Natural Awakenings of Western Mass - Oct 2013 Issue

H E A L T H Y

L I V I N G

H E A L T H Y

feel good • live simply • laugh more

Putting the Brakes on

P L A N E T

FREE

CLIMATE CHANGE

We Still Have Time

Hiking with a Higher Purpose A Literal Path to Greater Heights

ENERGY HEALING

Gains Acceptance in Mainstream Medicine

What’s Your Tree?

Julia Butterfly

October 2013 | Western Mass Edition | NAWestMA.com natural awakenings

October 2013

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A DV E RTO R I A L

Natural Iodine Supplementation A Must for Most Americans

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e all need iodine, yet most of us don’t get enough of it through our diet. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that iodine deficiency in the developed world has increased fourfold in the past 40 years and now affects nearly three-quarters of all adults.

Numerous U.S. practicing physicians quoted widely in the media estimate that the incidence of hypothyroidism in our adult population may be between 30 and 70 percent.

Thus, we can’t efficiently produce the thyroid hormones that serve as chemical messengers triggering nearly every bodily function. The presence or absence of iodine affects our every cell.

Be Aware of Hypothyroidism Symptoms Low thyroid function, or hypothyroidism, is the most recognized and obvious indicator of low iodine intake because the thyroid gland contains more concentrated iodine than other organs.

Symptoms can range from extreme fatigue and weight gain to depression, carpal tunnel syndrome, high blood pressure, fibrocystic breasts and a variety of skin and hair problems.

Hypothyroidism can further cause infertility, joint pain, heart disease and stroke.

Low iodine levels also have been associated with breast and thyroid cancers. In children, insufficient iodine has been strongly linked with mental retardation, deafness, attention deficient and hyperactivity disorder and impaired growth, according to studies by Boston University, China’s Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and France’s National Academy of Medicine.

The answer is simple: Taking the right kind of iodine in the right dosage can rebalance thyroid function and restore health to the thyroid and the whole body.

Your Thyroid Needs Protection!

Natural Awakenings Detoxified Iodine Can Provide the Protection You Need

Almost everyone is routinely exposed to iodine-depleting radiation emitted by cell phones, WI-FI and microwave ovens.

Proper iodine supplementation with a high-quality product like Natural Awakenings DETOXIFIED IODINE can prevent harm by protecting the thyroid and restoring proper hormone production.

Iodine replacement has been reported to give relief from: • Depression • Fibromyalgia • Hyperthyroidism • Hypothyroidism

• Weight Gain • Low Energy • Radiation • Bacteria & Viruses

Don’t delay, order yours today!

Available only at: NAWebstore.com Or call: 888-822-0246 $20 for a 4-6 week supply SPECIAL SHIPPING - $5•up to 8 bottles

Wholesale pricing available to stores and practitioners

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Natural Awakenings Detoxifed Iodine is 100 percent natural, raw iodine in an ethyl alcohol solution. We thank all those that are benefiting from this product and enthusiastically telling us their great results.  Available only at NAWebstore.com  My wife, who suffered from extreme fatigue and other symptoms, saw a dramatic increase in energy after just a few days of taking the natural iodine drops. Now if she misses a day, she’ll end up falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon, like she used to do before taking the iodine. It works! ~ Aaron My doctor told me that I had a hypothyroid condition, prescribed medication and was happy with the follow-up test results, yet I noticed no positive effects on my overall wellbeing. Within two weeks of using the Natural Awakenings Detoxified Iodine, I had more energy, felt more awake and enjoyed clearer thinking and greater peace of mind. People even comment that I look younger. I am a fan! ~ Larry

Reasons Behind Iodine Deficiency Radiation: Almost everyone is routinely exposed to iodine-depleting radiation emitted by cell phones, Wi-Fi, microwave ovens and other electronic devices.

Iodized table salt: The human body cannot utilize the iodine added to this product.

Low-sodium diets: Failure to use healthy salts to fulfill sodium requirements, plus overuse of zero-nutrient table salt in foods, leads to iodine depletion.

Bromine: This toxic chemical overrides iodine’s abilities to nourish the thyroid, adrenal and other hormone-producing glands.

A known carcinogen, it is used as an anticaking ingredient found in almost all baked goods, unless the ingredients specifically cite unbromated flour.

Iodine-depleted soils: Due to poor farming techniques, iodine and other minerals in soil have declined, so most foods today are devoid of naturally occurring iodine.

Proper iodine supplementation with a high-quality product like Natural Awakenings Detoxified Iodine can prevent harm by protecting the thyroid and other endocrine glands and restoring proper hormone production.

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newsbriefs healthbriefs ecotip globalbriefs wisewords consciouseating greenliving healingways practitioner profiles naturalpet inspiration calendar resourceguide classifieds

advertising & submissions HoW to adVertise To advertise with Natural Awakenings or request a media kit, please contact us at 413-234-0024 or email Publisher@NAWestMA.com. Deadline for ads: the 10th of the month. editorial sUbMissioNs Email articles, news items and ideas to: Publisher@NAWestMA.com. Deadline for editorial: feature articles are due by the 5th of the month, news briefs and health briefs are due by the 10th. caleNdar sUbMissioNs Submit Calendar Events online at NAWestMA.com within the advertising section.

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Natural awakenings is your guide to a healthier, more balanced life. In each issue readers find cutting-edge information on natural health, nutrition, fitness, personal growth, green living, creative expression and the products and services that support a healthy lifestyle.

13 QiGoNG iNcreases loNGeVitY

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by John P. McCann, LMT

14 aNcestral diets A Lighter Shade of Paleo

by Sayer Ji and Tania Melkonian

16 easiNG eartH’s risiNG FeVer

The Right Steps Now Can Avert the Worst of It

by Christine MacDonald

20 sHoP WitH tHe

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PlaNet iN MiNd Daily Choices Help Counter Climate Change

by Christine MacDonald

22 eNerGY HealiNG coMes oF aGe

A Historic Milestone in Complementary Medicine

by Linda Sechrist

24 starrY-eYed Kids Clear Skies, Cool Nights Open Vast Vistas

by Randy Kambic

25 ParrotiNG

a Wild diet Fresh Forage Feeds Birds Well

by Sandy Lender

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26 treKKiNG as PilGriMaGe

A Literal Path to Personal Growth

by Sarah Todd

27 all tHe tiMe

iN tHe World

Transforming Anxiety into Artistry

by Marney K. Makridakis

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letterfrompublisher

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contact us Publisher Carrie Kennedy advertising sales Carrie: 413-234-0024 editorial Martin Miron design & Production C. Michele Rose Stephen Blancett Multi-Market advertising 239-449-8309 Franchise sales John Voell 239-530-1377 Natural Awakenings of Western Mass P.O. Box 10275, Holyoke, MA 01041 Phone: 413-234-0024 Fax: 413-425-8367 Publisher@NAWestMA.com NAWestMA.com facebook.com/pages/ Natural-Awakenings-of-Western-Mass

love trees! All kinds of trees; some of my favorite are birch, oaks, maples and dogwoods. I would love to see more trees, especially in our urban areas of western Massachusetts. It would make the fall changes even more spectacular. I love how our area looks in October. Is it politically correct to still call this time Indian Summer? If it is not, then maybe we should have a contest to rename this time of year.

And yes, I did have the opportunity to hang out in a tree this summer. I climbed up a couple of levels with some smaller friends that followed. The other adults were not too keen on trying it out, but they certainly got a kick out of seeing us up there.

I have known people who have lived in a tree, just during the summer months. I remember visiting his tree that resided in the Leverett area. It was a nice tree. A little bit too small for my taste, but I was impressed that someone would be willing to stay in it for that long.

That brings me to Julia Butterfly’s article by Judith Fertig, “The Power of One.” Julia lived in a redwood for a little over two years. The outcome of that adventure stopped a logging company to protect the redwood grove instead of cutting it down. How remarkable is that?

Some of the other inspiring articles in this October issue of Natural Awakenings include Christine MacDonald’s “Easing Earth’s Rising Fever, The Right Steps Now Can Avert the Worst of it.” MacDonald shares 350.org’s opposition to the planned Keystone XL pipeline. And best of all, that if we can stop the combustion of fossil fuels and endless consumption, then there is a chance for the next generation to figure out what the landing is going to be.

MacDonald also has another article, “Shop with the Planet in Mind,” in which she shares how our daily choices help to counter climate change. I used to have a bumper sticker that I loved. It was a view of the Earth from space that simply said, “Love your mother.” Haven’t found another one like it.

Enjoy the gratitude for the fall colors. I also have gratitude for our valued advertisers. Please support their products and services, tell them you found them through us and let them know how much you appreciate their making this free magazine possible.

Applause to the most wonderful spectacle of the changing of the leaves. Take time to catch a falling one before it hits the ground!

Smiling with the changes,

©2013 by Natural Awakenings. All rights reserved.

Although some parts of this publication may be reproduced and reprinted, we require that prior permission be obtained in writing.

Natural Awakenings is a free publication distributed locally and is supported by our advertisers. It is available in selected stores, health and education centers, healing centers, public libraries and wherever free publications are generally seen. Please call to find a location near you or if you would like copies placed at your business.

We do not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the articles and advertisements, nor are we responsible for the products and services advertised. We welcome your ideas, articles and feedback.

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Natural Awakenings is printed on recycled newsprint with soybased ink.

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Carrie Kennedy, Publisher

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises. ~Pedro calderón de la barca

newsbriefs Rays of Hope Walk Celebrates 20 Years

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pringfield hosts the annual Rays of Hope Walk on October 20, in support of breast health in western Massachusetts.

Since 1994, Rays of Hope has raised more than $11 million, all of which has remained in our communities.

The Run Toward the Cure 8K fun run will begin at 10:15 a.m., and Walk participants step off at 10:30 a.m. Runners and walkers sign up online and can create a personal web page where they can raise funds for Rays of Hope, as well as offline.

The Pink Hope Lounge, sponsored by The Walking Company, welcomes breast cancer survivors inside for special treats, and then the 2013 Survivors’ photo shoot takes place at 10 a.m.

The Walk in Springfield begins at Temple Beth El, on Dickinson Street, where large tents, pink balloons, music, colorful flags and a festive, hopeful atmosphere welcome participants. Local businesses and services offer information and giveaways in the exhibitor tent. The food tent offers wonderful treats at a low cost, with all proceeds benefiting Rays of Hope. The Rays of Hope Store sells themed merchandise.

Free shuttle service will be in operation. Handicapped parking is available at Temple Beth El. Pets are prohibited. Location: Rays of Hope, 280 Chestnut St., Springfield, MA. For more information, visit Tinyurl.com/RaysOfHopeWalk.

Peaked Mountain 2013 Birthday Run

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he 10th annual Peaked Mountain Commemorative 1.5mile Fun Walk and 7K Trail Race will be held at 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., October 6, respectively, in Monson. Pack a picnic and celebrate Peaked Mountain’s birthday after the race/walk with birthday cake, refreshments and live music

by Peter Newland. The first 50 runners to register will receive free long-sleeve T-shirts. Registration begins at 9 a.m.

The course starts and finishes at the Peaked Mountain entrance, with a figureeight loop around the mountain and Miller Forest Tract on woods road, singletrack trail and pavement. Terrain includes steep incline to start, decline and then gently rolling-to-flat toward the finish.

Cost: Walk: $20. Race: $25 preregistered; $30 onsite. Register at TheTrustees.org/ things-to-do/pioneer-valley/peaked-birthday-run.html. For more information, call 413-532-1660 ext. 21 or email JKnox@ttor.org.

Discounted Private Yoga Sessions

by J. Vecchia

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anet, “J.” Vecchia, co-owner of Ingleside Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, is offering a great fall discount of $50 for a one-hour private yoga session ($100 value).

J. Vecchia Vecchia, a certified (E-RYT -500) yoga teacher with the national Yoga Alliance, explains, “Private yoga sessions are extremely valuable for students that are new to yoga to introduce them to the practice and awaken their innate potential prior to attending a class; beneficial to recover from an injury or help to live with more ease, possibility and less pain from a chronic physical, emotional or mental condition; and are wonderful for building courage and selfconfidence to delve more deeply into poses that we want to become more skilled at or are having challenges with in unfolding.”

Location: 415 Ingleside St., Holyoke, MA. Sign up for private session by Oct. 31 for discount. For more information, call 413-313-5769 or visit MassageTherapYoga.com.

See ad, page 6. natural awakenings

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newsbriefs

Shopping With a Conscience

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he fourth annual Fiber Festival of New England, sponsored by the Eastern States Exposition and the New England Sheep and Wool Growers Association, will take place November 2 and 3 at Mallory Complex at the Eastern State Exposition.

There will be alpacas, bunnies and yarn—all kinds of yarn: angora, wool and cotton. Sheep Shares (just like just food shares) Julie Mehmel from will be available, too. Just pick a New Hartford, CT special sheep and colors of yarn.

Visitors will enjoy demonstrations, workshops, fashion shows and vendors like FoxFire Fiber & Design, from Springdale Farm, New England Felting Supply, from Easthampton, and Wool & Dye Works, from Florence.

n environmentally and socially conscious shopping seminar, Shopping with a Conscience, will be presented by Dr. Ellis Jones, author of The Better World Shopping Guide, from 6 to 9 p.m., October 10, at Genesis Spiritual Life and Conference Center.

Jones will speak about his research and how to shop to make a difference. A scholar of social responsibility, global citizenship and everyday activism, he continues to teach and give presentations across the country. He also co-authored the book, The Better World Handbook: Small Changes That Make A Big Difference (BetterWorldHandbook.com), with Ross Haenfler, Ph.D. and Brett Johnson, Ph.D., winner of Spirituality & Health’s Best Book of the Year Award for 2001 in the category of Hope. Jones teaches at Holy Cross College in Worcester.

The related BetterWorldShopper.org is dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the on the planet and making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives.

Location: 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield, MA. For more information, call 413-737-2443, email Info@TheBigE. com or visit TheBigE.com.

Cost is $40/$25 for students, including dinner. Location: 53 Mill St., Westfield, MA For more information or to register, call 413-562-3627 or visit GenesisSpiritualCenter.org.

Tangle with the Fiber Festival in West Springfield

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Jonathan Stein Joins Northampton Naturopathic Associates

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onathan Stein, MA, RDT, CPT, is now practicing with Northampton Naturopathic Associates. He holds a master’s degree in Jonathan Stein counseling and psychology from Lesley University and is certified as a transpersonal psychotherapist by the Theravision Institute and as a registered drama therapist by the Omega Theater, in Boston.

Stein, a contributing author of the award-winning anthology, The Heart and Soul of Psychotherapy, works with individuals, couples, groups, men and young adults. His treatment philosophy and approach include elements that integrate body, mind, emotions, spirit, body-centered and eco-therapy approaches. He also practices creative arts therapies, including drama therapy, dance therapy and revelation mask therapy.

He states, “My exciting work is informed by over two-and-a-half decades of clinical experience and formal education in the fields of holistic (transpersonal) psychotherapy, creative arts therapy (specifically drama, dance and visual arts), body-mind integration, conscious relating, therapeutic breath work, creative visualization, non-violent communication, re-evaluation counseling, meditation and mindfulness and eco-psychology, an emerging field that weaves together ecological, psychological, political and spiritual principles.”

Women’s Health Lecture and Open House

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he Counseling & Gynecology Group will present a free lecture at 5:30 p.m., October 17, in Longmeadow, on the significance of BRCA testing for cancer gene mutations, bioidentical hormones, menopause and breast thermography.

Speakers include women’s health experts Dr. Max Chorowski, a board certified gynecologist, and Jenifer Fleming, a nurse practitioner. Also speaking will be Laura Kaplan, who will relate her personal story about the importance of BracAnalysis testing.

The lecture is geared towards women of all ages and will address questions such as How does my family cancer history affect me and should I be tested for the BRCA gene? What are bio-identical hormones and are they appropriate for me?

How can I treat menopause naturally? What is breast thermography and is it really painless?

Admission is free. Location: 175 Dwight Rd., Ste. 103, Longmeadow. Catered refreshments will be served. RSVP by calling 413-567-9355 ext. 0. Those that preregister may receive a free bone density screening. For more information, visit gyngroup.com. See ad, page 5.

kudos The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution designating October 7 to 13 as Naturopathic Medicine Week.

The resolution recognizes the value of naturopathic medicine in providing “safe, effective, and affordable health care...” and encourages Americans to learn about the role of naturopathic physicians in preventing chronic and debilitating conditions.

Passage of the resolution is an historic achievement for naturopathic medicine, because Congress has officially recognized the important role naturopathic medicine plays in effectively addressing the nation’s health care needs, as well as in addressing an increasingly severe shortage of primary care physicians.

For more information, visit Naturopathic.org.

Location: 30 King St. Northampton.

For more information, call 413-587-0100 or visit NorthamptonNaturopathic.com.

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healthbriefs

Acupuncture’s Growing Acceptance

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ne in 10 American adults has received acupuncture at least once and nearly half of them say they are “extremely” or “very” satisfied with their treatment, according to a survey sponsored by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Sixty percent of survey respondents readily accepted the idea of acupuncture as a treatment option, and 20 percent have used other forms of Oriental medicine, including herbs and Chinese bodywork.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day is observed on Oct. 24. For more information, visit aomday.org.

More Plastics, More Obese Kids

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causal link between the worldwide epidemic of childhood obesity and phthalates commonly used in soft plastics, packaging and many personal care products is becoming more evident. A Korean study from Sanggye Paik Hospital at the Inje University College of Medicine, in Seoul, shows that the risk of childhood obesity increases with the level of DEHP (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate) in the bloodstream.

The study indicates that phthalates may change gene expression associated with fat metabolism. DEHP in particular is a suspected endocrine disruptor, or hormone-altering agent. Children with the highest DEHP levels were nearly five times more likely of being obese than children with the lowest levels. The scientists studied 204 children ages 6 to 13, of whom 105 were obese.

A chemical commonly used to soften plastics, DEHP is found in some children’s toys, as well as myriad household items. Phthalates can be found in pacifiers, plastic food packaging, medical equipment and building materials like vinyl flooring. Personal care products such as soap, shampoo and nail polish may also contain phthalates.

Dulse Seaweed a Heart Health Powerhouse

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ulse (palmaria palmata), a protein-rich red seaweed, could become a new protein source to compete with current protein crops like soybeans, according to scientists at Ireland’s Teagasc Food Research Centre. Dulse harvested from October to January usually has the highest protein content.

This functional food also contributes levels of essential amino acids such as leucine, valine and methionine, similar to those contained in legumes like peas or beans. It may even help protect against cardiovascular disease. The Agriculture and Food Development Authority reports that for the first time, researchers have identified a renin-inhibitory peptide in dulse that helps to reduce high blood pressure, like ACE-1 inhibitors commonly used in drug therapy.

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Grapes Grapple with Metabolic Syndrome

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t’s high season for grapes, and consuming any variety of this sweet fruit—red, green or black— may help protect against organ damage associated with the progression of metabolic syndrome, according to new research presented at the 2013 Experimental Biology Conference, in Boston.

Natural components in grapes, known as polyphenols, are thought to be responsible for this benefit.

Metabolic syndrome comprises a cluster of conditions—increased blood pressure, high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels—that occur together, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Working with lab animals, researchers found that three months of a grape-enriched diet significantly reduced inflammatory markers throughout the body, most significantly in the liver and abdominal fat tissue. The diet also reduced the fat weight of the animals’ liver, kidneys and abdomen compared with those that were on a control diet. The grape intake also increased markers of antioxidant defense, particularly in the liver and kidneys.

“Our study suggests that a grapeenriched diet may play a critical role in protecting against metabolic syndrome and the toll it takes on the body and its organs,” says lead investigator E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Health System. “Both inflammation and oxidative stress play a role in cardiovascular disease progression and organ dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes.”

Natural Eye Care for Aging Dogs

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any owners of middle-aged and older dogs worry about their pets’ declining eyesight. Cloudy eyes are of particular concern, but that is not necessarily a sign that a dog is going blind, advises Shawn Messonnier, a doctor of veterinary medicine practicing in Plano, Texas.

“While cataracts strike many older dogs, a more common condition is lenticular or nuclear sclerosis, a thickening of the lens of the eye,” says Messonnier. He explains that this normal change causes the eye to appear somewhat cloudy or gray, similar to a cataract. However, unlike a cataract, this type of sclerosis does not interfere with the pet’s vision. “Veterinarians can easily tell the difference between these conditions,” he says. “No treatment is necessary for lenticular sclerosis; cataracts are often treated with carnosine drops or with surgery.”

For prevention, Messonnier suggests minimizing toxins that can cause inflammation throughout an animal’s body, not just the eyes. This means using blood titer testing instead of annual vaccinations, reducing the use of flea and tick chemicals, using natural pet foods and minimizing the use of conventional medications.

He also recommends feeding a pet nutrients that contribute to health and reduce inflammation and cellular damage, including fish oil, probiotics and antioxidants like bilberry, which supports eye health.

Cavities are Contagious

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an a kiss lead to a cavity? Yes, says Middleton, Wisconsin, Dentist Chris Kammer, president of The American Academy of Oral Systemic Health. He contends that cavities can be caused by bacteria that are passed from one person to another, just like a cold or the flu.

“We aren’t born with tooth decaycausing bacteria,” says Kammer. “At some point, it is introduced to us from an external source, usually a family member,” through sharing food utensils, licking pacifiers, kissing and more. “Then it takes up residence in our mouths, where it is fed by sugars, which cause the bacteria to produce acid.”

Cavity-causing bacteria can be transmitted by sharing food, by drinking out of the same glass and by toothbrushes that make contact with the bathroom counter. If bacteria is not removed from teeth (existing in a protective biofilm called plaque), the acid byproduct is able to directly reach and soften tooth surfaces, creating the holes called cavities.

Easy solutions to the problem start with good oral hygiene for both parents and kids and proper brushing from a very young age, starting with finger brushing as soon as the first tooth erupts. Kammer advises making it fun and thus habit-forming when kids become old enough to do it themselves; one new interactive toothbrush times kids to ensure they brush the dentist-recommended two minutes.

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healthbriefs

October is National Spinal Health Month

Johnny Appleseeding

healthy spine is more than the basis of good posture—it is a harbinger of sound emotional and physical health, according to practitioners of holistic chiropractic care.

Those seeking relief from back pain and other common spinerelated conditions might do well to exchange pain-masking drugs for more lasting relief from professional adjustments.

All chiropractic can be considered alternative medicine, because practitioners do not prescribe drugs or surgery. Instead, these doctors rely on manual therapies such as spinal manipulation to improve function and provide pain relief for conditions ranging from simple sprains and strains to herniated discs and sciatica. Yet, holistic chiropractors go beyond treatment of structural problems, like a misaligned spine, to address root causes.

Michael Roth, a Ventura, California, chiropractor who has been practicing holistic methods for nearly 20 years, points out that, “Basic spinal manipulation does not address the mind-body connection. A holistic chiropractor recognizes that symptoms are the body’s way of adapting to some environmental stressor. If the spine is adapting to a stressor, that’s not the cause of the problem, simply the effect.”

Holistic chiropractors typically can suggest complementary measures such as massage, yoga, naturopathy or physical therapy for a more integrated and comprehensive treatment approach. Beyond adjusting the spine, they may also prescribe adjustments to diet, exercise and other lifestyle elements, depending on their understanding of an individual’s optimum path to wellness.

Before placing one’s care in someone else’s hands, ask for credentials and seek out reviews from former patients. Good health—and a happy spine— begin with an educated and empowered patient.

Volunteers will emulate Johnny Appleseed to expand and restore local urban green spaces and improve their quality of life and environment as part of October’s ninth annual National NeighborWoods Month program. Last year, local organizations and governments coordinated the planting of more than 45,000 trees by as many as 23,000 volunteers in hundreds of communities nationwide.

In Massachusetts, Boston Parks & Recreation Department workers joined TD Bank employees and public volunteers to revitalize the East Boston Greenway with 50 new trees. In Goleta, California, 80 new trees took root via 12 planting and care events, and more than 500 elementary school students took a cellularlevel look at tree leaves during three science nights.

“Their shouts upon seeing the hair-like edges of some leaves that serve to absorb water and control evaporation were terrific,” says Ken Knight, executive director of Goleta Valley Beautiful. “We impress on them that they will act as stewards—what we plant will also be their children’s trees and onward.”

The Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees), the national nonprofit program coordinator, estimates last year’s efforts will capture 23.1 million gallons of stormwater, dispose of 660 tons of air pollutants and save participating cities and towns nearly $600,000 in water management and air pollution costs each year.

Other tree-mendous benefits include beautifying the landscape, improving home property values, providing a natural habitat and reducing home air conditioning costs by supplying more shade.

To date, ACTrees member organizations have planted and cared for more than 15 million trees in neighborhoods nationwide, involving 5 million-plus volunteers. Executive Director Carrie Gallagher remarks, “People understand instinctively that trees are vital to creating safe and successful communities, and a livable, sustainable future.”

ChiroHealthy.com includes a database of licensed chiropractors, searchable by zip code.

For more information and to participate, visit NeighborWoodsMonth.org or ACTrees.org.

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Tree-mendous Acts Grow Quality of Life

globalbriefs

Pivot Point

News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.

Eco-Power Tower

Meet the World’s Greenest Office Building

photo by Nic Lehoux

Even on cloudy days, the photovoltaic-paneled roof of the Bullitt Center, in Seattle, Washington, generates all the electricity the six-story structure requires.

Inside, commercial office space is equipped with composting toilets, rainwater showers and a glassenclosed stairway to encourage climbing exercise over riding the elevator.

The Bullitt Foundation, founded in 1952, has focused since the 1990s on helping cities function more like ecosystems. Seattle’s new building not only provides space for eco-conscious tenants, but also functions as a learning center, demonstrating how people and businesses can coexist more in harmony with nature.

The Bullitt Center was constructed according to a demanding green building certification program called the Living Building Challenge, which lists zero net use of energy and water among its many requirements. The standards far surpass those of the better-known Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

Founder Jason McLennan says the challenge is to encourage others to build more enjoyable, sustainable and affordable structures around the world.

Source: Yes! magazine

Course Correction

Climate Science Curriculum Update Millions of young Americans are beginning to learn about climate change and associated science in the classroom.

Next Generation Science Standards (NextGenScience. org), which have been adopted by 26 states and are under consideration by 15 more, teach how and why fossil fuel emissions are a causal factor in overheating the world.

The previous federal science teaching standards, published in 1996, avoided the issues of evolution and climate change. Scientists and educators jointly developed the new standards with states’ input to help students distinguish between scientific fact, religious beliefs and political opinion.

Solar Panels Almost Breaking Even At current growth rates, solar energy could be harnessed to produce 10 percent of the world’s electricity by 2020. But the greater benefit of clean solar power relies on first realizing an efficient initial payback for all the energy needed to produce the panels. To make polysilicon, the basic building block of most solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, silica rock must be melted at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, using electricity from mostly coal-fired power plants. Stanford University researchers believe that a tipping point when clean electricity from installed solar panels surpasses the energy going into the industry’s continued growth will occur by 2015.

As the industry has advanced, it’s required ever less energy and silicon to manufacture and install solar PV panels, along with less wasted silicon, according to Stanford University’s Global Climate & Energy Project. Advances in solar cell efficiency requires fewer panels, and new thin-film solar panels leave out silicon altogether.

Source: Sustainable Business News

Source: InsideClimateNews.org

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wisewords

The Power of One Julia Butterfly Hill Asks, ‘What’s Your Tree?’

by Judith Fertig

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or 738 days, Julia Butterfly Hill lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree called Luna to increase awareness of threats to our ancient forests.

Her courageous act of civil disobedience gained international attention for California’s redwoods, together with related ecological and social justice issues. When she claimed victory for Luna on December 18, 1999, she was recognized worldwide as both a heroine and powerful voice for the environment.

Today, Butterfly Hill’s commitment to such causes continues to inspire people worldwide. She has helped found and launch a host of nonprofit organizations and currently serves as ambassador for the Pollination Project, which awards $1,000 a day to individuals making a positive difference. The impassioned activist is the inspiration for the What’s Your Tree initiative and also leads workshops at eco-villages such as Findhorn, in Scotland, and Damanhur, in Italy. She lives in Belize, where she describes her life as, “Before tree, during tree and after tree.”

What prompted your life shift from being the daughter of a traveling preacher to an environmental activist?

Before Tree, when I was 22, I was rear-ended by a drunk driver and spent 10 months recovering. As I got better physically, I realized that my 12

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whole life had been out of balance. I had been working nonstop since graduating from high school—obsessed by my career, worldly success and material things. This pivotal experience woke me to the importance of the moment and doing whatever I can to make a positive impact on the future.

How did you come to climb up a 1,000-plus-year-old redwood tree and stay there for two years?

After I recovered from the accident, I went on a road trip to California. There, I volunteered at a reggae festival. That year, the event was dedicated to the protection of ancient forests. I listened and learned from the speakers and activists passionate about educating people on the destructive logging practices of the Maxxam-controlled Pacific Lumber Company.

Returning to my place in Arkansas, I sold everything I owned and returned to California to see how I could help. Earth First! was doing tree-sits to call attention to the urgent need to protect ancient trees, and they needed someone to stay in a redwood tree so the loggers couldn’t cut it down; because nobody else volunteered, they had to pick me.

On December 10, 1997, I put on the harness and ascended Luna, 180 feet up. What I thought would be three or four weeks in the tree turned into

two years and eight days. I returned to the ground only after the company agreed to protect Luna and the surrounding grove.

What are some of the legacies of your incredible feat?

The Luna experience brought international attention to the plight of the last dwindling stands of ancient redwoods.

After Tree, I was asked to speak about the issue all over the world. My bestselling book, The Legacy of Luna, has been translated into 11 languages. A follow-up environmental handbook is titled One Makes the Difference. It all inspires concerned citizens to take action in their own communities.

Now, as a yoga enthusiast, vegan, peacemaker and antidisposable activist, how do you stay true to yourself and model the changes you champion?

I am committed to living with as much integrity, joy and love as I can. If we want to see something in the world, then we have to live it. Like I learn in yoga, I aim to stretch into my life and breathe and see what opens up, trusting that clarity and growth will emerge in the process.

On a personal ecology level, I love swimming in the sea and the sound of the waves rolling over the reef. I love being at home, mixing fresh masa to make tamales and listening to the birds singing as they sway from the palm branches and bougainvillea. These are the moments that make my soul sing.

How has believing in one person’s power to change the world led you to ask, “What’s Your Tree?”

Service is core to my being. It gives purpose and joy to my life. The What’s Your Tree project helps people connect with a place of deep purpose that helps guide their lives, choices and actions.

Learn more at WhatsYourTree.org and JuliaButterfly.com.

Judith Fertig blogs at AlfrescoFood AndLifestyle.blogspot.com from Overland Park, KS.

Qigong Increases Longevity

by John P. McCann, LMT

T

elevision’s Dr. Oz says, “If you Qigong is one of the four pilwant to live to be 100… do qilars of Traditional Chinese Medigong. Qigong is the best longevcine (TCM), along with acupresity exercise.” He is not the first doctor sure, massage and herbal medito make claims of increased longevity cines. TCM is based on the premise with practices of qi. Emperor Haung that where energy in the body does Ti, who ruled China around 2,700 not move, there is dis-ease. With B.C., gave famous discourses on lonsimple breath, intention and slow, gevity and qi. His chief medical advieasy-to-learn movements of the sor, Chi Po, made these discoveries. arms (moving quickly disrupts the They were put into print in 300 B.C. qi) we move stuck energy within The book, Yellow Emperors Classic of our body. After practice of qigong, Medicine, is so detailed and precise it John McCann demonstrating Qigong movements we will feel peace and most likely, is still used in its original version throughout oriental medical mild to moderate bliss. If things on our mind were really colleges today. There are many translations, but qi basically bothering us, the reasons may still exist, but may no longer means energy, and gong is exercise. The Chinese symbol for qi be so troubling. also is used for air and breath, so qigong may be interpreted as In Asian countries like Japan and China, we see thousands a breath exercise or an energy exercise. of people practicing qigong in the parks. This is their form of

Lets look at three types qi energy; internal and external national health care. Of course, the hospitals and medical qi and miraculous qi. Internal qi is the energy within every profession are still needed and in place. In our country, people cell of our body. We have no problem discerning whether are more apt to find qigong in the cardiac rehab facilities after our internal energy is depleted or we are fully charged. a heart attack has occurred. Japan, for instance, ranks numExternal qi, the energy outside of our body, can be a little ber one in the world for longevity, while the USA ranks 33rd. more elusive to feel. Some folks have a difficult time feeling Stress management is the key to all health. or even conceptualizing subtle energies outside their bod Tom Tam (TomTam.com) the founder of the Chinese ies. Qigong makes it easy to feel external energy and easy to Cultural Institute, in Boston, teaches qigong as a part of his bring that energy within. healing classes. In order to practice his combination of East

We bring external qi into our bodies in different ways: and West methods of healing, we must do qigong every day.

By eating food and drinking, the higher the quality food, the It is a brilliant requirement to have a healing practitioner better the qi. By simply breathing fresh air, we are revitalizespouse healthy mind body and spirit. Energy healers or anying every cell in our bodies, just as we absorb vital vitamin D one interested in achieving maximum health would do well energy from the sun. to add qigong to their health care practice.

Renowned qigong teacher Jeff Primack (Qigong.com) states, “Miraculous qi is the Divine energy from God that John P. McCann, LMT, provides therapeutic massage and cracannot be stored in the body.” When the medical community niosacral therapy and teaches qigong and yoga at Ingleside has no idea how someone has healed completely from a seri- Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, 415 Ingleside St., in Holyoke, ous condition, they have experienced miraculous qi. This can MA. Contact him at 413-536-9682, John@MassageTherap happen without any knowledge or practice of qigong.

Yoga.com or MassageTherapYoga.com. See ad, page 6.

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Ancestral Diets A Lighter Shade of Paleo

by Sayer Ji and Tania Melkonian

V

egetarian Awareness Month cultivation of food in gardens, crops provides a timely opportuniand livestock. ty to realize that a plant Loren Cordain, Ph.D., author focused diet does not of The Paleo Diet derive exclusively and Nutritionist Nora from plants. Just as Gedgaudas, author of Paleo Specials a carnivore does not Primal Body, Primal subsist on meat alone, Mind, each contest the du Jour the same applies to a premise perpetuated by Curried carrot soup with vegetarian. many in the weight-loss buckwheat crackers and

What can industry that fat, espegoat cheese we learn from our cially naturally saturated Paleolithic, or Stone fat, is unhealthy. Those Kale wraps with julienne Age, ancestors? The same proponents that of grass-fed strip loin, recent trend toward maintain low-fat/non-fat bell peppers and avocado recreating a Paleofood is a panacea for Butter-grilled pineapple era diet emphasizes modern illnesses also rounds served with the importance of purport that cholesterol dollop of vanilla-scented vegetable nutrition to is the chief cause of heavy cream prehistoric communiheart ailments. ties, correcting the Gedgaudas writes misperception that that the diets of hunterthey were primarily gatherers inhabiting meat-eaters. varied landscapes, from the

The original Paleo diet, before Inuit of the north to tropical forest homithe advent of agriculture, reflected the nids, included large amounts of fat and hunting and gathering of lean meats, cholesterol, which is essential to mainfruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and taining cell membranes and regulating was absent of grains, dairy, starchy hormones. She points out that obtaining foods, sugar and salt. Today’s updated cholesterol from food is necessary to version might comprise foods naturally augment the liver’s function of creating available and/or abundant before the cholesterol internally.

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recipe photos by Stephen Blancett

consciouseating

Cordain agrees that even saturated fats in meats can be beneficial, providing the animals are grass-fed, lean and live in clean surroundings. He emphasizes, however, that when our prehistoric ancestors ate fat, they did not also eat grain carbohydrates, sugar and salt, and contends that it is these components, not meat, that can be detrimental to the body.

Doctor of Naturopathy Maureen Horne-Paul adds that organic, lean and game meats are exempt from the acidity inherent in corn-based animal feed.

Plus, “When an animal is insensitively confined and killed, stress hormones are released that result in acidity. So, we are changing our pH from a healthy alkaline state to a more acidic condition when we consume meat from conventionally raised animals.”

Scientific studies published in the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity, Medical Hypotheses and by the Mercola group attest to key problems related to human consumption of grains. Anti-nutrients such as phytic acid in grains lead to the poor absorption of minerals and related deficiencies. Improper absorption of dietary protein caused in part by enzyme inhibitors in grains also tends to damage the pancreas. Individual sensitivities to proteins in specific grains can further interfere with functioning of the neuroendocrine system and subsequent emotional difficulties like addiction and depression may arise. All of these difficulties have been exacerbated by irresponsible prenatal diets that have made younger generations extra-sensi-

Paleo Parallel Tips n Make plants the center. For any meat, choose organic, grass-fed lean cuts and use small portions as sides or garnish. n Limit dairy to items with full fat content. Choose sheep or goat dairy when possible, followed by organic cow dairy. n Limit grains, but explore pseudograins such as buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth to add safe, starch-like body to meals. n For legumes, eat lentils. Blue and sweet potatoes are good choices for tubers.

tive to the challenges posed by grains to the human system.

While Cordain doesn’t recommend dairy, Gedgaudas suggests organic or raw milk products, provided they retain their full fat content and come from grass-fed cows. She reasons that the presence of the anti-carcinogenic fatty acid conjugated linolenic acid (CLA) and the Wulzen factor anti-stiffness agent in the fat benefit joint lubrication.

Experts suggest that the dietary

formula established by our prehistoric ancestors can be the foundation for a modern-day, healthy, non-confining, creative eating experience. We can exchange grains for quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat (not technically grains at all), and include tubers and legumes, due to their folate and protein content.

Blue and sweet potatoes also contain high levels of anthocyanins and potassium. Nearly every category of food, in the proper amounts, can be part of such

Paleo Menu Recipes

a balanced diet.

When we explore what makes sense and eat clean and natural foods, we have a good chance of finding our body’s own sweet spot.

Sayer Ji is the founder of GreenMed Info.com and an advisory board member of the National Health Federation.

Tania Melkonian is a certified nutritionist and healthy culinary arts educator.

Learn more at GreenMedInfo.com.

lime leaves and lemongrass stalk.

by Tania Melkonian Line the colander/basket with the kale “wrap” leaves. Cover and steam for 3 minutes until the leaves are just wilted.

Remove basket from heat and lay out leaves on a clean work surface, lined up vertically.

When the stock comes to a boil, reduce to medium heat and add leaves, add half of the carrots and stalk. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat, cool and then remove leaves and stalk; blend soup until smooth.

Return soup blend to pot, add peppers and the rest of the carrots and then simmer on low heat for 40 minutes.

Stack 1 slice meat, 1 slice avocado and 2 slices pepper horizontally near the edge of a leaf. Add cumin and chili flakes and roll leaf away from the cook into a wrap. Repeat with all leaves.

Kale Wraps

Curried Carrot Soup

Wash and dry kale.

2 Tbsp ground turmeric 1 tsp ground cumin 1 cup diced onions 3 Tbsp curry paste 2 cups coconut milk 2 cups vegetable broth 1 Tbsp coconut oil 1 stalk lemon grass 3 leaves Kaffir lime 1 cup diced carrots 1 cup finely chopped red pepper

Hold the blade of a long chef’s knife along the rib of the kale leaf and pull the leaf away from the rib. Repeat on the other side of the leaf to produce two long flat wraps. Set aside the ribs for stock.

Set a heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. Add turmeric and cumin, to toast.

Add oil and stir to combine with spices.

Add onions; sweat to cook until translucent, but not browned.

Bring a pot filled with 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Lower the heat to simmer and set a metal colander inside as a steamer basket so it sits on top of the water, not immersed.

Add curry paste and stir. Add coconut milk and vegetable broth and bring to a boil.

1 head kale (suggest cavolo nero or dino kale) 1 bell pepper, sliced into julienned strips 1 avocado, julienned 3 oz grass-fed sirloin, grilled to medium and julienned Chili flakes and cumin to taste

Grilled Pineapple with Cream 1 organic pineapple, cut into rounds 2 Tbsp grass-fed, organic butter 1 /4 cup organic cream 1 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract

With the back of a knife, bruise the

Heat butter in a sauté pan until melted and bubbling (not brown). Place pineapple rounds in the pan and grill for 2 minutes each side.

Slice vanilla bean pod lengthwise to scrape out vanilla granules. Mix granules with cream until incorporated.

Serve pineapple rounds warm with a drizzle of vanilla-scented cream.

natural awakenings

October 2013

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leaders believe that we can still reverse the dangerous current course.

“These next few years are going to tell the tale about the next 10,000 years,” says well-known global environmental activist Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. “We’re not going to stop global warming; it’s too late for that. But we can keep it from getting as bad as it could possibly get.”

RISING FEVER The Right Steps Now Can Avert the Worst of It

by Christine MacDonald

R

enowned “We’re not going to stop opted for the “bunny slope” approach, climate sciglobal warming; it’s too a leisurely descent entist Richard Somerville, Ph.D., late for that. But we can from the ubiquitous use of climateuses simple lankeep it from getting as bad changing fossil guage and sports analogies to help us as it could possibly get.” fuels. Unfortunately, greenhouse gases understand climate ~ Bill McKibben would have had to change and the peak two years ago risks ahead.

A distinguished professor emeriand now be in decline in order to take tus, researcher at California’s Scripps the easy way out. Instead, the amount of Institution of Oceanography and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere shot author of The Forgiving Air, he likens past 400 parts per million last May, a greenhouse gases to a scandal that’s level that most scientists agree the planet rocked major league baseball in recent hasn’t experienced since long before the years. “Greenhouse gases are the stearrival of modern humans. roids of the climate system,” he says.

“Science tells you, you can put this Although we can’t link them to any much carbon dioxide into the atmosingle weather event, we can see them sphere, but no more,” without changing the planet’s climate too dramatically, in the statistics at the end of the seaSomerville says. “Mother Nature tells son, Somerville says. With the bases you, you cannot wait 50 or 100 years to loaded, “Look out, because Mother solve this. You have to do it in five to 10 Nature bats last.” years. There’s been a general failure to

To explain how we could confront connect the dots.” The bit of good news the problem, he turns to another sport, skiing. If we were serious about avoiding is that time has not yet completely run out. He and other pioneering thought a worst-case scenario, we would have

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On the Water Front

Sandra Postel agrees. “Water, energy and food production: These things are tightly linked, and all are affected by climate change.” From Los Lunas, New Mexico, she leads the Global Water Policy Project, a group also focused on the climate conundrum, as well

Matt Greenslade / photo-nyc.com

EASING EARTH’S

McKibben’s grassroots group, 350.org, opposes the planned Keystone XL pipeline that, if built, is expected to transport Canadian tar sands oil across the United States to refineries along the Gulf of Bill McKibben Mexico. Increasing fossil fuel infrastructure, he says, is impractical, and we’d be better off investing in clean and renewable energies such as wind, solar and geothermal.

It’s a theme also sounded by Frances Beinecke, president of the New York City-based Natural Resources Defense Council and author of Clean Energy Common Sense. With the failure of the U.S. Frances Beinecke Congress to enact climate legislation, her group, encompassing 1.4 million online members and activists, is pressing the Obama administration to live up to its pledge to regulate the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants. The leading culprits for climate-changing gases, they contribute 40 percent of the country’s carbon emissions. “It’s time to act, and we have to act now,” Beinecke says.

Nancy Battaglia

On the Energy Front

“Tell politicians that you care about this. We’ve got to get countering climate change high on the priority list.” ~ Richard Somerville as National Geographic’s Change the Course national freshwater conservation and restoration campaign.

Competition for water is increasing in several parts of the country, she says, and will only get worse as dry conditions increase demands on groundwater. Endangered sources detailed in her extensive related writings include Sandra Postel the Ogallala Aquifer, vital to agricultural operations across much of the Great Plains, and California’s Central Valley, the nation’s fruit and vegetable bowl. In the Colorado River Basin, which provides drinking water to some 30 million people, water demands already exceed the available supply— and that gap is expected to widen with changes in the region’s climate.

In other regions, the problem is

too much water from storms, hurricanes and flooding, a trend that Postel and other experts say will also worsen as the world continues to warm and fuel weather extremes. Beyond the loss of lives and property damage, this “new normal” holds stark implications for communities.

“We’ve built our bridges, dams and other infrastructure based on 100-year records of what’s happened in the past,” advises Postel. “In a lot of ways, how we experience climate change is going to be through changes in the water cycle. If the past isn’t a good guide to the future anymore, we’ll have to change our water management.” (See nrdc.org/ water/readiness by city and state.)

On the Ocean Front

The world’s oceans are being transformed by climate change in ways we are only beginning to understand. Since the Industrial Revolution, oceans have absorbed a significant portion of the carbon dioxide generated, experiencing a 30 percent rise in acidity; that’s expected to reach 100 to 150 percent above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, according to the nonprofit National Academy of Science (NAS), in Washington, D.C.

“Thank goodness for the oceans, but they are paying a tremendous price,” says Oceanographer Dawn Wright, Ph.D. She’s chief scientist of

Esri, in Redlands, California, that analyzes geographic system relationships, patterns and trends.

The higher acidity levels are “taking a toll on shellfish such as oysters, clams and sea urchins, as well Dawn Wright as coral reefs, where much aquatic life is spawned,” Wright explains. Climate change may have other devastating impacts on the ocean food chain—and eventually us—that scientists are only beginning to discern. As just one of myriad impacts: Ocean acidification threatens the country’s $3.7 billion annual wild fish and shellfish industry and the $9.6 billion slice of the global tourism business that caters to scuba divers and snorkelers, according to a recent NAS study.

The Way Forward

We can be grateful for some hopeful developments in the call to act.

Wright, who has advised President Obama’s National Ocean Council, is overseeing her company’s ocean initiative, which includes building an ocean basemap of unparalleled detail. While less than 10 percent of the world’s oceans’ underwater realms are mapped today, Esri is compiling authoritative bathymetric data to build a comprehen-

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sive map of the ocean floor. Public and private sector planners, researchers, businesses and nonprofits are already using this map and analysis tools to, among other things, conduct risk assessments and provide greater understanding of how onshore development impacts oceans’ natural systems.

Municipalities are also taking action. New York City plans to restore natural buffers to future hurricanes, while Philadelphia and other cities are restoring watersheds, replanting trees in riparian areas, adding rain gardens, laying permeable pavement and revamping roofs and parking lots to reduce stormwater runoff. Investing in such “green infrastructure” is less costly than expanding “grey infrastructure” such as underground sewer systems and water purification plants.

Increasingly, local authorities are relocating communities out of flood zones to allow rivers to reclaim wetlands, an effort which also creates new recreation and tourism spots. Floodplains buffer against extreme flooding and drought, plus filter stormwater runoff, removing farm and lawn fertilizers and other chemicals that otherwise enter waterways, creating deoxygenated “dead zones” where aquatic life can’t survive, as exemplified by parts of Lake Erie, Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

“These solutions are unfolding here and there,” Postel notes, while also remarking that too many locales are rebuilding levees at their peril and allowing people to return to areas that flood repeatedly. “An amount of climate change is already locked in. We

will have to adapt, as well as mitigate, simultaneously.”

Somerville, who helped write the 2007 assessment by the Nobel Prize-winning International Panel on Climate Change, labels it “baloney” when politicians say there’s not enough time or it’s too expensive to address the problem. “It’s very doable,” he maintains. “First, inform yourself. Second, tell politicians that you care about this.

Then raise hell with those who don’t agree. We’ve got to get countering climate change high on the priority list.”

McKibben recommends that the country gets serious about putting a price on carbon emissions. Meanwhile, he’s encouraged by the people-powered regional successes in blocking fracking, a controversial method of extracting natural gas, and credits grassroots groups for holding the Keystone pipeline project at bay.

“We’re cutting it super-close” and need to change the trajectory of climate change, according to McKibben, who says we can still have good lives powered by wind and solar, but will have to learn to live more simply. “I don’t know where it will all end and won’t see it in my lifetime. But if we can stop the combustion of fossil fuels and endless consumption, then there’s some chance for the next generation to figure out what the landing is going to be.”

Christine MacDonald is a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., who specializes in health, science and environmental issues. Learn more at ChristineMacDonald.info.

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Signs Of Changes To Come W

ithout actions to significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions, air temperatures could increase as much as 11.5 percent by 2100, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

While the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change pledged in 2009 to keep warming from increasing more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, more recent reports by the World Bank and other institutions warn that the goal may be unrealistic. Continued global warming could cause widespread drought, flooding and other changes, with disastrous

consequences. Here are some of the ways climate change has already impacted our lives.

Temperatures: The average global temperature for 2012—about 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit—was the ninth-warmest year since record keeping began in 1880.

It was also the 36th consecutive year that the global temperature surpassed the 20th-century average, according to the National Climate Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The problem comes alive in a video at Tinyurl.com/NASAEarthTemps.

The EPA reports that the number of days that temperatures will exceed

90 degrees Farenheit is expected to increase throughout the U.S., especially in areas that already experience heat waves.

Drought: Drought struck twothirds of America’s lower 48 states last year, and continued into 2013 in many parts of the country, costing billions of dollars in crop failures and damage from resulting wildfires.

Extreme storms: East Coast weather has become wilder, with storms such as Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy wreaking unprecedented losses in human life and property.

Freshwater supplies: As melting shrinks glaciers’ historic footprints, reducing the amount of springtime snowmelt, and we continue to deplete groundwater faster than it can be replenished, conflicts between agriculture, industry and municipalities over water are expected to increase. Meanwhile, rising sea levels near some seashore cities have already led to incursions of saltwater, contaminating underground freshwater systems.

Rising sea levels: Since 1870, the global sea level has risen by about eight inches, according to the EPA. By the end of this century, it estimates that New York City could see a rise of 2.3 feet and Galveston, Texas, 3.5 feet.

Other studies say those estimates are conservative. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July concluded that a rise of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit could result in a corresponding rise in sea levels exceeding 13 feet.

natural awakenings

October 2013

19

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greenliving

Shop with the Planet in Mind Daily Choices Help Counter Climate Change by christine Macdonald

Until recently, we’ve been asked to choose between the economy and the environment. Now we’re realizing that the two are closely linked, and that our continued prosperity depends on how well we take care of the natural systems that sustain life—clean air, water, food and an overall healthy environment.

A

lthough the worst impacts of climate change are still decades away, experts say it’s already a costly problem. In 2012, U.S. taxpayers spent nearly $100 billion—approximately $1,100 apiece—to cover crop losses, flooding, wildfires and other climate-related disasters, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. That’s more than America spent last year on education or transportation.

Given the lack of action on climate change by Congress, more Americans are looking to leverage their purchasing power to make a difference.

Yet, as consumers trying to “shop their values” know, it’s often difficult distinguish the “green” from the “greenwashed”. Natural Awakenings has rounded up some tips that can help.

Dismiss Meaningless Labels

Shop online for this and other natural products at

NAWebstore.com or call: 888-822-0246

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Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., who leads the Consumer Safety and Sustainability Group for Consumer Reports and its Greener Choices and Eco-labels online initiatives, says companies take far too many liberties in product labeling.

The dearth of standards

and consistency across the marketplace has rendered terms like “fresh,” and “free range” meaningless. Also, there’s more wrong than right about the “natural” label put on everything from soymilk to frozen dinners, she says.

While critics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s USDA Organic label say its regulations are not tough enough, Rangan says at least we know what we’re getting. The same is not true of many claims decorating consumer goods, Rangan advises. Plus, producers get away without identifying myriad other controversial practices, she says, including genetically engineered ingredients.

To help consumers protect themselves, the Consumer Union and other nonprofit public advocates have made their evaluations easily accessible via cell phones and iPads. The Web-based Good Guide’s evaluations of more than 145,000 food, toys, personal care and household products are at shoppers’ fingertips via an app that scans product barcodes on the spot.

Calculate Impacts

A number of easy-touse online tools help us understand the far-flung

Who’s Buying Organic or Natural Foods? n High Demand n Low Demand n Average

Helpful Aids n GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/ vk.cfm n GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/ labellogo.cfm n GoodGuide.com n Tinyurl.com/LoveFoodHateWaste PortionsGuide n Tinyurl.com/NatlGeographic WaterFootprint n EatFeastly.com n GoHalfsies.com n Zipcar.com

Courtesy of GfK Mediamark Research and Environmental Systems Research Institute

impacts of a purchase, including on humans and habitats. The Good Guide, for instance, employs chemists, toxicologists, nutritionists, sociologists and environmental lifecycle specialists to evaluate a product’s repercussions on health, environment and society.

Sandra Postel, who leads the Global Water Policy Project, has teamed up with the National Geographic Society to devise a personal water footprint calculator. It helps people understand the wider environmental impacts of their lifestyle and purchasing choices, and provides options for reducing their footprints and supporting water replenishment efforts.

“It takes a per capita average of 2,000 gallons of water each day to keep our U.S. lifestyle afloat,” twice the world average, calculates Postel. The typical hamburger takes 630 gallons of water to produce, for example, while a pair of jeans consumes 2,600 gallons,

most of it to grow the necessary cotton.

Water is just one of numerous resources overused in the United States, according to author and journalist Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of Food Tank. “We overbuy food. It goes bad and ends up in landfills,” where it lets off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as it decomposes.

“We also over-order at restaurants,” observes Nierenberg, whose think tank focuses on the interrelated issues of hunger, obesity and environmental degradation. Overall, the U.S. annually accounts for 34 million tons of food waste. “Part of the problem is we’ve lost home culinary skills,” says Nierenberg, who says we need to rethink how and how much we eat. “We don’t really understand what portions are,” she adds.

Share Instead of Buy

Collaboration characterizes the broader trend in careful consuming that relies on

cell phone apps. Sometimes known as the “sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption”, initiatives can range from car and bike shares to neighborly lending of lawn mowers and other tools and sharing homegrown produce. One of the more innovative food-sharing options is Halfsies, in which diners at participating restaurants pay full price for a meal, but receive half of a full portion, effectively donating the cost of the other half to fight hunger.

Whatever the product, experts say, the new sharing business model is part of a fundamental shift in how people think about consuming, with the potential to help us reduce our personal carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Christine MacDonald is a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., who specializes in health, science and environmental issues. Learn more at ChristineMacDonald.info.

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healingways

Clinical Support

James Oschman, Ph.D., an academic scientist and international authority in Dover, New Hampshire, has conducted decades of research into the science of bioenergetics—the flow and transformation of energy between living organisms and their environment. He explores the basis of the energetic exchanges that manifest via complementary and alternative therapies in his book, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis.

According to Oschman, there is now enough high-quality research in leading peer-reviewed biomedical journals to provide energy medicine the credence to transform from a little-known, alternative healthcare modality into a conventional form of medicine. The progression to more widespread acceptance is similar to that experienced by acupuncture and massage.

Evolving Platform

Energy Healing Comes of Age A Historic Milestone in Complementary Medicine

by Linda Sechrist

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s recently as 2010, it would have been unimaginable for an annual medical conference including allopathic physicians to hold a meeting themed Illuminating the Energy Spectrum. Yet it happened at the sold-out Institute of Functional Medicine 2013 annual international conference. Workshop topics ranged from bodily energy regulation to presentations by Grand Qigong Master Ou, Wen Wei, the originator of Pangu Shengong, and Medical Anthropologist and Psychologist Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., whose Four Winds Light Body School offers a two-year program on the luminous light body, also known as a local energy field, aura, life force, qi/chi or prana.

The energy medicine practiced by acupuncturists and other health practitioners that offer any one of the 60-plus hands-on and hands-off modalities described in The Encyclopedia of Energy Medicine, by Linnie Thomas, operates on the belief that changes in the body’s life force can affect health and healing.

The therapeutic use of any of them begins with an assessment of the body’s electromagnetic field. Then, a treatment specifically designed to correct energy disturbances helps recreate a healthy balance in its multilayered energy field, comprised of pathways, known as meridians, and energy centers (chakras) that correspond to related nerve centers, endocrine glands, internal organ systems and the circulatory system.

The objective for energy medicine practitioners is to uncover the root causes of imbalances—often from emotional stress or physical trauma—and harmonize them at a bioenergetic level before aberrations completely solidify and manifest as illness.

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For more than 35 years, pioneers of energy medicine like Barbara Ann Brennan, founder of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing; John F. Thie, founder of Touch for Health; and Donna Eden, founder of Eden Energy Medicine, have delved beyond conventional models of healing to confirm that our sensory experience of the world is as limited as our vocabulary to describe it. New language for new concepts is required, such as: nature’s drive for wholeness, resonance, a new band of frequencies, restructuring DNA, local fields and the non-local field, encoding, entrainment, strings, strands, attunement, evolutionary healing and vibration.

Eden, who has had a lifelong ability to make intuitive health assessments later confirmed by medical tests, can look at an individual’s body, see and feel where the energy flow is interrupted, out of balance or not in harmony, and then work to correct the problem.

“Very little of the natural world that human beings evolved in still exists. In addition, our bodies haven’t adapted to modern stressors or the electromagnetic energies associated with technologies that occupy our living and working environments,” says Eden. “Energy medicine is invaluable because anyone can learn how to understand their body as an energy system and how to use techniques to restore energies that have become weak, disturbed or unbalanced.” Her teaching tools include her classic book, Energy Medicine, and Energy Medicine University, which she founded in 2006 in Sausalito, California.

In a 2009 talk at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Oschman predicted that energy medicine will become prominent in anti-aging medicine. “When I review the history of medicine, there are periods in which things stay pretty much the same, and then there are great breakthroughs. I think that with the advent of energy medicine, another milestone is upon us.”

Learn more at issseemblog.org, the International Society for Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine website.

Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for Natural Awakenings.

Visit ItsAllAboutWe.com for the recorded interviews.

practitionerprofiles Michelle A. McCarthy: The Heart to Heart Healing Connection

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ichelle McCarthy, owner of the Heart to Heart Healing Connection, graduated from a local high school and has attended college, but was never called to traditional schooling. Her metaphysical training began in 1996.

She is a master teacher in the Usui, Karuna, Kundalini and Lightarian Reiki traditions.

McCarthy became an Integrated Energy Therapy master instructor in 2002 and has been recognized by the home of IET (The Center of Being) as a top teacher since 2005, and is one of only nine people in the world able to teach at the master instructor level.

The Heart to Heart Healing Connection offers all levels of Integrated Energy Therapy, all levels of Usui Reiki, Amethyst Biomat sessions and individual healing sessions personalized for each client, incorporating the specific lineages of Reiki, Integrated Energy Therapy and Healing Touch, as well as delivering intuitive messages received during the client’s session.

McCarthy states, “I believe that no one is broken. We simply have a lifetime of misdirected energy, limiting thoughts, ideas and beliefs about life, others and ourselves that limit our joy and ability to move forward toward our goals and hearts desires. Through these modalities which incorporate the vibration of love, and in holding a space of non-judgment, people are able to shift very deeply held emotional baggage, freeing them to live more meaningful lives.”

Energy healing sessions are available in person and via Skype or online. The Heart to Heart Healing Connection is located at 299 Walnut St., Agawam, MA. For more information, call 413-7379443, email TheHeart2Hearts@yahoo.com or visit Heart2HeartHealing.com. See ad, page 11.

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Lisa Wilson: Angelic Stones

isa Wilson, an Integrated Energy Therapy master instructor, Usui Reiki master teacher and master crystal healer/teacher, has been seeing clients since 2002 and opened Angelic Stones in 2011, when she was a guest teacher at the Heart to Heart Healing Connection, in Agawam, and at Better Life Whole Foods, in Springfield.

Angelic Stones provides an inclusive environment that welcomes and honors the inner healer in each of us. Wilson says, “Everyone walks their own path to healing. Your focus may be any combination of clearing the energetic blockages in your physical, emotional, mental or spiritual self that can be supported in private sessions and classes through Integrated Energy Therapy (IET) also known as healing with the energy of angels, Usui Reiki, and Crystal Therapy.

Each private healing session is tailored to the individual, with their healing goal as a guide. Resting on the Amethyst BioMat, clients experience a blend of IET, Usui Reiki and healing crystals that matches their objectives. Messages and images from spirit guides and angels may also come through in support of the healing process. Self-healing workshops and practitioner certification classes are a great way to sample the energies and see what resonates. These fun and informative programs are offered to give participants the tools to maintain their overall well-being.

Wilson explains, “We all have access to our inner healer, the angelic realm and divine love and guidance. We simply need to be willing to ask, be open to receiving and have faith in the responses; that is how you restore and strengthen the healing power within you.”

Angelic Stones is located at 1502 Allen St., Ste. 106, in Springfield MA. For more information, call 413977-6837, email Lisa@AngelicStones.net or visit AngelicStones.net. See ad, page 11.

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STARRY-EYED KIDS Clear Skies, Cool Nights Open Vast Vistas

by Randy Kambic

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ishing upon a star The magical skies and comfortably cool is an iconic activity This year, families can night sky is nights. steeped in everyanticipate a special viewing a perfect one’s childhood desire to of the Comet ISON, which is attain happiness and fulfillplayground expected to be visible from ment. Actual stargazing can much of the United States in for a child’s late November. help make parents’ dreams for their children’s well-being imagination. come true, as well.

Getting Started

Children are exposed to imaginSky & Telescope magazine’s online ing the larger celestial realm through guide, Getting Started in Astronomy, popular films, science fiction literature offers easy steps for parents to put stars and pop songs, plus more tangibly via in kids’ eyes. Check out its This Week’s current sky events. Consider news of Sky at a Glance link. Find an open the meteoroid that exploded over Russpace like a park or wooded clearing to sia in February and the latest images reduce ambient light and use sky maps from the surface of Mars beamed to us in hobby publications or astronomy by the NASA rover Curiosity. Experienc- books from the library as guides. ing the excitement of early knowledge

Binoculars are the best tool to start can bolster academics while fostering getting familiar with the night sky—they a calming sense of the order of nature’s augment the naked eye enough to idenrhythms. tify many Moon craters, Jupiter’s moons

“Astronomy ties into every eduand the crescent phases of Venus. Plancational domain—physics, geometry, etariums, science and children’s mualgebra, history and ecology,” advises seums, nature centers and astronomy former elementary school teacher Hiram clubs often hold public family events Bertoch, of West Valley City, Utah, owner that include access to telescopes; some of the KidsKnowIt Network, which main- loan or rent them out. (Find local clubs tains 10 free children’s learning websites, and facilities at SkyAndTelescope.com/ including KidsAstronomy.com. Standing community/organizations.) in awe at the wonders of the universe can Other opportunities include also instill a centering sense of humility NASA’s Night Sky Network of asin the face of such grandeur. tronomy clubs, Astronomy magazine’s Autumn is one of the best times youth programs, SpacePlace.nasa.gov for channeling youngsters’ intrigue and Astronomy.com/kids programs. in constellations, given the clearer Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops offer

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astronomy merit badges.

When a family’s interest continues sufficiently to buy a telescope, test preferred models at many potential settings before finalizing a purchase. According to the online guide, a first telescope should provide high-quality optics that limit diffraction (the spreading of light as it passes through the lens system to the eye) and a sturdy, smooth-working mount. More advanced telescopes have built-in computers and motors that can be programmed to point at specific spots in the sky.

Whether early steps lead to a later career or as a heavenly hobby, helping to convert a child’s, “What’s that?” to a happy, “I know what that is,” becomes worth encouraging. As Bertoch observes, “Kids have an innate excitement about what’s out there.”

Randy Kambic, in Estero, FL, is a freelance writer and editor who regularly contributes to Natural Awakenings.

Faraway Fun Facts Stars appear to twinkle from light distortions caused by temperature differences in our atmosphere. The lifespan of most stars is billions of years.

Ancient peoples saw patterns among the 2,000 stars visible to the naked eye and gave them names like The Big Dipper, Cassiopeia and Scorpius.

A “shooting star” is actually a meteor with a trail of gases and particles.

The Moon’s surface is pitted with thousands of craters from long-ago meteor strikes.

Saturn’s rings are composed mostly of billions of ice particles and rocks.

Jupiter is by far the largest studied planet; after the Moon and Venus, it’s usually the brightest object in the night sky.

Planets Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Mercury and Mars, as well as Pluto, are named for Roman gods—Venus was the Roman goddess of love.

Planets and the Moon don’t emit light—they reflect light from the sun.

Source: Don’t Know Much About the Universe, by Kenneth C. Davis

naturalpet

Parroting a Wild Diet

Fresh Forage Feeds Birds Well

by Sandy Lender

Wild parrots expend time and energy seeking available foods according to nature’s cycle. Parrots in captivity need owners to mimic this routine for their pets.

Menu Lessons

Ann Brooks, founder of Phoenix Landing, in Asheville, North Carolina, remarks about the deficiencies of conventional packaged birdseed diets. “Most lack essential ingredients like vitamin A, calcium and protein, and are also high in fat,” she says.

As an alternative, in recent decades manufacturers have turned to formulated pellet diets. As with any pet food, bird owners are advised to check labels for the nutrients that are best for their type of parrot and take care to avoid genetically modified ingredients.

Fresh foods, always the more nutritious alternative, require more time and some ingenuity. Avian Veterinary Technician Shari Mirojnick, with the Backos Bird Clinic, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, explains that North Americans, even in the subtropics, don’t have access to all the foods that parrots eat in the wild.

“We have to make up for what they’re missing,” advises Mirojnick. “Parrots that live in dense rain forest will often dine on certain tree fruits, which differ from supermarket fruits. Plus, human cultivation has sacrificed much of the nutrient content found in the original fruit in exchange for sweetness.” We need to reconcile the loss in other ways, such as with vegetables.

Mirojnick notes, “Many of the best vegetables for parrots are high in key essential nutrients like vitamin A and calcium, which these birds do not efficiently metabolize in captivity.” She recommends nutrient-dense dark leafy greens, carrots, sweet potatoes and broccoli. But avoid avocado, which is poisonous to birds, and nightshade produce such as eggplant and mushrooms. When in doubt about a food,

check it out through a reputable source such as Phoenix Landing.org/parrotcare.html or an avian veterinarian.

Blueberries, cranberries and goji contain helpful antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins C and K, and fiber, and have a low sugar content compared with their nutritional value.

Other fruits like papaya and cantaloupe are high in vitamin A.

Providing good fresh food isn’t necessarily time-consuming nor difficult. Parrot Nation proprietor Patricia Sund, of Hollywood, Florida, leads the “chop” revolution, teaching this efficient approach for delivering vegetables, leafy greens, grains and healthy seeds to pet birds—whose care is generally time-intensive throughout their long lifespans—to bird clubs and rescue groups around the country.

By gathering ingredients and preparing a large batch, an owner can freeze multiple healthy servings in containers to thaw and feed to parrots over an extended period. Recipes vary, based on the fresh produce available according to growing seasons, regional crops and individual bird tastes.

Food as Enrichment

Because 50 to 70 percent of a wild parrot’s time is spent foraging, according to Brooks, companion parrots need that kind of activity for mental and physical stimulation. “Foraging keeps them busy, is fun and gives them a job,” remarks Lisa Bono, a certified avian trainer and educator and owner of The Platinum Parrot, in Barnegat, New Jersey. Besides finding food, foraging also keeps a bird’s beak in shape and its mind occupied in finding things to play with, she says. “A busy beak means a busy mind, and less time to develop undesirable behaviors like screaming or feather-destructive habits.”

Bono says the popular African grey parrot likes playing with durable and versatile beak and claw toys, plus shredding and tearing bird-safe materials like untanned leather, small plain cardboard boxes, and uncolored and unwaxed paper cups—simple items that can double as destructible “dishes” for parrot foods.

Robin Shewokis, of The Leather Elves, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and a board member of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators, adds, “Any toy can be turned into a foraging device by merely placing some food in or on it; with fresh foods, be careful to avoid spoilage. Be creative: Switch the placement of food and water bowls for a simple parrot puzzle. Put a paper towel over the food dish on another day. Have fun with it. You can put a lot of love and thought into a food’s presentation.”

Sandy Lender is the publisher of In Your Flock, a companion parrot magazine. She lives in Southwest Florida with seven parrots that she feeds varieties of homemade chop.

Reach her at Publisher@InYourFlock.com. natural awakenings

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something larger. In America, there are as many trails to hike as there are reasons to do it.

For Cheryl Strayed, author of the 2012 bestselling memoir, Wild, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail at age 26 allowed her innate courage to blossom. A rank novice, she took to the trails solo, grieving the early death of her mother, and discovered a new kind of self-reliance. “Every time I heard a sound of unknown origin or felt something horrible cohering in my imagination, I pushed it away,” Strayed relates. “I simply did not let myself become afraid. Fear begets fear. Power begets power. I willed myself to beget power. It wasn’t long before I actually wasn’t afraid.”

Other people on such journeys are inspired by their love for the environment, like Zen Buddhist priest and retired psychotherapist Shodo Spring, leader of this year’s Compassionate Earth Walk, a July-through-October protest of our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. It has engaged a “moving community” of shared prayers, meditation and yoga along the path of the pending Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska.

Spring emphasizes that the walk is intended to connect participants to the land and the people that live on it. “We’re going to small towns,” she says, “where many residents make

by Sarah Todd their livelihoods from oil. There’s a deep division between or more than a millennium, seekers have made spiritual such people and our group. But when we listen to each pilgrimages on the Way of St. James, beginning at their other, that division gets healed.” chosen point in Europe, winding westward and ending

Activist David Rogner says that long-distance walks in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. Today, as pordon’t just raise awareness of political and social issues—they trayed in the 2010 movie, The Way, the core route continues also give people hope. He spent 25 months walking across to attract both secular and devout trekkers. It’s fair to say that the United States in the first coast-to-coast roadside litter every pilgrim derives something from the program, Pick Up America. journey, although it’s not always what “As we walked and picked up trash, we they expect. inspired people to believe there could be change,” he says. His trek gave him hope

Alyssa Machle, a landscape architect for his own future, too. He now believes, in San Francisco, imagined that walking Pack light. In long-distance hiking, The Way would be a quietly contempla“If you commit your life to the healing and every ounce counts. Try to make sure tive and solitary experience. Instead, she restoration of community and yourself, you everything in the backpack has at least two uses: socks that double as spent weeks bonding with fellow trekkers: are going to be wholly provided for.” mittens or a fleece that transforms an Ohio schoolteacher trying to decide Whatever the purpose, there are many into a pillow. whether to become a Catholic nun, and scenic long-distance walking trails to choose Get in shape. Walk two hours a day a German woman in her 30s unsettled by from. The Pacific Crest Trail, from the U.S.in preceding months to help train for falling in love with her life partner’s best Mexico border in Southern California to the lengthy days on foot. Do a few test walks loaded with gear to see what friend, a war veteran in his 70s. uppermost reaches of Washington State, ofit’s like to carry that amount of weight

“Inevitably, each person had some fers stunning views of the Sierra Nevada and before hitting the trail. internal battle that he or she hoped to reCascade mountain ranges. The Appalachian Prepare for foot care. Expert trekkers solve,” Machle found. “My own ideological Trail, which winds 2,200 miles between smear jelly-like products like Waxelene shift was about setting aside preconceived Georgia and Maine, provides 250 shelters on their feet before putting on their socks to help prevent blisters. It also ideas about how I would experience the and campsites. In Wisconsin, the 1,000-mile soothes chafing and offers foot relief path, and focusing my energy on the comIce Age Trail offers awe-inspiring views of at the end of a long day’s hike. munity that I suddenly was part of.” glacial landscapes. Starting in North CaroPlan meals beforehand. Measure out

The diverse goals of the people lina, the Mountains-to-Sea trail extends from all the ingredients for a healthy menu Machle met on The Way speaks to the the Great Smoky Mountains to the crystalplan and put them in lightweight bags to allow the exact right amount of food power of adventurous treks. From the blue waters of the Outer Banks. In Missouri, needed—no more, no Bible story of Moses and the Israelites the Ozark Trail sweeps through mountains, less—for the long haul crossing the desert for 40 years to young lush valleys and tumbling waterfalls. Plus, between provisioning Fellowship of the Ring members hiking overseas trails await, as well. stations (local accessible towns and across Middle Earth, we like the idea of holding spots for walking long distances as a way to get Sarah Todd is a writer and editor in Brookpre-shipped boxes). in touch with ourselves—and often with lyn, NY. Connect at SarahToddInk.com.

TREKKING AS PILGRIMAGE A Literal Path to Personal Growth

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TIPS FOR A LONG TREK

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inspiration

all the time in the World Transforming Anxiety into Artistry

by Marney K. Makridakis

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sk American adults if they’re anxious about time and they’ll likely say yes. Our society even deems it expected, acceptable and normal to experience such stress, but is it necessary? It’s helpful to explore what is at the root of our problems with time and why we believe we benefit from worrying and complaining about it. Both are good first steps to releasing ourselves from the drama of getting caught up in and blaming time as a convenient catchall. Which of the following rationales apply to us personally?

“If I can complain about being busy, I don’t have to examine other areas in my life.”

“My schedule is wrapped up with my self-esteem; being ‘too busy’ means that I’m successful.”

“Worrying about time gives me something to talk about.”

“I don’t plan things I might enjoy because it can be too demanding or even scary—it just feels easier and safer to be bored.”

“Worrying about time is a convenient excuse for not following my dreams.”

Once we identify the perceived payoffs from worrying about time, we can see them for what they are: illusions that keep us from living our true potential. Awareness allows us to make a different choice and to partner with

time, instead of working against it.

Einstein proved that time is subjective, illustrated every time we compare an hour in a dentist’s chair to an hour in the company of a loved one. Time behaves and feels differently based on many variables, like emotion, engagement, flow, desire, interest, pain and pleasure. Our perspective counts. With capricious factors dancing around in our every moment, we can see why time isn’t constant.

Happily, we can use the relative nature of time to our advantage and choose what our relationship with it will be. Consider that with each instance we choose how we talk about, measure and experience time, we are actually creating a new paradigm of time for ourselves.

We can relinquish general views and limitations of time that hinder us and emerge into the possibilities of time as anything but a defined line. It can be a vibrant, completely moldable, layered, multifaceted work of art that we may adapt as we wish, to custom design each and every day.

Marney K. Makridakis of Dallas, TX, is the author of Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life. She founded Artella magazine, the ARTbundance philosophy and the ArtellaLand.com community.

Western Mass Edition

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October 2013

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calendarofevents

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

Note: All calendar events must be received by the 10th of the month and adhere to our guidelines. Review guidelines and submit entries online at NAWestMA.com (within advertising section).

markyourcalendar THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 Women’s Health Lecture & Open House – 5:30pm. How does my family cancer history affect me and should I be tested for the BRCA gene? What are bio-identical hormones and are they appropriate for me? How can I treat menopause naturally? What is breast thermography and is it really painless? Dr. Max Chorowski, OBGYN and Jenifer Fleming, NP host lecture.

Free. The Counseling & Gynecology Group, 175 Dwight Road, Suite 103, Longmeadow. Register: 413-467-9355, Ext 0. Space is limited.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 World Vegetarian Day

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9

markyourcalendar

Sunday, October 6 Integrated Energy Therapy – 9:30am-6pm. Basic Level Healer Certification Training. Heal yourself and others with the empowered angelic energy of the Violet Ray. Get the “issues out of your tissues” as you learn this powerful energy healing system. $195. 1502 Allen St, Springfield. To Register: 413977-6837. Lisa@AngelicStones.net.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7 World Smile Day Western Mass Clutter Support Group – 6:157:15pm. This group is for individuals looking for a supportive environment to be used in conjunction with, and not take the place of, a professional organizer and/or therapist if clutter has become debilitating. Round table discussion. Sponsored by Clutter Doctor, Inc. Free. Meeting held at Redstone Rehab, 135 Benton Dr, E Longmeadow. For more info, Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman: 413-525-7345.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9 Learn More About Naturopathic Medicine With Jus Crea Giammarino, Naturopathic Doctor 6pm The Integrative Health Group Springfield, MA NaturopathicMedicalDoc.com Register for talk: 413-783-9424, Ext 2.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 Yoga, Meditation & Hiking Retreat – Oct 11-Oct 13. Hosted by J Vecchia from Ingleside Therapeutic Massage & Yoga sponsors retreat at Angels’ Rest Retreat, Leyden, MA. $499. To register: J Vecchia: 413-313-5769. J@MassageTherapYoga. See ad, page 6.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16

Crystal Healer Level 1 Certification – 6-9pm. Oct 8 – Dec 17. 9 Week course. Crystal lovers to learn the properties of 25 crystals, their use in redirecting energy, clearing blockages, and promoting healing. $900 fee includes approximately 100 crystals. 1502 Allen St, Springfield. To register: 413-977-6837.

Lisa@AngelicStones.net.

BioMat Open House – 6:30-8pm. Release tension, experience relaxation, pain reduction and more.

Free/first time. $1/min for previous attendees.

Heart to Heart Healing Connection, 299 Walnut St, Agawam. Michelle A. McCarthy; 413-737-9443.

TheHeart2Hearts@yahoo.com.

$ave time & energy!

Call ahead to ensure that the event you’re interested in is still available and tell them you saw it in Natural Awakenings of Western Mass.

MELT Introduction Workshop - 9-10:30am.

MELT Method works by keeping the connective tissue hydrated and free of roadblocks. $35. Pilates Studio, 353 Walnut St Ext, Agawam. To register, Kerrie Bodendorf: 413-579-7870. BalanceTotalBody@comcast.net.

Usui Reiki Level 1 Certification Training – 9am5pm. Harness the energy of the Universal Source to heal yourself and assist others on their path to self-healing. Receive an energy attunement, learn the history and hand positions. $150 fee includes crystals. 1502 Allen St, Springfield. To register: 413-977-6837. Lisa@AngelicStones.net.

Basic Integrated Energy Therapy – 9:30-5pm.

Heartlink with the angels, clear old patterns and issues and become a certified IET practitioner. $195.

Heart to Heart Healing Connection, 299 Walnut St, Agawam. Michelle A. McCarthy; 413-737-9443.

TheHeart2Hearts@yahoo.com.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 Intermediate Integrated Energy Therapy – 9:30am-5pm. Permanently clear physical, emotional, mental, and karmic imprints from the energy field and further you IET certification. $215. Heart to Heart Healing Connection, 299 Walnut St, Agawam. Michelle A. McCarthy; 413-737-9443.

TheHeart2Hearts@yahoo.com.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 MELT Method Class – 10-11am. The MELT Method eases chronic pain and reverses the negative effects of aging. Highly encourage attending an Intro workshop before attending. $20/drop-in. $75/5 classes. Life Dance Studios, 22 Cherry St, 2nd Fl, Westfield. 413-579-7870.

BalanceTotalBody.com.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 Make a Difference Day

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 Advanced Integrated Energy Therapy – 9:30am5:30pm. Connect to your Soul Star and discover your life’s purpose. $215. Heart to Heart Healing Connection, 299 Walnut St, Agawam. Michelle A. McCarthy; 413-737-9443. TheHeart2Hearts@yahoo.com.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28 Breast Cancer Awareness Day

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ongoingevents NOTE: All calendar events must be received by the 10th of the month and adhere to our guidelines. Review guidelines and submit entries online at NAWestMA.com (within advertising section).

encourage attending an Intro workshop before attending. $20/drop-in, $75/5 classes. LifeDance Studios, 22 Cherry St, 2nd Fl, Westfield. 413-5797870. BalanceTotalBody.com.

sunday

friday

All Levels Yoga – 10:30-11:45am. All levels of experience and ability welcome. The instructor will offer options for beginners as well as more challenging options for the experienced yogi. $14/drop-in; student, senior, veterans, teen discounts available.

Serenity Yoga, 15 College St, S Hadley. 413-5633678. SerenityYogaStudio.net.

Dance Fitness Class – 5-6pm. Featuring music from 4 decades, this dance class will get your feet moving, heart pumping and calories burning. This easy-tofollow class is great for new and experienced dancers alike and can be done at low or high intensity.

Must have dedicated indoor shoes. Outdoor shoes scratch and damage dance floor. $7/drop-in, $50/10 classes. LifeDance Studios, 22 Cherry St, 2nd Fl, Westfield. 413-579-7870. BalanceTotalBody.com.

monday All Levels Kripalu Yoga – 5:30-6:45pm. Influenced by the Kripalu Tradition of Yoga, a nurturing sequence of guided postures and relaxation techniques appropriate for all students. $14/drop-in; student, senior, veterans, teen discounts available. Serenity Yoga, 15 College St, S Hadley. 413-563-3678.

SerenityYogaStudio.net.

Dance Fitness Class – 5:30-6:30pm. Featuring music from 4 decades, this dance class will get your feet moving, heart pumping and calories burning. This easy-to-follow class is great for new and experienced dancers alike and can be done at low or high intensity.

Must have dedicated indoor shoes. Outdoor shoes scratch and damage dance floor. $7/drop-in, $50/10 classes. The Pilates Studio, 353 Walnut St, Ext, Agawam. 413-579-7870. BalanceTotalBody.com.

Yoga Level I-II – 6:30-8pm. Class for continuing students, both Advanced Beginners and Intermediate students that have a good understanding of alignment, have attended class for at least one year. All types of asana (poses) practiced including inversions and arm balances. Helps to build strength, endurance and flexibility and to be inspired to aspire to new possibilities both on and off the mat. $20/drop-in, $18/per class paying monthly. Ingleside Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, 415 Ingleside St, Rte 5, Holyoke. Held (weather permitting) at Holyoke Boat House, Jones Ferry. 413313-5769. MassageTherapyoga.com.

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA) – 7:30pm.

Genesis Spiritual Center, 53Mill St, Westfield. 413568-2875. GenesisSpiritualCenter.org.

tuesday Gentle/Chair Modified Yoga – 10-11:45am.

Adapts yoga positions and poses through creative use of a chair. $14/Drop-in; student, veteran, teen discounts available. Serenity Yoga, 15 College St, S Hadley. 413-563-3678. SerenityYogaStudio.net.

wednesday Yoga For Everyone – 12-1:15pm. A gentle to moderate class for all levels, $14/Drop-in; student, veterans, teen discount available. Serenity Yoga, 15 College St, S Hadley. 413-563-3678.

SerenityYogaStudio.net.

Qigong & Tai Chi – 6-7pm. Also Sat, 9-10am.

Relax, move, flow. All levels. Draw from ancient traditions and make it relevant to modern life, focusing on healing, growth, opening, connecting, working towards embodied wholeness and relaxation, while feeling grounded and centered.With Michele Grassi. $10/drop-in, $50/6-wks. Abundant Wellness Center, 94 Chicopee St, Chicopee. 413-592-2828.

AbundantWellness.net.

Yoga Level I-II – 6-7:30pm. Class for all Levelsboth Beginners & Intermediate Students. All types of asana (poses) practiced. Helps to build strength, endurance and flexibility and to be inspired to aspire to new possibilities both on and off the mat. $20/drop-in, $18/per class paying monthly. Ingleside Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, 415 Ingleside St, Rte 5, Holyoke. Held (weather permitting) at Holyoke Boat House, Jones Ferry. 413-313-5769.

MassageTherapYoga.com.

Advanced Tai Chi – 6:30-8:30pm. Chen-style t’ai chi is the most dynamic and athletic. One of the unique attributes in relationship to other styles is the emphasis on “spiraling” energy, called Reeling Silk. The practice confers strength, flexibility and the generation of energy that greatly enhances health and longevity. Instructed by Stan Baker, Licensed Acupuncturist. Shaolin Kung Fu Center, 284 Bridge St, 2nd Fl, Springfield. Master Lisandro Vega: 413504-3253. ShaolinKungFuCenter.net.

12-Step Men’s Discussion Group – 7:30pm.

Genesis Spiritual Center, 53 Mill St, Westfield. 413786-9559. GenesisSpiritualCenter.org.

Friday Night Flow – 5:30-7pm. End your week, start your weekend right with some sweet flow. Be appropriately challenged and rewarded with some sweet, juicy winding-down postures. $14/drop-in; student, senior, veterans, teen discounts available.

Serenity Yoga, 15 College St, S Hadley. 413-5633678. SerenityYogaStudio.net.

saturday Qigong & Tai Chi – 9-10am. See Wed listing. Abundant Wellness Center, 94 Chicopee St, Chicopee.

413-592-2828. AbundantWellness.net.

Yoga: All Levels – 9:30-11am. For those new to yoga and those that are learning the poses and alignment.

Primary focus on opening the shoulders and hips and focusing on the breath. An intro to asana (poses) including standing poses, hip openers, backbends, forward bends and twists. $20/drop-in, $18/per class paying monthly. Ingleside Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, 415 Ingleside St, Rte 5, Holyoke. Held (weather permitting) at Holyoke Boat House, Jones Ferry. 413313-5769. MassageTherapYoga.com.

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thursday MELT – 7-8pm. MELT Method eases chronic pain and reverses the negative effects of aging. Highly

A ll art is but imitation of nature. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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Coming Next Month

communityresourceguide Connecting you to the leaders in natural healthcare and green living in our community. To find out how you can be included in the Community Resource Guide, email Publisher@NAWestMA.com to request a media kit.

ACUPUNCTURE

FENG SHUI

ACUPUNCTURE OF GREATER HARTFORD & SPRINGFIELD

Stan Baker, LAc, Dipl. Ac. Integrative Health Group 1502 Allen St (Bicentennial Plaza) Springfield, MA 01118 413-782-9800 • AcupunctureStanBaker.com

FENG SHUI FOR HOME & BUSINESS Susan LaForte Certified Feng Shui Practitioner 413-253-0722 SusanFengShui@Yahoo.com FengShuiWesternMass.com

Wake up your home with the timeless wisdom of feng shui. A practical, effective energizing approach that will improve your space, improve your mood, improve your life.

Thirty years experience in the Oriental healing arts and specializing in difficult cases.

Presently he uses in his practice the major modalities of Chinese medicine: acupuncture, herbal medicine, Chinese dietetics, Chinese massage and bodywork. See ad, page 9.

ENERGY HEALING ANGELIC STONES

PERSONAL

GROWTH Live the Life of Your Dreams

Natural Awakenings’ November Issue Provides You the Resources

For more information about advertising and how you can participate, call

413-234-0024 30

Western Mass

NAWestMA.com

FITNESS BALANCE TOTAL BODY – MELT METHOD

Lisa Wilson, RMT, IET-MI Crystal Master/Teacher Integrative Health Group 1502 Allen St, Bicentennial Plaza Springfield, MA 01118 413-977-6837 • AngelicStones.net Support your personal healing journey through personalized private energy healing sessions and transformative self-healing and certification classes. Call or visit us on-line for the full class/ service schedule. See ad, page 11.

THE HEART TO HEART HEALING CONNECTION

Michelle A. McCarthy, IET-MI/Trainer, RMT 299 Walnut St, 2nd Fl, Agawam, MA 01001 413-737-9443 • Heart2HeartHealing.com

Kerrie Bodendorf Agawam, Westfield, Southampton, MA 413-579-7870 BalanceTotalBody@comcast.net BalanceTotalBody.com

Reduce joint pain and muscle tension with self-treatment that re-hydrates connective tissue and alig n s jo in ts f o r p ain - f r ee movement. Feel immediate response in your body.

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH NORTHAMPTON NATUROPATH ASSOCIATES

30 North King St, Northampton, MA 01060 413-587-0100 • NoHoDocs@24HourND.com NorthamptonNaturopath.com

Healing sessions and certification classes in Integrated Energy Therapy and Reiki. BioMat Powernaps that offer total relaxation, reduced stress, pain, better sleep and more. See ad, page 11.

N

As a client at our office, we provide you with the tools that your body needs to heal itself, mentally, physically and spiritually.

ever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ~Margaret Mead

MASSAGE PILLARS MASSAGE

Michelle Grassi Chicopee, Southampton, Southwick, MA 413-636-3205 • PillarsMassage.com We provide therapeutic massage and energy work for the enhancement of health and well-being to health-minded individuals. We are dedicated to provide our clients with nurturing treatments and continuing education to promote relaxation and self-healing.

See ad, page 7.

Organizational Solutions THE CLUTTER DOCTOR, INC.

Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman East Longmeadow, MA 01028 413-525-7345 • ClutterDoctor.com Take steps to increase your efficiency by providing solutions for organizational problems.

Solutions to manage your time and space that will simplify your life.

PHOTOGRAPHY SLEAQUE IMAGES

Suzanne Larocque East Longmeadow, MA 01028 413-525-9089 Suzanne@SleaqueImages.com SleaqueImages.com Over 13 years experience and creativity to every assignment, works with talented artists, stylists and designers to help bring your vision to life.

PSYCHOTHERAPIST JOANN MURPHY, MS Holyoke, MA 01040 413-519-3438 JoAnnWorks@aol.com

Currently specializing in ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy).

ART is the directive eye movement therapy that provides rapid recovery for trauma and other mental health problems. ART uses Gestalt, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Guided Imagery, Psychodynamic therapy, combining elements of the these approaches with eye movements so that the sum of ART is more than its parts. 35 years experience as a psychotherapist in Western Mass.

classifieds

REFLEXOLOGY Valley Massage Therapy

Theodore M. Schiff, LMT, CR, CST 39 Main St, 3rd Fl, Ste #34A Northampton, MA 01060 413-687-7878 TedSchiff@ValleyMassageTherapy.com ValleyMassageTherapy.com Reflexology on the feet brings the body back into harmony.

Valley Massage Therapy. See ad, page 19.

WOMEN’S HEALTH THE COUNSELING & GYNECOLOGY GROUP Max Chorowski, MD, FACOG Jenifer Fleming, MSN, CNM 175 Dwight Rd Longmeadow, MA 01106 413-567-WELL (9355) • GynGroup.com

Specializing in Menopause, PMS, Sexual Dysfunction, Depression and Anxiety by treating the mind, body & spirit as a whole.

Offering Bio-identical hormones & Breast Thermography. See ad, page 5.

YOGA

Fee for classifieds is $1 per word per month. To place listing, email content to Publisher@NAWestMA.com.

Deadline is the 10th of the month.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AD SALES REP – If you are good with people, motivated, live a healthy lifestyle and you would like to help grow the natural, healthy and green living business community here in Western Mass, Natural Awakenings may be the magazine for you.

We are looking for a talented person to help with our growth in the area of advertising sales. If this sounds like you, please contact us today. Sales experience preferred, but will train the right person.

Must be able to manage your time well and be self-motivated. If you are already involved in the green and natural health community here and love talking with people, you’re already on the way to making a successful ad sales person. Full or Part time, commission based position. Make your own hours, meet interesting people. Email cover letter and resume to: Submit@nawestma.com.

MENTAL HEALTH THERAPIST – Part-time opportunity in a Longmeadow medical office. Must have experience, be credentialed with some insurers and enjoy counseling women and men. LICSW preferred. M.D. on site for prescribing. Fax to: 413-567-0011 or email to: cpiper@gyngroup.com.

SERENITY YOGA

Michele Lyman 15 College St, S Hadley, MA 01075 413-563-3678 Info@SerenityYogaStudio.net SerenityYogaStudio.net Serenity Yoga is a peaceful, cozy environment where the focus is on accessible classes, skilled teachers and the health and wellness of the community. Serenity Yoga offers a variety of ongoing classes that include gentle and beginner yoga, moderate yoga, yoga for teens and advanced Vinyasa yoga. For the full schedule, call or visit the website.

See ad, page 21.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ~William Shakespeare

YOGA THERAPY ORIGINAL BODY WISDOM

Donna Brooks, E-RYT 500 195 Russell St, Hadley, MA 01035 27 Main St, Northampton, MA 01060 413-230-1260 • OriginalBodyWisdom.com Unwind into effortless and pain free movement. Private and small group Yoga therapy and movement re-patterning for help with pain, injury, restriction, sensitive nervous system, Parkinson’s and Stroke. Since 1981.

natural awakenings

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