Winter 2016

New

Consciousness WINTER 2016 | NCREVIEW.COM

Review

Busting

Myths About Health

Aquaponics, & Community

The (not so) Little

Book of Surprises

REVIEWS | INTERVIEWS | ARTICLES health • awakening • purpose • inspiration PLUS

HAPIguide – HAPIGUIDE.COM

What is Surprise in your life but an instant opportunity for transformation?

An unexpected moment that sends you careening into joy and wonder, or spiraling into deep thought and life-changing new awareness.

“This is an extraordinary journey for the soul, a breath taking book. A must read during these uncertain times. Surprises is a book of hope for our world.”

The (not so) Little Book of Surprises brings all that home in—of course— surprising ways! A mystical journey into consciousness, an exploration of what touches our souls, a laugh you never saw coming, and an inspiration for becoming our better selves are just some of the milestones in store for those embarking on this magical journey.

“The (not so) Little Book of Surprises is a visual feast. It is a road map of mystical insight, poetry, breathtaking photographs and humor in a thoroughly enjoyable combination. A rare gem of inspiration. Surprises is an opening into new dimensions of experience, every page filled with wisdom and insight. It is a book to meditate on - one page a day. A book of hope for our changing times.”

--Donna Karan, fashion icon

Created by William Arntz, the filmmaker who brought you What the Bleep Do We Know!?, The (not so) Little Book of Surprises takes the poetry, wisdom teachings and otherworldly visions of Deirdre Hade and the exquisite images of award-winning photographer Endre Balogh into a new world of words and pictures, of revelation and delight.

www.BookOfSurprises.com

--Jack Canfield, Coauthor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® “A treat for the eyes and spirit, The (not so) Little book of Surprises is a whimsical and mystical map for one’s inner awakening into a richer more expansive experience of life.”

--John Gray, Author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

CONTENTS 6

11

23

35

5 From the Editor

CONSCIOUS CINEMA

INSPIRATION

44 Keeping Ourselves Honest

by Brent Marchant

6 The (not so) Little Book of Surprises

by Will “Arntz and Deirdre Hade 9 Awakening Consciousness by Dr. Bernie Siegel 11 Love and Heal Yourself, Heal the World with Luke Adler 12 The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci HEALTH 14 Busting Myths About Health by Ronelle Wood 20 Preserving Cognitive Health

by Dr. Marsha Nunley 23 Why Gut Health Matters by Shelly Malone 27 Primal Fat Burner by Nora Gedgaudas AWAKENING 37 Incurable Me – the Business of Sickness with Dr. Kenneth Stoller 39 Aquaponics, Ingenuity and Community with JD Messinger and Kate Wildrick 40 Arguing Science with Dr. Michael Shermer

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PURPOSE 50 Unlock Your Creative Mind with Peter Himmelman 51 Thank & Grow Rich

by Pam Grout 52 Start Right Where You Are

by Sam Bennett 53 Signs: Looking for Flow with the Universe

by Janai Mestrovich 56 IN THE STARS – Astrology Forcast

by Mark Dodich 59 HAPIguide RESOURCE DIRECTORY

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new

ConsCiousness WINTER 2016 | NCREVIEW.COM

Review

New Consciousness Review

Bold Perspectives on Life, the Universe and Everything Busting

Myths About HeAltH

Aquaponics, & Community

The (not so) Little

Book of SurpriSeS

REVIEWS | INTERVIEWS | ARTICLES hEALTh • AWAkENINg • puRpoSE • INSpIRATIoN

HAPiguide – HAPIGUIDE.COM Cover Personality: Will Arntz and Deirdre Hade PLUS

HAPIguide

Resources for Conscious Awakening

Subscriptions New Consciousness Review/HAPIguide is a quarterly publication covering books, films and products and people in the areas of Health, Awakening, Purpose and Inspiration.

Subscribe for free at http://ncreview.com/magazine or http://www.hapiguide.com/magazine and view the archives on www.ncreview.com Advertising To advertize in the magazine, call 503-892-3300 or email info@ncreview.com Submissions To submit your work for review or interview or to submit articles, email us at info@ncreview.com or visit our website for guidelines.

Publisher & Editor Miriam Knight CONTRIBUTORS Reviewers Miriam Knight, Brent Marchant, Diane Holcomb Feature Writers Brent Marchant, Janai Mestrovich, Mark Dodich Contributing Writers Dr. Bernie Siegel, Ronelle Wood, Nora Gedgaudas, Dr. Marsha Numley, Shelly Malone Production Design Natasha & Neboysa Dolovacki NewConsciousness Review PO Box 80547, Portland, OR 97280 Tel: 503-892-3300 Web: www.ncreview.com and www.HAPIguide.com Email: info@ncreview.com

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FROM THE EDITOR

Collaboration and Community – ideas whose time has come!

I

n the strategic planning meetings for HAPIguide, we had many discussions about what we would like to present to our audience, what benefits we could provide to them, and what type of information we would share. We talked about our values and what mark we would each like to have our work leave in the world.

In looking at what brought us to this collaboration, we reviewed what each of our magazines had provided.

New Connexion’s articles spanned many years and many topics, from psychic readings to recipes, and we promoted upcoming events and resources. New Consciousness Review focused primarily on literary reviews and author interviews. How could we best combine our strengths in a new platform that would offer our audience a valuable and necessary resource?

With the new options provided by technology and the demand for cross-platform access, we knew we needed to create a cutting-edge, multi-platform promotional tool that provides visitors with valuable content in different formats: articles, events, a directory, audio, video, coupons, a resource guide, and soon a mobile app. But what can make HAPIguide even more valuable in its helpfulness are the reviews that visitors will find – and leave! – when they come to our website, so please help us by leaving yours!

We all understand the value of building a tribe, a community that resonates with our messages and that wants more because they find connection and growth.

That’s what we are striving to create with HAPIguide… a community of providers who share information, products, and services in the areas of Health, Awakening, Purpose, and Inspiration in a place visitors can return to time and again to connect.

Deep divisions and polarizations in our societies are painfully clear, but it is now up to all light workers to step into their power and guide the world away from the precipice of violence and despair. It is time to use higher vibration methods, spirituality, and conscious-living to help us all shift to a better place. It is our hope that the spirit of collaboration through which HAPIguide was born will flourish in our community and contribute to the greater conscious awakening.

Visit www.HAPIguide.com/Join to see how you can become a provider member. If you are looking for more information about our providers, visit www.HAPIguide. com. In either case, we hope you benefit from HAPIguide; that your world expands and your life improves with every article you read, event you attend, and connection you make.

MJ Schwader

Blessings!

MJ Schwader Miriam Knight

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Miriam Knight Editor & Publisher

INSPIRATION HEALTH REVIEW & INTERVIEW

The (not so) Little Book of Surprises

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By Deirdre Hade and Will Arntz, with photographs by Endre Balogh

his beautiful coffee table book spans the distance from head to heart, reverberating back and forth with the occasional detour to the funny bone. Deirdre Hade’s poetry – alternately ethereal, humorous, and downright cheeky – subtly leads the reader into a contemplation of the eternal existential questions: Who am I?Where did I come from? Why am I here? In fact, am I really here? Am I really alive?

The short answer is that we are here as mystics to experience, choose, create, and play. One poem, In The Honey Jars, appears in parts throughout the book like a leitmotif, poignantly illustrating our quest for the sweetness of life. Throughout the pages of the book we explore consciousness and awakening, light and darkness, time and eternity, and ourselves in relationship to the whole.

My favorite quote is: “The darkness serves the light, if you are conscious. The darkness is just the darkness if you are unconscious.” How profound is that!

This guided journey from cosmos to earth and back again is strikingly illustrated with the visionary photographs and artistic creations of the remarkable Endre Balogh. Endre is a renowned concert violinist who has become an equally acclaimed photographer, and the illustrations virtually sing from the pages. Either the words or the visuals alone would be enough to justify getting the book, but the combination is far greater than the sum of the parts. I should think that the music of the pictures and the imagery of the words

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would light up both hemispheres of the brain like a Christmas tree.

This sumptuous creation was the brainchild of William Arntz, the producer and director of the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and Deirdre’s Hade’s husband. The (not so) Little Book Of Surprises has the potential to be as much of a consciousness game changer on the literary scene

INSPIRATION HEALTH as “What the Bleep” was for cinema. You could think of it as the Cliff notes of metaphysics, or mysticism without tears; it’s spiritually subversive, universal, uplifting, and utterly delightful. It is also

priced incredibly well for such a beautiful book, and would make a perfect gift for the holidays or any special occasion.

FEATURED INTERVIEW

Mysticism for the Masses – An interview with Will Arntz

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illiam Arntz’ career goes from research laser physicist, to software entrepreneur, to director of What the BLEEP Do We Know!?. In his latest project he collaborates with wife, Deirdre Hade and world-class concert violinist and photographer, Endre Balogh in a lush and whimsical coffee table book that reframes mysticism for the masses.

About the Author William Arntz started his professional career as a research laser physicist, working on “Star Wars” high energy lasers.

He then moved on to software, writing “AutoSys”–an automated job control system currently in use by most Fortune 500 companies. He sold that company, retired, but then decided to make a film: creating, producing and directing What the BLEEP Do We Know!?, an exploration of spirituality, quantum physics, neurology and outrageous possibilities.

The film and the companion book, with editions in over twenty languages, were international hits. He is once again talking about retirement, although that is doubtful as he is married to one Deirdre Hade. For more info: CapturedLight.biz.

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Deirdre Hade has been an artist and a visionary since childhood, writing poetry and conversing with the mystical worlds. As a ballet dancer and choreographer, she performed throughout the country and founded the dance ensemble, “Celebrations to the Sacred.” When, at sixteen, her mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, Deirdre discovered the healing power of light, enabling her mother to live thirteen years longer than expected. As the founder of Radiance Healing and Meditation, Deirdre has guided people worldwide, teaching them to harness their own inner wisdom and healing potential. She is currently writing her story of life as a modern day mystic. To learn more, visit: DeirdreHade.com.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

INSPIRATION HEALTH ARTICLE

AWAKENING CONSCIOUSNESS

By Dr. Bernie Siegel

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When I was four years old I was home in bed with one of my frequent ear infections.

I took a toy telephone I was playing with and unscrewed the dial and put all the pieces in my mouth as I had seen carpenters do with nails which they then pulled out to use.

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he problem was that I aspirated the pieces and went into laryngospasm. I can still feel my intercostals muscles and diaphragm contracting forcefully, trying to get some air into my lungs, but nothing worked and I was unable to make any sounds to attract help. I had no sense of the time but suddenly realized I was not struggling anymore. I was now at the head of the bed watching myself dying.

I found it fascinating to be free of my body and a blessing. I never stopped to think about how I could

INSPIRATION HEALTH still see while out of my body. I was feeling sorry my mother, who was in the kitchen, would find me dead but I thought it over and found my new state preferable and intellectually chose death over life.

Then for no apparent reason the boy on the bed vomited and all the pieces came flying out. He began to breathe again and I was very angry as I returned to my body against my will. I can still remember yelling, “Who did that?” My thought as a four year old was that there was a God who had a schedule and I wasn’t supposed to die now. So an angel apparently did a Heimlich maneuver on me is the way I would explain it today.

I really do believe there is a schedule we create unconsciously because of later life experiences. Twice I have had my car totaled by people driving through red lights and once I fell off our roof when the top rung on my wooden ladder snapped off. In none of these incidents did any significant injury occur to my body.

Someone told me it was because I had an angel and he knew his name. I asked what it was and he asked, “What did you say when the ladder broke?”

“I said, Oh Shit!”

He said, “That’s his name.” I will add he always shows up when I call him in an impassioned way.

My next experience was with the healer Olga Worrall. I had injured my leg training for a marathon.

It was very painful and not responding to rest or therapy. At an American Holistic Medical Association conference Olga was a guest speaker. My wife told me to ask her to heal me. I was embarrassed to ask and very frankly a non-believer. Never the less my wife pushed me forward and Olga sat me down in a chair and placed her two hands on my leg. The heat from her hands was incredible. I remember putting my hands on the opposite leg to compare the heat sensation. There was no sense of warmth from my hands coming through the dungarees. When Olga was done I stood up and was completely healed. The pain was gone and I could walk normally.

Another time Olga and I spoke at the funeral of a mutual friend. After the ceremony we were standing in a deserted hallway when she asked, “Are you Jewish?”

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I really do believe there is a schedule we create unconsciously because of later life experiences. Twice I have had my car totaled by people driving through red lights and once I fell off our roof when the top rung on my wooden ladder snapped off.

“Why are you asking?”

“Because there are two rabbis standing next to you.” She went on to tell me their names and describe their garments, which included their prayer shawls and caps. Her description of them was exactly what I saw in my meditation and imagery sessions when I had met these figures while walking on my path.

Another evening after I gave a lecture, which felt like someone else was giving it and I was simply verbalizing it for them, a woman came up to me and said, “Standing in front of you for the entire lecture was a man and I drew his picture for you.”

Again, exactly the face and features of my inner guide. I still have the picture hanging in our home.

My next experience came when I was telling a friend about how busy I was and she said, “Why are you living this life?” Her intension was to get me to slow down and travel less but her question sent me into a trance and I immediately saw myself with a sword in my hand killing people. My first thought was that I had become a surgeon in this life to use a knife to heal and not kill.

I spontaneously went into a trance again a few days later and saw myself living the life of a knight who killed because he feared his lord and what he would do to him if he didn’t carry out his commands. I killed my wife, in this life, and her dog and

INSPIRATION HEALTH was devastated by the experience. But at the same time it revealed to me why my wife’s face has always had a hypnotic effect upon me and why I am so involved in rescuing animals.

Ultimately it taught me about having faith in the true Lord and like Abraham, Jesus, Moses, Noah and others to understand that what our Lord asks of us is for the greater good and that if I had said yes I would have not been asked to kill anyone.

Most recently one of our cats disappeared when a door was left open. After several weeks with no sign of her I was sure she was killed by a predator.

A friend I had made, Amelia Kinkade, is an animal intuitive who lives in Los Angeles. We live in Connecticut and Amelia has never been to our home or near it. I pestered her to tell me where the cat was and one day I received an email, without even sending Amelia a picture of the cat, and it detailed the house, yard, other animals and people who were involved in the cat’s life. The next day I went out and found the cat exactly where Amelia said it was hiding.

She told me in the email, “The cat is alive because I can see through its eyes.”

If that doesn’t make me a believer nothing will. I totally believe that consciousness is non-local and not limited to the body. I also have experienced this through the drawings and dreams of patients I have cared for which allows them to know their diagnosis and what the future holds for them. As

I believe it is this unconscious awareness, which we each bring with us when we are born. So I do not believe we literally live many lives but that we bring with us the experience of previous lives.

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Jung said, “The future is unconsciously prepared long in advance and therefore can be guessed by clairvoyants.”

I believe it is this unconscious awareness, which we each bring with us when we are born. So I do not believe we literally live many lives but that we bring with us the experience of previous lives. Thus the wiser we get the better the future will be for those who follow us.

Bernie Siegel is an American writer and retired pediatric surgeon, who writes on the relationship between the patient and the healing process as it manifests throughout one’s life. He is the author of 12 books, including his first and best-selling book, Love, Medicine and Miracles (1986). More recent titles include 365 Prescriptions for the Soul, and A Book of Miracles— Inspiring True Stories of Healing, Gratitude, and Love.

Bernie was born in Brooklyn, NY, and attended Colgate University and Cornell University Medical College. He graduated with honors and holds membership in two scholastic honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. He trained to become a surgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital, West Haven Veteran’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In 1989, Bernie retired from Yale as an Assistant Clinical Professor of General and Pediatric Surgery to speak to patients, their families and caregivers.

In May 2011, Bernie was honored by the Watkins Review of London, England, as one of the Top 20 Spiritually Influential Living People on the Planet. He continues to break new ground in the field of healing, supporting changes in medical education to “humanize” medical practice. Bernie’s website: www.berniesiegel.com

INSPIRATION HEALTH INTERVIEW

Love Yourself, Heal the World

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with Luke Adler

uke Adler’s goal is to help bring to light the systematic way we suppress our inner guidance and the physical effect of that suppression. He teaches how to reverse the disease process by looking within, learning to love what you discover, taking up daily meditation practice, and using breathwork to increase your ability to see life in all its nuanced beauty. Luke Adler, L.Ac. D.O.M., is a Board Certified Acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist in the state of Oregon, and has received the highest level of national certification for Chinese Medicine. Luke is currently a doctoral fellow under renowned physician Dr. Jeffrey Yuen.

Luke’s Ph.D studies are in classical Chinese medicine, with an emphasis in the esoteric energetics of acupuncture, herbology and ritual healing.

Educated in California, Luke is trained as a primary health care provider of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. His practice is holistically rooted in his ability to understand physiological pathology and make vital connections to emotional and spiritual blocks as part of an overall pattern of disharmony.

In his book, Born to Heal, Luke uses the lens of ancient Chinese medicine, enhanced by exploration into his own consciousness and that of the thousands of people he has served.

His website is: https://lukeadlerhealing.com/ LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

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INSPIRATION HEALTH REVIEW

The Power of Kindness The Unexpected Benefits of Leading A Compassionate Life

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By Piero Ferrucci

hat if I said you have the power to transform your life and the lives of others, and it doesn’t cost a cent?

What if I said the heart has its own concept of time, that you are “rich in hours and days,” as psychotherapist Piero Ferrucci states, and have more freedom and space to breathe than you think? And what if I said the key to all of the above is kindness?

Setting aside the health benefits of being kind to ourselves, others, and the planet, kindness is a problem-solver, a way to unite people, a reason humans thrive, and something we were designed to do. So why read a book about it? Because for many, the vulnerability of being kind is difficult. Because we live in an “Ice Age of the heart,” as Ferucci puts it, less in touch than we were before cell phones, email, 60-hour work weeks, and the fragmentation of families. Because many are lonely, anxious, or depressed. Because we need to remember, in spite of what the media leads us to believe, there is more good in the world than not.

When The Power of Kindness first appeared in 2006, the rep from the publishing company raved about it, encouraging me to order several copies. I did, and it sold well, but I never got around to reading the book. I’m already kind, I thought, and didn’t need the information.

With the release of the 10th anniversary edition, I felt compelled to crack the spine. “In this exciting but dangerous moment of human history,” Ferruc-

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cci says, “kindness is not a luxury, it is a necessity.” As I read the nineteen facets that make up this necessity, such as honesty, warmth, and a sense of belonging, my heart relaxed. Here is a book of hope, of wisdom, of healing. The author uses personal anecdotes, spiritual stories, and philosophical ideas to illustrate the power of kindness. This edition includes a new chapter, introduction, and selection of exercises. Tarcher Perigee, 2016  Reviewed by Diane Holcomb, East West Bookshop

Two Books that will Blow Your Mind

NIKOLA TESLA channeled by Francesca Thoman

Volume One: Tesla provides his afterlife perspective of Time and enfolded dimensions, unifying physics and metaphysics through human consciousness.

• “The human body is a psychic phenomenon.”

• “Any such ‘physical’ theory that does not take into account the “psychic” is not fully based on reality.”

• “Electromagnetic, magnetic, auric and gravity fields are all fields of consciousness.”

From Volume Two: Tesla elaborates on enfolded dimensions and the Torsion Fields of Para-sound and Para-light, as well as his “correspondence” with a medical doctor regarding the subtler aspects of DNA, stem cells and healing.

• “When properly focused and coherent, belief can change the coding and nature of any thing or process.”

• “From the point of view of the higher dimensions, the electron’s flicker is another sine wave: a sine wave-like shape describing a multi-dimensional torus.”

• “If you were to know a child’s astrological chart, his past life history, his soul’s intention, and what matters most to him, and if you were to discover these things from your love of that child, you would be far more likely to understand the child, and not feel frustrated enough to punish him.”

HEALTH ARTICLE

Busting Myths About Health

by Ronelle Wood, M.S./SLP, LMT, CPT-RES

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Are Bunions Hereditary?

e learn by imitation. We learn how to talk, eat, and walk by watching what our parents (or primary caregivers) do. That’s how we develop the same accent and eating habits and gait patterns they have. Bunions are not passed from one generation to the next through our DNA. Bunions develop as a result of the first metatarsal bone of the big toe being loaded with weight. Our skeleton is designed for osteogenesis (making more bone) as a result of the amount of weight it has to carry on a regular basis. That is why it is so important to keep your body weight in your heels! Every time you take a step and your heel strikes first, it vibrates your entire skeleton and it generates exactly the amount of bone it needs to support your body weight. When you transfer weight into the toes of your feet, (high heels, leaning forward when walking) this tells the bones of your toes that they need more bone to support all that weight. Poor toes. They are not designed for that.

An aggravating factor is also generated when you walk with your feet turned out. The body then tries to grow an extra toe to support the weight out in front of you! Here comes this big boney growth off the joint of your big toe!

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HEALTH But the good news is, bone will reabsorb. We know that because astronauts return from zero gravity (no bone impact conditions) with diminished bone density. They are put on weight bearing exercise to regenerate the bone lost while in space. Shift your feet straight and get your weight back in your heels and those bunions will diminish!

ing that instead of burning fat. There are body builders that every day create microtears in their muscle tissue that has to be repaired quickly, causing overgrowth of fascia and restrictive scarring. They can’t lift their arms over their head anymore. Over-development of one muscular group does not help the whole body, it taxes it.

So, before expensive and painful surgery, come in and learn some simple adjustments to the way you walk. Imitating your parent’s gait pattern produced bunions. Learn to imitate proper body mechanics and save yourself a lot of time, money and pain!

 We need enough muscular strength to stand on one leg for 60 seconds.  We need enough upper body strength to lift ourselves off the ground.  We need enough lung capacity to blow out 20 candles at once.  We need the motor skill to be able to lift the big toe by itself.  We need to walk with proper alignment an hour a day in 15 minute segments.

Fitness vs. Wellness This could also be called Outside vs. Inside or Subjective vs. Objective. “I want to have arms like Jennifer Aniston.” vs. “I want to live an active, healthy pain-free life. We are bombarded with commercials that promote “rock hard abs” and “buns of steel,” or promises to “look better than you have in 10 years”. The models they use are images of physical perfection. They even show before and after pictures of how these people look from the outside. They don’t show the results of their blood panel, their hormone levels, their X-rays and MRI’s and they don’t talk about how their joints feel when they get out of bed in the morning. Their workouts don’t protect you from high blood pressure, asthma, osteoporosis, pelvic floor disorders, plantar fasciitis, bunions, joint degeneration, heart disease, diabetes, and fibromyalgia.

A body mechanics instructor once had the privilege of sitting next to one of the “Biggest Losers” from TV’s reality show on a plane ride. The participant from Texas talked about stress fractures, torn ligaments and nearly crippling pain, as well as the eventual return of all the weight she had lost. Having been put through the same kind of “boot camp” training football players endure, her body was more damaged than when she started.

So much of our protein and energy has to be devoted to repairing the damage we do following vigorous workouts, that we don’t have the reserves left to nourish us and keep us vital and healthy. So much lactic acid is generated from muscular overuse, that our liver is tied up filter-

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That is where wellness can be measured objectively. Begin there and work towards feeling good. When you feel good on the inside and all your systems are working with you toward health, it will shine out from the inside and you will look better than you have in 10 years!

Heavy Cardio Workouts According to the Surgeon General, exercise should be done 3-5 times/week for 30 min/day at an elevated heart rate.

Your heart and blood vessels know how to respond to regular rhythmic motion. Your connective tissue/ fascial system will automatically “wrap” you tighter to conserve muscular activity. If you don’t innervate muscles your brain isn’t talking to those muscles. Your fascial system clamps down and holds everything very tightly. That passive kind of constant static pressure is not the pressure that your heart and blood vessels know how to respond to.

With all this static pressure, you reduce the size of the “container” for your blood. But you still have the same volume of blood. Your heart still has to pump the same amount of blood through a reduced area. This causes your blood pressure to go up. So, you are told that you have to strengthen your heart if you have high blood pressure. A vigorous cardio workout induces a stress response

HEALTH that allows a temporary dilation of those arterial walls. You will get blood to the muscles that are innervated.

It strengthens the heart, but there is a negative by-product, which is the free-radical chemical process. So with that stress-hormone you have a negative chemical response that comes with it – and the heart is still having to PUSH blood into a tight and restricted system.

A much more effective and efficient way to lower blood pressure without wearing out your heart pump . . . is to increase the area into which the blood is allowed to flow. PULLING blood into new areas. Waking up the muscles that have gone to sleep. Reactivating motor skills. New and novel movement every day. Stretching. Myofascial release.

Dividing your exercise into several segments is better for your body. Two to four fifteen minute segments is better than one 30-60 minute session. If you knew you had to have a certain caloric intake everyday, do you think it would be best to try and consume it all at once or spread it out to sustain you throughout the day? Same idea. Giving our bodies regular intervals of “letting go” and expanding helps all our systems to get used to and maintain balance.

Treadmill vs. Walking To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction; or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.

– Newton’s Third Law of Motion, translated from the Principia’s Lati

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In order to walk forward, we have to push off the ground and generate force behind us. For this purpose, our feet are the levers that push off the ground and our gluteals (buttocks), hamstrings and calves are the large muscles that generate force behind us.

The treadmill eliminates your need to generate force behind you. The treadmill creates an “uphill” walking experience. That is what the quadriceps (thigh) muscles are for. We already overuse this muscle group as a result of wearing shoes with heels and having our center of gravity pitched forward over our toes.

Uphill walking eliminates the most important phase of walking . . . the HEEL STRIKE! Did you know that every vibration generated when you

HEALTH strike your heel on the ground stimulates bone growth? That is how your body knows the amount of bone density it needs to support your weight. If you are continuously striking the ground with the forward part of your foot instead of your heel, you will generate more bone there and the rest of your skeleton does not generate the bone density necessary to support your full body weight.

Uphill walking is most often done with a primarily bent leg. This keeps the hip flexors (in the groin) in a constant state of flexion. In terms of circulation, this puts a “kink in your hose”. It also exerts excessive joint force on your knees and limits hip mobility. Having your legs straight and using the large muscle groups on the backs of your legs draws the blood all the way down to your feet and helps pump it back up to the heart. Many aches and pains associated with “getting old” are a result of excessive joint force and lack of circulation to the lower extremities.

So, if you want to avoid or reverse symptoms of bunions, plantar fasciitis, hammer toes, neuroma, neuropathy, knee surgery, hip replacement surgery, and low back pain . . . get off the treadmill. Let your body do what it is designed to do to maintain optimal health. WALK using your own force!

Bone Loss Osteoblasts are cells that are responsible for bone formation. Osteoclasts break down bone (resorption). When bones are repeatedly given a weight-bearing task, the osteoblasts go to work to make sure the bones maintain the density necessary for that task. When the weight is reduced or eliminated, the osteoclasts go to work to remove unneeded bone. We learned from the experience of astronauts in outer space, that without gravity acting on their bodies, they experienced bone loss.

The Russians developed a treatment for their cosmonauts that involved having them stand with their weight in their heels on a vibrating platform. It helped reverse the osteoperosis (bone loss).

Our bodies are designed to “listen” to the ground we walk on. The information we receive from our feet with every step we take is huge! The resistance of the surface we are walking on, the texture, the

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slant, unevenness, vibration, temperature are all pieces of information coming through our feet. In addition, with every strike of our heel, our skeleton is programmed to generate enough bone to support our body weight.

Think about all the sitting we do: driving to work, sitting at work, driving home, driving to run errands, driving to the gym, sitting on a workout machine, sitting to watch TV, sitting on the toilet.

Add to that a fear of falling, and you will find a large population that has just decided to sit down and stop moving. The bones are “learning” that the only weight they need to bear is from your sitz bones up! While there are hormonal and other factors that can affect bone density, we can greatly influence osteogenesis (bone generation) in our bodies with every step we take.

Urinary Incontinence According to the National Association for Incontinence, 25 million adult Americans experience transient or chronic urinary incontinence. They estimate that 75-80% of those sufferers are women and that information on healthy bladder function can help promote the understanding that incontinence is not a normal part of aging, but a symptom of another problem. A tucked pelvis can be the single most aggravating factor in urinary incontinence. We now know that in spite of what your ballet teacher or aerobics instructor or even physical therapist might have told you, tucking your pelvis is not good for you.

The boney processes of the pelvic girdle provide the anchors for the muscles of the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is the only thing holding your viscera (guts) inside your body. In order for the pelvic floor to be taut like a trampoline (rather than slack like a hammock,) all the bones of the pelvis need to be as far apart from each other as possible. When you tuck your pelvis, you bring the tailbone closer to the pubic bone. This causes you to lose tension in the pelvic floor.

In the absence of pelvic floor support, the job of holding your viscera in goes to the sphincters. You clamp down with your urethral, vaginal and anal sphincters. These become overworked, tired out and eventually lose tonicity. Our muscles need

HEALTH to have periods of innervation, stretch and laxity to maintain their tone. Otherwise . . . ACHOO--Woops!

one’s comment, cold weather, noise, deadlines, expectations, anticipation, driving.

The fascia responds to any perceived attack by tightening and resisting outside assault. The biological reason is to slow circulation, numb you and “spring load” you for flight or fight so that if you are injured you won’t bleed too much, feel much pain and you’ll have nearly superhuman energy to fight back or run. Of course, it comes with adrenalin as well.

If our body doesn’t get a chance to discharge that energy by fighting or fleeing or crying and yelling, the fascia doesn’t quit. We walk around every day with holding patterns in our body from old perceived threats. Holding back a reaction doesn’t make it go away. Over time this can result in a very tight, immobile body. The body is used to resisting. When a massage therapist tries to force a body to let go, it just creates more resistance. It may feel good at the time, because blood is being pushed into the shallow layers and some lactic acid, uric acid and adrenalin are being carried away by the blood.

FASCIA

No Pain No Gain?

To understand the role of fascia (connective tissue) in our bodies, we need to know how PROTECTIVE it is. Its function is to connect, support, contain, protect and communicate. One aspect of this hollow, fluid-filled, light-conducting, super-strong, magnificent network of fibrils, tendrils, scaffolding and rigging is to tighten in the face of danger.

It is the fishnet inside you that acts like a “pill bug” when you’re frightened. You know what I’m talking about? That grey little bug from the garden that turns into a protective little ball when you touch it.

The connective tissue does the same thing inside your body. They’ve done tests to see how humans react to sudden unexpected noise at close range. Over and over again, it shows that we contract down and inward. We protect our guts. This happens everyday. It can either be a large dramatic movement in response to something really big. Or it can be a subtle, tiny little overall contraction in response to any perceived threat: some-

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But the holding patterns over the years develop deep layers. If you want to get down to the source of the holding, you must get past that protective resistance. If the fascia perceives “attack” it will not let you in. That is why Myofascial Release is so successful. We approach the body slowly and we hang out at the first sign of resistance and then follow the direction of ease. The body ALLOWS and INVITES us in to the deeper layers so that you can let go of the deepest layers of holding and have longer lasting results.

Are Insoles Helping or Hurting My Feet?

Most likely hurting. When you substitute some prosthetic device for your own muscular movement, you are handicapping your body and causing the needed muscles to further atrophy. Often people come in saying “I have one leg shorter than the other.” Upon examination, we find that the measured length of the bones in both legs is the same, but the hips are out of alignment.

The hips often become misaligned from simple day-to-day living – minor accidents, jarring, slip-

HEALTH ping, falling, sitting improperly, stepping off the curb wrong, and so forth.

What we see is that one hip is “higher” than the other causing it to appear as though the leg on one side is shorter. Putting a hard prosthetic insert into the shoe on the “high” side just insures that the hip will never have a chance to return to balance.

If we don’t require the musculature in our feet, legs and hips to do the work of balancing our full body weight, they don’t get circulation and atrophy, meaning they become weak. Without circulation, there is no innervation. The cells are unable to get the nourishment they need to survive and they begin die, causing pain. A pain signal from your body means it is asking for your attention.

The imbalance in your hips can lead to a cascade of other symptoms: jaw problems; pain and deterioration of your hip, knee and ankle joints on the other leg; plantar fasciitis, bunions, neuroma and neuropathy of the other foot. Instead of putting the “short” side to sleep, get your hips back where they should be and wake them up with circulation and innervation by requiring them to bear their fair share of weight!

The following is a simple exercise you can do to wake up those hips and bring them back into balance: 1.

Stand with your feet together, hands on top of your head. Have someone stand behind you and settle their hands onto the top of your hipbone on both sides of your body at your waist. Have them notice if the top of the hipbone is higher on one side than the other.

If so, you need to align your hips. If both sides are even, your hips are in proper alignment and you do not need to do this procedure.

2.

Spread your feet about shoulder width apart, with your feet straight (straight line from pinky to heel on the outside of the foot). If you do it right, it feels pigeon-toed. Keeping your back straight up and down, and without allowing your feet to move, slowly bend forward keeping a flat back and straight legs as far as you can without discomfort. Still keeping your back flat and your feet in the same position, return to a standing position. Repeat this action three times.

3.

Without moving your feet, rotate your hips in a large circle five times toward the lowest

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side. That is, if your right hip was lower, rotate clockwise five times; if your left hip was lower, rotate counterclockwise five times.

4.

Without moving your feet, do five more hip rotations in the opposite direction (toward the high-hip side).

5.

Without moving your heels, pull your toes toward each other (pigeon-toed) as far as possible. Do three more body dips (like step 2), being sure to keep your heels on the floor and your feet straight.

6.

With your “low-side” foot, take one “giant step” forward, straightening your foot so that when you put it down it is facing straight forward. Bring your back foot forward to join its mate, and stand up nice and straight.

Have your partner check your hip alignment 7. again by repeating step 1.

8.

If your hips are still out of alignment, you may repeat this entire routine two or three times if necessary. If you are still out of alignment, let it rest for a few hours then try again. Remember, if you have been out of alignment for a long time, it’s going to take your body a long time to heal itself.

Ronelle Wood is a leading specialist in Myofascial Release Therapy, having learned the power of fascia from both sides – as a patient and as a healer.

She has probed deeply into the light-conducting nature of fascia and what that means for people, how it impacts their emotional and physical wellbeing – and how diminished light conduction can spur problems that someone might not even be aware of. The fascia is the cloak of gossamer connective tissue that surrounds and supports everything in our bodies; they function like fiber optics, conducting light to all points of our body vessel. When light is stagnant or blocked there is pain and trauma. Website: www.ohmsanctuary.com

HEALTH ARTICLE

Preserving Cognitive Health Can You Prevent or Halt the Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease?

By Functional Medicine Specialist Dr. Marsha Nunley An estimated 5.2 million Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s disease, a number that may nearly triple in the next thirty years as the population of older Americans continues to grow dramatically. Growing older is the greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s; the disease currently affects 1 in 9 Americans over the age of 65 and 1 in 3 over the age of 85.

“T

he prevalence of Alzheimer’s is startling and frightening for older Americans and their families,” says functional medicine specialist Dr. Marsha Nunley, founder of H.E.A.L. Medical. “As a society and as in-

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dividuals, we are more health-conscious than ever before and yet the threat of Alzheimer’s looms over our ‘golden years’. As researchers continue to pursue treatment and prevention solutions, we want to do everything we can ourselves to ward off the disease and maintain our physical and cognitive vitality as we age.”

HEALTH Despite the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease among older people, it is not necessarily a natural consequence of aging. The memory loss that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a well known formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Top researcher and California neurologist Dr. Dale Bredesen, director of UCLA’s Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, believes that an intensive program of hormone replacement, diet, proper sleep, key supplements, strategic fasting and stress reduction can reduce and even reverse Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Bredesen has developed a program that functional medicine specialists, including Dr. Nunley, are using to look at a person’s genetics, nutrition and lifestyle and to create a plan for helping them to delay and even eliminate the chances of them developing Alzheimer’s.

While scientists don’t yet know precisely what triggers damage to the nerve cells, they know that the changes that typify Alzheimer’s occur first in the cerebral cortex, which is the seat of learning. That’s why the first sign of the disease is usually the inability to remember newly learned information. As damage spreads to other parts of the brain, other symptoms appear and the disease becomes progressively more severe.

“While risk factors for Alzheimer’s include those that cannot be changed - age, family history, and genetics - there is increasing evidence that there are factors that are under our control and things

An exercise regimen should include aerobic exercise and strength training as well as balance exercises to reduce the risk of falls, particularly to guard against head trauma, which is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

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While scientists don’t yet know precisely what triggers damage to the nerve cells, they know that the changes that typify Alzheimer’s occur first in the cerebral cortex, which is the seat of learning. we can do to mitigate risk or delay the onset of symptoms,” says Dr. Nunley. “We can modify our behavior and lead a ‘brain-healthy’ lifestyle that will help keep our brains healthier longer.”

Dr. Nunley identifies important factors in maintaining brain and body fitness:  R egular exercise can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and slow its progression in those who have begun to develop symptoms.

Exercise increases blood and oxygen flow to the brain and stimulates the brain to maintain existing network connections and develop new ones. An exercise regimen should include aerobic exercise and strength training as well as balance exercises to reduce the risk of falls, particularly to guard against head trauma, which is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s and other dementias.  A healthy diet - high in vegetables, brightly colored fruits, healthy fats, and low in added sugar - can help maintain cognitive health. Some studies have found benefits in specific nutrients such as the omega-3 fatty acid in salmon and sardines; the anti-oxidants and vitamins in green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli; and substances that remove toxins from the brain, found in ginger, soy products, blueberries and other dark berries. Foods to avoid include soda and packaged, refined, and processed foods, especially those high in refined carbohydrates and sweeteners like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, which cause inflammation in the brain and elsewhere.

HEALTH  Intellectual stimulation - learning something new, doing puzzles, reading, memorizing - stimulates the brain, makes it more adaptable, and builds up a “cognitive reserve” that can take over if function is disrupted or lost. The more challenging the activity, the more significant the benefit.  S ocial activity - maintaining strong ties and developing new friendships - is associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies confirm that social interaction also contributes to mental stimulation; those who are most engaged socially perform best on tests of memory and cognition.

In conclusion, good general health supports good brain health. Stop smoking; maintain a healthy weight, exercise at least 150 minutes a week, sleep 7-8 hours a night; and drink alcohol only on special occasions.

“Alzheimer’s disease is not an inevitable result of aging. While there is currently no cure for Alzhei-

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mer’s, there are ways of minimizing its effects and forestalling or minimizing its development,” says Dr. Nunley. “People who feel that they are at risk for Alzheimer’s or who are concerned with symptoms they are experiencing should seek out the advice of a functional medicine doctor who will take a comprehensive look at their risk factors, lifestyle and diet and put them on a program to minimize and potentially stop the onset of the disease,” adds Dr. Nunley.

Marsha Nunley, M.D., founder of H.E.A.L. Medical is board-certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, and palliative care. Dr. Nunley specializes in functional medicine, a systems-based approach to treating the whole person. www.marshanunleymd.com Contact: Melissa Chefec, MCPR, LLC, 203-968-6625

HEALTH

HEALTH ARTICLE

Gut Check [OR] Digestion and Disease

Why Gut Health Matters

By Shelly Malone

The following is an adaption of INFLAMED: Discover the root cause of inflammation and personalize a step-by-step plan to create a healthy, vibrant life [www.inflamedbook.com] by Shelly Malone, MPH, RDN

O

ur digestive system is the foundation for wellness and immunity, having the highest concentration of immune cells in our entire body. It was Hippocrates who first said, “all disease begins in the gut.”

And though this wise, founding father of medicine first realized this over 2,000 years ago, most people seem to be surprised to know that a digestion (or “gut”) issue could be the culprit for a variety of symptoms outside of the expected gas, bloating and poop issues.

If your gut health isn’t on point, your overall health won’t be either. Getting off course compromises your immunity (e.g. inappropriate inflammatory responses), detoxification process (your ability to deal with toxins in the environment), nutrient status, and neurotransmitter balance. In fact, the health of your gut even plays a role in determining how your genetic dispositions will manifest.

Conditions Associated with Impaired Gut Health  All Autoimmune Disease (rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, fibro-

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HEALTH myalgia, lupus, Hashimoto’s thryroiditis and more)  Allergies & Food Sensitivities  Inflammatory Bowel Disease (including Crohn’s & Ulcerative Colitis) & other digestive issues  Skin Conditions (acne, psoriasis, eczema, rashes)  Stubborn Weight Loss/Obesity  Diabetes  Hormone Imbalances  Mood/Cognitive Function  Autism & Childhood hyperactivity  Cardiac conditions  Alcoholism

A big determinant to ensuring the above processes work effectively and efficiently is the makeup of the bacteria, or microorganisms, that live within the digestive tract, otherwise known as your gut microbiome.

Ideally, we have a strong, working relationship with the friendly bugs. Through our diet we provide the nutrients to feed these beneficial bacteria, and in turn, they keep our immunity in check, make certain vitamins, regulate our metabolism, and assist in gene expression, digestion, and many other processes that we are continuing to learn about.

It’s a win/win. Or, at least it should be.

Categories of Disruption Unfortunately, your digestive system and the related processes it is in charge of can be compromised via two general categories. (here’s where we start to get concerned): 1. Dysbiosis The goal for a healthy gut is to have the good, beneficial bacteria outweigh the bad. The good guys act as a physical barrier to the bad. If the good guys get killed off, don’t show up in the first place, or if you consume a diet that feeds the bad bacteria, it makes more room for the bad (pathogenic) to take over. This leads the way to a skewed ratio of much more bad bugs to good, aka dysbiosis.

The Role of the Gut The gut has four quite critical functions: 1. To digest food and convert it into vitamins 2. To absorb nutrients 3. To prevent toxins and pathogens from entering the bloodstream 4. To activate thyroid hormones, which are involved in almost every physiological process in the body Our digestive system also houses about 70% of our immune cells, 95% of our serotonin and 90% of all neurotransmitters.

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2. Leaky Gut The protective lining of your digestive system or gut lumen (the space inside the tube of your intestine that regulates the passage of nutrient particles into your bloodstream), can be damaged by various diet and environmental factors. This causes your digestive system to become overly permeable. And when this protective barrier breaks down, it takes down your entire system with it.

Usually your intestinal wall is woven like a piece of cheesecloth. When it’s “leaky” though, it’s more like a tennis net. This series of openings allows larger, undigested nutrient particles to get into your bloodstream before they’ve had time to marinate in the proper digestive juices. Various toxins and bacteria can also pass through. These escapees are viewed as foreigners by your immune system and trigger an antibody reaction leading to inflammation, putting a huge strain on your entire system.

HEALTH What Causes the Damage There are many different diet and environmental influences that can compromise our gut health as well as elements of our past medical history, including:  Overuse of antibiotics  Birth via C-section  Not receiving breastmilk  Overuse of NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories)  Diet High in Gluten  Diet High in Sugar, Processed Foods & GMO’s  Chronic Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors (antacids) If you’re checking the box on any (or close to all) of the above, don’t fret. The damage can be repaired.

The time it will take depends on many factors – including your specific condition and your compliance with the plan to correct it.

Getting Back in Balance What to Take Out It’s critical to start here because you can’t start the repair process while damage is still being done.

Gluten

When you consume gluten, it causes the release of a protein called zonulin, which unzips the “tight junctions” that hold together your intestinal lining.

Sugar

Sugar feeds the pathogenic bacteria (e.g. yeast), allowing them to overtake the beneficial bacteria, aka “dysbiosis.”

GMO’s

The Bt (Bacillus thuringienesis)-toxin within genetically-modified crops has been show to alter immune function and gut permeability.

Overuse of NSAIDS

NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.) play a large role in increasing the permeability of your gut.

Stress

Chronic stress makes your gut more permeable, disrupts the composition of the microbiota and causes inflammation within your gut.

Other Food Sensitivities

Beyond gluten, other sensitivities or intolerances can exist that can be tested via blood work and/or elimination diets. Common culprits are dairy from cow’s milk, corn and soy

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HEALTH What to Add In Probiotics

Probiotics provide the beneficial, or commensal, bacteria that keep our immunity in check, make certain vitamins, regulate our metabolism, and assist in gene expression and digestion.

Omega-3 Fats

Omega-3 fats fight inflammation – including the inflammation that could exist in your gut. Great sources include wild fish (e.g. wild-caught salmon, sardines, krill or cod liver oil), flax seed and algae or algal oil.

Protein/essential amino acids

Depending on your diet, this may not necessarily need to be “added”, but you do need to be sure it exists. Protein provides the essential building blocks for tissue growth and repair, enzymes and detoxification. Consuming animal sources ensures you will be getting all essential amino acids (plus required neurotransmitters for cognitive function).

Supplementation

Specific recommendations and dosages should be determined with a qualified practitioner and individualized to your needs, but some supplements you may encounter to help repair the integrity of your gut include:  Glutamine (never to be used for those with autism), zinc, marshmallow root, slippery elm (high in polysaccharides so not for anyone following a Specific Carbohydrate Diet)  Anti-inflammatories: boswellia, quercetin, aloe vera juice, turmeric  Antioxidants: Vitamins A, C, E, selenium  Digestive aids (digestive enzymes, HCl or apple cider vinegar).

This is a lot of information, but don’t let it cause overwhelm. Take a minute to marinate on all of it, and ask yourself a few questions.

What would your life look like without the pain or fatigue from a chronic health condition? The life-disrupting digestive issues? The uncomfortable skin conditions? What would it be worth to not have to deal with these and just get back to living?

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Would making a few diet changes be worth it? Even if you aren’t up for doing it all in one fell swoop, could you make one change now? No matter where things stand for you today, know that little steps can add up to big impact in your health… and your life.

HEALTH INTERVIEW

Primal Fat Burner Nora Gedgaudas, author of the groundbreaking book, Primal Body Primal Mind, talks with Miriam Knight about her new book that shakes the myths surrounding dietary fat explains how using a fat-based ketogenic diet in alignment with your evolutionary and genetic design can give you the tools you need to rebuild your own health.

Miriam: Nora, tell us about this primal fat burning book. You are the preeminent authority I would say on the paleo diet and on converting to a fatbased diet. Can you tell us, what is the difference between a fat-based diet and the “normal” diet in human physiology?

Nora: What we can define as “normal” as you say, is this: The vast majority of people in the world are pretty well-adapted, or I should say maladapted to more of a sugar-based metabolism, a sugar burning metabolism if you will. What I try to make the case for is restoring a more natural and healthy fatbased metabolism that utilizes both free fatty acids and ketones as a primary source of fuel.

I have talked about these two ways of looking at our metabolism metaphorically using my old wood stove analogy. You can look upon carbohydrates as essentially being a form of “metabolic kindling” if you will. It burns very fast and hot, but it doesn’t burn in a particularly long, stable or sustained manner.

The carbohydrates I am talking about here are sugar and starch-rich foods, and we need to distinguish these from fibrous vegetables and greens that really don’t have a whole lot of caloric value or utilizable carbohydrate value in the form of sugar and starch. The so-called “complex carbohydrates” that we’re all supposed to be basing our diet on according to the US Department of Agricul-

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HEALTH ture (no conflict of interest there, right?), include your whole grains, beans, and brown rice, sweet potatoes and things like that. They would basically be the equivalent of putting twigs on your metabolic fire. They’ll burn a little bit, get things hot, but they’re not going to last very long. (And you have to ask yourself whether it’s really that good for your metabolic engine to burn “hotter” all the time….You instead want it to burn efficiently and reliably if you want it—and you—to last!)

Refined carbohydrates like white bread, white potatoes, pasta, white rice, refined grains and things of that nature, probably make up the bulk of the American or western diet. They are really the metabolic equivalent of crumpled up paper on that metabolic fire. Things like certain types of alcoholic beverages, and sweetened beverages, juices, sodas and things like that, are ultimately the metabolic equivalent of gasoline or lighter fluid on that metabolic fire. So if, metaphorically, all you had was kindling to heat your house with using a wood stove for instance, then you would basically be living your life preoccupied with where that next handful of fuel was going to come from to keep your metabolic fire going.

What’s the alternative? We’re told, or sort of taught by medical authorities and by mainstream dietitians and nutritionists, that glucose is “of necessity” our primary source of fuel. It’s really a very misleading statement, and it’s only true if a person has metabolically adapted him/herself to it, and rather unnaturally I might add, as their primary source of fuel.

Miriam: What is the downside for the body in relying on glucose?

Nora: There are many downside to that, not the least of which is a total enslavement to being constantly preoccupied with where that next handful kindling is going to be coming from. The other part to that of course is the fact that sugar is inherently damaging to the body, and there is no minimum safe amount of glucose or any other type of sugar that the human body can have without it creating some damage. And that damage becomes quite cumulative over time!

We now know, for instance, that even high normal levels of glucose – in other words, non pre-diabetic, with a perfectly normal fasting glucose range but just toward the higher end – have been associ-

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ated with pathophysiological (neurodegenerative) changes in the brains of people according to several different studies in the last couple of years. --Most affected are areas of the brain typically associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease (now being referred to as “type 3 diabetes”). Most of us should probably shoot for a fasting blood sugar of somewhere between 70 and 85, hopefully without any associated low blood sugar symptoms, and that’s of course the rub. One study published in the journal, Neurology in 2013 concluded: “Our results indicate that even in the absence of manifest type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance, chronically higher blood glucose levels exert a negative influence on cognition, possibly mediated by structural changes in learning-relevant brain areas. Therefore, strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition in the older population…”

Sugar basically has a couple of different effects. It glycates tissues. Glycation is a process by which sugar will combine with proteins and fats, and cause them to become sticky and misshapen and start to malfunction. The combination generates something called advanced glycation or glycosylation (depending on who you’re talking to) end products. They create the acronym AGE is which is sort of appropriate because this is one of the primary means by which human beings age (in ways we don’t like). The more sugar there is, the more glycation occurs.

HEALTH Regular glucose is for sure glycating, as is especially fructose found in fruit sugar, juices, and things like high fructose corn syrup and, heaven forbid agave syrup (the supposed darling of the health food industry), which nobody should consume; it’s not remotely a healthy sweetener, I’ll tell you right now. Fructose is anywhere from 10 to 30 times more glycating than glucose. In fact, not only will it destroy your heart faster than anything else can, but also will have the effect of triggering fat storage at a very accelerated rate.

There’s an enzyme called fructokinase that gets activated in the presence of fructose, and it basically hearkens back to the days where we were eating ripened fruits and berries at the end of the summer in order to fatten up for the winter. Nowadays I don’t care if you’re living in Minnesota in February when it’s 40 below outside, winter “ain’t coming” for us anymore. We’re all living in climate controlled environments where it’s roughly 72o Fahrenheit and comfortable almost all of the time. What happens is that we get this fat switch flipped on and your body thinks that it’s time to store fat for the winter, which we would at least be burning off if we were having to live through a cold winter. Unfortunately we’re perpetually living in a temperate climate, and it’s a major vector for weight gain. And it turns out that weight gain is the least of fructose’s problems for your health. We all need to minimize our consumption of fructose if we want to be healthy.

Then there is the consumption of other sugary or starchy foods. Starches are long strings of sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly when you consume them by the amylase in your mouth and also by certain digestive enzymes, very quickly creating big boluses of sugar that hit your bloodstream hard. This generates something called an insulin response.

Insulin is one of these interesting hormones; it’s one of the master hormones in your body. It is thought of by many as a blood sugar hormone, but in fact it’s really not a blood sugar hormone, per se.

We were never really designed to eat a lot of sugar/ starch or generate big tidal waves of insulin all of the time. Insulin basically is designed to help take excess nutrients and put them into storage where the body can access them later in case of a famine.

It’s an anabolic hormone, it causes your body to put on fat. Its actual biological purpose is for the coordination of your energy stores with reproduction and life span.

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Insulin is one of these interesting hormones; it’s one of the master hormones in your body. It is thought of by many as a blood sugar hormone, but in fact it’s really not a blood sugar hormone, per se.

Fat to our basic physiological make-up means survival (always your body’s #1 priority), and your body tends to readily jump on anything that can manufacture fat just in case there might not be enough food for later. The other thing to consider is that when we consume food, we’re conditioned by dieticians to think of the foods that we consume as being mainly a source of calories. The human body is not just some heat engine, but it is instead a complex biochemical factory. The foods we eat are also technically a source of nutrients (some more essential for certain things than others), and a calorie of protein or of fat is simply not used in the same manner that a calorie of sugar or starch is used. We absolutely require, for instance, proteins and fats for almost countless structural and biochemical processes in the body, and only whatever is left over might be used for energy.

When we consume fats, for starters, they’re not absorbed into our bloodstream. Most of them get absorbed into our lymphatic system where they serve a variety of functions for our immune system. Natural fats also are the primary structural materials used for our brain and nervous systems, plus every single cell membrane and there are a whole variety of fats that we are designed to consume, especially from animal source foods, for that very purpose.

One can’t generalize about fats—or even saturated fats, as there are different kinds that are absorbed and utilized in often very different ways. Fat is not simply one thing…it is many things.

Two of the key brain building fats, for instance, are arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). They are exclusively found in animal source

HEALTH foods, and we need them for healthy human cognition. We are unique that way with respect to other species. Our brains utilize 20 to 30 percent of our total energy supply just to operate them, whereas our closest primate ancestor has a brain that uses only about eight percent of its total energy supply.

Our brains are very metabolically expensive as a species, and the fat that we consumed from the animals that we hunted for countless millennia helped to supply and rapidly develop that structural substrate. It actually also made us uniquely capable as a species of operating our brains on almost nothing but ketones, which are the energy units of fat capable of almost fully fueling our brains. In fact, infants are born effectively in a state of ketosis, and ketones are the primary fuel for neuro-development. We’re really literally born to run on fat, but here in modern times we are conditioned to begin depending on carbohydrates as soon as (or only if) we start consuming them in earnest.

The thing about carbohydrates is that structurally, maybe one to two percent maximum of human physiological structure is actually carbohydrate-based at all. We use a few glycoproteins

Nature would never have been so stupid or shortsighted as to make us wholly dependent on only one fuel (much less one as volatile, damaging and unreliable as sugar). We have glucose which we can think of as a form of rocket fuel that gets released in our bodies in greater quantities when we’re being confronted with say, an emergency or a need for extreme exertion.

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for immune function and glucosamine (things of that nature) for some connective tissue. There are very few other types of cells in our body that rely of actual necessity upon glucose as their primary source of fuel, like our red blood cells, some of the cells in the retina of your eye, and a few cells in the inner medulla of your kidneys. Other than that, we can do almost everything we need to do using free fatty acids and/or ketones to fuel our body and our brain--especially our brain.

According to research by Dr. Richard Veech (one of the world’s foremost experts on ketosis, and the Senior Researcher and Laboratory Chief at The National Institutes of Health, the inventor of the ketone ester, and has worked for the last 47 years studying cellular energy and homeostasis) our heart actually runs close to 28 percent more efficiently in a state of ketosis than through a sugar-based metabolism. Nature would never have been so stupid or shortsighted as to make us wholly dependent on only one fuel (much less one as volatile, damaging and unreliable as sugar). We have glucose which we can think of as a form of rocket fuel that gets released in our bodies in greater quantities when we’re being confronted with say, an emergency or a need for extreme exertion. Say, if a saber tooth tiger jumps up from behind the bush, suddenly you need a shot of rocket fuel to be able to outrun that apparent threat. It’s very easy to store enough sugar in the form of glycogen for such sporadic needs.

For the rest of the time when you’re functioning in a more calm, parasympathetic and aerobically-based metabolism, we can do everything we need to do pretty much using free fatty acids and ketones. Fat is really the more efficiently stored and utilized fuel; it is also what our body (via the hormone leptin) looks for as a litmus test of whether we’re starving or not. Hormones like leptin determine whether we need to make more fat, whether we need to burn more fat, or whether we need to convert more carbohydrates into fat or not.

The less fat that we consume, the more likely we are to synthesize it form other sources. Basically, the body is going to have its way. The fact is that apart from the minute amount of carbohydrate that is required for anything structural in the body, virtually every molecule of carbohydrate that you consume over and above what you need right now to outrun a cantankerous woolly mammoth, is going to be stored as excess—mostly in the form of body fat.

HEALTH

When you consume the meat of an animal that has been allowed to forage naturally, you can get as much omega-3 per gram as you would find in say, wild-caught salmon. It’s really where we got all of the essential fatty acids that were responsible for building the enormous brain that we humans uniquely have as a species.

Insulin will try to put the sugar into your cells initially for that burst of energy if you need it, and then it will try to store a little bit of it as glycogen in your muscles and in your liver. We can only store maybe 2,000 calories worth of that at a time, and then all the rest of it is going to go right to your liver to be converted into triglycerides which are blood fats, and then stored in places you probably rather not have it.

fed nothing but grains/legumes (corn, soy, etc) for the weeks prior to slaughter are actually extremely high in omega 6’s, and may have no omega 3’s whatsoever. Omega 6s (unbalanced by insufficient omega-3’s) are far more likely to be inflammatory in effect.

When you consume the meat of an animal that has been allowed to forage naturally, you can get as much omega-3 per gram as you would find in say, wild-caught salmon. It’s really where we got all of the essential fatty acids that were responsible for building the enormous brain that we humans uniquely have as a species. It was our taste for fat that caused our brains to evolve so rapidly. It’s unprecedented in the natural world. In a matter of a couple of hundred thousand years, our brain size absolutely mushroomed into this enormous and sophisticated organ that’s quite unprecedented.

All the evidence seems to point to the fact that it was due to our sophisticated ability to hunt and develop tools that could crack open the femurs of the animals that we hunted and the brain casings to get at the fat-rich nourishment contained in them.

Miriam: Really, our evolution in terms of our metabolism was set during a very long period, and it’s only recently, in agricultural times, and particularly very recently since industrial farming took place, that we have put it totally off balance.

Nora: Yes, completely. We’ve literally spent more than 100,000 generations as an evolving species as hunter-gatherers--and primarily hunters. We actually had a very strong dietary preference for

Miriam: Are you suggesting that a diet based on good fats would not be causing weight gain?

Nora: Right. But there is a caveat or two. First we need to define “good fats”, and then we need to figure out what else your diet consists of. I consider “good fats” to be anything that we would be genetically adapted to consuming. In other words, dietary fat from animals that were fed a diet that was natural to them, like natural forage and fresh green grass – not grains, not the other crap that they try to feed animals in feedlots.

Unfortunately, 97 percent of the meat produced in this country is produced with factory farming methods and confined animal or feed lot operations. That is not an especially healthy source of natural fat. The fats from animals that have been

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97 percent of the meat produced in this country is produced with factory farming methods and confined animal or feed lot operations. That is not an especially healthy source of natural fat.

HEALTH procuring extremely large mammals. When I say extremely large we’re talking megafauna: woolly mammoths, mastodons, giant aurochs, Irish elk, wooly rhino’s, and all these other huge animals that all sort of cataclysmically disappeared at the end of the last ice age, but which had a huge complement of body fat we coveted.

Miriam: Given our current agricultural system, how do we adapt our diets to the best kind of nutrition for ourselves?

Nora: Here’s the deal, this is actually the second part of your previous question regarding “if we eat a fat-based diet will we lose weight” and that kind of a thing. You need to understand that most of the studies that have attempted to demonstrate the deleterious effects of fats and saturated fats on human health have always been within the context of high carbohydrate diets. The problem is you can’t have it both ways - you can’t have a high carbohydrate diet and also add a lot of fats to that. The combination is like a metabolic time bomb. Sugar is like a lit fuse and fat is the powder keg. And fats are not the culprits to blame. We actually have a biological NEED and fundamental dietary requirement for fat. We have no such established human dietary requirement for carbohydrate in any form.

Blood sugar surges (and insulin release) also generate a lot of damaging free radicals and glycation.

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Now, we do know that the human body naturally produces a certain amount of free radicals that it needs to in order for certain metabolic functions to occur. Similarly, there is something called enzymatically controlled glycation that is also necessary for certain metabolic processes. That’s very different from unbridled free radical activity as a result of toxic exposures, or unbridled glycation as a result of a high sugar and starch diet that absolutely does show deleterious health effects and prematurely ages you.

Part of what differentiates my approach from a lot of other popular “eat fat to burn fat” ketogenic diets out there is that food quality is essential to the equation. I also take the exploding and increasingly pervasive phenomenon of autoimmunity very much into account (an area of significant expertise and heavy research for me), which most other approaches to this simply don’t.

Miriam: I guess that’s the bottom line really. What is so helpful in your book is that you offer a whole bunch of recipes to give people a starting place to switch to this kind of diet.

Nora: Yes. While my previous book, Primal Body, Primal Mind, has become an international bestseller, one of the things that came my way a lot with that book was that people really wanted a meal plan, they wanted recipes. I don’t necessar-

HEALTH ily consider myself a chef; I’m one of those people who go into the kitchen and grab a handful of this and a pinch of that, and throw something together in 10 minutes. I try to keep it simple when I’m at home unless I’m preparing things for other people.

I realized that people really wanted, they really needed more handholding. --They really needed more information. Primal Fat Burner does just that.

There is a 21-day meal plan, there are about 60 recipes, most of which are my own that have been put together and standardized for ease of use, shall we say. You guys have got some of my favorites really, some I once swore I would never give away. These are some amazing recipes, they really are.

By the way, as an interesting and unrelated aside for the 21st century--It turns out that, of course, not only is a fat-based diet basically “where it’s at” for us humans here on planet earth (as it has always been), but it’s also about to become the official dietary approach of the planet mars.

There is a 21-day meal plan, there are about 60 recipes, most of which are my own that have been put together and standardized for ease of use, shall we say. You guys have got some of my favorites really, some I once swore I would never give away. These are some amazing recipes, they really are.

A group of NASA scientists, having done their due diligence here, wisely determined that this would be absolutely the most efficient way to feed manned missions to Mars. In addition, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is basically the Department of Defense, has been conducting quite a lot of ketogenic experiments. One of the things that NASA has determined is that this diet is going to be really important in these manned missions to Mars, in part because it protects your body against higher levels of radiation in space (note: ketones are inherently protective against ionizing radiation! Ummm…ever hear of Fukushima here on earth?). They additionally recognize that the effective utilization of ketones (as part of a fat-based ketogenic dietary approach) naturally increase the brain’s resistance to stress.

Meanwhile, there are military researchers that are focused on ketogenic diets too, and they’re seeing that soldiers can operate optimally on fewer and much denser meals (calorically). It’s really a sexy little piece of information that I was just mortified that I wasn’t able to include in my latest book, but will certainly be included in other materials that I supply my readers. It’s pretty cool stuff.

For more information readers should go to www. primalfatburner.com and sign up for my periodic, informative and helpful mailings.

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AWAKENING HEALTH REVIEW & INTERVIEW

Incurable Me

why the best medical research does not make it into clinical practice

by K. Paul Stoller, M.D. Dr. Stoller was a board-certified pediatric physician for 20 years, and specializes in treating children and adults with brain injuries and disorders.

He is known for pioneering the use of hyperbaric oxygen with babies with fetal alcohol syndrome and is an expert in functional medicine, which uses diet and natural supplements alongside conventional medicine.

A

lthough he delves into areas that are highly controversial, like the connection between corporate funding of research and policy decisions and legislation that favors these companies, I found this book to be highly scientific, almost a bit too much for a layman, and meticulously documented.

Through his research, Dr. Stoller has been able to link a great many disabilities directly to the prevalence of pesticides and neurotoxins in our food, our environment and in our vaccines. Although he goes pretty far down the rabbit hole into what might be called conspiracy theory, it is difficult to ignore the copious evidence he cites from mainstream scientific journals and testimony from respected scientists. It has become clichÊ to point out the dependency of academia on big Pharma funding, but Stoller does cite many proven examples. What was new for me was the revelation that the government itself – through agencies like the

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AWAKENING HEALTH NIH and FDA – actually holds the patents to many drugs and vaccines that they also profit from.

The intent of the information in the book is not so much to scare us, though it certainly does that; the intent is to expose the causal links behind many of the chronic illnesses plaguing us so we can have a hope of curing them. Illnesses like Lyme disease, Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s, autism, IBS, and Crohn’s disease can be shown to be connected to identifiable viruses and bacteria. While some people may be more genetically disposed to get certain diseases, they are only triggered when their systems are debilitated by toxins such as DDT, Mercury, and aluminum. If you thought DDT was banned, it turns out that, DDE, created by changing one little OH molecule in the formula, is now being used instead and with the same dire consequences. The

good news is that the human body is remarkably resilient and given the right supportive therapies can heal itself. This does not happen overnight, however, but at least people can now have hope for a cure instead of despair.

There is much information in this book that will make you shake your head with disbelief. I can only suggest that you read it and follow up by checking out the references at the end of the book to convince yourself whether or not to believe it. There is a lot of valuable information on how to preserve your health or restore it should you become ill, but you would probably want to seek out a holistic-minded health advisor to guide you. If you are a health practitioner you absolutely owe it to your patients and to your conscience to read this book.

Remember, knowledge is power.  Reviewed by Miriam Knight

INTERVIEW About the Author Dr. Kenneth Stoller completed his training at UCLA Medical School in 1986 and was a practicing board certified pediatrician for over two decades, focusing on brain injured children and adults. His area of expertise is functional medicine, also known as integrative medicine, and he has been working with patients with brain injuries ranging from traumatic brain injury, stroke, autism, cerebral palsy, MS, chemo-brain, and Lyme brain since the late 1990s.

Dr. Stoller is one of the few physicians that has been made a lifetime Fellow of the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine, and he has published numerous articles on using hyperbaric oxygen to treat brain injuries. He pioneered the use of hyperbaric oxygen for treating fetal alcohol syndrome and the journal, Pediatrics published his work in 2005. Dr. Stoller is at the leading edge of physicians who use natural supplements and bio-identical hormones to help patients heal their brains. He wrote the book, Oxytocin: The Hormone of Healing and Hope, and set up the website www.GriefSOS. com in 2008.

He is the author of Incurable Me: Why the Best Medical Research Does Not Make It into Clinical Practice

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LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

AWAKENING HEALTH INTERVIEW

Aquaponics, Ingenuity and Community JD Messinger and Kate Wildrick Interviewed by Miriam Knight JD Messinger, a world-class corporate consultant turned human potential activist, and Kate Wildrick, a paradigm-shifting imagineer of open source sustainable solutions, come together to discuss the use of aquaponics as a social economic catalyst.

JD Messinger is a speaker, author, radio host and energy industry expert. He is a one of 37 Distinguished Graduates from the US Naval Academy Class of 1981, a former fireman, nuclear submarine officer, Exxon executive, Ernst & Young Partner, CEO of E&Y Consulting Singapore, CEO of Cap Gemini E&Y SE Asia, TV show producer, host and currently the CEO of Essence Enterprises. JD promotes human potential through leadership seminars, audio programs, and books, including his #1 best-seller, 11 Days in May. More at http://jdmessinger.com Kate Wildrick is the co-founder of the Ingenuity Innovation Center, LLC, an organization dedicated to developing community-based sustainable solutions that are shared using an open source platform. With twelve years working in the corporate world as a Human Capital Development Specialist, Kate is best known for her work on generational issues and trends in the workplace, which has been presented to institutional audiences across the country. She has been an instructor at a number of academic institutions and her work has focused on inter- generational social and business models and ideas.

More at http://www.youringenuity.com

JD Messinger

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Kate Wildrick

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AWAKENING HEALTH REVIEW & INTERVIEW

Arguing Science:

A Dialogue on the Future of Science and Spirit

by Rupert Sheldrake and Michael Shermer

D

O

Debating the nature of the ineffable is always a chancy proposition. In “Arguing Science” we have two scientists, respected in their fields, face off in a debate over whether there can be a spiritual dimension to science.

n the side of belief in a divine source is Rupert Sheldrake, the biologist best known for his hypothesis of morphic fields and morphic resonance. On the side of materialism and evolution dictated by physical parameters alone is Michael Shermer, Scientific American’s skeptic-in-chief and well-known debunker of the paranormal.

The book starts with a discussion of the scientific method and whether paranormal phenomena can be investigated in ways that would satisfy the rigorous standards acceptable to peer-reviewed scientific journals. As the dialogues progress back and forth, a middle ground of agreement emerges in which the paranormal becomes defined as natural phenomena for which science does not yet have an explanation. Sheldrake spends a lot of time quoting his books on psychic dogs who know when their masters are coming home and people who know who will be telephoning them next. I thought the whole exchange on “mental action at a distance” could have been much more persuasive on Sheldrake’s part had he gone into the extensively documented reports on near-death experiences and out of body experiences.

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AWAKENING HEALTH The discussion about the existence of God seems to devolve into a question of semantics. Shermer, a self-proclaimed atheist humanist, focusing on the Abrahamic God of the bible, rejects all notions of a divine being sitting in judgment or being the architect of the universe and all it contains. He is convinced that all natural systems will self-organize, and that the notion of any form of intelligent design is mere superstition promoted by religions with a vested interest in controlling the faithful.

Sheldrake, on the other hand, speaks eloquently of a compassionate universal energy that is a manifestation of divine power and consciousness.

However you wish to call it – God, energy, unified field – in the end Sheldrake and Shermer’s views on spooky action at a distance or the causal field that creates order out of chaos and life out of biochemical reactions are not that far apart. The main question that separates a person of faith from an open-minded skeptic is whether these actions are directed by a conscious source. That seems to be

the “big question” that materialists do not yet have an answer for. On the one hand, looking at such things as war, disease, poverty and injustice, even a believer must wonder what was God thinking!

But then looking at babies, sunsets, starry skies and the beauty of nature, the thought that this all came about by chance just doesn’t compute. I personally would not want to be such a skeptic as to think that the universe is just a clockwork mechanism obeying the laws of physics and mathematics and indifferent to my being. How grey the world would seem. I think the biggest gift of this book is that one is forced to consider one’s own position on many fascinating questions like this in light of the other perspective. It is far too easy to go on autopilot when it comes to one’s beliefs, and feels safer to go with what your parents and teachers taught. Given the state of the world and the polarization being inflamed by religious zealotry, it is probably time that we all re-examined our beliefs. This book provides some useful directions.

 Reviewed by Miriam Knight

INTERVIEW About the Author D r. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher and editor-in-chief of Skeptic magazine, a publication largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. He is a monthly columnist for Scientific American, has been a college professor since 1979, and regularly contributes Opinion Editorials, book reviews, and essays to the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Science, Nature, and other publications. Dr. Shermer has authored numerous books including: The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom; The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies; Why Darwin Matters: Evolution and the Case Against Intelligent Design, and The Science of Good and Evil. Dr. Shermer has an M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, and Larry King Live.

His two TED talks, seen by millions, were voted in the top 100 of the more than 1000 TED talks.

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LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

CONSCIOUS CINEMA

Keeping Ourselves Honest

By Brent Marchant

When life doesn’t turn out as hoped for, we often scratch our heads in bewilderment. “Why did that happen?” we ask ourselves. That’s especially true when we’ve convinced ourselves that we planned everything down to the finest detail. But do the results really match our underlying intentions?

I

n situations like this, we need to take a hard look at our beliefs, the driving forces in the conscious creation process, the means by which we manifest the reality we experience. But, by “hard look,” I mean seriously scrutinizing the thoughts that underlie our materialization efforts. This requires paying particular attention to the integrity of our beliefs, because that will tell us much about why our plans pan out as they do.

Integrity is a crucial component of our beliefs, particularly in their formation. It’s a marker of how genuinely our thoughts and intents align with the

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CONSCIOUS CINEMA nature of our true inner self and the destinies we’re meant to live out. The more closely our manifesting beliefs adhere to our inherent being, the better they’ll yield outcomes in line with who we really are and what we’re meant to do with our lives (and, one would hope, results that are innately more fulfilling and satisfying). But, if we start to stray from our truest, innermost intents, we run the risk of getting off-track with our manifestation efforts.

Even a little “belief fudging” can prove disappointing, because it means we’re not being faithful to ourselves. And, if our beliefs wander far afield from where they’re supposed to be, the results can be disastrous.

To avoid all this, then, paying attention to the degree of integrity associated with our beliefs is crucial. But, if that practice represents unfamiliar turf, drawing on a little illustration can go a long way toward helping to get us back on track, and the examples set by the movies can be particularly helpful. Here are some films that are especially inspiring when it comes to matters of integrity.

Doubts and second-guessing often prompt us to scrutinize what we’ve created, because our man-

ifestations may not seem to match our intentions, at least superficially. However, upon closer examination, we frequently find that we end up precisely where we’re meant to be, that our materializations are indeed faithful reflections of our beliefs, even if they don’t seem to embody the personal integrity we’re supposed to imbue them with. Such is the case in the heartfelt ballet world drama “The Turning Point” (1977), in which a pair of longtime middle-aged friends (and former dance rivals) (Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine) reunite and review the choices they’ve made – be it pursuing their craft (and sacrificing a personal life) or giving it all up to raise a family – to see if their paths were, in fact, governed by their personal authenticity. Their realizations prove eye opening, even if not readily apparent to either of them initially.

A similar fate befalls an aspiring author (Diane Lane) who’s left broke and alone to start over after a bitter divorce in the life-changing comedy-drama, “Under the Tuscan Sun” (2003). Following an inexplicable impulse to purchase a crumbling Tuscan villa while on an impromptu trip to Italy, the struggling scribe envisions a new life for herself, one whose elements even she doesn’t fully understand, until she sees her new existence unfold in truly magical ways – and in line with her wishes – her integrity thus being given life through the new reality she manifests for herself.

Exploring our options when doubts and second thoughts arise is often healthy, a sort of reality check of our beliefs that can help us verify whether we’re truly following the right course. That’s the experience of an uptight groom-to-be (Ben Affleck) who embarks on a wild, unplanned road trip with a capricious free spirit (Sandra Bullock) while travelling from New York to Savannah for his wedding in the romantic comedy-drama, “Forces of Nature” (1999). Will cold feet sway the prospective groom in a new direction? Or will he follow through as originally planned? It all depends on how much he abides by his personal integrity.

A similar quandary arises in the science fiction fantasy “Avatar” (2009), in which a crippled soldier (Sam Worthington) must make a hard personal choice while serving in the private security forces of a mining company on a distant moon. When faced with doing

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CONSCIOUS CINEMA his duty or doing the bidding of his corporate bosses, he’s left to wrangle with a difficult decision, one that forces him to assess his beliefs, particularly where his integrity is concerned.

parent, for example, in the film adaptation of E.M. Forster’s classic novel “Howards End” (originally released 1992, re-released 2016), in which the relatives of a wealthy dying matron (Vanessa Redgrave)

When we fail to listen to our integrity, we can get ourselves into trouble. By playing around with our sense of personal authenticity, we can unwittingly dig deep holes for ourselves, as a family of serial fibbers finds out in the charming comedy of errors, “City Island” (2009). Comparable results arise in “Big Eyes” (2014), director Tim Burton’s whimsical biopic of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), who defers to her opportunist husband Walter (Christoph Waltz) when he takes credit for her work, all in an ill-conceived effort to keep peace in the family.

In both of these cases, the results boomerang on those who fail to heed their own inner voices.

purposely attempt to undermine her efforts to bequeath her beloved manor to a new, compassionate friend (Emma Thompson), a scheme fraught with numerous ironic pitfalls. Such insincerity also emerges in the biting Italian/French mystical satire “The Confessions” (“Le confessioni”) (2016), in which a suicidal International Monetary Fund manager (Daniel Auteuil) who harbors secrets with global implications feels compelled to confess his situation to a mysterious Italian monk (Toni Servillo) at a G8 summit, an act that raises comparable apprehension among the other ministers in attendance.

As embarrassing as the foibles depicted in the foregoing films may be, they’re nothing compared to what can happen when we intentionally disavow our integrity in favor of manifesting creations that fulfill wholly self-serving ends. This becomes ap-

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Difficult though it may be, paying attention to our integrity sometimes requires us to own up to our shortcomings. But one could also argue that, in the end, acknowledging our deficiencies is preferable to tackling tasks we know we’re not properly equipped to handle. That’s the case for a soft-spoken Roman

CONSCIOUS CINEMA Catholic cardinal (Michel Piccoli) who’s unexpectedly elevated to pontiff at a Vatican conclave, a prospect that sends him fleeing in fright into the streets of Rome in the Italian comedy, “We Have a Pope” (“Habemus Papam”) (2012). Similar circumstances arise in the Swedish domestic comedy “Force Majeure” (“Turist”) (2014), in which a young husband and father (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) abandons his wife (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and children (Clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren) to save himself from an approaching avalanche while on a skiing vacation in the French Alps, an act that leads to considerable family discord (much of it wryly comical).

At other times, paying attention to our integrity may prompt us into making heavy sacrifices, regardless of how difficult that may be. However, if the choice comes down to being truthful with ourselves (and others), or willingly abandoning our sense of authenticity, the sacrifices we make may ultimately be well worth it. A number of biographical films portray this notion effectively, such as “Fair Game” (2010), the story of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame

(Naomi Watts), who was outted in an act of political retribution against her outspoken husband, Joe Wilson (Sean Penn), a professionally devastating development that cost Plame her career but that brought highly questionable government practices to light; “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (2013), the epic biography of once-imprisoned South African president Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba), who endured years of incarceration for his beliefs on his way to becoming an inspirational leader of his country; “Of Gods and Men” (“Des hommes et des dieux”) (2010), the moving saga of a group of Trappist monks who lived peaceably among Algeria’s Muslim population until civil war broke out in 1996, a conflict that severely tested their faith and spiritual convictions; and “Trumbo” (2015), the biography of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), who was blacklisted during the 1950s Red Scare but refused to give up on his views – or his craft, even if it meant clandestinely writing under a pseudonym, an effort that covertly won him two Oscars.

The pressures put upon us to carry forward with our endeavors can be tremendous. But, when we know we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we operate from a position of integrity, one that, with sufficient time and effort, is bound to pay off. In “Gattaca” (1997), a genetically “inferior” everyman with dreams of space flight (Ethan Hawke) goes to great lengths to live out his destiny in a society where such ambitions are restricted to those of allegedly “superior” stock. That kind of intrepid determination also drives the efforts of forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) in his quest to determine the cause of neurological damage to pro football players, despite serious pressure from the NFL to quash his investigation, in the inspiring biographical drama, “Concussion” (2015).

Achieving success under such conditions can be particularly challenging – but ultimately satisfying – for those operating under the added burden of extenuating circumstances, as evidenced by three films with gay community themes. In “Far From Heaven” (2002), a closeted husband and father (Dennis Quaid) struggles to come to terms with his sexuality under the repressive social pressures of life in 1950s suburbia, a challenge full of its share of disappointments and triumphs. Similar pressures characterize the narrative in “Viva” (2016), which chronicles the journey of an aspiring young Cuban drag queen (Héctor Medina) seeking to make a name for himself while dealing with the homophobic attitudes of his

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CONSCIOUS CINEMA abusive alcoholic father (Jorge Perugorría). And, in the moving biopic “Milk” (2008), Sean Penn gives an Oscar-winning performance in his portrayal of San Francisco City Councilman Harvey Milk, who overcame prejudice (and the odds) to become the first openly gay politician elected to a major public office in the country.

notably the construction of more than 500 schools in poor Black communities in the American South at a time when most minority children had virtually no access to educational opportunities. Rosenwald obviously didn’t have to do this, but he sincerely believed it was the right thing to do, and the results speak for themselves. Now that’s integrity.

Being honest with ourselves may not always be easy, but, when we make the effort to do so in forming the beliefs and intents we employ to create the reality we experience, we frequently relish the outcomes. Fortunately, we have many good examples to draw from, too, when seeking sources of inspiration. Let’s just make sure we follow those leads.

Copyright © 2016, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.

Most importantly, though, when we follow through on our integrity to do the right thing, we can attain miraculous results. This is evidenced in the inspiring biopic “The Express” (2008), which follows the experiences of Syracuse University running back Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), who overcame racial prejudice and personal challenges to lead his team to the national collegiate football championship. He also became the first African-American to win college football’s coveted Heisman Trophy.

This confident, “can do” spirit also typifies the narrative of “Rosenwald” (2015), the documentary chronicle of Sears Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald, who firmly believed in the notion of “giving back.” He used his considerable wealth to sponsor major philanthropic undertakings, most

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A lifelong movie fan and longtime student of metaphysics, Brent Marchant is the award-winning author of Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies (http:// booklaunch.io/brent%20 marchant/get-the-picture) and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction (http:// booklaunch.io/brent%20marchant/consciously-created-cinema), books that provide a reader-friendly look at how the practice of “conscious creation” (also known as “the law of attraction”) is illustrated through film. Brent maintains an ongoing blog (http://brentmarchantsblog. blogspot.com) about metaphysical cinema and other self-empowerment topics through his web site (www.BrentMarchant.com). He is also Featured Contributor for Smart Women’s Empowerment (http://www.smartwomensempowerment.org) and Movie Correspondent for The Good Radio Network (http://www.thegoodradionetwork.com/). His additional writing credits have included contributions to Library Journal, BeliefNet, VividLife magazine, New Age News and Master Heart Magazine. Hear Brent as movie review radio correspondent on Frankiesense & More (http://toginet.com/shows/frankiesenseandmore/) and on New Consciousness Review’s Reviewers Roundtable (www.ncreview. com). He’s a frequent guest on various Internet and broadcast radio shows, as well as a regular presenter at conscious creation conferences.

Brent holds a B.A. in magazine journalism and history from Syracuse University.

PURPOSE REVIEW & INTERVIEW

Unlock Your Creative Mind

F

with Peter Himmelman

ear is one of life’s biggest roadblocks, and in his book, Let Me Out Out (Unlock your creative mind and bring your ideas to life), Peter Himmelman gets to the heart of how we can keep fear from limiting our potential by tapping into our inner resilience, creativity, and strength.

Peter Himmelman is an award-winning, Emmy and Grammy-nominated musician and the founder of Big Muse, a company that teaches creative thinking, leadership skills, and deeper levels of communication in all facets of life – from personal to professional. As Big Muse has grown in popularity over the last four years, Peter has come to share his program with thousands of individuals, including academic institutions like The Wharton School, UCLA, and The Ross School of Business, and international brands such as McDonald’s, Adobe, and Gap Inc. He has an Advanced Management Certificate from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Learn more at http://www.bigmuse.com/ and http://www.peterhimmelman.com/home.php.

photo by Jim Hershleder

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

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PURPOSE REVIEW

Thank & Grow Rich

by Pam Grout

A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy

T

he New York Times best-selling author of E-Squared now offers a 30-day trial in “ferocious, militant, in-your-face gratitude” that will build your abundance portfolio of love, creativity, and joy. By turning off the negative voice in your head and looking for blessings, Grout says the universe opens a portal to the field of infinite possibilities.

Focusing on all that’s going right in your life makes good things visible, magnifies them, and sends positive ripples into the world. So how do you do that? By occupying the negative voice with the 27 “party games” Grout developed, so the positive voice can get through.

In Thank & Grow Rich, you’ll learn how to build your alchemic, spiritual, creative, adventure, and social capital. In 30 days, you’ll identify good things in your life, tap into a higher power, move toward that which brings you joy, turn every day into an adventure, and share your luck. But that’s not all.

Grout guarantees that if you get on the gratitude frequency, you’ll receive four personalized gifts from the universe. At the very least, you’ll feel a whole lot better. Not a bad deal for the price of a book. (Hay House, 2016)  Reviewed by Diane Holcomb, East West Bookshop

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PURPOSE REVIEW

Start Right Where You Are

How Little Changes Can Make a Big Difference

By Sam Bennett

F

eeling overwhelmed? Is Procrastination your middle name? Are you a frustrated overachiever or recovering perfectionist? If you answered “yes!” to any of these questions and you’re paddling like mad to reach your goals but unable to leave the shore, this book might be your lifesaver. Sam Bennett was in the same leaky boat, and discovered techniques to patch it up and sail into the sunset (so to speak). She offers her hard-earned advice here so you, too, can take control of your life’s rudder. With Sam as your funny, kick-in-the-pants captain, you’ll learn how to get a handle on your time; find out what’s really making you feel in over your head; set good, better, and best goals; clear the mental and emotional clutter that holds you back; raise your self esteem; get a tribe; and apply some fifty more tips to achieve success. Did I say fifty?

Yep. Plenty to choose from to target your specific issue, so there’s no excuse for staying beached.

Sam Bennett is the creator of The Organized Artist Company. (New World Library, 2016)  Reviewed by Diane Holcomb, East West Bookshop

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PURPOSE ARTICLE

Signs: Looking for Flow with the Universe

by Janai ‘Grandma Boom’ Mestrovich

H

He pulled out almost smack dab in front of my car from a side street. Two seconds before that occurrence I had remembered to state an intention for the day, having forgotten to do so earlier in the morning..... “Today I will exhibit unconditional love in every circumstance.”

M

y foot slammed on the brakes with a jerk that could have catapulted me into space as his car appeared directly in front of mine. A potential wreck was missed by mere inches. My purse flew to the floor, as did the grandkids’ empty carseats in the back. The man brazenly held up his hand waving to me like I was a long lost friend.

“All you need is love..... dadadadada” Since my intention was still smeared on the front of my mind, no choice expletives rolled out of my mouth. Instead, I said aloud, “Sending you blessings of love that you remain safe and do not harm

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PURPOSE yourself and others.” At that moment the oldies radio station started playing the Beatles. “All you need is love....dadadadada.” A coincidence is a sign to me. It is something in the external world that has an aligned purpose with my internal world/life. At the very least, I practiced what I preached and felt like I passed a test with glowing colors.

Inner and outer worlds are said to be a reflection of one another Inner and outer worlds are said to be a reflection of one another in many philosophies. Some days seem to support that view and spoil me for wanting all other days to be an obvious ‘flowing’ with inner and outer world communion. It didn’t feel like that the day my credit card was stolen three hours after the car battery died. Practicing acceptance and patience were the only keys for feeling any kind of flow with the outer world. At the end of the day I was not stressed out due to my choices of handling the situation. I worked diligently to keep myself healthy. I flowed even though external circumstances did not ‘seem’ to be.

Emotional detachment assists in seeing the bigger picture.

The search for hidden meanings and ‘signs’ can become more challenging during chaos and crisis.

Emotional detachment assists in seeing the bigger picture. For example, after divorcing and living alone, I asked for a sign about having a land line in addition to my cell phone. I asked and asked.

Didn’t see a sign anywhere. A strong urge led me to purchase a land line. When the number was assigned to me, it was my birthdate! Belated sign and perfect confirmation. I had to trust myself and the confirmation felt like a reward sign.

Nice sign from the outer world that my intention was in alignment with something good.

Two years ago I declared a commitment to do more healing energy work. Just moments later I walked outside. There was a bird in the driveway who was not faring well. I gently placed it in my hands, chanted and visualized healing energy. A full recovery unfolded in a short period of time.

Nice sign from the outer world that my intention was in alignment with something good.

This Halloween I decided to be a unicorn fairy in Ashland, Oregon’s outrageous Halloween parade where thousands of all ages in the community dress up. I could not find the right look for the antennae or antlers I wanted on my head. I had an errand that day to pick up art supplies at the dollar store for my grandchildren, walked in and saw the floral supplies. Silver sparkling antler potential arose immediately in front of me. And spectacular antlers they were! I deliciously entertained that as a sign for my decision to be a unicorn fairy. Evidently, the universe thought we needed more of them! Haha Fun communions with the outer world may be my favorite.

Another fun example occurred in a photo shoot I did for the cover of my self-help memoir, “The Grandma Boom Chronicles...More Alive at 65!” I had been living in a healing cocoon state and the photographer had no knowledge of that. One of the photos captured when I was dancing and she was clicking away perfectly resembled a golden cocoon. Wow!

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PURPOSE It was a most powerful sign that proved to support the right decision.

Several years ago there was a decision I needed to make that would impact whether or not I maintained a friendship with someone. The decision was weighing heavily on my heart. I stood outside in the driveway, closed my eyes, and asked for a sign to show me if keeping the friendship was for the highest good. Three seconds later I felt something brush my face, opened my eyes just in time to see hummingbird feathers fall to my feet. No one was around. I had never seen hummingbirds in that location. The feathers were joined together.

It was a most powerful sign that proved to support the right decision. The friendship is in tact and I am grateful for the listening ears of the universe. Call it serendiptiy, a coincidence or a fluke. It was and undeniable fortifier of inner/outer world connections in my way of living life.

This Autumn I returned to a place where I lived for 28 years to walk the land and have closure with that chapter of my life. Just as I approached the house and land, it started pouring down rain. I began crying as I parked the car. For three hours I cried, walked the land, talked to the trees, thanked all the living energies there that I loved. Also I rang a special bell to clear me and clear the house and land of any blockages or hindrances to fully have freedom in new life chapters.

This was one of the most beautiful communions of inner and outer worlds filled with amazing signs I have known.

As I completed my clearing pilgrimage, I picked some apples from the trees I helped to plant so many years ago. A voice inside said it was a symbol of fruition. As I got into my car to pull away, I stopped crying and it stopped raining at the same moment. I felt the sky had been crying with me the whole time. Exactly at that moment that crying commenced, the aching that had been in my heart completely evaporated. This was one of the most beautiful communions of inner and outer worlds filled with amazing signs I have known. Gratitude

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radiated from my heart center like a sunshine generating light for a new day.

Confirmation is always present in the healing process.

When I do remote or onsite healing and intuitive coaching, it is common to have an image pop into my mind that surfaces as something important in the healing of the individual I am working with. Inner and outer worlds are obviously connected. Confirmation is always present in the healing process.

Watching for the inner/outer flow is a fun hobby at the very least. Serendipity is one way to consider the art of relating to coincidences as being meaningful with aligned purpose. Start small. Feel the intention for the day as you state it. Notice the golden thread of opportunities and tests that arise to give you feedback about how you are doing with what you intend to manifest. Get the sense of how to hold the vibration which is an energy frequency gathering momentum attracting like energy.

Know your purpose. Alignment of inner/outer worlds means the doorway that connects them has a key that fits. Wrong keys don’t work. At the same time, perseverance and trusting one’s own soul voice and passion can be tested and challenged. Know yourself and get to know yourself even better.

We are all a work in progress. We all get ‘signs’ and we all want to feel a connectedness and flow with the outer world. Be mindful in the present moment and see what comes your way. Awareness of ‘signs’ enriches daily life. Interpretation of ‘signs’.....well, that’s another story! Have fun knowing you are connected! And, for heaven’s sake, ASK for signs and keep both eyes open!

Janai Mestrovich, aka Grandma Boom is an international speaker, Self Help Consultant and has taught at the University of Oregon and SOU. She is the author of “The Grandma Boom Chronicles...

More Alive at 65!” and a number of children’s books. Her expertise in holistic education and holistic aging has received awards and recognized by educators, politicians and human potential leaders. Janai lives in Ashland, Oregon, and writes the Awesome Aging Blog online at http:// blogs.esouthernoregon.com/awesome-aging/ Her website is: www.grandmaboom.com

PURPOSE IN THE STARS

Astrological Forecast

December 2016 to February 2017

by Mark Dodich

P

DECEMBER:

lanet Earth had a difficult year in 2016, so you will be happy to hear that December gives you needed relief. Ambitious Mars is traveling through idealistic Aquarius until December 19th. At mostly the same time, December 8th through January 3rd, relationship planet Venus is also traveling through Aquarius. This highly friendly combination helps you to socialize during the holiday parties. Aquarius is the kind of energy that shares with people on a first name basis, but keeps it light

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and friendly. Reconnect with old friends, meet new people, and try out new organizations to complete your year.

The only bump in the road is the communications breakdown cycle known as Mercury Retrograde, December 19-January 8. Although this can be a challenging cycle for holiday travel and rigid schedules, the illusion of Mercury moving backwards in the sky helps you retreat for needed mental relief. Occurring mostly in restructuring Capricorn and the final degrees of optimistic Sagittarius, you can pull back from the world to cre-

PURPOSE ate a behind the scenes plan for 2017. As with any Mercury retrograde, it is important to allow wiggle room in your neatly laid plans because adaptability is required after Mercury turns direct on January 8th. Allow extra time for flight connections and double check reservations.

A chart cast for Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 at 2:45 AM PST) and the three months that follow includes Mercury retrograde. That means there will be lingering effects of this revising cycle until Spring Equinox in March. Keywords for the next three months are “consolidation and expansion.” The consolidation comes from the Third Quarter Moon at solstice. Darkening moons ask you to look at where you are leaking energy, or simply still trying to do activities or be with people that no longer resonate with you. Saying goodbye to people or activities that need to be finished gives you more power to direct into your passions. And when you are passionate about the activities and people in your life, expansion comes naturally.

This expansion is represented by enthusiastic Jupiter in relationship-oriented Libra pushing innovative Uranus in Aries. Along with a couple other planets in the winter solstice chart you are driven to meet new people and experiment with inventive ideas. There is a high degree of action in the next three months through the signs Aries, Capricorn and Libra. You benefit by opening to a larger circle of groups, friends and organizations, be they personal, philosophical or business in nature. You simply must reach beyond your comfort zone to begin the New Year.

December 25th has an emotional Scorpio moon and numerous connections to loving Venus. The moon is in its quiet void-of-course phase all day, so Christmas is not an ambitious day. It does support relationships and the sharing of deeper level feelings. The two shopping days immediately after Christmas are under the influence of a generous Sagittarius moon. Decide on your budget before purchasing at stores or on the internet as the tendency to overdo is large.

New Year’s Eve has a friendly Aquarius moon. This continues the social theme of December. Aquarius opens to a higher idealistic perspective for you and the world. Write your personal vision quest before going out to celebrations. The only danger to New Year’s Eve is impatient Mars challenging space cadet

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Neptune. Since Neptune rules drugs and alcohol, and Mars is one of the planets associated with police and mechanical things, give extra space to cars that drive erratically and watch your speed. A positive use of this energy is to bring out your spiritual warrior. The traditional burning bowl ceremony is a perfect release under this fiery, forgiveness combination. You are challenged to take action to create the higher vision you hold for yourself.

JANUARY:

The New Year begins with mental Mercury continuing its rethinking retrograde cycle until the 8th. New Year’s Day is excellent for writing in your journal.

It’s OK to make your aspirations big because there is plenty of time to revise them come spring. Assertive Mars moved into Pisces back on December 19th and stays there until the new moon on January 28th. This combines well with the other relationship planet, Venus, also moving through Pisces January 2nd through February 3rd. Your intuition is heightened at this time. Go on an inner journey beyond the veils of this world to see what messages and missions are ready for you to bring down to earth. There is a theme of Healing and Hope!

January is not without its challenges, but they are mostly the week of January 8th leading up to the Cancer/Capricorn full moon on the 12th. The planets form a pattern called a Grand Cross. It would look like a big cross in the sky if you connected the dots between the action oriented signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. Allow extra space in your schedule this week and expect the unexpected. A Grand Cross pulls you apart in four directions and then reintegrates you in a new and better way.

PURPOSE The solar eclipse is on February 26th in Pisces.

This special new moon helps you go beyond the veils of this world to bring forth a fresh higher vision and intuitive insight for your incoming projects. There are numerous planets and asteroids in Pisces now. Make certain you see the world as it is, because it would be very easy to fall into fantasy thinking. While this is excellent for creative activities, it can also see only what it wants to see in relationships and business dealings. Hold the higher vision, but keep your feet on earth!

Although you feel slightly beat up going through the process, the end result is a better you.

If you had difficulty starting your New Year’s diet and exercise program, take heart by knowing athletic Mars moves through Aries, January 26 through March 9th. Aries likes to move, be it through exercise, dance, yoga, martial arts or whatever you do to get your blood circulation.

FEBRUARY:

Overall, this is a great three-month period with only minor challenges. You have the opportunity to release and forgive the past, and do the initial visioning of that which is ready to come into your life next.

That seems perfect for the transition into a new year!

Peeking ahead: Relationship planet Venus turns retrograde in March, and that doesn’t happen very often. Your relationships and finances are going to shift. Check out the next issue for details.

February is the most interesting month for this quarterly report. Valentine’s Day is sandwiched between two eclipses. The lunar eclipse in Leo and Aquarius is on February 10th. Full moons tend to pull you apart emotionally, and lunar eclipses amplify the effect. This Leo moon eclipse urges you to look at where your heart is engaged vs. where you are living life in a detached, go-through-the-motions manner. The opportunity is to participate in life in a way that your heart is engaged, yet not get sucked into the drama around you. If you are just going through the motions in life, then this eclipse will push you to make changes, or go into depression (not recommended!) To get a hint about how this eclipse is working, watch people born from 1951-1955 as death & rebirth Pluto in Leo gets activated in their charts. It also activates the charts of anyone born within a week of January 15th and July 15th.

The moon is in Libra for Valentine’s Day. That’s perfect since Libra represents relationships, romance, grace, beauty and luxury. Libra likes nice restaurants, art and jewelry. This is not the zodiac sign to be frugal. It is an enthusiastic day for couples because the life-giving Sun is in harmony with warm and generous Jupiter. It’s best to take advantage of this energy before the evening gets late as emotions wear thin the later it gets. Activities that take place between two eclipses are significant. Be focused and clear, saying what you mean and meaning what you say- no fantasy wishful thinking or false promises.

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Mark Dodich has provided astrology and intuitive consultations internationally since 1980. In addition to natal astrology, Mark specializes in ACG Relocation Astrology Maps and Seven Ray Esoteric Astrology. Check out www.astromark.us or contact him at Land Line (503) 252-1558

RESOURCE GUIDE Awakening, Cosmic Connectors, Healers & Therapists Ani Avedissian Ani is the Suburban Shaman with A Cosmic Point of View. As an energy healer, spiritual healer and expert in all things considered paranormal, her goal is simple; to clarify information for the new Golden Age: to sort out what’s true, what’s woo, and what gets flushed down the loo. An intuitive skill set is nothing magic or mysterious. It’s not some special gift bestowed on a few worthy souls.

Anyone can learn this stuff!

If you would like clarity with just a hint of hilarity, a session with Ani might be just the thing to spice up your spiritual side. www.aniavedissian.com

Coaches & Counselors, Healers & Therapists, Health, Purpose Bev Martin is a Lentz Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) , a Clinical Hypnotherapist, a Professional Certified Life Coach, Coach, and a Certified administrator (CAPT) of the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator for individuals, businesses and teams. She is also a Certified Group Coaching Leader and a Certified facilitator of Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling, does Hellinger and Family Constellation Work for individuals. Bev is accredited by Caroline Myss in The Path of the Mystic, and her deepest joy is to give people who are hungry for greater meaning and spiritual solutions, access to the answers within themselves – and the feeling of deep satisfaction that comes from connecting with their wisdom and true ideas.

Visit http://www.bevmartin.com or call 503 640-0753

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Awakening, Inspiration, Resources Brent Marchant A lifelong movie fan and longtime student of metaphysics, Brent Marchant is the award-winning author of Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies, Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction and the upcoming Third Real: Conscious Creation Goes Back to the Movies (scheduled for release in 2017), all of which provide reader-friendly looks at how the practice of conscious creation (also known as the law of attraction) is illustrated through film. He also blogs about current film releases from this standpoint on his web site’s blog page (http://brentmarchantsblog.blogspot.com/) and through contributions to New Consciousness Review, The Good Radio Network and Smart Women’s Empowerment. He also contributes to Frankiesense & More and New Consciousness Review radio and magazine.

Awakening, Coaches & Counselors, Inspiration Cherry Divine During a reiki class in the year 2000 Cherry had a life altering awakening. This experience changed not only her understanding of life, the course of her life was also redirected when she connected to her Ancient Self. Cherry is a clear channel for a group that chooses to be referred to only as ‘A Consciousness of Love’.

Through this connection Cherry brings answers to your questions, insights into your life, wisdom that assist you on your path, messages from loved ones that have crossed and the gentle reminders of personal empowerment. As in many channeled writings Wisdom of the Ancients is infused with energy that assist in life transformation. Each person’s response to the writings is as unique and individual as they are.

Contact information: http://www.cherrydivine.com cherry@cherrydivine.com Awakening, Inspiration, Spiritual Teachers, Writers & Gurus Cynthia Sue Larson Cynthia Sue Larson helps people visualize and access whole new worlds of possibility. The best-selling author of six books, Cynthia hosts Living the Quantum Dream show on the DreamVisions7 radio network. She has been featured on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Coast to Coast AM, and the BBC, and has presented papers at international conferences on science, spirituality, and consciousness.

Since 1999, Cynthia has shared findings from scientific research in the fields of quantum physics, quantum biology, the placebo effect, positive psychology, sociology, and alternative medicine. Her articles have appeared in journals ranging from Cosmos and History, to Magical Blend, to Parabola, and her RealityShifters web site has compiled one of the most extensive collections of reality shift reports in the world. Her monthly ezine, RealityShifters, has thousands of subscribers world-wide. More at http://www.realityshifters.com

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Healers & Therapists, Health, Inspiration David Lewis is a shamanic practitioner, chef, teacher, designer, artist, and writer based in Beaverton, Oregon. In his work At The Healing Table he combines core shamanism, 21st-Century energy medicines, Mystery School teachings, Faerie Doctoring, sound healing, Holy Fire Usui Reiki, food production techniques, design process, technical and creative writing, and pedagogy to guide individuals, businesses and groups toward: • New states of well-being, vitality, self-awareness, and wholeness; • Deep, complete, ever-creating nourishment; • Divine Self awareness; • Full and complete soul expression and soul embodiment.

Visit www.atthehealingtable.com or call 503-708-2078 Inspiration, Resources, Writers & Artists Empowered Whole Being Press is a boutique publisher specializing in supporting author’s self-publishing of quality written works that Inspire, Enlighten, and Transform its readers. We are excited to be involved in the transformation community, and are dedicated to supporting new authors who have an enlightening, compelling, inspiring message to share; be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, YA, or books for our children.

Established to fill a publishing house need for spiritually transforming books that offers more than the standard self-publishing services, we also provide marketing support and guidance packages to insure our author’s success.

Our Intention We are dedicated to encouraging creativity, inner exploration, and the expansion of spiritual evolution through written works by providing support, guidance, publishing, and marketing services to spiritually-focused consciousness expanding authors. We are here to serve you!

Together WE create the Shift! http://www.EmpoweredWholeBeingPress.com Awakening, Coaches & Counselors, Inspiration Fran Fisher Master Certified Coach Fran Fisher’s passion is empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to realize their highest visions. She believes that profound and long-lasting success, satisfaction, and fulfillment result from being true to the essence of who you are. Fran helps leaders access and leverage their innate nature so they break through to new levels of productivity, prosperity, and personal fulfillment. Fran founded the Academy for Coach Training, one of the first schools accredited by the International Coach Federation. She is recognized internationally as a pioneer of the coaching profession. Fran is the creator of Living Your Vision®, a transformational process for learning to live in greater alignment with who you are at your essence, your true self. Fran works with entrepreneurs, executives, and collaborative work teams, as well as providing coaching skills training for leaders, managers, and professional coaches. To contact Fran, call 425-401-1374 or email fran@franfishercoach.com or visit www.franfishercoach. com.

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Healers & Therapists, Health Geoffrey Knight Geoffrey has over twenty years of experience as a clinical hypnotherapist and trainer. He is a Certified Instructor of the National Guild of Hypnotists, the most prestigious body of hypnotists here in the US and abroad. A general practitioner, Geoffrey’s practice covers all areas where hypnotherapy is effective, such as: Anxiety, in all its forms; Phobias; Pain; Emotional Problems; Children: This is a particular specialty, and my expertise covers anything from bed wetting to childhood and teenage problems; Addictions, from food to alcohol, recreational drugs, and nicotine smoking; Sexual dysfunctions; Weight Loss; Motivation; and Memory loss and enhancement. Geoffrey offers a free consultation for up to 45 minutes, where he will be happy to address your questions and concerns. Appointments can be made Mondays through Fridays, and some Saturdays upon special request.

More information at http://geoffrey-knight.com/ or call 503-246-7300.

Health, Writers & Researchers Julia Schopick Julia is a health researcher and writer, and the author of the bestselling book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases. Her goal is to empower patients to make the best health choices for themselves and their loved ones by teaching them about little-known but promising treatments their doctors may not know about. My writings on health and medical topics have been featured in American Medical News (AMA), Alternative & Complementary Therapies, the British Medical Journal, New Consciousness Review and the Chicago Sun-Times. Julia offers a coaching service through which I help patients to get the best care from their doctors--or to find a doctor who will give them better care. now coach authors of books with life-changing missions by helping them to become better radio interviewees, as well as better users of Facebook. These are the two promotional methods that have kept her book, HONEST MEDICINE, an Amazon bestseller for over five years.

You may reach her via email at Julia@HonestMedicine.com.

Coaches & Counselors, Health, Purpose Karen Hefner After studying, experiencing, and practicing alternative modes of healing and shamanism for 15 years, Karen Hefner has dedicated herself full-time to being in service as a catalyst for personal growth, expansion and healing. She is an Associate Teacher of the LightSong School of Shamanic Studies, a Usui/Tibetan and Karuna Reiki Master, holds Master’s degrees in Science and the Arts, a Doctoral degree in Shamanism, is certified as an Angelic Guidance Counselor® and is a certified F.I.R.E.walk Facilitator. Karen has a strong teaching background that dates back to the mid 1980s. She is also a minister, cancer survivor, mother, and grandmother.

Deeply invested in the areas of healing and personal growth, Karen gently guides people toward their own innate health and happiness through education, ceremony, soul retrieval, extraction work, and Reiki.

Visit www.ignitingspirit.com or call 503-936-9367.

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Cosmic Connectors, Healers & Therapists, Health, Purpose Lauri Shainsky Lauri’s personal mission is to serve people and the earth through transformative experiences with Sound, Spirit, and Nature. As a Shamanic Sound Healer, Lauri helps people use Spirit-guided intentional sound to bring about more vibrant health and fulfilling creative manifestation. Her potent sessions provide nourishment and healing of the soul, the body, the mind, divine guidance for sustainable change and an infusion of vitality. Lauri’s shamanic healing practices are uniquely empowered with vocal sound, singing bowls and other sound healing instruments.

Her courses are always intimate, participant- and spirit-directed, and guide people to rediscover their powerful, healed self, and their creative manifesting voice. Lauri incorporates nature and soul constellations as an integral part of exploring the soul and it’s ecosystem. Invite nourishing sound into your life:www.shamanicsoundhealing.com www.soundcloud.com/redstonesong www.cdbaby.com/Artist/LauriJShainsky www.shamanicheart.wordpress.com 503-939-7174 Awakening, Coaches & Counselors, Cosmic Connectors, Intuitive Messengers, Purpose Mark Dodich In addition to natal astrology with current cycles, Mark Dodich specializes in Earthlines (AstroCartoGraphy) Relocation Astrology Maps and Seven Ray Esoteric Spiritual Purpose Astrology. He works with individuals, relationship compatibility, and business astrology, and has provided intuitive tarot since 1980. In 2008, Mark started leading Spiritual Growth Small Group Travel to Sacred Places. He has led groups to Egypt, Greece, and safari in Tanzania so far.

Visit www.astromark.us or call 503-252-1558 Awakening, Coaches & Counselors, Health MJ Schwader At Inspired Life Publications, MJ Schwader helps authors create books, courses, mobile apps, and speaking platforms that inform, inspire, and transform.

Whether it is writing coaching, layout and production for print or digital media, or promotion of products, MJ guides and supports authors from concept to the marketplace. With 35 years in the publishing industry and 20 years as a writing coach, MJ has helped over 250 authors become published. MJ has studied shamanic and energy healing methods for 16 years, and has developed a technique that combines channeled information with writing exercises to help the author produce truly transformational writing. The result is profound healing, for both the writer and the reader. Whether it’s guidance in learning how to become a better writer, navigating the worlds of traditional and self-publishing, or getting help with creating your iBook or Kindle ebooks, MJ can help you get your transformational message out to the world.

Visit http://www.inspiredlifepublications.com or call 503-502-3700

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Awakening, Coaches & Counselors, Healers & Therapists OSO (Om Sweet Om) Sisters Jennifer Ream and Christine Landaal (aka the OSO Sister’s) are sisters, best friends, long-time business partners, who have set out on a mission to spread the message of love; love for all, including ourselves! They are the founders of the company, Om Sweet Om, designers of the OSO organic meditation cushions, Mindful Body Healing Health Coaches, and the creators of the holistic lifestyle transformation programs “Nourish” and “Designing A Life You Love”.

Their mission is to support and empower women to reconnect with their truth and the divine that resides within each of us. Teaching women to nourish their bodies, on a level that encompasses the whole being, mind, body, and spirit.

In turn, they will THEN create ripple effects of loving energy to share with their families and communities. A beautiful and powerful thing!

Visit www.ososisters.com for more information.

Awakening, Cosmic Connectors, Intuitive Messengers Pearl Pierce Pearl Pierce is a seasoned Shamanic Practitioner who works with anyone wanting to know what’s holding them back from expressing their heart, passion, and zest for life. She works with people who are ready to redefine, reignite, and relish the life they were meant to live. If you have noticed that the beliefs you had as a child, the opinions of others, and ways you’ve looked at yourself until now hold you back from expressing your true self, Pearl will help you clear out what doesn’t belong - whether it is an individual, home, business, or land - and restore what does. Do you remember a time when you felt strong, fearless, whole, and you lived in the moment? Would you like to reconnect the parts of yourself that convey your unique gifts, originality, and natural contentment? Pearl offers in person and long distance sessions by phone or Skype.

Visit www.pearlpierce.com or call 503-319-0618.

Healers & Therapists, Health, Writers & Researchers Ronelle Wood – Ojai Healing Movement Sanctuary We are the first in the world to offer Myofascial Release and TrueBody Alignment training.

Our solutions are simple, inexpensive and produce long-term results.

This cutting edge approach is based on the John Barnes Myofascial Release Approach and the newest breakthroughs in addressing fascial restriction as well as the physics and science of alignment. It is the only facility where you receive body work to interrupt painful holding patterns and the necessary training that teaches you how to stay out of those holding patterns by changing your habits of movement. Visit us online to gain access to the newest instructional videos for correcting common alignment mistakes that lead to the following problems: Hip Replacement; Knee Replacement; Back Pain; Pelvic Floor Disorder; Foot Pain; Shoulder Injury and Pain; Headaches; Sciatica.

Visit http://www.ohmsanctuary.com or call 805-640-9111

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Healers & Therapists, Health Shelly Malone Shelly is a Functional Nutritionist who holds a B.S. degree in Nutritional Science and a Masters degree in Public Health (MPH) from UCLA, with a concentration in Public Health Nutrition. A board certified registered dietitian nutritionist (RD/ RDN), Shelly spent over 10 years working alongside esteemed clinicians and institutions in research and education, but it was seeing her own RA symptoms resolve with diet alone that lit a fire in her not only to heal herself, but to help others benefit from an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. She is the author of “Inflamed: Discover the root cause of inflammation and personalize a step-by-step plan to create a healthy, vibrant life”, which was selected by SELF Magazine as one of “7 Fascinating and Illuminating Health Books That Will Totally Open Your Eyes About Your Health.”

Shelly does individual and group nutrition and lifestyle consulting, specializing in autoimmune disease, mood/cognitive illness and other chronic inflammatory conditions.

Learn more at http://www.inflamedbook.com Healers & Therapists, Health, Inspiration Susan Pease Banitt Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW, of Lotus Heart Counseling offers a rainbow bridge of healing from Eastern practices to Western techniques in service of multidimensional healing. Susan offers coaching, therapy, and classes for people with PTSD and disorders of extreme stress. She provides Reiki sessions and gives Reiki classes where she offers placements and attunements to the Holy Fire Reiki energies. A class based on her book, The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD from the Inside Out, runs 2-3 times/year after which participants are eligible for a monthly trauma support group. She has shamanic training in the Celtic tradition. Susan is a frequent speaker at national conferences and teaches at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine.

Visit www.suepeasebanitt.com or call 503-869-0314 for more information.

Health, Healers & Therapists Tracie Mahan Tracie is a Psychic Medium, Clairvoyant, Hypnotherapist, QHHT Practitioner, Family Coach, NLP Practitioner and Reiki Master. Coming from a highly sensitive and intuitive family, Tracie has expanded her natural gifts with training and practice, enabling her to connect with guides, angels, Ascended Masters and spiritual council. In addition to being a clear channel of messages from these realms, her expertise also includes offering clients healing and energetic clearing, and perspective through looking at past lives to identify important connections with the present incarnation. She also uses Hypnotherapy as a tool to release old patterns from your life and clear out anxiety, depression and much more.

Tracie enjoys bringing all of her modalities together to create a unique and healing experience for her clients.

Visit http://www.traciemahan.com or call 503-680-2407.

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