightened Life Filled with
Love, Joy, Truth, and BeautyBy Keidi Keating
This powerful book contains chapters by 22 ofthe world’s leading luminaries in the field of per-sonal development and spiritual transformation,including bestselling authors Neale DonaldWalsch (Conversations With God) and DonMiguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements). Coveringtopics from co-creating a peaceful world, for-giveness, healing, and finding purpose andhappiness, to chapters about health, well-being,destiny, and the mysteries of kundalini, The Light also includes prac-tical exercises and guidance, empowering readers to achieve theirgreatest potential.
New Page Books. Paperback, $16.99.
DMT and the Soul of ProphecyA New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew BibleBy Rick Strassman, M.D.
After completing his groundbreaking researchchronicled in DMT: The Spirit Molecule, RickStrassman was left with one fundamentalquestion: What does it mean that DMT, a sim-ple chemical naturally found in all of our bod-ies, instantaneously opens us to an interactivespirit world that feels more real than our ownworld? Examining medieval commentaries onthe Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals howJewish metaphysics provides a top-down
model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls“theoneurology.” Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality byproposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, andDMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor insuch visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to“neurotheology,” which proposes that altered brain function simplygenerates the impression of a Divine-human encounter.
Park Street Press. Paperback, $19.95.
www.earthstarmag.com2 2 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
Laser therapy is still a fairly unknown 21stcentury treatment modality that can haveprofound benefits for pain managementand tissue healing. Dr. Phil Harringtonwas a high school physics teacher and
was trained at Palmer College of Chiropractic as a chi-ropractic physician.
He ran a chiropractic office in a small town in Iowafor 10 years prior to becoming the first employee of K-Laser USA1 —a company that manufactures high-grademedical laser equipment.
There are a number of companies that manufacturelasers for tissue healing but K-Laser is currently theleading manufacturer of these types of lasers.
What You Need to Know About Lasers
Lasers are classified according to their power output:
• Class 3a—maximum of 5 milliwatts of power (stan-dard laser pointer)• Class 3b—maximum of 500 milliwatts/0.5 watts• Class 4—anything over 500 milliwatts/0.5 watts
The most significant issue with the clinical use oflasers is the depth of penetration. Some practitionersmake the mistake of using low-power Class 3 lasers,which basically amounts to a standard laser pointer.
Most class 3a lasers only use a red wavelength – 635
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By Dr. Joseph Mercola
www.earthstarmag.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 2 3
nanometers in the visible red. When you look at thedepth of penetration with laser, red laser light only pen-etrates about one to two millimeters (far less than 1/8inch) into the human body.
Granted, red laser is highly useful for treating super-ficial wounds, cuts, abrasions, and perhaps even for thetreatment of vitiligo, but they will not penetrate farenough for deep seated pain reduction. However,infrared lasers (around 800 nanometers) penetrate fardeeper and able to go several centimeters, into yourbody which will reach most tissue injuries.
Power is also another crucial factor when it comes tolaser therapy. Power is measured in watts, and you canthink of it as the brightness of the light. A higher-pow-ered laser is a brighter light, and it can produce moreenergy per unit of time. When it comes to doing lasertherapy treatment, a higher-powered laser (Class 4) pro-vides two benefits:
• A therapeutic dose of laser light can be applied to amuch larger volume of tissue• By shining that brighter light at the surface, photonsof light are able to penetrate deeper into the tissues,which allows you to treat deep-seated pain conditions
Health Benefits of K-Laser Class 4 Laser Therapy
Basically, three things happen during K-Laser treatment.First, infrared laser therapy treatment helps reduce pain,reduce inflammation, and enhance tissue healing—both
in hard and soft tissues, including muscles, ligaments, oreven bones.
“When we look at the basic mechanism of how itworks, we are enhancing the microcirculation. We aregetting more red blood cells flowing to the area,” Dr.Harrington explains.
“But it’s not just the arterial blood supply to thearea; we are enhancing the venous and the lymphaticreturn from the area. We’re also increasing oxygenationof those tissues. We are stimulating the hemoglobin mol-ecule to dump off oxygen at the treatment site, so we areincreasing the oxygenation of those tissues.”
Finally, the treatment stimulates the cytochromeoxidase enzyme in the cells’ mitochondria. This is real-ly one of the key discoveries in the whole science oflaser therapy. Specifically, injured cells are targetedbecause damaged cells are more readily accepting ofphotons of light, whereas healthy cells don’t need thisextra energy.
“By stimulating the cytochrome oxidase enzyme, weare utilizing that oxygen in the respiratory chain insideof the mitochondria, producing more ATP for that cell.So regardless of what kind of cell it is, it’s going to func-tion at a higher level. Now, we are not turbocharging.We’re not making your body do anything that it couldnot normally do. We’re just facilitating the process. Weare helping those cells produce the energy that they nor-mally would, so they can function as they normallyshould,” he explains.
Now, lasers are also used in other areas of medicine,specifically in surgical interventions where they’re usedfor cutting, removing tattoos, and a lot of other derma-tological applications. But the class 4 K-Laser does notdo that. The K-Laser can produce up to 15 watts, and thelaser light is allowed to diffuse to a spot size about thatof a quarter, whereas ablative lasers, the ones used for
2 4 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
surgical cutting, are closer to 100 watts, and the laserlight is focused to a tiny spot size.
“The interaction that we’re getting in the body withthe K-Laser is called a photochemical reaction,” Dr.Harrington explains. “By shining that light on a tissue,we are getting that ATP energy produced, whereas yoursurgical lasers, hair removal lasers, or tattoo removallasers, are designed to cut or ablate the tissues. Theyhave a very, very high-powered density, a very high con-centration on that laser.”
The infrared wavelengths used in the K-Laser allowfor targeting specific areas of the body. The K-Laser isunique in that it is the only Class 4 therapy laser that uti-lizes these three infrared wavelengths, allowing for deeppenetration into the body to reach areas such as yourspine and hip (the K-Laser also has a 100-milliwatt,660-nanometer visible red which, again, is excellent forsuperficial wounds):
• 800 nanometers penetrates the deepest, and is at apeak of absorption for the cytochrome oxidase enzyme• 905 nanometers most efficiently targets the hemoglo-bin molecule• 970 nanometers most efficiently stimulates microcir-culation in the tissues
Try Infrared Laser Therapy BEFORE YouConsider Surgery For Many Acute Injuries
You can have the best diet and exercise program in theworld, but as most of us are painfully aware, it doesn’ttake much to develop an injury from an accident thatyou were not responsible for. Many times surgery willbe recommended to repair or replace joints. There arecertainly many times when surgery is appropriate andneeds to be performed and we should be VERY gratefulwe have access to this tool, but more often than not it isinappropriately recommended because of lack of aware-ness of other effective options, including the healingpower of lasers.
The laser is typically a tiny fraction of the cost of
surgery and virtually has no side effects, unlike surgery.Class 4 laser therapy can be effectively combined with anumber of other treatment modalities, including varioussoft tissue mobilization techniques. Ideally, your doctorwould do the K-Laser treatment before they do thosesoft tissue techniques.
“Another technique or modality that it’s usedtogether with [laser therapy] is spinal decompression.When a person has a bulging or a herniated disc, byrunning the laser on the lower back, we are reducing theinflammation internally; we are reducing the cytokines(the tissue irritants in the body), and we are helping tostimulate the blood flow in the area to help that decom-pression treatment help to heal up that damaged disc,”Dr. Harrington says. “Another interesting area—this isone that we’re just at the forefront of—is both humanand animal practitioners are using the laser togetherwith either the platelet-rich plasma injections or withstem cell therapy. We’re just at the beginning of discov-ering the benefits of those things together.”
Examples of the types of injuries that this kind oflaser therapy can be helpful for include:
• Acute injuries, such as strains, sprains, and shoulderinjuries• Repetitive-use injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome• Traumatic injuries, such as post-motor vehicle acci-dent with cervical strain/sprain• Chronic issues such as frozen shoulder and arthritis
To me, at this point in time, it would almost be med-
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 2 5www.earthstarmag.com
ical negligence bordering on medical malpractice not totry laser treatment before prescribing drugs or surgery.We know Vioxx killed 60,000 people, and that was justan anti-inflammatory, which doesn’t in any way, shape,or form treat the cause of the problem. It was just asymptomatic Band Aid that killed 60,000 people.Similarly, the effects of surgery are typically irre-versible, for better or worse.
“The Class 4 K-Laser treatments are amazing. Theyare so effective at treating a wide variety of conditions,whether it is soft-tissue injuries, acute injuries, or nervedamage,” Dr. Harrington says. “For example, we have agentleman from the Twin Cities who was so successful attreating diabetic neuropathy that he has franchised achain of treatment centers where the only condition theytreat is diabetic neuropathy, and the K-Laser is a key-stone in their treatment plan. K-Laser treatments virtu-ally have no side effects.
When we talk a little bit about how the laser works,one effect that we’re getting is vasodilation of the tissuesand also a lot of release of the tissue irritants in thearea. If we’re treating a patient that has a lot of myofas-cial trigger points, a lot of metabolic waste products,and we give them a K-Laser treatment, a couple of hoursafterwards they might be a little bit sore. It’s absolutelynot any tissue damage going on; it’s because we’recausing the release of all of those metabolic waste prod-ucts that were locked up in the muscle... Just [drink] alittle bit of extra water to help flush that out.”
FDA Clearance of K-Laser
All therapy lasers are FDA-cleared medical devices,including the K-Laser. Interestingly, the FDA does notrecognize the biostimulatory effects of laser therapy.They see it simply as an infrared-heating device. So ifyou were to look up the FDA clearance for the K-Laser,you’d find it described as an infrared lamp for topical
heating for temporary relief of muscle spasms and jointstiffness. Even so, the vast majority of people seekinglaser therapy do present pain as a symptom. It’s just thatthe laser actually has beneficial effects over and beyondwhat the FDA recognizes.
While there are a couple of over-the-counter lasersavailable, they are very low in power and will not be ableto provide deep-seated pain relief. The K-Laser andother higher-powered lasers are prescription medicaldevices cleared for sale to and use by trained health pro-fessionals only.
“As far as training someone in using the machine,we give them all of the scientific information in what wecall online modules, where they watch laser therapy sci-ence, physiology, and safety, after which they take a cer-tification exam. We also supply different training materi-als whether it’s booklets, DVDs, or webinars,” Dr.Harrington says.
The training modules take about three hours to com-plete. Anyone who buys a K-Laser unit gets onsite train-ing by K-Laser USA, which is typically a four-hourtraining session, reviewing the proper use of themachine and how to treat different conditions.
Before Drugs and Surgery, ConsiderGiving Laser Therapy a Try...
I have successfully treated a large number of friends andprofessional associates with the K-Laser and have beenvery impressed. For example, the person who helps mewith my organic landscaping. I noticed he was walkingwith a limp and I thought it was a result of a tree we justhad planted. It turns out it was related to chronic crip-pling pain he had in his ankle for over ten years. He hadmerely endured this terrible pain for over a decade. Igave him one three minute treatment and it was virtuallyremoved. He had a slight recurrence several weeks laterand I gave him another one and he has been pain free formonths.
A typical treatment session can take anywhere fromfive to twenty minutes, dependent on your injury or con-dition.
2 6 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 www.earthstarmag.com
“Your shortest treatments could be some of the jawissues, something fairly superficial, or treating a fairlysmall area. That would be three to three and a half min-utes. And then on the other side of the spectrum, if weare doing either a disc herniation or a diabetic neu-ropathy, where we’re wanting to treat the lower backand all the way down the leg, that could be 12, 15, to 20minutes of treatment time,” Dr. Harrington says.
In terms of how many treatments will be requiredbefore the actual condition is resolved or the pain reliefis really achieved, this can vary widely, depending onyour condition. Typically, pain relief will be achievedlong before the condition itself is healed, so it’s impor-tant to remember that the absence of pain does not equalthe presence of health. According to Dr. Harrington, thevast majority of conditions require six to 12 treatmentsover a two- to four-week period of time. As for cost, thenationwide range varies from $25 to $150 dollars, butmost practitioners will charge around $40-65 per treat-ment.
“When you look at a pain condition that you’vebeen suffering from for years, and you can get itresolved with just a few hundred dollars’ worth of K-Laser treatments, that’s well worth it,” Dr. Harringtonsays.
Humans aren’t the only ones that can benefit fromlaser therapy. Veterinarians are able to use medicaldevices as they see fit, and some veterinarians, especial-ly holistic vets like Dr. Karen Becker, swear by lasertherapy.
“Yes, it’s going to work for any of the arthritic con-ditions—hip dysplasia, intervertebral disc disease indachshunds, for example. Looking at the little dachs-hund (where the pet owner had brought him in, planningto put him down because his back legs were useless) geta few K-Laser treatments, and the little dog is up andrunning around again. Some of those stories are reallyheartwarming,” Dr. Harrington says.
The K-Laser website2 (K-LaserUSA.com) liststrained K-Laser Providers—both human medical andveterinary medical providers. I was so impressed withthe healing potential of the K-Laser that I obtained onefor my personal use. I realize how fragile our bodies areand how easily they can become injured, and I simplydid not want to not have access to this marvelous heal-ing tool. I also thoroughly enjoy helping my friends andfamily eliminate pain from injuries they encounter.
Dr. Mercola is the founder of theworld’s most visited naturalhealth web site,http://www.Mercola.com. Youcan learn the hazardous sideeffects of OTC Remedies by get-ting a FREE copy of his latestspecial report The Dangers ofOver the Counter Remedies bygoing to his Report Page.
DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 2 7www.earthstarmag.com
Iwoke up early this morning, ready to begin thelong ascent up to Cruz Ferro. I knew it wasgoing to be a long, rigorous walk today so Ilayered up and stuffed two of my last now sixremaining power bars into Pilgrim, just to be
prepared for what lay ahead. I then packed up Cheaterand headed down to the first floor. I managed to getCheater down to the second floor when an Argentineanbiker saw me struggling, so took him from me andcarried him down. It was a good start to the day.
After a quick breakfast of coffee and toast and aglass of fresh orange juice, I asked for a stamp for mypassport and went back up to my room to grab my poles,Gumby, and Pilgrim. I then pulled on my wool cap, mygloves, pulled my headscarf over my ears, and steppedout into a stiff, frigid wind under dark cold skies. I wasready to go.
Holy Mother God,Please let me release all my burdens at the top. Even theones I still want to hold on to.Amen and thank you in advance.
The steep walk challenged my knee from the firststep, but I just kept going. As I climbed, one slow step ata time, I reflected once again on just exactly what wasburdening me, as I really wanted to be sure I didn’t for-get something. I had come too far on this pilgrimage tomiss the opportunity before me.
The top notes of my thoughts cited the usual com-plaints: too much work, responsibility for what is notmine, years of what I felt were unfair experiences, notfeeling loved and appreciated as I had wanted to be. Itwas nothing new.
Yet, the more I walked, the more apparent it became
By Sonia Choquette
WWalking Homealking Home
DaDay 25y 25RRaabanal to Pbanal to Ponfonfererrradaada (32 km)
The following is an excerpt from Walking Home, A Pilgrimage from Humbled to Healed by Sonia Choquette. It ispublished by Hay House (Sept 2014) and is available at all bookstores and online at http://www.hayhouse.com
www.earthstarmag.com2 8 EARTH STAR DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015
to me that while those were things that made me unhappy,they were not at the root of what burdened me.
What burdened me most has been my own fear andanger, even rage over these things and more. I’ve beenburdened by not trusting others to be good to me. I havebeen burdened by the belief that I could trust onlymyself to be responsible and then made choices to sup-port that belief. I’d been burdened by the false belief thatI had to work and never stop because I was taught thatworking hard is what love looks like. I was burdened bythe belief that I had no right to the full range of my feel-ings or to healthy boundaries. I was burdened withresentment and bitterness over things past. These werethe real burdens in my life and what I wanted to unloadfrom my heart. It wasn’t what had happened, or whomade it happen that burdened me. It was my own emo-tional confusion and lack of forgiveness toward all thatpained me that weighed so heavily on my heart and keptme from being happy and peaceful today.
The climb was intense and I was shocked at howcold it was outside. But I didn’t mind. After a few hoursI came across a small café and decided to stop and warmup. My fingers were freezing and I was getting veryhungry, my breakfast longed ago burned off.
When I stepped inside I was surprised to see somany familiar pilgrims standing around a roaring fire inthe fireplace in the middle of a large room. Clint and
Dean were there. So were Hans and Peter, and Linda. Ialso saw Victoria from last night but I didn’t see her son,Eric anywhere. I asked about him and she rolled hereyes.
“I left him behind this morning,” she said. “I had to.We have been fighting since we started the Camino. Infact, I think that is what I am here to unburden myselffrom today. His control and neediness are strangling me.I needed to get away, so I told him I would meet him inSantiago if he makes it.”
I applauded her decision and wished her a “BuenCamino” as she stepped past me and out into the coldonce again. I looked around before I sat down. It was anold hippie establishment, complete with peace signs,incense, tons of Camino t-shirts and memorabilia forsale, all of which I wanted. But I knew that I couldn’ttake this experience with me, so I didn’t buy any of it.Then my eye caught a small deck of cards called TheWay, made up of insights from previous pilgrims whohad walked to Santiago, offering advice from theCamino for the journey through life. I pulled a card fromthe deck. It said, “Don’t fear the criticisms of others.”
That piece of advice made me think. I have beenseverely criticized all my life for being intuitive andmaking it my vocation. I have been criticized for beingan outspoken and strong woman, accused of not beingfeminine enough. I have been criticized for being play-ful when I taught my workshops, told I was not worthbeing taken seriously. For most of my life, I was criti-cized just for being me, and while it hurt me, it didn’tstop me. Rather than collapse under all that criticism, Ijust fought back. Now, I didn’t even want to do that. Ijust wanted to ignore the criticisms of those who didn’tlike me, or approve of me, or “get” me and carry on inpeace. That would be wonderful. That is what I wouldpray for today.
www.earthstarmag.com DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 2 9
After drinking a cup of hot chocolate and eating mylast power bar of the day, I put my gloves and hat backon, reached for Pilgrim and my poles, pulled my ponchoback over my head and headed out. I was being called tothe top.
Today marked a turning point in my pilgrimage. Forover three weeks now, my walking had dredged up thedeepest wounds from my past and shaken them freefrom both my psyche and my bones, along with thelong-held pain, sorrow, and grief that they had trapped inmy body. Today was my opportunity to release all of it,from my body and from my life. This was the day toleave the past behind and open my heart to living fullyand freely in the present.
The fog became thicker once I was back on the path,the cold intensifying along with it. I finally reached thesummit, and through the fog I could barely make out thehuge iron cross that stood at the top of the mountain. Butit was there. I had arrived at Cruz Ferro, the place tounburden myself and ask for forgiveness.
Approaching the cross, I was taken aback by themassive amount of small stones and talismans, prayersand pleas, piled high all around it. It was surreal to seethe world’s prayers and pain all symbolically left behindin these offerings. There were photos, teddy bears, let-ters, little shrines made of stacked stones, shoes,rosaries, and more, each item representing someone’sheartache.
Looking at everything reminded me of how painfulthe human experience is and how we, as humans, cannotavoid this pain. There is no way around the human con-dition. We can only experience it as bravely as possible.
We cannot feel love unless we open our hearts, andyet, when we do open them they can and do get broken.It just works that way. If we close our hearts off, howev-er, as a means of protecting ourselves, and cover themover with anger and rage, we break our hearts from theinside. If we look to others to give us the love we are not
giving ourselves, we become frustrated and disappoint-ed and often feel rejected, creating even deeper woundsthan before.
It is only when we love ourselves fully and forgiveall the people and experiences that have caused us pain,both inside and out, can we truly heal and find innerpeace. There is no other way. We cannot avoid the painof life, no matter how spiritually awakened we are. Lifeinvolves loss. It is impermanent and messy and causessuffering. It is only when we feel our pain, feel our loss-es, and allow our feelings to move through us, and thenonward, are we able to heal and live as a fully empow-ered beings in the moment.
Looking at the mountain of grief left behind by somany others, I realized I had no need to feel ashamed forhurting. I had no need to feel like a failure because I gotangry and scared. As spiritually conscious as I was, Iwas still human, and still had to experience loss and suf-fering like everyone else.
It was not allowing myself to freely feel my lossesthat caused me to get stuck. It was denying my pain overand over again that made it explode. In walking theCamino I had now felt it all, and because of that, it wasmoving on. It wasn’t stuck inside me any longer. I couldhonestly say I was leaving my pain and my karmabehind, while at the same time, as I walked, they werealso leaving me. We were done.
I placed my huge rock on the pile and thanked all thepeople who had touched my soul, now and in lives past,for the lessons and the love they brought me. I releasedmy rage, my hurt, my emotional pain, and underneath itall, my fear, and asked for and offered forgiveness foreverything in my past. The minute I placed my rock atthe foot of the cross, I could feel my last bits of paintumble out of me and onto the ground. All that was leftin its place was gratitude.
Just before I left, I took Gumby from my pocket andsat him on the rocks. He had been a good touchstone for
me, helping to keep my spirits up and my humor alivewhen all I felt was lost. I took a few pictures of the twoof us together, so that I could leave everything behindwith a smile. I then got on my knees and prayed foreveryone in my life, thanking their spirits for their con-tribution to my human experience. I stayed a few min-utes longer, but it was bitter cold and I felt there was noneed to linger. I picked up Gumby, put him in my pock-et, and got ready to go. It took a moment or two to findthe path in the fog, but I did and slowly began the steepdescent.
As I started down, the icy wind blew in my face withsuch relentless ferocity that it felt personal. And yet,rather than fight it, I let it scour off the remaining barna-cles of hurtful beliefs and behaviors that I still subcon-sciously clung to.
“Go ahead,” I screamed to the spirit of the wind.“Do your work. Blow it all away.”
I felt as though I were being bathed in pure love. Inspite of the cold, a gentle warm energy was now touch-ing those deep places of hidden sadness and terror in myheart that for so long had held onto the harsh and fright-ening experiences from my past, both in this life andlong before. I was healing.
The cold was refreshing. The flowers along the sideof the path were magical. My heart was becoming freeof some old and very ugly and painful stuck energy. Ifinally descended below the cold and fog and emergedinto a vast mountain valley. It was incredible. The pastwas behind me. I was now free.
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A new blood test for Alzheimer’sappears to detect the disease asmany as ten years before clini-
cal diagnosis is possible.The test, described publicly for the
fi rst time yesterday, could soon be usedto identify and treat patients withAlzheimer’s earlier in their disease pro-gression. Those people could participatein clinical trials to help find new treat-ments. Already, the test distinguishesbetween patients and healthy elderlywith 100 percent accuracy.
“We will need replication and val-idation, but I’m very optimistic thiswork will hold,” DimitriosKapogiannis, the study’s lead authorand a neuroscientist at the NationalInstitute on Aging, said.
The blood test is still in the earlystages of development and has onlybeen evaluated in 174 individuals,requiring a larger, long-term studybefore widespread use, the authorssaid. NanoSomiX, an Aliso Viejo,California-based biotech company thatdevelops blood assays for neurodegen-erative diseases and is sponsoring thestudy, plans to produce a commercialversion of the test.
Two other potential Alzheimer’sblood tests were announced earlier thisyear. One measures ten fats in the blood-stream that appear to predict dementiawith 90 percent accuracy within threeyears of its onset. Another uses ten pro-teins in the blood to predict onset with87 percent accuracy within a year.
At the National Institute on Aging,Kapogiannis and his team identified asingle protein in the brain involved ininsulin signaling, called IRS-1, thatappears to be defective in Alzheimer’spatients.
The researchers gathered bloodsamples from 70 individuals withAlzheimer’s disease, 20 cognitively
normal elderly with diabetes, and 84healthy adults. Of the participants, 22of the Alzheimer’s patients providedsamples taken one to 10 years beforediagnosis.
From the samples, the researchersisolated exosomes, little lipid sacs thatbud off cell membranes and carry sig-nals to other cells and tissues. From theresulting pool of exosomes, they iden-tified just those originating in the brain,which contain IRS-1, and measured thelevels of the protein.
They found that patients withAlzheimer’s had higher amounts of theinactive form of the protein and loweramounts of the active form thanhealthy individuals. The diabetics hadintermediate levels.
These levels were so consistentthat the team could predict whether ablood sample came from anAlzheimer’s patient, healthy individ-ual, or a diabetic —with no errors. Thiswas true even for samples fromAlzheimer’s patients taken ten yearsbefore they were diagnosed.—Bloomberg.com News
Alzheimer’s Test Detects Disease Decade Ahead of Onset
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The human body is tuned to, and respondsto changes within, the electromagneticenvironment of the Earth, such that geo-magnetic disturbances can reduce mela-tonin production and thereby disrupt the
sleep-wake cycle. Exposure to artificial EM fields canlikewise reduce melatonin production. We will nowexamine a number of other biological effects associatedwith exposure to artificial EM fields, some of whichcome under the domain of “mind control.”
If, like me, you live in an urban environment, you’rebound to receive a high amount of exposure to EM radi-ation from sources too numerous to mention. Cities aregrossly polluted with EM radiation, or “electrosmog,”and are becoming more polluted every year as our use oftechnology expands and technology itself becomes evermore sophisticated. If, on the other hand, you live in thecountry, it’s probable you receive a low to moderateamount of EM exposure. Some people choose to live in
the country solely because they’re convinced that artifi-cial EM fields make them acutely ill—a conditionknown as EM hypersensitivity (EHS). EHS is common-ly assumed to be psychosomatic in origin; though, aswe’ll see in the latter-half of the chapter, much com-pelling evidence suggests otherwise.
Smart meter health problems
Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself “hyper-sensitive” to EM fields, I have reason to believe that dur-ing one period in my life I suffered ill effects from long-term exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation. Aswith any story, it’s necessary to begin at the beginning.In early 2010, my wife (then girlfriend) and I moved intoa small brick dwelling located in the northern suburbs ofMelbourne. We found our new home reasonably pleas-ant and settled in quickly. Most of all, we were gratefulto have a place of our own and to be paying such afford-
By Louis Proud
SSSSttttrrrraaaannnnggggeeeeEEEElllleeeeccccttttrrrroooommmmaaaaggggnnnneeeetttt iiiicccc
EEEEnnnneeeerrrrggggiiiieeeessss
Allergic to Electricity
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able rent.One day in mid-2012, a technician paid a visit to our
home to replace our analogue electricity meter with a“smart meter” as part of a Victorian Government plan toupgrade the electricity network—a plan that’s currentlybeing implemented in other states of Australia. Smartmeters are at present being installed in homes and busi-nesses across the United States, and the same is happen-ing in numerous other countries, including Canada,Italy, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
Smart meters and analogue meters are similar to theextent that both devices record your electricity usage forbilling purposes. But whereas analogue meters are con-nected to the grid by means of wires, smart meters aredigital, wireless, two-way communication devices thatoperate in the RF range. They record your electricityusage at frequent intervals and send that data directly toyour electricity supplier. They enable your electricitysupplier to monitor your power usage closely withouthaving to send a technician to your home to do so man-ually. Not unreasonably, the surveillance capabilities ofsmart meter technology have sparked concerns amongcitizens who value their privacy and don’t appreciatebeing “spied on” by the powers that be.
Although at first I was annoyed that a smart meterhad been installed in our home without our consent, Isoon forgot the device was there and became absorbed inmore pressing concerns. At the time I was busy workingon a major writing project, which involved spendingmuch time at home in front of the computer. (I’m awarecomputers emit various forms of EM radiation. To min-imize my EM exposure while working in front of a com-puter, I always make sure the screen is positioned a good
distance away from my body.) The project was comingalong smoothly and I was confident I’d make the dead-line on time.As the weeks progressed, however, I noticed a gradualdecline in my ability to concentrate on the project. Isoon found any activity that required sustained concen-tration challenging. The problem appeared to stem froman intense feeling of agitation in the very core of mybeing. There were times when the feeling became sointense that I’d suddenly leap from my chair and dashfrom my office without completing the sentence I’d beenwriting. It’s as if my body was constantly on “alertmode.”
Thinking that perhaps my health had suffered froman overly homebound lifestyle, I began to make moretrips outdoors, either going for walks around the blockor visiting the park down the road. I felt much betterwhen out of the house; the feeling of agitation lifted tosome extent, only to come back as soon as I returnedhome. My wife revealed to me that she, too, was plaguedby a feeling of deep-seated agitation and was experienc-ing concentration issues. It didn’t take us long to recog-nize that the problem coincided with the installation ofthe smart meter in our home.
The penny dropped when, throughout the ensuingmonths, I came across a series of online articles con-cerning cases in the United States and Australia of peo-ple claiming to have suffered health problems as a con-sequence of living with a smart meter in their home.Among the health problems frequently cited were “agi-tation” and “inability to concentrate”—the same prob-lems my wife and I were experiencing.
One article that came to my attention concerned afamily of six in the Melbourne suburb of Keilor East.After a smart meter was installed in their neighbor’shome, the Florios began to experience “constantheadaches and sleep deprivation.” The family becamewhat Ms. Florio described as “smart meter refugees,”opting to abandon their home because their suffering
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had reached an unbearable level.A similar article concerned a couple from Mt. Eliza,
Melbourne, named Vic and Rosemary Trudeau. Justdays after a smart meter was installed in their home,Rosemary began feeling extremely “irritable” and bothshe and Vic experienced a “high pitched ringing” in theirheads. Other shared symptoms included nausea,headaches, difficulties concentrating, heart palpitations,and insomnia. The symptoms would disappear whenthey left home and reappear as soon as they returnedhome. Since their power company refused to remove thedevice, the Trudeaus were left with no other option butto abandon their home and take up residence in theircamper van. “I’d never had any [health] problems [likethese] before, and I’d lived in the house 22 years,”Rosemary insisted.
Unlike the Florios and the Trudeaus, my wife and Ididn’t abandon our home, though we did consider thepossibility of moving. The opportunity to move arosewhen, in early-2013, my wife secured a job in Darwin,Northern Territory (where, fortunately, smart metershaven’t yet been introduced). Our health problems van-ished for good soon after we relocated to Darwin.
A brief internet search will reveal that many peopleall over the world are experiencing health problemsrelated to smart meters. These include stress, agitation,anxiety, irritability, insomnia, persistent headaches,ringing in the ears, eye problems, severe memory loss,mental confusion, inability to concentrate, heart palpita-tions, nausea, urinary problems, hyperactivity, fatigue,dizziness, and nose bleeds.
Isn’t this all a bit over the top? Surely those report-ing such problems are either deluded or mentally ill? Tobe honest, had I not experienced some of these problemsmyself—and my wife also—it’s likely I would haveadopted the “deluded or mentally ill” explanation andlooked no further into the matter. One person I talked toabout my smart meter health concerns suggested, as ajoke, I wear a tinfoil hat. The term “tinfoil hat” is usedin a derogatory fashion to refer to people inclined towardparanoid or conspiratorial beliefs. The term makes thosewho think cellphones, Wi-Fi—or indeed smart meters—pose a danger to human health silly or crazy.
Another health problem I experienced during myperiod of exposure to smart meter radiation was loweredimmune function. It’s a well-known fact that when theimmune system is weak it has difficulty doing its job,which is to defend the body against pathogens (disease-causing microbes). If you find yourself getting infec-tions frequently and if these infections are difficult toeliminate, it’s a good indication your immune system isweak. Immediately after the smart meter was installed,
my immune system suffered a devastating blow. First, ahair on my leg became ingrown and highly infected,necessitating a strong dose of antibiotics. This was fol-lowed by a persistent fungal infection in a certain part ofmy body. My immune system regained its strength assoon as my wife and I moved. Later we’ll look at evi-dence showing that exposure to artificial EM radiationcan compromise immune function in animals andhumans.
The WHO report
Are smart meters really as harmful as many believe?Before we focus specifically on smart meters, it wouldbe valuable to take a look at the World HealthOrganization’s stance on non-ionizing (or low level) EMfields and human health. The World Health Organization(WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations(UN), is an authority on matters of international publichealth. Established in 1948, the WHO is involved incoordinating international health activities and in aidinggovernments to improve health services. It goes withoutsaying that their opinions are widely respected and takenseriously.
Featured on the WHO website is a several pagereport on EM fields and human health, simply titledElectromagnetic Fields (EMF), of which I will now givea brief summary. The WHO Report explains somethingwe know already: ionizing forms of EM radiation—x-rays, gamma rays, and so forth—carry sufficient energyto break molecular bonds and hence damage living tis-sue, whereas non-ionizing forms of EM radiation—
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radio waves, ELF electric and magnetic fields, and soon—lack sufficient energy to break molecular bonds.Nobody disputes the fact that ionizing EM radiation isharmful to the body; the debate is focused on whethernon-ionizing radiation is harmful to the body.
The Report gives particular emphasis to radio fre-quency (RF) radiation, which lies in the frequency rangebetween 3 kilohertz (kHz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz) andis non-ionizing. Microwaves are one form of RF radia-tion. The Report acknowledges that RF radiation of highintensity can heat tissue and is therefore harmful to thebody. (Earlier I explained that a microwave oven useshigh intensity RF radiation to cook food.) The Reportgoes on to state that because RF radiation of low-inten-sity—such as that emitted by cellphone handsets andbase stations, radio and television transmitters, and radarantennas—causes negligible to zero heating of body tis-sue it is extremely unlikely to harm the body.
The Report also addresses the topic of extremelylow frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic fields andhuman health. Whereas RF fields are generally associat-ed with telecommunications (radio, television, radar,cellphones, and so forth), ELF electric and magneticfields are generally associated with electric power dis-tribution and appliances that use mains electricity. Thepower lines that run past your home, the electric kettlein your kitchen, the clock radio situated on your bedsidetable—all are sources of ELF electric and magneticfields. The Report explains that exposure to bothinduces currents in the body.
For example, if you were to stand under a 60 Hzpower line, the electric field produced by the power linewould induce an electric current that flows from yourhead to your feet, while the magnetic field produced bythe power line would induce circulating electric currentswithin your body. “In virtually all ordinary environ-
ments, the levels of induced currents inside the body aretoo small to produce obvious effects,” the Report states.Listed under “obvious effects” are “nerve and musclestimulation and changes in nerve cell excitability in thecentral nervous system.” The suggestion is that becausethese “obvious effects” are absent with respect to expo-sure to common, every day, low strength ELF electricand magnetic fields, such fields pose no harm to ourhealth.
The following two statements from the Report givea clear indication of where the WHO stands on the issueof non-ionizing EM fields and human health:
“Despite extensive research, to date there is no evi-dence to conclude that exposure to low level [non-ioniz-ing] electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health.”
“With more and more research data available, it hasbecome increasingly unlikely that exposure to electro-magnetic fields constitutes a serious health hazard, nev-ertheless, some uncertainty remains.”
To state there is “no evidence to conclude that expo-sure to low level [non-ionizing] electromagnetic fields isharmful to human health” but that “some uncertaintyremains” is somewhat wishy-washy. After reading theReport in its entirety, one gets the impression the WHOis secretly thinking: We’d like to tell the public thatexposure to non-ionizing EM fields is completely safe,but since doing so would make us look negligent orbiased, instead we’ll tell them we’re 99 percent sure EMfields are safe. That way they’ll stop worrying about thematter.
Common sense tells us it would be extremely badnews for the military and the telecommunications andelectric utility industries if the WHO came forward andadmitted that exposure to non-ionizing EM radiation islinked to cancer and other serious health problems,never mind the impact this would have on each andevery one of us, given that electricity is the lifeblood ofmodern society. Clearly the best approach on the part ofthe authorities would be to play down the issue as muchas possible, without entirely dismissing it.
It’s worth noting that in 2002 the InternationalAgency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is partof the WHO, classified ELF magnetic fields as a possi-ble human carcinogen (“Class 2B”), due to there beinga statistical association between “higher level residentialELF magnetic fields and [an] increased risk for child-hood leukaemia.” In 2013, IARC classified RF radiationas another Class 2B carcinogen, stating “Positive asso-ciations have been observed between exposure toradiofrequency radiation from wireless phones andglioma and acoustic neuroma.” Given that IARC’s list ofClass 2B carcinogens includes such substances as cof-
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fee, gasoline, bracken fern, and welding fumes, one isled to believe that one is no more likely to develop can-cer from excessive cellphone use as one is from feastingdaily on bracken fern fiddleheads and gulping largequantities of coffee.
Public exposure limits
Just about every country has public exposure limits inplace for both ELF (50/60 Hz) magnetic and electricfields and RF radiation. In Australia, the exposure limitsfor ELF electric and magnetic fields were set by theNational Health and Medical Research Council(NHMRC) in 1989 and are similar to limits present inmany other countries. (These limits are currently in theprocess of being updated.) NHMRC states that in areaswhere members of the general public experience contin-uous exposure, the electric field strength should notexceed 5 KV/m while the magnetic flux density shouldnot exceed 0.1 mT. To the best of my knowledge, theUnited States has no federal exposure limits in place forELF electric and magnetic fields.
We now come to RF radiation. In 2002, theAustralian Radiation Protection and Nuclear SafetyAgency (ARPANSA) released a document titled theRadiation Protection Standard—Maximum ExposureLevels to Radiofrequency Fields—3 kHz to 300 GHz.The exposure limits set out in the Standard are based onguidelines established in 1998 by the InternationalCommission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection(ICNIRP). The limits take into consideration suchadverse biological effects as electrical stimulation, heat-ing of tissues, and nuisance auditory effects. Again, theheating aspect is strongly emphasized, with the assump-tion being that RF fields pose no threat to one’s health ifthey are not of high enough intensity to heat bodily tis-sue and cause tissue damage.
The RF radiation exposure limits listed in theStandard for the general population and with respect tolong-term exposure are expressed in power flux density(power per unit area) and range from 0.2 mW/cm2 at 10MHz to 400 MHz to 1 mW/cm2 at 2 GHz to 300 GHz.The latter limit of 1 mW/cm2 at 2 GHz to 300 GHzapplies to cellphones, as 2 GHz is close to the frequen-cy at which most cellphones operate. We find roughlythe same limits in place in the United States and numer-ous other Western countries. For the sake of simplicity,we will say that 1 mW/cm2 is the RF radiation exposurelimit for the general population.
When you expose yourself to common sources ofRF radiation, the molecules of your body vibrate, whichin turn causes heating. As I said, the same principle is atwork when food is heated inside a microwave oven. Inthe case of talking on a cellphone, the specific area ofyour head to which the phone is in contact will absorbthe greatest amount of RF radiation, becoming ever soslightly warm. Yet your overall body temperature willnot be affected. RF safety standards ensure that the ener-gy emitted by RF sources such as cellphones is lowenough not to measurably increase body temperature.
The unit of measurement for the amount of RF radi-ation absorbed by the body is called the specific absorp-tion rate (SAR) and is expressed in watts per kilogram(W/kg) or milliwatts per gram (mW/g). The ARPANSASAR limit for cellphone handsets is 2 W/kg (using 10gram averaging mass). This limit is such that talking ona cellphone will produce a maximum rise in temperaturein the side of the head no greater than 0.1°C—far lessthan the increase in temperature required to destroy bod-ily tissue.
Although it’s reassuring to know that cellphones andother devices don’t emit enough RF radiation to “cook”our bodies the same way a microwave oven does, muchconvincing evidence shows that exposure to low-levelRF radiation can produce biological effects that havenothing to do with the heating of tissue. It is these non-thermal or athermal effects, rather than the thermaleffects, that are of relevance to our present discussion.There seem to be at least two attitudes within the main-stream scientific community toward non-thermal biolog-ical effects related to low-level RF radiation exposure:either we are told there is no evidence for such effects,or we are told there is evidence for such effects but thatthe evidence is controversial and unproven.
My research in this area has taught me that it’s futileto expect to receive from the authorities a truthful,straightforward answer as to whether low level RF radi-ation (indeed, non-ionizing EM radiation in general) cancause harm to our bodies. To get to the truth of the mat-
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ter, we are left with no other choice but to bypass offi-cial sources of information, including ARPANSA andthe WHO, and seek out genuine sources of information.Since one of our objectives in this chapter is to find outwhy smart meters have sparked a flurry of health com-plaints all over the world, for the time being we willlimit our discussion to RF radiation.
Radio-wave sickness
Indications that RF radiation can produce a range ofadverse health effects unrelated to heating of the bodyfi rst began to emerge in the years following World WarII, when it was found that radar operators have a ten-dency to suffer from internal bleeding, jaundice,leukemia, cataracts, headaches, brain tumors, and heartconditions. Later, in the 1970s, Eastern European andSoviet researchers—who had been at the forefront ofresearch on bioelectromagnetics since before the1950s—began to use the term “radio-wave sickness” torefer to a clinical syndrome in those occupationallyexposed to EM fields, particularly RF fields.(Bioelectromagnetics is the study of the interactionbetween EM fields and biological entities.)
It was accepted as a fact by the researchers that low-intensity EM fields adversely affect the autonomic andcentral nervous systems of humans and animals. Thesymptoms they listed for radio-wave sickness includeheadache, increased fatigue, increased irritability, dizzi-ness, loss of appetite, sleepiness, sweating, difficulties inconcentration or memory, depression, emotional insta-bility, rashes, thyroid gland enlargement, and tremor ofextended fingers. Also listed, though found to be lesscommon, were hallucinations, insomnia, fainting, andinternal organ or intestinal difficulties. As the reader hasno doubt recognized already, many of these symptomsare common among “smart meter victims.”
The Moscow signal
Of relevance to the topic of early research on the harm-ful effects of RF radiation on humans is an experimentcarried out by the Soviets during the Cold War, in which,beginning in 1953 and continuing over a period of manydecades, they beamed low-intensity microwave radia-tion at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The U.S StateDepartment first detected the “Moscow signal,” as itcame to be called, in 1962, prompting an investigationinto the matter by various U.S intelligence agencies,including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The initial theory put forward to explain the purposeof the signal, whose average intensity varied between
0.002 and 0.018 mW/cm, is that the Soviets were usingit to activate electronic listening devices hidden in thewalls of the Embassy. Yet because the signal was foundto be a composite of several frequencies and henceunsuitable for electronic eavesdropping purposes, a sec-ond theory was advanced as to its purpose: to inducephysiological and behavioral effects among Embassystaff. A Scarsdale, New York, ophthalmologist namedMilton Zaret, who was employed by the CIA in 1965 tohelp ascertain the purpose of the signal, concluded:“Whatever other reasons the Russians may have had,they believed the beam would modify the behavior ofpersonnel.”
The Moscow signal became the focus of a classifiedresearch project, called Project Pandora, which wasplaced under the direction of the Advanced ResearchProjects Agency (ARPA), a secret organization withinthe Department of Defense. One of the objectives ofProject Pandora was to “investigate possible behaviour-al and bioeffects (primarily the former) on primates[monkeys] when the latter were irradiated withmicrowave signals simulating the exposure of Embassyemployees in Moscow.” According to Robert Becker, aUnited States orthopedic surgeon and expert in bioelec-tromagnetics, the monkeys “showed multiple abnormal-ities of blood composition and chromosomal counts.”It’s also been alleged that the monkeys exhibited a dete-rioration in their ability to perform certain tasks.
Yet, disturbingly, Project Pandora also involvedhuman experimentation: the decision was made not toinform Embassy staff about the signal or to attempt toblock the signal, but rather to treat the staff as guineapigs by observing what effects they might suffer as aresult of the prolonged irradiation. It wasn’t until 1976,when the U.S finally decided to install microwavescreening in the Embassy building, that embassy staff—and the rest of the world—became aware of the situa-tion. The Soviets denied beaming the building with
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microwave radiation, and in January of 1979 it was dis-covered the radiation had ceased. (The Moscow signalmade a brief reappearance in 1983 and was againreported in 1988.)
Aftermath
After the Moscow signal became public knowledge, anumber of epidemiological studies were undertaken todetermine in what ways, if at all, Embassy staff hadbeen affected by the radiation. However, the results ofthese studies are rather sketchy, indicating a desire onthe part of the authorities to keep the truth hidden fromthe public. One such study, undertaken in 1976 by Dr.Abraham Lilienfeld and colleagues at the Departmentof Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, exam-ined the mortality and morbidity of all Moscow staffand dependents from 1953 to 1976. Staff who hadserved at other eastern European embassies during thesame period of time, as well as their dependents, actedas the control group.
Although the study supposedly found “No convinc-ing evidence...that would directly implicate the exposureto microwave radiation experienced by the employees atthe Moscow embassy in the causation of any adversehealth effects,” this view is not shared by all. In the opin-ion of Simon Best and Cyril Smith, the study “yieldedsome provocative findings.” These include “a definitesignificantly raised rate of protozoal intestinal diseases,benign neoplasms, and diseases of the nerves andperipheral ganglia” among Moscow males. They add:“As a group, Moscow personnel suffered significantlymore eye problems, psoriasis and other assorted skinconditions (mostly cysts, dermatitis and eczema), aswell as depression, irritability, loss of appetite, and dif-ficulty in concentrating.”
The latter group of symptoms are all consistent withradio-wave sickness and very much support the theorythat the purpose of the Moscow signal was to “modifythe behavior of [embassy] personnel.” As an interestingaddendum, three of those who served as U.S. ambassa-dor to the Soviet Union in the period 1953 to 1976,when the Moscow signal was active, died of cancer. Inorder of service: Charles Bohlen (1953–1957) died ofpancreatic cancer in 1974 at the age of 69; LlewellynThompson (1957–1962 and 1966–1969) died of cancerin 1972 at the age of 67; Walter Stoessel (1973–1976)died of leukemia in 1986 at the age of 66, having firstdeveloped signs of leukemia in 1976. What makes thethree deaths especially noteworthy is that the Moscowsignal was beamed directly at the ambassador’s office.
Interestingly, the Moscow signal was between 500
and 55 times weaker than the 1 mW/cm2 exposure limitfor the general population. In fact, since the 1950s andat the time of the Moscow signal incident, there existedin the Soviet Union a tremendously stringent RF radiationexposure limit of just 0.001 mW/cm2 for the generalpop-ulation. Today the limit is higher, at 0.1 mW/cm2. Ofcourse, the Russians have long acknowledged that thereare non-thermal biological effects associated with expo-sure to low level RF radiation. These effects are alsorecognized in China, where the limit is also set at 0.1mW/cm2.
Excerpted from Strange Electromagentic Energiesby LouisProud, © Louis Proud. Excerpt is printed with permission ofthe publisher New Page Books,http://www.newpagebooks.com
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Many years ago, I would have definedmiracles as something for whichthere was no explanation. That wasmy concept of miracles. So whenpatients would recover unexpected-
ly from disease, I would rationalize what mechanismswere present within the body that could explain theirrecovery.
Today, I realize that everything is a miracle. Whenyou ask quantum physicists and astronomers to explaincreation, they do not have all the answers. Life is a mir-acle, and it is derived from the intelligent, loving, con-scious energy that created it. You can call it God or any-thing you want to, but the nature of life shows us it isintelligent and loving, or we wouldn’t be able to survivea cut finger or an infection. Most of us do not stop tothink about life on earth being a miracle.
To me, miracles are about our potential and what hasbeen built into us to help us to survive. A botanist I read
about called miracles “spontaneous reversals” becausehe saw how plants altered their genes to survive climatechanges and diseases. Just think about the fact that aplant doesn’t bleed to death every fall when the leavesdrop off...it heals and survives.
Doctors call unexpected recoveries and cures “spon-taneous remissions,” but that wording makes you think itis luck and that the person had nothing to do with it. Thatis not true. All living things have the potential to createmiracles. Studies and scans show that cancers come andgo sometimes with no treatment. We need to study thepersonalities and learn the stories of the people whomwe consider to have had a miraculous or self-inducedhealing.
I know people who have left their troubles to God,or who refused treatment to go home and make theworld beautiful before they died. They did what madethem happy—from getting a dog to building a wildlifehabitat—and their letters to me later end with, “I didn’t
By Dr. Bernie Siegel
Everything IsAMiracleMiracle
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die, and now I’m so busy I’m killing myself. Help!Where do I go from here?” I do not limit miracles toonly physical events like recovery from disease, becausethey occur in every aspect of life. Since consciousness isnot limited to the body, or by time and space, it can haveeffects at a distance, too, and I will discuss some of thesethings when I present specific examples.
Someday I hope we will spend as much moneyexploring inner space and the wonders of the humanbody as we are currently spending exploring outerspace. The secret lies within us, and yet we are afraid togo within because of our nature. It is time to stop fear-ing what lies within us and to achieve our true potential.
A true miracle is often defined as an event thatdefies the laws of nature. My mother referred to miraclesas “God’s redirections” from which something goodwould come. A television show you never knew existedalerts you to a medical condition you wouldn’t havechecked out otherwise; a kind stranger helps you changeyour tire before a flood; while you are sleeping a dogbarks when he smells a fire. There is so much more tothese occurrences than chance.
These events are more than coincidences. These aremiracles.
In fact, even so-called “bad breaks” can be classifiedas miracles because so often they lead us in better direc-tions. Years ago, arthritis threatened to end my career asa surgeon before it had even begun. The military turnedme down for active duty, so I returned to Connecticut toattempt to practice surgery with a former associate.Almost immediately, the symptoms of my arthritis sub-sided, and I went on to practice medicine and becomewho I am today.
Rather than wishing for miracles to change thephysical nature of life, my desire is for those miraclesthat change our experience of it. When we decide tomake a difference in the world and create peace, love,and happiness for all living things...that will indeed be amiracle.
We are all living a miraculous story. When we areenlightened by it, we elevate ourselves and demonstrateloving, intelligent, conscious energy. To do so we mustact, seek wisdom, and have devotion. Those are the qual-ities demonstrated by those who exceed expectations.
I read a wonderful article by Stacey Chiew, whowrote, “I believe each one of us holds the key thatunlocks the door for miracles. Before you can do that,you need to know the password: Love. Miracles are theresponse to love expressed in us and to others. It is theextra ordinary healing power of our body, the amazingprotective energy force that helps keep us safe, and thejoy when prayers are answered.”
I agree with Stacey that life is a miracle. We cannot,and probably never will, be able to explain creation andhow intelligent, loving, conscious energy could creatematter.
Angels and Guides
One evening I arranged my notes on the podium andbegan my lecture. I noticed that what I was saying wasnot following my outline. I kept struggling to get back tomy outline for the talk, but after a few minutes I realizedthe talk I had not planned was better than the one I had.So I just let the words flow out of me for the next twohours. At the conclusion of my presentation, a womanwalked up to me and said, “I’ve heard you before. Thatwas better than usual.” The next woman came up andsaid, “Standing in front of you for the entire talk was thisman. I drew his picture for you.” When I looked at thepicture I knew who it was: George.
George is my inner guide, whom I met when doingguided imagery, as a nonbeliever, for the first time. Thepicture she drew was the same as one I had drawn forElisabeth Kübler-Ross years before. From that day for-ward, George does all my talks for me. They come froma place of consciousness shared with the audience.
A few years later, after delivering a funeral sermonfor a friend one Sunday morning, I was standing alonein the hallway when Olga Worrall, a well-known healer,who had attended the funeral of our mutual friend, cameup to me. “Bernie, are you Jewish?” I asked her if shewanted to know because I had delivered a Sunday ser-mon. She said, “No, it’s because there are two rabbisstanding next to you.” Her description of them fromtheir garments to their beards was again exactly likeGeorge. I think his presence in my life explains many of
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my miraculous experiences.I have been in four life-threatening accidents, in-
cluding choking nearly to death, car collisions, andfalling off the roof when a ladder broke. Each time Iwalked away with no serious injuries. I said to an audi-ence one night, “I must have an angel.”
I believe we all have angels or guides. I can’t helpbut think of the story of the lady who hears a voice say,“Jump back.” She does and realizes she would have beenhit by a bus if she kept crossing the street. It’s a goodthing she listened!
We must remember that there is always hope. We arecapable of amazing things, and when we do not fear fail-ure, we have nothing to lose by attempting to achieve themiraculous.
The Gift of Love
A teenager complained that her grandmother’s house didnot have a full-length mirror to see how she looked. Hergrandmother responded by saying, “If you want to seehow beautiful you are, come here and look in my eyes.”
I believe love is the answer to every question youcould ever ask. It is the solution to every problem, and itis necessary for our survival. When we choose to love,we can never be wrong. We will always be in the rightplace at the right time because love brings order, harmony,and peace.
By the same token, being loved is the gift of a life-time. To be accepted by someone means they are tran-scending all your flaws with a commitment. Love is
blind to our faults and flaws. I believe that, while wechoose whom we love, we are wired with the desire tolove from the time of our birth.
Many people believe they have some terrible defectat the center of their being, which they must hide if theyare to have any chance for love. Because they believethey are unlovable and condemned to loneliness if theirtrue selves become known, such individuals set updefenses against sharing their innermost feelings withanyone. They fear and avoid relationships.
I cared for a teenage girl with severe burn scars whowore a turtleneck even on hot summer days because shefelt she was “ugly.” Weeks after I suggested she spendher summer working as an aide in a nursing home,where they wore uniforms that would reveal her scars,she found the people there didn’t notice them. “This isbecause when you are giving love,” I said, “you arebeautiful.”
Love is energy, so it knows no time and no physicallimitations. I know from my experience—personally,and through mystics, dreams, and drawings—that we arecapable of communicating with animals and the deadand can know the future. I think that when two peopleare constantly conscious of each other it sustains a con-nection, which eventually leads to their being reunited.
All we can ask of life is to be given the chance tolove.
Dr. Bernie Siegel’s multimillion-copy bestselling first book,Love, Medicine & Miracles, was published in 1986. He is theauthor of multiple other books, including A Book of Miracles,101 Exercises for the Soul, and 365 Prescriptions for the Soul.Visit him online at http://www.berniesiegelmd.com.
Excerpted from the book A Book of Miracles© 2011 byBernie Siegel. Published with permission of New WorldLibrary. http://www.newworldlibrary.com
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DECEMBER / JANUARY 2015 EARTH STAR 4 1
What is a miracle?
Life is a miracle. What cannot be explained by scienceis a miracle. We cannot explain the origin of our uni-verse and life so it is all a miracle derived from loving,intelligent, conscious energy. It also lets us know we allhave the potential to be miracles and demonstrate thembecause the ability to create lies within us too. Thepotential is built into us by our loving creator so we healour wounds and alter our genes and survive threats toour existence and I am talking about people, plants, bac-teria and all forms of life.
The importance of change—from the inside out. Howdoes that happen and how does that open the doorfor a miracle to take place?
As God said when I gave my first consultant’s report atthe Board of Directors of Heaven meeting, “Berniewhen you finish say the beginning and not the end.”When I asked why God said, “Because we have to beginto use the information you have given us. Graduationsare a commencement not a termination and the Bibleends in a revelation and not a conclusion. My son’s lifeis about beginnings because it is always changing.” Ihave learned that when you use change as a labor painof life you can give birth to a new self which loves lifeand your body and the direction of your life and healthresponds to the chemistry created by the love both phys-ically and spiritually. The future is unconsciously pre-pared long in advance, as Jung stated and therefore weare creating our future and determining the possibility ofa miracle every day. When we are a work in progressand rehearse and desire to become the person we wishto be change is inevitable.
What is grace and how can we welcome it intoour lives?
Grace is amazing as the song tells us. It can save you,help you to believe, protect you give you hope and more.When you have faith your life changes and peace comesto you because you know that you are connected to ahigher power and the Lord is your shepherd. My moth-er always let me know that when I had a problem God
was redirecting me and something good would come ofthis. Norman Vincent Peale’s mom told him that if Godslammed one door further down the corridor anotherwould be open. I have seen people cured of cancer whenthey went home and left their troubles to God. But tobelieve and find that kind of peace is not an easy taskand one must accept the belief and the grace to attain it.Like the still pond allows us to see our true reflectiongrace brings peace and stillness to our mind and life.
What can we learn from children and animals?
What we can learn is the truth. Life is about living todayand not worrying about the future. When I have a prob-lem I ask myself, WWLD, or What Would Lassie Do?Then I can see how love will resolve my problem.Animals are complete and we need to learn how tobecome complete in our lives and behavior. When Oneof our children was seven an X-Ray revealed a bonetumor and I was sure it was a malignant tumor thatwould end his life in short order. I explained to my wifeand his four siblings the problem. The next day he cameto me and said, “Dad can I talk to you for a minute?You’re handling this poorly.” He explained they weretrying to enjoy the day and I wanted them all to bedepressed about the future. He was right. As the songsays yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow’s out ofsight it’s so sad to be alone. help me make it through thenight.”
How do we let go and let God?
You stop judging and thinking and let your heart makeup your mind. There is a greater wisdom and higherpower. Again to turn to the wisdom of a song, just likethe seasons there are reasons for the path we take. Thereare no mistakes just lessons to be learned. When you seethe obstacles as teaching you how to climb instead ofGod punishing you things change. When you lose yourcar keys you don’t assume God wants you to walk homeso when you lose your way or health look for it and Godwill help you to find it when you let go of living in yourhead and let your heart and faith take over.
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A Book of MiraclesQQ andand AA with Dr. Bernie Siegel
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Emotional darkness. How can there possibly bebenefits?
Charcoal under pressure becomes a diamond. When youlove your fate and ask what you are to learn from theHell you are going through the benefits appear. I askpeople to tell me what they are experiencing when theyhave a disaster in their life and the words they share areabout their lives. Words like failure, draining, confusionand so we deal with those things in their life which fitthose words and then they can be healed by their afflic-tion. When that happens and you then ask them todescribe what cancer meant to them they say, gift,blessing, new beginning and wake up call. I suggest youdon’t wait to become strong at the broken places butlearn from the wisdom of the sages and become strongthrough their teachings.
What do you do when you are overcome by fear?
I don’t fear anything because I know what I and you arecapable of. As a ninety plus year old said at a supportgroup meeting, “The only thing I fear is driving on theparkway at night.” Everyone laughed and stopped beingafraid of the future. One cannot be afraid when one isloving or laughing. So when fear enters your life realizeothers have survived what you fear and then laugh for noreason and find someone who needs your help andserve them. I guarantee your fear will melt away. I willadd fear is useful to protect us from dangerous situationsor vicious or poisonous animals because it empowersour mind and body to move quickly and protect us butwhen you live in fear your immune function is sup-pressed and stress hormone levels are elevated whichbecomes self destructive.
Prescription Drug VPrescription Drug Vending Machines Installed On College Campuses ending Machines Installed On College Campuses
T he total insanity of over-med-ication in America has reacheda new low as Arizona State
University has installed a prescriptiondrug vending machine calledInstyMeds.
American college students—whoare already the most over-medicatedpopulation on the planet—now have aneven easier way to pollute their brainswith SSRI drugs, antidepressants,antipsychotics and prescription“speed” amphetamines which are rou-tinely abused by students for finalexam cram study sessions.
“School officials didn't specifyexactly what kind of drugs will beavailable in the machine, but said itwould contain 50 medications that aremost commonly prescribed to collegestudents,” reports CBS News.
“You know, the things that you'dlike to have right now to feel better,”said InstyMeds Vice President Bob
Bang, according to CBS News.I don't assign any particular blame
to the InstyMeds machine company, bythe way. The machine looks like a com-petent invention to bypass the usualinefficiencies found in most pharmacyoperations.
Check out the Instymeds websitehttp://www.instymeds.com for infor-mation on their invention, which tech-nically could be used to dispense allsorts of things that are far more usefulfor student health —such as vitamin D!Why don’t universities install nutrition-al products vending machines to actu-ally support cognitive function andimmune function among students?
Big Pharma has already infiltratedand dominated medical schools and“science” journals. Drug companyinterests also completely dominate themainstream media and governmenthealth care decision makers.
These pharma drugs are so safethat students can be dosedwith three, five or even tenat a time, we’re told. Andyet the drugs are so dan-gerous that “the medica-tion is secure in the 1,500-pound, ‘vault-likemachines’ that haveremote alarms in responseto any tampering,” reportsABC. Wouldn’t want any
students looting the machine and sell-ing those drugs on their own, you see.That would be “drug dealing.”
When a student sells ampheta-mines to another student, that’s afelony crime, you see. But when avending machine sells amphetaminesto the same exact student by prescrip-tion, that's called “evidence-basedmedicine.”
Arizona State University is thesecond university in America to installthe prescription drug vending machine,and many more are in the works.Seriously, is “easier access to moremeds” really the answer to studenthealth?
“Serving the health-care needs ofour students is still our highest priority,”remarked Allan Markus, director ofASU Health Services, when the cam-pus closed its pharmacy. And yet, I’mwilling to bet nobody at ASU HealthServices ever bothered to tell studentswhy they need to boost their intake ofvitamin D.
In fact, if a vitamin vendingmachine were installed on campus, itwould no doubt generate outrage andcomplaints from all the drug companyreps and the doctors they routinelybribe to keep pushing their poisonsonto students, pregnant women, babiesand the elderly. —Natural News
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In this excerpt from her book,The Real BrassRing: Change Your Life Course Now, DianneBischoff James reveals some of her secrets fora midlife reboot. As a businessperson Diannegets excited by executive summaries. So she
put together 14 consumable rules based on the meta-physical practices she’d studied over the years. It is her‘cheat sheet’, which she calls The Shortcuts for HappyLiving.
The Shortcuts for Happy Living
Rule 1: It’s All GoodThe Universe is already in order and in a state of well-being. We didn’t come here to fix anything, becausenothing is broken.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: If the world is completeand abundant, why do I keep running around trying toimprove it and worrying about my next dime? Does thismean I can stop working so hard, relax, and just enjoybeing here?
Rule 2: What You Think about You Bring AboutWe are always attracting. Everything you think about,talk about, and pay attention to is coming your way, somake it good.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: I’ve been raised by sec-ond-generation fear-based survivalists. Positive self-talkis a whole new skill set that will require tremendouspractice on my part.
Rule 3: Leverage Your AlignmentWhen you’re aligned physically, emotionally, and spiri-tually, you’ll experience joy. Connect vibrationally withwho you are so that your Earthly part, the body, joinswith your spirit, the Source part. This connection willallow you to readily attract whatever you want.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: I’m pretty sure I’ve neverbeen aligned because I rarely feel like a “fountain ofwell-being,” singing Hallelujah and waving my armsback and forth.
By Dianne Bischoff James
The Real Brass RingBrass RingChange Your Life Course Now
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Rule 4: Use Your Emotional Radar DetectorWhat feels good is good because emotions are the mes-sage center of the body. The thoughts that make you feellight and breathe easy are the right ones. Move awayfrom anything that feels bad. And pay attention to thewarning signs displayed through negative emotions.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: As a strong-minded pro-fessional woman, I’ve been too busy “doing” things toever acknowledge my emotional center. It’s been mucheasier to ignore exhaustion, sorrow, and frustration thanto go into those scary “feeling” places.
Rule 5: Manage Your WaveEverything has a vibrational flow and we are all con-nected through energy waves. Create harmony and syn-ergy by focusing on the positive side of the wave.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: It won’t be easy to grabat the merry side of the “it’s all good” stick. I’ll need toredirect my thoughts and look for the small positivethings that happened during the day.
Rule 6: Tend to Yourself FirstThe only person you need to please in life is you. Take100 percent of the responsibility for your words, actions,and experiences and take care of yourself, first and fore-most.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: Abraham tells us to actlike a cat. Well, my cat is orange, fat, furry, demanding,and only sits on my lap only when he feels like it. He is,however, quite satisfied with life and always takes careof his needs.
Rule 7: Focus on ReceivingSit back, remain positive, and let the Universe deliverwhat you want. Allow yourself to receive.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: I am a professional“earner,” so I don’t know how to receive without effortand exertion. But it sure would be nice if the Universejust dropped things into my lap.
Rule 8: Choose the Ending to Your StoryReality is yours to create. Use clear intentions, desires,and positive feelings to manifest whatever you want andwatch unlimited futures unfold.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: If my life is a movie inthe making, perhaps it will end in love, romance, andtravel. Now that sounds pretty exciting.
Rule 9: Manage Your CircleThere are only three “circles” of influence: (1) your cir-cle, (2) other people’s circles, and (3) the Universe’s cir-cle. Your only job is to manage your circle. Get out of
everyone else’s business and let them manage them-selves.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: Does this mean I’m notresponsible for other people and their issues? Can I stopfeeling guilty and just let everyone enjoy their day or bemiserable, as they have chosen?
Rule 10: Feeling Good Is the MeccaLighten up. Move away from resistance and be able tosay, “I love how this feels!”
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: I mostly feel push-backand strain, but emotional bliss is a terrific future goal.
Rule 11: Learn Your LessonsProcess your issues now. Learn your life lessons andwork everything out in your interpersonal relationships.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: Although I’ve madesome progress in learning lessons, I’m sure I still have abumpy road ahead.
Rule 12: Speak Your PeaceSay everything that needs to be said. Always speak yourtruth in the moment.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: My tongue is a well-trained cover-up artist and I’m much better at sayingwhat people want to hear rather than what’s on my mind.
Rule 13: Live Your Authentic SelfThe highest experience of love is the realization of whatyou believe in, who you are, and what you love to do.The only thing that’s stopping you is you.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: I am totally committed todiscovering my true desires and pursuing what I camehere to do.
Rule 14: Love Your LifeLearn to love your life because you are the “dance.” Andin all aspects, pursue the wisdom of the heart.
Dianne’s Initial Feedback: Love your life and followyour heart. This statement I completely understand.
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The World Health Organization has deter-mined that hypertension is the leadingcause of cardiovascular mortality. Itaffects as many as 1.5 billion peopleworldwide and is a major risk factor for
atherosclerosis. Drug therapy for hypertension is oftencomprised of one or a combination of medications thatmay include an angiotensin II receptor blocker, calciumchannel blocker, beta blocker, angiotensin convertingenzyme (ACE) inhibitor, and/or a diuretic.
Some of these drugs and drug combinations havepotential side effects, which is troubling since bloodpressure medications may be required for the rest of aperson’s life. That does not mean a person with hyper-tension should discontinue their prescribed medications.But if natural approaches can reduce blood pressurereadings so that drug doses can be reduced or eliminat-ed, then side effect concerns can be mitigated.
In an exciting new discovery, scientists have uncov-
ered two natural extracts that have similar mechanismsto some of the most effective drug therapies for hyper-tension.
Olive leaf extract has been shown to function as anACE inhibitor and celery seed extract has potent calci-um channel blocking properties. Clinical studies havedemonstrated that both extracts are able to safely lowerblood pressure.These specialized extracts offer a natural approach toblood pressure management.
Current Treatments For Hypertension
Numerous recent, large, randomized clinical trials haveindicated that treating hypertension in older adults canreduce the risk of kidney disease, stroke, and cardiovas-cular events. Unfortunately, bringing blood pressuredown to healthy levels is easier said than done.
Many clinicians start therapy with a mild diuretic
By Brandon Dewitte
NaturalNatural Extracts Extracts Lower Blood PressureLower Blood Pressure
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(“water pill”) at low doses, thengradually increase doses untileither blood pressure is con-trolled or the maximum dose isreached.
However, nearly 75% ofpatients do not get adequateblood pressure control on a sin-gle drug, which means a secondmedication is often necessary.This process may continue untila person finds himself or herselfon three, four, or more drugs.
A frequently prescribed class of antihypertensivesused today are the angiotensin II receptor blockers.These drugs block the angiotensin II receptor and ofteninduce more profound and sustained blood pressure con-trol than older classes of medications. However, thereare side effect risks associated with angiotensin II recep-tor blocker drugs. In some individuals, angiotensin IIreceptor blockers can cause an increase in potassium andchanges in kidney function. Also, do not takeangiotensin receptor blockers if you are pregnant or planon becoming pregnant because this class of medicationcan cause harm to the fetus.
One of the most commonly used approaches totreating hypertension involves the combination of twodrugs: an ACE inhibitor and a calcium channel blocker.A large 2013 study demonstrated that for most people,this combination was more effective at reducing cardio-vascular consequences of hypertension than using eitherdrug with a diuretic. This combination also demonstrat-ed the greatest probability of reducing death.
Here’s how the combination drug therapy works.Angiotensin converting enzyme, or ACE, is a natu-
ral enzyme in the body that activates the hormoneangiotensin, which causes blood vessels to constrict,thus increasing blood pressure. Inhibiting ACE canreturn blood pressure to lower levels. ACE inhibitorsalone, however, are not always entirely effective, whichis why doctors often combine them with a second drugcalled a calcium channel blocker.
Calcium channel blockerslower blood pressure by a differ-ent mechanism than ACEinhibitors. They prevent the entryof calcium ions into muscle cellsin the arterial wall. Since calciumions are a major signal tellingthose cells to contract and raisemuscle tone in the artery, block-ing calcium influx into the cells
will prevent contraction andlower blood pressure.
Use of the combination of anACE inhibitor and a calciumchannel blocker has become oneof the mainstays of modern phar-macological blood pressure con-trol, since the two drugs act inparallel, but different ways.Unfortunately, as is usually thecase, both drugs bring with themside effects.
Scientists have discovered twonatural ingredients that work in ways similar to main-stream drugs, but without the numerous side effects.Olive leaf extract and celery seed extract act as ACEinhibitors and calcium channel blockers, respectively.Each has been shown in clinical studies to lower bloodpressure.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Natural Extracts Lower Blood Pressure
• High blood pressure (hypertension) is the lead-ing cause of cardiovascular disease and is an importantcontributor to premature death and disability.
• Despite widespread awareness of hypertensionas a health threat, only a minority of Americans manageto control their blood pressure.
• Patients using prescription medications mayhave to take two or more drugs before their blood pres-sure is controlled.
• One of the most effective drug combinationspairs an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitorwith a calcium channel blocker.
• New scientific evidence shows that olive leafextract provides ACE inhibition, while celery seedextract offers calcium channel blocking effects.
• Each of these supplements has independentlybeen shown to lower blood pressure in human trials.
• ACE inhibition pluscalcium channel blocking effectsare available through the use ofthe natural ingredients olive leafand celery seed extract.
Olive Leaf Extract: ANatural ACE Inhibitor
Extracts from leaves of the olivetree (Olea europaea) contain
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compounds known as secoiridoidglycosides. When ingested, thesesubstances break down into mole-cules with the ability to inhibitangiotensin converting enzyme(ACE) and its harmful effects onblood vessels. Studies now showthat olive leaf extract is effective atlowering blood pressure, just aswould be expected from an ACEinhibitor.
In preclinical trials,researchers found that when theygave rats an olive leaf extract at the same time as hyper-tension-inducing chemicals, it prevented them fromdeveloping experimentally induced hypertension.Similarly, in rats that had already been hypertensive forsix weeks, administration of olive leaf extract normal-ized blood pressure, even when the rats continuedreceiving the hypertension-inducing chemical. Animalstudies have also shown that olive leaf extract is effec-tive at reducing the signs of metabolic syndrome, amajor cardiovascular risk factor.
Human studies have been extremely encouraging aswell. A cleverly designed human trial using identicaltwins demonstrated the antihypertensive effects of oliveleaf extract, with one twin serving as a control. Treatedtwins received either 500 or 1,000 mg/day of the extractwhile the other received advice regarding a “favorablelifestyle.”
After eight weeks, compared to their controls, twinstaking 500 mg/day saw an average drop in systolic pres-sure of 6 mm Hg, while the twins taking 1,000 mg/daysaw an average drop in systolic pressure of 13 mm Hg.In the group taking the higher dose, blood pressure fellfrom an average of 137/80 at baseline to 126/76 aftereight weeks and LDL cholesterol was also reduced.
Olive leaf extract was recently compared directlywith the ACE inhibitor captopril in patients with Stage Ihypertension and it was found to bealmost equally as effective. Theextract dose was fixed at 500 mgtwice daily for the eight weeks of thestudy, while captopril dosing startedat 12.5 mg twice daily, and increasedto 25 mg twice daily if needed forblood pressure control.
At the end of the study, bothgroups experienced significantreductions in systolic and diastolicblood pressure as compared to base-line. The olive leaf extract group
experienced a mean systolic bloodpressure reduction of 11.5 mm Hg,while the captopril group reducedsystolic blood pressure by 13.7 mmHg. Diastolic pressures fell 4.8 mmHg in the olive leaf extract group and6.4 mm Hg in the captopril group.The differences between groups werenot statistically significant.
In addition, triglyceride levelsfell significantly from baseline in theolive leaf supplemented group butnot in the drug group. This important
study showed that olive leaf extract was similar in effectto the ACE-inhibiting drug, but with the added benefit oftriglyceride reduction.
A subsequent human study showed that olive leafextract could also improve insulin sensitivity by 15% inoverweight middle-aged men, an important step in fur-ther reducing cardiovascular risk. It also led to a 28%improvement in pancreatic responses to blood sugar.
WHY AT-HOME BLOOD PRESSURE TEST-ING IS SO IMPORTANT
To ensure that the drugs, nutrients, and lifestyle changesyou are using to combat hypertension are achievingoptimal results, have your blood pressure checked regu-larly.
Ideally this should be done every 12 hours initiallyusing an at-home monitoring device.
The reason you should check every 12 hours is thatsome blood pressure drugs wear off after 12-18 hours,leaving you vulnerable to considerable periods of high-er-than-desired blood pressure. It’s during periods ofhigh blood pressure that damage to the delicate endothe-lial linings of our arteries occurs.
Once you have established a program of drugs,nutrients, and/or lifestyle that produces reliable optimal
blood pressure ranges, then testingseveral times a week should be ade-quate for most people.
Relying only on your doctor tocheck your blood pressure exposesyou to long periods when your bloodpressure could be dangerously ele-vated without you or your doctorknowing it. We offer an at-homeblood pressure testing device to ourmembers. You can also purchase oneat your local pharmacy.
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Celery Seed Extract: ANatural Calcium Channel Blocker
Celery is a simple food with acomplex chemical makeup.Studies show that celery seedcomponents produce a relaxing,dilating effect that lowers bloodpressure. This appears to occur,at least in part, by blocking orantagonizing the flow of calciuminto muscle cells lining blood vessels—similar to theaction performed by calcium channel blocking drugs.One key blood pressure-lowering compound in celeryseeds has the technical name of L-3-n-butylphthalide,abbreviated as 3nB.
3nB has been used in a number of studies for themanagement of vascular diseases in the brain, such asstroke and vascular dementia. And even now, a synthet-ic form of 3nB is being developed as a drug in China forthe treatment of cerebral ischemic stroke and mild cog-nitive impairment as well as for the prevention ofAlzheimer’s disease—all of which have components ofabnormalities in blood flow.
Animal and lab studies reveal that 3nB-rich extractsof celery seeds produce blood pressure reductions of upto 38 mm Hg in hypertensive rats (this effect was notseen in those with normal blood pressures). Animalstudies also demonstrate that celery seed extract has nosignificant toxic effects even at very high doses.
A human study demonstrating the effectiveness of acelery seed extract standardized to 85% 3nB recentlyappeared in the Natural Medicine Journal. For the study,thirty middle-aged patients with mild-to-moderatehypertension took 75 mg doses of a celery seed extracttwice daily for six weeks. To obtain an equivalentamount of 3nB, one would have to consume approxi-mately 530 stalks (nearly 50pounds) of celery.
Mean blood pressures at base-line were 139.4/85.4 mm Hg. Atthree weeks, they fell to 134.8/80.9,and at six weeks they fell to131.2/76.9. This represents totaldrops of 8.2 mm Hg systolic and 8.5diastolic from baseline.
Of great importance, whilepharmacological calcium channelblockers and ACE inhibitors areknown to reduce blood flow to thebrain—which can leave patients
feeling tired, depressed, dizzy, orforgetful—celery seed extractsrich in 3nB appear to improvebrain blood flow, prevent stroke,and may protect brain cells andenhance their energy consump-tion.
THE DANGERS OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Hypertension is classified asblood pressure greater than 139/89 mm Hg.
It is now reported that once you are older than fifty,a systolic (top number) blood pressure higher than 140mm Hg is a greater cardiovascular risk factor than dias-tolic (bottom number) pressure. As blood pressureincreases, cardiovascular disease risk rises rapidly.Beginning at 115/75, risk doubles for each additional20/10 mm Hg rise. Even among those with normal pres-sures at age fifty-five, the lifetime risk for developinghypertension is 90%.
Although the consequences of untreated hyperten-sion take time to develop, they are deadly when theyarise and can include coronary artery disease, heart fail-ure, and atrial fibrillation, a common arrhythmia.
There is now evidence that cardiac disease related tohypertension has its origins early in life. Arterial stiffen-ing, occurring with age and advancing atherosclerosis, isa major underlying cause of adult hypertension, espe-cially so-called “isolated systolic hypertension,” inwhich only the systolic (top) number in the measure-ment is elevated. Stiff arteries create “back pressure” onthe heart, which not only further raises blood pressure,but also puts extreme stress on the heart muscle, leadingeventually to heart failure, coronary artery disease,stroke, vascular dementia, and chronic kidney disease.
Olive leaf and celery seed extracts could not havebeen developed at a better time.Hypertension is quickly becoming aglobal epidemic.1 It is estimated thatnearly 30% of adults around theglobe have hypertension—and thatpercentage climbs to 75% in someEuropean nations. Even in the US,which has one of the highest rates ofawareness of the disease, hyperten-sion affects between nearly 30 to50% of the population.
Hypertension has long beenknown as the “silent killer.” Despiteincreased awareness and treatment
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of hypertension, it is estimated that more than 50% ofpeople worldwide with high blood pressure are unawareof their condition, and only a minority have been able toachieve control of their blood pressure.
If you’re unsure of your blood pressure levels, youshould have them tested as soon as possible. LifeExtension suggests that optimally, blood pressure shouldbe maintained at 115/75 mm Hg. Blood pressure levelsgreater than 139/89 mm Hg should be treated right away.Talk to your doctor about possible treatments and con-sider adding the combination of celery seed extract andolive leaf extract to your treatment plan.
Rather than blindly assuming anything works,obtain an at-home blood pressure monitor to ensure thatthe drugs, nutrients, and lifestyle changes you are usingto lower blood pressure are achieving optimal results.
ARE YOU PREDISPOSED TO HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?
Many conditions cause or predispose a person to havinghypertension.
Over 25% of US adults have metabolic syn-drome, which includes hypertension as one of its defin-
ing features.Obesity, another component of metabolic syn-
drome, is a leading cause of high blood pressure, with 60to 70% of hypertension in adults related to excess bodyfat, especially “central” obesity located around theabdomen. Being overweight or obese is associated witha significantly increased risk of hypertension comparedwith people of normal weight. Obesity imposes unusualstresses on the body’s self-regulatory mechanisms,among which are over-activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone hormone system, which pro-motes fluid retention and boosts blood pressure.
High levels of uric acid in the blood is directlyrelated to hypertension. In one study, people with highuric acid levels were 2.6 times more likely to have highblood pressure than those with normal levels. And peo-ple with both high uric acid and obesity were more than4.5 times as likely to be hypertensive, compared withnormal-weight people with normal uric acid levels.
Another cause of hypertension is obstructivesleep apnea (also called obstructive sleep apnea-hypop-nea syndrome), in which a person’s breathing temporar-ily ceases or becomes very shallow during sleep. In onestudy, over 50% of people with the syndrome had hyper-
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tension compared with only 30% in controls.Regardless of the cause of hypertension, it is
essential to treat it.While most Americans are aware of hyperten-
sion’s risks and many are receiving treatment, only aminority have been able to successfully control theirblood pressure. The colored bars above represent thepercentages of American adults who express awarenessof the dangers of hypertension, those who are beingtreated for hypertension, and those who have theirhypertension under control. Each color represents a dif-ferent National Health and Nutrition ExaminationSurvey (NHANES) study, which began in 1976.
Summary
Despite billions of dollars spent on drugs to lower bloodpressure, Americans are still losing the battle to keeptheir hypertension under control. Even drugs that areeffective at bringing down high blood pressure haveuncomfortable, sometimes dangerous, side effects.
One of the most effective blood pressure drugcombinations is an ACE inhibitor paired with a calciumchannel blocker. But for those with early or mild-to-moderate hypertension (Stage I), ACE inhibition andcalcium channel blocking may be accomplished withextracts from olive leaf and celery seed, respectively.Even those with more advanced cases of hypertensionmay be able to reduce their dosing of drugs by addingthis nutrient combo.
Clinical studies show that each of these supple-ments alone is effective at significantly lowering bloodpressure, generally without the adverse effects oftenassociated with prescription medications. Using oliveleaf and celery seed extract together is a powerful natu-ral combination modeled on solid science.
Reprinted with permission from Life Extension Magazine,http://www.lef.org
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Isee love as a magnificent spectrum of all thecolors of the rainbow. We have hundreds ofemotions and each one is an aspect of love,which can be placed somewhere within thisbeautiful spectrum. By looking at love in this
way we can see how we fragment love in order for ourmind to understand it.
It is easy to see how we divide love in many differ-ent directions by looking at the conditions we impose onlove. We love our parents, our friends, our children, andour partner. We love songs, places, and animals. All ofthese different relationships are only a part of the totali-ty, which is love, but they are not the whole thing. Wedistort everything we perceive and because of this we donot clearly see the different aspects of love.
When we merge all the radiant colors of the rainbow
together the result is white Light. And in the same way,when all the different aspects of love are combined, theresult is Truth. It contains everything. So how can weexperience the fullness of love?
We cannot understand or experience what love isuntil we reveal what love is not. I see this as knowing thedifference between conditional and unconditional love.Conditions begin at an early age. When we are childrenwe want to be like the adults and from them we perceivewhat they believe about love. This is the beginning ofour understanding and experience of love being frag-mented because of early influences. We witness all thedramas that our parents, our friends, and our brothersand sisters create about love. But this is not really lovein the highest sense. Children play, pretending to beadults, and they can hardly wait to grow older just to be
By Don Miguel Ruiz
TTTTHHEEHHEE CCCCOOLLOORRSSOOLLOORRSS OOFFOOFF LLLLOOVVEEOOVVEE
EEEEXXXXCCCCEEEERRRRPPPPTTTT FFFFRRRROOOOMMMM TTTTHHEEHHEE LLLLIIGGHHTTIIGGHHTTBBBB YYYY KKKKEEEE IIIIDDDD IIII KKKKEEEEAAAATTTT IIII NNNNGGGG
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
—A Course in Miracles
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like everyone else. I remember pretending to be a med-ical doctor. Children usually have such a beautiful smile,but as soon as I pretended to be a medical doctor my facechanged right away and became very serious. Back thenI was only pretending, but when I grew up and becamea medical doctor my face really did change that way.
It is the same thing with all that romantic love. Wesee our brothers or sisters falling in love and dating andwe wish to become older so we can do the same thing.However, we also see all the dramas, the broken hearts,and the consequences of those broken hearts. They say,“Look at what he did to me.” They tell all their friendsand everyone knows how much they are suffering. Welearn that romantic love hurts. Then we finally grow upand we start dating and falling in love and because ofthis limiting belief we become like everyone else, dis-torting love. We follow the rules we were taught, thatlove should be this way, a man should be this way, awoman should be that way, and we believe that this islove. But it is not true. We try to control the other personbut that is not love either; it is exactly the opposite. Wetry to make our loved one the way we want them to be,we grow jealous, possessive, and we create a hugedrama. If they are not the way we want them to be wesay they have broken our heart because love hurts, does-n’t it?
Ninety-nine percent of people love conditionally.Everybody believes the way they feel is the way every-one should feel, however this is a great untruth. In thesame way, you defend your truth and you think this isright and everybody else is wrong. But there are sevenbillion people in this world who all believe they areright. It is the same when it comes to love. We believethat what we feel is really love, but it is not. This form
of love is very selfish. We look for love, but in a veryconditional way because it has to be the way we want itto be. We have Gods for everything. We have a God ofthe thunder, a God of the sun, a God of the rivers, thelakes, and the oceans. We even have the God andGoddess of love and we really believe they exist.However, that God or Goddess represents human sacri-fice. Nowadays, we sacrifice in the name of love. Youcan probably see how many times you have sacrificedyourself in the name of love or how many times youhave sacrificed somebody else in the name of love. Thisis clearly a tainted version of love.
When we put labels on the pure energy of love thiswill distort it and once it is distorted it is no longer truelove. We distort love as soon as we use words to describewhat we feel. All of these words are labels that comefrom our conditioning. For example, we feel intenseemotion, but instead of observing the extraordinaryenergy force moving within us, we say, “I feel so sad, Ifeel so angry,” and then we get caught up in melodramasand our minds spin out of control, wallowing in memo-ries of the past or fears of the future. We have lost thepower of the moment and in the process we have lost theessence of the pure energy, which is always present. Inevery culture and in every language we have inventedwords and symbols to describe our moods and to givemeaning to love. No matter how rich the language, theselabels only serve to limit love. They are labels, not love,and they are certainly not the Truth.
Love diffuses in many different ways yet it is allfrom the same source, just as when we put white Lightthrough a prism all the colors of the rainbow arerevealed. We can liken our perspectives on love to howwe perceive Light. If we see brown or blue, for example,we are only seeing a partial aspect of the whole picture.What we are actually seeing is a reflection of our own
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beliefs and limitations and this also colors whatwe transmit in the name of love. Everything isaction and reaction.
When Jesus spoke to the public, only thepurest of white Light shone into the crowds.When He spoke with His apprentices He wasalso emanating that same pure white Light, butthe way it was received was a little different.When He spent time with women the reflectionwas received in a different way again. What isimportant is that the love He was transmittingwas white Light, pure love directly from theSource. The way everyone around Him per-ceived and received the love was differentaccording to their layers of conditioning. If youmeet Jesus Christ and He sends you whiteLight your ability to receive and reflect His Light will bedependent on your filters, or in other words, your limit-ing beliefs. Your level of radiance will not be as pure andwhite as His. But with practice and awareness it maybecome that way. This is the process of enlightenment.The love you receive from your partner may not be thewhite Light you receive from Christ. When the Lightyou receive from those in your life is already distortedyou have a choice to either make it a little whiter or dis-tort it even more. It is up to you!
It is a good idea to interact with people who send a
better quality of Light to you and that way you willevolve more and more. Many cultures teach us to chooseour company with care. The disciples worked with thewhite Light that came from Christ. When He workedwith a big group of people it was difficult to measure thereaction, but when He worked with a little group it waseasier to measure the limitations falling away and thepure love growing stronger. To be with someone likeChrist or Buddha will increase our ability to receive thatpure love. It is not that we do not have it, as we do, butwe distort it in our mind with our limited knowledge. Asa consequence what comes out of us is not what we real-ly are, because in truth we are all just like the Christ andBuddha. When love goes through the filters of our mindsit will emerge completely different and distorted. Whenwe learn from someone like Jesus Christ they will helpus to recognize those filters and to dissolve them, but noone can do it for us. The easiest and best way to knowlove is to be in the presence of pure love. It is writtenthat when the disciple is ready the master will appear.
In love or not?
To know pure love we need to understand what desire is.Desire is completely normal, neither good nor bad, rightnor wrong, even though there are many religions andphilosophies that state it must be avoided! It all dependson what we do with that desire. It can become obsession,which is extremely destructive and will destroy every-thing we create. On the other hand, desire can becomepassion. When this happens we really begin to love whatwe are doing. That passion can take us to inspiration andinspiration can take us to real love.
Nevertheless, obsession has the power to destroyeverything we create. For example, if we get marriedand obsession comes into that marriage, sooner or later
the marriage will be destroyed. If we create a businessand obsession goes into that business, sooner or laterthat business will be destroyed. In reality our desireshifts both ways, sometimes to obsession, sometimes topassion. When the desire turns into obsession we fail inour relationships, marriages, friendships, and businesses,but when the desire turns into passion and inspiration weradiate pure love, which is a reflection of who we reallyare.
Expressing love for our world
We express love for our world because we have thedesire to. If, for example, we try to save the rainforestsand that desire turns into obsession, then in our efforts tosave the forest we will burn ourselves out and destroyourselves. The other option is that we get very passion-ate about saving the forest and then we really will bedoing something to help, but at the same time we willhave respect for everything else, not just the forest, orthe dolphins, or whatever it is we want to support. Whenwe feel passion, this is an expression of unconditionalwhite Light, pure love. Then, if something is not work-ing the way we would like it to, we will not get upset.We will simply express our desire without attachment tooutcomes, putting effort into saving the rainforest with-out expecting anything in return, including that the for-est may not be saved. This is unconditional love.
Loving our self
Loving our self is the first step to real love because wecannot give what we do not have. If we do not love ourself, how can we pretend to love someone else? We mayfeel the need to be loved, we may be obsessed with the
idea of love or whatever, but this is not love. We are soinsecure that we become jealous about what our partneris doing or not doing. We try to control them; the waythey walk, the way they talk, and the relationshipbecomes a complete nightmare. And with that obsessionwe destroy what we really want. And all of this isbecause we do not love our self. We need to love themain character of our story, which is our self, or else wecan only pretend to love the secondary characters.
The key point is when we become honest and awarethat we do not even like our self, we realize we cannotexpect anyone else to love us. The turning point happenswhen we stop looking outside our self for love. If we donot like a person, we can walk away. If we do not like agroup of people, we can walk away. But if we do not likeour self, wherever we go and whatever we do, we arealways going to be trapped with our self. We cannot justwalk away.
Most of the people who do not like themselves try tobury their feelings of emptiness either by eating toomuch, drinking too much, or indulging in something inorder to forget. They suffer and they hate themselves somuch that one way or another many of them end upkilling themselves. If we have awareness and we knowall the tricks we use to conceal our self-loathing we real-ize that these addictions are blocking our Light and lovefrom flowing and do not serve us at all. When we havethis awareness then we create reconciliation with ourown body, with our self. This is a wonderful step. Itbegins a profound healing. The word yoga means union;
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union of knowledge, body, mind, and spirit. The prob-lem is not the body, it is the mind and its limited knowl-edge. The body is judged by the mind. Therefore, themind is where we need to place our focus if we reallywant to heal ourselves. We blame everything around us,we see everything we do not like, and we try to changethe whole world. However, if we want to change thewhole world, we need to change ourselves first. If wechange ourselves then we can change the world and theonly way to do this is by loving ourselves. When we loveourselves everything else then changes as if by magicand we begin to shine.
About me
I can say I am a medical doctor, an author, and that Iused to play a lot of chess and guitar. I can tell youeverything that identifies me, but all that is just my cre-ation. It is not me. I never even chose my name. I haveno idea what I am, but I am. I know I am alive, I am here,that is the truth, and everything else is just an attempt todescribe my identity and I already know that I am notthat identity. That identity is the way I wish peoplewould perceive me, yet people distort that too and theywill not perceive me in the way I want to be perceived.They will qualify me and according to what they believethey will change it. They may believe they know me butthey do not. They know the image that they perceive, theimage that they judge, and vice versa. I really cannot saythat I know anyone, not even my own parents or my chil-dren. I can hardly say that I know myself. To not have topretend to be what I am not is a relief. I am what I amand people either love me or not. I do not pretend to be
what I am not. And, of course, I acceptpeople the way they are. I have beentaught many lessons in my life aboutlove, but none of them are important.They are all irrelevant because in truththey were actually lessons in limitation.What is really important is to enjoy life,to love, to be in the moment, and to behappy. No one can make you happy,only you can make yourself happy. Inthe same way we cannot make anyoneelse happy either.Now we are beginning to understandwhat love is not, perhaps we can put oureye on what love is. The only problem isthat it is so difficult to use words todescribe it. Because in a book we haveto use words, the easiest way for me todefine love is to say: love is the equilib-
rium between gratitude and generosity. We are so grate-ful to receive, and once we do, we become so generousthat out of the fullness of our hearts we start giving anddo not expect anything in return. We are being ourselvescompletely with no conditions attached. We becomepassionate. We react in that way because of the gratitudewe feel for what we receive and then the generosity ofwho we really are shines forth. We do not have to and wedo not need to, it just comes out of us and the reason isbecause we are love. We know we are made by love.This is real love. This is pure love.
© Keidi Keating, Don Miguel Ruiz. Excerpt is printed withpermission of the publisher New Page Books. http://www.newpagebooks.com
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Yoga poses for cancer patients and sur-vivors are not much different from thosefor everyone else: we all need tostrengthen our immune systems and getour muscles moving and fluids flowing!
Yoga for Cancer poses, however, are selected for theirspecific benefits to target survivors â ™ needs.Survivors can use many, but not all, yoga poses. Somepopular poses should be avoided, or used only with greatcaution.
In this chapter fifty-three unique poses are providedthat are tailored to the specific needs of cancer patientsand survivors. Each pose is detailed with an illustrationand description along with any benefits and modifica-tions. My recommendation is that you fully review allthese poses to better understand what options you have.In chapters 7 and 8 I have sequenced these poses to pro-vide sample practices of thirty, sixty, and ninety minutesbased on where you are in your treatment or recoveryand the side effects you are hoping to address (such aslymphedema, bone loss, weight gain, anxiety, etc.).
Getting Warmed Up
- Starting to Move with Your Breath- Arm Vinyasas- Seated Hip and Spine Warm-Ups
Starting to Move with Your Breath
PELVIC TILT
Sit upright with hands on your hips. Use your hands tobring awareness to the movement of the hips in thissequence.
INHALE: Rock to the front of your sitz bones, movingthe front of your hips toward your thighs to arch yourspine. Lift your chest and draw your elbows behind you.
EXHALE: Rock to the back of your sitz bones, round-ing your spine. Let your head fall forward as you pullyour belly back. Elbows move out to the sides.
By Tari Prinster
YYOGAOGA FOR CCANCERANCERCreating Your Yoga Practice
and Learning the Poses
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Repeat sequence five times.
Benefits: Breath awareness, coordinating movementwith breath, spine mobility, hip flexibility, chest open-ing, releases neck tension, releases tension in upper andlower back.
NECK STRETCH
Begin in your upright seat with your head balanced ontop of your spine, chin parallel with the floor.
INHALE: Lengthen your spine, sitting tall.
EXHALE: Slowly lean your left ear toward your leftshoulder. Relax the muscles on the right side of yourneck.
INHALE: Reach your right hand actively toward thefloor beside your right hip, turning your right hand sothe palm faces forward and then away from you.
EXHALE: Lean your head a little bit farther to the leftto increase the stretch.
INHALE: Bring your head back upright
EXHALE: Lean your head to the left, into the stretch.
Repeat the last two steps for five breaths. Then switch tothe second side, leaning right ear toward right shoulderwhile reaching the left hand toward the floor.
Modifications: This sequence can also be done stand-ing.
Benefits: Breath awareness; coordinating movementwith breath; releases neck, shoulder, and upper back ten-sion.
Arm Vinyasas
CACTUS CLAP
Sit upright with palms on your thighs.
INHALE: Lift your arms to shoulder height, bend yourelbows to make a cactus shape, palms facing forward.
EXHALE: Bring your palms and forearms together in
front of your face.
INHALE: Re-open your arms to cactus.
Repeat the last two steps for three breaths. Move slowly,following your breath. Then lower your arms and restpalms on your thighs.
Modifications: Forearms and palms may not come allthe way together. Bring them as close as is comfortable.
Benefits: Range of motion in shoulders and arms, chestand upper back stretch, lymphatic drainage in arms.
CACTUS TWIST
Sit upright with palms on your thighs.
INHALE: Lift arms to cactus.
EXHALE: Holding your right cactus arm steady, bringyour left cactus arm across to your right, twisting yourspine to the right. Your forearms may or may not touch.
INHALE: Re-open your arms to cactus.
EXHALE: Repeat on second side, holding your left cac-tus arm steady and twisting left to bring your right fore-arm toward your left.
INHALE: Re-open to cactus.
Repeat the entire sequence three times.Benefits: Range of motion in shoulders and arms, upper
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spine flexibility, chest and upper back stretch/strength-ening, lymphatic drainage in upper body.
Seated Hip and Spine Warm-Ups
SEATED CAT / COW
Sit in a chair, cross-legged, or on your knees. Cup yourhands around your knees or thighs, extending your armsas much as possible.
INHALE: Arch your spine, reaching your chest upthrough your upper arms, belly moving toward thighs.Pull on your knees with your hands.
EXHALE: Round your spine, belly away from thighs,head bowing forward, as if wrapping your torso over abeach ball. Press your hands against your knees.
Repeat sequence at least five times. If you are sittingcross-legged, switch which leg is in front and repeat theentire sequence an equal number of times.
Benefits: Full spine flexibility, chest and upper backstretch/strengthening, stimulates lymph system in hipsand torso.
Sample Practices for Varying Stages ofYour Treatment and Recovery
30-, 60-, and 90-Minute Practices
This chapter offers sample practices based on variouschallenge levels and durations of time so that you canhave the flexibility to choose different practices based onhow you are feeling. They are designed to be effectivefor both new and experienced yoga practitioners. Theindividual poses you learned in the previous pages arecarefully sequenced into complete practices. If you are acancer survivor in treatment, in recovery, maintainingyour new normal, or gaining new strength, these sam-plers are a way to structure your home practice. Or if youare a yoga teacher for cancer patients or survivors, youcan use these sample sequences as a basic outline to helpplan your classes.
Excerpted from Yoga for Cancerby Tari Prinster © 2014
Healing Arts Press. Printed with permission from the publish-
er Inner Traditions International.
http://www.InnerTraditions.com
Tari Prinster is a certified yoga teacher, founder of yoga4can-
cer, former director of Women’s Cancer Survivor Program at
Om Yoga, New York City, yoga ambassador for the Living
Beauty Foundation, and a breast cancer survivor. Her work
has been featured in the documentary YogaWomanand in
Yoga Journal. She has presented at conferences held by Yoga
Journal, Yoga Service Council, and International Alliance of
Yoga Therapists and has published articles in many yoga pub-
lications. She lives in New York City and Vermont.
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In 2007, I lived for a season in an off-grid per-maculture cabin in North Carolina. No NameCreek gurgled through a lush forest, and Ibefriended the eclectic neighbors—organicfarmers, biofuel brewers, eco-developers. I dis-
covered a sustainable but imperiled way of life, andwrote about in my memoir Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin off the Grid and Beyond the AmericanDream.
Alas, the book triggered angry questions. “It’s easy,”one Twelve by Twelve reader wrote, “to find minimalism,joy, connection to nature, and abundant time in a shackin the woods. But how the hell are the rest of us sup-posed to stay sane in our busy modern lives?” This ques-tion was the genisis of my new book:New Slow City:Living Simply in the World’s Fastest City.
I received—in fact—a hundred variations of thisquestion after lectures and on radio interviews, andalways answered by saying I was living 12 x 12 values...but in Queens, New York, the home to which I returnedafter my time in the cabin. But as each year passed, thereader’s doubt increasingly became my own as over-work, material clutter, and the lack of contact withnature—“civilization,” in short—brought me to a pointof extreme unhappiness in Queens. Eventually, I toodoubted it was possible to live 12 x 12 in a city, and I felt
an urgent need to decamp far from urban life. Not so fast. As I reached this point, my newlywed
wife, Melissa, was offered an excellent job that demand-ed we stay put in New York City, and I suddenly had nochoice but to figure out how to take what I’d learned inthe 12 x 12—about the Leisure Ethic, connecting tonature, and living simply—and somehow make it workin the real-world context of a marriage and two careers.
In an attempt to do this, Melissa and I embarked onan experiment. We sold or gave away 80 percent of ourstuff, left our 1,600-square-foot Queens townhouse,crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, and moved into a tinyrental: a 340-square-foot “micro-apartment”—roughlytwo 12 x 12s—in downtown Manhattan.
Melissa and I approached our thimble of an apart-ment through the ideas of philosopher Thomas Merton,who called his stark monk’s chambers “the four walls ofmy new freedom.” We stowed a minimal kit of kitchen-ware, toiletries, clothing, and books as if equipping ahouseboat’s trim hull. It was a refreshing purge; theapartment seems to expand with each tweak.
We began to feel our well-being rise in proportion towhat’s been shed. A slim metal table in the kitchen wel-comes the cutting board; jackets laze on his-and-herhooks; sandals snuggle in their micro-shoe-apartmentbeside the door.
NNNNeeeewwww SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW CCCCiiii ttttyyyy
LLLL iiii vvvv iiii nnnn gggg SSSS iiii mmmm pppp llll yyyy.... ..No Matter Where ..No Matter Where YYou ou AreAre
By William Powers
Beyond this minimalist freedom, I discovered thatbeing “Slow” is not at all Luddite. Slow means cultivat-ing positive qualities—receptive, intuitive, reflective—instead of the fast qualities so common today: busy,agitated, acquisitive.
I began living and working smarter instead of faster.Borrowing from author and entrepreneur Tim Ferris, Ispent my Slow Year practicing two principles at thesame time: 80/20 and the Hodgkinson’s Principle.
The 80/20 principle says that we accomplish 80 per-cent of work results in just 20 percent of our time.Conversely, we more or less waste the other 80 percentof our time on a paltry 20 percent of the results.
Dutifully, I 80/20ed my life and find that the princi-ple holds true. In one particular week, for example, Ilooked at all the potential work streams—in internation-al consulting, writing, and speaking—that I could pur-sue, and distilled out that week’s most strategic one interms of income-to-time-invested and my current levelof enthusiasm: a high-end magazine article. Then I over-laid the Hodgkinson’s Principle. Hodgkinson’s says thatwork expands to fill the amount of time available toaccomplish it.
Thus, having chosen the one most critical workactivity, I corralled it into a tight timeframe, and foundit works: I condensed what might have been five days ofwork into two!
This approach spawned “reverse weekends” for me,where I worked smarter for two-days and took five-dayweekends. This is not a utopian idea. Even Carlos Slim,the world’s richest person, recently called for a 3-daywork week and Google is increasingly experimenting inlowering hours and thus increasing employee creativityand efficiency.
Other Slow City tools my wife and I discovered inour year’s experiment are:
Urban sanctuaries: Melissa and I began spending moreand more time in natural and reflective places right inManhattan, like Central Park’s Ramble and the tip ofPier 45.
Living on the third story: I discovered I only need halfmy attention on the street level. As the rest of my focus
rises up, I notice nut-brown oak branches and greenleaves fluttering with white butterflies. An off-turquoisesky. Stretchy clouds. Ciao stress!
Technology fasting: We “fasted” from our gadgets forstints, diabling our phones and setting email to vacationmode. This helped quality of our relationship becausewe had more time focused on each other.Silent meals: Even in Manhattan’s fine restaurants,we’d sometimes eat in total silence, deeply savor thefood, scents, soundscape, and visual beauty of therestaurant in a meditative manner.
Though not everyone will live twelve-by-twelve, allof us can ask: What’s my twelve by twelve? We can findthe elusive contours of enough—and live there. Enoughis the sweet spot between too little and too much. Itstarts with each of us creating space to slow down a lit-tle and ask the core questions, like: How do we find bal-ance in a world that is changing more quickly than everbefore in history? And how can we incubate a New SlowCity that’s saner now and fit for the future?
Born and raised on Long Island, William Powers has workedfor over a decade in development aid and conservation inLatin America, Africa, Native North America, andWashington, DC. He is a senior fellow at the World PolicyInstitute and is on the adjunct faculty of New York University.A third generation New Yorker, Powers has also spent twodecades exploring the American culture-of-speed and itsalternatives in some fifty countries around the world. He hascovered the subject in his four books and written about it inthe Washington Post and the Atlantic. An expert on sustain-able development, he is a freelance writer and speaker. Moreinformation at http://www.WilliamPowersBooks.com.
Based on the book New Slow City, © Copyright 2014 byWilliam Powers. Reprinted with permission from New WorldLibrary. http://www.NewWorldLibrary.com
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Why did you write this book?
New Slow City originated with a somewhat angry ques-tion. It came from a reader of Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the AmericanDream, my previous book about living in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot off-grid cabin in North Carolina. “It’seasy,” she wrote, “to find minimalism, joy, connection tonature, and abundant time in a shack in the woods. Buthow the hell are the rest of us supposed to stay sane inour busy modern lives?”
I received a hundred variations of this question inemails, after lectures, and during television and radiointerviews about Twelve by Twelve. I always answeredby saying I was living 12 x 12 values... but in Queens,New York—the home to which I returned after my timein the cabin.
But as each year passed, the reader’s doubt increas-ingly became my own as overwork, material clutter, andthe lack of contact with nature—“civilization,” in short—brought me to a point of extreme unhappiness inQueens. Eventually, I too doubted it was possible to live12 x 12 in a city, and I felt an urgent need to decamp farfrom urban life.
Not so fast. As I reached this point, my newlywedwife, Melissa, was offered an excellent job that demand-ed we stay put in New York City, and I suddenly had nochoice but to figure out how to take what I’d learned inthe 12 x 12—about the Leisure Ethic, connecting tonature, and living simply—and somehow make it workin the real-world context of a marriage and two careers.In an attempt to do this, Melissa and I embarked on anexperiment. We sold or gave away 80 percent of ourstuff, left our 1,600-square-foot Queens townhouse,crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, and moved into a tinyrental: a 340-square-foot “micro-apartment”—roughlytwo 12 x 12s—on the fifth floor of a nineteenth-centurywalk-up in downtown Manhattan.
Voila, New Slow City was born! It’s a memoir of ayear living the Leisure Ethic in a New York minute, anadventure into smart-city trends ranging within thegrowing global Slow Movement (Slow Food, SlowMoney, etc.).
As the world accelerates, shouldn’t we also go fasterto keep up and stay competitive? Slow feels a little,well… Luddite.
At first blush, Slow evokes an interminable line at theDepartment of Motor Vehicles. Slow is an old-fashionedrotary phone, the kind that took so long to dial that, ascomedian Louis CK jokes, you kind of hated friendswho had 0s and 9s in their numbers. Slow is un-American—it’s inefficient, dull, and Luddite. Right?
Well, how about another perspective. Gallup recentlyreported that 70 percent of American employees areeither unhappy or disengaged at work. Anxiety levelsamong adolescents and adults are soaring, even com-pared to just two decades ago. One out of every fouradults in America experiences some form of depressionin the course of their lives. In Japan, they have a namefor people who die from overworking: karoshi. Couldwe in the United States be tipping toward becoming anation of karoshis? I, for one, became so stressed byconstant work and the pace of city life that— before ourSlow Year experiment—I found myself nearly a karoshimyself. I’m convinced that society must find a new equi-librium between the demands of business, the consump-tive habits of society, and our own personal happiness.Being “Slow” means being self-paced. Slow is not at allLuddite. It means cultivating positive qualities—beingreceptive, intuitive, patient, reflectiv—instead of the fastqualities so common today: being busy, controlling,impatient, agitated, acquisitive.
By living and working smarter instead of faster,you’re likely be more competitive.
How do you work smarter?
Borrowing from author and entrepreneur Tim Ferris, Ispent my Slow Year practicing two principles at thesame time: 80/20 and the Hodgkinson’s Principle.
The 80/20 principle says that we accomplish 80 per-cent of work results in just 20 percent of our time.Conversely, we more or less waste the other 80 percentof our time on a paltry 20 percent of the results.
Dutifully, in New Slow City I 80/20 my life and findthat the principle holds true. In one particular week, forexample, I looked at all the potential work streams—ininternational consulting, writing, and speaking—that I could pursue, and distilled out that week’s moststrategic one in terms of income-to-time-invested andmy current level of enthusiasm: a high-end magazinearticle. Then I overlaid the Hodgkinson’s Principle.Hodgkinson’s says that work expands to fill the amountof time available to accomplish it.
New Slow CityA Talk with William Powers,
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Thus, having chosen the one most critical workactivity, I corralled it into a tight timeframe, and found itworks: I condensed what might have been five days ofwork into two.
This approach spawned “reverse weekends” for me,where I worked smarter for two-days and took five-dayweekends. This is not a utopian idea. Even Carlos Slim,the world’s richest person, has recently called for a 3-day work week and Google is increasingly experiment-ing in lowering hours and thus increasing employee cre-ativity and efficiency.
Granted, using 80/20 and the Hodgkinson’sPrinciple won’t be ideal for everyone or all the time.This approach is more suited to entrepreneurs andhourly workers able to prioritize their own time andtasks, nailing the most important ones as quickly as pos-sible and thus freeing up time. But almost anyone cancreate a small sideline work stream and apply these prin-ciples; eventually, perhaps, this side income mightbecome one’s main income.
How else can I slow down in my busy modern life?
Two great Slow City tools my wife and I discovered areurban sanctuaries and third-story living.
First, Melissa and I began spending more and moretime in natural and reflective places right in Manhattan.She loves Central Park’s Ramble—with its circuitouspaths looping down past waterfalls and pine groves—and the Tudor City gardens perched above First Avenueand 40th Street, an oasis to which she flees from herMidtown office to eat brown-bag lunches amid bird-song. My favorite sanctuaries: Pier 45’s tip, where theWest Side High- way fades to a hum; a back seat in thecathedral of St. John the Divine in late afternoon; andthe High Line, a new park sanctuary created fromunused urban infrastructure. Moongazing on our micro-apartment rooftop one night after dinner, we mused ontwo other urban sanctuaries: Washington Square andMadison Square Parks on warm days, when we love tokick off sandals and lie back to savor that sensual press
of our bodies to the Earth. Gravity’s eros. And it’s mutu-al, since our bodies exert a tiny gravity on the Earth.
A second tool is “living at the third story,” whichchallenges the street-level commandment that thou mustingest sample sale and fast food come-ons wholesale. Ionly need half my attention on the street, I discovered,to keep from sleepwalking into traffic and other pedes-trians. As the rest of my focus rises out of the buy-o-sphere and into the biosphere, I notice nut-brown oakbranches and green leaves fluttering with white butter-flies. An off-turquoise sky. Stretchy clouds. A deviousgargoyle winking down at me from a portico. As grid-lock, taxi-top strip-club ads, and the crush of shoppersgets backgrounded, my body relaxes. My new fore-ground: the ebony shine of a baby grand piano throughan apartment window. And—look!—there’s the brightwhite Washington Square Arch capped with a red-tailedhawk, the sunlight gleaming on its wings.
Besides those two tools, we also experimented in:• Technology fasts. We tuned off our gadgets forweekends (sometimes for 5-day weekends!), utilizingthe “vacation auto-response” on our email. This helpedquality of our relationship because we had more timefocused on other and the “real” world around us.• Silent meals. Even in Manhattan’s fine restaurants,we’d eat in total silence, deeply savor the food, scents,soundscape, and visual beauty of the restaurant in ameditative manner. This made our lives feel deeper, richer,more sensual and enjoyable.
Before your Slow Year, you took and your newlywedbride took “uni-moons” instead of a honey moon.What’s that?
Yes, as good New Yorkers Melissa and I had gottencaught up in the prevailing turbo-capitalist ethos.Americans work longer hours than the citizens of anyother country—fourteen more hours per week than anaverage European—and on average we leave unused,and so waste, 30 percent of our vacation time. I’d takenon so many work commitments, mostly subconsciously,to fit in and feel valued within the American system. Ioverworked, eating quick meals at the laptop or betweenflight connections.
So, even as Melissa and I married, in a small cere-mony with family and close friends, our overworkingled us to join the disquieting “uni-moon” trend. Insteadof a honey- moon trip together in the busy weeks afterour wedding, we each took separate, individual vacationswithout each other—uni-moons, or what amounted to afew days of free time at the end of separate work trips.She took hers in the Dominican Republic after a UNcapacity-building workshop; I took mine in Paris on aforty-eight-hour stopover after a community forestry
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consultancy in Liberia, West Africa. Strolling, alone, inMontmartre that first evening, I found myself on thesmartphone, checking work emails. Looking up frommy phone, I was jolted aware that the Eiffel Tower andall of Paris were stretched out before me in all theirbeauty. I thought back to my North Carolina 12 x 12 andwondered what had happened to one of the big lessons Ilearned there: the need to balance my constant doingwith the joy of simply being—a kind of Leisure Ethic.
So you decided to change. What’s the biggest thingyou learned?
It’s hard to reduce what I learned to a soundbyte. It tookmuch effort to try and stretch a New York minute into anhour, and a great way to discover what I learned isthrough the new trend of Slow Reading. We’re so dis-tracted by quick Tweets and the barrage of email that werarely sit with a book—New Slow City, for example!—on a non-Internet-connected device or better yet thephysical book, and simply enjoy it for hours on end.Slow Reading is a radical act in our workaholic era,where economic growth is put before life itself.
The global environmental crisis is in no small partrelated to our constant doing—consuming, burning fos-sil fuels, etc—instead of a benign and joyful being.
Ninetieth century British essayist Thomas Carlylewrote that “man was created to work, not to speculate,or feel, or dream. Every idle moment is treason.” This iseven more the prevailing ethos today. It’s treasonous toask for something the American labor movementdemanded, a century back, when union members hoist-ed banners reading BREAD AND ROSES. The breadwas good wages. And the roses? American workers weredemanding time, in the form of shorter working hours.Time to smell the roses.
Well, they didn’t get it. As Executive Director of thenon-profit work-life-balance group Take Back YourTime! John de Graaf put it to me, “We’re working morethan we were a generation ago. Without leisure, we’reslaves. This is a freedom fight.” (continued)
Time is a renewable resource, but we’re sold theidea it’s scarce. It’s been stolen from overworked single-moms and business executives. And from almost every-body I know. There’s a David-and-Goliath battle under-way today all around the globe. People like de Graaf puthappiness first. Journalists like Carl Honoré report onhow American workers lost the roses. There’s spikinginterest in the international Slow Food movement and indecompression activities like Tai Chi, Tantric sex, andSlow Travel. In Austria each year, people gather from allover Europe in the town of Wagrain for the annual con-ference of the Society for Deceleration of Time, whosemembers explore pragmatic means of slowing down. In
Japan, the Sloth Club advocates a less-hurried and more-harmonious lifestyle, and it has swollen to seven hun-dred members, part of a trend called the “Latinization ofJapan.”
But do these growing movements stand a chanceagainst the Goliath of overwork?
I think they do. But it starts with each of us creatingspace to slow down a little and ask the core questions,like: How do we find balance in a world that is changingmore quickly than ever before in history? How do weovercome our culture’s ingrained habits of too muchclutter, total work, and permanent distraction? And howcan we incubate a new culture that’s slower, saner, andfit for the future?
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One of the biggest lessons I learned fromnearly dying of cancer is the impor-tance of loving myself unconditionally.In fact, learning to love and acceptmyself unconditionally is what healed
me and brought me back from the brink of death. Duringmy workshops and speeches, I often tell the audience to“Love yourself like your life depends on it, because itdoes!”
Being at the brink of death taught me that my pur-pose in life is to be who I am, and express my authenticself fearlessly. But I also learned that I would never fullyexpress myself unless I was able to accept and lovemyself unconditionally. The extent to which I am fear-less about expressing my authentic self is in direct cor-relation with how much I love and accept myself.
If you’re anything like me, you will feel that it’s onething to know the importance of loving ourselves in the-ory, but quite another thing to effectively put self-loveinto practice. Most of us come from cultures and soci-eties that do not promote, or even support, self-love, and
we often feel judged if we love ourselves, value our-selves, or put ourselves first.
It almost feels as though we live in an upside-downworld where we are taught the opposite of what wouldreally help us in life, and when we actually stumbleupon the truth of how to live our lives joyfully, we arejudged for practicing it.
Perhaps this is the reason why so many of us arestruggling through life—we are brought up to believe inthe opposite of what would really help us, and when weinadvertently stumble upon the truth of how to live ourlives joyfully, we are judged for practicing it.
Below, I’ve listed some common myths which peo-ple seem to take as truths, and which I believe hold usback from living our life fully:
Myth #1: It’s selfish to love yourself: To dispel thismyth, just look at its opposite: what does it look like ifwe don’t love or value ourselves? We feel unworthy,undeserving, and unlovable, and the person we becomeis one who is needy with a void that we believe needs to
By Anita Moorjani
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be filled by others because we believe that it’s selfish tofill it ourselves.
This is the person I used to be. I was needy—and apeople pleaser—because I needed the validation of oth-ers in order to feel worthy. Now, I’ve noticed that whenwe love ourselves, we don’t need the approval of othersin order to be who we are. Instead, we are able to bringour fully-realized, joyful self out into the world—some-one who others want to be around—instead of a self thatis needy, with a hole that needs to be filled from the out-side.
Myth #2: Loving myself means needing constant self-care, which could make me high maintenance: Manyhave expressed to me that they believe loving and hon-oring ourselves simply means making the time in ourbusy schedules to take care of ourselves—for example,taking the time to meditate, smell the flowers, get a man-icure, get our hair done, or get a massage—basically,spend money on ourselves and give ourselves a treat.People tell me “I must already really love myself,because I do that type of stuff for myself all the time.But my life still doesn’t work!”
Although I do think it’s important to take the time todo those things for ourselves if it brings us pleasure,here’s what self-love means to me: It means lovingmyself even when I fail. Even when I’m feeling down,and feel as though I have nothing left. Even when I feelthat everyone on the planet is against me and doesn’tunderstand me. I need to be able to look myself in theeyes, and say, “No matter what anyone else thinks, I willnot let myself down, or forsake myself. I will stay by myown side!”
Myth #3: Loving ourselves means being in denial ofour weaknesses Many believe that loving ourselvesmeans being in denial about our seeming failures, andjust talking ourselves with affirmations. However, thisisn’t the case. It’s not just about constantly praising our-selves, talking ourselves up and telling ourselves howawesome we are. It’s about loving the REAL us! It’sabout loving the human “us.” The “us” who has feet ofclay, the “us” who comes undone under criticism, the“us” who sometimes fails and disappoints those aroundus. It’s about making a commitment to ourselves that wewill stick by “us,” even if no one else does! That’s whatlo ving ourselves means!
Myth #4: It’s important to always stay positive,regardless of external circumstances: Although it’snot a bad thing to have a positive attitude in life, I havefound that as someone who reads books that advocatepositive thinking, and how our thoughts create our real-
ity, I started to become fearful of having “negative”thoughts. Whenever I had a fearful or insecure or nega-tive thought, I would deny it, suppress it, and push itaway, believing that it would contribute towards mani-festing into a negative physical reality. It was only afteralmost dying of cancer, did I realize that I had been sup-pressing many of my thoughts and emotions, for fear ofbeing negative, and putting “negative thoughts” outthere. And this suppression only contributed to my ill-ness. I then realized that it’s not my thoughts that createmy reality; it’s my emotions towards myself. That is, themore I love myself, the better my external world. Themore I love and value myself, the more I allow positivethings to come into my life. The less I love myself, theless I feel worthy of allowing positive things to comeinto my life.
If I constantly suppress certain emotions and feel-ings within myself, judging them as being “negative”and forcing myself to have more positive thoughts, themessage I am sending to my own self is that “mythoughts are wrong. I should not be having thesethoughts!” Basically, I am denying who I am, and whatI am feeling. This is not a loving thing to do to myself,and neither is it healthy to have all these feelings andemotions bottled up inside. I have since realized that it’smore important to be myself than it is to be positive. Andas a result, when I am positive, it is genuine and authentic.
Anita Moorjani is a speaker and bestselling author ofDying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to NearDeath, to True Healing. Find her athttp://www.AnitaMoorjani.com or on Facebook.
Excerpted with permission from the publisher, HayHouse, http://www.hayhouse.com
