Conscious Living Magazine DigiMag Issue 91 Autumn 2014

Australia’s Leading Magazine for Sustainable Healthy Living Established since 1989

ISSUE 91 AUTUMN 2014

SHARING OUR PLANET Animals as Partners PALEO DIET Is it healthy?

CORPORATE CONTROL Of our food exposed HEAVEN SPEAKS Inspiring Messages from Abraham Lincoln to John Lennon A SPIRITUAL GUIDE To Start Your Own Business

SPECIAL

NEW EARTH FESTIVAL FEATURE

Chris James, Gail Thackray , Scott Alexander King, Sika, India Jiva

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BRACO Can a Silent Gaze Change Your Life?

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G N I Z A REE G

with

Festival Ticket

BOOK ONLINE

Gail Thackray

Chris James

Experience Braco’s Silent Loving Gaze Scott Alexander King

Sika

2014 Dr Sandra Cabot April 25-27

May 23-25

October 16-19

MELBOURNE Melbourne Showgrounds Expo Hall, Ascot Vale

SYDNEY Rosehill Gardens Event Centre

PERTH Claremont Showground Exhibition Centre

BUY TICKETS ONLINE to secure your FREE Gazing Session SEE Full Festival Program

www.consciouslivingexpo.com.au

CONTENTS ISSUE 91 AUTUMN 2014 FEATURES 4 Gazing Deep with Braco - Can a silent gaze change your life?

Pamela Bloom reports on the phenomenon that is coming to Australia.

20 Sharing the Planet – Animals as Partners:

South African animal communicator Anna Breytenbach’s story

21 A Spiritual Guide to Starting Your Own Business

Jacquelene Close Moore

COMMUNITY 8-10

Conscious Living New Earth Festival Feature: Inspirational and Spiritually Uplifting – Read about the Speakers and the Highlights: Gail Thackray, Chris James, Scott Alexander King, India Jiva, Sika and much more!

FOOD & NUTRITION 12

ECO LIVING 33

Eco Consumer

34

Car Sharing – Green Business

36

Don’t Be A Fashion Victim - The hazards of chemicals in clothing revealed

Martin Oliver

39

GROWTH AND EDUCATION 43

16 How to Cook Whole Food from Scratch and Keep Your Day Job Colleen Huber

45

HEALTH & WELLBEING 24 Wi-Fi Radiation Sparks Health Fears

PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL 47

30 32

The Rise of Spirituality

Francis Bevan explains the numerology for 2014

48 Esoteric Websites Face Censorship Martin Oliver reports

50 Heaven is Speaking Pamela Bloom’s new book brings messages of hope from beyond the grave from Abraham Lincoln to John Lennon and Michael Jackson.

25 Health Consumer 28

Spiritualizing Our Finances Debbie Seaton’s advice for financial wellbeing.

20 Rescuing the Food System from Corporate Control Martin Oliver.

A Guide to Starting your Own Spiritual Therapy Business Jacquelene Close Moore shares invaluable tips and strategies.

The Paleo Ancestral Diet – How healthy is it?

Martin Oliver

Sharing the Planet – Animals as partners Martin Oliver

Sunny Side Up

Naturopath Stuart Morick on the importance of vitamin D

Dementia: The link with Vitamin B12 Deficiency

54

Dr Sherrill Sellman reports

Got a Gallbladder Problem – There are natural alternatives to surgery.

56

The Vanquished A short story by Claudio Silvano

Dr Sandra Cabot and Margaret Jasinska

Read more online at www.consciousliving.net.au

Are You Living An Empowered Life?

Rev. Bente Hansen

REVIEWS 61

Book Reviews

62

Music Reviews

63

Healthy Sustainable Resource Guide

FROM THE The Magazine for Healthy Sustainable Spiritual Living Issue 91 Autumn 2014 Publisher and Editor Patricia Hamilton patricia@consciousliving.net.au T: 08 98 482748 Assistant Editor Colleen Clay editor@consciousliving.net.au Client Services Jacqueline Walker jacquie@consciousliving.net.au T: 08 9848 2748 Exhibition & Advertising Sales National Catherine Chong 04978671333 catherine@consciousliving.net.au Western Australia Tonia Ricciardi sales@consciousliving.net.au T 08 9437 6160 Victoria Sonja Rupnik s.rupnik@consciousliving.net.au T 0419513293 Sabine Stakelbeck 03 9360 4567 mob 0412999234 S.Stakelbeck@consciousliving.net.au Media and Marketing Lisa Ariganello T: 0423 043 738 lisa@consciousliving.net.au Subscriptions & Memberships Jacquie Walker info@consciousliving.net.au Contributing Writers: Francis Bevan, Pamela Bloom, Sandra Cabot, Jacquelene Close Moore, Bente Hansen, Colleen Huber, Janet Mawdesley, Stuart Morick, Martin Oliver, Debbie Seaton, Sherrill Sellman, Claudio Silvano Graphic Design Ronald Abella

Images

Dear Readers When Braco accepted my invitation to come to Australia to bring the gift of his Gaze to the Conscious Living Festivals, I knew that it would be a life changing decision. My first experience of meeting Braco’s gaze through live streaming on the internet was like being recognized by an old friend – a validation of who I am. I felt such deep peace and love. Over the past few months I have noticed that whatever I have asked for has manifested and I am feeling more at home with myself and at ease with my life. It hasn’t been a dramatic shift but life is definitely more enjoyable.

Having Braco offer his silent loving gaze at each of our Conscious Living Festivals in Melbourne Sydney and Perth is such a gift and I encourage you not to miss this opportunity to have this experience. Our Festival Program for Melbourne and Sydney is really extraordinary and it will be a truly uplifting event for everyone who attends.

I am really pleased with how the articles in this issue have come together by themselves. I have been moved by the inspiring messages of hope that have come through from Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon and Michael Jackson in Pamela Bloom’s book extract, Heaven Speaks. I particularly like John Lennon’s last words: “Our lives, as famous as they were, were not about accomplishments- that is, it was not the accomplishments that lingered in the soul; but rather it was that point of contact, human to human, heart to heart, that lights the soul chain between us.

If you, Humanity could look out onto yourselves and see the chain of existence, the web of lights, the destiny of souls, the sacrament of being, then there would be no wars, no poverty, no hunger, no lack. The web would find itself full of everything it needed.”’

Paleo Recipes courtesy of Tanja Edwards www.paleoaustralia.com Publisher Conscious Living Co-Creations Pty Ltd ATF the PH Trust ABN 30 064 748 794 Unit 5/39 Strickland St, Denmark , WA 6333 PO Box 527 Denmark WA 6333 Tel 61 8 9848 2748 Fax 61 8 9848 1198 info@consciousliving.net.au www.consciousliving.net.au

Wishing you great reading with ease joy and love

Disclaimer The publisher and editor do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by individual writers or advertisers.

Editorial advice is nonspecific and readers are advised to seek professional advice for individual issues.

Patricia Hamilton Editor and Publisher

Conscious Living Purpose To facilitate the expansion of consciousness and to co-create a world of harmony, love and wellbeing Copyright Conscious Living Magazine 2014 All rights reserved ISSN 10336826 2 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

AUTUMN 2014

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CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 3

Gazing Deep With

BRACO

I

By PAMELA BLOOM

s it possible to experience healing transformation in a matter of minutes? Do we need years of therapy to overcome serious emotional and physical abuse issues? Can depression, arthritis, asthma, even cancer, be dissolved by a simple Silent Gaze? Can a city as big as New York transform, even for a day, into a peaceful oasis – just by a look?

Some people find inner strength and sometimes the fulldimensional solutions to life problems

This is what seems to be occurring mysteriously in the presence of a humble 46 year old man from Croatia who goes by the name of Braco (pronounced Brah-tzo). For the past 18 years, Braco (which means “little brother” in Croatian) has been offering up his special gift that seems to help some people find inner strength and sometimes the fulldimensional solutions to life problems.

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Originally working one-on-one, first in Croatia and then worldwide, during the past nine years, Braco has been touching people only through the medium of his Silent Gaze in groups as large as a thousand.

He gazes regularly in various European countries, has been to Japan, and after three years of visiting the States, was invited by the Russian APRIL 2014

corporation EFKO to gaze several times in its country. Since 2010 Braco’s gaze has been livestreamed over the Internet.

Braco is never presented as a guru, healer or spiritual teacher, nor does he give interviews or speak in public. Yet somehow his Silent Gaze seems to be speaking loud and clear all by itself. Perhaps this explains his universal appeal.

In November 2012, Braco was selected to be the featured guest for a special event at the Tillman Chapel, Church Center of the United Nations in New York City. He was introduced as “an ambassador of peace”, and he presented his loving gaze to a full room of UN staff, delegates of the NGOs, mission members, and the Croatian ambassador, along with his wife. At this event, he was presented with the prestigious Peace Pole, an honor bestowed upon such luminaries as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa.

A DAY WITHOUT VIOLENT CRIME Ten days later, Braco’s photo was flashed three times for several seconds on the huge Jumbotron screen in Times Square. Later, Reuters, the leading newswire, reported that on that day, November 26, New York City had passed a 24-hour period without a single report of a person being shot, stabbed, or subjected to other violent crime.

Commenting for the city, the New York Police Department chief spokesman Paul Browne said that it was “the first time in memory” that the city’s police force had experienced a peaceful day. And this, according to the AUTUMN 2014

NYPD, in a year when the city’s general crime rate had already risen three per cent! Clearly, only a few thousand people may have casually looked up to see Braco’s face on the huge screen that has broadcast the faces of Time magazine’s Person of the Year and many other global celebrities.

But the facts are there: no crime.

Was it Braco’s gaze? Or, merely a coincidence in a world where mysterious coincidences interface with our lives every day?

WAVES OF PEACE IN AUSTRALIA

Interestingly, waves of peace and generalised joy were also reported after Braco visited Australia for the first time last year and held a series of Gazings in Perth last June to sold-out audiences.

Sahaja Coventry, a macrobiotic educator and counselor who organised that first event, said: “What we kept hearing in the testimonies was that so many were experiencing heart openings, waking up to their true potential, and discovering their buried self.

“The effect of someone like Braco coming to our city as well as the gathering of so many

people, standing together with the intention of harmony, wholeness, love, health and happiness, created a powerful vortex

BRACO’S LIVE GAZINGS IN AUSTRALIA 2014 Conscious Living is honoured to be hosting Braco’s second visit to Australia to present the gift of his silent Gaze at the Conscious Living New Earth Festivals in Melbourne April 25-27, Sydney May 23-25 and Perth October 16-19 in 2014. He will be the keynote presenter in Melbourne on the Australian Anzac Day Long weekend for the Conscious Living Festival, which is a celebration of peace.

Braco will give 6 gazing sessions each day during the Festival from 10am to 3pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the sessions which last around 35 minutes except for children under 18 and women who are more than 3 months pregnant.

Each session costs $8.80 and tickets are available at www. consciouslivingexpo.com.au More information about Braco can be found at www.Braco.net

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 5

that continues to work today, even in ways we cannot fully understand.”

And retired businesswoman Helen Paull agreed. Her husband had been facing the late stages of a terminal illness when they attended four of the Braco Gazings in Perth.

“I cannot express in words how John changed after being in Braco’s presence,” Helen said.

“As John explained, it was as if Braco drew him out of his body and pulled him onto the stage with him. He was ever so grateful for the peace and calm that came over him.”

People in Western Australia are still talking about Braco’s Gazings last year. This year, his visit to Australia will be to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

Results of attending Braco’s Gazing differ with each individual, and it’s true, some people don’t feel anything. Others report shifts, both subtle and dramatic, days, weeks, even months later.

in far north Queensland, I had the unfortunate experience of having a beetle crawl into my right ear and bite me on the eardrum.

Since that time I was in constant pain. But when I saw Braco I made an intention to have this healed.

“During the Gazing I felt energy like water moving as if through a hose and go through the centre of my head. Then there was a pop in my right ear and melted earwax came out. The pain disappeared and I have not experienced it since.”

The disappearance of pain seems to be a common effect of Braco’s Gaze, but how and why he can accomplish such feats is difficult to explain. On one hand, it seems to be an inherited gift.

On the other, it was triggered by a chance encounter with a Serbian healer named Ivica Prokic, with whom Braco, a former businessman, had an instant and powerful soul connection at the age of 26.

Their relationship, which lasted a mere year and a half, caused a dramatic shift in Braco’s life. But only after the sudden, unexpected death of Prokic did the younger man’s gifts fully come to light.

WITNESS TO PROFOUND RESULTS

During the past three years, I have been magnetised to travel from city to city in America to witness the profound effects of Braco’s Gaze. It didn’t matter where I was: New York, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Portland, Pasadena, Phoenix, Las Vegas; I heard story after story of profound transformations, and not only for audiences at the Gazing, but also for their friends and families.

Down Under (Australia) was no exception. Last June, for three days in Perth, Braco gazed for the first time in Australia to 6 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

Speaking for the NYPD, Paul Browne said it was “the first time in memory” the city had experienced a peaceful day sold-out audiences: people are still talking.

Reports Freya Sampson from Perth: “About five years ago, while living in the Daintree Rainforest,

PORTAL TO A QUANTUM FIELD

Scientists, including the late Swiss professor Alex Schneider, have likened the effect of Braco’s Gaze to a portal into the quantum field. Others have called it Shakti, or a transmission of Divine Love.

Braco remains mute on the subject.

Regardless of how it is accomplished, a Braco Gazing is an experience. Each session, which includes an introduction and a short video clip, generally lasts AUTUMN 2014

about 35 minutes, with Braco gazing for about five to seven minutes. After he leaves the stage, participants are invited to share their experiences. I’ve heard stories of back pain and sciatica mysteriously disappearing, insulin levels reduced, eyesight and hearing restored. Others report their meditation practices have deepened.

One Polish woman told of a long-time feud between her children and her late husband’s family. They had not been in contact for years. After attending her first Braco Gazing in Los Angeles, this woman received a call out of the blue from her sister-in-law, who was sobbing and asking for forgiveness.

PHOTO’S OF LOVED ONES

Oh, and then there was the man with a commitment phobia who after 14 years finally asked his girl friend to marry him, during a Gazing!

A hallmark of the experience is that participants are invited to hold up photographs of their loved ones; results are sometimes astonishing. I remember one event in New Jersey, where a Spanish-speaking woman shared that she had come the year before to hold up the photo of her husband who at the time was hospitalised with two forms of cancer. Three weeks later, her husband was released from the hospital – totally cured.

The doctors, she said, were dumbfounded.

At Gazing events, it is possible to buy DVDs containing these testimonies, and many say that they experience shifts just from watching them.

AUTUMN 2014

In one DVD titled The Golden Bridge, American woman Michelle Kearney tells how she arrived at a Los Angeles Gazing event wheelchair-bound and at death’s door.

Her doctors had warned her against attending the Gazing, and she’d actually written her obituary. She said that with each Gazing (many people attend several Gazings, sometimes on the same day) she began feeling stronger and more energised and she walked out of that event on her own two feet. Three months later she was dancing in her front yard.

BRACO’S VOICE

Some say that Braco’s voice seems to exude some kind of supernatural power. Among the numerous testimonies to its effect, one woman from Arizona reported listening daily to what is called “The Voice”, a message recorded by Braco in Croatian, and found that the lump in her breast had disappeared after two weeks.

But Braco’s gaze seems to go beyond even physical and emotional transformation.

Some have reported unexpected financial windfalls, or suddenly getting jobs after struggling for years. In Portland, Oregon, last year, Mexican painter Blanca Plata stunned the audience with her story.

“When I first came from my car yesterday,” she told us, “I felt this immense energy hit me. Then, when I opened the door to the hotel (where Braco was holding his Gazings), it felt overwhelming.

When Braco came out, the energy was so strong, I started swaying,

and when he looked in my eyes, I felt the energy all over my body – hot and cold – all at once.”

Blanca returned home to find even bigger surprise was awaiting her. There, in her email was a letter from one of the top five galleries in New York, saying they loved her work and wanted to represent her.

“You don’t understand,” she told us, shaking from head to foot. “I have been waiting my whole life for this. Ever since I was seven, I have wanted to be a famous artist. I’ve applied to thousands of galleries, and each time, they said, we love your work but no thanks. Now, with this acceptance, I can support my family and follow my lifelong dream.”

When the audience heard that the gallery’s acceptance letter had apparently been emailed at the same time as the Gazing, many spontaneously burst into tears!

Worldwide, organisers advise audiences there are no guarantees of any effects at a Braco Gazing, but as one woman has shared on the DVD titled The Golden Bridge: “You just have to go and experience this. The world is gonna change.”

PAMELA BLOOM is an awardwinning author, sound healer and inspirational speaker as well as the author of the books The Power of Compassion: Stories that Open the Heart, Heal the World and Change the World and Heaven Speaks: Intimate interviews with Illuminated Souls with Carla Flack Pamela’s website is: www.SoulinBloom.net. © 2014. Pamela Bloom. All rights reserved.

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Conscious Living Expo and New Earth Festival Melbourne April 25-27 and Sydney May 23-25

T

Gail Thackray

Braco

his popular exhibition and festival event which has been run in Western Australia for 25 years is now being presented in Melbourne April 25-27 and Sydney May 23-25. The Conscious Living Expo and New Earth Festival bring together world renowned authors, celebrated psychics and mediums and holistic health experts including environmental health scientist, Dr Peter Dingle and bestselling holistic health author, Dr Sandra Cabot. This year’s event has been dubbed the ‘New Earth Festival’ as it has a specific focus on promoting sustainable spiritual lifestyle choices.

Over 3 days, the public are invited to explore a wide range of natural products and holistic services and will have the opportunity to participate in a dynamic program of inspiring workshops and seminars, as well as meet and greet leading authors and experts in health and sustainable living. There will also be the chance to view raw food demonstrations and sample alkalizing super foods as well as experience natural therapies, and source clean green eco-friendly solutions. Visitors to the event will enjoy live music performances, dance presentations and will be able to participate in meditations and sound healing.

Scott Alexander King

BRACO The Gaze of Peace Highlight Event

The highlight event on the program this year is the world renowned, emissary of peace and love, Braco from Croatia, whose silent gaze is transforming the lives of thousands of people around the world. Braco is appearing exclusively at the Conscious Living Festivals for the first time in Melbourne and Sydney and will also be at the Festival in Perth later in October. He will give 6 Gazing Sessions each day of the Festival and visitors will receive a free gazing session included with their festival ticket when booking online. People report miraculous recoveries from illnesses and improvements in all aspects of their lives after Gazing with Braco.

6 sessions each day 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm Melbourne Sydney Perth

GAIL THACKRAY International Medium and author of Spiritual Journeys: Visiting John of God

US based medium, Gail Thackray teaches spiritual healing and at her demonstrations in NY, LA and London and people report they were cured of cancer, blood diseases, and received unexpected money! She is the author of “Gail Thackray’s Spiritual Journeys: Visiting John of God”, “30 Days to Prosperity: A Workbook to Manifest Abundance”, “How to Talk to

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Conscious Living Expo and New Earth Festival Melbourne April 25-27 and Sydney May 23-25

India Jiva Your Pets” and star of the new movie “John of God, Just a Man.” At the Sydney Festival, Gail will teach people how to sense spirits, how to perform psychic surgery and remove blocks and chords. Gail will also be showing how to use crystals and pendulums and will be working with John of God crystals from Brazil. She is presenting two keynote workshop events as well as a free workshop on Abundance and healing demonstrations. Last year in Perth tickets were sold out for her workshop!

SCOTT ALEXANDER KING The Animal Spirit Whisperer

Scott Alexander King is a practising Animal Shaman, public speaker and psychic. As a bestselling author of the internationally recognised book, Animal Dreaming, Animal Dreaming Oracle Cards and the newly released Oracle of the Innocent Heart, Scott has now started his own publishing company with his wife Trudy, Animal Dreaming Publishing. Scott is a keynote speaker at both Melbourne and Sydney Conscious Living Festivals.

He will be on stage giving audience readings, on the Psychic Mediumship Panel on Friday afternoon as well as presenting a workshop: The Author’s Way – to empower writers to become published authors.

CELEBRATED MUSICIANS AND SOUND HEALERS

Voice Master – CHRIS JAMES

Voice master and Musician, Chris James teaches internationally about the healing power of sound and is renowned for tuning up mass audiences and teaching hundreds of people to sing in harmony. His own voice is

Chris James

Sika

acclaimed for its clarity and depth. Chris will be tuning up audiences on the main stage and singing songs from his latest CDs at the Festivals in Melbourne and Sydney.

He will present a free workshop for Kids as well as a featured workshop event: Discover your Natural Voice and Develop Your Clairsentience.

Sound Journey with SIKA ROSE to the Inner Realms

Sika is an international performer who will not only blow you away but also transport you into deep inner realms. Sika is a highly experienced multi-instrumentalist specialising in playing Didgeridoo, Drums, Flutes and recording ambient sound-scapes. Sika will be playing on stage and taking people on a sound journey in the workshop room each day.

INDIA JIVA Sacred Music Concert.

Sydney visitors will have the pleasure of experiencing the world renowned sacred music duo, Ron Ragel and Vicki Hansen - India Jiva, on Friday afternoon and on Sunday afternoon a Sacred Music Concert on May 25.

Mystic Minstrel CHAD WILKINS

Chad will perform in Sydney each day of the Festival and audiences will be inspired and stirred by the distinct spirit and atmosphere of peace that is encapsulated within his music.

INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKERS AND HEALTH EXPERTS

BATSHEVA DOR (International Presenter from Israel) The Festival is pleased to welcome Batsheva Dor

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Conscious Living Expo and New Earth Festival Melbourne April 25-27 and Sydney May 23-25

Sherrill Sellman Batsheeva Dor who is a spiritual leader and healer from Israel. Her work targets core issues and facilitates healing of self, relationships, family, career and abundance. Batsheva will present a Keynote Seminar Redeem Your Sacred Self

by Aligning to New Frequencies and a Free Workshop on Healing the Individual and Collective Soul at both Melbourne and Sydney Festivals.

REV. BENTE HANSEN: Channeling the One

The author of Edgar Speaks, a medical intuitive and energy healer, Rev. Bente Hansen has recently returned from the US to present her Seminar “Using Energy for Self Healing”. She will be a Keynote Speaker at both Melbourne and Sydney festivals where she will also conduct a special Workshop Event: Channeling the One as well as appearing on the Psychic Mediumship Panel

Most Popular: THE PSYCHIC MEDIUMSHIP PANEL

Following the success of the Mediumship Panel in Melbourne last year this event returns to the main stage with an even bigger cast of celebrity mediums on the opening day of the Festival. Audience members have the opportunity to receive individual message and insights.

Panelists include Gail Thackray, Scott Alexander King, Rev. Bente Hansen, Jacqueline Close Moore, Archetypes consultant, Brian Dale, Batsheva Dor, WA clairvoyant medium Lisa Holmes, Ezio and Michelle De Angelis, , Val Hood and Kelly Sayers.

Living Consciously Today with ISIRA

Through the power of silence, insights, meditation and other tools, Isira invites people to feel, hear and

Ezio & Michelle De Angelis

experience the full energy of love and compassion and awaken to our true self. Isira is a Master of Meditation and Conscious Development She will give a free workshop on Sunday morning 10.30-12.00 at the Sydney Festival

WOMEN’S HEALTH – Sexy Joyful and Juicy

Dr Sherrill Sellman the US best-selling author of Hormone Heresy: What women Must Know and What Women Must Know to Protect Their Daughters from Breast Cancer will present the Keynote Seminar on Hormone Myths and Truths on Saturday at 12.30pm and Sexy Juicy Joyful Metabolism for an Awesome Body on Sunday 12.45pm at the Sydney Festival

DR PETER DINGLE Medical Myths and Health Lies

Dr Peter Dingle will present important health information on kid’s health, chemicals in beauty products and health myths at both Melbourne and Sydney Festivals.

A former Environmental Health Scientist he is a dynamic and entertaining speaker with common sense.

The Conscious Living Health Lifestyle Expo and New Earth Festival is held at the Melbourne Showgrounds.

Expo Hall, Cnr Epsom Rd and Sydney at Rosehill Gardens Event Centre, James Ruse Drive, Rosehill.

Tickets can be purchased at the door but if you prepurchase your ticket online you see the Full Program at www.consciouslivingexpo.com.au

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AdvertoriAl

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Are You Moving?

by David Woolcott (MCMA) Naturopath

We all understand that it is important to consume a balanced diet and eat regularly throughout the day. We are constantly reading and hearing that if we eat the wrong foods continuously we can aggravate any disease known to mankind.

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First of all, for our bowel movement to be perfect it should be 3 times a day, formed and not hard to move and there should be very little faeces on the anus.

Wiping should merely be a precaution. the stool should be 100mm to 140mm long and 30mm wide. It should sink to the bottom of the pan, be brown in colour and have very little smell.

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1. Ingestion of the right food 25% first grade protein (meat, fish and eggs) and 75% complex carbohydrates (vegetables and fruit).

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In some cases, the motion may stretch to 3 days or more, hence Constipation. anyway, one who has suffered from constipation knows how uncomfortable it is, and how short-tempered we may become. advanced

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Food & Nutrition

Paleo Ancestral Diet

By MARTIN OLIVER

T

he Western processed food-orientated diet is full of empty calories. More than half consists of dairy, cereals, refined vegetable oils, sugar and alcohol. Increasingly, it is recognised as being responsible for a swathe of degenerative diseases including cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Most of these health difficulties can be avoided by sticking to a balanced diet of unprocessed whole foods. However, some feel that this does not go far enough, and advocate a Paleo Diet. Short for Paleolithic, an evolutionary period that began 2.5 million years ago, this diet attempts to replicate the range of foods that our ancestors ate up until ten thousand years ago, with the emergence of agriculture and a shift towards consuming grains for the first time.

There are indications that the arrival of farming was detrimental to our health; the archaeological record shows that body size diminished and the incidence of dental decay increased. Despite possessing almost exactly the same genetics as our Stone Age ancestors, our diet and lifestyle have radically changed since hunter-gatherer times.

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For a snapshot of what life might have been like during this era, we have the research of Weston Price, an American dentist who visited indigenous peoples subsisting on their highly nutritious traditional diets, and found that degenerative diseases were unknown.

A Paleo-style diet was promoted for the first time during the 1970s by gastroenterologist Walter Voegtlin. Since then, it has steadily gained momentum, and in the last few years it has attracted a strong grassroots following, largely based on the health benefits that followers claim to have experienced.

Influential Paleo figures include Loren Cordain, Robb Wolf and Nora Gedgaudas, of whom Cordain and Wolf both come from a scientific background.

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

In essence, the Paleo Diet incorporates meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, fruits and vegetables. On the no-no list are grains (especially those containing gluten), pulses, refined oils, dairy, sugar and alcohol. Fortunately we are not expected to devour meat in its raw form, and a non-purist approach permits healthy oils.

Recommended are grass-fed or wild-game meats, which are low in saturated fats and contain elevated levels of Omega-3.

Both grains and dairy products are major sources of allergens, with gluten intolerance linked to coeliac disease and casein connected to an intolerance to lactose. Gluten- and casein-free diets are being used among a range of strategies for successfully reversing autism.

Grains get a bad rap from the Paleo crowd for other reasons too. Together with legumes, nuts and seeds, they contain a range of anti-nutrients such as phytic acid that according to Paleo advocates can cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Completely removing grains and pulses from the diet avoids most of this problem. Another solution is pre-soaking, which also boosts beneficial enzymes and nutrition levels.

Paleo proponents also warn that grains tend to have an inflammatory effect on the body.

Paleo is sometimes referred to as the ‘anti-inflammatory diet’, and is claimed to have benefits for people with arthritis. Young American basketball stars Ray Allen, Derrick Rose, and Blake Griffin have recently started on the Paleo Diet and have all experienced encouraging results. Ray Allen has found that he no longer needs to take anti-inflammatory medication.

Compared to an average Western diet, the Paleo involves AUTUMN 2014

consuming a higher proportion of total calories from protein, a normal fat intake, and a smaller calorie count from carbohydrates in the form of root vegetables.

Unlike the slower-metabolised proteins and fats, carbohydrates can cause glucose spikes in the body, followed by a ‘crash.’

However, this is minimised if eating whole grains with a lower glycemic index.

The low-fat dogmas that eating fat makes you fat, and that saturated fat intake contributes to heart disease, are swiftly falling apart. Increasingly, the true cause of weight gain is being recognised as taking in more calories than are being burned, and refined carbs are the top culprit. Being calorie-restricted, the Paleo Diet is good for weight loss. A typical Paleo Diet, in the daily 1600-1800 calorie range, is a little lower than the mainstream recommendation of 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women. By comparison, the average Australian calorie intake stands far higher, at 3,200.

A growing body of scientific studies are confirming the health benefits of a lower-calorie diet and associating it with longevity.

Signs of ageing are reversed, insulin levels are reduced, and body temperature drops. The key strategy here is to maximise AUTUMN 2014

nutrient intake per calorie consumed, and most foods in the Paleo Diet are more nutrientdense than those being omitted.

Other claimed Paleo Diet benefits, some of which are backed up by a limited number of scientific studies, include: • Higher levels of healthy monounsaturated and Omega-3 oils, which help to reduce the likelihood of degenerative diseases.

• Depression, which is considered by Gedgaudas to be a neuro-inflammatory disorder, can be tackled via giving up grains.

• The diet reverses the symptoms of Type-2 diabetes.

• The sodium-potassium ratio, which is usually skewed towards sodium in mainstream diets, is inverted in the Paleo, with an emphasis towards potassium.

• Immunity is boosted.

• Muscles grow stronger.

• Sleep is improved.

Beneficial supplements for Paleo dieters are calcium/magnesium and vitamin D, the latter of which is ideally obtained from sunlight.

PALEO AND THE ENVIRONMENT As with some other activities such as foraging, a Paleo Diet

becomes problematic if it is followed by a sufficiently large percentage of society. With a sufficient uptake, pressure on wild game meats may well erode biodiversity in some areas.

Compared to other types of foods, meat is generally a major contributor in greenhouse emissions, including carbon and methane. Grass-fed beef is environmentally better than feedlot meat, largely due to the capacity of a well-managed pasture to absorb carbon. However, labels can be misleading. Check that it is also ‘grass-finished’, which indicates that the animal has never been inside a feedlot.

Animal welfare issues are addressed if the meat is freerange, but with higher-quality meat being expensive, the Paleo diet is challenging for some budgets, creating an incentive to cut corners and opt for something industrially produced that probably restricted the animal’s movement and behaviour.

For fish, pressure on wild stocks is reaching unsustainable levels for an increasing number of species, and some farmed fish require several units of fish meal to produce one unit of meat.

In the opinion of Greenpeace, aquaculture, taken as a whole, is no panacea for the problem of unsustainable fishing. These CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 13

issues are hard to reconcile with eating fish within a Paleo Diet, unless the species are carefully chosen. A useful resource is the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Sustainable Seafood Guide.

On the plus side, Paleo Diet advocates frequently encourage the consumption of foods that are seasonal and local where possible.

Aficionados respond to negative comments by suggesting that fence-sitters try the diet for a week or longer, to see whether they feel any different. It is always possible to experiment with individual Paleo meals. For one, Lorrie Cordain, Lauren Cordain’s wife, has been following the Paleo Diet for the past 22 years, and claims to be in great shape.

UNDER CRITICISM

TRY THESE YUMMY PALEO RECIPES

Not everyone has been open-minded towards a diet that overturns established wisdom.

Grains are still found at the top of the modern food pyramid, and in eliminating them the Paleo Diet is overturning mainstream dietary wisdom. Sometimes it is accused of being too restrictive and difficult to follow.

In 2009, the website US News & World Report assembled a panel of dietary experts who ranked a list of different diets based on health, weight loss and ease of following. The Paleo ranked very badly, at joint bottom place, largely based on the assumption that the diet fell into the low-carb category.

Higher-protein diets are sometimes criticised because they require the body to produce uric acid, which must be excreted. In turn, this puts added pressure on the kidneys. Paleo defenders say that this can be easily managed by drinking sufficient water.

Without beans and grains, it is harder to obtain sufficient fibre in the diet, but these can be provided by fruits, vegetables and tubers. A table of high-fibre foods is a useful resource to carry around.

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All recipes below are taken from the Paleo Australia website at www.paleoaustralia.com courtesy of Tanja Edwards.

MANGO CHICKEN CURRY A fresh and fruity Thai style curry with just enough heat and a beautiful creamy sauce.

Especially good served with Coconut Cauliflower Rice. Serves 6 Ingredients: • 1 whole chicken, chopped into chunks with bones in • 2 mangoes, cubed • 1 brown onion, chopped • 2 French shallots • 2 cloves garlic • 2 red hot chillies • 2 cm x 1 cm cube of fresh ginger • 1/2 tsp cumin • 1 tsp coriander seeds • 1/2 tsp black peppercorn • 1 tbsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp shrimp paste • 1/2 cup coconut cream • 1 tbsp fish sauce • 2 1/2 tbsp ghee Instructions: Break down chicken with a cleaver until you’ve got nice chunks with bones in. Start by removing the marylands and cut them into about 4 pieces with the cleaver. Take the breast off the carcass and chop into inch cubes.

(Tip: boil the wings and carcass into a delicious chicken stock!)

Add shallots, garlic, ginger and fresh chillies into a blender and process until they form a smooth consistency.

Dry roast spices (cumin, coriander seeds and black peppercorn) in a pan until fragrant and grind into a powder. Add chilli powder into the spice mix.

Wrap shrimp paste in tinfoil and toast in the same pan for a minute or two.

Heat up a pan on medium high heat and melt 1/2 tbsp ghee in the pan. Fry off the onion, ginger and chilli paste for 30 seconds, add in spice mix followed by the shrimp paste and cook until fragrant.

Keep the mixture moving in the pan, this all should take no more than a couple of minutes. Set the finished curry paste aside.

Heat up a big crock pot on medium high heat. Add 2 tbsp ghee. Brown off chicken, starting with the pieces with bones in first.

Once chicken is browned, add in the curry paste and stir through. Add onion, cook for a couple of minutes and add mango. Back down the heat and AUTUMN 2014

set to simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.

Add coconut cream, fish sauce (to taste) and simmer through.

Let simmer for further 10 minutes and serve.

You can serve this on it’s own, or on cauliflower rice. Either way, it’s delicious!

PORCINI BURGERS ON A PLATE Ingredients: • 1kg grassfed organic beef mince • 50g dried porcini mushrooms • 1 large onion, minced • 4 cloves garlic, minced • 2 eggs • salt & pepper to taste Other ingredients: • Nasties free bacon • Homemade paleo mayo • Guacamole • Fresh pineapple, cut into thin slices • Lettuce • Tomato, sliced • Cucumber, sliced • Spanish onion, sliced into rings Instructions: Place porcini mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 30 minutes.

Drain and squeeze out excess water. (Tip: Collect the porcini soaking water and reduce it in a small sauce pot. You can use this to create delicious mushroom sauce to accompany your next steak meal!)

Mix the drained mushrooms with all the remaining burger patty ingredients (mince, onion, AUTUMN 2014

garlic, eggs, salt & pepper) in a bowl. Form into patties and cook on a BBQ. I use two egg rings stacked up to form the patties.

This creates pretty patties that are all the same size and a perfect round shape. Before cooking, press the middle of the patties thinner so they don’t swell up while cooking.

While cooking the patties, fry the bacon slices and eggs on the BBQ as well.

Arrange lettuce, tomato, onion rings and cucumber onto plates. Place pineapple slices on top of the salad bed and top with guacamole.

Stack patties on top of guacamole, smear mayo on patties and top with bacon and fried egg.

Serves 6 PALEO OVEN BAKED APPLES These paleo oven baked apples are the perfect treat for a special occasion, or just the thing to cheer up a rainy day. They are quick and easy to prep, and when you’re cooking up a roast, you can just throw them in the oven afterwards!

Ingredients: • 6 apples, cored (we used Golden Delicious) • Dates, pitted (depending on

size of the apples & dates, you’ll need 1-6 per apple) • Cinnamon • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract • 1/2 cup Coconut Cream Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 170C. Wash and core apples. Peel off the top of the apple so that the cinnamon will stick better.

Stuff apples with pitted dates and place them in an oven dish.

Pour about 1cm of water on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle apples liberally with cinnamon (we used LOTS as I love cinnamon and it’s very good for you).

Mix coconut cream and vanilla extract in a small serving jug.

Bake apples for about 50-60 minutes, until they soften up nicely and the natural sugars caramelise to give them that beautiful baked apple taste.

Serve warm apples in small dessert dishes with liberal pour of coconut cream.

RESOURCES The Paleo Diet www.thepaleodiet.com Robb Wolf www.robbwolf.com Ultimate Paleo Guide www.ultimatepaleoguide.com Nora Gedgaudas www.primalbody-primalmind.com Paleo Australia www.paleoaustralia.com

Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore (Northern NSW.) CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 15

Food & Nutrition

How to Cook Whole Food From Scratch and Keep Your Day Job!

By COLLEEN HUBER, NMD

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W

hole fresh foods should be the basis of what we all eat, whether our metabolic type is protein type, carbohydrate type, or mixed type.

Whole foods, whether meat, vegetable or fruit, do two things. First, they provide all the nutrients that nature put into the food, not just as a sum of nutrients, but even more, as a synergy of nutrients that work together because they naturally interact within the living plant or animal. When we eat these foods, which have been connected with our entire existence as a species, the total health benefit to us is much greater than the sum of the parts.

The second practical advantage of eating whole fresh foods is that they substitute, by their sheer bulk, the chemicals and denatured food derivatives that we might otherwise eat.

But many of us work non-stop and when we get home there is no time or energy to do anything but nuke halfsynthetic processed food in the microwave? How do we get into this trap? And can we get out of it?

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According to Dr Kenneth Proefrock, NMD, a huge part of the problem is not knowing what you’re going to eat on Thursday night until Thursday night. By that time, your tummy has rung the dinner bell, and there just happens to be about four fast food outlets at your freeway exit. (Funny how those fast food places are located right there when the stomach growls.)

The big key, says Dr. Proefrock, to getting out of the fast food and nuked food trap is planning. Plan on the weekend what you will eat for every meal during the coming week. Your menu does not have to be set in stone; leave room to juggle for occasional spontaneity, but provide for enough of your own homemade food to eat each time you get hungry.

STREAMLINE PRODUCTION

So how do you make your own homemade whole food and keep your day job too?

Here are several steps to streamlining your efforts and maximising your productivity of your kitchen, while keeping your time spent there to a minimum.

Clear enough freezer space to store several containers of the food you will cook. Then on the weekend, plan all of your meals for the week, and go to the supermarket once to buy your whole food ingredients.

Consolidating your grocery shopping into one trip saves time, compared with shopping for a few items everyday. Plus, with whole foods, you only need to go around the periphery of the supermarket where they are located, rather than taking time to go up and down the interior aisles where AUTUMN 2014

A huge part of the problem is not knowing what you’re going to eat on Thursday night until Thursday night the processed foods are.

Once you’ve brought home all the groceries, cook all your meals for the week at the same time.

This way, instead of standing at the stovetop each day for each meal, you are there for one longer session during that week. The trick is to cook big portions and freeze the smaller quantities that you and your family will eat throughout the week.

If you cook for a family, a large recipe will probably be good for two dinners (on alternate days) during the week, as well as a lunch or two. If you live alone, you will get at least four meal portions with half of them saved for the following week. At this point you don’t have to spend any more time throughout the week than you would on TV dinners.

PRE-CUT VEGGIES

A food processor will work well for foods that you want to chop finely. Make freezer bags full of pre-cut vegetables that you can then defrost as needed during the week. One bag might contain pressed garlic with coarsely chopped string beans, which a few days from now you can sauté in coconut oil for a few minutes.

Another bag might contain chopped carrots, onions and tomatoes, along with cabbage that you cut into quarters.

Sprinkle some caraway seeds into the bag. When you’re ready to make a meal of it, you can cook it

a portion of it in a cup of chicken broth for a delicious meal of balanced nutrients.

CROCK-POT FIESTA

Make use of big cooking vessels for your weekend cooking fiesta. A large crock-pot will lend itself well to your whole foods recipes. Here you don’t need a food processor.

Chop vegetables coarsely, in much larger chunks than you can get away with in a stovetop meal. This saves a lot of time.

Put an organic beef round or two turkey legs or a whole organic chicken on top of the vegetables, add a few cups of water, and-or tomato sauce, perhaps with balsamic vinegar. Sesame oil and tamari may be used instead, for marinade. Finally, add whole leaf herbs as you like. After practicing once or twice, you will have a huge crock-pot meal thrown together in 5 to 10 minutes. Set it on “low” in the morning, and you’re done ’til dinnertime. In cool weather, you could do the same in the regular oven, in fewer hours, using a Dutch oven type covered pot.

USE A TOASTER OVEN

Now it’s a Tuesday morning, and you’ll need something for dinner. Defrost one of the meals you prepared on the weekend. In the evening when you’re ready to cook it, place it into a serving dish in a toaster oven rather than a microwave. Toaster ovens have several advantages over microwaves. They are smaller and quieter, and often cheaper.

However, those benefits are far outweighed by their health advantage, because microwave CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 17

rays are unhealthy radiation.

When you microwave in a plastic container, it drives the phthalates of the plastic right into your food, which gives an otherwise excellent meal a toxic twist you definitely do not need.

Also, microwave radiation leaks throughout the whole kitchen from most microwave ovens, creating an unhealthy atmosphere for adults, children and pets. For re-heating in your toaster oven, you’ll need one or two Pyrex-type serving dishes, about a litre each. Re-heating your pre-prepared meal for two or three people in a toaster oven will take 10 to 15 minutes, not very much longer than a microwave.

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH

Use your toaster oven for breakfast. Take out some of the freezer vegetables you’ve prepared, and sprinkle some cheese,

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raw is preferable, over top. Heat this up for a healthy whole food breakfast; perhaps break an egg over the vegetables. Neither of these will spike your insulin levels, unlike many other dishes we have become accustomed to thinking of as breakfast foods.

Also use your toaster oven to prepare hot, healthy lunches.

Invest in a good-sized thermos with either glass or stainless steel (not aluminium) interior for yourself and each family member.

While eating breakfast, heat up leftovers from the previous night, or a separately defrosted meal in your serving dish in the toaster oven, again for 10 to 15 minutes.

Spoon it into each thermos. Then in each lunchbox, add a fork and little containers of nuts or some fresh fruit or some celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber or carrot sticks.

You will then have wonderfully

nutritious lunches, well balanced, and appetising for all your family members. When lunches are prepared in assembly-line style, the process goes faster than if each lunch is made separately.

And your savings will begin to be obvious as your restaurant and fast food expenses plummet toward zero.

SEASONAL AND ORGANIC

Take advantage of savings on seasonal produce. Get organic whenever possible. Through steadily rising consumer demand, growers are placing more organic produce into your local stores.

Nature has no better gift than in-season organic blueberries.

Here is a way to extend the seasonal savings. Fruit preserves can be made unsweetened, and rely only on the natural sweetness of the fruit. Buy a case of about two kilos of berries when

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in season. Also buy three Granny Smith apples for pectin, which is a natural gelling agent. Peel and core the apples. Cut into small cubes (about a centimetre). Place the apple pieces in a large pot, with about one and a half kilos of washed and (if necessary) stemmed berries. (Keep the other half-kilo of the berries fresh for snacking.)

Simmer the berries and apples on low for about an hour while you are preparing your week’s worth of meals. At the end of an hour, you should have a thin fruit spread. Take a potato masher and mash any remaining chunks of apple and berries as desired. Let it cool. The texture will get a little thicker. Freeze it in pint-size containers. This makes a nice fruit spread that will keep indefinitely. You may be surprised that the berry flavour is plenty sweet enough without

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Consolidating your grocery shopping into one trip saves time, when compared with shopping for a few items everyday added sweetener. You can spread this with a nut-butter on slices of apple or pear for breakfast or snacks.

FREEZE FRESH HERBS

Don’t forget condiments. How often have you bought a bunch of parsley or cilantro (coriander) with the good intention of using all of it, only to find most of it forgotten and wilted two weeks later, shoved behind other foods?

When it’s still fresh, chop it up finely and store in Ziploc-type bags in the freezer. Then you can access it as needed for the one teaspoonful you may want, without having it wilt away before you get a chance to use it. But if you really want fresh herbs, grow them. My favourite Greek salad dressing calls for mint, oregano and parsley, which fortunately are all easy to grow, so I make sure I always have at least one plant of each growing, and I harvest sprigs each time I make the dressing. The fragrance alone of the just-picked herbs is what makes the salad.

The crock-pot, food processor, thermoses and toaster oven purchases represent a minor household investment. To recoup that investment, do yourself a huge favour and change your mindset about potable liquids.

There really is no good reason to drink anything other than water (reverse osmosis or filtered or spring water). In fact, when we drink other liquids, we train ourselves to slake our thirst with tastes that are different from water, which then makes the

taste of water seem strange. But our bodies are about 75 per cent water, so the only thing strange is our acquired perception of water as strange.

Leave heavy and expensive juices, teas, lattes and liquor at the store. Water is the only substance that can quench the thirst we feel and the dehydration that almost everyone experiences to some degree. Drink it as you like it, with ice or without, with lemon or without, but re-acquaint yourself with the one beverage that hydrates and moisturises all the way in to your cellular level and out to your skin: water.

COOK BIG, FREEZE SMALL

Cooking big and freezing small is the best way for a single person to enjoy fully balanced homecooked meals. For a busy parent with children of various ages, the kids can be recruited to help, and in turn receive the nutrients they most desperately need.

Even toddlers can peel carrots, while older children can wash and chop foods. Some of our warmest childhood memories are from ordinary days and activities together with family members in the kitchen. Bestow the goodness on them too; pass the tradition to the next generation so that cooking does not become another lost art.

Colleen Huber (NMD) writes about naturopathic medicine for her monthly newsletter at www. naturopathyworks.com.

Sourced from www.mercola.com CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 19

Food & Nutrition

REPAIRING THE

FOOD SYSTEM

T

oday, food is characterised by two opposing worldviews.

On the one hand, decisionmakers increasingly see it as a global commodity. On the other, a fast-growing diverse grassroots movement is calling for greater local autonomy and self-reliance.

The world produces enough food to feed everyone, but it is unfairly distributed. Hunger is the by-product of dysfunctions in the food system. The president of the Millennium Institute in Washington, Professor Hans Herren, argues that the world already produces enough staple food to support 14 billion people, double the current population.

disproportionate control over fundamental issues such as how much food is grown, and where. In line with the ethos of capitalism, they are shaping the global food system in their own interests, rather than meeting the needs of humanity.

In the area of meat production, contract farming is a growing trend. This system involves corporate giants such as Tyson (chicken) and Smithfield (pork) externalising the risks inherent

By MARTIN OLIVER

in farming onto farmers, and restricting themselves to those aspects of the business that can be strictly controlled. Farmers are commonly required to buy the company’s feed and veterinary supplies, and to send animals to its processing plants for slaughter.

MARKET DISTORTIONS – SPECULATION AND BIOFUELS The food industry and the financial markets are now

AGRIBUSINESS DOMINANCE

Just four agribusiness players, ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, control 75 to 90 per cent of global trade in grains, with the exact figure hard to determine – because of industry secrecy. Of these four, the largest is Cargill, which operates in 68 countries and is the world’s largest private company.

Because of their influence, agribusiness giants have a 20 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

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connected, with widespread trading in commodity futures markets.

The volatility that this financial speculation causes helps push up the cost of staples, affecting the global poor who spend most of their income on food. Market volatility – which can also be driven by scarcity caused by weather extremes including drought – is embraced because it provides some of the best trading opportunities.

Institutions heavily involved in this controversial practice include hedge funds, and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. Barclays in the UK has recently discontinued its involvement in food commodity speculation.

To rein in this socially harmful practice, which originally started following deregulation of the commodity markets, NGO’s such

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as the UK’s World Development Movement are calling for a return to tighter regulation.

Biofuels are a further area of controversy, especially in the US, where about 40 per cent of the corn crop goes into ethanol production. In addition to diverting food into fuel tanks when it could be feeding the hungry, biofuels add to price volatility and push up the price of corn, which has a knock-on effect with other staple crops such as soya and wheat.

“dumping”. This makes it harder for small farmers in poorer countries to compete, and for these nations to build up healthy local, regional and national food economies. The results include poverty, hunger, rural to urban migration, and environmental degradation. Despite a World Trade Organization agenda to phase out this practice, the US and the EU are being slow to reform.

FOOD AND GLOBALISATION

For most consumers, the corporate processors and manufacturers whose brands grace the aisles of supermarkets are the public face of the food industry. The largest of these are Nestlé, PepsiCo, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Mars. Knowing whom you are supporting with a purchase is not always easy, because in some cases each company competes under a variety of brand names.

A pattern of mergers and acquisitions has led to steady corporate consolidation. While markets function most effectively when there are a large number of players, concentration has diminished competitiveness while allowing food giants to extract growing amounts of profit.

Research from the US and France has linked these mergers to retail price increases.

Similarly, food and drink companies have been busy lobbying and buying influence to re-jig the system further in their favour. A 2013 study in The Lancet medical journal identified biased conclusions from industry-funded studies, as well as a pattern of undermining public health

Most issues caused by excessive corporate influence in the food sector are worsened by deregulation (at the national level) and trade liberalisation (in the international arena.) At their root, many boil down to the common practice of treating the associated environmental and health problems as “externalities” that someone else can pay for, usually the taxpayer.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which at the time of writing is being negotiated by Australia and eleven other countries, would represent a further shift of power away from consumers into the hands of the corporate sector.

If signed, Australia’s limited labelling of Genetically Modified foods would be at risk, and a reduction in trade barriers would increase international trade in food, benefiting agribusiness while undermining national food security among participant nations. Opposition to this treaty continues to grow.

Food exports from wealthy nations to developing countries that are subsidised below the cost of production is known as

CORPORATE FOOD GIANTS

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policy and attempting to avoid regulation.

Profits are boosted through swapping healthy ingredients with cheap fillers such as less healthy fats and refined sugars.

These highly processed food ingredients are linked to chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

FOREIGN OWNERSHIP

Australia encourages the foreign takeover of its foodprocessing sector, based on the argument that this injects vital funds unavailable within our borders. We go to the extent of giving preferential tax treatment to foreign-owned companies. This arguably short sighted attitude skims over the issues of our long-term interests, food security and economic sovereignty.

Today, about 90 per cent of all food products on the shelves are overseas owned, with high-profile acquisitions including Golden Circle (Heinz), SPC Ardmona (CocaCola Amatil), Dairy Farmers (Kirin, Japan) and Uncle Tobys (Nestlé.)

Foreign takeovers of Australian farmland are becoming increasingly controversial, but at present are only subject to government review if a single purchase exceeds $248 million.

FRANKENFOOD

Among other things, genetically modified food can be seen a tool for control. Where GM crops are grown, GM seed often dominates the market, making other alternatives hard to track down. If GM contamination of seed and crops reaches a point where GM-free food ceases to exist, the biotechnology 22 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

sector has achieved a de facto monopoly.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, GM technology is supported by many of the food giants, which spent significant sums on defeating American GM labelling proposals in California (2012) and Washington state (2013), via aggressive advertising campaigns that were accused of misleading scare mongering.

To avoid buying GM food in Australia, where the labelling rules have several loopholes, the best resource is the Greenpeace True Food Guide. The most recent version of this is available as a 2011 Kids Edition.

SUPERMARKET POWER

Concentration within the supermarket sector is a major issue in Australia, where the Woolworths and Coles duopoly controls about 80 per cent of the market.

This puts farmers in a weak position, enabling the big two to pay them close to the cost of production.

In 2011, the squeezing of farmers intensified when

Coles started a price war with Woolworths, beginning with its own-brand milk at one dollar per litre, below the production cost. Since then, the price war has spread to many other food categories.

To start reforming this unhealthy trend, consumers need to identify and avoid cheap “price war” food items. This does, however, require sufficient knowledge of non-discounted prices across a swathe of products, so a shortcut would be to steer clear of all own-brand offerings.

Recently the supermarket giants have come under investigation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over accusations of misusing market power and bullying suppliers over prices.

Nevertheless, the WoolworthsColes duopoly is in line to receive a boost from income management. This will be through the welfare control system that requires some of the unemployed to spend 50 to 70 per cent of their income on essentials such as housing, food and clothing, via a BasicsCard. The card is unlikely to AUTUMN 2014

be accepted at farmers’ markets, and independent retailers would lack the necessary transaction facilities. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has expressed an interest in expanding the system.

SEEKING ALTERNATIVES

In searching for alternatives, a better solution would be to by-pass the supermarkets.

We are familiar with the arguments in favour of corporatedominated industrial farming: the world’s population is increasing; a shift towards a meat diet in countries such as China requires extra land for growing animal feed; the world’s supply of agricultural land is finite; we need to fast-track GM technology or we will all starve.

The list goes on…

In reality, the small farms accused of being inefficient produce a greater yield per unit area than their larger counterparts.

A 2006 review of agriculture in developing countries found that organic farming generally yields 79 per cent more than conventional techniques. In 2009, the multi-stakeholder, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) group pointed out that only 30 per cent of the world’s food was produced by the corporate sector.

To turn around the dysfunctions of corporate food, farmers need to be put at centre stage, instead of being relegated to a footnote. For many decades, the number of Australian family farms has been diminishing, and between 2006 and 2011 their numbers fell by eleven per cent.

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A telling 2000 statistic from the UK indicates that farmers were getting an annual return on capital of 0.5 per cent. This compares very poorly with supermarkets (10 to15 per cent), and recent Australian figures for the largest food multinationals (12 to 42 per cent.)

Local food is fortunately making a big comeback, with 170 farmers’ markets across the country. Economically, this boosts the income of smallerscale farmers and growers, with about 40 to 80 per cent of each dollar spent reaching the farmer’s pocket. Selling in local stores offers far less than the supermarkets in terms of volume, but this is compensated by receiving a fairer return than only 5 to 20 per cent of the selling price. The Greens have recently advocated investment in building local food infrastructure.

Other positive choices include: • Growing in your own backyard, front garden and nature strip.

• Getting involved with urban farming and community gardens.

• Participating in communitysupported agriculture box schemes.

• Buying from independent retailers.

• Buying Australian-grown to reduce food miles and help de-globalise the food system.

Aussie Farmers Direct makes home deliveries and offers organic options.

• Buying locally – or Australianowned, with the help of the AUSBUY guide.

• Organising food hubs, as a lowprofit distribution link between growers and institutions such

as schools, hospitals and workplaces.

A vital goal is to enhance food security. The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance views the government’s 2012 National Food Plan green paper as too focused on corporate agribusiness, largescale food manufacturing and big retailer interests. In response, it has put together a People’s Food Plan, which was crowd-sourced as a collective vision emerging from numerous forums held around the country.

This grassroots vision of Australia’s food future advocates the benefits of small-scale initiatives, and aligns well with IAASTD’s vision of reorienting local and global food systems towards greater social equity and sustainability.

RESOURCES: Trans-Pacific Partnership campaign www.aftinet.org.au/cms/transpacific-partnership-agreement/transpacific-partnership-agreement-tpp True Food Guide www.truefood.org.au/truefoodguide Dairy Defenders www.dairydefenders.com Aussie Farmers Direct www.aussiefarmers.com.au AUSBUY Australia www.ausbuy.com.au Australian Farmers’ Markets Alliance www.farmersmarkets.org.au Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance www. australianfoodsovereigntyalliance.org Australian Food Hubs Network www.foodhubs.org.au

Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore (Northern NSW.) CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 23

Health & Wellbeing

WI-FI RADIATION

sparks health fears

by MARTIN OLIVER

I

n early 2013, a group of five Year Nine Danish schoolgirls conducted an experiment that has many wi-fi users questioning the safety of wireless Internet.

At Hjallerup School in North Jutland, the girls observed that if they slept with a mobile phone next to their beds they had difficulty in concentrating in school the next day.

PLANT SEEDS AFFECTED

Testing brain activity was out of the question because the required equipment would have been too expensive. Instead, an experiment was designed to observe the effects of a wi-fi router on plants. Twelve trays of cress seeds were raised, of which six were next to the router and a further six were in a different room with no similar radiation source. At the end of the experiment, the results were dramatic: the seeds exposed to wi-fi barely managed to germinate, while the 24 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

others grew normally.

For their efforts, the girls won a regional science competition, and their project aroused interest from a number of scientists including Professor Olle Johansson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Despite not having been conducted in scientifically rigorous conditions, their wi-fi experiment is still highly suggestive. One consequence is that they no longer sleep with their mobiles next to their beds.

In some countries, school wi-fi radiation exposure is a controversial issue. While many experts claim that it is safe, the German government has come out with a health warning against the use of wi-fi, and a growing number of wi-fi animal studies are indicating the presence of oxidative stress.

SCHOOLS DISMANTLE NETWORKS

Some schools in Canada, France, Ireland and the UK have gone so far as to dismantle their wi-fi networks, in most cases

in response to pressure from parents.

The most common wi-fi health symptoms experienced by pupils include irritability, concentration issues, headaches, fatigue, depression, and sleep disorders.

Alternatives include the use of cabled Internet, and switching off wireless Internet when it is not in use.

A wi-fi router acts in a similar way to a miniature mobile phone mast, and emits radiation in the microwave spectrum, at 2.45 GHz. As a precaution, ideally a wi-fi router should be located some distance from areas where people spend longer amounts of time. In a school setting, radiation exposure is concentrated close to the router and each wi-fi connected computer. Levels are significantly higher in the vicinity of a group of wirelessly enabled computers than near to just one.

Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based at Lismore, Northern NSW. AUTUMN 2014

Health & Wellbeing

HEALTH CONSUMER YOUR FACE REVEALS YOUR STORY

Do you ever snap at your partner or kids and wonder why you reacted so strongly? Would you like to know why you keep experiencing injury or weakness in a particular part of your body? Are you dieting and trying to lose weight but nothing seems to work?

Psychosomatic Therapy body-mind communication teaches you to understand why you are reacting the way you are, what a recurring pain in your body means and how you can bring balance and healing to your body. It is simple and effective. By learning new mind behaviours with focus, you learn to balance your heart-mind and postural integration.

Psychosomatic therapist, Vicki Delpero teaches a Certificate III in Psychosomatic Therapy which provides a career path to becoming a professional therapist.

Unlike Western Medicine and therapies, Psychosomatic Therapists work in co-creation with the individual to create balance, focus and structure . By learning to understand the emotion behind your reactions, physical pain or discomfort, you are able to release that emotion.

Unexpressed trauma, heartache, any deeply felt emotions become locked in your body’s cells. An event today might trigger an emotional response that has been stored within your cellular memory for many years.

Vicki’s assistant lost 23 kilos in six months without dieting. The kilos disappeared as Karen began releasing the emotional issues that had caused her body to bloat and grow larger.

One of the most powerful tools you can learn as a Psychosomatic Therapist is how to truly understand another human being, on first meeting, by simply reading their face, hands, body or feet.

Vicki and her team of Psychosomatic Therapists will be at this year’s Conscious Living Expo in Melbourne at booth 72. They will be offering Face Readings and consultations. www.casadelsole.com.au AUTUMN 2014

DON’T LET TIRED EYES SPOIL YOUR FUN

Botáni Rescue Eye Treatment is a revitalising gel-based eye serum that gently and effectively reduces puffiness and dark circles, providing targeted hydration to the delicate eye area.

Like all Botáni products, Rescue Eye Treatment is free from harmful chemicals. It uses only pure plant ingredients to hydrate, strengthen and increase the elasticity of skin tissue.

Botáni’s signature Olive Squalene is a key ingredient in Botáni Rescue Eye Treatment. This unique skin hero replicates the squalene produced in human skin, so it is easily absorbed to provide sustained hydration.

It is also enriched with elite plant actives, including Arnica to reduce swelling, Liquorice Root Extract to reduce dark circles, and tightening plant active.

Use morning and night for best results.

New Conscious Living Subscribers - be in the draw for our fabulous Olive Skin Serum – 10 to be given away (RRP $31.95). www.botani.com.au

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 25

ALL NATURAL PERFUMES INSPIRE POSITIVE CHANGE Australian made and owned IME Natural Perfume is giving people a new sensory experience.

Natural Therapist Tonia Walker of New South Wales founded IME, creating the perfumes to help her clients.

“The sense of smell (via the olfactory nerve) is directly linked to the part of the brain that stores our memories and emotions, therefore stimulating an emotional response can affect moods,” Tonia said. “By changing your mood you can change your thoughts and in turn change the way you live. You can smell yourself happy – naturally!”

IME’s range is made from 100 per cent botanical

ingredients, all natural – toxin free. The perfumes are available in 30ml bottles or collection packs.

These affordable perfumes are certified ToxinFree by Safe Cosmetics Australia www.ime-natural-perfume.com.au

CLOVER FIELDS NATURAL SOAPS AND TOILETRIES

DE-STRESS WITH THE YELLOW-HEAD METHOD

Award winning Australian manufacturer of natural soaps and toiletries, Clover Fields, is now in its 31st year.

Established in 1983 in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, the company quickly flourished. Today it operates from four factories in Penrith and supplies the Australian market as well as several other countries. Clover Fields also produces private label products for department stores such as Myer, David Jones, and other leading stores overseas.

In addition, the company imports a huge range of gifts and homewares. It has an online store at its website, and its own factory outlet at 23 Peachtree Road, Penrith.

Clover Fields has plenty of specials for the Conscious Living Expo in Sydney Stand 34 and all Expo shoppers will receive a will receive a free gift and bag with their purchases. www.cloverfields.com 26 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

Struggling with stress?

Is your neck tense? Do you suffer from tension headaches?

We have some good news! There’s no need to suffer any longer – the Yellow-Head Method can help.

All you need is a Yellow-Head therapeutic relaxation device, five minutes a day of “me” time and a quiet space. Lie down on a firm, but not too hard surface, raise your knees, place your head on the Yellow-Head and simply relax.

While you take it easy, Yellow-Head gives a gentle but thorough stretch to the muscles in your neck, releasing tension and providing relief from stress and tension headaches.

You can try Yellow-Head for yourself at the Conscious Living Expo in Melbourne at booth 9. Dr Brian Bourne, a chiropractor and healer with more than 30 years experience, will be on hand to talk you through the experience. yellow-head.com.au AUTUMN 2014

SASY N SAVY

Australian owned Sasy n Savy Pty Ltd manufactures native Australian natural skin care and wellbeing products.

All products are enriched with vitamins, antioxidant and a host of nutrients.

All three feature throughout the collection, which is designed to care for you, your skin and your environment.

The products are available in retail, professional and travel sizes. They are safe, effective and gently benefit all skin types. They’re also free from artificial colours, fragrances and parabens, and are formulated without animal testing or animal ingredients.

Sasy n Savy works closely with the farmers to hand select the best product and carefully trace ingredients through all stages of supply, accurately recording the quality and use of every ingredient.

Visit us at Conscious Living Expo in Sydney Stand 20: www.sasynsavy.com

TRIBE OF THE TREE FLOWER ESSENCES

Tribe of the Tree’s flower essences help you reclaim the profound happiness, connection with source and reverence for nature that always have been yours for the taking.

The flower essence Up, Up & Away™ reminds you to love and approve of yourself no matter what.

It invites you to build better boundaries so you regain your sense of balance and feel less affected by the actions and opinions of others.

Each bottle is accompanied by a short story containing tips and ideas to support you on your way to increased confidence. Up, Up & Away™ contains a vibrational essence of the Crepe Myrtle tree, and is also available as a room spray lovingly fragranced with bergamot, black pepper, rosewood and sweet orange essential oils. www.tribeofthetree.com.au and selected practitioners and retailers.

LOOSE LIPS TEAZ AND COFFEEZ

Tea and coffee connoisseurs will enjoy the offerings of Loose Lips, an innovative company whose beverages are fresh and new.

Aussie Bush is Australia’s alternative to English Breakfast and is a blend of Daintree and Assam teas.

This tea will refresh you anytime of the day.

Wind down with Loose Lips Chamomile flowers: an infusion that is great for de-stressing and assists with insomnia and anxiety Dandelion Chai is a great alternative to coffee, giving you the energy without the caffeine.

Festivitea has been described as “a party in your mouth”. You will enjoy this drink’s amazing aftertaste.

Green Tea-Sri Lanka gives plenty of health benefits and is especially refreshing.

Loose Lips is offering business opportunities: retail, wholesale, and party plan. See Cheryl at Conscious Living Expo in Melbourne April 25-27 Booth 98 or visit www.facebook.com/ pages/ Beuniq/101885449958241.

AUTUMN 2014

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 27

Health & Wellbeing

DEMENTIA Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

by SHERRILL SELLMAN, ND

T

he disability that creates most alarm among the baby boomer generation is loss of memory and brain functions, often described as Alzheimers or dementia. The concern is justified.

Worldwide, an estimated 24 million people are now diagnosed with dementia. It is estimated that this will rise to 81 million by 2040.

We have to ask: are the various forms of dementia an inevitable consequence of ageing or could they, in some instances, be symptomatic of an underlying (and overlooked) nutritional deficiency?

EFFECTS OF B12 DEFICIENCY

There is growing evidence that a vitamin B12 deficiency, which affects an estimated one-quarter of North Americans, plays a major role in the decline of neurological functions.

B12 deficiency is more commonly found in the elderly and those with predisposing conditions such as Crohn’s disease.

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin), a fragile, water-soluble compound that performs a wide variety of functions in the body, is vital for good health.

B12 is essential for normal nervous system function and normal red cell, white cell, and platelet production. A deficiency of B12, which may not be detected in a blood test, can result in neurological 28 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

A deficiency of B12, which may not be detected in a blood test, can result in disorders often mimicking senility, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

AUTUMN 2014

disorders often mimicking senility, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

CAUSES OF B12 DEFICIENCY

Diet, age and drugs are the prime culprits behind B12 deficiency. The primary sources of vitamin B12 are meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. Inadequate intake of these foods or impaired absorption directly impacts B12 levels.

A vegan diet does not provide adequate sources of B12.

It should also be noted that microwave cooking may inactivate vitamin B12. Researchers found that after just six minutes of microwaving, nearly half of the vitamin B12 in food was destroyed.

HOW B12 WORKS

Vitamin B12 has the unique ability to provoke the regeneration of nerves without adverse side effects. This is because B12 facilitates methylation, the process that creates and maintains nerves and brain chemicals.

In addition, vitamin B12 is able to lower homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is a toxic byproduct of methionine metabolism that can damage neurons.

Importantly, homocysteine interferes with the methylation reactions critical for brain function. By lowering homocysteine levels, neurological functions can be improved. In addition, B12 also protects brain health by helping in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

People who do not respond to supplemental vitamin B12 may also be deficient in folate. Since vitamin B12 and folate work synergistically to restore normal AUTUMN 2014

homocysteine levels, increasing folate may also be necessary.

BOOSTING B12

In the past, vitamin B12 was administered by injections.

However, oral B12 supplements have been found to be as good as or better than injections. While there are several forms of B12 , methylcobalamin is the most neurologically active form. When taken sublingually (under the tongue), it is immediately assimilated into the brain.

A daily dose of 1000 mcg of B12 is usually sufficient. But if there is a deficiency, 2000 mcg daily for one month is recommended, followed by 1000 mcg daily.

There is little question that many people exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are suffering from a vitamin B12 deficiency.

For many people, taking a B12 supplement could rescue them from the darkness.

EFFECTS OF DEMENTIA

While depression is a common symptom of early-stage dementia, the following can also be affected:

• Language • Comprehension • Motor skills • Short-term memory • Reaction time • Personality traits • Mood or behaviour

WHO IS AT RISK OF B12 DEFICIENCY?

The elderly are most at risk of B12 deficiencies. There are several reasons for this: • Reduced production of intrinsic factor, a protein secreted by the stomach to help the body absorb B12; • Low levels of hydrochloric acid, necessary for digesting proteins and maintaining intrinsic factor; and • Prescription and over-thecounter drugs for stomach ulcers, heartburn, or gastroesophageal reflux.

Sherrill Sellman, ND, is author of Hormone Heresay: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones (Getwell International, 2000) and What Women MUST Know to Protect Their Daughters from Breast Cancer (GetWell International, 2004).

Visit www.ssellman.com CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 29

Health & Wellbeing

SUNNY SIDE UP: the importance of vitamin D Sometimes referred to as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to sunlight.

Vitamin D has a number of functions, but is particularly important for normal bone growth and the development of normal immune system function. The active form of vitamin D in the body is a hormone called calcitriol, which promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from food in the gut and re-absorption of calcium in the kidneys, which increases the amount of calcium in the bloodstream.

RANGE OF HEALTH RISKS

Several factors prevent our body creating enough vitamin D, including the amount of time we spend indoors, the clothing we wear and the natural colour of our skin. Vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of musculoskeletal conditions such as rickets and osteoporosis and has

By STUART MORICK, Bachelor Health Science (Naturopathy), Member ANTA & AHA

been linked to an increased risk of multiple sclerosis, diabetes (type1 and type 2), various types of cancers (particularly colon cancer) and heart disease, although more research is needed to confirm these links.

The amount of sunlight needed to make vitamin D depends on UV levels, skin type, skin exposure and lifestyle factors. For most people, regular daily activity and incidental sun exposure produces adequate vitamin D levels. The amount of time you need to be in the sun to make vitamin D varies according to your location, the season and the time of day. Ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) rays, which are responsible for vitamin D development, are also the main cause of skin cancer, so a balanced approach to sun exposure is necessary. It should be limited between 10am and 3pm when UV rays are strongest and if the UV index is 3 or higher, sensible sun protection behaviour is encouraged to avoid skin damage.

Food sources make a relatively small contribution (about 10 per cent) to the body’s total vitamin D status. Daily exercise can assist with vitamin D production 30 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

NUTRITION AND EXERCISE

If your body can’t produce enough vitamin D naturally, it will be necessary to find the right supplement. The best dietary sources of vitamin D can be found in fatty fish (such as salmon, herring and mackerel) and fish liver oils. Beef liver, cheese, egg yolks and some mushrooms can provide additional dietary vitamin D. However, food sources make a relatively small contribution (about 10 per cent) to the body’s total vitamin D status. Daily exercise can also assist with vitamin D production.

Testing is available to determine your levels of vitamin D. In some cases, it may be necessary to include vitamin D supplements as part of a daily health regime to maintain optimal levels. Your naturopath or natural health practitioner will be able to advise on the most effective supplements and lifestyle changes to help increase your daily dose of sunshine.

FURTHER INFORMATION: www.purehealthandwellness. com.au Tel: 08 9378 2774

AUTUMN 2014

Health & Wellbeing

Got A Gallbladder Problem?

There Are Natural Alternatives To Surgery

G

allbladder problems are incredibly common and Gallbladder Surgery is one of the most frequently performed hospital procedures.

In many instances, patients are rushed into surgery prematurely, when a more natural solution exists. In many cases, diet changes and nutritional supplements can restore the health of the gallbladder, preventing the need for surgery. Of course this depends on how severe the problem is and how long the gallbladder has been unwell.

Unfortunately gallbladder removal leaves some patients much worse off. Some people experience chronic discomfort and digestive problems after losing their gallbladder.

WHAT ARE GALLSTONES?

Gallstones form when bile stored in the gallbladder hardens into stone-like objects. This process usually takes several years.

Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball.

There are several types of gallstones: • Cholesterol stones • Pigment stones – these are formed from calcium bilirubinate (a component of bilirubin) and AUTUMN 2014

appear black or brown.

• Mixed stones – some people have both types of stones in their Gallbladder

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF GALLSTONES

The most common signs and symptoms of gallbladder dysfunction include: • Indigestion, particularly after eating rich fatty meals or dairy products • Abdominal bloating or a feeling of excessive fullness after meals.

• Reflux or heartburn, also known as GERD • Diarrhoea or loose, urgent stools after some foods • Abdominal cramps or other pain after a meal • Discomfort behind the right shoulder blade, or top of the right shoulder • Moody, irritable disposition • Low tolerance to alcohol • Sweating feet or excess sweating in the body in general • Bad breath and coated tongue

A NATURAL APPROACH

Consume plenty of foods specific for helping the liver and gallbladder. They include beetroot and beetroot leaves; green leafy herbs such as are mint, parsley, coriander and rocket.

• Increase the amount of

By DR SANDRA CABOT & NATUROPATH MARGARET JASINSKA

sulphur-rich foods in your diet, such as garlic, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

• Find out if you have any food sensitivities. In the majority of cases, food intolerance aggravates gallbladder problems.

The most common problematic foods are gluten, wheat, dairy products, eggs, soy and nuts.

You can try an elimination diet, or you can see a naturopath to help you identify problem foods and come up with alternatives.

• Sip one tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar mixed in a quarter of a glass of warm water before meals • It is important not to follow a low fat diet, as too little fat promotes bile stasis, which leads to thicker bile that can promote stones.

Healthy fats to include in your diet include oily fish, avocados, olive oil and coconut oil.

• Taking digestive enzymes with meals may reduce symptoms.

• There are herbs that help to reduce symptoms of gallbladder disease and help thin the bile, thereby slowly dissolving stones.

Dr Sandra Cabot and Margaret Jasinska are co-authors of the book. Save your Gallbladder naturally) http://www. cabothealth.com.au/save-yourgallbladder-naturally.html CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 31

Eco Living

ECO CONSUMER FOREST SUPER FOODS The ancient Incans used maca root as far back as 2000 years ago, when it was revered as a staple crop and as a potent medicinal herb. Incan warriors consumed large quantities of the product before going into battle to increase their energy and strength. Today it is consumed throughout the world for its ability to impart energy, balance and assist the hormone system, and is even known as a fantastic aphrodisiac. Several studies have shown Maca to have a positive effect on sexual dysfunction. Most importantly, Maca contains a huge amount of nutrients, minerals and all the essential amino acids. Certified Organic Maca Root Powder is available from Forest Super Foods, a new online supplier of affordable super foods and organic mixes . They will plant a tree through their partnership with Carbon Neutral for every order placed through www.forestsuperfoods.com.au.

ALKALINE MINERALISED LIVING WATER ON TAP This simple counter top unit purifies and alkalizes tap, tank, bore, and creek or stream water. Genzon filters also remove chemicals (including chlorine and fluoride), bacteria (99.9%), heavy metals and THM’s. The mined mineral stones and colloidal silver stones replace essential minerals and naturally sanitise and freshen the water. A magnetic field in the tap further oxygenates and energises the water for rapid absorption and rehydration. 5 litre and 12 litre systems available.

Tel 1300 188 087 www.genzonwater.com 32 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

NEUTRALIZE ELECTRO MAGNETIC RADIATION Radiation from EMF and RF in houses and offices is known to adversely affect people’s health.

However there are other forms of earth radiation which actually pose a greater danger to our health. These fields, known as imprinting radiation fields surround death imprints, at the place of a human death. They can extend out to 50 metres around a death imprint and they can hold the emotion of the deceased person which can negatively affect people who are sensitive to these energies.

Another harmful energy field which has been detected arises from indigenous land curses. In Australia the treatment of the Aboriginals was so traumatic that they were able to create from their thought forms Indigenous land curses which would affect areas as big as the average suburb.

Orgone Effects Australia manufactures and develops radiation balancing tools and the developer, Gerard Bini is a skilled medical and earth energy intuitive. The Geoclense is an ionic resonance tool which balances the harmful effects of electrical (EMR), radio frequency (RF or WiFi) and earth radiation.

The newly discovered forms of imprinting radiation can now be neutralized with new programming in the Geoclense, and for customers with older Geoclense, an upgrade card with the new neutralizing program is available which attaches to the back of the Geoclense.

The Geoclense is an ionic resonance tool which balances the harmful effects of electrical (EMR), radio frequency (RF or WiFi) and earth radiation. www.orgoneffectsaustralia.com AUTUMN 2014

Eco Living

Car Sharing Becomes

BIG BUSINESS

By MARTIN OLIVER - writer, researcher, Lismore, Northern NSW

C

ar-pooling is an old idea, but a newer approach, Car Sharing, is taking hold in Europe and America, where it has become big business.

Australians living in bigger cities can also take advantage of this system. As a society, however, we need to break down our addictions to individualism and privacy, and recognise that car sharing and car-pooling are practical, economical ways to help curb greenhouse emissions.

CHEAPER THAN CAR HIRE

In big cities, home parking spaces can be expensive and in short supply. Running a vehicle is expensive. Many urban residents use public transport, and rarely need a car. Some households can get by with one vehicle, and only occasionally require a second.

In cases such as this, car sharing makes economic sense as an alternative to owning, and is cheaper than traditional car hire.

Environmentally speaking, driving a car without owning one has major benefits. One shared

car replaces between 9 and 13 vehicles that would be competing for parking space. A study carried out at Duke University in North Carolina has found that the manufacture of an average car generates 6.7 tonnes of carbon emissions, representing about 20 per cent of its total lifetime energy use.

Having made major inroads in Europe and the US, car sharing reached Australia in 2003. It operates on a per-hour basis, with users paying an hourly fee of $6-13 plus a per-kilometre cost. A fleet of car share vehicles, often hybrids or efficient models, and sometimes utes and vans, is parked on the street in allocated bays.

Melbourne) • Hertz 24/7 (Sydney and the Gold Coast) • Flexicar (owned by Hertz, in Melbourne only) At present, no regional centres are being served, but this may change. GreenShareCar and Flexicar encourage people from outside their areas of coverage to express an interest, as the company is planning to expand its services in line with demand.

Users of a car sharing service have an incentive to drive less and use public transport instead.

Research by GoGet found that its members drive about 20 per cent less than the average Australian motorist.

TEMPORARY SET OF WHEELS

One shared car replaces between 9 and 13 vehicles that would be competing for parking space.

Another newer arrival is the peer-to-peer car-sharing sector, which is essentially a marketplace for private vehicle use. On one side of the equation are people who need a temporary set of wheels, and on the other are car owners who would like to earn some extra income at times when their car is parked in the driveway.

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CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 33

AUSTRALIA’S CAR SHARE COMPANIES ARE:

• GoGet (in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide) • GreenShareCar (Sydney and

DriveMyCar Rentals is orientated towards longer bookings for a period of weeks or months, and is ideal for a vehicle that hardly gets driven. It covers the whole country, and users can provide eBay-style vehicle ratings based on factors such as cleanliness and the state of repair.

Car Next Door is a similar company targeting shorter periods of hours or whole days. It envisages friendly communities where neighbours share vehicles.

It operates only in Sydney, with most participants concentrated in the Eastern Suburbs although an expansion is underway in the Inner West.

Understandably, many people feel reluctant to rent out their prized possession due to a range of fears and uncertainties. The car could be driven badly, damaged,

If car-pooling is preferred to car sharing, the car-owner benefits from some fuel money and a companion for the journey. stolen or returned late. In reality, renters are generally more careful with vehicles than their owners’ initially expect.

‘FRED’ MONITORS DRIVERS

All of these concerns are covered by Car Next Door, which pre-screens its members. An in-car device called Fred detects if the vehicle is being driven hard, and monitors its location. Rentals are covered by roadside assistance and free comprehensive insurance, and members are penalised for returning a vehicle late or in a messy condition.

Similar protections are provided

by DriveMyCar Rentals.

A third option involves carpooling via a company such as Catchalift.com, Carpool One, or Coseats.com. There are many other local initiatives, some linked to universities. Some carpooling companies are orientated towards sharing commutes, while others focus on longer road trips.

For car-less travellers, carpooling represents a safer and more organised alternative to hitching. Car owners benefit from some fuel money, company on the journey, and in some cases sharing the driving. Online platforms can narrow down the types of people you prefer to ride with, based on factors such as gender and smoking habits.

Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based at Lismore, Northern NSW.

FACE READING

VICKI DELPERO

Psychosomatic Therapist/Teacher Visit Vicki and her team of face readers for valuable insight into your strengths, challenges and relationships.

Why do you behave the way you do?

What can you do to create positive change?

www.casadelsole.com.au 34 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

AUTUMN 2014

Eco Living

DON’T BE A

VICTIM

FASHION

By MARTIN OLIVER

I

t is easy to become complacent and assume that the clothing we wear is safe, and that the garments hanging up in our cupboards are not a hazard. The reality of the textile industry is somewhat different.

While agricultural chemicals are a concern, substances used in processing and manufacturing are much more of an issue. The modern clothing industry uses about 8000 synthetic chemicals, and natural fibres have been estimated to consist of an average of 27 per cent chemicals in the finished product. Most absorption takes place via the skin, the body’s largest organ.

NATURAL FIBRES

Cotton and wool have the important advantage of being breathable, but conventionally grown cotton is the most insecticide-intensive crop grown anywhere on the planet. The presence of low-level pesticide residues in cotton clothing has been confirmed via highperformance liquid chromatography.

However, insecticide use in some AUTUMN 2014

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 35

countries including Australia has been curtailed through a number of methods including GM Bt cotton and organic farming techniques.

Wool is usually processed using harsh chemicals including alkyl phenol ethoxylates for scouring. Sludge from wool processing plants, including sheep dip pesticides, presents a significant pollution load in the water system. While most chemicals go into the grease and sludge rather than the fibre, those that remain can cause discomfort for more chemically sensitive people.

SYNTHETICS

Acrylic, nylon and polyester are all energy-hungry textiles made from petrochemicals, and can generate potent greenhouse gases: the production of nylon creates substantial quantities of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 310 times more powerful than CO2. A Canadian study looking at women working with acrylic fibres found a seven-fold increased chance of breast cancer, and a doubled risk in nylon facilities. Polyester fibres have been found to leach toxic antimony.

Textiles that are “semisynthetic”, such as rayon-viscose, acetate, and nylon triacetate are made from wood pulp treated with strong chemicals including caustic soda and sulphuric acid, the residues of which are transferred to the clothing.

Environmentally, there are concerns about raw materials being sourced from unsustainably harvested natural forests, so look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Bamboo, 36 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

despite its green image, is processed in the same way.

Because synthetics are not breathable, they can contribute to a chemical build-up in the body, making natural fibres a healthier alternative. When sent to landfill, synthetics slowly release chemicals, so try to keep them in circulation by donating to the local op shop.

For textiles that are no longer wearable, Australia could also benefit from introducing recycling facilities. Burning unwanted synthetic clothing should be avoided at all costs, as it releases highly dangerous gases.

FORMALDEHYDE

Formaldehyde is a toxic and colourless gas widely used by the clothing industry, especially on cotton products labelled as wrinkle-free or pre-shrunk.

Additionally, it is commonly found in mattresses, bedding, carpets and furniture. When out-gassing from these products, it produces a distinctive smell and represents a particular health hazard to retail employees.

Common symptoms include eye, respiratory and skin irritation, allergic reactions, and asthma.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classed formaldehyde as carcinogenic.

While the EU applies an upper limit of 30 parts per million (ppm), the chemical is unregulated in Australia. Instead, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has set a nonregulatory guideline of 30-300 ppm, depending on the end use, which raises the question why its figure is up to ten times more lenient than the EU limit.

In New Zealand, the consumer TV show Target carried out investigations in 2007 and found extremely high formaldehyde concentrations in Chinese-made cotton and wool clothing, ranging from 230 to 18,000 ppm.

OTHER TOXIC TREATMENTS

Where items are labelled as no iron, wrinkle-free, stain resistant or water repellent, this can indicate the use of per fluorinated chemicals such as PFOS and PFOA. Also used in upholstery and non-stick pans, these represent a cancer risk.

Another treatment, PBDE, is a moth-repellent, stain-resistant and fire-retardant used in clothing, mattresses, furniture and televisions. Accumulating in the food chain, it affects thyroid hormone levels, potentially posing a risk to unborn children.

Products specially targeted include children’s pyjamas.

Banned in the EU since 2004, PBDE is still permitted in products sold in Australia, Studies have found that Americans have about 20 times higher levels of PBDE in their blood than Europeans, and levels in Australia may be similar.

Modern neurosis about bacterial exposure is driving a growing market for antibacterial clothing, especially socks, underwear and sportswear. The three most common treatments of this type are nano-silver, triclosan, and trichlorocarban, which inevitably wash out and enter the environment, posing risks to people, wildlife and the food chain.

Nano-silver may cross the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation and degeneration of AUTUMN 2014

neurons. Triclosan is a persistent organic pollutant, and suspected of being an endocrine disruptor and carcinogen.

TO DYE FOR

Among dyes, generally the fixatives, or mordants, present the greatest chemical headache, and, perhaps surprisingly, it is the natural dyes that require the more toxic fixatives. The range of harmful chemicals associated with the dyeing process includes dioxins, heavy metals, formaldehyde and synthetic azo dyes that release toxic amines. Black clothing and leather is sometimes dyed with p-Phenylene diamine, a skin allergen often associated with lifelong symptoms, also found in hair dyes.

The OrganicClothing blog provides the following list of dyeing options, in order of increasing health risks: • Undyed (examples include colour-grown cottons and natural-colour wools) • Dirt dyes, using minerals found in earth such as iron.

• Low-impact fibre-reactive dyes. These have a high fixation rate, which minimises waste, and are made from petrochemicals but contain no toxic ingredients.

• Other natural and synthetic dyes are roughly on a par at the bottom of the list. Natural dyes also have the disadvantage of washing out more easily.

GREENPEACE INVESTIGATES

While the mainstream clothing industry has always been polluting, the recent shift towards increasingly hazardous chemicals is a concern. Many problems AUTUMN 2014

are caused by water pollution controls in developing countries being lax to non-existent, coupled with a lack of consumer leverage over the fashion giants.

In recent years, Greenpeace has carried out a series of investigations. In 2011, its Dirty Laundry 1 report focused on a couple of polluting facilities in China, the Youngor Textile Complex and Well Dyeing Factory Limited.

Tests on the wastewater showed in both cases the presence of alkyl phenols including nonyl phenols. Toxic in low concentrations and bioaccumulative, they are endocrine disruptors likely to have gender-bending effects on fish. The Youngor facility was also found to be releasing

per fluorinated chemicals. Further research uncovered commercial links between both facilities and several large clothing makers.

For Dirty Laundry 2, also released in the same year, 78 items of clothing from 15 leading brands were analysed for residues of nonyl phenol exthoxylate (NPE) surfactants as an indication that they had been used in production. These chemicals have been found to kill aquatic creatures and break down into nonyl phenols.

These chemicals were detected in 52 samples, about two thirds of the total, at a concentration of at least one ppm. All brands but one were affected.

When challenged, Puma, Nike,

A DISSENTING VIEW Sandra* lives in Australia, is highly chemically sensitive, and has the advantage of a scientific background. Her conclusion is that this sensitivity is highly individual, with different people reacting strongly to different types of chemicals.

Originally she was having no issue with clothing, but this changed suddenly in 2007 when she could feel a soapy, waxy film on most clothing, and started experiencing sensitivity issues with garments. In 2010, she also started noticing a powdery film on many organic cotton products. In both cases she was unable to get answers about what was being used.

Surprisingly, in her experience, clothing that is certified organic, eco-labelled, or labelled as low-allergy can also be problematic, and she finds that cotton clothing causes more difficulties than synthetics. Over the past few years, the only type of clothing she has bought and has been able to wear is Target organic cotton underwear, provided the fabric was made in Australia.

She feels that there are two main problems: one is the current lack of information and transparency surrounding chemical use, and the other is deficient regulation. At present, all she has to go on is her reaction to wearing the garment, compounded by the chemicals that give her trouble rarely washing out over time. *name has been changed.

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 37

H&M and Adidas all set a 2020 goal for phasing toxic chemicals out of their production systems.

This was followed by the 2012 Toxic Threads, which took a very similar approach. 121 items across 20 different brands were tested for NPEs, with positive results in 89 items, or nearly three quarters. Another class of chemicals, phthalates, are used as plasticisers in items such as T-shirt prints. As known endocrine disruptors, some are banned in the US and EU. Phthalates were detected in all 31 samples, and at high levels in four.

Dirty Laundry 3 looked at the issue from a new angle. Many chemicals will readily wash out of new clothing into the water system and the environment.

For about half of the plain fabric samples, eighty per cent of NPEs had been removed from the material after just one wash.

DRY CLEANING

Of the different methods of cleaning clothes, dry cleaning poses a particular risk, especially to workers in the industry. The most common chemical used in dry cleaning is perchlorethylene (perc), a solvent linked to neurological effects, liver and kidney damage, and a likely carcinogen.

In addition, it is a notable environmental pollutant and water contaminant. California and France are on the way to banning it via long phase-out schedules.

Perc outgases from newly dry cleaned clothes, and wearing them on a regular basis may be a long-term hazard. To minimise exposure, it is recommended to remove their plastic cover, and to air them in a protected spot 38 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

until the smell has disappeared.

Worryingly, perc has been found to stay in clothing, and American research at Georgetown University has discovered that levels can build up with regular dry cleaning.

Better alternatives include liquid CO2, hydrocarbons, and the “wet cleaning” technique that uses a computer-controlled washer and dryer. A siliconebased material known as siloxane is safer than perc but still has some toxicity concerns. Most clothing labelled as Dry Clean Only can be safely washed, ideally after checking the tips and cautions found online.

TOWARDS A POST-TOXIC WORLD

Greenpeace is calling for a phase-out of specific toxins from the clothing industry and their replacement by safe alternatives. It is looking to a “post-toxic world”, where within one generation the discharge of harmful chemicals will have ceased.

In 2012, it launched the Detox campaign, which targets the fashion industry, and has a Detox Catwalk where companies are rated on their overall performance and improvements.

Current leaders include Esprit, Levis and Puma.

As individuals, to avoid taking in chemical cocktails of unsafe substances from the wardrobe, we have to be proactive, and in the absence of detailed information about the nasties that products contain, it is necessary to make educated guesses.

Minimising chemical exposure is desirable for everyone, and essential for the highly chemically sensitive.

Natural fibres are generally considered better than synthetics, especially good environmental choices such as hemp and organic cotton. While staying away from labelling that indicates dodgy finishes, it is a wise precaution to wash all new and second-hand clothing at least once before wearing, using bicarbonate of soda. In the case of synthetics, washing three times is recommended. Buying second-hand is safer because the item has probably been washed multiple times.

Some chemicals do not readily wash out, and so this prewashing strategy is less useful for highly chemically sensitive people.

Organic certification in the textile sector is governed by the Global Organic Textile Standard, which sets out to avoid synthetic agricultural chemicals and potentially harmful processing inputs.

RESOURCES Greenpeace Detox campaign www.greenpeace.org/detox O Ecotextiles blog

http://oecotextiles.wordpress.com OrganicClothing blog http://organicclothing.blogs.com Global Organic Textile Standard www.global-standard.org Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based at Lismore (Northern NSW.)

AUTUMN 2014

Wild About Animals

SHARING THE

PLANET

By MARTIN OLIVER

Animals As Partners

A

s humans have become separated from nature we have created a hierarchy where we see ourselves at the top of the pyramid.

In the Bible, where Genesis 1:28 refers to human “dominion” over the animal kingdom, this is commonly taken to mean domination. A more compassionate and mature attitude would see this relationship as one of stewardship.

Living largely indoors, most people in affluent countries have lost contact with the present moment, the elements, subtle signals from their senses, and the world around them. If we retreat into technological virtual realities, the real world is likely to become neglected. Conditions such as ADHD could be more accurately described as Nature Deficit Disorder.

This disconnection has also manifested in our relationship with animals. Human perceptions of animals are distorted by the AUTUMN 2014

As a young child, interspecies communicator Anna Breytenbach’s dreams were filled with lions sometimes-irritating human personalities they are given in cartoons, and by the media emphasis on cuteness as a

means of achieving mass-appeal.

We tend not to see them as they really are. Misunderstandings between people and animals CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 39

have sometimes led to pain and confusion on both sides.

ANNA BREYTENBACH

The notion of animal communication was first broached in popular culture with the fictional character of Doctor Doolittle, a 19th century physician who discovers he can talk to animals, and decides to treat them instead of human patients. The 1998 film The Horse Whisperer was based on a certain type of person with a particular knack for understanding horses. More recently, television celebrity Cesar Millan has started describing himself as a “dog whisperer”.

Anna Breytenbach is pursuing another type of animal communication, and prefers to describe herself as an “interspecies communicator”.

Anna had what would seem to be an unremarkable upbringing in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. But as a young child her dreams were filled with lions, and the rooms in which she slept were filled with an unexplainable lion smell. During young adulthood, an interest in wildlife led her to work as a cheetah handler for eight years.

Later, Anna pursued a corporate career in Australia and the United States, in the fields of human resources and information technology.

During a tracking exercise with the Wilderness Awareness School near Seattle, she had no knowledge of American animals.

Despite this, each time she looked at a creature’s tracks, an image of it would come to her. For a time, she maintained a deep scepticism towards animal communication.

40 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

Ultimately, she concluded that it was genuine and took a training course with the Assisi International Animal Institute.

Since 2001, Anna has been practicing as an interspecies communicator in South Africa, Europe and the US, and has dedicated her life to this field.

SUCCESSFUL CONTACT

Anna sees animal communication as a natural ability that everybody has, rather than a gift.

Such interactions are telepathic, and opening up our five senses is a helpful way to begin attuning psychically. This connection is an energetic phenomenon, and therefore works regardless of distance. Such skills are shared with indigenous peoples such as Native Americans and the Bushmen of southern Africa, who would know where the animals

were, and which plants were useful and which were toxic.

In Anna’s view, her work is largely about improving the relationships between humans and animals at personal and spiritual levels. She puts this very eloquently on her website: “Coming from a place of respect and reverence for all life, we can learn to understand our wilder relatives, honour their truths and live in greater harmony.”

Anna is proving that much can be achieved when we transcend preconceptions and stereotypes, and empathically tune in to our fellow creatures.

Psychic communication can lead to remarkable improvements in animal behaviour, resolve disputes between people and animals, and explain to creatures why certain things are happening that they would otherwise not AUTUMN 2014

understand. Through this process, states of animal distress that could later manifest as emotional and physical problems can be rectified. Where creatures have health conditions, veterinarians who have undergone communication training can home in on where the problem lies.

For most people, domestic animals are a primary concern.

We share the same living spaces, and communications focus on how to get along in a household or family environment.

Wild animals can be asked about their needs, lifestyle, preferences, diet, and environment.

Open questions are generally the best because they don’t limit the answers.

According to Anna, wild animals have no hidden agendas and are direct and honest.

Conversations can be short and to the point. They are less “intellectual”, and have little interest in the human world, but what they have to say can be profound.

When animals go about their business as if you’re not there, you should treat it as a compliment, because it means that they accept your presence.

RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

While sceptics might find telepathy a little too much to accept, the results frequently speak for themselves. When Anna emits loving and accepting energies, animals seem to pick up her positive vibration. Wild birds will settle on her hand, fish swim up to her, and she can approach larger animals without them becoming frightened or hostile.

AUTUMN 2014

In South Africa, where troops of wild baboons have a reputation for stealing from humans and behaving unpredictably, she has been filmed approaching a group of them and putting herself in a vulnerable position, lying down and allowing them to groom her hair.

A moving encounter took place with a fierce black leopard at a South African conservation park for rescued big cats. He disliked humans and exhibited aggressive snarling behaviour. The owner, Jurg, was initially a sceptic about animal communication, but his defences were swept away when Anna provided some detailed information she could never have guessed about the animal’s past in a zoo.

The leopard was told that nothing was expected of him, which largely defused the standoff. In turn, a request was received from the leopard that his

name be changed from Diabolo, with its devilish associations.

Instead he was given the name Spirit.

Later that day, Spirit left his enclosure and started to explore the park for the first time in six months. Jurg described this dramatic change as like seeing “two different animals”. He was deeply moved by the experience and has since trained as a communicator.

WHAT ANIMALS HAVE TO TEACH US

Humans frequently misinterpret animal behaviour, and the hidden message it contains is at risk of being lost without the interpretive help of a communicator.

Where encounters with elephants become violent, as occurs occasionally, this is understood by Anna to be a communication of distress about

EXPERIMENTING WITH ANIMAL COMMUNICATION Sit quietly and calm the mind to access your subtle intuitive senses.

Watching your breathing is a good way to do this.

Set an intention to have clear communication and visualise establishing a telepathic connection with the animal.

Send a wave of unconditional love and greeting to the animal.

Send your message, as a mental image or in silent words, trusting that it will be received.

Observe any subtle impressions or feelings received, in the form of flashes of mental images or scenes, emotions, physical sensations in your own body, or words or thoughts.

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 41

The whales communicated that humankind, is poisoning the ocean, or “the mother” – as they described it. the damage humans are doing to our planet.

Anna has found that elephants follow energy lines in the landscape similar to ley lines.

Following these paths is a deeprooted instinct, and elephants are prepared to trample fences when their ancient migratory routes are blocked.

In 2009, an incident took place where a pod of 55 pilot whales beached themselves at Kommetjie on the South African coast. This type of event is open to several different interpretations, one of which is a navigational error.

When Anna communicated with these whales, she was told a different story. Apparently they encountered toxic chemical effluent in the ocean, and as a result most of the whales’ immune systems crashed, and they were going to die soon.

42 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

The whales communicated that humankind, is poisoning the ocean, or “the mother” – as they described it. They wanted humans to witness their deaths, in the hope this would convey a message. Those whales that would have survived sacrificed themselves, rather than abandon the others.

GREAT SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

Anna’s insights reveal that even in the face of cruelty and abuse from humans, animals retain a steadfast compassion and concern for how we have lost connection. Such an attitude seems to display evidence of great spiritual evolution.

This could also be evident in the stories of companion animals, notably dogs, taking on diseases at a metaphysical level that the owner would otherwise have developed, in order to spare

the person from suffering. It is certainly uncanny how a dog can develop the same health condition as its owner, especially if the two are strongly bonded.

If we are in the midst of a major revolution in consciousness, communicating with animals is certain to be a key part of it. Fortunately growing numbers of people are training in developing these skills, and Anna herself is currently devoting her time to teaching. We have much more to explore.

RESOURCES: Animal Spirit (Anna Breytenbach’s site) www.animalspirit.org Assisi International Animal Institute www.assisianimals.org Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore (Northern NSW).

AUTUMN 2014

Growth and Education

A Spiritual Guide For

BUSINESS

By JACQUELENE CLOSE MOORE, sixth generation psychic, medium, healer and visionary artist

In this excerpt from Jacquelene Close Moore’s upcoming new book, A Spiritual Guide For Business, she sets out the seven steps needed to succeed in the field of spiritual therapies.

M

any people start spiritual businesses because they are passionate about sharing what they love doing with the world. For some, escaping the daily grind of a 9-to-5 job in an unfulfilling role is a fantasy they dream of living out. But before you jump ship, consider carefully if you really are ready.

The best students I’ve ever had, who went on to do amazing things in a variety of fields, assumed the least and worked the hardest. So let’s start with the “7 Ps” to making your spiritual business work for you. They are: purpose, AUTUMN 2014

planning, practicality, publicity, professionalism, presence and personality.

PURPOSE

Check your deeper motivations and current position in life. Look at why you want to do this work.

Write it up as a mission, including the intention you are setting for the business, how you want it to run, and what outcomes you want people to experience when they use your services or buy your products. Build your own unique message surrounding the experience you are creating. This is your business identity; it will be a major part of your business branding, and how clients will perceive you.

PLANNING

Consider right now where you want to be or see yourself and your business in five, ten and fifteen years. Daunting? It doesn’t have to be. Writing out a business plan can sound complicated, but it is simply a treasure map with intentions and numbers. It’s a manifestation tool for where you want to be, and within it are the logical steps required to get you there.

I find planning backwards helps best, allotting amounts of time to tasks and working them all backwards to now.

Each task then has a timeline that is suddenly made easier to comprehend. Most of us use visualisation and manifestation CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 43

techniques to see the desired destination before the steps are created to get us there. What I’m proposing here is just a slightly more formal means of doing this.

PRACTICALITY

Are you ready for an F word?

Finances! What were you thinking I meant? It’s no good quitting your day job on the promise you will be successful without a single client on your books.

Before you leave the comfort and reliance of your day job, work on building your new business.

Continue doing your day job while also working in the field you love until you are so busy you can’t keep up with both. You’ll be working a lot of hours at this phase. After you’ve left your day job and are working in your own business, this is the number of hours you can expect to put in each week, for the first three years, if you want your business to be a success.

Keep in mind that lots of little wins make success easier than taking a flying leap of expenditure with nothing supportive to land on. Steady steps allow for sure footedness, ensuring an unshakable foundation. Your common sense, adaptability and good grounding are your best friends, and will compliment your intuitive dreamings. When you get all these aspects working cohesively and in unison, you can achieve anything.

A clear energy space is what creates the feeling of safety and sacredness that allows clients to feel nurtured and able to speak freely and openly with you, so that real healing to take place.

Being able to clear energy and 44 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

create sacred space is essential, in order to help your clients and sustain yourself, while working in this field with the public. There are many techniques used and taught. The right ritual for you will be the one to which you feel fully connected, and confident to use.

Use clear, friendly, yet protective boundaries in dealings with people, as many sensitive people will be very open, sometimes looking for direction, sometimes ungrounded, and this can cause confusion in business dealings. It’s also important to remember that the universe cannot protect you from yourself.

Be prepared to take some long hard looks in the mirror, as well as periodically looking at yourself from the client perspective. I also strongly suggest having a small group of trusted, supportive, grounded, and self-assured friends that aren’t afraid to tell you if they think you are off with the pixies. Reality checks and alternative insights don’t harm true friendships. A handy tip here is that your intention and purpose in doing this work is your strongest protection of all.

PUBLICITY – PUBLIC RELATIONS

Promoting and advertising your work is a good way to build awareness of your brand.

However, the reliable delivery of a service or product is essential for building and sustaining public confidence in a brand.

It takes time for the community to come to trust service related businesses to the point where you remain employed full time. Your credentials take time to build. But reputation is never as important as your

character, because while reputation is what people think and say you are, character is who you truly are. Building a good connection to clients and caring for their needs makes you immediately approachable, reliable and trustworthy. Clients see, feel, or sense this in you.

This affects their purchasing decisions. Loyal clients refer you to others and even attest to your skill if it is questioned at any point.

Awards and recognitions also build your reputation and credentials, but it is the work you do each and every day with each and every client which goes into receiving acknowledgement, ensuring your work continues long after the gloss has worn off any trophy you might be granted.

PROFESSIONALISM

Consider what your desired client outcomes are, as well as the ethical standards you want to work within and live by to deliver this. Think about how you want to be known; this is about how you conduct yourself. Look at different professional associations to see which ones, if any, resonate with you and your field of work.

Writing out your own ethical code and standards can reflect back to you a lot of valuable information about how you see yourself, your work, and your field, helping you to develop even more.

During the past three decades, I have had the privilege of meeting, interviewing, and working with many leading people in this field and people with global success in a range of other fields. What they all had in common was an amazing work AUTUMN 2014

ethic. They didn’t just dream things; they got on with it. They didn’t wait for their guides to do it for them, although in many cases it was clear they had consulted them regularly. They had a deep, strong, driving purpose, sustaining their belief in what they were doing through all kinds of highs and lows.

They were completely and utterly wrapped up in their belief in what they were doing and that was what they ate, slept, walked, and talked. However, not one of them was wrapped up in their own press hype. Neither did they waste time on negative talk about others. They just didn’t have time, because what was important to them was getting on with their purpose, which happened to be their work.

It’s also good to remember there is a pearl of wisdom in every experience. For example, if you believe you are the message instead of the messenger, you lose sight of your purpose and goal.

Also, if you focus too much on others, you will have no room to focus on your own work. Every minute you spend thinking about what someone else has or does, is one more minute lost in productive time for your own business. You cannot get that time back. Use your time and energy wisely.

BEING FULLY PRESENT

Every now and then, make sure you take time to take time.

Sit back and reflect on your work to date, and where you are going next. Doing this allows you to plan and run your business, preventing it from starting to run you, a cause of many people AUTUMN 2014

burning out. The wheel of fortune is always turning, so a good work life balance helps you reset your goals, putting you back in touch with what is important. It helps you gain new energy, insight, and ideas. After all, success after all is not only how much money is in your bank account; it is also how you have touched lives, especially those closest to you.

Being fully present for clients means there are some situations, such as immediately after a major trauma or natural disaster, when all you can do is be there for the person and listen, rather than answer. This can mean holding the space and allowing them to express, finally letting go while in some of their most trying times in life.

A large part of the work will require you to be compassionate in how you deal with difficult questions and situations. Counselling training is always helpful for psychics and healers. This is because the job is about being sensitive to the clients’ needs, worries, desires while remaining realistic and honest.

Handling difficult questions such as death, divorce, legal and financial problems can come up.

There are guidelines surrounding these situations. Many psychics and mediums do formal training in counselling, often creating their own code of ethics or joining an association. Courses are available for psychics and healers to learn how to deliver a message safely and responsibly, after having properly discerned what their visions, impressions and feelings mean. The aim is to be accurate and helpful.

PERSONALITY

Knowing yourself is vital to success. Your business is most successful if everything you do is true to who you are, and if you have taken the time to know your facts. Through taking at slightly slower and more in-depth road, you will notice more; your awareness will expand. At the same time you will be saving time, money, and energy. In the end you then do things once and properly, achieving a more direct, clear, enjoyable, and defined route to your destination.

Listen to your heart, and only do for others what is helpful, not harmful. Remaining open to learning new things about yourself and your field will help you find the right path for you.

While that is food for thought for now, there are many other factors to consider when setting up a spiritual business. For mentoring and spiritual direction, you can book a professional consultation with me to work on your development, or look at the strengths and challenges of your concept and plans.

Since 1995, Conscious Living Contributor Jacquelene CloseMoore has conducted more than 15,000 consultations Australiawide and internationally. She was the first Psychic of the year (Victoria 2004), and has won Psychic Ambassador Awards from the Australian Psychic’s Association (APA). Jacquelene served on the APA board as its Ethics Officer during its transition to the International Psychics Association in 2013. For further information: M: 0439 488 558; www.jacquelene.com.au CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 45

Growth and Education

Spiritualising Our Finances In our society today, there is a definite stigma applied to people who are in financial difficulties.

The repercussions of this stigma can cause feelings of failure and embarrassment.

Some suffer and worry in private while trying to figure out how to resolve the situation. Others try to avoid money worries by going into denial, not opening bills, or even hiding them.

Financial difficulties can cause many problems. We can feel helpless and not know where to turn to next. Budgeting has much to offer, if you want to gain peace of mind through properly managing your finances.

Why is a budget necessary?

It’s a vital tool for keeping track of where your money is going, helping you avoid living beyond your means. Go to www.aspiritualbudget.com and down load an Income and Expenditure Statement. This is the first step to taking responsibility for your spending.

Money is an exchange used to fulfil our wants and needs. It’s sad that life seems to be mostly about “wanting” and nothing is ever enough. Too many of us think along the lines of: “If I have that new television or new car, I will be happy, I will feel better, I will 46 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

feel accepted, and I will fit in.” And if we don’t have the cash, we all too often put it on the plastic. We are acting out learned behaviour based on our distorted belief that if we have what we want when we want it, we will then be happy.

FINANCIAL WELLNESS

How long does the rush of spending last before we begin experiencing that sinking feeling of being in debt, or adding to debt? This is not to say that we should not acquire new things or buy what we need: rather it is about achieving financial balance, or financial wellness.

The systems that govern us do us no favours with our financial wellness, and we are deeply drawn into this. Having a background in Financial Counselling and studying personal development for 12 years has given me great insight into how the system is letting us down. While working within the system I felt that I was putting Band-Aids on my clients’ problems rather than addressing the causes.

With my experience in selfdevelopment, I longed to make a change and I now work with people in my own business in a totally different way. I am able to go to the core of the issues behind my clients’ inability to manage their finances, find the

by DEBBIE SEATON, financial mentor and author of A Spiritual Budget – 7 Steps to Financial Freedom

jobs and relationships they want, and live a full, abundant and joyful life while embracing their potential.

THE STARTING POINT

This program really works.

The starting point might be the answer to simple questions, such as: What did you learn from your parents, peers and society about how to be financially abundant?

Did you take on and believe everything that was said to you and about you?

Do you constantly say I can’t, I don’t have enough money, I will never get that job I want?

Do you constantly beat your drum to this negative self-talk?

If we change our drumbeat to “I can, I will succeed” financially and in all areas of our life, we will be surprised how quickly everything around us changes. We begin taking responsibility for our lives, discover who we truly are and gain the courage to embrace the opportunities that come our way.

It’s possible right now to break the glass ceiling holding the limitations we have put in place, and reach for the stars. This is our birthright, to be self-determining, courageous and living our dream!

Visit Debbie Seaton at www.aspiritualbudget.com.au AUTUMN 2014

Psychic & Spiritual

2014 The Rise of Spirituality Numerology with FRANCIS BEVAN

T

he Universal Year Number for 2014 is 7, therefore the focus is on spiritual growth, selfawareness and perfecting what is at hand.

‘Australia’s luck: our economy will be stable and continue to grow. A good positive outlook, after all we are known to be “the lucky country”.

This is an ideal time to study or retrain for a new career. It is also likely that you will become involved in training others, and certainly be more aware of your own occupational expertise. You will begin to understand your true purpose in life and will feel much more enlightened. The best attitude to have throughout this year is an exploratory one and to focus on gaining experience.

Much attention is focused upon water and discovery in a Universal 7 Year, therefore expect improvements in waterways, strengthening of dams, long water journeys and interesting discoveries about other planets and outer space. (Columbus discovered America in a 7 year).

Taxation Office, Centrelink and other government agencies will be going through all paperwork and official forms with a fine toothcomb, determined to catch out those who are not acting legitimately. Therefore, be certain to be up front in all your dealings.

Divorces, separations and business partnership break-ups are going to be paramount and any wrong doings will be exposed.

Partnerships of all kinds are likely to be challenging, therefore be kind to those you love and be prepared to take things as they come, rather than jumping to conclusions.

SATURN IN SCORPIO

This is Saturn’s final year of being in Scorpio. On December 24, 2014 it moves into Sagittarius.

Therefore, driving impulses to make money and to economise will be likely to cause upsets. No area of expenditure is likely to be spared the axe, including the household budget. The Australian AUTUMN 2014

New strategies will be put into place to improve our medical system, especially the mental health sector. Australia’s education system will undergo a major overhaul to improve the level of academic standards nationally.

Australia’s luck will be found in cattle, sheep and agriculture, as the farmer comes into his own. Mining stocks will climb and the Liquefied Petroleum Gas works projects will loom forward.

Our economy will be stable and continue to grow. A good positive outlook, after all we are known to be “the lucky country”.

To find out exactly how the planetary changes are going to affect you, an updated reading is always advisable.

WORLD PREDICATIONS FOR 2014

Religious disputes and persecutions in the name of theology and dogma will certainly be front and centre, and any previous wrong doings in long established church or community groups will be exposed.

There will be much controversy over rights and principles and many protests from activists and university students will be in the news.

www.francisbevan.com CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 47

Psychic & Spiritual

Esoteric websites face censorship

by MARTIN OLIVER - writer, researcher, Lismore, Northern NSW

I

n July 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled the UK’s plans for national Internet censorship. These have raised a few eyebrows and prompted a range of concerns.

Operating through the largest UK ISPs, which represent about 95 per cent of users, the planned “opt-out” system would block customers from accessing a range of material unless they manually override default settings. Experience indicates that only a minority are likely to take the trouble to do so.

Topics that stand to be caught in the filter will be pornography, violence, extremism and terrorism, anorexia and eating disorders, suicide, alcohol, and smoking. At first glance this seems beneficial. However, many Internet users with eating disorders, suicidal feelings or alcoholism can get useful and supportive advice on such sites.

WEB FORUMS TARGETED

Perhaps more surprising is the targeting of web forums in general.

Obviously it is important for children to be safe from strangers on online forums, but to cast the net so wide that it blocks adults seems absurd.

Internet discussion forums are a central part of the communication landscape, where comments are rarely censored purely for being controversial.

48 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

Most interesting, and most concerning, too, is the inclusion of “esoteric material”. This was first noticed by Open Rights Group, a British digital rights and civil liberties body. Open Rights Group claims that the list of filter keywords will be created behind closed doors, with no appeal mechanism. Instead it prefers an “opt-in” system, a model the ISPs before the government strong-armed them.

As with every crude tool of this type, some false positive results are certain. For instance, a cleaning company would be unamused at being caught in the censorship net purely for having the word “witch” in its name.

The conservative side of British politics frequently derides “the nanny state”. This term usually refers to the passing of laws that require people to be over-protected from their actions, or to cumbersome social engineering schemes intended to elicit a desired behaviour. Unfortunately, now that they are in government, Cameron and the Conservatives seem to be embracing nanny state policies.

In September 2013, the Liberal AUTUMN 2014

Democrats, government coalition partners with the Conservatives, voted against Web filtering at their annual conference. But this may do little to slow down Cameron’s plans.

SAFEGUARD FILTER OPERATIONAL

Already, there are signs of what to expect. British customers of the French telecommunications company Orange are finding that access to material on “Esoteric practices”, if associated with “Sects”, is already blocked via its Safeguard filter.

Holistic therapies, including spiritual healing, have been caught under the US Blue Coat web filtering system that substitutes the desired web page with the warning message “Alternative Spirituality/Belief”.

While sites targeted in this way can apply on a case-by-case basis to be exempted from the filter, there is no guarantee of success. And more fundamentally, it unfairly places the onus on a website to discover that it is being filtered. It then must provide strong argument for exclusion.

Looking at these examples, a pattern emerges in which spirituality is being treated as likely to be harmful, especially to younger people, when the opposite is true.

‘OPT-IN’ SYSTEM PREFERRED

One of the greatest risks is that this misguided filtering system could be replicated in other parts of the world. In Australia, on the eve of the 2013 election the Coalition expressed support for a British-style opt-out system. Hours later, in response to a social media backlash, it made a sudden back flip by calling for an opt-in filter.

Some of the strongest criticism AUTUMN 2014

Mainstream media groups have been conspicuously silent about the “esoteric” aspect of Cameron’s pet project. of esoteric censorship in Britain has come from pagans, Wiccans, reiki practitioners, civil liberties groups, and Internet freedom advocates.

A Change.org petition currently has 45,000 signatures, while another created with Avaaz has 18,000.

Yet without a stronger grassroots campaign, there are limited chances of overturning these plans, and mainstream media groups have been conspicuously silent about the “esoteric” aspect of Cameron’s pet project.

British users wanting an uncensored Internet will have to choose between un-ticking the boxes, using a proxy server, or switching to one of the small non-filtered ISPs such as Andrews and Arnold, which bluntly advised potential customers interested in a censored Internet to “pick a different ISP or move to North Korea”.

RESOURCES: Stop Esoteric Censorship in the UK www.stop-esoteric-censorship-uk. org Open Rights Group www.openrightsgroup.org Change.org petition chn.ge/19jkZST Avaaz petition bit.ly/170bGH1 Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based at Lismore, Northern NSW.

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 49

Psychic & Spiritual

HEAVEN IS SPEAKING: Can you hear it?

W

hen you look at the recent wave of books on near-death experiences, you have to wonder: is something going on?

These days we’ve gone beyond professional TV mediums such as Sylvia Browne, John Edward, and James Van Praagh. Now there’s neurosurgeon Dr Eben Alexander, author of Proof of Heaven, whose brush with the other side blew his scientific mind; Baptist minister 50 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

By PAMELA BLOOM, award-winning writer, inter-faith minister and intuitive counsellor-healer.

Don Piper whose 90 Minutes in Heaven records a near-fatal accident during which he blissed out in Heaven, but returned to Earth for a long, painful recovery; Zen master Lewis Richmond, whose Healing Lazarus accounts the astonishing tale of his shamanic-type hallucinations while in a coma; and then there’s Heaven is Real, the story of a four-year-old whose experiences with Jesus and the throne of God during traumatic surgery defied even his own father’s religious belief system.

And who can forget the beautiful young artist Akiane Kramarik, a true prodigy, who claims she regularly visits Heaven and paints it?

VISITS FROM CELEBRITIES

If I were the other side of these experiences, I might be raising an eyebrow, mainly because nobody reports having the same exact experience! But a few years ago, my friend Carla Flack and I jointly experienced a remarkable energetic “happening” that revealed the multiple possibilities AUTUMN 2014

of Heaven. As simply as I can put it, for seven weeks, Carla and I, in different cities, were “visited” by the same eight deceased celebrities, all of whom had something powerful to say.

Although not knowing why it was happening, we faithfully recorded their messages as well as the intense visceral experiences that accompanied them.

Their messages made us laugh and cry, and as we would soon discover, moved other people as well. The result is now a book titled Heaven Speaks: Interviews with Illuminated Souls.

How did it all start? With a joke, really. The great American newscaster Walter Cronkite had just died and Carla was telling me that her boyfriend had been wondering out loud what Walt’s first interview from heaven might be like. Carla and I laughed at the idea, then suddenly said, “Why not?” See, Carla and I are longstanding intuitives, and somehow the idea just grabbed us in the moment as fun. Since I was in New York and she was in Indiana, we promised to sit down at our computers that night and see if Walter might indeed be ready to talk.

INSIGHTS OF EACH LIFE

And boy, were we surprised!

When we compared notes the next morning, we realised the “voice” we each had received was extraordinarily similar. We had no idea where all of this was going, but during the next 49 days, we welcomed – jointly, although independently – a new arrival from Heaven each week. After Walter came Michael Jackson, then Abraham Lincoln, Albert AUTUMN 2014

We were ‘visited’ by… eight deceased celebrities, all of whom had something powerful to say Einstein, Paul Newman, Amelia Earhart, Walt Disney, and finally John Lennon. When we realised what we were being led to might be a book, we decided to hold in our heart one question each.

Because of the way I do healing and channeling work, I wanted to know what insights were gleaned from each life. In contrast, Carla wanted to know what the actual moments after passing were like.

Each week brought extraordinary new revelations. What astounded us were the unique voices that came through, and their singular perspectives. What really surprised us were the vivid, vibrational energy shifts laced with deep emotion we experienced with each being.

For instance, John Lennon, ever a visionary and a poet in his soul essence, made me cry just from the profundity of his spirit.

I think Carla loved Walt Disney the best, because his experiences after passing – of creative worlds within worlds within worlds – were simply extraordinary.

Abraham Lincoln shocked us with his take on the karmic relationship with his assassin. And we both LOVED Paul Newman. How your energy can still feel “sexy” after death is beyond me, but Carla and I agree: Paul has still got it. I mean, it was a VISCERAL experience!

Still, when people started reading book, we were surprised by their reactions. One woman in Washington state was so moved she bought 50 copies to give to

her friends. Three grown men told us they cried. (We love it, actually, when readers cry; I think Heaven Speaks reminds them of Home.)

Other readers have reported huge shots of joy. In fact, five women reported reading it out loud on a road trip!

MICHAEL’S NEW LYRICS

I have to say, whatever you think of Michael Jackson, I believe without a doubt, he is still transmitting that joyous explosion of musical energy from wherever he is. During our time with him, he even channeled to each of us a set of new lyrics for his hit Human Nature. And you know what? Yesterday I was in a grocery store when that song came on the radio: believe me, I took it as a message!

What I really love is that the book inspires readers to tell us about their own experiences of “from beyond the grave” stories and incidents they’ve been embarrassed to tell others. “Please don’t think I’m crazy” begins many of those conversations.

But as an intuitive and observer of culture and consciousness, I feel and believe these kinds of experiences are fast becoming our “human nature”. I believe we are entering times when the veils between dimensions are lifting.

Many of us are us are already living multi-dimensional lives: Penny Peirce in her book Leap of Perception calls this the Intuitive Age, and perhaps “multi-tasking” is just the mundane precursor to living in multi-layered perceiving.

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 51

With each being, we experienced vivid, vibrational energy shifts laced with deep emotion

EXTRACT FROM HEAVEN SPEAKS: Intimate Interviews with Illuminated Souls ABRAHAM LINCOLN

“If I were to do it over again?

Each era will have its own challenge and definition of victory. We are coming to the close of an age in which the old ideals no longer serve. There must be a growing consciousness that is beyond individual countries or borders in order to bring about a group consciousness that is supportive of the very earth we live on.

Peace at all costs can give rise to a fundamentalism that strikes terror at the heart of true peaceseeking men and women. Would that we would have leaders that see beyond the transparent violent nature of men and tap the very soul longings of all. It takes a man, or woman, in touch with his own soul to bring about this 52 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

victory. A rare commodity, but more and more are moving into the position where that is possible. That is the work we do over here, to prepare and propel those ready to take this stand…it is our only hope. “ “All in all, we must stop fighting brother against brother.

And in the current time, a new definition of this “brother” must be gained. Likewise, it is seen that no country can stand alone against all the earthly and ecological challenges affecting the planet. Crisis will cause those to gather together who in the past have been brutal enemies. While we do not support the disintegration of the physical earth plane, we do view the coming challenges as a divine manifestation, as a

Spiritualists believe spirits are not “over there” in Heaven, but are among us, interfacing with us on a daily basis. And why not?

Scientists are now cracking open codes to quantum fields, which could ultimately prove this is possible. For those of us learning to heal ourselves through changing our beliefs and perceptions, why should there not be intradimensional communication?

But why did celebrities visit us, you might ask? A disclaimer: in my past career (this life!) I used to be a well-known music critic in New York. I even interviewed Michael Jackson’s mother once, although never him. In fact, it was a surprise to me when John divine impulse for those together to gather in One Name. This shall be done with the help of great souls leading the masses.”

It shall be done because that is the Great Plan that we are learning of.

MICHAEL JACKSON

“If there is anything I can leave you with, it’s this: dance to your own tune. Dance to your own rhythm. And you will find that it will become a great choreography where nobody steps on each other’s toes. Nobody kills another because their rhythm did not match.

The vision I leave you with: I see a great dance number that includes every soul, every body on the planet. Even those of you who think you can’t dance who think you don’t have rhythm, you do! And as we come together, we hear the beginning beats, we start in a magnificent choreography, AUTUMN 2014

Lennon showed up because (to my regret now) I had never really been a Beatles fan either. But as Carla and I look back today on our “friends” and appreciate the fantastic cross-section of culture they represent – media, music, politics, science, theatre, adventure, entertainment and visionary empowerment – we wonder if it might have been Walter Conkrite, our first interview, who so skillfully brought us this lineup? If so, we cherish his choices because they each had something profound and fascinating to express, as they had in life.

To be honest, sometimes I call myself a sceptical intuitive because, as a past Buddhist (in

this life), I know how the mind can play tricks, how we can distort desire and perception.

So I leave the question open: Is Heaven Speaks real? For Carla and me, the experience definitely was real – in some realm. What I know for sure is that all of us are living in times where boundaries are dissolving, where the call for Oneness is getting louder, where everything not aligned with our true essence seems to be falling into chaos.

all together in the beginning, and then we break out. We watch each other do solos, then couples, then groups combine, inventing new steps, integrating old ones into new forms, spontaneous groups who have never met combine and create a step never heard or seen before, everyone applauds and laughs and then the little kids come up, with their newfangled steps and we all laugh and have cake and throw each other up in the air and we start again. We learn from each other in joy. We learn from each other in the rhythm of life. We learn from each other, our ear to each other’s hearts.

Yes, we can do this. Imagine, we wouldn’t even have TIME to start a war. We’d be dancing out heads off! “

through offering energetic inspiration or re-establishing inspiration already existing in the earth’s consciousness. This is done easily by flowing energy to songs or creations that already have a presence on your side. If you hear the song “Imagine” at a time that pops a spark of inspiration—I’m there. If you hear any song by the Beatles or have a phrase from a song that runs through your mind—I’m there.”

JOHN LENNON

“I do, however, still hold many connections to the earth plane AUTUMN 2014

TRUTH OF ONENESS

Could these kinds of experiences, such as Carla and I had in Heaven Speaks, be just one more way that truth in all its diversity

LAST WORDS THROUGH JOHN LENNON

On November 9, 2009, after receiving transmission from all participants, Pamela asked the group if anyone had anything else to add. It seemed the group wanted to respond as a whole, through the mouthpiece of John Lennon who “stepped forward” to eloquently represent them. Here, then, are their final words: “Our lives, as famous as they

is making itself known? That multi-layered, multi-dimensional, intra-communicable Truth of Oneness?

We leave that for you to decide. © 2014. Pamela Bloom. All rights reserved.

Heaven Speaks: Intimate Interviews with Illuminated Souls is available at Amazon.

For a free chapter, visit www.

HeavenSpeakstheBook.com.

Visit Pamela at her healing and intuitive councelling site: www.

SoulinBloom.net.

were, were not about accomplishments—that is, it was not the accomplishments that lingered in the soul; but rather, it was that point of contact, human to human, heart to heart, that lights the soul chain between us.

If you, Humanity, could look out onto yourselves and see the chain of existence, the web of lights, the destiny of souls, the sacrament of being, then there would be no wars, no poverty, no hunger, no lack. The web would find itself full of everything it needed.

Take our eyes from heaven and look down upon yourselves, as we see you.

It is, truly, the heaven on earth to behold.”

--The Group, through John Lennon, in Heaven Speaks: Intimate Interviews with Illuminated Souls © 2010 Carla Flack and Pamela Bloom. All rights reserved CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 53

Psychic & Spiritual

Are You Living an Empowered Life?

By REVEREND BENTE HANSEN

For three years, REVEREND BENTE HANSEN was privileged to channel the energy of Edgar Cayce to audiences in the Northeast of the US. Incorporating his wisdom, she gives recommendations for making changes and decisions leading to happier lives.

‘You must be the change you want to see in the world.’ – Ghandi who have trained in their Recently I spoke with respective fields, this often someone whose son has results in an inability to access been diagnosed with our inherent innermost knowing.

ADHD and had been This is especially true when this inner knowing relates to matters prescribed medication. of individual choice and freedom.

One day the boy shared his All too often when confronted by dark feelings about many the voice of perceived authority things. The medication it is easier to comply than to had helped calm his question. hyperactivity, yet he was Why is now the time to reclaim empowerment? We experiencing extremely are living in a time of constant uncomfortable thoughts change. Many formerly accepted and emotions. ‘truths’ have been found to be untrue. For example, for years When his parents took him society, have lost touch with we were told that it was perfectly back to the doctor, requesting our inner knowing. When safe for menopausal women that he be taken off his medicareclaiming empowerment we are to take Hormone Replacement tion, the doctor referred the boy merely tapping into an amazing Therapy. We now know there are to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist powerhouse of inner knowledge health risks involved! Given the assessed the boy and recomand guidance. We have always constant change and uncertainty mended an additional medication. been powerful; we have merely in our world ultimately we have At this stage both parents forgotten just how powerful we reclaimed their empowerment are. When listening to the wisdom no option but to be responsible for our own wellness and and said “No”. of our inner knowing we can step Reclaiming empowerment aside from the mental gymnastics wellbeing. This reclaiming is definitely a process; it involves is not always easy, especially of the mind and reconnect with becoming aware of, listening when confronted by authoritaour inner guidance system! to and responding to the inner tive figures. Yet now, more than

ever, is the time when it is most WE GIVE OUR POWER TO OTHERS knowing, or voice of wisdom.

Ghandi stated: “The outward appropriate and necessary for us Our society is structured in freedom that we shall attain will to do so. such a way that we continually only be in exact proportion to the What exactly does reclaiming give our power to others. We inward freedom to which we may empowerment mean? According trust and accept the diagnoses have grown at a given moment. to the Oxford Dictionary, the word of medical experts, the technical And if this is a correct view of “empower” means “give power to”. advice of computer technicians, freedom, our chief energy must Given our hectic lifestyles and and so on. be concentrated on achieving preference for using thinking While it is acceptable to trust to resolve life issues we, as a the expert knowledge of those reform from within.”

54 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

AUTUMN 2014

RESPOND TO THE INNER VOICE

It is possible in everyday situations to become more mindful of the intuitive inner voice. It means stepping out of the mind (or ego), responding to and following the “gut instinct”. Usually something either feels right or not right.

This feeling is often found within the body, especially in the solar plexus, heart or stomach area.

The more we listen to this inner voice and follow its guidance the easier life becomes!

Indications of disempowerment are evident when there are predominant feelings of futility, frustration, anger, resentment, judgment, irritation, depression and guilt. Life feels tough!

Indicators of empowerment include feeling calm, peaceful, having acceptance, being joyful,

compassionate, being in the flow.

There is a feeling of being balanced, or centred.

In reality, it’s normal to experience a mix of emotions on a daily basis. Where there is a predominance of the emotions associated with disempowerment then it would be beneficial to explore possibilities and strategies for reclaiming empowerment.

EMOTIONS HOLD THE KEY

Basically, our emotions indicate where we stand in terms of empowerment. It is not our thinking that holds the key to this awareness: it is our emotions!

The benefits of reclaiming empowerment are obvious.

• We eventually become responsible for all choices and decisions we make. Victimhood is no longer an option.

• We become empowered to choose wellness over ill health.

This does not mean we no longer listen to the advice given by people with specific skills.

Reclaiming empowerment means we have the freedom to choose whether or not to accept that advice.

• We become empowered to choose abundance over scarcity, happiness instead of misery.

• We learn to honour our inner knowing and intuitive wisdom.

Once accessed, understood and applied, empowerment results in all areas of life!

Bente Hansen is a medical intuitive, author, radio host and teacher. For more information visit www.edgarspeaks.com and www.dynamichealing.net

What if . . .

. . . Heaven Exists? . . . Life goes on after death? . . . Celebrities can communicate from the other side?

8 Celebrities: Walter Cronkite, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jackson, Amelia Earhart, John Lennon, Walt Disney, Paul Newman and Albert Einstein

1 Wealth of Knowledge Available at Amazon AUTUMN 2014

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 55

Short Sory

Vanquished

By CLAUDIO SILVANO

“Good morning, Vera.”

I willed the screen before me into transparency and, as it complied, Victor’s form materialised beyond it. It was our first meeting and the sight of him took my breath away.

We had been working towards this meeting, and I had been anticipating it for the better part of a decade, ever since the drone had detected the donor’s remains back on Old Earth. The extraction 56 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

of a usable sample had stolen four years from that decade, and another five were used up in the complexities of cloning and stem cell conversion. Take off another eighteen months for the Simulated Rapid-InductionProcess - Sim-RIP for short – and there you have it: the fully mature male who now stood before me.

It sounds like a long time, but truth was, it had been a rushed job.

I took a deep breath.

“Good morning, Victor,” I replied, only vaguely aware of the translator bot whirring away in Victor’s room. Oh yes, despite appearances we were in two separate rooms, divided by a single but very solid hyper-transparent wall. It had been deemed “safer” not to put me in the same room with him. I did not approve, but I was not in charge of this Re-Extant Program.

I was merely a buffer, the only AUTUMN 2014

safety net that stood between him and us. I had no say in anything other than how we could soften his landing into our reality.

The first thing that stood out as the screen faded was his eyes.

They were remarkable. Strong, clear and intense ... and kind.

He seemed amused, but I could not be sure.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked.

Victor did not answer immediately, taking a moment to look around first. When his gaze returned to rest upon me he answered.

“Lonely.”

I nodded.

This was hardly surprising.

The parameters of the Sim-RIP (I still think it’s an unfortunate acronym) allowed for nothing less than complete disclosure, a legal requirement - if not yet an ethical one. The status of all Re-Extant Programs was still being fought in the courts. Was it legal to clone someone who had been dead for thousands of years?

Even if it was in the service of the lofty ideals that had inspired the initial Re-Extant research?

This was why the whole process was being pushed through rather more rapidly than many would have liked. If the courts repealed our mandate - well, that could spell the end of the program; and maybe the end of Victor as well – but that was another matter, one that I preferred not to linger upon, if I could help it. If it ever came down to that, there was absolutely nothing I could do to prevent it.

The short of it was that Victor was well aware that he was the AUTUMN 2014

The first thing that stood out as the screen faded was his eyes. They were remarkable.

Strong, clear and intense ... and kind. only one of his kind. He knew where we had sourced him from and how long ago his donor had lived. He also knew that he was no longer on Old Earth.

No one was. Nothing lived there anymore.

My training kicked in.

“Does it help that you can talk with me?”

He tilted his head slightly.

“Yes,” he admitted at length, and then qualified, “a little.”

“I am glad to hear that, Victor.”

‘Victor’ was the name he had been given based on the simple fact that he represented the first successful completed delivery of any Re-Extant specimen. There were no precedents, although there had been many attempts.

There were also no precursors to my task, because an empath had never been required before now.

I too was a pioneer of sorts.

“Can you tell me what you remember?”

I swear that the corner of his mouth almost curled into a smile.

“Remember? You mean other than the incubation vats, the stasis chambers and the array of tubes and readouts that reflected on the visors of the team that induced me?”

I had not known that it was even possible for him to remember all that, so I had to improvise.

“Yes, beyond all that,” I stumbled.

He looked at me.

But no, listen! I mean, he really LOOKED at me.

Unblinking, intense, as though simply by looking he could reach into my core.

“I can smell the earth,” came the startling reply.

I felt like I had side-stepped from a smooth polished floor into a deep mud pool.

He, who had never been near any earth, was telling me – who had also never had that pleasure – that he could smell it.

Why was my heart racing?

“I was not aware that earth had a smell,” I replied, masking my reaction.

He nodded, his eyes laughing.

“I remember … what it is like to bask in the sun, to bathe in the river. I remember the wind and the floods, the sand dunes and the dust storms. I remember the long nights filled with stars and the deep blue days. It is all coming back to me now. I am remembering all of it.”

I nodded, biding my time.

“How do you think that might have happened?” I asked eventually, impersonating the reasonable voice of logic. “You have never been to Old Earth. Are these perhaps visual remnants from the Sim-RIP?” He shook his head slowly.

“No…” he whispered, and then more firmly, “No! I remember what I was shown in the induction and none of it was very sensory, not in the way this is …”

He began to sway slightly from side to side, as if he was hearing a melody. When he turned his CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 57

A rush of images, of sensations and sounds, poured into my mind and filled my eyes.

And I saw: the cruelty, the chains, the slavery, the living conditions and then the massacre eyes back to me he didn’t stop swaying, but continued to do so unselfconsciously.

“You have not been there either, have you, to Old Earth? No, of course you haven’t, you’d be dead if you had…”

His expression became unfocussed and dreamy for a time before he spoke again.

“I am remembering … unsettling things...”

“Really?” I prodded, trying not to sound alarmed. “What kind of things?”

“Well, for one thing, the fact that your people have always been my people’s worst enemy” This was so unexpected that it stumped me. There was no reproach or condemnation, his tone was even, almost contemplative.

“What do you mean?”

“You have short memories, like victors everywhere always seem to have. Even your inductions have shown me that. It seems that it is always up to the vanquished to keep the memory of past oppression alive, so that the sacrifices of the dead are not forgotten or denied.”

This was not going down any anticipated path. I had to try and wrest back some control over this exchange.

“Victor, what are you saying?

We are the ones who have brought you back from the dead.

We are not your enemy!”

I said this like I believed it, because believe it I did.

58 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

I had spent half my life working for this moment, my focus on this Re-Extant Program and the salvation of his people, to bring them back from the void.

And now he was accusing us of being his enemy? He was accusing me?

“One thing that you used to say about us is that we had exceptional memories, that we never forgot anything. But let me tell you, you did not know the half of it.

The memories of my ancestor, the one you prefer to refer to as my ‘donor’, are now becoming mine…”

He paused, pressing his eyes closed.

“I see how you hunted us down. How you slaughtered us to satisfy your whim and sate your greed. I see how you imprisoned us, enslaved us and tortured us. How you separated us from each other, destroying our great families, pushing us relentlessly towards extinction. You killed us all. It was genocide, Vera, do you know that? Always … always you considered yourselves the superior beings, because of the things you created with your minds and with your hands, the same things that eventually brought about the destruction of all life on Old Earth, the annihilation of all that sustained even you.”

I was silent. There was nothing I could say for I truly had no idea what he was talking about. The specimen that we had collected from his don … from his ancestor,

dated back more than eight thousand years – that was so far in the darkness of pre-history … and the truth was that I could not tell if he had a real link back to that time or if something had gone terribly wrong with the Sim-RIP. I had no way of knowing.

He stood up then and came towards me, and I must confess that despite the wall separating us, the wall meant to protect me, I became frightened. But he made no attempt to attack me. Instead he came right up to the wall and rested his forehead against the transparent surface, maybe just to let me know that he had been aware of its presence all along.

“Another thing I gleaned, during the induction … you have made some really tremendous advances in communication, have you not?” He did not wait for an answer but pressed right on.

“That is why we are able to talk, you and I.” After a pause he continued.

“I have a question for you, Vera.

Do you want to see the truth?” he asked. “Would you risk it?”

He waited for a bit while I hesitated, unsure of what he was asking of me.

“If you would, then come here… rest your forehead against the other side of this barrier. Even with the wall between us the receptor implants in your frontal lobes will allow you to link with me … and then I will be able to show you, directly.”

He was right, of course. Yet why was I so terrified? I knew that I was in no physical danger.

Did I already believe him, on some level, even before he showed me anything? Was there perhaps already somewhere deep inside of AUTUMN 2014

me a hidden memory that corroborated what he had told me?

I was terrified, but the need to know was greater.

I stood up and walked the short distance that separated us.

I looked into his eyes and then rested my head against the wall, opposite his.

A rush of images, of sensations and sounds, poured into my mind and filled my eyes. And I saw: the cruelty, the chains, the slavery, the living conditions and then the massacres. I counted the dead by the hundreds, by the thousands and then by the tens of thousands; until the earth was strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying. I saw babies torn from their mothers, partners from each other, sibling from sibling, and I felt such an explosion of pain and fear and grief that tears began to spill from my eyes and I could not stifle the anguished sob that arose in my throat.

I saw it all and yet I could not could never have - pulled away.

To do so would have been the ultimate betrayal.

To bring him back from oblivion to experience being the last of his kind and then refuse to look at the truth he offered me, that I could not do!

“Vera,” he said, and his voice was gentle, so compassionate that it made me weep all the more. “Your people did not see us for who we truly were. You did not see the magnitude of our hearts. You did not recognise our speech or the reach of our awareness. You thought of yourselves as the greater intelligence. You saw only what you chose to see at the expense of all else...”

He tilted his head to one side AUTUMN 2014

a little.

“And yet … not entirely true … a few among you did actually see us. But not many, mind you.

Certainly not enough to make any real difference, just a drop in the ocean of humanity. The voices of those few were lost and their calls were not heeded. Yet with those few we did commune as we would have done with all of you, had you given us the chance.

Instead we died out, and with us, you also died a little, even if you did not know it at the time.”

He lowered his head, and I lowered mine to stay with him and not break our terrible, wonderful link.

“So you see, Vera, I am not Victor. I am Vanquished. That name suits me better. It is more appropriate and more accurate; much more honest.”

“I am so sorry,” I said, feeling stupid and useless and arrogant and lost.

I lost count of the number of times I repeated those words.

I stayed there, against that wall, linked with him until they came for me, and pried me away from our link with gentle fingers.

-oOoI do not care about the details.

I am not saying anything in order to boast.

But when they called me to the Tribunal as a witness in favour of the Re-Extant Program, they said that it was my testimony alone that turned the tables. The program received the Tribunal’s blessing as a result, for mine had been the only testimony based on an actual, direct experience with one of his kind.

I saw Victor again when I went to tell him the news and to inform him that he would not be alone for much longer.

After I informed him of the outcome in a room without barriers , he caressed my cheek ever so gently and tears began to stream from his eyes. They ran unchecked, staining his coarse grey skin black. I reached across and touched the wet trail.

He noticed my surprise.

“You did not know?” he asked me kindly.

“Just like you, we elephants also weep.”

The Author of Vanquished, Claudio Silvano, is a shamanic practitioner based at Bedfordale, a suburb in the hills near Perth Western Australia. His writing focuses on spirituality and entertainment, meaning that his intention is always to nourish the soul while distracting the mind.He is the author of the fantasy novel Illiom, Daughter of Prophecy and is currently finalising its sequel, Keys of Awakening.

Claudio and his beautiful wife Sa offer a smorgasbord of wonderful events for those who are seeking awakening and liberation from cyclic suffering. www. sacredradiance.net For more information on Claudio’s written works and also to download free stories please visit www.claudiosilvano.net Contact: 0403 699 479, awake@sacredradiance.net CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 59

60 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

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BOOK REVIEWS

SENSITIVE PERMACULTURE – CULTIVATING THE WAY OF THE SACRED EARTH

Author: Alanna Moore Publisher: Python Press ISBN: 978-0-9757762-2-7 www.pythonpress.com Sensitive Permaculture is in so many ways a “how to garden with sensitivity” guide book. Going into considerable and interesting detail, Moore takes us into a new concept for gardening and developing the land based on age old, timeless cultivation practices which work closely with, and stay in tune with, the Earth and the Earth vibration.

She has spent more than 26 years working as a geomancer, balancing subtle energies and in this book she shares her immense knowledge about land care and planning to help you create what is, should and can be a place on your patch of Earth that will bring peace, joy and harmony into your life.

THE NEW PLANETARY REALITY: THE COMING AVATARA AND THE NINE PATHS TO ENLIGHTENMENT

Author: Imre Vallyon Publisher: Sounding – Light Publishing Ltd ISBN: 978-0-909038-65-6 www.soundlight.com In this controversial work, Imrye Vallyon challenges many concepts upon which modern religious beliefs are based, when he introduces the topic of the coming Avatara, what this is and why and how it will affect and influence the ages to come.

All recognised religions are cognisant with Avatara as a spiritual entity in that Avatara translates to coming (down) or emerging from a spiritual realm as a means of teaching.

Avatara has taken the human form of Jesus Christ, The Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed and Moses to name a few.

According to Vallyon the next Avatara to come to Earth will not be like the previous influences. Instead, it will be more of an energy vibration, and our world, in totality, has spent AUTUMN 2014

by JANET MAWDESLEY

many years in evolution to be able to accept this new vibration.

Thought provoking, this is a challenging thesis that poses as many questions as it does answers. Well worth the read.

NO GOODBYES

Author: Barry Eaton Publisher: Allan & Unwin ISBN: 978-1-74331695-5 www.allenandunwin.com.au When Barry Eaton writes it is so very definitely worth the read. In No Goodbyes he elaborates further on the information he shared in his first book, Afterlife.

He has divided No Goodbyes into specific areas that relate directly to what comes next and what happens once we leave this “mortal coil”. He does this through the medium of some very powerful, insightful and interesting individuals who’ve definitely left us and are now enjoying taking their time of sharing the next step. For the reader, as with all books of this ilk, what you need will be given, what you understand will be your journey.

THE GIFT WITHIN

By Margie Kugler Publisher: Balboa Press ISBN: 978-1-4525-7298-4 www.balboapress.com When Margie Kugler was diagnosed with an illness that was largely undiscovered, she had absolutely no idea of the journey she was about to undertake. As Margie’s illness progressed the massive steps she had to undertake were documented in a series of daily notes or reflections in the form of poetry written as a sharing, a thanksgiving and as a way of often reminding herself that this is how things were meant to be, and that she would survive and conquer.

As well as being an informative record, The Gift Within is an offering to those who are facing any personal challenges. Her words reach out with love and understanding, bringing with them some time and space for reflection

and healing in your own life journey.

SILENCE YOUR MIND

Author: Ramesh Manocha M.D Publisher: Hachette Australia 978-0-7336-2877-1 www.hatchette.com.au Do you have a mind that simply won’t be still, chattering day and night, and making your life somewhat tiresome, especially when you are trying to settle down to sleep?

In Dr Manocha’s wonderfully concise look at the busy mind we learn what stimulates this mental chatter and how to slow it down to the point where mental silence is achieved.

In a scientific and well-trialed approach to meditation Dr Manocha, has documented the causes of so much of the mental chatter and the meditation solution that can quiet the mind.

Dr Manocha has included a simple, easy-topractice meditation guide which when embraced will allow you to still your mind, eventually at will, and in doing so unleash your full potential.

Contradictory, maybe; Effective, very!

FROM GRIEF TO GODDESS – HEALING THE WOUNDED WOMAN

By Jude Garrecht Publisher: AD Publishing 978-0-9923983-0-9 www.fromgrieftogoddess.com When Judith Garrecht’s relationship of 14 years came to a sudden and shattering end, she was plunged into a world of grief far deeper and more painful than she would previously have thought possible.

It brought back memories, filled her with sadness, yet also taught her that grief is at times required. Unpleasant and as terrible as it is, going through the grief allows growth to continue.

From Grief to Goddess is a useful resource for dealing with our own grief. And the set of healing cards are a delight and can be used whenever you need a little encouragement to deal with your own journey towards the Goddess in you.

CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91 61

BOOK REVIEWS

NOCTURNES Artist: Dan Chadburn Distributor: DanChadburn.com www.CDBaby.com Drifting effortlessly out of the ether, Nocturnes takes you to a place of soothing relaxation. Shades of the softness of the night grace the notes, offering a time for dreaming, reflecting and pondering of things to come and have passed.

In the mind’s eye, Chadburn is playing just for you, sitting in the shadows at his piano, and enticing you to take your days ease, to drift gently into subconscious reflection.

RIVER SERENE Artist: Timothy Wenzel Distributor: www.CDBaby.com As you drift though the music, there is the distinct feeling of a man who is at peace, and at one with his music. Notes seemingly flow from his fingers through the medium of the keyboard. Fascinating, drifting to the level

by JANET MAWDESLEY

where it becomes difficult to separate the creator from the music – all is one, one is all.

Captured is a sense of peace, of harmony in his surroundings, and the mellow almost hypnotic essence of the timelessness of the river, ever flowing onward to the sea?

Somewhere in the developmental process, the touch of alchemy is added, magic that gives creation form and shape. Certainly, River Serene is Wenzel’s best release to date.

DREAMING TIME Artist: Forrest East Distributor: www.CDBaby www.forrestsmithson.com IF you are searching for a collection of music or sonic vibrations with which to meditate and help you with connectivity, Dreaming Time is it.

Deliberately created to work with sonic vibration, Dreaming Time is divided into four collections or albums with the specific purpose of encouraging the heart- mind

NEW RELEASES BY ARTISTS Performing Live at the Conscious Living Festival RITURNELLA Artist: Kavisha Mazzella www.kavisha.com This is a beautiful collection of Italian folk songs from the 1400s onwards. Here, Kavisha Mazzella has returned to a collection of songs she heard many years ago on a friend’s cassette player that ultimately lead to her work with I Papaveri and La Voce Della Luna. These songs of love and loss from all over Italy are rendered starkly and exquisitely with Kavisha accompanying herself with some very fine guitar and mandolin work. ( reviewed by Paul Barr Readings, Book and Music) .

See Kavisha at the Conscious Living Festival in Melbourne April 25-27

THE CALL Artist: Chris James Available for Mp3 download only. www.chrisjames.net This epic album, strong and tender combines the amazing voice of Chris James with the delicate echoes of ancient times together with modern musical elements. The Call invites you to participate as

62 CONSCIOUS LIVING MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

vibration to allow the listener to embrace the moment, open up, and become receptive.

Deep and not for the faint hearted, this concept in sound will encourage you to travel in mind and spirit to those places you choose to enter.

SOUNDTRACK TO LIFE Artists: Cosmo Frequency Distributor: www.cosmofrequency.com Rich, full bodied all encompassing and tuned in to engage the listener to the vibe and frequency for positive influences. Not bad for one lil’ ol’ CD, but that’s the truth.

Right from the vocal introduction reminiscent of War of the World, the music takes you off into another realm with The Gift.

You, in spite of your better efforts will find yourself mentally striding down a pathway into the future.

This is one for relaxing into. Using it in the background, allow the music to take you where it will.

it calls to your inner being, awakening you on a cellular level, leaving you feeling alive and inspired, opening your heart. A sensory feast for the soul!

When you listen to “The Call”, allow yourself to listen to it in its entirety, allow the awakening call to be heard, “with our opening, and return.”

Music and Lyrics by Chris James as inspired by words from Serge Benhayon.

See Chris James at the Conscious Living Festival Melbourne April 25-27 and Sydney May 23-25

SHOW US THE WAY OF THE HEART Artist: Chad Wilkins http://chadwilkinsmusic.com Show Us the Way of the Heart is a delightful album that takes you on a journey with self. As you sit and relax listen to the lyrics you’ll find yourself feeling uplifted with the melodic and upbeat tempo.

Then it shifts as Chad’s exquisite guitar playing lulls you into a meditative state as the tune harmonises with flute and other instruments to fill your senses. This album would make a great addition to your musical library.

See Chad Wilkins at the Conscious Living Festival May23-25 in Sydney

AUTUMN 2014

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